Selecting Users Relevant To a Geofence

Abstract

A system may identify attributes of a geofence surrounding a location. The attributes of the geofence may represent merchant characteristics of a brick-and-mortar store and may further represent item characteristics of merchandise items available for sale from the brick-and-mortar store. A subset of users from a plurality of users eligible to receive the geofence may be selected based at least in part on matching the attributes of the geofence to preferences associated with each user among the subset of users. Geofence data representing the geofence may be sent to each of the client devices operated by the subset of the plurality of users. An indication may be received from a client device operated by a user of the user crossing into the geofence based on the geofence data. Lastly, a notification may be presented to the client device operated by the user.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 determining, by a computing device, a plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive geofence data associated with a geofence surrounding a location by identifying network client devices that have associated user preferences that match attributes of the geofence;   selecting, by the computing device, a subset of client devices from the plurality of client devices to receive the geofence data by:
 obtaining respective location information for each client device of the plurality of client devices; 
 identifying each respective client device of the plurality of client devices that is within a predefined distance from the geofence based on the respective location information; and 
 adding each respective client device that is within the predefined distance from the geofence to the subset of client devices; 
   sending, via the computing device, the geofence data to each client device of the subset of client devices;   receiving, at the computing device and from a client device of the subset of client devices, an indication of the client device crossing into the geofence; and   causing, by the computing device and in response to said receiving the indication, presentation of a notification at the client device by transmitting data to the client device that causes display of the notification.   
     
     
         2 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said determining the plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive the geofence data comprises:
 comparing, for each network client device of the network client devices, the associated user preferences to the attributes of the geofence;   identifying each network client device of the network client devices that has a predetermined number of the associated user preferences that match the attributes of the geofence; and   adding, to the plurality of client devices, each network client device of the network client devices that has the predetermined number of the associated user preferences that match the attributes of the geofence.   
     
     
         3 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said obtaining the respective location information for each client device of the plurality of client devices comprises:
 obtaining authorization from each client device of the plurality of the client devices to collect the respective location information; and   performing said obtaining the respective location information based on obtaining the authorization.   
     
     
         4 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said causing presentation of the notification at the client device comprises causing, at the client device, presentation of a notification of merchandise items available at a retail store associated with the geofence. 
     
     
         5 . The method as recited in  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, from a network client device of the network client devices, user activity information; and 
 updating the associated user preferences based, at least in part, on the user activity information. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method as recited in  claim 5  further comprising receiving authorization from the network client device to retrieve the user activity information. 
     
     
         7 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said determining the plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive the geofence data comprises:
 retrieving user demographic information associated with the network client devices; and   comparing the user demographic information to the attributes of the geofence to identify matches.   
     
     
         8 . The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said selecting the subset of client devices from the plurality of client devices comprises:
 identifying, from the attributes of the geofence, active times to perform said selecting; and   performing said selecting the subset during the active times identified from the attributes.   
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 determining, by a computing device, a plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive geofence data associated with a geofence surrounding a location;   selecting, by the computing device, a subset of client devices from the plurality of client devices to receive the geofence data by:
 adding, to the subset of client devices, each respective client device of the plurality of client devices that has at least a predetermined number of associated user preferences that match attributes of the geofence; and 
 excluding, from the subset of client devices, each respective client device of the plurality of client devices that has less than the predetermined number of associated user preferences that match the attributes of the geofence; 
   sending, via the computing device, the geofence data to each client device of the subset of client devices;   receiving, at the computing device and from a client device of the subset of client devices, an indication of the client device crossing into the geofence; and   causing, by the computing device and in response to said receiving the indication, presentation of a notification at the client device by transmitting data to the client device that causes display of the notification.   
     
     
         10 . The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said determining the plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive the geofence data comprises:
 identifying, from a plurality of network client devices, each network client device that includes a mobile application capable of receiving geofence data; and   adding, to the plurality of client devices, each network client device that includes the mobile application.   
     
     
         11 . The method as recited in  claim 10  further comprising retrieving, from each client device of the plurality of client devices and via the respective mobile application, user activity information,
 wherein said selecting the subset of client devices comprises comparing the user activity information to the attributes of the geofence to identify matches. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method as recited in  claim 11  further comprising:
 receiving authorization from each client device of the plurality of client devices to retrieve the user activity information; and 
 performing said retrieving in response to receiving the authorization. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said determining the plurality of client devices that are eligible to receive the geofence data comprises determining the plurality of client devices that are eligible based, at least in part, on comparing user demographics associated with the plurality of client devices to the attributes of the geofence. 
     
     
         14 . The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said selecting the subset of client devices from the plurality of client devices comprises:
 selecting a client device from the plurality of client devices to include in the subset of client devices based, at least in part, on matching a user time preference associated with the client device from the plurality of client devices to an operating hours attribute associated with the geofence.   
     
     
         15 . The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said causing the presentation of the notification at the client device comprises causing, at the client device, display of merchandise items available for sale at a retail store associated with the geofence. 
     
     
         16 . The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein said transmitting the data to the client device comprises transmitting data that triggers a mobile application at the client device to present the notification. 
     
     
         17 . A computing device comprising:
 at least one processor; and   one or more memory devices storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:
 selecting a subset of client devices from a plurality of network client devices to receive geofence data associated with a geofence by:
 adding, to the subset of client devices, each respective client device of the plurality of client devices that has at least a predetermined number of associated user preferences that match attributes of the geofence; and 
 excluding, from the subset of client devices, each respective client device of the plurality of client devices that has less than the predetermined number of associated user preferences that match the attributes of the geofence; 
 
 sending the geofence data to each client device of the subset of client devices; 
 receiving from a client device of the subset of client devices, an indication of the client device crossing into the geofence; and 
 causing, in response to said receiving the indication, presentation of a notification at the client device by transmitting data to the client device that causes display of the notification. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computing device as recited in  claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
 identifying a user associated with a client device of the plurality of client devices;   retrieving social network data associated with the user; and   including the social network data in the associated user preferences.   
     
     
         19 . The computing device as recited in  claim 17 , the operations further comprising:
 identifying a user associated with a client device of the plurality of client devices;   retrieving ecommerce data associated with the user; and   including the ecommerce data in the associated user preferences.   
     
     
         20 . The computing device as recited in  claim 17 , wherein said causing the presentation of the notification at the client device comprises causing, at the client device, display of merchandise items available for sale at a retail store associated with the geofence.