System and methods for determining location of pop displays with wireless beacons using wireless network gateways

• US 10,410,238 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Shelfbucks, Inc.
• Inventors: Walden, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton, Matthew L
• Application Number:
  US15/153,220
• Publication Number:
  US 20170018006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 : Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for using wireless beacons in point of purchase (“POP”) displays to facilitate the delivery of consumer oriented content to mobile devices is disclosed herein. Wireless beacons may be used to broadcast wireless signals from POP displays, where the wireless signals include data packets with unique identifiers for the wireless beacons. A wireless signal from a POP display may be received by a wireless network gateway located at a retail location. The retail location of the wireless network gateway may be known to a remote server. The wireless network gateway may provide the unique identifier in the wireless signal to the remote server. The remote server may assess the location of the POP display based on the unique identifier for the wireless beacon being received from the wireless network gateway.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a wireless network gateway located at a retail location, the retail location of the wireless network gateway known by a remote server, wherein the wireless network gateway comprises a processor and one or more wireless antennas, and wherein the wireless network gateway is configured to;

receive a data packet with a unique identifier associated with a wireless beacon in a wireless signal through at least one wireless antenna, the wireless beacon located on a circuit board coupled to a point of purchase (POP) display comprising a consumer product display at the retail location;

in response to receiving the data packet, assess a signal strength between the POP display and the wireless network gateway, wherein the signal strength estimates a distance between the POP display and the wireless network gateway; and

transmit the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server to determine a specific location of the POP display within the retail location, wherein the retail location of the POP display is unknown to the remote server prior to the transmittal and a final destination of the wireless beacon and the circuit board of the POP display is not required to be known at a time of manufacture or distribution of the POP display.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the POP display is associated with an advertising campaign or a promotional campaign.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server when the assessed signal strength between the wireless network gateway and the wireless beacon meets a predefined threshold level in signal strength.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server over a communication network.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the communication network comprises a cellular network, a wireless network, and/or the Internet.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server via a mobile device, wherein the mobile device comprises a software package that includes a mobile application and a software developer kit (SDK) that interprets wireless data packets received by the mobile device, and wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the mobile device, the mobile device thereby transmitting the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless signal with the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon comprises a sub-gigahertz wireless signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the wireless network gateway receives the sub-gigahertz wireless signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the retail location of the POP display is unknown to the wireless network gateway prior to the transmittal.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the POP display is distributed at random to the retail location after the circuit board is coupled to the POP display.

9. A method for assessing a location of a point of purchase (POP display), comprising:

receiving, by a wireless network gateway located at a retail location, a data packet with a unique identifier associated with a wireless beacon in a wireless signal through at least one wireless antenna, the wireless beacon located on a circuit board coupled to a point of purchase (POP) display comprising a consumer product display at the retail location;

in response to receiving the data packet, assessing, by the wireless network gateway located at the retail location, a signal strength between the POP display and the wireless network gateway, wherein the signal strength estimates a distance between the POP display and the wireless network gateway, and wherein the wireless network gateway location is known by a remote server; and

transmitting, by the wireless network gateway located at the retail location, the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server to determine a specific location of the POP display within the retail location, wherein the retail location of the POP display is unknown to the remote server prior to the transmittal and a final destination of the wireless beacon and the circuit board of the POP display is not required to be known at a time of manufacture or distribution of the POP display.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server using a communication network.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the wireless signal received by the wireless network gateway comprises a sub-gigahertz wireless signal.

17. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

transmitting, by the wireless network gateway located at the retail location, the data packet with the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon in the wireless signal to a mobile device positioned at the retail location, the mobile device thereby displaying, on a display of the mobile device, consumer content associated with the POP display.

12. A non-transient computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform a method, comprising:

receiving, by a wireless network gateway located at a retail location, a data packet with a unique identifier associated with a wireless beacon in a wireless signal through at least one wireless antenna, the wireless beacon located on a circuit board coupled to a point of purchase (POP) display comprising a consumer product display at the retail location;

in response to receiving the data packet, assessing, by the wireless network gateway located at the retail location, a signal strength between the POP display and the wireless network gateway, wherein the signal strength estimates a distance between the POP display and the wireless network gateway, and wherein the wireless network gateway location is known by a remote server; and

transmitting, by the wireless network gateway located at the retail location, the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server to determine a specific location of the POP display within the retail location, wherein the retail location of the POP display is unknown to the remote server prior to the transmittal and a final destination of the wireless beacon and the circuit board of the POP display is not required to be known at a time of manufacture or distribution of the POP display.

13. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the wireless network gateway transmits the unique identifier associated with the wireless beacon and the assessed signal strength to the remote server using a communication network.

14. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the wireless signal received by the wireless network gateway comprises a sub-gigahertz wireless signal.