Geofence Data Management for Mobile Messaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile computing devices face limitations in handling a large number of geofences due to storage and processing constraints, which hampers the efficient delivery of location-based messages, leading to battery drain and restricted access to location data.
Innovation Solution
A customer engagement service manages geofencing data by updating relevant geofences on mobile devices, using a geofencing unit to track and determine when a user's device crosses geofence boundaries, allowing for targeted message delivery while minimizing battery drain and adhering to operating system limitations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the user computing device stores and processes a large number of geofences locally, then the ability to trigger messages based on location is improved, but the device experiences battery drain and operating system limitations restrict the number of geofences that can be registered
Solution Approach 1:
A server acts as an intermediary between the customer engagement service and the user computing device. The server receives the device's location, determines relevant geofences, and provides only those specific geofence definitions to the device. This mediator approach allows the device to track geofences efficiently without needing to store or process all possible geofence data, reducing battery consumption while maintaining accurate location-based messaging capability
Solution Approach 2:
The geofence data is segmented into relevant and irrelevant portions based on the device's current location. Instead of loading all geofence definitions locally, only the subset of geofences relevant to the device's current geographical area are transmitted and stored. This segmentation reduces the computational burden and memory requirements on the mobile device, addressing both the battery drain and OS limitation issues
2Measurement precision
If the user computing device constantly updates geofencing information as the device moves, then the accuracy of message triggering is improved, but battery drain increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuously monitoring and updating geofence information, the system uses periodic location checks triggered by significant location changes. The server receives location updates from the device and determines relevant geofences at these periodic intervals rather than continuously. This periodic approach maintains accurate geofence detection while significantly reducing the frequency of data transmissions and processing operations, thereby conserving battery power
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the device's existing location services and operating system geofencing capabilities to perform the heavy lifting of location tracking and geofence detection. The mobile device's OS automatically monitors location and notifies when geofence boundaries are crossed, eliminating the need for the application to implement continuous background location tracking. This self-service approach uses already-allocated device resources efficiently without requiring additional battery-consuming processes
3Productivity
If the operating system allows more geofences to be registered, then more location-based messages can be delivered, but the device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the necessary geofence definitions from the complete geofence database and transmits them to the user device. By taking out and transmitting only the relevant subset of geofence data based on current location, the system enables message delivery for multiple location-based triggers without requiring the device to handle the full complexity of the entire geofence database, thus maintaining productivity while reducing device complexity
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for causing messages to be presented to users involve updating and using geofencing data to determine whether and when to present a message to a user via a user computing device. Geofencing data that defines the closest relevant geofences to the current position of a user computing device can be provided to a software application on the user computing device on a periodic basis, or when the software application is loaded and run. The software application can then register the geofences with an operating system of the user computing device. When the user computing device determines that the user computing device has entered a geofence, this information can be used to determine whether to present the user with a message.