USER IDENTIFICATION WITHIN A PHYSICAL MERCHANT LOCATION THROUGH THE USE OF A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20120239500A1
• Filed: 03/15/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: MONAHAN, Scott P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,542,372 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.58
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02529 not involving signal parameters, i.e. only involving identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and system are described for determining a location of a consumer within a retail establishment, or other geographical proximity. The method and system use a portable computing device (“PCD”) such as, but not limited to, a mobile phone. The system and method may leverage existing infrastructure, such as wireless routers, to assist the PCD and a remote server in communication with the PCD to determine a location of a consumer in possession of the PCD within a retail location. The system may comprise a PCD running a geo-network discovery (“GND”) module, a server running a service set identifier (“SSID”) verification and rules (“V/R”) module, a telecommunications network, and a wireless router configured to broadcast a unique SSID.

Claims

1. A method for determining the location of a portable computing device (“

PCD”

), comprising the steps of;

broadcasting a service set identifier (“

SSID”

) from a wireless router, wherein the broadcast range of the wireless router defines a proximity;

receiving the SSID at the PCD, wherein the PCD receives the SSID as a result of being in the proximity;

transmitting the SSID to a remote server;

receiving the SSID at the remote server; and

querying a database for the SSID, wherein the SSID is associated in the database with the physical location data of the wireless router.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of running a module on the PCD configured to validate the SSID prior to transmitting the SSID to the server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising validating the SSID with one or more rules which were downloaded to the PCD from the server over a telecommunications network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of running a module on the server configured to decode the SSID prior to querying the database.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting a retail offer to the PCD, wherein the offer is based on the physical location data of the wireless router.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

tracking the behavior of the PCD user to determine whether the retail offer was accepted; and

updating the database to include records of the tracked behavior.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

querying the database to identify data associated with the user of the PCD; and

based on the physical location data of the wireless router and the identified data, transmitting a retail offer to the PCD.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission to the server comprises the use of a communications link through a cellular network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission to the server comprises the use of a communications link through the wireless router.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCD comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a smartphone, a navigation device, a tablet personal computer, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

11. A system for determining the location of a portable computing device (“

PCD”

), the system comprising;

a wireless router operable to broadcast a service set identifier (“

SSID”

), wherein the broadcast range of the wireless router defines a proximity;

a PCD operable to;

receive the SSID, wherein the PCD receives the SSID as a result of being in the proximity; and

transmit the SSID to a remote server; and

a remote server operable to;

receive the SSID from the PCD; and

query a database for the SSID, wherein the SSID is associated in the database with the physical location data of the wireless router.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the PCD comprises a module configured to validate the SSID prior to transmitting the SSID to the server.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the module is further configured to validate the SSID with one or more rules which were downloaded to the PCD from the server over a telecommunications network.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the server comprises a module configured to decode the SSID prior to querying the database.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further operable to transmit a retail offer to the PCD and the offer is based on the physical location data of the wireless router.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the server is further operable to:

track the behavior of the PCD user to determine whether the retail offer was accepted; and

update the database to include records of the tracked behavior.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the server is further operable to:

query the database to identify data associated with the user of the PCD; and

based on the physical location data of the wireless router and the identified data, transmit a retail offer to the PCD.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the PCD is operable to transmit the SSID to the server by using a communications link through a cellular network.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the PCD is operable to transmit the SSID to the server by using a communications link through the wireless router.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the PCD comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a smartphone, a navigation device, a tablet personal computer, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

21. A system for determining the location of a portable computing device (“

PCD”

), the system comprising;

means for broadcasting identification data, wherein the broadcast range of the means defines a proximity;

means for receiving the identification data, wherein the identification is received as a result of being in the proximity;

means for transmitting the identification data;

means for receiving the transmitted identification data; and

means for querying a database for the identification data, wherein the identification data is associated in the database with the physical location data of the broadcasting means.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to validate the identification data prior to transmitting the identification data to the means for receiving transmitted identification data.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the means to validate the identification data is further configured to validate the identification data with one or more rules which were downloaded over a telecommunications network.

24. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to decode the identification data prior to querying the database.

25. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to transmit a retail offer that is based on the physical location data of the broadcasting means.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising means to:

determine whether the retail offer was accepted; and

update the database to include records of the determination.

27. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to:

query the database to identify data associated with the transmitting means; and

based on the physical location data of the broadcasting means and the identified data, transmit a retail offer.

28. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to transmit the identification data by using a communications link through a cellular network.

29. The system of claim 21, further comprising means to transmit the identification data by using a communications link through the broadcasting means.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for receiving the identification data comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a smartphone, a navigation device, a tablet personal computer, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.

31. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code executable to implement a method for determining the location of a portable computing device (“

PCD”

), the method comprising;

broadcasting a service set identifier (“

SSID”

) from a wireless router, wherein the broadcast range of the wireless router defines a proximity;

receiving the SSID at the PCD, wherein the PCD receives the SSID as a result of being in the proximity;

transmitting the SSID to a remote server;

receiving the SSID at the remote server; and

querying a database for the SSID, wherein the SSID is associated in the database with the physical location data of the wireless router.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises running a module on the PCD configured to validate the SSID prior to transmitting the SSID to the server.

33. The computer program product of claim 32, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises validating the SSID with one or more rules which were downloaded to the PCD from the server over a telecommunications network.

34. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises running a module on the server configured to decode the SSID prior to querying the database.

35. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises transmitting a retail offer to the PCD, wherein the offer is based on the physical location data of the wireless router.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises:

tracking the behavior of the PCD user to determine whether the retail offer was accepted; and

updating the database to include records of the tracked behavior.

37. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises:

querying the database to identify data associated with the user of the PCD; and

based on the physical location data of the wireless router and the identified data, transmitting a retail offer to the PCD.

38. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises transmitting the SSID via a cellular network communications link.

39. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the program code implementing the method further comprises transmitting the SSID via a communications link through the wireless router.

40. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the PCD comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a pager, a personal digital assistant, a smartphone, a navigation device, a tablet personal computer, and a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.