METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BEACON MESSAGING POINT OF SALE MESSAGING AND DELIVERY SYSTEM

• US 20160044442A1
• Filed: 08/06/2014
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Pacelli, Clayton Anthony, Casey, John Joseph, Samuel, Elan Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 10,045,180 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/321 using wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• 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 88/021 adapted for Wireless Local Loop operation

Abstract

An electronic kiosk receives a plurality of messages. The kiosk has a transceiver to utilize a set of radio communication technologies to detect and establish a radio communication link with a mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk. An application specific software program executes on a processor in the kiosk to provide as output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

Claims

1. An electronic kiosk comprising:

a processor;

a data input port via which to receive a plurality of messages;

a data storage component in which to store the messages;

a transceiver to utilize a set of radio communication technologies to detect and establish a radio communication link with the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk; and

an application specific software program to execute on the processor to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

2. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the set of radio communication technologies comprise a near field communications (NFC) set of short-range wireless radio communication technologies via which the transceiver is to detect and establish radio communication with the mobile computing device.

3. The electronic kiosk of claim 2, further comprising an electronic display device, and wherein the application specific software program to output the one or more of the plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to display one or more of the plurality of messages on the display device depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

4. The electronic kiosk of claim 2, wherein the application specific software program to output the one or more of the plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to transmit one or more of the plurality of messages to the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk via the established radio communication link.

5. The electronic kiosk of claim 4, wherein the mobile computing device comprising an application-specific software program to receive and output the transmitted one or more of the plurality of messages to a user of the mobile computing device.

6. The electronic kiosk of claim 2, wherein the transceiver to utilize a set of radio communication technologies to detect and establish radio communication with the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the transceiver to receive a tag that identifies the mobile computing device or a user thereof, and wherein the application specific software program to provide one or more of the plurality of messages further depending on the identifying tag.

7. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the electronic kiosk functions as one or more of a point-of-sale system, a point-of-purchase system, a return- or customer-order system, an inventory management system, a customer relationship management (CRM) system, a financials management system, a warehousing system, a self-diagnostics system.

8. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the data input port via which to receive the plurality of messages comprises a local area network (LAN) port via which to receive the plurality of messages.

9. The electronic kiosk of claim 8, wherein the plurality of messages are received from an application-specific server accessible to the electronic kiosk via a local area network (LAN) coupled to the LAN port.

10. The electronic kiosk of claim 9, wherein the application-specific server is accessible via an internetwork connection to the LAN.

11. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the set of radio communication technologies comprise a Bluetooth technology via which the transceiver is to detect and establish radio communication with the mobile computing device.

12. The electronic kiosk of claim 11, wherein the Bluetooth technology comprises a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless personal area communication network technology operating compatibly with the mobile computing device according to Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0.

13. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a first message that welcomes a user of the mobile computing device, and wherein the application specific software program to execute on the processor to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the first message responsive to detecting the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

14. The electronic kiosk of claim 13, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a second message that directs the user to a point of interest or activity in a retail environment in which the electronic kiosk is located, and wherein the application specific software program to execute on the processor to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the second message responsive to detecting a change in the location of the mobile computing device to within a nearer proximity of the electronic kiosk.

15. The electronic kiosk of claim 14, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a third message that prompts the user to participate in the activity in a retail environment in which the electronic kiosk is located, and wherein the application specific software program to execute on the processor to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the third message responsive to detecting a change in the location of the mobile computing device to within close proximity of the electronic kiosk.

16. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the transceiver further to utilize the set of radio communication technologies to receive messages from the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk;

and

wherein the application specific software program further to execute operations on the processor responsive to the messages received from the mobile computing device.

17. The electronic kiosk of claim 16, wherein the messages received from the mobile computing device comprise profile or preferences information relating to a user of the mobile computing device.

18. The electronic kiosk of claim 16, wherein the operations comprise providing, or not providing, information about a user of the mobile computing device to a social media software application, a location-based services software application, providing, or not providing, information to the user including diagnostics, version or upgrade information, about the electronic kiosk or mobile computing device, payment options or discounts relating to a retail purchase executed using the electronic kiosk or other point-of-service system in or accessible to the retail environment in which the electronic kiosk is located, customized information for output on an electronic display device of the electronic kiosk or the mobile computing device including selected advertising, awards, coupons, third party supplier information, and electronic gaming trophies.

19. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk is determined according to one or more of a location-based services application executing on the mobile computing device, a received signal strength indication of the mobile computing device, global positioning system (GPS) data provided by or associated with the mobile computing device, or tracking of mobile phone radio signals between a plurality of cellular mobile radio towers of a cellular telephone network and the mobile computing device.

20. The electronic kiosk of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device is selected from a group of mobile computing devices consisting of an electronic gaming console, a mobile telephone, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, and a tablet computer.

21. A computer-readable, non-transitory, storage medium, comprising computer instructions, that when executed, causes an electronic kiosk to communicate with a nearby mobile computing device, according to a method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of messages at a data input port;

detecting and establishing a radio communication link between a transceiver in the kiosk and the mobile computing device, using a set of radio communication technologies, when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk; and

executing an application specific software program on a processor in the kiosk to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the set of radio communication technologies comprise a near field communications (NFC) set of short-range wireless radio communication technologies via which the transceiver is to detect and establish radio communication with the mobile computing device.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions for executing the application specific software program to output the one or more of the plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises instructions for executing the application specific software program to display one or more of the plurality of messages on a display device in the kiosk depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions for executing the application specific software program to output the one or more of the plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises instructions for executing the application specific software program to transmit one or more of the plurality of messages to the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk via the established radio communication link.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions for detecting and establishing a radio communication link between a transceiver in the kiosk and the mobile computing device, using a set of radio communication technologies, when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises instructions for receiving a tag that identifies the mobile computing device or a user thereof, and wherein the application specific software program to provide one or more of the plurality of messages further depending on the identifying tag.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a first message that welcomes a user of the mobile computing device, and wherein the application specific software program to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the first message responsive to detecting the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 26, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a second message that directs the user to a point of interest or activity in a retail environment in which the electronic kiosk is located, and wherein the application specific software program to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the second message responsive to detecting a change in the location of the mobile computing device to within a nearer proximity of the electronic kiosk.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the received plurality of messages comprises a third message that prompts the user to participate in the activity in a retail environment in which the electronic kiosk is located, and wherein the application specific software program to output one or more of the received plurality of messages depending on the location of the mobile computing device within the proximity of the electronic kiosk comprises the application specific software program to output the third message responsive to detecting a change in the location of the mobile computing device to within close proximity of the electronic kiosk.

29. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein establishing a radio communication link between a transceiver in the kiosk and the mobile computing device, using a set of radio communication technologies, when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk further comprises using the set of radio communication technologies to receive messages from the mobile computing device when the mobile computing device is located within proximity of the electronic kiosk;

and

wherein the instructions for executing the application specific software program further to execute operations on the processor responsive to the messages received from the mobile computing device.

30. The computer readable medium of claim 29, wherein the messages received from the mobile computing device comprise profile or preferences information relating to a user of the mobile computing device.