System and method for gathering information about a subject in close proximity to a user

• US 9,426,623 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2015
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: B2 Equity Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: B3 Equity Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Eaton, Bradley Alan, Biggers, David Pyron Jr., Moore, Dustin Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): CASCA, FRED A
• Application Number:
  US14/818,759
• Publication Number:
  US 20150341751A1
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.3, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/404.2, 455/418, 455/457, 455/41.2, 455/420, 455/67.11, 370/252, 370/338
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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: 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

Techniques where a computer system is able to obtain information about a subject by communicating with a device that employs a limited range communication technology and is associated with the subject are described.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a plurality of limited range wireless transmitters located at a plurality of positions within a real estate property, each limited range wireless transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit a limited range signal that includes information about the real estate property and information indicative of the position at which the limited range wireless transmitter is located, wherein the position-indicative information in each limited range signal comprises data indicative of an elevation or floor for the limited range wireless transmitter that transmitted that limited range signal, and wherein a plurality of the limited range signals include different information about the real estate property;

a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device configured to execute a mobile application, wherein the mobile application is further configured to (1) interact with an altimeter of the mobile computing device, (2) resolve a current position for the mobile computing device to an elevation or floor within the real estate property based on the interaction with the altimeter, (3) process a plurality of limited range signals wirelessly received by the mobile computing device from a plurality of the limited range wireless transmitters, (4) select a limited range signal from among the plurality of received limited range signals based at least in part on (i) relative signal strengths between the received limited range signals, and (ii) the position-indicative information for the received limited range signals relative to the resolved elevation or floor for the mobile computing device, and (5) based on the information about the real estate property from the selected limited range signal, generate data for a visual display about the real estate property corresponding to the selected limited range signal for consumption by a user of the mobile computing device through a display screen of the mobile computing device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters are programmable in response to administrator input to define the elevation-indicative or floor-indicative data for inclusion in the limited range signals.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of Bluetooth transmitters.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of WiFi transmitters.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of infrared transmitters.

6. A system comprising:

a plurality of limited range wireless transmitters located at a plurality of positions within a real estate property, each limited range wireless transmitter configured to wirelessly transmit a limited range signal that includes information about the real estate property and information indicative of the position at which the limited range wireless transmitter is located, wherein a plurality of the limited range signals include different information about the real estate property;

a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device configured to execute a mobile application, the mobile application configured to (1) determine data indicative of a position for the mobile computing device within the real estate property, (2) process a plurality of limited range signals wirelessly received by the mobile computing device from a plurality of the limited range wireless transmitters, (3) select a limited range signal from among the plurality of received limited range signals based at least in part on (i) relative signal strengths between the received limited range signals, and (ii) the position-indicative information for the received limited range signals relative to the determined position data for the mobile computing device, wherein the selected limited range signal further includes an identifier having an association with the real estate property, and (4) based on the information about the real estate property from the selected limited range signal, generate data for a visual display about the real estate property corresponding to the selected limited range signal for consumption by a user of the mobile computing device through a display screen of the mobile computing device; and

a server for communication over a network with the mobile computing device;

wherein the mobile computing device is configured to wirelessly communicate a request for additional information about the real estate property to the server over the network, the request including the identifier for the real estate property;

wherein the server is configured to (1) retrieve additional information about the real estate property based on the identifier in the request, and (2) communicate a message to the mobile computing device over the network, wherein the communicated message includes the retrieved additional information about the real estate property;

wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to wirelessly receive the message from the server; and

wherein the mobile computing device is further configured to, based on the additional information in the received message, the generate additional data for a visual display about the real estate property corresponding to the selected limited range signal for consumption by the user through the display screen of the mobile computing device.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of Bluetooth transmitters.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of WiFi transmitters.

9. The system of claim 6 wherein the limited range wireless transmitters comprise a plurality of infrared transmitters.

10. A non-transitory computer program product comprising:

a plurality of instructions resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for execution as a mobile application by a mobile computing device, wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to;

interact with an altimeter of the mobile computing device;

interact with a wireless receiver of the mobile computing device to process a plurality of limited range signals wirelessly received from a plurality of limited range wireless transmitters located at a plurality of positions and a plurality of floors within a real estate property, each limited range signal having information about the real estate property such that a plurality of the limited range signals have different information about the real estate property, the information including data indicative of a floor for the limited range wireless transmitter that transmitted each limited range signal;

resolve a floor on which the mobile computing device is located based on the floor-indicative data within a plurality of the processed limited range signals and the interaction with the altimeter; and

based on the resolved floor, select a limited range signal from which to extract real estate property information for presentation to a user of the mobile computing device via a display screen of the mobile computing device.

11. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 10 wherein the limited range signals are Bluetooth signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with a Bluetooth receiver of the mobile computing device to process the Bluetooth signals.

12. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 10 wherein the limited range signals are WiFi signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with a WiFi receiver of the mobile computing device to process the WiFi signals.

13. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 10 wherein the limited range signals are infrared signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with an infrared receiver of the mobile computing device to process the infrared signals.

14. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 10 wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to:

interact with the wireless receiver of the mobile computing device to determine a plurality of signal strengths for the limited range signals;

compare the determined signal strengths for the limited range signals; and

select the limited range signal from which to extract real estate property information for presentation to the user based on the resolved floor and the compared signal strengths for the limited range signals.

15. A non-transitory computer program product comprising:

a plurality of instructions resident on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for execution as a mobile application by a mobile computing device, wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to;

interact with an altimeter of the mobile computing device;

interact with a wireless receiver of the mobile computing device to process a plurality of limited range signals wirelessly received from a plurality of limited range wireless transmitters located at a plurality of positions and a plurality of elevations within a real estate property, each limited range signal having information about the real estate property such that a plurality of the limited range signals have different information about the real estate property, the information including data indicative of an elevation for the limited range wireless transmitter that transmitted each limited range signal;

resolve which of the limited range signals have a correspondence in elevation with a current position for the mobile computing device based on the elevation-indicative data within a plurality of the processed limited range signals and the interaction with the altimeter; and

based on the resolved elevation correspondence, select a limited range signal from which to extract real estate property information for presentation to a user of the mobile computing device via a display screen of the mobile computing device.

16. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 15 wherein the limited range signals are Bluetooth signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with a Bluetooth receiver of the mobile computing device to process the Bluetooth signals.

17. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 15 wherein the limited range signals are WiFi signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with a WiFi receiver of the mobile computing device to process the WiFi signals.

18. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 15 wherein the limited range signals are infrared signals, and wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to interact with an infrared receiver of the mobile computing device to process the infrared signals.

19. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 15 wherein the instructions are configured, upon execution by the mobile computing device, to cause a processor of the mobile computing device to:

interact with the wireless receiver of the mobile computing device to determine a plurality of signal strengths for the limited range signals;

compare the determined signal strengths for the limited range signals; and

select the limited range signal from which to extract real estate property information for presentation to the user based on the resolved elevation correspondence and the compared signal strengths for the limited range signals.