Systems and methods for delivering product information to a mobile device

• US 9,872,159 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2016
• Issued: 01/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company)
• Inventors: Jaggi, Kunal
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US15/092,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20170295478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2455 Query execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• 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 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• 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

Methods and systems are provided for delivering product information to a mobile device. A beacon uses a transmitter to transmit a product identification key to the mobile device over a first communication channel. A remote server has a database of detailed product information corresponding to the product identification key. An application on the mobile device to requests the detailed product information from the remote server over a second communication channel. The remote server transmits the detailed product information to the mobile device over the second communication channel and the detailed product information is displayed on the mobile device.

Claims

1. A system for delivering product information to a mobile device, the system comprising:

a beacon having a transmitter configured to transmit a product identification key to the mobile device over a first communication channel;

a remote server having a database of detailed product information including detailed product information corresponding to the product identification key, the remote server configured to transmit the detailed product information to the mobile device over a second communication channel; and

an application on the mobile device configured to request, over the second communication channel, the detailed product information from the remote server based on the product identification key, received over the first communication channel, and display the detailed product information,

wherein the mobile device is configured to scan a proximate area for beacons that are configured to communicate over the first communication channel before receiving the product identification key from beacons within the proximate area.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first communication channel is a wireless protocol selected from the group consisting of:

a Bluetooth low power protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, a ZigBee protocol, an iBeacon protocol, an Eddystone protocol, a near field communication protocol, or a combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the product identification key is selected from the group consisting of:

a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major number, a minor number, a uniform resource locator (URL), or a combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to accept the product identification key before requesting the detailed product information.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of beacons, wherein the mobile device is configured to determine a distance to each of the beacons and receives the product information keys from the beacons having distances within a predetermined distance.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the application is configured to scan a proximate area for beacons that are able to communicate over the first communication channel and requests the product identification key from beacons within the proximate area.

7. A vehicle comprising:

a plurality of beacons, each beacon of the plurality of beacons having a transmitter configured to transmit a product identification key to a mobile device over a first communication channel; and

a system for delivering product information to the mobile device, the system comprising;

a remote server having a database of detailed product information including detailed product information corresponding to the product identification key, the remote server configured to transmit the detailed product information to the mobile device over a second communication channel; and

an application on the mobile device configured to request, over the second communication channel, the detailed product information from the remote server based on the product identification key, received over the first communication channel, and display the detailed product information,

wherein the mobile device is configured to determine a distance to each of the beacons and receive the product information keys from the beacons having distances within a predetermined distance.

8. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the first communication channel is a wireless protocol selected from the group consisting of:

a Bluetooth low power protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, a ZigBee protocol, an iBeacon protocol, an Eddystone protocol, a near field communication protocol, or a combination thereof.

9. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the product identification key is selected from the group consisting of:

a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major number, a minor number, a uniform resource locator (URL), or a combination thereof.

10. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the mobile device is configured to scan a proximate area for beacons that are able to communicate over the first communication channel before receiving the product identification key from beacons within the proximate area.

11. The vehicle of claim 7, wherein the application is configured to request the product identification key based on the distance.

12. A method for delivering product information to a mobile device, the method comprising:

scanning, by the mobile device, a proximate area for beacons that are able to communicate over a first communication channel;

transmitting, with a beacon, a product identification key to the mobile device over the first communication channel;

opening an application on the mobile device based on the product identification key;

requesting, with the application, detailed product information corresponding to the product identification key, from a remote server over a second communication channel, wherein the remote server has a database of detailed product information including detailed product information corresponding to the product identification key; and

displaying, with the application, the detailed product information on the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first communication channel is a wireless protocol selected from the group consisting of:

a Bluetooth low power protocol, a Bluetooth protocol, a ZigBee protocol, an iBeacon protocol, an Eddystone protocol, a near field communication protocol, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the product identification key is selected from the group consisting of:

a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major number, a minor number, a uniform resource locator (URL), or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

accepting, by the mobile device, the product identification key; and

requesting the detailed product information based on the acceptance.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining, by the mobile device, a distance to each of a plurality of beacons; and

identifying the beacons within a predetermined distance.