Determination of customer presence based on communication of a mobile communication device digital signature

• US 9,514,463 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Grigg, David M., Starbuck, Richard Andrew, Hanson, Carrie Anne, Jones-McFadden, Alicia C., Dent, Nathan, Munson, Nicholas, Bryant, Matthew K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Olson, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): SUBEDI, DEEPROSE D
• Application Number:
  US14/856,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20160005048A1
• Time in Patent Office: 447 Days
• Field of Search: 705/304
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0138 comprising image capture systems, e.g. camera
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/014 comprising information/image processing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0178 Eyeglass type eyeglass details G02C
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 2027/0187 slaved to motion of at least a part of the body of the user, e.g. head, eye
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 27/017 Head mounted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/01 Customer relationship services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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 4/21 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

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, and computer program products provide for monitoring an area within or proximate to a place of business for digital signatures of mobile communication devices, such as cellular devices or wearable communication devices. The captured digital signatures are then matched to digital signatures associated with existing customers of the business to determine the presence of the existing customer within or proximate to the place of business. Once the presence of the existing customer within or proximate to the business is known, the business can access other relevant information, such as customer profile information, prior transaction/interaction information or the like to enhance the customer'"'"'s current interaction with the business. Moreover, once the presence of the existing customer is known, location determining mechanisms may implemented to track the location of the known customer within or proximate to the place of business for the purpose of positively identifying the known customer.

Claims

1. A system for identifying a presence of established customers within or proximate to a location of a business, the system comprising:

a customer identifier database that stores, in first memory, a listing that correlates established customers to one or more digital signatures, each digital signature linked to a mobile communication device known to be associated with an established customer;

a computing platform having a second memory and at least one processor in communication with the second memory;

a customer presence determining module stored in the second memory, executable by the processor and configured to;

monitor an area within or proximate to the location of the business for short-range wireless communication signals that include digital signatures of mobile communication devices located within or proximate to the business location, wherein the monitoring comprises;

transmitting, via short-range wireless communication, a request for electronic tokens issued to established customers by the business, and

receiving, via short-range wireless communication, an electronic token communicated from a mobile computing device in possession of an established customer, wherein the electronic token includes a digital signature of the customer,

in response to receiving the electronic token that includes the digital signature, access the customer identifier database to;

compare the digital signature to the digital signatures in the listing, and

in response to the comparison determining that the digital signature is within the listing, identify the established customer associated with the digital signature, and

in response to identifying the established customer, communicate a first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured, in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, track a geo-location of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the customer presence determining module further comprises a user interface application that is configured to provide a user a display of the area within or proximate to the location of the business, wherein the display provides for tracking location of the established customer within the area.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a financial transaction database that includes financial transaction history for each of a plurality of established customers of the business and wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to:

in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, access the financial transaction database to identify at least a portion of the financial transaction history of the established customer, and

communicate the first notification to the at least one entity within the business that additionally indicates information associated with the financial transaction history of the established customer.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to, based on (1) the presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business, and (2) the financial transaction history of the established customer, generate and initiate communication of a security alert that indicates a discrepancy between a location of one or more recent financial transaction conducted by the established customer and current presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to in response to identifying the established customer, track a duration of the presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to, in response to identifying the established customer and tracking the duration of the presence, communicate the first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business for a predetermined duration of time.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to, in response to receiving the electronic token that includes a digital signature, access the customer identifier database to:

compare the digital signature to the digital signatures in the listing, and

in response to the comparison determining that the digital signature is not within the listing, identify a user associated with the digital signature as a potential new customer of the business, and

in response to identifying the user as a potential new customer of the business, communicate a second notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the potential new customer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to monitor the area within or proximate to the location of the business for short-range wireless communication signals that include digital signatures of mobile communication devices located within or proximate to the business location, wherein the electronic token is communicated from the mobile communication devices (1) absent user-input.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the customer presence determining module is further configured to monitor the area within or proximate to the location of the business for short-range wireless communication signals that include digital signatures of mobile communication devices located within or proximate to the business location, wherein the mobile communication devices include wearable communication devices.

11. A computer-implemented method for identifying a presence of established customers within or proximate to a location of a business, the method comprising:

monitoring, by a computing device processor, an area within or proximate to the location of the business for short-range wireless communication signals that include digital signatures of mobile communication devices located within or proximate to the business location, wherein monitoring comprises;

transmitting, via short-range wireless communication, a request for electronic tokens issued to established customers by the business, and

receiving, via short-range wireless communication, an electronic token communicated from a mobile computing device in possession of an established customer, wherein the electronic token includes a digital signature of the customer;

in response to receiving the electronic token that includes the digital signature, accessing, by a computing device processor, a customer identifier database to compare the digital signature to a listing of digital signatures, wherein the listing correlates the digital signatures to established customers of the business;

in response to the comparison determining that the digital signature is within the listing, identifying, by a computing device processor, the established customer correlated to the digital signature; and

in response to identifying the established customer, communicating, by a computing device processor, a first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, tracking, by a computing device processor, a location of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein communicating further comprises generating a user-interface that displays the area within or proximate to the location of the business, wherein the user-interface is configured to track location of the established customer within the area.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, accessing, by a computing device processor, a financial transaction database to identify at least a portion of financial transaction history associated with the established customer, and wherein communicating the first notification further comprises communicating, by the computing device processor, the first notification to the at least one entity within the business that additionally indicates information associated with the financial transaction history of the established customer.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to identifying the established customer, tracking, by a computing device processor, a duration of the presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business; and

in response to identifying the established customer and tracking the duration of the presence, communicate the first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business for a predetermined duration of time.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

in response to receiving the electronic token that includes a digital signature, accessing, by a computing device processor, the customer identifier database to compare the digital signature to the digital signatures in the listing, and, in response to the comparison determining that the digital signature is not within the listing, identify a user associated with the digital signature as a potential new customer of the business; and

in response to identifying the user as a potential new customer of the business, communicating, by a computing device processor, a second notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the potential new customer.

17. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

a first set of codes for causing a computer to monitor an area within or proximate to the location of the business for short-range wireless communication signals that include digital signatures of mobile communication devices located within or proximate to the business location, wherein the monitoring comprises;

transmitting, via short-range wireless communication, a request for electronic tokens issued to established customers by the business, and

receiving, via short-range wireless communication, an electronic token communicated from a mobile computing device in possession of an established customer, wherein the electronic token includes a digital signature of the customer;

a second set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to receiving the electronic token that includes the digital signature, access a customer identifier database to compare the digital signature to a listing of digital signatures, wherein the listing correlates the digital signatures to established customers of the business;

a third set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to the comparison determining that the digital signature is within the listing, identify the established customer correlated to the digital signature; and

a fourth set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to identifying the established customer, communicate a first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17, further comprising a fifth set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, track a location of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising a fifth set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to identifying the established customer associated with the digital signature, access a financial transaction database to identify at least a portion of financial transaction history associated with the established customer, and wherein the fourth set of codes is further configured to communicate the first notification to the at least one entity within the business that additionally indicates information associated with the financial transaction history of the established customer.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising a fifth set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to identifying the established customer, track a duration of the presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business, and a sixth set of codes for causing a computer to, in response to identifying the established customer and tracking the duration of the presence, communicate the first notification to at least one entity within the business that indicates a presence of the established customer within or proximate to the location of the business for a predetermined duration of time.