Centralized beacon management service

• US 9,949,200 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2014
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mayor, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Sorowar, Golam
• Application Number:
  US14/288,308
• Publication Number:
  US 20150351008A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• 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 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A centralized beacon management service includes a beacon database for storing beacon information for different enterprises. The beacon database includes tables that associate beacons deployed by enterprises with beacon information. The beacon information can include information for commissioning the beacons and payload data to be broadcast by the beacon to client devices within communication range of the beacon. Based on proximity sensing data provided by a client device, beacon information is retrieved and sent to the client device over a communication channel (e.g., WiFi, cellular) established with the client device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server computer, proximity sensing data aggregated by a client device physically proximate to a beacon in a beacon environment associated with an enterprise, the proximity sensing data including data identifying the beacon environment, the beacon, and an estimated range class, the estimated range class indicating a proximity of the client device to the beacon;

retrieving, by the server computer, beacon information from a database of a centralized beacon management service using the proximity sensing data, the beacon information associated with the enterprise, the location of the beacon environment and the estimated range class;

selecting a message to send to the client device based on the estimated range class and contents of a range class field in the database; and

sending the message to the client device over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.

2. The method of claim 1, where the beacon is a bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon, the data identifying the beacon environment is a major value and the data identifying the beacon is a minor value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using a proximity identifier (ID) included in the proximity sensing data to associate the beacon with the enterprise.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the enterprise with access to a web portal; and

receiving beacon information from the enterprise through the web portal.

5. The method of claim 1, where the beacon information includes a message or link to be broadcast by the beacon.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the enterprise with a data feed; and

receiving beacon information from the enterprise through the data feed.

7. The method of claim 1, where the beacon information includes a transmission power parameter for adjusting the transmission power of the beacon.

8. The method of claim 1, where the beacon information includes a protocol data unit (PDU) type parameter.

9. The method of claim 1, where the beacon information is sent and received over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving proximity sensing data aggregated by a client device physically proximate to a beacon in a beacon environment associated with an enterprise, the proximity sensing data including data identifying the beacon environment, the beacon, and an estimated range class, the estimated range class indicating a proximity of the client device to the beacon;

retrieving beacon information from a database of a centralized beacon management service using the proximity sensing data, the beacon information associated with the enterprise, the location of the beacon environment and the estimated range class;

selecting a message to send to the client device based on the estimated range class and contents of a range class field in the database; and

sending the message to the client device over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.

11. The system of claim 10, where the beacon is a bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon, the data identifying the beacon environment is a major value and the data identifying the beacon is a minor value.

12. The system of claim 10, where the memory stores instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

selecting a message to send to the client device based on the estimated range class and contents of a range class field in the database; and

sending the message to the client device over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.

13. The system of claim 10, where the memory stores instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

using a proximity identifier (ID) included in the proximity sensing data to associate the enterprise with the beacon.

14. The system of claim 10, where the memory stores instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

providing the enterprise with access to a web portal; and

receiving beacon information from the enterprise through the web portal.

15. The system of claim 10, where the beacon information includes a message or link to be broadcast by the beacon.

16. The system of claim 10, where the memory stores instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

providing the enterprise with a data feed; and

receiving beacon information from the enterprise through the data feed.

17. The system of claim 10, where the beacon information includes a transmission power parameter for adjusting the transmission power of the beacon.

18. The system of claim 10, where the beacon information includes a protocol data unit (PDU) type parameter.

19. The system of claim 10, where the beacon information is sent and received over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.

20. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a server computer, proximity sensing data aggregated by a client device physically proximate to a beacon in a beacon environment associated with an enterprise, the proximity sensing data including data identifying the beacon environment, the beacon, and an estimated range class, the estimated range class indicating a proximity of the client device to the beacon;

retrieving, by the server computer, beacon information from a database of a centralized beacon management service using the proximity sensing data, the beacon information associated with the enterprise, the location of the beacon environment and the estimated range class;

selecting a message to send to the client device based on the estimated range class and contents of a range class field in the database; and

sending the message to the client device over a communication link that is different than a communication link between the client device and the beacon.