METHOD AND DEVICE FOR INFORMATION TRANSMISSION

• US 20150121469A1
• Filed: 07/28/2014
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: HE, Chang
• Granted Patent: US 10,172,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 11/00 Transmission systems employing sonic, ultrasonic or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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 method and device for transmitting product information using ultrasonic signals are disclosed. The device detects local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information while the device is at a location in proximity to an ultrasound transmitter. In response to detecting the local availability of the ultrasound-encoded product information, the device requests a user permission from a user of the device to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information. Upon obtaining the user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information, the device receives, from the ultrasound transmitter, an ultrasonic signal encoded with a message containing respective information associated with a respective product. The device decodes the ultrasonic signal to obtain the message in a human-perceivable form.

Claims

1. A method of receiving product information, comprising:

at a client device having one or more processors and memory for storing programs to be executed by the one or more processors;

detecting local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information while the client device is at a location in proximity to an ultrasound transmitter;

in response to detecting the local availability of the ultrasound-encoded product information, requesting a user permission from a user of the client device to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information;

upon obtaining the user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information, receiving, from the ultrasound transmitter, an ultrasonic signal encoded with a message containing respective information associated with a respective product; and

decoding the ultrasonic signal to obtain the message in a human-perceivable form.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

outputting at least part of the message in an audible form.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a current user permission state for capturing available ultrasound-encoded product information;

upon detection of a new source of available ultrasound-encoded product information different from a last detected source of available ultrasound-encoded product information, requesting an updated user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information from the new source; and

in accordance with a failure to obtain the updated user permission, changing the current user permission state and preventing subsequent receipt of the ultrasound-encoded product information from the new source.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting concurrent local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information from multiple ultrasound transmitters located in proximity to the client device;

in response to detecting the concurrent local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information from the multiple ultrasound transmitters, displaying a request for the user of the client device to select from the multiple ultrasound transmitters for subsequent message retrieval; and

in accordance with a user selection provided in response to the request, determining whether to receive or prevent subsequent receipt of ultrasound-encoded product information from each of the multiple ultrasound transmitters.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the obtained message in the memory of the client device for output at a later time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after obtaining the user permission and prior to receiving the ultrasonic signal, activating, in response to the user permission, an ultrasonic listening port of the client device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after obtaining the user permission and prior to receiving the ultrasonic signal, activating, in response to the user permission, an ultrasonic listening port of the client device; and

after receiving the ultrasonic signal, deactivating, in response to a revocation of the user permission, the ultrasonic listening port of the client device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a signal to subscribe to a service associated with receiving messages including product information via ultrasonic signals.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the user permission includes detecting no explicit user rejection to the requesting during a predetermined time window after the requesting.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

detecting local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information while the electronic device is at a location in proximity to an ultrasound transmitter;

in response to detecting the local availability of the ultrasound-encoded product information, requesting a user permission from a user of the electronic device to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information;

upon obtaining the user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information, receiving, from the ultrasound transmitter, an ultrasonic signal encoded with a message containing respective information associated with a respective product; and

decoding the ultrasonic signal to obtain the message in a human-perceivable form.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

detecting concurrent local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information from multiple ultrasound transmitters located in proximity to the electronic device;

in response to detecting the concurrent local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information from the multiple ultrasound transmitters, displaying a request for the user to select from the multiple ultrasound transmitters for subsequent message retrieval; and

in accordance with a user selection provided in response to the request, determining whether to receive or prevent subsequent receipt of ultrasound-encoded product information from each of the multiple ultrasound transmitters.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

outputting at least part of the message in an audible form.

13. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

storing a current user permission state for capturing available ultrasound-encoded product information;

upon detection of a new source of available ultrasound-encoded product information different from a last detected source of available ultrasound-encoded product information, requesting an updated user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information from the new source; and

in accordance with a failure to obtain the updated user permission, changing the current user permission state and preventing subsequent receipt of the ultrasound-encoded product information from the new source.

14. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the one or more programs further comprise instructions for:

in response to a failure to obtain the user permission, preventing receipt of the ultrasound-encoded product information from the ultrasound transmitter.

15. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein obtaining the user permission includes detecting no explicit user rejection to the requesting during a predetermined time window after the requesting.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium of a client device storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of the client device, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

detecting local availability of ultrasound-encoded product information while the client device is at a location in proximity to an ultrasound transmitter;

in response to detecting the local availability of the ultrasound-encoded product information, requesting a user permission from a user of the client device to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information;

upon obtaining the user permission to capture the ultrasound-encoded product information, receiving, from the ultrasound transmitter, an ultrasonic signal encoded with a message containing respective information associated with a respective product; and

decoding the ultrasonic signal to obtain the message in a human-perceivable form.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

outputting at least part of the message in an audible form.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

after obtaining the user permission and prior to receiving the ultrasonic signal, activating, in response to the user permission, an ultrasonic listening port of the client device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

sending a signal to subscribe to a service associated with receiving messages including product information via ultrasonic signals.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein obtaining the user permission includes receiving an indication of user permission in response to the requesting during a predetermined time window after the requesting.