Prioritizing beacon messages for mobile devices

• US 10,278,197 B2
• Filed: 08/11/2016
• Issued: 04/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Vigier, Benjamin, Fugman, Corey G., Krsmanovic, Filip, Roig, Mathieu, Su, Yingfeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide
• Application Number:
  US15/234,886
• Publication Number:
  US 20160353463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/56 based on priority criteria
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Techniques and systems for prioritizing beacon messages are disclosed. Such a technique can include receiving, at a mobile device, beacon messages from multiple beacon devices over short-range communication links, the beacon devices being within a vicinity of an establishment, the beacon messages being configured to provide content associated with the establishment; determining, at the mobile device, priorities of the beacon messages based on one or more criteria; selecting, at the mobile device, a beacon message of the beacon messages based on the priorities to produce a selected beacon message; and presenting the selected beacon message through the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device, beacon messages from multiple beacon devices over short-range communication links, the beacon devices being within a vicinity of an establishment, wherein the beacon messages respectively comprise beacon identifiers, wherein the beacon messages respectively provide message contents, each of the message contents being associated with the establishment;

assigning flags to the beacon messages, each flag indicating whether a corresponding beacon message is a new message or a duplicate of a previously received beacon message;

determining, at the mobile device, priorities of the beacon messages based on the message contents and based on a message content based priority rule set, wherein the message contents are separate from the beacon identifiers, and wherein determining the priorities comprises determining the priorities based on the flags;

selecting, at the mobile device, a beacon message of the beacon messages based on the priorities to produce a selected beacon message; and

presenting the selected beacon message through the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages,

wherein determining the priorities comprises;

performing a proximity-based message priority determination based on the range estimations, and

performing a content-based message priority determination based on the message content based priority rule set and one or more of the message contents.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the proximity-based message priority determination produces a tie among two or more of the beacon messages in terms of message priority, and wherein determining the priorities comprises using the content-based message priority determination to break the tie among the two or more of the beacon messages.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages, wherein determining the priorities comprises using the range estimations such that a message from a beacon device that is closer to the mobile device has a higher priority than a message from a beacon device that is farther away from the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the beacon messages comprises receiving first beacon messages from a first beacon device, and receiving second beacon messages from a second beacon device, and wherein determining priorities comprises using hysteresis to prevent changes in the priorities that are due to transitory fluctuations in received signal strength values associated with the first beacon messages, the second beacon messages, or both.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining a reason code in response to a visit by a user of the mobile device to the establishment; and

accessing a reason based rule set based on the reason code, wherein determining the priorities comprises applying the reason based rule set.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the priorities comprises:

determining whether a beacon message of the beacon messages has been previously presented to a user of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

retrieving content corresponding to one or more values included in the selected beacon message, wherein presenting the selected beacon message comprises displaying the retrieved content on a screen of the mobile device.

9. A system comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with mobile devices; and

processor electronics configured to store applications, including an application, for download to the mobile devices via the network interface,

wherein the application comprises instructions to cause a mobile device to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at the mobile device, beacon messages from multiple beacon devices over short-range communication links, the beacon devices being within a vicinity of an establishment, wherein the beacon messages respectively comprise beacon identifiers, wherein the beacon messages respectively provide message contents, each of the message contents being associated with the establishment;

assigning flags to the beacon messages, each flag indicating whether a corresponding beacon message is a new message or a duplicate of a previously received beacon message;

determining, at the mobile device, priorities of the beacon messages based on the message contents and based on a message content based priority rule set, wherein the message contents are separate from the beacon identifiers, and wherein determining the priorities comprises determining the priorities based on the flags;

selecting, at the mobile device, a beacon message of the beacon messages based on the priorities to produce a selected beacon message; and

presenting the selected beacon message through the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages, and

wherein determining the priorities comprises;

performing a proximity-based message priority determination based on the range estimations, and

performing a content-based message priority determination based on the message content based priority rule set and one or more of the message contents.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the proximity-based message priority determination produces a tie among two or more of the beacon messages in terms of message priority, and wherein determining the priorities comprises using the content-based message priority determination to break the tie among the two or more of the beacon messages.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages, wherein determining the priorities comprises using the range estimations such that a message from a beacon device that is closer to the mobile device has a higher priority than a message from a beacon device that is farther away from the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein receiving the beacon messages comprises receiving first beacon messages from a first beacon device, and receiving second beacon messages from a second beacon device, and wherein determining priorities comprises using hysteresis to prevent changes in the priorities that are due to transitory fluctuations in received signal strength values associated with the first beacon messages, the second beacon messages, or both.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

determining a reason code in response to a visit by a user of the mobile device to the establishment; and

accessing a reason based rule set based on the reason code, wherein determining the priorities comprises applying the reason based rule set.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein determining the priorities comprises:

determining whether a beacon message of the beacon messages has been previously presented to a user of the mobile device.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the operations comprise:

retrieving content corresponding to one or more values included in the selected beacon message, wherein presenting the selected beacon message comprises displaying the retrieved content on a screen of the mobile device.

17. A mobile device comprising:

circuitry configured to receive beacon messages from multiple beacon devices over short-range communication links, the beacon devices being within a vicinity of an establishment, wherein the beacon messages respectively comprise beacon identifiers, wherein the beacon messages respectively provide message contents, each of the message contents being associated with the establishment; and

a processor configured to perform operations comprising;

assigning flags to the beacon messages, each flag indicating whether a corresponding beacon message is a new message or a duplicate of a previously received beacon message;

determining priorities of the beacon messages based on the message contents and based on a message content based priority rule set, wherein the message contents are separate from the beacon identifiers, and wherein determining the priorities comprises determining the priorities based on the flags;

selecting a beacon message of the beacon messages based on the priorities to produce a selected beacon message; and

presenting the selected beacon message through the mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages, and

wherein determining the priorities comprises;

performing a proximity-based message priority determination based on the range estimations, and

performing a content-based message priority determination based on the message content based priority rule set and one or more of the message contents.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the proximity-based message priority determination produces a tie among two or more of the beacon messages in terms of message priority, and wherein determining the priorities comprises using the content-based message priority determination to break the tie among the two or more of the beacon messages.

20. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise:

determining range estimations between the mobile device and the beacon devices based on received signal strength values corresponding respectively to the beacon messages, wherein determining the priorities comprises using the range estimations such that a message from a beacon device that is closer to the mobile device has a higher priority than a message from a beacon device that is farther away from the mobile device.

21. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein receiving the beacon messages comprises receiving first beacon messages from a first beacon device, and receiving second beacon messages from a second beacon device, and wherein determining priorities comprises using hysteresis to prevent changes in the priorities that are due to transitory fluctuations in received signal strength values associated with the first beacon messages, the second beacon messages, or both.

22. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the operations comprise:

determining a reason code in response to a visit by a user of the mobile device to the establishment; and

accessing a reason based rule set based on the reason code, wherein determining the priorities comprises applying the reason based rule set.

23. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein determining the priorities comprises:

determining whether a beacon message of the beacon messages has been previously presented to a user of the mobile device.

24. The mobile device of claim 17, comprising:

a screen coupled with the processor,

wherein the operations comprise retrieving content corresponding to one or more values included in the selected beacon message, wherein presenting the selected beacon message comprises displaying the retrieved content on a screen of the mobile device.