BEACON-BASED MEDIA NETWORK

• US 20160227359A1
• Filed: 01/30/2015
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBY Solutions Incorporated (Best Buy Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Hurewitz, Matthew, Wortley, William Don
• Granted Patent: US 10,542,380 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Techniques and system configurations for providing content to a mobile device based on activity in a physical commercial environment such as a retail store are described herein. Mobile devices that are operated by an associated customer may be tracked with the use of beacons to determine customer activities in the retail store, including particular areas visited in the store, activities conducted by the customer in the store, and like tracking information. The customer activity and data for the activities and locations in the physical environment may be correlated to an identifier, profile, or other tracking information. This tracking information may be subsequently used by the mobile device to identify the user to an advertising network, or other information service, and obtain customized media content and information.

Claims

1. A method for content selection from a media content network, the method performed by a mobile computing device, and the method comprising:

providing, from a first software application to a device tracking system, an identifier unique to the mobile computing device, the device tracking system performing a tracking of location data for the mobile computing device obtained within a tracked physical environment;

receiving, in a second software application from a media content network system, media content selected for the mobile computing device, the media content network system selecting the media content for the mobile computing device based on the identifier unique to the mobile computing device and the location data for the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment; and

displaying the media content selected for the mobile computing device in the second software application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying of the media content in the second software application occurs at a subsequent time outside of the tracked physical environment.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

transmitting, to the device tracking system, the location data for the mobile computing device obtained by the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment.

4. The method of claim 3, comprising:

retrieving a unique location identifier from a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon or an RFID tag;

wherein the location data transmitted to the device tracking system includes the unique location identifier.

5. The method of claim 3, comprising:

receiving network information from a plurality of Wi-Fi access points operating according to an IEEE 802.11 protocol;

wherein the location data transmitted to the device tracking system includes the network information from the plurality of Wi-Fi access points, the network information used in triangulation of the mobile computing device in the tracked physical environment relative to the plurality of Wi-Fi access points.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the identifier unique to the mobile computing device includes transmitting the identifier from the mobile computing device to a beacon connected to the device tracking system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracked physical environment is a retail store, wherein the location data is correlated by the device tracking system to at least one section of the retail store, and wherein the media content is selected for the mobile computing device based on a visit of the mobile computing device within the at least one section of the retail store.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the media content is further selected for the mobile computing device based on a duration of the visit of the mobile computing device within the at least one section of the retail store.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the media content is an advertisement, the advertisement further selected for the mobile computing device based on the visit of the mobile computing device within the at least one section of the retail store and at least one additional demographic factor stored for a user of the mobile computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content is an advertisement, and wherein displaying the media content is automatically performed during use of the second software application outside of the tracked physical environment.

11. At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions for content selection in a content media network, comprising instructions, that when executed by a mobile computing device, cause the mobile computing device to:

detect, from operation of a first software application on the mobile computing device, a location identifier for a beacon, the location identifier provided as a unique identification of a mapped portion of a physical area;

receive, from the content media network, content information that is selected for the mobile computing device based on the location identifier for the beacon; and

provide, for display in a second software application on the mobile computing device, the content information retrieved from the content media network.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the location identifier is provided to a tracking system, the instructions further causing the mobile computing device to:

transmit, to the content media network, the location identifier for the beacon; and

transmit, to the content media network, a unique device identifier, wherein the unique device identifier is associated by the content media network with the location identifier, and wherein the content information that is received from the content media network is further received based on the unique device identifier.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further causing the mobile computing device to:

store the location identifier on the mobile computing device; and

provide the location identifier to the second software application;

wherein the second software application requests the content information from the content media network using the location identifier.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further causing the mobile computing device to:

enable display of the media content in the second software application when the mobile computing device is outside of the mapped portion of the physical area.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further causing the mobile computing device to:

receive, with operation of the first software application, the location identifier for the beacon from a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon or an NFC device, the beacon located within the mapped portion of the physical area; and

transmit, with operation of the second software application, the location identifier for the beacon to the content media network, wherein the content information is received from the content media network in the second software application in response to transmitting the location identifier for the beacon.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, the instructions further causing the mobile computing device to:

receive network information from a plurality of Wi-Fi access points operating according to an IEEE 802.11 protocol; and

transmit, to the content media network, the network information, wherein the network information is used in triangulation of the mobile computing device in the mapped portion of the physical area relative to the plurality of Wi-Fi access points.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the physical area is a retail store, wherein the unique identification of a mapped portion of a physical area is correlated to a section of the retail store, and wherein the media content is selected for the mobile computing device based on a visit of the mobile computing device within the section of the retail store, and wherein the content information is further selected for the mobile computing device based on a duration of the visit of the mobile computing device within the section of the retail store.

18. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a processor;

a tracking module in operation with the processor, the tracking module operable with a first software application to provide data unique to a visit of the mobile computing device within a tracked physical environment to a device tracking system, wherein the device tracking system tracks location data for the mobile computing device obtained within a tracked physical environment;

a content retrieval module in operation with the processor, the content retrieval module operable with a second software application to retrieve media content for the mobile computing device, the media content selected for the mobile computing device based on the identifier unique to the mobile computing device and the location data for the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment; and

a content display module in operation with the processor, the content display module operable with the second software application to display the media content within the second software application.

19. The mobile computing device of claim 18, comprising a device identification module in operation with the processor, the device identification module operable with the first software application to obtain an identifier unique to the mobile computing device and provide the identifier unique to the mobile computing device to the device tracking system.

20. The mobile computing device of claim 18, comprising a user identification module in operation with the processor, the user identification module to provide information to the device tracking system that is unique to a user of the mobile computing device.

21. The mobile computing device of claim 18, comprising a user profile module in operation with the processor, the user profile module to provide information to the device tracking system that is unique to a user profile associated with a user of the mobile computing device.

22. The mobile computing device of claim 18, wherein the tracking module is further to receive an identifier from a Bluetooth Low Energy beacon and transmit the identifier from the Bluetooth Low Energy beacon to the device tracking system, the identifier from the Bluetooth Low Energy beacon included in the data unique to the visit of the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment.

23. The mobile computing device of claim 18, comprising a location identification module, the location identification module to calculate a position of the mobile computing device in the tracked physical environment.

24. The mobile computing device of claim 23, wherein the location identification module is further to determine a location of the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment based on Wi-Fi positioning triangulation or trilateration of the mobile computing device.