Map based beacon management

• US 10,149,103 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2018
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blazer And Flip Flops, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Blazer And Flip Flops, Inc.
• Inventors: Sahadi, Scott Sebastian, Ziskind, Benjamin Harry, Bass, Joshua David, Mathews, Benjamin Keeling
• Primary Examiner(s): Zewdu, Meless
• Application Number:
  US15/906,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20180192248A1
• Time in Patent Office: 280 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known 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 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Once a proximity beacon is installed within a venue, mobile devices receive signals transmitted by the proximity beacon. These mobile devices then report their own locations to an application server. These mobile devices also report a signal strength to the application server, the signal strength associated with the signal from the proximity beacon. The application server determines the location of the proximity beacon by triangulating based on the locations of the mobile devices and on the signal strengths from the mobile devices. The location of the proximity beacon is then transmitted to a front-end device that then displays the location of the proximity beacon on a map along with other locations of other proximity beacons. The map may also display range areas and battery levels of the proximity beacon, and any other data that can be gathered by the application server from the mobile devices or the proximity beacon.

Claims

1. A method for proximity beacon management, comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device within range of a proximity beacon, mobile device location information of the mobile device, the mobile device location information identifying the location of the mobile device;

receiving proximity information from the mobile device, the proximity information identifying a signal strength of a signal that the mobile device received from the proximity beacon;

identifying a location of the proximity beacon within a venue based on the received mobile device location information and the received proximity information; and

transmitting the location of the proximity beacon to a front-end device, thereby displaying the location of the proximity beacon overlaid over a map displayed via a display of the front-end device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device location information is identified using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device location information is based on cellular signal triangulation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device location information is based on Wi-Fi hotspot location data.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving secondary proximity information from the proximity beacon, the secondary proximity information identifying a secondary signal strength of a secondary signal that the proximity beacon received from the mobile device, wherein identifying the location of the proximity beacon is further based on the secondary proximity information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving range information identifying the range of the proximity beacon.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising transmitting the range information to the front-end device, thereby displaying the range of the proximity beacon overlaid over the map displayed via the display of the front-end device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving beacon battery information, the beacon battery information identifying a battery level of the proximity beacon.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting the battery information to the front-end device, thereby displaying the battery level of the proximity beacon overlaid over the map displayed via the display of the front-end device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the map is distorted in that the map includes a first area that is drawn at a first scale and a second area that is drawn at a second scale, wherein the first area is distinct from the second area, wherein the first scale is distinct from the second scale.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the map is of uniform scale.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying that the location of the proximity beacon has changed; and

transmitting an alert dataset to the front-end device identifying that the location of the proximity beacon has changed, thereby outputting an alert at the front-end device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising iteratively improving an accuracy of the location of the proximity beacon based on additional location information and additional proximity information received from one or more additional mobile devices.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximity beacon is coupled to a moving object.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal strength of the signal is identified via at least one identifier conveyed using the signal, the at least one identifier selected from the group consisting of a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major version identifier, and a minor version identifier.

16. A system for beacon management, the system comprising:

a communication transceiver, wherein the communication transceiver;

receives, from a mobile device, mobile device location information of the mobile device, the mobile device location information identifying the location of the mobile device,

receives proximity information from the mobile device, the proximity information identifying a signal strength of a signal received by the mobile device from a proximity beacon, and

transmits a location of the proximity beacon to a front-end device, thereby displaying the location of the proximity beacon overlaid over a map displayed via a display of the front-end device;

a memory storing instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory and to the communication transceiver, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor causes the processor to identify the location of the proximity beacon within a venue based on the received mobile device location information and the received proximity information and also causes the communication transceiver to transmit the location of the proximity beacon to the front-end device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the signal received by the mobile device from the proximity beacon is a short-range wireless signal using a Bluetooth®

protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile device location information is identified using a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the mobile device.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising a moving object, wherein the proximity beacon is coupled to the moving object.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for beacon management, the method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device within range of a proximity beacon, mobile device location information of the mobile device, the mobile device location information identifying the location of the mobile device;

receiving proximity information from the mobile device, the proximity information identifying a signal strength of a signal received by the mobile device from the proximity beacon;

identifying a location of the proximity beacon within a venue based on the received mobile device location information and the received proximity information; and

transmitting the location of the proximity beacon to a front-end device, thereby displaying the location of the proximity beacon overlaid over a map displayed via a display of the front-end device.