Exchanging identifiers between wireless communication to determine further information to be exchanged or further services to be provided

• US 9,161,164 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Secure Communication Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Proxicom Wireless LLC
• Inventors: Proctor, James Arthur Jr., Proctor, James Arthur III
• Primary Examiner(s): WYCHE, MYRON
• Application Number:
  US14/472,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20140370863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 410 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• 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 20/3224 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: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/386 using messaging services or messaging apps using mobile network messaging services for payment, e.g. SMS G06Q20/3255
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 : for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 : Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 : Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 : Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 : Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• 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 4/21 : for social networking applications
• 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 76/11 : Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 : Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 : Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A server exchanges information between one or more wireless devices to complete a transaction. The server receives second device identifier information from a first wireless device using a wide area network. The second device identifier information was previously provided to the first wireless device using short range wireless communication. The server then uses the second device identifier information to determine additional information concerning an entity or object located in proximity to the second device, and then the server delivers information to the first wireless device based at least in part upon both (a) the second device identifier and (b) a current step in a multiple step process for an ongoing electronic commerce transaction.

Claims

1. A system for facilitating use of proximity beacons for the exchange of information between a first wireless device or a first entity associated with the first wireless device and a second wireless device or a second entity associated with the second wireless device, the system comprising:

at least one server for providing a second unique identifier associated with an account associated with the second entity comprising;

a server data processor, for locating a disclosure policy associated with the second unique identifier or associated with the account associated with the second entity, and for comparing the disclosure policy to a first unique identifier associated with the first wireless device or other data associated with an account associated with the first entity associated with the first wireless device, wherein the disclosure policy specifies data representing one or more rules for privacy of information concerning the first wireless device or the entity associated with the first wireless device and the second wireless device or the entity associated with the second wireless device; and

a network interface, for communicating first information to the first wireless device as permitted by the disclosure policy, wherein at least a portion of the first information includes the second unique identifier;

a mobile device for operating as the first wireless device and for receiving information related to the second wireless device or the entity associated with the second wireless device further comprising;

a first radio for communicating with the server and receiving the first information including the second unique identifier;

a second radio for receiving proximity beacon transmissions utilizing a local or personal area wireless protocol, and for providing received proximity beacon information derived from the proximity beacon transmissions; and

a mobile device data processor for receiving the proximity beacon information from the second radio and performing an action function to detect the proximity of a device associated with the second unique identifier, wherein the action function compares the proximity beacon information with the second unique identifier to determine if the proximity beacon information corresponds to the second unique identifier to determine said proximity of the device associated with the second unique identifier.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said proximity beacon transmissions are transmitted utilizing a local or personal area wireless protocol by the second wireless device and include information corresponding to the second unique identifier.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the disclosure policy associated with the second unique identifier or associated with the account associated with the second entity allows for secure and fraud resistant application of policies for the disclosure of information and content.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system or a component of the system causes the change of at least one unique identifier from time to time such that disclosure of the at least one unique identifier by one device to another does not compromise the identity of that device once the unique identifier has changed.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said the second radio is a Bluetooth radio and said second wireless device utilizes a Bluetooth transmitter to provide the proximity beacon transmissions.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein upon the detection of the proximity of the second wireless device, the mobile device data processor utilizes the first radio to communicate with a second server to receive further information based upon the second unique identifier, and wherein said further information is based, at least in part, upon a stored state resulting from previous interactions between the entities associated with the first and second unique identifiers.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said further information additionally comprises content relating to one or more of the following:

a current step of a multiple step electronic commerce transaction, wherein said current step is related to said stored state, or

a reward for participation in a loyalty program, wherein said reward is dependent upon said stored state, or

social network content wherein said social network content is dependent upon said stored state, wherein said stored state comprises a friends list associated with the entity associated with the second wireless device, and wherein said disclosure policy utilized in said step of comparing comprises the inclusion of an entity associated with the first wireless device being included in said friends list and resulting in access to the otherwise private social network content of the entity associated with the second wireless device.

8. The system of claim 2 where the proximity beacons transmitted by the second wireless device comprise a MAC address and the second unique identifier.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the MAC address changes over time.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the disclosure policy corresponds to information related to the first entity being included within a contacts list of the second entity within the account associated with the second entity at the server.

11. A mobile device for wirelessly sending transferred information to nearby devices in proximity utilizing multiple wireless protocols and facilitated by detection of proximity based wireless identifiers and by interaction with at least one central server, the mobile device comprising:

a first radio, for communicating with the at least one central server for obtaining a list of contact information and for sending or causing the sending of said transferred information to an entity associated with a proximal device of said nearby devices;

a second radio, utilizing a Bluetooth protocol, for transmitting a signal to cause the proximal device of said nearby devices to transmit an associated proximity based wireless identifier and further for receiving the associated proximity based wireless identifier;

a mobile device data processor for comparing the associated proximity based wireless identifier or information derived from the proximity based wireless identifier with the list of contact information or information derived from the list of contact information to determine if there is a match;

wherein if the mobile device data processor determines there is a match, for causing the display of a picture associated with the entity associated with the proximal device on a display of the mobile device; and

wherein the mobile device data processor reacts to input by a user of the mobile device designating the entity associated with the proximal device as a selected user based upon said displayed picture, by causing the sending of the transmitted information by utilizing the first radio.

12. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said list of contact information is a friends list.

13. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said transferred information includes a message.

14. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said transferred information is provided by the central server to the selected entity associated with the proximal device.

15. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said first radio utilizes a Wi-Fi based protocol for communicating with the at least one central server.

16. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein said signal is one or more of a page packet, a FHS Packet, or a LMP_name_req packet.