PROVIDING DERIVED LOCATION INFORMATION FOR CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP IN RESPONSE TO RECEIPT OF SHORT RANGE WIRELESS BEACON

• US 20130281084A1
• Filed: 04/24/2012
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Humphrey D., Batada, Asif Nooruddin
• Granted Patent: US 8,792,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/426.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/0062 in RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] Systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/04 including near field communication means, e.g. RFID
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• 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

A mobile station is configured to detect entry into a premises of an enterprise in response to short range or near field radio-frequency signals. The mobile station receives signals from one or more short range wireless beacons located in the premises, and the mobile station sends identifiers from the beacon signals to a location server. The location server processes the identifiers to determine location of the mobile station within the premises and sends information to the mobile station, for presentation to the user of a map of the premises showing the determined location of the mobile station within the premises. Entry detection also may be used to automatically check-in a customer/user of the mobile station with a system of the enterprise used by personnel of the enterprise at the premises to enable the personnel to customize interactions the customer while the customer is at the premises.

Claims

1. A mobile station, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to enable mobile communications via a public macro cellular communication network;

at least one wireless receiver configured to receive wireless signals over a range less than a range of wireless signals from the public macro cellular communication network;

at least one user interface element configured to provide an output to a user of the mobile station and receive an input from the user of the mobile station;

a processor coupled to the wireless transceiver, the at least one wireless receiver and the at least one user interface element configured to control operations of the mobile station;

a storage device accessible to the processor; and

programming stored in the storage device, wherein execution of the programming by the processor configures the mobile station to perform functions, including functions to;

(a) detect entry into premises of an enterprise in response to a signal corresponding to the enterprise received via the at least one wireless receiver;

(b) detect one or more short range broadcast beacon signals received via the at least one wireless receiver and obtain an identifier from each received short range broadcast beacon signal;

(c) send each identifier to a system of the enterprise for processing to determine a location of the mobile station within the premises; and

(d) receive information from the system of the enterprise, the information enabling the mobile station to present to the user of the mobile station via the at least one user interface element, a map of the premises showing the determined location of the mobile station within the premises.

2. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to send each identifier to the system of the enterprise via the wireless transceiver and the public macro cellular communication network.

3. The mobile station of claim 1, further comprising:

a short range wireless transmitter,

wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to transmit within the premises each identifier over the air to a short range wireless receiver of the system of the enterprise at the premises via the short range wireless transmitter.

4. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the at least one wireless receiver comprises:

a near field communication (NFC) receiver for receiving a radio-frequency identification (RFID) query signal corresponding to the enterprise from an Early Alert System (EAS) at an entrance to the premises; and

a short range receiver for receiving the short range broadcast beacon signals.

5. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein:

at least one wireless receiver comprises a short range receiver; and

execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to detect entry into the premises in response to one of the identifiers received in the short range broadcast beacon signals.

6. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to:

periodically repeat functions (b)-(d) to update the map to show an updated location of the mobile station.

7. The mobile station of claim 6, further including:

one or more Micro Electromagnetic Systems (MEMS) responsive to movement of the mobile station;

wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to update the location shown on the map in response to movement of the mobile station detected by the one or more MEMS, between repetitions of functions (b)-(d).

8. The mobile station of claim 7, wherein the one or more MEMS includes:

a barometer for measuring vertical movements for enabling vertical motion detection; and

a temperature sensor for measuring temperature changes for calculating error in MEMS measurements caused by temperature variation.

9. A mobile station, comprising:

a wireless transceiver configured to enable mobile communications via a public macro cellular communication network;

a short range wireless receiver;

at least one user interface element configured to provide an output to a user of the mobile station and receive an input from the user of the mobile station;

a processor coupled to the transceiver, the receiver and the at least one user interface element configured to control operations of the mobile station;

a storage device accessible to the processor; and

programming stored in the storage device, wherein execution of the programming by the processor configures the mobile station to perform functions, including functions to;

(a) detect a broadcast beacon received via the short range wireless receiver and obtain an identifier from the received beacon;

(b) determine whether the identifier corresponds to a proprietor of an enterprise;

(c) upon determining that the identifier corresponds to a proprietor of an enterprise, determine a current location of the mobile station;

(d) determine whether the current location of the mobile station corresponds to a premises of the enterprise; and

(e) upon determining that the current location corresponds to a premises of the enterprise, send information associated with the user of the mobile station to a system used by personnel of the enterprise at the premises in interacting with the user while the user is at the premises.

10. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to send the information associated with the user via the wireless transceiver and the public macro cellular communication network.

11. The mobile station of claim 9, further comprising:

a short range wireless transmitter,

wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to send the information associated with the user via the short range wireless transmitter over the air within the premises to a short range wireless receiver of the system used by the personnel of the enterprise at the premises.

12. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein the programming comprises:

an application of the enterprise configured to execute upon determining that the identifier corresponds to the proprietor of the enterprise; and

a navigation application configured to determine the current location of the mobile station in response to execution of the application of the enterprise.

13. The mobile station of claim 9, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to:

(f) detect a plurality of broadcast beacons received via the short range wireless receiver and obtain an identifier from each of the received beacons;

(g) send the identifiers to a system of the enterprise for processing to determine the location of the mobile station within the premises; and

(h) receive and present to a user of the mobile station via the at least one user interface element a map of the premises showing the determined location of the mobile station within the premises.

14. The mobile station of claim 13, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to:

periodically repeat functions (f)-(h) to update the map to show an updated location of the mobile station.

15. The mobile station of claim 14, further including:

one or more Micro Electromagnetic Systems (MEMS) responsive to movement of the mobile station;

wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to update the location shown on the map in response to movement of the mobile station detected by the one or more MEMS, between repetitions of functions (f)-(h).

16. The mobile station of claim 15, wherein the one or more MEMS includes:

a barometer for measuring vertical movements for enabling vertical motion detection; and

a temperature sensor for measuring temperature changes for calculating error in MEMS measurements caused by temperature variation.

17. The mobile station of claim 16, execution of the programming by the processor further configures the mobile station to:

determine, when navigation to a destination in the premises is initiated, an initial position using an Early Alert System (HAS), and

calculate error in MEMS measurements based upon the measurement of temperature changes by the temperature sensor, to maintain position accuracy during the navigation without subsequently determining the position of the mobile station using the EAS.

18. A system, comprising:

a plurality of short range wireless beacons, configured to emit beacon signals within an enterprise premises, each emitted beacon signal including an identifier associated with each beacon;

a database correlating combinations of the identifiers to locations within the enterprise premises;

a server computer system having access to the database and having a communication interface for communication with a mobile station at least while a user of the mobile station is within the enterprise premises,

wherein programming configures the server computer system to perform functions, including functions to;

(a) receive, from the mobile station, a set of identifiers of the plurality of the short range wireless beacons obtained from short range wireless beacon signals received by the mobile station;

(b) determine from the database a location of the mobile station within the premises, based on the received set of identifiers; and

(c) send information to the mobile station, for presentation to the user of a map of the premises showing the determined location of the mobile station within the premises.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising an Early Alert System (EAS) configured to:

emit a near field radio-frequency identification (RFID) query signal, corresponding to the enterprise, to the mobile station in a vicinity of an entrance to the premises, to request identification of the mobile station, and

to receive the identity of the mobile station in response to the request.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the EAS is further configured to forward the identity of the mobile station to a customer relationship management server of the system.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the programming configures the server computer system to further function to receive, from the mobile station, information associated with the user of the mobile station as a check-in with the enterprise, and to send the information of the user to personnel of the enterprise at the premises to enable the personnel to customize interactions with the user while the user is at the premises.