METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY PRESENTING CONTENT IN RESPONSE TO SUCCESSIVE SCANS OF A STATIC CODE

• US 20120223131A1
• Filed: 03/03/2011
• Published: 09/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Life in Mobile Innovation Inc.
• Original Assignee: Life In Mobile, Inc.
• Inventors: LIM, JOHN W., Packes, John M. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,413,884 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

QR codes or the like are used in hardlink applications, by which different users may receive different information in response to a scan of the same code that is displayed at one or more locations in the real world. The content delivered to a particular user may be dependent on the time of the scan, the geographic location of the user, a weather condition at the geographical location, personal information associated with the user, a number of previous scans of the code by prior individuals, and any combination of the these or other variables, which may be determined by an originator of the QR code or other party.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer server system in communication with a wireless communication network, comprising:

storing, in an electronic memory, a plurality of separate merchant site addresses in computer-readable format in an electronic memory;

storing, in the electronic memory, at least one rule for selecting at least one merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses for transmission to wireless devices of users over the wireless communication network, the at least one rule dependent on data determined from indications of hardlink codes received from the wireless devices;

receiving, from a wireless device of a user, an indication of a hardlink code that is visually displayed to the user at a geographic location;

determining data corresponding to the indication, the data including an identification of the hardlink code and at least one of;

a time of the indication, the geographic location of the wireless device at the time of the indication, and a weather condition at the geographic location;

selecting a merchant site address from the plurality of merchant addresses based on at least a portion of the data and the at least one rule that is dependent on the data; and

transmitting the merchant site address to the wireless device of the user in response to the indication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device comprises a transmitter and a receiver for communicating signals over the wireless communications network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device comprises a global positioning system (GPS) for determining the geographic location of the wireless device and wherein the wireless device transmits the geographic location with the indication.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device comprises a camera including at least one of a still camera and a video camera for imaging the code, and software instructions for decoding the code after said imaging.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the indication includes information that was decoded by the wireless device from a scan of the code by the camera.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the weather condition at the geographic location of the user is determined by querying a weather site on the Internet for weather data for the geographic location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardlink code comprises at least one of:

a one-dimensional barcode, a two-dimensional barcode, a quick response (QR) code, a dataform, a dataglyph, alphanumeric text, a photographic image and a symbology.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardlink code is a photographic image, the method further comprising:

determining a feature in the image using image recognition software and wherein the data includes the feature.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications network comprises at least one of a cellular telephone network, a cellular data network and a wireless computer network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one rule is dependent on additional data including a number of scans of the hardlink code performed by one or more users.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting comprises selecting at least two merchant site addresses from the plurality of merchant site addresses, said transmitting comprises transmitting the at least two merchant site addresses to the wireless device of the user;

and further comprises;

receiving a selection of one of the at least two merchant site addresses from the wireless device of the user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardlink code comprises a Quick Response (QR) code and wherein the indication received from the user includes information decoded from a scan of the QR code by the wireless device of the user.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises a transmission of an alphanumeric character string by Short Message Service (SMS) from the wireless device to an SMS address that is visually displayed with the hardlink code.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication comprises a web site address that is visually displayed to the user with the hardlink code.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in the electronic memory, the geographic location at which the hardlink code is displayed; and

wherein the geographic location of the user is determined by retrieving the geographic location from the electronic memory based on the hardlink code received from the user.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one rule is further dependent on bids from a plurality of merchants for redirecting wireless devices of the users to a particular merchant in response to receiving the indication of the code.

17. A computer server system in communication with a wireless communications network, comprising:

a communications device for transmitting and receiving signals over the wireless communication network;

an electronic memory for storing a plurality of separate merchant site addresses for selective transmission to wireless devices of users;

the electronic memory further storing at least one rule for selecting at least one merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses, the at least one rule dependent on data determined from indications of hardlink codes received from the wireless devices via the communication device;

a processor, operable with the communication device and the electronic memory, to enable the computer server system to;

receive, from a first wireless device, a first indication of a hardlink code that is visually displayed to at a geographic location;

determine, in response to the first indication, first data that includes an identification of the hardlink code and at least one of;

a time of the first indication, the geographic location of the first wireless device at the time of the first indication, and a weather condition at the geographic location at the time of the first indication;

select a first merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses based on at least a portion of the first data and the at least one rule;

transmit the first merchant site address to the first wireless device;

receive, from a second wireless device, a second indication of the hardlink code that is visually displayed at the geographic location;

determine, in response to the second indication, second data that includes a second identification of the hardlink code and at least one of;

a time of the second indication, the geographic location of the second wireless device at the time of the second indication, and a weather condition at the geographic location at the time of the second indication;

select a second merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses based on at least a portion of the second data and the at least one rule; and

transmit the second merchant site address to the second wireless device.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the computer server system is further enabled to:

receive, from a third wireless device, a third indication of the hardlink code that is visually displayed at a second geographic location;

determine, in response to the third indication, third data that includes a third identification of the hardlink code and at least one of;

a time of the third indication, the geographic location of the third wireless device at the time of the third indication, and a weather condition at the second geographic location at the time of the third indication;

select a third merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses based on at least a portion of the third data and the at least one rule; and

transmit the third merchant site address to the third wireless device.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the computer server system is further enabled to:

receive, from a third wireless device, a third indication of the hardlink code that is visually displayed at a second geographic location;

determine, in response to the third indication, third data that includes a third identification of the hardlink code and at least one of;

a time of the third indication, the geographic location of the third wireless device at the time of the third indication, and a weather condition at the second geographic location at the time of the third indication;

select the first merchant site address from the plurality of separate merchant site addresses based on at least a portion of the third data and the at least one rule; and

transmit the first merchant site address to the third wireless device.

20. A method for determining merchant content to serve in response to an indication of a hardlink code received from a wireless device, the method performed by a computer server system over a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving, over the communication network, a first bid from a first merchant server including a first price to be paid by a first merchant for each indication of the hardlink code received from wireless devices of consumers;

receiving a second bid from a second merchant second including a second price to be paid by a second merchant for each indication of the hardlink code received from wireless devices of consumers;

receiving an indication of the hardlink code from a wireless device of a consumer over the communication network; and

delivering content to the wireless device over the communication network, the content from one of the first merchant and the second merchant based on a comparison of the first price and the second price.