Location-Based Venue Search System with Server-Side Distance Filtering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need for mobile computing device apps that provide users with location-based information about businesses and other venues, as existing apps do not effectively offer tailored, real-time location-based services for mobile device users.
Innovation Solution
A mobile app that determines the user's neighborhood using GPS, compass, or other location-based methods and provides location-based venue information, allowing users to search for and check-in at nearby venues, with trending venues identified through social networking data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If location-based venue information is provided to mobile devices, then user relevance and personalization are improved, but device complexity and data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an application server system as an intermediary between mobile devices and venue data sources. The server handles complex data processing, storage, and analysis tasks, while mobile devices only need to communicate requests and receive results. This mediator approach resolves the contradiction by offloading complexity from the mobile device while maintaining location-based personalization capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is segmented into distinct functional components: mobile devices for user interaction and location input, application servers for data processing and management, and venue databases for information storage. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing the complexity burden on mobile devices while enabling sophisticated location-based personalization.
2Speed
If real-time location tracking and venue information are provided, then service responsiveness is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous real-time tracking, the system uses periodic location updates triggered by user actions (e.g., initiating a search) or threshold-based events (e.g., entering a new neighborhood). This periodic approach maintains service responsiveness when needed while significantly reducing energy consumption during idle periods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing venue data and organizing it by location on the server side. When a user initiates a search, the results are quickly retrieved and filtered based on the user's current location, rather than performing complex real-time calculations on the mobile device. This reduces the energy required for real-time processing while maintaining fast response times.
3Loss of information
If comprehensive venue data is stored and processed, then information completeness is improved, but data management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The application server system acts as an intermediary that manages comprehensive venue data storage, organization, and retrieval. The server handles complex data management tasks including database maintenance, data validation, and information organization, while mobile devices only interact with the simplified interface. This resolves the contradiction by centralizing data management complexity on the server while maintaining information completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a server-side dimension to the architecture, moving data management from the mobile device dimension to the network infrastructure dimension. This dimensional shift allows comprehensive venue data to be managed centrally with full complexity handling, while mobile devices operate in a simplified dimension with only basic interaction requirements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The app offers users personalized location-based services by providing relevant venue information and enabling check-ins, enhancing user experience through real-time and location-specific data integration with social networking trends.
Implementation Method 1
The location of the mobile computing device may be determined according to any suitable hardware and/or software-based capabilities of the device. For example, the mobile computing device may determine its location using a Global Positioning System (GPS) of the device
Data Source
AI summary
Location-based searches for venues for a mobile computing device. An application server system may determine search results in response to a search query, comprising a search location, received from the mobile computing device. The application server system determines, for each search query, whether the search location is within a threshold distance from a location of the mobile computing device. If within the threshold distance, the application server system transmits search result data comprising, for each example venue in the search results, a distance of the venue to the location of the mobile computing device. If not within the threshold distance, the application server system transmits search result data comprising, for each venue in the search results, a distance of the venue to the search location.