Use of geofences for location-based activation and control of services

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a geofence service that enables various remote control and automatic operations based a user's current geographic position as determined by the user's mobile device's current geographic location. The geofence service enables the user to define one or more geofences based on specific geographic locations. Such geofences may be applied against several geofence applications for remote and automatic control of devices. In one embodiment, the mobile device's volume or power control settings are adjusted based on the user's location inside or outside a geofence. In one embodiment, temperature setting of a building or house is controlled based on user's proximity to a geofence. In one embodiment, electrical appliances within a home are activated and controlled automatically based on user's current geographic location.

1 . A method for operating a geofence application to remotely control an electric or electronic appliance, the method comprising:
 defining a geofence associated with a particular geographic location; and   upon a user entering the geofence, automatically activating an electric or electronic appliance, wherein the user's current geographic position is determined using the geographic location of the user's mobile device.