What is claimed is:
1. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure, the method comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly;
providing at least one precursor compound of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is a Group IIIA or Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
providing at least one source of oxygen; and
contacting the at least one precursor compound and the at least one source of oxygen to form a metal oxide layer on one or more surfaces of the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly using a vapor deposition process.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is a silicon wafer.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal oxide layer is a dielectric layer.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein M is selected from the group of aluminum, yttrium, scandium, a lanthanide and mixtures thereof.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein M is selected from the group of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Gd, Er, and mixtures thereof.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal oxide layer has a thickness of about 30 to about 80 .
7. The method of claim 1 wherein R1, R2, R3, and R4 are each independently organic groups having 1-10 carbon atoms.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of R2, R3, or R4 is hydrogen.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein R1 is a (C1-C4) organic group.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing at least one metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the source of oxygen is the metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
12. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal oxide comprises two different metals.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal oxide further includes silicon.
14. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure, the method comprising:
providing a semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly within a deposition chamber;
providing a vapor comprising at least one precursor compound of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is a Group IIIA or Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
providing a vapor comprising at least one source of oxygen; and
directing the vapors to the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly to form a metal oxide dielectric layer on one or more surfaces of the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein the precursor compounds are directed to the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly in the presence of an inert carrier gas.
16. The method of claim 14 wherein M is selected from the group of aluminum, yttrium, scandium, a lanthanide and mixtures thereof.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein M is selected from the group of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Gd, Er, and mixtures thereof.
18. The method of claim 14 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using a chemical vapor deposition process.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the temperature of the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is about 100 C. to about 600 C.
20. The method of claim 18 wherein the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is in a deposition chamber having a pressure of about 0.1 torr to about 10 torr.
21. The method of claim 14 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using an atomic layer deposition process comprising a plurality of deposition cycles.
22. The method of claim 21 wherein during the atomic layer deposition process the metal oxide layer is formed by alternately introducing the vapor comprising at least one precursor compound and the vapor comprising at least one source of oxygen during each deposition cycle.
23. The method of claim 21 wherein the temperature of the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is about 25 C. to about 400 C.
24. The method of claim 21 wherein the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is in a deposition chamber having a pressure of about 104 torr to about 1 torr.
25. The method of claim 14 wherein the metal oxide comprises two different metals.
26. The method of claim 14 further comprising providing a vapor comprising at least one metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein the source of oxygen is the metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
28. The method of claim 14 wherein the metal oxide layer further comprises silicon.
29. A method of forming a metal oxide layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
providing a substrate;
providing at least one precursor compound of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is Group IIIA or Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
providing at least one source of oxygen; and
contacting the at least one precursor compound and the at least one source of oxygen to form a metal oxide layer on the substrate using a vapor deposition process.
30. The method of claim 29 wherein M is selected from the group of aluminum, yttrium, scandium, a lanthanide, and mixtures thereof.
31. The method of claim 30 wherein M is selected from the group of Y, La, Ce, Pr, Gd, Er, and mixtures thereof.
32. The method of claim 29 wherein the metal oxide layer has a thickness of about 30 to about 80 .
33. The method of claim 29 wherein R1, R2, R3, and R4 are each independently organic groups having 1-10 carbon atoms.
34. The method of claim 29 wherein at least one of R2, R3, or R4 is hydrogen.
35. The method of claim 29 wherein R1 is a (C1-C4) organic group.
36. The method of claim 29 further comprising providing at least one metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
37. The method of claim 36 wherein the source of oxygen is the metal-containing precursor compound of a formula different than that of Formula I.
38. The method of claim 29 wherein the metal oxide comprises two different metals.
39. The method of claim 29 wherein the metal oxide layer further comprises silicon.
40. A method of forming a metal oxide layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
providing a substrate;
providing a vapor comprising at least one precursor compound of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is a Group IIIA or a Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
providing a vapor comprising at least one source of oxygen; and
directing the vapors to the substrate to form a metal oxide layer on the substrate.
41. The method of claim 40 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using a chemical vapor deposition process.
42. The method of claim 40 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using an atomic layer deposition process comprising a plurality of deposition cycles.
43. The method of claim 40 wherein the metal oxide comprises two different metals.
44. A method of manufacturing a memory device structure comprising:
providing a substrate having a first electrode thereon;
providing a vapor comprising at least one precursor compound of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is a Group IIIA or a Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
providing a vapor comprising at least one source of oxygen; and
directing the vapors to the substrate to form a metal oxide dielectric layer on the first electrode of the substrate; and
forming a second electrode on the dielectric layer.
45. The method of claim 44 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using a chemical vapor deposition process.
46. The method of claim 44 wherein the providing and directing steps are accomplished using an atomic layer deposition process comprising a plurality of deposition cycles.
47. The method of claim 44 wherein the metal oxide comprises two different metals.
48. A vapor deposition apparatus comprising:
a vapor deposition chamber having a substrate positioned therein;
one or more vessels comprising one or more precursor compounds of the formula M(N(R1)Si(R2)(R3)(R4))3 (Formula I), wherein:
M is a Group IIIA or a Group IIIB metal;
each R1, R2, R3, and R4 is hydrogen or an organic group; and
one or more vessels comprising one or more sources of oxygen.
49. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the substrate is a silicon wafer.
50. The apparatus of claim 48 further comprising one or more sources of an inert carrier gas for transferring at least the one or more precursor compounds to the vapor deposition chamber.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of managing geofence-enabled applications executing on a computing device, comprising:
identifying geofences that are associated with different geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and that are geographically close together;
comparing metadata of the identified geofences that are associated with the different geofence-enabled applications to determine whether the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into a blended geofence;
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into the blended geofence in response to determine that the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into the blended geofence; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a goefence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises replacing the identified geofences associated with the geofence-enabled applications with the blended geofence.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close together is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application,
wherein combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close together and permitted to be blended.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence, in a geofence server, geofences that are associated with geofence-enabled applications and that are geographically close together,
the method further comprising determining whether there is an exact match between geofence-enabled applications in a list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the geofences included in the blended geofence,
wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
sending the blended geofence to the computing device in response to determining that there is an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence and the computing device providing the blended geofence to each geofence-enabled application executing on the computing device that is associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence; and
sending unblended geofence information to the computing device in response to determining that there is not an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
receiving with a geofence management unit the blended geofence from a geofence server, wherein the geofence management unit is a proxy server application operating on the computing device;
determining whether the blended geofence has been crossed with the geofence management unit on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence; and
notifying with the geofence management unit each of the geofence-enabled applications associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence in response to determining that the blended geofence has been crossed.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
determining a current location of the computing device;
determining whether the computing device has crossed the blended geofence; and
notifying each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence when the blended geofence is crossed,
wherein:
identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close together comprises identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close to the current location of the computing device; and
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence.
6. The method of claim 5, further comprising notifying a geofence server when the blended geofence is crossed on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence comprises combining, in a geofence server, the geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence, and wherein:
determining a current location of the computing device comprises receiving, in the geofence server, the current location of the computing device in a message from the computing device;
identifying geofences that are associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and that are geographically close to the current location comprises:
receiving in the geofence server from the computing device a list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device; and
identifying geofences associated with listed geofence-enabled applications that are geographically close to the received current location of the computing device; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises sending the blended geofence from the geofence server to the computing device and the computing device providing the blended geofence to each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence.
8. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application,
wherein combining, in a geofence server, the geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location and permitted to be blended.
9. A computing device, comprising:
a memory;
a transceiver; and
a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying geofences that are associated with different geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and that are geographically close together;
comparing metadata of the identified geofences that are associated with the different geofence-enabled applications to determine whether the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into a blended geofence;
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into the blended geofence in response to determining that the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into the blended geofence; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises replacing the identified geofences associated with the geofence-enabled applications with the blended geofence.
10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein:
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close together is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application; and
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close together and permitted to be blended.
11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein:
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether there is an exact match between geofence-enabled applications in a list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with geofences included in the blended geofence; and
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
providing the blended geofence to each geofence-enabled application executing on the computing device that is associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence in response to determining that there is an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence; and
providing unblended geofence information to each geofence-enabled application executing on the computing device that is associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence in response to determining that there is not an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence.
12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises providing the blended geofence to each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence.
13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
receiving with a geofence management unit the blended geofence from a geofence server, wherein the geofence management unit is a proxy server application operating on the computing device;
determining whether the blended geofence has been crossed with the geofence management unit on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence; and
notifying with the geofence management unit each of the geofence-enabled applications associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence in response to determining that the blended geofence has been crossed.
14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that:
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
determining a current location of the computing device;
determining whether the computing device has crossed the blended geofence; and
notifying each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence when the blended geofence is crossed;
identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close together comprises identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close to the current location of the computing device; and
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence.
15. The computing device of claim 14, the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising notifying a geofence server when the blended geofence is crossed on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence.
16. The computing device of claim 14, wherein:
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application; and
the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location and permitted to be blended.
17. A geofence server, comprising:
a server processor configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying geofences that are associated with different geofence-enabled applications executing on a computing device and that are geographically close together;
comparing metadata of the identified geofences that are associated with the different geofence-enabled applications to determine whether the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into a blended geofence;
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into the blended geofence in response to determining that the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into the blended geofence; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises replacing the identified geofences associated with the geofence-enabled applications with the blended geofence.
18. The geofence server of claim 17, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close together is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application,
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close together and permitted to be blended.
19. The geofence server of claim 17, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence geofences that are associated with geofence-enabled applications and that are geographically close together;
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether there is an exact match between geofence-enabled applications in a list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with geofences included in the blended geofence; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
sending the blended geofence to the computing device in response to determining that there is an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence and the computing device providing the blended geofence to each geofence-enabled application executing on the computing device that is associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence; and
sending unblended geofence information to the computing device in response to determining that there is not an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence.
20. The geofence server of claim 17, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
determining a current location of the computing device;
determining whether the computing device has crossed the blended geofence; and
notifying each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence when the blended geofence is crossed; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that:
identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close together comprises identifying geofences associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device that are geographically close to the current location of the computing device; and
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence.
21. The geofence server of claim 20, wherein the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that:
determining a current location of the computing device comprises receiving the current location of the computing device in a message from the computing device;
identifying geofences that are associated with geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and that are geographically close to the current location comprises:
receiving from the computing device a list of geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device; and
identifying geofences associated with listed geofence-enabled applications that are geographically close to the received current location of the computing device; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises sending the blended geofence to the computing device.
22. The geofence server of claim 21, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location and permitted to be blended.
23. A system, comprising:
a geofence server comprising a server processor; and
a computing device comprising:
a memory;
a transceiver configured to communicate with a network coupled to the geofence server; and
a computing device processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
identifying different geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device; and
sending a list of the identified geofence-enabled applications to the geofence server;
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving the list of the identified geofence-enabled applications from the computing device;
identifying geofences that are associated with listed geofence-enabled applications and that are geographically close together;
comparing metadata of the identified geofences that are associated with the listed geofence-enabled applications to determine whether the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into a blended geofence;
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into the blended geofence in response to determining that the identified geofences are geofence types that are compatible to combine into the blended geofence; and
sending the blended geofence to the computing device; and
the computing device processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
receiving the blended geofence from the geofence server; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed, wherein enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises replacing the identified geofences associated with the geofence-enabled applications with the blended geofence.
24. The system of claim 23, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close together is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application; and
wherein the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close together and permitted to be blended.
25. The system of claim 23, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether there is an exact match between geofence-enabled applications in the list of the identified geofence-enabled applications and geofence-enabled applications associated with geofences included in the blended geofence; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that sending the blended geofence to the computing device comprises:
sending the blended geofence to the computing device in response to determining that there is an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of the identified geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence; and
sending unblended geofence information to the computing device in response to determining that there is not an exact match between the geofence-enabled applications in the list of the identified geofence-enabled applications executing on the computing device and the geofence-enabled applications associated with the blended geofence.
26. The system of claim 23, wherein the computing device processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that:
receiving a blended geofence from the geofence server comprises receiving with a geofence management unit the blended geofence from the geofence server, wherein the geofence management unit is a proxy server application operating on the computing device; and
enabling each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence to be informed when the blended geofence is crossed comprises:
determining whether the blended geofence has been crossed with the geofence management unit on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence; and
notifying with the geofence management unit each of the geofence-enabled applications associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence in response to determining that the blended geofence has been crossed.
27. The system of claim 23, wherein:
the computing device processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:
determining a current location of the computing device; and
sending the current location of the computing device to the geofence server;
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising receiving the current location of the computing device from the computing device; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that:
identifying geofences that are associated with the listed geofence-enabled applications and that are geographically close together comprises identifying geofences that are associated with listed geofence-enabled applications and that are geographically close to the current location of the computing device; and
combining the identified geofences that are geographically close together into a blended geofence comprises combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence.
28. The system of claim 27, wherein the computing device processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising notifying the geofence server when the blended geofence is crossed on behalf of each geofence-enabled application associated with a geofence included in the blended geofence.
29. The system of claim 27, wherein:
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining whether each of the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location is permitted to be blended by an associated geofence-enabled application; and
the server processor is configured with server-executable instructions to perform operations such that combining the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location into a blended geofence comprises combining into a blended geofence the identified geofences that are geographically close to the current location and permitted to be blended.