Centralized context awareness through network association

• US 9,008,657 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2011
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Un, Edward Ding-Bong, Beermann, Henric Mattias, Tian, Kaiyan, Fan, Hai Peng, Zhao, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Assistant Examiner(s): Navar, Erica
• Application Number:
  US13/158,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20120315901A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,401 Days
• Field of Search: 4554141-4144, 4554041-4042, 4554561-457
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A user'"'"'s context is determined based on the wireless network to which the user is connected. Targeted information, based on the determined context, is then delivered to the user. A centralized mechanism associates identifiers of wireless access points to one or more providers, such as retail establishments, that have set up those access points and have been registered by the centralized mechanism. The providers also provide targeted information that they wish to have delivered to users whose context indicates that they are in or near that provider'"'"'s store. The centralized mechanism further has information associating the wireless computing device with contact information that can be utilized to deliver targeted information. The targeted information can be delivered to the user via the wireless network, a cellular network or through other communicational mechanisms. The provider, or retail establishment, can also be informed of the presence of the user near its premises.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable memory comprising computer-executable instructions for determining a user'"'"'s context based on a wireless network to which a computing device being utilized by the user is communicationally coupled, the computer-executable instructions directed to steps comprising:

receiving, from a first access point, a first communication comprising an identification of the first access point and an identification of the computing device communicationally coupled to a first wireless network being provided by the first access point;

determining a first entity associated with the first access point;

determining a contact information for the computing device;

determining a first context of the user to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the first entity;

obtaining, based on the determined first context of the user, a first targeted information to be presented to the user;

communicating the first targeted information to the user;

receiving, from a second access point that is independent of and different from the first access point, a second communication comprising an identification of the second access point and the identification of the computing device, the computing device being communicationally coupled to a second wireless network subsequent to its communicational coupling to the first wireless network, the second wireless network being provided by the second access point, the second wireless network being independent of and different from the first wireless network;

determining a second entity, independent of the first entity, associated with the second access point;

determining a second, subsequent, context of the user to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the second entity;

subsequently obtaining, based on the determined second, subsequent context of the user, a second targeted information to be presented to the user; and

subsequently communicating the second targeted information to the user.

2. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the identification of the computing device is a hashed MAC address.

3. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions for determining the first entity and the second entity comprise computer-executable instructions for referencing an access point database comprising associations between access points and entities that were provided by the entities as part of a registration.

4. The computer-readable memory of claim 3, comprising further computer-executable instructions for identifying another access point for which an identification has not been received within a predetermined time period;

determining an entity associated with the other access point; and

contacting the entity to verify the association between the entity and the other access point.

5. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions for obtaining the first and the second targeted information comprise computer-executable instructions for utilizing the received identification of the first access point to obtain the first targeted information from an access point database, the first targeted information having been provided to the access point database by the first entity associated with the first access point;

and utilizing the received identification of the second access point to obtain the second targeted information from the access point database, the second targeted information having been provided to the access point database by the second entity associated with the second access point.

6. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions for obtaining the first targeted information comprise computer-executable instructions for:

notifying an entity, independent of the first entity, of the determined first context of the user; and

receiving from the entity, in response to the notifying, the first targeted information.

7. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the first targeted information comprises at least one of:

a retail special offer from the first entity or a retail special offer from a retail competitor to the first entity.

8. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the first targeted information is transmitted to the user via a text message transmitted independently of the communicational coupling between the first access point and the computing device.

9. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, wherein the first targeted information is transmitted to the user via an application program, executing on the computing device, specifically dedicated to the receipt of targeted information.

10. The computer-readable memory of claim 1, comprising further computer-executable instructions for communicating, to the first entity, a notification that the user is proximate to the first entity when the first context of the user is determined.

11. A system for determining a user'"'"'s context based on a wireless network to which a computing device being utilized by the user is communicationally coupled, the system comprising:

multiple wireless access points, each configured to perform steps comprising;

providing a wireless network independent of wireless networks provided by others of the multiple wireless access points;

establishing a communicational connection with the computing device;

obtaining an identifier of the computing device; and

generating a communication comprising;

the obtained identifier of the computing device and an identifier of the wireless access point; and

one or more server computing devices configured to perform steps comprising;

receiving the generated communications from at least two of the multiple wireless access points in a consecutive manner;

determining entities associated with the at least two of the multiple wireless access points;

determining a contact information for the computing device;

determining consecutive contexts of the user to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the entities;

obtaining, based on individual determined contexts of the user, targeted information to be presented to the user; and

communicating the targeted information to the user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least some of the multiple wireless access points are further configured to provide a landing page to the computing device, the landing page requesting authorization to generate the communication;

wherein the generating the communication is only performed if the authorization is received.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the communicating the targeted information to the user comprises communicating, independently of the communicational coupling between a one of the multiple access points and the computing device, a text message comprising an indication of the targeted information to the computing device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more server computing devices are further configured to communicate, to the entities, a notification that the user is proximate to a one of the entities when a one of the user'"'"'s consecutive contexts is determined to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the one of the entities.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the targeted information communicated to the user is targeted information of an entity differing from the entities associated with the at least two of the multiple wireless access points.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising an access point database comprising associations between access points and entities that were provided by the entities as part of a registration;

wherein the determining the entities performed by the one or more server computing devices is performed by referencing the access point database.

16. A method of determining a user'"'"'s context based on a wireless network to which a computing device being utilized by the user is communicationally coupled, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a first access point, a first communication comprising an identification of the first access point and an identification of the computing device communicationally coupled to a first wireless network being provided by the first access point;

determining a first entity associated with the first access point;

determining a contact information for the computing device;

determining a first context of the user to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the first entity;

obtaining, based on the determined first context of the user, a first targeted information to be presented to the user;

communicating the first targeted information to the user;

receiving, from a second access point that is independent of and different from the first access point, a second communication comprising an identification of the second access point and the identification of the computing device, the computing device being communicationally coupled to a second wireless network subsequent to its communicational coupling to the first wireless network, the second wireless network being provided by the second access point, the second wireless network being independent of and different from the first wireless network;

determining a second entity, independent of the first entity, associated with the second access point;

determining a second, subsequent, context of the user to comprise the user'"'"'s proximity to the second entity;

subsequently obtaining, based on the determined second, subsequent context of the user, a second targeted information to be presented to the user; and

subsequently communicating the second targeted information to the user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first targeted information is transmitted to the user via a text message transmitted independently of the communicational coupling between the first access point and the computing device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining the first entity and the determining the second entity each comprise referencing an access point database comprising associations between access points and entities that were provided by the entities as part of a registration.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the obtaining the first targeted information comprises:

notifying an entity, independent of the first entity, of the determined first context of the user; and

receiving from the entity, in response to the notifying, the first targeted information.