Smart Machine To Machine Behavior Tracking

• US 20160150359A1
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaw, Venson, He, Jin
• Granted Patent: US 9,961,486 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• 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

Smart M2M devices may be utilized to discover, generate, develop, and use customer behavior information. Security, marketing, and sales may be made through the use of short-range communication mechanisms, and customer behavior information may be gathered while providing devices with product information and other content. In an example configuration, smart M2M devices may determine the location of a device in a venue and compare it to historical location information associated with the device to determine whether authentication should be requested.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

responsive to receiving a trigger, automatically collecting, via a short-range communication mechanism, location information pertaining to a device within a region; and

generating, based on the collected location information, a location profile associated with the device.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the region is defined by a plurality of short-range communication devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger is receiving, by the processor, notice that the device is present in the region.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises an identification of the region.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising comparing the collected location information with historical location information associated with the device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information deviates from the historical location information, requesting, from the device, authentication; and

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information does not deviate from the historical location information, providing, to the device, information pertaining to a product.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the providing, to the device, information pertaining to a product is by a short-range communication mechanism other than the short-range communication mechanism which collected the location information.

8. A method comprising:

responsive to receiving a trigger, automatically collecting, via a short-range communication mechanism, location information pertaining to a device with a region; and

generating, based on the collected location information, a location profile associated with the device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the region is defined by a plurality of short-range communication devices.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the trigger is receiving notice that the device is present in the region.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the location information comprises an identification of the region.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

comparing the collected location information with historical location information associated with the device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information deviates from the historical location information, requesting, from the device, authentication; and

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information does not deviate from the historical location information, providing, to the device, information pertaining to a product.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the providing information pertaining to a product is by a short-range communication mechanism other than the short-range communication mechanism which collected the location information

15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

responsive to receiving a trigger, automatically collecting, via a short-range communication mechanism, location information pertaining to a device with a region; and

generating, based on the collected location information, a location profile associated with the device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the region is defined by a plurality of short-range communication devices

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the trigger is receiving notice that the device is present in the region

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the location information comprises an identification of the region.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, the operations further comprising comparing the collected location information with historical location information associated with the device.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising:

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information deviates from the historical location information, requesting, from the device, authentication; and

upon a determination, based on the comparing, that the collected location information does not deviate from the historical location information, providing, to the device, information pertaining to a product.