System and method for advertising to a Wi-Fi device

• US 7,730,485 B2
• Filed: 08/10/2004
• Issued: 06/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Walter, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US10/915,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20060036517A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,121 Days
• Field of Search: 455/95, 455/408, 455/422.1, 455/426.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 235/376, 235/383, 235/385, 340/5.9, 340/5.91, 340/5.92, 705/7, 705/29, 707/10, 707/100, 709/203, 709/223, 718/1
• US Class Current: 718/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0238 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation

Abstract

A method is disclosed for providing information related to goods available for purchase in a building. The method includes establishing a plurality of boundary zones within a Wi-Fi network and storing product information related to the goods available for purchase that are located within each of the plurality of boundary zones. In a particular embodiment, a first set of product information is provided to a Wi-Fi device. The first set of product information can be specific to goods that are located in the same boundary zone as the Wi-Fi device. The location of the Wi-Fi device is monitored and movement of the Wi-Fi device between a first boundary zone and a second boundary zone is detected. A second set of product information can be provided to the Wi-Fi device after detecting the Wi-Fi device moving to the second boundary zones.

Claims

1. A wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi) device, comprising:

a processor, the processor comprising a computer readable medium and a computer program embedded within the computer readable medium, the computer program comprising;

instructions to display a plurality of virtual boundary zones, each of the plurality of virtual boundary zones corresponding to a physical boundary zone within a Wi-Fi network; and

instructions to display product information associated with a particular virtual boundary zone when the Wi-Fi device enters the particular physical boundary zone corresponding to the particular virtual boundary zone of the Wi-Fi network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises:

instructions to display a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface providing access to the product information.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the computer program further comprises:

instructions to display an outer boundary representing a perimeter of a building; and

instructions to display at least one graphical representation of a product shelf.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the computer program further comprises:

instructions to display at least one of the plurality of virtual boundary zones adjacent to the at least one graphical representation of the product shelf.

5. The device of claim 4, further comprising:

instructions to provide product information specific to retail goods corresponding to the plurality of virtual boundary zones as a cursor is moved between different virtual boundary zones displayed at the graphical user interface.

6. The device of claim 5, further comprising:

instructions to receive product information at the Wi-Fi device as the cursor is moved between the different virtual boundary zones.

7. The device of claim 6, further comprising:

instructions for displaying at least one graphical representation of a product, the graphical representation of the product corresponding to an actual product available in the retail building.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the product information includes at least one of:

a price, a location, a route from a location of the Wi-Fi device to a product location, an availability, a coupon, a promotion, and an advertisement.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the cursor includes a shopper cart graphic that represents a virtual shopper.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising instructions to wirelessly receive help information from a network element.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the help information enables a user to locate a product, determine product availability, determine coupon availability for a product, determine if a product is on sale, or any combination thereof.