USE OF LOCALIZED BROADCAST SIGNALS TO MODIFY MOBILE APPLICATION BEHAVIOR

• US 20130290095A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beelinx Usa, LLC
• Original Assignee: Beelinx Usa, LLC
• Inventors: CRINON, GUILLAUME
• Granted Patent: US 9,972,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.45
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location

Abstract

A method is disclosed for tracking advertisement effectiveness. First information associated with desired advertising information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed information nodes. A mobile unit receives the broadcast information and outputs the desired advertising information. An advertisement counter is started at the time of receipt of the broadcast information and presence information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed monitoring nodes over a restricted broadcast range, which at least one fixed monitoring node is disposed in a predetermined fixed physical proximity with a vendor location. The broadcast presence information is received at the mobile unit and a presence counter is started in response to receipt of the presence information. At the mobile unit loss of receipt of the broadcast presence information, the presence counter is stopped.

Claims

1. A method for tracking advertisement effectiveness, comprising the steps of:

broadcasting first information associated with desired advertising information from at least one of a plurality of fixed information nodes within a restricted broadcast range;

receiving at a mobile unit the broadcast information when the mobile unit is within the restricted broadcast range associated with the at least one of the fixed nodes;

outputting from the mobile unit the desired advertising information associated with the received broadcast information;

starting an advertisement counter at the time of receipt of the broadcast information;

broadcasting presence information from at least one of a plurality of fixed monitoring nodes over a restricted broadcast range, which at least one fixed monitoring node is disposed in a predetermined fixed physical proximity with a vendor location;

receiving the broadcast presence information at the mobile unit;

starting a presence counter in response to receipt of the presence information and stopping the advertising counter;

detecting at the mobile unit loss of receipt of the broadcast presence information; and

stopping the presence counter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast information is continuously broadcast from a plurality of the fixed nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile unit is a handheld device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the handheld device is a mobile phone.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the desired advertising information in memory in the mobile unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the information related to the received broadcast information associated with desired advertising information is stored in association with the associated desired advertising information in the mobile unit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement counter is in the mobile unit.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining if the broadcast of presence information is associated with the received broadcast information associated with desired advertising information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the presence counter is in the mobile unit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising information is output from the mobile device as a visible advertisement.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertising information is output from the mobile device as an audible advertisement.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the information related to the received broadcast presence is stored in memory on the mobile unit.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of uploading information related to the received broadcast presence to a base station.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement counter is stored in memory on the mobile unit.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of uploading the advertisement counter to a base station.

16. The method of claim 17, wherein the presence counter is stored in the mobile unit.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of uploading the presence counter to a base station.

18. A method for monitoring advertisement effectiveness using a mobile handheld unit, comprising the steps of:

running an internal monitoring application;

receiving broadcast first information associated with desired advertising information;

accessing desired advertising information associated with received first broadcast information in response to reception;

initiating an advertisement counter;

outputting the accessed desired advertising information;

receiving broadcast presence information; and

in response to receiving the broadcast presence information, terminating the advertisement counter and logging its value.

19. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of uploading the logged advertisement counter to a base station.

20. The method of claim 21, further comprising the steps of:

starting a presence counter when the broadcast presence information is received;

terminating the presence counter when broadcast presence information is no longer received; and

logging the presence counter value after the presence counter is terminated.