Map based beacon management

• US 9,906,909 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2016
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• 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 NMN
• Application Number:
  US15/144,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323708A1
• Time in Patent Office: 666 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, at a server and from a mobile device within a range of a proximity Beacon, a location of the mobile device;

Receiving, at the server and from the mobile device, proximity information Identifying a signal strength of a signal that the mobile device received from the proximity beacon;

receiving, at the server and from one of a set of devices that includes the mobile device and the proximity beacon, beacon battery information, the beacon battery information identifying a battery level of the proximity beacon;

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

transmitting, from the server to a front-end device, the location of the proximity beacon and the beacon battery information, thereby displaying the location of the proximity beacon and the battery level of the proximity beacon overlaid over a map of the venue displayed via a display of the front-end device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the mobile device is generated by the mobile device based on at least one of Global Positioning System (OPS) data, cellular signal triangulation, or Wi-Fi hotspot location data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein mobile device executes a software application that transmits the location of the mobile device and the proximity information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the server, 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.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the location of the proximity beacon within the venue is further based on the secondary proximity information.

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

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the map of the venue is to scale.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximity beacon is identified via a universally unique identifier (UUID), a major version identifier, a minor version identifier, or a combination thereof.

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

13. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting the location of the proximity beacon to the front-end device includes transmitting the range information to the front-end device, thereby displaying the range of the proximity beacon overlaid over the map of the venue.

14. A system for beacon management using a server, the system comprising:

a communication transceiver communicatively coupled to a mobile device, the communication transceiver receiving proximity information and a location of the mobile device from the mobile device, the proximity information identifying a signal strength of a signal that the mobile device received from a proximity beacon, the communication transceiver also receiving beacon battery information from one of a set of devices that includes the mobile device and the proximity beacon, the beacon battery information identifying a battery level of the proximity beacon;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and to the communication transceiver, wherein execution of instructions stored in the memory by the processor including;

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

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

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the proximity beacon includes a wireless transmitter that transmits at least one of Bluetooth signals, IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi signals, radio signals, microwave signals, light signals, audio signals, or other electromagnetic signals.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the location of the mobile device is based on at least one of Global Positioning System (GPS) data, cellular signal triangulation, or Wi-Fi hotspot location data.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising a moving object, wherein the proximity beacon is coupled to the moving object.

18. 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 a range of a proximity beacon, a location of the mobile device;

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

receiving, from one of a set of devices that includes the mobile device and the proximity beacon, beacon battery information, the beacon battery information identifying a battery level of the proximity beacon;

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

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