Broadcast near field communication to mobile device

• US 9,985,735 B1
• Filed: 04/04/2007
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Bierbaum, Christopher J., Katzer, Robin D., Koellner, Todd N., Zhu, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Gartland, Scott D
• Application Number:
  US11/696,603
• Time in Patent Office: 4,073 Days
• Field of Search: 705 14, 705 1- 28, 455 411
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0221 Re-usable coupons
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/09 Arrangements for device control with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time; Arrangements for control of broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/80 characterised by transmission among terminal devices

Abstract

A broadcasting system having a transmitter that broadcasts a one-way signal is provided. The one-way signal is embedded with data that is transmitted to a device that is enabled with near field communication (NFC) technology. The NFC-enabled device may then transfer at least a portion of the transmitted embedded data to another NFC-enabled device by bringing the NFC-enabled devices into close proximity to each other.

Claims

1. A method of broadcasting content with embedded data, comprising:

receiving, by a first device, a first one-way broadcast of content from a first transmitter, the first one-way broadcast having embedded data that comprises tuning information;

transmitting, by a first near field communication component of the first device to a second near field communication component of a second device, at least a portion of the embedded data including the tuning information;

processing, by the second device, the tuning information; and

in response to processing the turning information, receiving, by the second device, a second one-way broadcast of the content from a second transmitter.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising redeeming, the second device, at least a portion of the embedded data in a transaction.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transaction is a point-of-sale transaction with a point of sale terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded data further comprises data authentication to access information related to the embedded data via an Internet web site.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tuning information comprises at least one of a group of information consisting of:

channel signaling information, a name or title of the broadcast, a time of the broadcast, and a length of the broadcast.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the tuning information, the second device is tuned to receive the second one-way broadcast from a different broadcaster than the broadcaster from which the first device receives the first one-way broadcast.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the tuning information, the second device is tuned to receive the second one-way broadcast from a different network than a network from which the first device receives the first one-way broadcast.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, based on the tuning information, the second device is tuned to receive the second one-way broadcast from a different system than a system from which the first device receives the first one way broadcast.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one-way broadcast is the same as the second one-way broadcast and the first transmitter is the same as the second transmitter.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded data received by the first device comprises information in various formats for use on different devices, and the second device receiving the at least the portion of the embedded data from the first device comprises receiving the at least the portion of the embedded data in a format of the second device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device is configured to continue to receive the second one-way broadcast based on the tuning information upon removal of the second device from the vicinity of the first device.

12. A method of broadcasting content with embedded data, comprising:

broadcasting, by a transmitter, a one-way broadcast of content, the one-way broadcast having embedded data that comprises at least one of an electronic coupon, an electronic gift card, or an electronic rebate and an identification of an appropriate application to implement the at least one of the electronic coupon, the electronic gift card, or the electronic rebate;

receiving, by a first device, the one-way broadcast with the embedded data from the transmitter, wherein the first device comprises a first near field communication (NFC) component;

receiving, via a second NFC component of a second device communicating with the first NFC component, at least a portion of the embedded data including the at least one of the electronic coupon, the electronic gift card, or the electronic rebate and the identification of the appropriate application;

using, by the second device, the appropriate application identified in the at least the portion of the embedded data to implement the at least one of the electronic coupon, the electronic gift card, or the electronic rebate; and

redeeming, by the second device, the at least one of the electronic coupon, the electronic gift card, or the electronic rebate at a point of sale device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one-way broadcast comprises at least a one-way video broadcast, a one-way audio broadcast, a one-way satellite video broadcast, or a one-way satellite audio broadcast.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first device is one of a television and radio, and the second device is one of a mobile device, a handset, and a personal digital assistant.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitter is one of a television broadcaster, a radio broadcaster, and a cable company.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the first device comprises an indicator, the indicator indicating that the first NFC component on the first device has the embedded data.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the embedded data further comprises data authentication to access information related to the embedded data via an Internet web site.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the embedded data received by the first device comprises information in various formats for use on different devices, and the second device receiving the at least the portion of the embedded data from the first device comprises receiving the at least the portion of the embedded data in a format of the second device.