METHOD, SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR CHECKING STATE OF BEACON DEVICE

• US 20150304866A1
• Filed: 03/04/2015
• Published: 10/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: SHIN, CHUL YONG, HUH, JAE HYUNG
• Granted Patent: US 9,467,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• 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, system and apparatus for checking the state of a beacon device are disclosed. The system for the checking the state of a beacon device includes a beacon device and a service device. The beacon device transmits information about a beacon state to the service device and then receives a response signal from the service device. The service device receives the information about the beacon state from the beacon device, performs an update with the received information about the beacon state in association with a list of beacon devices, searches for the information about the beacon state of the beacon device, and provides the found information about the beacon state to the terminal.

Claims

1. A service device, comprising:

a service communication unit configured to transmit and receive data required for checking of a beacon state of a beacon device through communication with at least one terminal and the beacon device; and

a service control unit configured to perform control to receive information about the beacon state from the beacon device, to perform an update with the received information about the beacon state in association with a list of beacon devices, and to, when checking of the information about the beacon state of the beacon device is requested by the terminal, search for the information about the beacon state of the beacon device and then provide the found information about the beacon state to the terminal.

2. The service device of claim 1, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive the information about the beacon state from the beacon device based on short-range wireless communication.

3. The service device of claim 1, further comprising a service storage unit configured to store the list of beacon devices and the information about the beacon state of the beacon device.

4. The service device of claim 1, wherein the information about the beacon state comprises one or more of normal operation information, communication state information, operating system (OS) information, upgrade information, and power information.

5. A terminal, comprising:

a communication unit configured to transmit and receive data required for checking of a beacon state of a beacon device through communicating with at least one beacon device and a service device; and

a control unit configured to perform control to request the service device to check information about the beacon state of the beacon device, to receive the information about the beacon state of the beacon device in response to the request, to check the received information about the beacon state, and to output the checked information about the beacon state onto a screen.

6. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the communication unit is further configured to receive a beacon signal using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

7. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the control unit is further configured to:

perform user authentication;

consult a list of one or more allowed beacon devices after the user authentication;

select a specific beacon device from the consulted list;

set broadcasting information for the selected beacon device; and

activate a communication function through setting of wireless Internet client information with the service device.

8. The terminal of claim 5, wherein the control unit is further configured to, in order to check the beacon state of the beacon device, identify at least one of a Universally Unique IDentifier (UUID) of the beacon device, a major adapted to be indicative of a group of beacon devices, and a minor used to identify the beacon device in the group of beacon devices.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer-readable program instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

request a service device to check information about a beacon state of at least one beacon device in response to a request from a user;

receive the information about the beacon state of the beacon device in response to the request;

check the received information about the beacon state; and

output the checked information about the beacon state onto a screen.