System and methods for determining location of pop displays with wireless beacons using known wireless beacon locations

• US 9,990,644 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2016
• Issued: 06/05/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ABL IP Holding LLC (Acuity Brands, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Shelfbucks, Inc.
• Inventors: Walden, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Assistant Examiner(s): TACSIK, ERNEST G
• Application Number:
  US15/153,213
• Publication Number:
  US 20170019764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• 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 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• 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 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 : using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 : for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 : Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for using wireless beacons in point of purchase (“POP”) displays to facilitate the delivery of consumer oriented content to mobile devices is disclosed herein. Wireless beacons may be used to broadcast wireless signals from POP displays, where the wireless signals include data packets with unique identifiers for the wireless beacons. A first wireless signal from a first POP display may be received by a mobile device. The mobile device may also receive a second wireless signal from a second POP display at the same retail locatin. The mobile device may provide the first and second unique identifiers to a remote server. The remote server may know the location of one of the POP displays and assess the retail location of the other POP display based on the receiving both unique identifiers from the same retail location.

Claims

1. A wireless system, comprising:

a first circuit board configured to be coupled to a first point of purchase (POP) display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is configured to be associated with a selected campaign;

wherein the first circuit board comprises a first processor and a first wireless beacon, the first wireless beacon being configured with a first unique identifier associated with the first wireless beacon, the first unique identifier being associated with the selected campaign, and wherein the first wireless beacon is configured to broadcast a first wireless signal, the first wireless signal including a first data packet comprising the first unique identifier;

a second circuit board configured to be coupled to a second POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is configured to be associated with the selected campaign;

wherein the second circuit board comprises a second processor and a second wireless beacon, the second wireless beacon being configured with a second unique identifier associated with the second wireless beacon, the second unique identifier being associated with the selected campaign, and wherein the second wireless beacon is configured to broadcast a second wireless signal, the second wireless signal including a second data packet comprising the second unique identifier;

wherein the first POP display and the second POP display are configured to be distributed at random to a retail location selected from a plurality of retail locations associated with the selected campaign;

wherein the first circuit board and the second circuit board are configured to broadcast the first wireless signal and the second wireless signal to a mobile device positioned at the retail location, the mobile device comprising a software package installed on the mobile device, wherein the software package comprises a mobile application and a software developer kit (SDK) configured to interpret wireless data packets received by the mobile device;

wherein the mobile device is configured to provide the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier to a remote server in response to receiving the first data packet comprising the first unique identifier broadcast in the first wireless signal and the second data packet comprising the second unique identifier broadcast in the second wireless signal; and

wherein the retail location of the first wireless beacon is known to the remote server and the retail location of the second wireless beacon is unknown to the remote server when the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier are received by the remote server, and wherein the remote server is configured to determine that the second wireless beacon is at the retail location of the first wireless beacon in response to receiving both the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier from the mobile device.

2. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the selected campaign comprises an advertising campaign or a promotional campaign.

3. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the retail location comprises a store name and/or a store number associated with a specific retailer.

4. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the remote server is configured to determine the retail location of the first wireless beacon prior to receiving the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier from the mobile device.

5. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the retail location of the first wireless beacon is provided to the remote server.

6. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the remote server knows the retail location of the first wireless beacon subsequent to receiving a geographic location of an additional mobile device and the first unique identifier in response to the additional mobile device receiving the first data packet comprising the first unique identifier broadcast in the first wireless signal, and wherein the remote server is configured to determine the retail location of the first wireless beacon based on the provided geographic location of the additional mobile device.

7. The wireless system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier to the remote server when a signal strength between the mobile device and the first and second wireless beacons meets a predefined threshold level in signal strength.

8. A method for assessing a location of a point of purchase (POP display), comprising:

determining, at a remote server, a first retail location of a first POP display comprising a first wireless beacon and a first unique identifier;

receiving, in a mobile device at the first retail location, a first wireless signal comprising a first data packet with the first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon, the first wireless signal being broadcast by the first wireless beacon, wherein the first wireless beacon is located on a first circuit board coupled to a first point of purchase (POP) display, the first POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is associated with a selected campaign, and wherein the first POP display has been distributed at random to the first retail location, the first retail location being selected from a plurality of retail locations associated with the selected campaign;

receiving, in the mobile device at a second retail location, a second wireless signal comprising a second data packet with a second unique identifier for a second wireless beacon, the second wireless signal being broadcast by the second wireless beacon, wherein the second wireless beacon is located on a second circuit board coupled to a second POP display, the second POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is associated with the selected campaign, wherein the second POP display has been distributed at random to the second retail location, the second retail location being selected from the plurality of retail locations associated with the selected campaign, and wherein the second retail location of the second wireless beacon is unknown to the remote server;

providing, from the mobile device to the remote server, the first unique identifier from the first wireless beacon and the second unique identifier from the second wireless beacon in response to the mobile device receiving the first and second data packets, wherein the first and second unique identifiers are provided by a software package installed on the mobile device; and

determining, using the remote server, the second retail location of the second POP display is the same retail location as the first retail location of the first POP display based on receiving both the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier from the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected campaign comprises an advertising campaign or a promotional campaign.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the software package comprises a mobile application and a software developer kit (SDK) configured to interpret wireless data packets received by the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier to the remote server using the software development kit (SDK) installed in the software package on the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the mobile device receives the first data packet and the second data packet when a signal strength between the mobile device and the first and second wireless beacons meets a predefined threshold level in signal strength.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the first retail location of the first POP display comprises providing the first retail location to the remote server.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the first retail location of the first POP display comprises:

providing, from an additional mobile device to the remote server, a geographic location of the additional mobile device in response to receiving the first data packet comprising the first unique identifier from the first wireless beacon at the first retail location, wherein the geographic location of the additional mobile device is provided by a software package installed on the additional mobile device in response to the additional mobile device receiving the first data packet, and wherein the first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon is provided from the additional mobile device in addition to the geographic location of the additional mobile device; and

determining, using the remote server, the first retail location of the first POP display based on the provided first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon and the provided geographic location of the additional mobile device.

15. A non-transient computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform a method, comprising, comprising:

determining, at a remote server, a first retail location of a first POP display comprising a first wireless beacon and a first unique identifier;

receiving, in a mobile device at the first retail location, a first wireless signal comprising a first data packet with the first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon, the first wireless signal being broadcast by the first wireless beacon, wherein the first wireless beacon is located on a first circuit board coupled to a first point of purchase (POP) display, the first POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is associated with a selected campaign, and wherein the first POP display has been distributed at random to the first retail location, the first retail location being selected from a plurality of retail locations associated with the selected campaign;

receiving, in the mobile device at a second retail location, a second wireless signal comprising a second data packet with a second unique identifier for a second wireless beacon, the second wireless signal being broadcast by the second wireless beacon, wherein the second wireless beacon is located on a second circuit board coupled to a second POP display, the second POP display comprising a consumer product display, wherein the consumer product display is associated with the selected campaign, wherein the second POP display has been distributed at random to the second retail location, the second retail location being selected from the plurality of retail locations associated with the selected campaign, and wherein the second retail location of the second wireless beacon is unknown to the remote server;

providing, from the mobile device to the remote server, the first unique identifier from the first wireless beacon and the second unique identifier from the second wireless beacon in response to the mobile device receiving the first and second data packets, wherein the first and second unique identifiers are provided by a software package installed on the mobile device; and

determining, using the remote server, the second retail location of the second POP display is the same retail location as the first retail location of the first POP display based on receiving both the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier from the mobile device.

16. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the selected campaign comprises an advertising campaign or a promotional campaign.

17. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the software package comprises a mobile application and a software developer kit (SDK) configured to interpret wireless data packets received by the mobile device.

18. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the mobile device receives the first data packet and the second data packet when a signal strength between the mobile device and the first and second wireless beacons meets a predefined threshold level in signal strength.

19. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining the first retail location of the first POP display comprises providing the selected retail location to the remote server.

20. The non-transient computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein determining the first retail location of the first POP display comprises:

providing, from an additional mobile device to the remote server, a geographic location of the additional mobile device in response to receiving the first data packet comprising the first unique identifier from the first wireless beacon at the first retail location, wherein the geographic location of the additional mobile device is provided by a software package installed on the additional mobile device in response to the additional mobile device receiving the first data packet, and wherein the first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon is provided from the additional mobile device in addition to the geographic location of the additional mobile device; and

determining, using the remote server, the first retail location of the first POP display based on the provided first unique identifier for the first wireless beacon and the provided geographic location of the additional mobile device.