Optical indicia for indexing and check-in

• US 9,384,495 B1
• Filed: 11/16/2012
• Issued: 07/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Cope, Warren B., Monga, Manoj, Paczkowski, Lyle W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boveja, Namrata (Pinky)
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ezewoko, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/679,766
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.64, 705/14.37
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/11 Arrangements specific to free-space transmission, i.e. transmission through air or vacuum
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/114 Indoor or close-range type systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 10/116 Visible light communication

Abstract

Portable mobile devices may have ambient light sensors (ALS) capable of modulating the level of backlight on the display of the portable electronic device in various environmental situations. The ALS is capable of receiving an infrared signal or a visible light signal that may then be read to determine an end and a beginning, and parsed to extract the code. The information sent from the infrared or visible light source to the portable electronic device may be handled by the device in various ways including direct processing and display to present the user of the portable electronic device with a coupon, offer, or other benefit. This may occur in several ways including displaying a coupon or an offer, launching a URL or URI, or launching an application on the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. A method of one-way communication transmission, comprising:

sensing, by an ambient light sensor embedded in a mobile phone, a light event;

determining, by the mobile phone, that the light event is a modulated light signal;

in response to the determination that the light event is the modulated light signal, parsing, by the mobile phone, an output of the ambient light sensor including the modulated light signal to extract a uniform resource locator (URL) or a uniform resource identifier (URI);

extracting, by the mobile phone, the URL or the URI from the modulated light signal based on the parsing;

displaying, by the mobile phone, in response to the extracting, at least one benefit accessed based on the URL or the URI from at least one vendor of a plurality of vendors;

subsequent to parsing the output of the ambient light sensor and extracting the URL or the URI, averaging, by the mobile phone, remaining raw sensor data of the output produced by the ambient light sensor; and

adapting a display brightness of the mobile phone based on the averaged raw sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated light signal comprises visible light or an infrared signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone receives the modulated light signal from at least one of a kiosk or a portable device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulated light signal is received in at least one of a vendor'"'"'s retail location, a retail location of a product or service related to the vendor'"'"'s product or service, a display, a stand-alone site, and an informational booth.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the benefit displayed is at least one of a coupon for present use, a coupon for future use, an alert to a current sale, an alert for a future sale.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the parsing comprises detecting at least one of a stop bit, a start bit, or a framing bit.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the benefit displayed is an application that registers a user of the mobile phone for a return time.

7. A method of a mobile phone receiving a one-way light communication signal, comprising:

sensing, by an ambient light sensor embedded in a mobile phone, a modulated light signal;

parsing, by the mobile phone, an output of the ambient light sensor including the modulated light signal to extract a uniform resource locator (URL) or a uniform resource indicator (URI);

extracting, by the mobile phone, the URL or the URI from the modulated light signal based on the parsing;

in response to extracting the URL or the URI, executing, by the mobile phone, an application on the mobile phone;

connecting, using a cellular communication transceiver of the mobile phone, to a network via a base transceiver station;

requesting, by the mobile phone via the cellular communication transceiver, content referenced by the URL or the URI;

displaying content referenced by the URL or the URI on the mobile phone;

subsequent to parsing the output of the ambient light sensor and extracting the URL or the URI, averaging, by the mobile phone, remaining raw sensor data of the output produced by the ambient light sensor; and

adapting a display brightness of the mobile phone based on the averaged raw sensor data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the modulated light signal is received from at least one of a kiosk or portable device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the modulated light signal is located in at least one of a vendor'"'"'s retail location and a retail location of a product or service related to the vendor'"'"'s product or service.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the modulated light signal originates in a location from a display, a stand-alone site, and an informational booth, wherein the display, the stand-alone site, and the informational booth are not affiliated with the location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the vendor is a provider of at least one of goods or services.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the vendor is at least one of an event planner, a venue owner, a management team, and a public relations professional.

13. A mobile phone comprising:

an ambient light sensor;

a display;

a first application stored in a non-transitory memory of the mobile phone that;

executes in response to the ambient light sensor receiving a modulated infrared signal, wherein the modulated infrared signal is generated by at least one of a stationary kiosk or a portable signal generator, and

demodulates an output of the ambient light sensor including the modulated infrared signal and extracts a uniform resource locator (URL) or a uniform resource indicator (URI);

a second application stored in a non-transitory memory of the mobile phone that is launched in response to the extraction of the URL or the URI; and

a processor that, subsequent to the first application demodulating the output of the ambient light sensor and extracting the URL or the URI, averages remaining raw sensor data of the output produced by the ambient light sensor and adapts a display brightness of the display based on the averaged raw sensor data.

14. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the ambient light sensor receives the modulated infrared signal in response to the mobile phone being placed in the stationary kiosk.

15. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the ambient light sensor receives the modulated infrared signal in response to being placed in communication with the portable signal generator.

16. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the modulated infrared signal is located in at least one of a vendor'"'"'s retail location, a retail location of a product or service related to a product or service related to the location of the modulated infrared signal, a display, a stand-alone site, and an informational booth.

17. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the first application further parses the modulated infrared signal.

18. The mobile phone of claim 13, further comprising a cellular communication transceiver, wherein the cellular communication transceiver connects to a network via a base transceiver station.

19. The mobile phone of claim 13, wherein the second application requests content referenced by the URL or the URI, and wherein the second application presents the requested content.