Short-range device communications for secured resource access

• US 9,489,787 B1
• Filed: 01/08/2015
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Live Nation Entertainment Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Live Nation Entertainment Incorporated
• Inventors: Ives-Halperin, Kenneth, Evans, Harry C. III
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Foxx, Chico A
• Application Number:
  US14/592,590
• Time in Patent Office: 670 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3274 using a pictured code, e.g. barcode or QR-code, being displayed on the M-device
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/29 the pass containing active electronic elements, e.g. smartcards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/084 using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Communications over short-range connections are used to facilitate whether access to resources is to be granted. For example, upon device discovery of one of an electronic user device and an electronic client device by the other device over a Bluetooth Low Energy connection, an access-enabling code associated with a user device or account can be evaluated for validity and applicability with respect to one or more particular resource specifications. An image can be generated to reflect a result of the assessment, so as to enable an image analysis to be performed to decode the assessment result.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

an electronic user device comprising;

one or more transceivers for receiving signals, a transceiver of the one or more transceivers being configured to receive signals transmitted over a short-range connection;

a communication engine that detects a first wireless signal having been transmitted over the short-range connection by an electronic client device and having been received by the one or more transceivers at the electronic user device;

an access-right detection engine that;

in response to the detection of the first wireless signal having been transmitted over the short-range connection from the electronic client device, identifies a specification of a limited-access resource, the limited-access resource including an event; and

facilitates a query of a data store using the specification of the limited-access resource for an access-enabling code indicating that a ticket has been acquired to attend the event, the data store being configured to store, for each of one or more events, an access-enabling code indicating that a ticket has been acquired to attend the event;

an access-right evaluation engine that generates a second wireless signal to be transmitted by the one or more transceivers that includes;

a request for stimulus data; and

the access-enabling code; and

an interface engine that;

detects the stimulus data having been included in a third wireless signal received by the one or more transceivers; and

facilitates a presentation of a visual stimulus for visual confirmation of access to the limited-access resource, the visual stimulus;

 

being one of a set of different visual stimuli indicating that the access to the limited-access resource is to be granted; and

 

corresponding to the stimulus data; and

the electronic client device comprising;

one or more client-device transceivers that;

transmit the first wireless signal;

receive the second wireless signal that includes the request for stimulus data and the access-enabling code; and

transmit the third wireless signal that includes the stimulus data responsive to the request and to a determination that the received access-enabling code is proper; and

a client-device interface engine that facilitates a client-device presentation of a client-device visual stimulus that corresponds to the stimulus data, so that visual stimulus presented on the electronic user device and the visual stimulus presented on the electronic client device can be matched for confirmation for access of the limited-access resource.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the client-device visual stimulus includes a concurrent representation of each of a plurality of visual stimuli, each of the visual stimuli corresponding to stimulus data having been transmitted from the electronic client device to a given user device.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the stimulus data includes the visual stimulus.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second signal is transmitted to the electronic client device over the short-range connection and the third signal is signal is received from the electronic client device over the short-range connection.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein facilitating the presentation of the visual stimulus includes presenting the visual stimulus at the electronic user device.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the stimulus data includes a characteristic that the visual stimulus is to have, and wherein each of the visual stimulus and the client-device visual stimulus has the characteristic.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the short-range connection includes a Bluetooth Low Energy connection.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the determination that the received access-enabling code is proper includes a determination that the access-enabling code is valid and applicable for permitting entry into a live event or a defined geographical region.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein facilitating the query of the data store using the specification of the limited-access resource includes transmitting a request for the access-enabling code to another device, the request for the access-enabling code including an identifier of the electronic user device, an identifier of a user account or an identifier of a user.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the specification of the resource includes an identifier of the resource, an identifier of a client associated with the resource or a location associated with the resource.

11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges, the method comprising:

detecting, at an electronic user device, a first wireless signal transmitted over a short-range connection by an electronic client device;

in response to the detecting, identifying a specification of a limited-access resource, the limited-access resource including an event;

facilitating a query of a data store using the specification of the limited-access resource for an access-enabling code indicating that a ticket has been acquired to attend the event, the data store being configured to store, for each of one or more events, an access-enabling code indicating that a ticket has been acquired to attend the event;

transmitting, from the electronic user device, a second wireless signal that includes;

a request for stimulus data; and

the access-enabling code;

receiving, at the electronic user device, a third wireless signal that includes the stimulus data responsive to the request and to a determination that the received access-enabling code is proper;

facilitating a presentation of a visual stimulus on the electronic user device for visual confirmation of access to the limited-access resource, the visual stimulus;

being one of a set of different visual stimuli indicating that the access to the limited-access resource is to be granted; and

corresponding to the stimulus data; and

facilitating a client-device presentation of a client-device visual stimulus at the electronic client device that corresponds to the stimulus data so that visual stimulus presented on the electronic user device and the visual stimulus presented on the electronic client device can be matched for confirmation for access of the limited-access resource.

12. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the stimulus data includes the visual stimulus.

13. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the second signal is transmitted to the electronic client device over the short-range connection and the third signal is received from the electronic client device over the short-range connection.

14. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the stimulus characteristic includes a background, texture or color that the visual stimulus is to have.

15. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the short-range connection includes a Bluetooth Low Energy connection.

16. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the determination that the received access-enabling code is proper includes a determination that the access-enabling code is valid and applicable for permitting entry into a live event or a defined geographical region.

17. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the visual stimulus includes a dynamic stimulus that changes in time.

18. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein facilitating the query of the data store using the specification of the limited-access resource includes transmitting a request for the access-enabling code to another device, the request for the access-enabling code including an identifier of the electronic user device, an identifier of a user account or an identifier of a user.

19. The computer-implemented method for facilitating selective granting of resource access to authorized users based on short-range communication exchanges as recited in claim 11, wherein the specification of the resource includes an identifier of the resource, an identifier of a client associated with the resource or a location associated with the resource.