Purchase good or service based upon detected activity and user preferences in wireless communication device
Systems, apparatus, and methods are disclosed for accurately identifying one or more mobile thing motion activity (MTMAs; e.g., stationary, walking, running, biking, driving, etc.) associated with a mobile thing (MT; e.g., a person) using sensor data from one or more sensors associated with a wireless communication device (WCD) transported by the MT and for facilitating purchase of a good or service based at least in part upon the one or more MTMAs and one or more predefined user preferences. The sensor data from the one or more sensors (e.g., accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, etc.) is designed to produce data indicative of physical movement of the WCD in three dimensions of a three dimensional (3D) space. In some embodiments, the one or more MTMAs are a plurality of instances of the same MTMA (e.g., a plurality of running sessions) and the purchase of the good or service (e.g., new running shoes) is initiated when a total time duration or total travel distance exceeds a predefined threshold (e.g., 300 hours or 500 miles, respectively), as defined by the WCD user in a predefined preference.
1. A system, comprising:
a transceiver;
one or more sensors designed to produce data indicative of movement of the wireless communication device (WCD) in three dimensions of three dimensional (3D) space, the one or more sensors including at least an accelerometer and the produced data including accelerometer data;
a memory that stores computer program code;
a processor that executes the computer program code; and
wherein the computer program code comprises:
code operable to store user preferences in the memory that are selected or otherwise input by a user of the WCD, the user preferences defining a set of mobile thing motion activities (MTMAs) to detect, the user preferences also defining a predefined time or distance threshold for a specific MTMA of the defined set, the user preferences further defining an action to be intiated when one or more occurrences of the specific MTMA have exceeded the predefined time or distance threshold, the action involving initiation of a communication session involving one or more data transfers with a remote computer system via the transceiver and initiation of a purchase of a good or service during the communication session;
code operable to track a duration, in terms of time or distance, of the one or more occurences of the specific MTMA based at least upon the data from the one or more sensors; and
code operable to initiate the action involving the purchase of the good or service when the occurences exceed the predefined time or distance threshold.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the program code further comprises code operable to determine respective likelihoods for each of the MTMAs of the set based at least in part upon the data and operable to select one of the MTMAs of the set as detected based at least in part upon the respective likelihoods.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer program code further comprises code operable to request the user to confirm whether or not to purchase the good or service prior to initiating the action.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is implemented within the WCD.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is implemented at a computer system that is remote from the WCD.
6. A wireless communication device (WCD), comprising:
a transceiver;
one or more sensors designed to produce data indicative of movement of the WCD in three dimensions of three dimensional (3D) space;
a memory that stores computer program code;
a processor that executes the computer program code; and
wherein the computer program code comprises:
code operable to store a user preference in the memory that is input or selected by the user, the user preference defining an action to be taken when one or more mobile thing motion activities (MTMAs) associated with a WCD user are detected, the action involving initiation of a communication session involving one or more data transfers with a remote computer system via the transceiver and initiation of a purchase a good or service during the communication session;
code operable to detect the one or more MTMAs based at least upon the produced sensor data from the one or more sensors; and
code operable to initiate the action based at least upon the detected one or more MTMAs and the user preference.
7. The WCD of claim 6 , wherein the one or more MTMAs are a plurality of instances of the same MTMA.
8. The WCD of claim 7 , wherein the computer program code further comprises code operable to monitor a total time duration or a total travel distance associated with the plurality and to cause the initiate code operable to initiate the action when the total duration exceeds a predefined threshold.
9. The WCD of claim 8 , wherein the store code stores another user preference that defines the predefined threshold and that is input or selected by the user.
10. The WCD of claim 6 , wherein the one or more MTMAs include at least two different MTMAs.
11. The WCD of claim 7 , wherein the computer program code further comprises code operable to request the user to confirm whether or not to purchase the good or service prior to initiating the action.
12. A computer system that communicates with a remote wireless communication device (WCD) transported by a mobile thing (MT), comprising:
a transceiver;
a memory that stores computer program code;
a processor that executes the computer program code; and
wherein the computer program code comprises:
code operable to receive and store sensor information from the WCD in memory;
code operable to receive and store a user preference in the memory that is input or selected by a user, the user preference defining an action to be taken when one or more mobile thing motion activities (MTMAs) associated with the MT are detected, the action involving initiation of a communication session involving one or more data transfers with a remote computer system via the transceiver and initiation of a purchase a good or service during the communication session;
code operable to detect the one or more MTMAs based at least upon the sensor information; and
code operable to initiate the action based at least upon the detected one or more MTMAs and the user preference.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more MTMAs are a plurality of instances of the same MTMA.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the computer program code further comprises code operable to monitor a total time duration or a total travel distance associated with the plurality and to cause the initiate code operable to initiate the action when the total duration exceeds a predefined threshold.
15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the user preference store code stores another user preference that defines the predefined threshold and that is input or selected by the user.
16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more MTMAs include at least two different MTMAs.
17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the computer program code further comprises code operable to engage in a communication session involving one or more data transfers and, during the session, request the user to confirm whether or not to purchase the good or service prior to initiating the action.
18. A method implemented in a computer system, comprising:
analyzing information derived from sensor data, the sensor data from one or more sensors designed to produce data indicative of movement of a wireless communication device (WCD) in three dimensions of three dimensional (3D) space;
storing a user preference in a memory that is input or selected by a user of the WCD, the user preference defining an action to be initiated when one or more mobile thing motion activities (MTMAs) associated with the user are detected, the action involving initiating a process for a purchase of a good or service during a communication session;
detecting the one or more MTMAs based at least upon the analysis; and
initiating the action based at least upon the detected one or more MTMAs and the user preference.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more MTMAs are a plurality of instances of the same MTMA.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising monitoring a total duration of the plurality and initiating the action when a total time duration or total travel distance exceeds a predefined threshold.
21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising storing another user preference in the memory that defines the predefined threshold and that is input or selected by the user.
22. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more MTMAs include at least two different MTMAs.
23. The method of claim 18 , further comprising engaging in a communication session involving one or more data transfers and, during the session, requesting the user to confirm whether or not to purchase the good or service.
24. The method of claim 18 , wherein the computer system resides within the WCD and wherein the method is performed by computer program code that is stored in the memory and executed by a processor residing within the WCD.
25. The method of claim 18 , wherein the computer system resides remotely from the WCD, wherein the remote computer system communicates with the WCD via one or more networks, and wherein the method is performed by computer program code that is stored in the memory and executed by a processor residing within the remote computer system.
26. The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more sensors includes an accelerometer and further comprising:
storing parameters that define a plurality of mobile thing motion activities (MTMAs) that can be performed by the user associated with the WCD;
determining respective likelihoods for the MTMAs based at least in part upon accelerometer data and the stored parameters; and
selecting an MTMA as detected in the set of MTMAs based at least in part upon the respective likelihoods.
27. The method of claim 26 , further comprising enabling the user to define the plurality of MTMAs by selecting or inputing user preferences.
28. The method of claim 26 , further comprising:
outputing the selected MTMA to the user of the WCD; and
requesting confirmation from the user that the selected MTMA is correct.