Active geo-fence management

1. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a mobile device, a set of geo-fences from a server;

activating a subset of geo-fences to be monitored on the mobile device, the subset of geo-fences selected from the set of geo-fences based on proximity to a current location of the mobile device;

establishing and monitoring an envelope geo-fence that contains the subset of geo-fences, such that each geo-fence to be monitored is contained within the envelope geo-fence;

detecting the mobile device has moved to a new location proximate to the envelope geo-fence, wherein proximate to the envelope geo-fence is measured based on the new location being within a predetermined distance of the envelope geo-fence or the mobile device having crossed the envelope geo-fence to reach the new location; and

in response to the detecting, activating a new subset of geo-fences to be monitored on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a minimum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a minimum bounding shape around the subset of geo-fences.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a maximum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a maximum bounding shape around the subset of geo-fences while not containing any geo-fences that are not in the subset.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the envelope geo-fence has a predetermined shape.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is formed based on a union of one or more tiles used by a location determination system.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the envelope geo-fence has a shape that is dynamically dependent upon the subset of geo-fences that the envelope geo-fence contains.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to the detecting, de-activating geo-fences of the subset of geo-fences that are not part of the new subset of geo-fences.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

establishing and monitoring a new envelope geo-fence that contains the new subset of geo-fences.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining obtains geo-fences that are within a given distance of a first location of the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining the mobile device has moved to a second location that is more than a given distance from the first location; and

in response to the determining, obtaining a new set of geo-fences from the server that are within the given distance of the second location of the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein proximity to the envelope geo-fence is measured based on the new location being within the predetermined distance of the envelope geo-fence.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein proximity to the envelope geo-fence is measured based on the mobile device having crossed the envelope geo-fence to reach the new location.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the mobile device is considered to have crossed the envelope geo-fence when the new location is located in a boundary tile used by a location determination system.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instruction stored thereon, the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors of one or more mobile devices operable to:

obtain a set of geo-fences;

activate a subset of geo-fences to be monitored, the subset of geo-fences selected from the set of geo-fences;

establish and monitor an envelope geo-fence that contains the subset of geo-fences, such that each geo-fence to be monitored is contained within the envelope geo-fence;

detect the mobile device has crossed the envelope geo-fence to reach a new location; and

in response to the detecting, activate a new subset of geo-fences to be monitored, the new subset of geo-fences selected from the set of geo-fences, and de-activating geo-fences of the subset of geo-fences that are not part of the new subset of geo-fences.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a minimum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a minimum bounding shape around the subset of geo-fences.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a maximum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a maximum bounding shape around the subset of geo-fences while not containing any geo-fences that are not in the subset.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is formed based on a union of one or more tiles used by a location determination system.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the mobile device is considered to have crossed the envelope geo-fence when the new location is located in a boundary tile used by the location determination system.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the executable instructions when executed are further operable to:

establish and monitor a new envelope geo-fence based on the new subset of geo-fences.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the obtained set of geo-fences are within a given distance of a first location of the mobile device.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the executable instructions when executed are further operable to:

determine the mobile device has moved to a second location that is more than a given distance from the first location; and

obtain a new set of geo-fences that are within the given distance of the second location of the mobile device.

22. An apparatus comprising

a processor configured to execute instructions; and

a memory configured to store executable instructions for a client application, the client application to include:

a request process configured to a obtain a set of geo-fences that are within a given distance of a location of a mobile device,

a geo-fence cache configured to store the set of geo-fences, and to maintain a first subset of the set of geo-fences as an active subset of geo-fences, and a second subset of the set of geo-fences an inactive subset of geo-fences, and

an activation process configured to define an envelope geo-fence that contains the active subset of geo-fences such that each active geo-fence is contained within the envelope geo-fence, and to move geo-fences between the active subset of geo-fences and the inactive subset of geo-fences based on proximity of the mobile device to the envelope geo-fence such that one or more geo-fences are moved from the inactive subset of geo-fences to the active subset of geo-fences in response to the mobile device approaching the envelope geo-fence.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a minimum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a minimum bounding shape around the active subset of geo-fences.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is a maximum bounding geo-fence whose perimeter forms a maximum bounding shape around the subset of geo-fences while not containing any geo-fences that are not in the subset.

25. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the envelope geo-fence has a predetermined shape.

26. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the envelope geo-fence has a shape that is dynamically dependent upon the active subset of geo-fences that the envelope geo-fence contains.

27. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the envelope geo-fence is formed based on a union of one or more tiles used by a location determination system.