Systems and methods for MAC address tracking for a mobile device

• US 9,501,777 B1
• Filed: 03/06/2012
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Boingo Wireless, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Boingo Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: Liu, Hanyang
• Primary Examiner(s): Padot, Timothy
• Application Number:
  US13/413,553
• Time in Patent Office: 1,722 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Embodiments that include a first module configured to install and work residently within at least a device-to-web bridge to collect the Media Access Control (MAC) address data and secondary identifier information associated with a given mobile computing device are disclosed. An example attempts to use the device-to-web bridge and to pass that information to a second module to call out and send that information over a wide area network to the mobile advertisement targeting system on a central management server site, which stores that information on a MAC address identification (ID) basis in a database. The MAC addresses may be coupled with their secondary identifier and stored within the database. The second module can call and communicate with a mobile advertisement targeting system configured to utilize MAC address data in combination with a secondary identifier for each mobile computing device tracked by the mobile advertisement targeting system.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing processor-executable code;

a first module configured to automatically collect media access control (MAC) address data and secondary identifier information associated with each of a plurality of mobile computing devices attempting to use a device-to-web bridge, wherein the secondary identifier information is obtained using a web browser cookie installed on the respective mobile computing device;

a second module in communication with the first module and configured to transmit the respective MAC address data and secondary identifier information for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices to a mobile advertisement targeting system configured to utilize the MAC address data and the secondary identifier for each mobile computing device to track each respective mobile computing device;

wherein the first module is further configured to automatically gather intent and demographic data after a respective mobile computing device has connected to a device-to-web bridge, using one or more of;

the device-to-web bridge, a native mobile application operating on the respective mobile computing device, and a web content publisher application operating on the respective mobile computing device, wherein the intent data includes habit data of a user of the respective mobile computing device, and the demographic data includes demographics of the user of the respective mobile computing device;

an application programming interface configured to establish communications with one or more mobile advertisement exchanges, where advertisement impressions that are targeted to the intent and demographic data collected regarding the user of the respective mobile device are sent to the mobile advertisement exchanges, which incorporate this information into their bidding systems; and

wherein the plurality of MAC addresses and secondary identifiers are stored within a database by storing a subset of octets making up a given MAC address, and hashing the subset of octets using a slow hashing algorithm combined with a salt to add a secret numeric sequence to the MAC address.

2. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing processor-executable code;

a first module configured to automatically collect media access control (MAC) address data and secondary identifier information associated with each of a plurality of mobile computing devices attempting to use a device-to-web bridge, wherein the secondary identifier information is obtained using a web browser cookie installed on the respective mobile computing device;

a second module in communication with the first module and configured to transmit the respective MAC address data and secondary identifier information for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices to a mobile advertisement targeting system configured to utilize the MAC address data and the secondary identifier for each mobile computing device to track each respective mobile computing device;

wherein the first module is further configured to automatically gather intent and demographic data after a respective mobile computing device has connected to a device-to-web bridge, using one or more of;

the device-to-web bridge, a native mobile application operating on the respective mobile computing device, and a web content publisher application operating on the respective mobile computing device, wherein the intent data includes habit data of a user of the respective mobile computing device, and the demographic data includes demographics of the user of the respective mobile computing device;

an application programming interface configured to establish communications with one or more mobile advertisement exchanges, where advertisement impressions that are targeted to the intent and demographic data collected regarding the user of the respective mobile device are sent to the mobile advertisement exchanges, which incorporate this information into their bidding systems; and

wherein the device-to-web bridge is a captive WiFi portal that the user of the mobile computing device must log into in order to access a WiFi network, and wherein the secondary identifier is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) mobile cookie, and the captive web portal collects the MAC address and HTTP mobile cookie on a terms and conditions page of the captive WiFi portal.

3. A method comprising:

automatically collecting, by a computer system, media access control (MAC) address data and secondary identifier information associated with each of a plurality of mobile computing devices attempting to use a device-to-web bridge, wherein the secondary identifier information is obtained using a web browser cookie installed on the respective mobile computing device;

transmitting the respective MAC address data and secondary identifier information for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices to a mobile advertisement targeting system configured to utilize the MAC address data and the secondary identifier for each mobile computing device to track each respective mobile computing device;

automatically gathering intent and demographic data using one or more of;

one or more device-to-web bridges, one or more native mobile applications on a mobile computing device, and one or more web publishers of content on a mobile computing device, wherein the intent data includes habit data of a user of a respective mobile computing device, and the demographic data includes demographics of the user of the respective mobile computing device;

establishing communications, by the computer system via an application programming interface, with one or more mobile advertisement exchanges, where advertisement impressions that are targeted to the intent and demographic data collected regarding the user of the mobile device are sent to the mobile advertisement exchanges, which incorporate this information into their bidding systems;

storing the plurality of MAC addresses and secondary identifiers within a database by storing a subset of octets making up a given MAC address; and

hashing the subset of octets using a slow hashing algorithm combined with a salt to add a secret numeric sequence to the MAC address.

4. A method comprising:

automatically collecting, by a computer system, media access control (MAC) address data and secondary identifier information associated with each of a plurality of mobile computing devices attempting to use a device-to-web bridge, wherein the secondary identifier information is obtained using a web browser cookie installed on the respective mobile computing device;

transmitting the respective MAC address data and secondary identifier information for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices to a mobile advertisement targeting system configured to utilize the MAC address data and the secondary identifier for each mobile computing device to track each respective mobile computing device;

automatically gathering intent and demographic data using one or more of;

one or more device-to-web bridges, one or more native mobile applications on a mobile computing device, and one or more web publishers of content on a mobile computing device, wherein the intent data includes habit data of a user of a respective mobile computing device, and the demographic data includes demographics of the user of the respective mobile computing device;

establishing communications, by the computer system via an application programming interface, with one or more mobile advertisement exchanges, where advertisement impressions that are targeted to the intent and demographic data collected regarding the user of the mobile device are sent to the mobile advertisement exchanges, which incorporate this information into their bidding systems; and

wherein the device-to-web bridge is a captive WiFi portal that the user of the mobile computing device must log into in order to access a WiFi network, and wherein the secondary identifier is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) mobile cookie, and the captive web portal collects the MAC address and HTTP mobile cookie on a terms and conditions page of the captive WiFi portal.