Proximity-Based Task Notification for Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic calendars often fail to remind users of tasks effectively, as users may leave early or stay late, leading to missed reminders for tasks such as buying shampoo or gifts, as the reminders are timed and not location-based.
Innovation Solution
Proximity-based task notification techniques that allow users to enter tasks and receive notifications when they are near relevant entities, such as grocery stores or gift shops, using mobile computing devices and remote devices connected via communication networks to determine geographic locations and proximity thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If time-based reminders are used in electronic calendars, then users can be notified of tasks at scheduled times, but users may miss reminders if they leave early or stay late
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the reminder notification parameter from fixed time-based triggering to location-based triggering. Instead of notifying at a predetermined time regardless of location, the system notifies when the user enters a geofenced area associated with the task, making the reminder reliable even if users leave early or stay late.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds a spatial dimension to task reminders by creating geofenced virtual perimeters around locations. The reminder triggers when the user's device enters this spatial boundary, transforming the reminder mechanism from temporal (time-based) to spatio-temporal (location-based).
2Productivity
If users manually track task deadlines and locations, then tasks can be completed on time, but users need to remember deadlines and move tasks in calendars
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs automatic location-based task notification without requiring user intervention. The mobile device automatically detects when the user enters a geofenced area and triggers the appropriate reminder, eliminating the need for users to manually track deadlines or update calendar entries.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides automatic feedback to the user when they enter a location associated with a pending task. This feedback mechanism notifies the user of the task at the appropriate moment without requiring the user to actively check or manage their task list.
3Ease of operation
If location-based notifications are implemented, then users receive reminders at convenient locations, but the system requires determining geographic locations and proximity thresholds
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces geofencing technology as an intermediary layer between the user and the task management system. Virtual perimeters are established around locations of interest, and the system automatically manages the complexity of location tracking and proximity detection within these predefined boundaries.
Data Source
AI summary
This document describes proximity-based task notification. By notifying a user of an entity at which the user can perform a task when that entity is near to the user, the techniques enable the user to decide, at a time and location likely convenient to the user, whether or not to perform the task now at the entity or wait until a later occasion. If the user wishes to forgo performing the task, the techniques can notify the user again when the entity or some other entity is likely to be convenient to the user.