PRESENCE DETECTION USING BLUETOOTH AND HYBRID-MODE TRANSMITTERS

• US 20140220883A1
• Filed: 02/04/2014
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: shopkick, Inc. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: shopkick, Inc. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Emigh, Aaron T., Shrivastava, Vivek, Stanek, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 10,771,173 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/61 for local area broadcast, e.g. instore broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• 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 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Presence detection using Bluetooth and hybrid-mode transmitters is disclosed. In some embodiments, one or more transmitters are configured to transmit an iBeacon broadcast and a proprietary Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) broadcast, wherein at least one of the transmitted broadcasts includes an identifier that specifies a venue. The broadcasts are captured by a handset and decoded to infer presence of the handset at the venue.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating an identifier that specifies a venue; and

configuring one or more transmitters to transmit an iBeacon broadcast and a proprietary Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) broadcast, wherein at least one of the transmitted broadcasts includes the identifier;

wherein the transmitted broadcasts are captured by a handset and decoded to infer presence of the handset at the venue.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a store identifier that specifies a store.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a department identifier that specifies a department in a store.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the iBeacon broadcast is employed to wake up a handset application configured to detect an associated service identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising interleaving the iBeacon broadcast and the proprietary BTLE broadcast.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein iBeacon signals are interleaved with proprietary BTLE signals in a ratio of 3:

1.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the proprietary BTLE broadcast is encrypted.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the proprietary BTLE broadcast is digitally signed.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising rotating one or both of major and minor iBeacon identifiers to prompt frequent application wake ups.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the iBeacon identifier to prevent third party wake ups.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the iBeacon identifier is updated via the handset.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a secure identifier.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a nonce.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the identifier comprises computing a hash, wherein the hash includes at least one of a nonce value and a secret key.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising configuring an ultrasonic transmitter to transmit the identifier via an ultrasonic channel.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating at least one of the transmitters based on a directive received via the handset.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcasts captured at the handset are processed with respect to an application of the handset.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising disabling the iBeacon broadcast for a prescribed period of time.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to generate an identifier that specifies a venue; and

one or more transmitters configured to transmit an iBeacon broadcast and a proprietary Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) broadcast, wherein at least one of the transmitted broadcasts includes the identifier;

wherein the transmitted broadcasts are captured by a handset and decoded to infer presence of the handset at the venue.

20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

generating an identifier that specifies a venue; and

configuring one or more transmitters to transmit an iBeacon broadcast and a proprietary Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) broadcast, wherein at least one of the transmitted broadcasts includes the identifier;

wherein the transmitted broadcasts are captured by a handset and decoded to infer presence of the handset at the venue.