Systems and methods for tracking, marketing, and/or attributing interest in one or more real estate properties

• US 10,019,768 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Costar Realty Information Incorporated (CoStar Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Costar Realty Information Incorporated (CoStar Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Florance, Andrew, Ricketts, Curtis, Srinivasan, Veera
• Primary Examiner(s): McAtee, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US14/634,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20150248642A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Computer-implemented systems, methods, and computer-readable media for tracking interest in real estate property include receiving, by at least one of one or more computing devices, first information about one or more individuals that may be interested in a real estate property and at least one referral source, and detecting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, second information indicating that the one or more individuals has visited at least one of the one or more real estate properties. The systems, methods and media of the present disclosure may include correlating, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the first information with the second information and providing acknowledgement based at least in part on the correlation.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

generating and storing, by a first application that is installed on a mobile device and that is associated with a particular referral source that comprises a provider of a website for searching real estate resources or a mobile application developer, data that references a particular resource that a user of the mobile device has identified as a result of a search of a database of real estate resources;

receiving, by a second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, data indicating that a hardware sensor of the mobile device has detected a short range wireless signal that was transmitted by a portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource;

determining, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources; and

in response to determining that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources, generating and storing, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, attribution data that associates (i) the user of the mobile device with (ii) the particular resource and (iii) the particular referral source that is associated with the first application that is installed on the mobile device; and

transmitting by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, the attribution data to a tracking server.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising generating a user interface that identifies referral sources associated with the particular resource and that, for the particular referral source, includes a graphical indicator that indicates that the particular referral source is associated with a physical visit to the particular resource.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving data indicating whether a hardware sensor of a different mobile device that is situated in a particular location has detected the short range wireless signal that is transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource;

and

in response to receiving the data indicating whether the hardware sensor of the different mobile device that is situated in the particular location has detected the short range wireless signal that is transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource, adjusting a signal transmission parameter associated with the portable transmitter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored data includes user identifying information entered by the user through the first application that is installed on the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored data includes device identifying information placed on the mobile device by a server that is configured to perform searches of the database of real estate resources.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored data further includes (iv) an image of the user that is generated by a camera at a time within a predetermined period of time of the hardware sensor of the mobile device detecting the short range wireless signal transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable transmitter comprises a beacon.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular resource comprises an indoor portion of a real estate resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data that references the particular resource that the user of the mobile device has identified as a result of a search of the database of real estate resources comprises a website cookie.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable transmitter comprises a beacon embedded in a light bulb that is located at the particular resource that is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

generating and storing, by a first application that is installed on a mobile device and that is associated with a particular referral source that comprises a provider of a website for searching real estate resources or a mobile application developer, data that references a particular resource that a user of the mobile device has identified as a result of a search of a database of real estate resources;

receiving, by a second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, data indicating that a hardware sensor of the mobile device has detected a short range wireless signal that was transmitted by a portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource;

determining, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources; and

in response to determining that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources, generating and storing, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, attribution data that associates (i) the user of the mobile device with (ii) the particular resource and (iii) the particular referral source that is associated with the first application that is installed on the mobile device; and

transmitting, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, the attribution data to a tracking server.

12. The medium of claim 11, wherein the operations comprise generating a user interface that identifies referral sources associated with the particular resource and that, for the particular referral source, includes a graphical indicator that indicates that the particular referral source is associated with a physical visit to the particular resource.

13. The medium of claim 11, wherein the operations comprise receiving data indicating whether a hardware sensor of a different mobile device that is situated in a particular location has detected the short range wireless signal that is transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource;

and

in response to receiving the data indicating whether the hardware sensor of the different mobile device that is situated in the particular location has detected the short range wireless signal that is transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource, adjusting a signal transmission parameter associated with the portable transmitter.

14. The medium of claim 11, wherein the stored data includes user identifying information entered by the user through the first application that is installed on the mobile device.

15. The medium of claim 11, wherein the stored data includes device identifying information placed on the mobile device by a server that is configured to perform searches of the database of real estate resources.

16. The medium of claim 11, wherein the stored data further includes (iv) an image of the user that is generated by a camera at a time within a predetermined period of time of the hardware sensor of the mobile device detecting the short range wireless signal transmitted by the portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the portable transmitter comprises a beacon.

18. The medium of claim 11, wherein the data that references the particular resource that the user of the mobile device has identified as a result of a search of the database of real estate resources comprises a website cookie.

19. The medium of claim 11, wherein the portable transmitter comprises a beacon embedded in a light bulb that is located at the particular resource that is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources.

20. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

generating and storing, by a first application that is installed on a mobile device and that is associated with a particular referral source that comprises a provider of a website for searching real estate resources or a mobile application developer, data that references a particular resource that a user of the mobile device has identified as a result of a search of a database of real estate resources;

receiving, by a second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, data indicating that a hardware sensor of the mobile device has detected a short range wireless signal that was transmitted by a portable transmitter that is associated with the particular resource;

determining, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device and that is different than the first application, that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources; and

in response to determining that the particular resource is associated with both (i) the short range wireless signal that was transmitted by the portable transmitter and that was indicated as detected by the hardware sensor of the mobile device, and (ii) the data that was generated and stored by the first application that is installed on the mobile device as a result of the search of the database of real estate resources, generating and storing, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, attribution data that associates (i) the user of the mobile device with (ii) the particular resource and (iii) the particular referral source that is associated with the first application that is installed on the mobile device; and

transmitting, by the second application that is installed on the mobile device, the attribution data to a tracking server.