METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PRE AND POST PROCESSING OF BEACON ID SIGNALS

• US 20150140982A1
• Filed: 02/04/2014
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Richard Postrel
• Original Assignee: Richard Postrel
• Inventors: Postrel, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 9,544,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/418
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• 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 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A wireless beacon message management system and method of operating the system with a mobile device. At least one wireless beacon is strategically located in a premises, such as a building or other geocentrically defined area. Each wireless beacon has means for transmitting a wireless beacon signal, wherein the wireless beacon signal includes a beacon data message that has a beacon identification that identifies the beacon transmitting the signal, and optionally the content being delivered. A mobile device such as a smartphone, tablet or the like receives the wireless beacon signal and analyzes it to extract the beacon identification and optional beacon content. The mobile device may then apply one or more software filters to the beacon data message that enables the mobile device to initiate an action based on the filtered beacon data message.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of processing a wireless beacon signal comprising:

a mobile device receiving from a beacon a wireless beacon signal;

the mobile device determining a beacon identifier from the wireless beacon signal;

the mobile device pre-processing the beacon identifier with a beacon filter manager; and

the mobile device enabling a mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if allowed by the beacon filter manager.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager executes locally on the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the beacon filter manager is an application called by an operating system executing on the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the beacon filter manager is integrated within an operating system executing on the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager executes remotely using cloud-based services.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager pre-processes the beacon identifier with reference to a user profile.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the user profile is stored locally on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the user profile is stored remotely using cloud-based services.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies an ignore filter in which the beacon identifier is ignored and the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier is disallowed from processing the beacon identifier.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter is obtained by reference to a no-action table in the user profile.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored at all times.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the day of the week.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the time of the day.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the beacon identifier.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein ignore filter is modified by a user dashboard interface.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a display notification filter that displays a notification on the mobile device of a source associated with the beacon identifier.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of providing a user option to allow or disallow the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies an execute filter that automatically enables the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a queue filter that places the beacon identifier in a transaction queue for subsequent processing.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of applying a priority of service scheme to the transaction queue that provides prioritization to a plurality of beacon identifiers in the transaction queue.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme is stored in the user profile.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme is a FIFO scheme.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme is based on a source associated with the beacon identifier.

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the priority of service scheme is based on a wish list that identifies desired beacon identifiers.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a utilization filter.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the utilization filter performs the steps of

counting the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from a beacon source identified in the beacon identifier;

allowing the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from the beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a predetermined threshold.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the utilization filter performs the steps of

counting the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from a category type associated with a beacon source identified in the beacon identifier;

allowing the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from the category type associated with the beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a predetermined threshold.

28. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of

the mobile device analyzing the signal strength of the wireless beacon signal to determine a distance from the beacon to the mobile device;

the beacon filter manager allowing the mobile device to enable the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier as a function of the distance from the beacon to the mobile device.

29. The method of claim 1 wherein the beacon filter manager applies an access control filter that utilizes an external qualifier to allow the mobile device to enable the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

30. The method of claim 39 wherein the external qualifier comprises reward points in a reward account associated with the user.

31. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of the mobile device executing a post-processing routine after the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier has at least partially processed the beacon identifier.

35. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routing comprises a web search.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein results of the web search are provided to the mobile device.

37. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine comprises a transaction execution service.

38. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine comprises a beacon rating service.

39. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine comprises a calendar integration service.

40. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine comprises a weather information integration service.

41. The method of claim 31 wherein the post processing routine comprises a traffic information integration service.

32. The method of wherein the post processing routing comprises a product comparison service.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the product comparison service generates a query to a plurality of resources on the Internet to determine information regarding a product associated with the mobile application.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein results of the query from the plurality of resources are provided to the mobile device.

42. A mobile device comprising processing circuitry, program storage, a user input device, a user output device, a short range wireless interface for short range communication with a beacon, and a network interface for wireless communications with a network, wherein the program storage stores program code for programming the processing circuitry to:

receive a wireless beacon signal from a beacon via the short-range wireless interface;

determine a beacon identifier from the wireless beacon signal;

pre-process the beacon identifier with a beacon filter manager; and

enable a mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if allowed by the beacon filter manager.

43. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager is stored locally in the program storage on the mobile device.

44. The mobile device of claim 43 wherein the beacon filter manager is an application called by an operating system executing on the mobile device.

45. The mobile device of claim 43 wherein the beacon filter manager is integrated within an operating system executing on the mobile device.

46. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager is stored remotely on an external server computer and is accessed via the network interface.

47. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager pre-processes the beacon identifier with reference to a user profile.

48. The mobile device of claim 47 wherein the user profile is stored locally in the program storage on the mobile device.

49. The mobile device of claim 47 wherein the user profile is stored remotely on an external server computer and is accessed via the network interface.

50. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager is programmed to apply an ignore filter in which the beacon identifier is ignored and the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier is disallowed from processing the beacon identifier.

51. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter is obtained by reference to a no-action table in the user profile.

52. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored at all times.

53. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the day of the week.

54. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the time of the day.

55. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein the ignore filter specifies that the beacon identifier will be ignored based on the beacon identifier.

56. The mobile device of claim 50 wherein ignore filter may be modified by a user dashboard interface.

57. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a display notification filter that displays a notification on the user output device of the mobile device of a source associated with the beacon identifier.

58. The mobile device of claim 57 wherein the processing circuitry is further programmed to provide a user option to allow or disallow the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

59. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager applies an execute filter that automatically enables the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

60. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a queue filter that places the beacon identifier in a transaction queue for subsequent processing.

61. The mobile device of claim 60 wherein the processing circuitry is further programmed to apply a priority of service scheme to the transaction queue that provides prioritization to a plurality of beacon identifiers in the transaction queue.

62. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service scheme is stored in the user profile.

63. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service scheme is a FIFO scheme.

64. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service scheme is based on a source associated with the beacon identifier.

65. The mobile device of claim 61 wherein the priority of service scheme is based on a wish list that identifies desired beacon identifiers.

66. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager applies a utilization filter.

67. The mobile device of claim 66 wherein the utilization filter performs the steps of

counting the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from a beacon source identified in the beacon identifier;

allowing the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from the beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a predetermined threshold.

68. The mobile device of claim 66 wherein the utilization filter performs the steps of

counting the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from a category type associated with a beacon source identified in the beacon identifier;

allowing the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier if the number of beacon signals that have been previously received from the category type associated with the beacon source identified in the beacon identifier does not exceed a predetermined threshold.

69. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the processing circuitry is further programmed to

analyze the signal strength of the wireless beacon signal to determine a distance from the beacon to the mobile device;

allow the mobile device to enable the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier as a function of the distance from the beacon to the mobile device.

70. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the beacon filter manager applies an access control filter that utilizes an external qualifier to allow the mobile device to enable the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier to process the beacon identifier.

71. The mobile device of claim 70 wherein the external qualifier comprises reward points in a reward account associated with the user.

72. The mobile device of claim 42 wherein the processing circuitry is further programmed to execute a post-processing routine after the mobile application associated with the beacon identifier has at least partially processed the beacon identifier.

73. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routing comprises a product comparison service.

74. The mobile device of claim 73 wherein the product comparison service generates a query to a plurality of resources on the Internet to determine information regarding a product associated with the mobile application.

75. The mobile device of claim 74 wherein results of the query from the plurality of resources are provided to the mobile device.

76. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routing comprises a web search.

77. The mobile device of claim 76 wherein results of the web search are provided to the mobile device.

78. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routine comprises a transaction execution service.

79. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routine comprises a beacon rating service.

80. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routine comprises a calendar integration service.

81. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routine comprises a weather information integration service.

82. The mobile device of claim 72 wherein the post processing routine comprises a traffic information integration service.