Patent Grant
9537994
The instant disclosure relates to mobile device charging, and, in particular, to systems and methods for providing and locating public or private mobile device charging stations.
Mobile devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants, tablets, and the like, are now widely used and heavily depended upon for voice and data communications. In order to maintain proper power levels for the operation of the device, the battery of the mobile device needs to be recharged from time to time. Often, at inopportune times, mobile device users may be located at public locations without the ability to recharge the mobile device battery. Even with the existence of public mobile device charging stations, these stations are limited in number and location. Consequently, a mobile device user runs the risk of his mobile device battery being exhausted before locating an available station to recharge the mobile device.
Therefore, it would be advantageous for a user to use a system to be alerted of the locations of nearby publicly available public or private charging stations to charge his mobile device when the battery power level of his mobile device decreases to a low level. It would be particularly advantageous if such a system and method also provided: advertising opportunities for retailers; the ability for retailers to drive traffic to a store or stores; a mobile application, such as a mobile application that would indicate and/or suggest charging station locations, and/or that would monitor a user's use and the correspondent battery charge; and the like.
Understanding of the present invention will be facilitated by consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals refer to like parts:
The present disclosure provides systems and techniques for providing and locating public mobile device charging stations.
In embodiments of the present invention, one or more charging stations may be configured to charge a battery of a mobile device. A database may be configured to store location information of the one or more charging stations, as well as mobile device location, charge, and/or other information of the one or more respective mobile devices. A server communicatively coupled with the one or more charging stations and the database may be configured to determine a proximity of the one or more charging stations to a location of the mobile device. This determination may be based on the station location information and the mobile device location information. Based on the determined proximity, the server may provide the station location information of a respective one or more charging stations to the mobile device.
The server and/or mobile application may also monitor a power level of the battery of the mobile device. Based on the power level of the battery of the mobile device, the user may be alerted, and provide location information of the respective one or more charging stations to the mobile device.
Thereby, the invention may provide a system and method to alert a user of the locations of nearby publicly available public or private charging stations to charge his mobile device when the battery power level of his mobile device decreases to a low level. Moreover, the disclosed system and method also provide a system and method that provides: advertising opportunities for retailers; the ability for retailers to drive traffic to a store or stores; a mobile application—such a mobile application might indicate and/or suggest charging station locations, and/or monitor a user's use and the correspondent battery charge; and the like
It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating, for the purpose of clarity, many other elements found in typical network systems, mobile devices, telecommunications servers and telecommunications generally, and associated methods. Those of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that other elements and/or steps are desirable and/or required in implementing the present invention. However, because such elements and steps are well known in the art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention, a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein. The disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications to the disclosed elements and methods known to those skilled in the art.
Mobile devices, such as cellular phones, personal digital assistants, tablets, and the like are now widely used and heavily depended upon for voice and data communications. In order to be operational, mobile devices typically employ the use of rechargeable batteries. These batteries need to be recharged from time to time in order to maintain proper power levels for the operation of the mobile device. For example, some estimate that the typically user runs low on battery power in a mobile device approximately 4 times each week.
Because a conventional charger generally utilizes alternating current, and specifically typically uses either 110V or 220V “household” current designed for indoor use, it is often difficult to recharge a mobile device battery in a public place or while traveling without access to a suitable power terminal. Further, even in the case of an available power terminal, such charging would require the user to also be traveling with a charger, which may be inconvenient or easily forgotten. Similarly, while outside and/or travelling in a vehicle, the user may need to have his or her charger available (particularly, a charger that is adapted for the specific device brand and model) in order to use a vehicle's electrical power supply. Thus, public mobile device charging systems suitable for charging mobile devices are highly beneficial.
However, although public charging stations are known, and due in part to the ubiquity of mobile device users and the currently limited number of publicly available mobile device charging stations, mobile device users may still have great difficulty locating a public charging station available for use. Consequently, a mobile device user runs the risk of his mobile device battery being exhausted before locating an available station to recharge the mobile device.
Therefore, the present invention provides for a user to be alerted of the locations of available public charging stations when the battery power level of his mobile device decreases to a low level. In particular, when the battery power of the mobile device decreases below a predetermined threshold level (for example, 20% of its maximum power), the mobile device may request, from the server, information of one or more registered businesses, i.e., any place of business that includes a charging unit, that house a charging station within a specified distance from the mobile device. The disclosed system and method also provide: advertising opportunities for retailers; the ability for retailers to drive traffic to a store or stores; a mobile application, such as a mobile application that would indicate and/or suggest charging station locations, and/or that would monitor a user's use and the correspondent battery charge; and the like
With reference to
According to certain embodiments of the present invention, the server 106 periodically receives and stores location information associated with the mobile device 104. This location information may be sent from the mobile device 104; pulled from the mobile device 104; or obtained from another service that is able to determine the location of the mobile device (e.g., Location Based Services (LBS), Assisted GPS (A-GPS), eGPS, GSM Localization, Multilaterilization, Radiolocation, Trilateration, etc.).
For example, many public areas may provide Wi-Fi access points that consumers are allowed to utilize. These access points may also be used to help ascertain the location of a user or his relation to publicly available charging stations. For example, a Skyhook Wireless system may be used. This location information may be analyzed independent of or in conjunction with other forms of information or location information. For example, Wi-Fi location information may be particularly useful in certain indoor environments where other technologies (e.g. GPS) may have more difficulty functioning, such as in a shopping mall housing a collection of retail businesses.
Embodiments of the present invention allow a mobile device user (which may become registered with the system upon using the charging station 110 for the first time) to be alerted of the locations of available public charging stations when the battery power level of his mobile device decreases, such as to a predetermined threshold level, which may be automatically set or which may be previously set by the user. Accordingly, when the battery power of the mobile device decreases below this predetermined threshold level (for example, 20% of its maximum power), the mobile device may request, from the server, information of one or more registered businesses housing a charging station within a specified distance from the mobile device. Alternatively, the location information of the mobile device may be sent to the server and compared with: the location information of one or more of the registered businesses housing a charging station; a list or a preferential list of registered businesses housing a charging station; a list of registered businesses having charging stations and making offers to consumers that those businesses wish to be known to the consumers; and the like.
By way of non-limiting example only, a mobile device user may be out in public, shopping. Becoming occupied with his shopping, the user may forget or neglect to check the battery power level of his mobile device. The system and method, according to embodiments of the present invention, may notify the user via his mobile device that the battery power of the device is indeed low, and then may display to the user a nearby store which houses a charging station, and that has a charging unit, such as a charging “locker,” available. In an embodiment of the present invention, the mobile device app may display the number of charging stations available so a user does not waste time going to a charging station that does not have any ports available By being timely notified by the mobile device associated with the disclosed system and method, the user may have enough time to locate and subsequently recharge his mobile device battery for continued use of his mobile device without having to cut short his shopping experience or risk losing operation of his mobile device. As a substantial benefit to a registered business housing the charging station, the business may experience increased consumer traffic, as potential consumers enter the business to recharge their phone, and the opportunity to make targeted enticements to consumers having a known location proximate to the registered business.
As illustrated in
A map database 304 may also be included. This database 304 may provide the background maps that are displayed on each user's mobile device and that correspond to an area or region around the user at the time the application is invoked (i.e., when the user's mobile device battery is low). For example, a map tile of the United States may provide an image of the continental U.S. that can be zoomed to display a regional street level map for any area in the U.S. The map may further be zoomed to display locations within a venue housing a collection of businesses. For example, a user may be located within a mall, and the application may be invoked due to his mobile device battery being low. The mobile device 104 may display locations of retail stores within the mall which house available charging stations to charge the user's mobile device, either upon zooming in on the application by the user, or by a predetermined setting for displaying a location.
A location database 306 may store geographic locations of charging stations and/or geographic locations of mobile devices 104. A charging station database 308 may store the current status of available lockers within any charging stations. This status may include a number of lockers of a particular charging station not currently in use, or, available, for charging. The data store 108 may also comprise a registered business database 310, which may store information related to businesses currently registered with the charging system according to embodiments of the present invention. For example, the business database 310 may include approved advertisements, or associated content describing respective registered businesses.
Different mechanisms may be mounted on the housing 402 to enable a user to access, lock, and subsequently unlock an individual locker 407 for charging his mobile device 104. These different mechanisms may allow the system 300 to gather varying amounts of user information referred to above (which may be stored in user database 302). For example, a simple lock 403 and physical key 405, as known to those of ordinary skill in the art, may be employed, which may not facilitate much interaction by the user with the charging station, and which consequently may limit consumer information able to be gathered by the charging station 110 for return to the system 300.
Referring now to
The display 408 may additionally or as the electronic “key,” prompt the user for other identifying information for the collection and subsequent storage of user shopping information which may be valuable to retailers/registered businesses. For example, the display 408 may prompt the user to enter his name, a telephone number, a name and/or telephone number in conjunction with other information, such as a security “pin” having 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or more digits, or the like.
By way of example, upon entering his name using the keypad 406, the display may prompt the user to enter his telephone number. It should be noted that other and/or additional user identifying information may be gathered as a part of these instructions. This gathered information may be used to serve several purposes. One purpose may be to provide verification information that the user is, indeed, who he says he is (such as by way of comparison to registered user information for system 300, by way of verification with information stored in the mobile application having associated therewith the aforementioned map and battery charge level capabilities, and/or by comparison with personal information on the mobile device, such as may be stored in association with the device's SIM card). Another purpose is to insure that only the user (or, an individual authorized by the user) is able to access the mobile device 104 from the locker 407 after the mobile device has been locked in the given locker 407. Yet further and as mentioned above, another purpose for the prompted user identifying information is to gather information about the user's shopping habits and/or frequented registered businesses, and/or other information as described hereinthroughout, which may be subsequently stored in user database 302 (as shown in
Also, as a security feature, the display 408 may display an image of which a user has previously selected upon initially accessing an available locker. For example, the user may enter a telephone number, and then either select or be shown an image, such as a black dog. Upon returning to unlock the locker, the user may be prompted to enter his phone number, and then to select the appropriate image that matches the preselected image in order to unlock the locker.
It should be noted that any suitable type of user interface may be provided. For example, the user interface may be a part of a display 408, such as a touch screen liquid crystal display (LCD), and/or may include a display and a separate or discrete keypad 406. Moreover, it should be noted that any known methodologies of data entry may be employed, alone or in combination, including but not limited to a credit card or driver's license swipe, telephone number or other data entry to a keypad, a bar code or QR code scan, or a biometric scan, such as a fingerprint scan, for example.
In certain embodiments, upon entry of a telephone number, for example, the user may receive a SMS or MMS message (by way of non-limiting example) containing further information, as discussed throughout. For example, the user may receive promotional information, such as may be used upon reaching a business at which resides the charging units. The user may also receive a call to action, such as to download the mobile app discussed herein.
Another mechanism which may be employed for accessing and using the charging station 110 is a user interface 408 in the form of a card reader (not shown). The card reader (not shown) may accept any card identifying a particular mobile device user. The card reader (not shown) may be configured to accept a user credit card, a driver's license, or a consumer card issued by a particular retailer, by way of non-limiting example. In preferred embodiments, the card reading is for identification and/or data accumulation purposes, and may or may not be for the purposes of charging the user a fee for usage of the charging station. For example, the card reader (not shown) may comprise a magnetic card reader, which, upon swiping the user's card on the reader (not shown), may read the information contained on a magnetic stripe located on the user's card, enabling the charging station to gather and process user identification information, such as for secure access by the user to his device after charging, and/or to accumulate information about the user, such as shopping habits of the user, which, as mentioned above, may be stored by user database 302.
Still referring to
However, embodiments of the present invention are not so limited, as the notification area 508 and/or map may be of any known type, may be tiled or “windowed” in any manner, and/or may be located anywhere on the display screen 502. In an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in
As further illustrated in
As would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, ads may also be delivered based on location and may be dynamically delivered based in user attributes. For example, an ad may be served according to the proximate of a user to a location where the ad may be relevant, whether or not the relevant location and/or ad is related to a charging station 110 location. Similarly, an ad may be served based on the type of phone used by the user and/or the apps loaded thereon or browsing history. For example, the app of the present invention may query the bookmarks or other internet browsing activity logged on the user device and may use that information when serving an ad.
As would be appreciated by those skilled in the art, ads may be scheduled with a start and end date over a specific time period. The use of revolving and/or multiple ads may be presented to a user and may, for example, create a user specific “playlist”. Such ads may be configured as an attribute in such programs as KioWare, for example (e.g., MobileAdsCatId attribute).
Any selection of a location, whether by selection of a graphically presented location, a listed location name, and/or automatically delivered to the user, may include a detailed map representation and/or the option to obtain directions to the selected location, as illustrated in
According to exemplary embodiments, advertising content 510 may also be provided to the user on the display screen 502, such as via the mobile application. The advertising content 510 may include instructions on how to take advantage of special offers or deals mentioned in the advertising content 510. For example, upon reaching a charging location, the user may, either prior to recharging or upon at least partially recharging his device at the participating location, show or play (e.g., in the case of audio-based advertising content) the advertising content on the mobile device to the cashier or other staff at the advertised location, such as to obtain any advertised prices, offers or deals, and/or to be given a coupon or the like. In other embodiments, as illustrated in
Additionally, in some embodiments, advertising content 510 may include an indication that the mobile device user is already heading toward, or is likely to pass, an advertised location. In other embodiments, advertising content 510 may include directions to the advertised location, and/or may link to a website of the location upon accessing by the user, for example.
Situations may arise where multiple nearby businesses may house a charging station, thus driving competition for the user's “foot traffic,” and/or for advertising content space (and/or business location recognition by icon 506) on the user's mobile device display screen 502. Therefore, the server (not shown) may employ a prioritization algorithm to determine which participating business or businesses gets to provide an advertisement (and/or location recognition by icon 506) at any given time and location of the user's mobile device, and/or in what order advertisements are listed, displayed, or preferentially listed or displayed. This prioritization algorithm may be based on any number of factors, which may include, for example, user shopping characteristics and a known relation (such as a known preference) to the items of a participating business or business type, the relative location of the user and participating business, the level of participation of the participating business in the disclosed systems and methods (e.g., the fee amounts paid to house a charging station, paid for user access via the mobile application, paid for user data access and/or accumulation, or the like), and the like. It should be noted, however, that these factors should not be so limited, as the prioritization algorithm may apply other information related to consumers or businesses to determine the advertising content (and/or location recognition by icon 506) to be displayed on the display screen 502 at any given time.
In accordance with one or more embodiments described herein, and with reference to
In
In accordance with the foregoing, and as illustrated in
By way of non-limiting example, after charging his phone for the first time, the user may be auto-prompted to download the mobile app. Further, the mobile app, and/or participation in the disclosed systems and methods, may be free for consumers, and available for a monthly fee to the registered businesses. Alternatively, a fee may be charged to consumers, or a charge to consumers may be affected by consumer actions. For example, a user's willingness to accept/view/watch one or more advertisements or promotions may cause a modification, such as a decrease or elimination of, any fee due from consumers for the mobile app, the mobile app services, or the charging services. Moreover, the present invention may be free to some businesses, such as those willing to sponsor or host charging units, but may be available at a fee to other businesses.
By way of further, non-limiting example, the charging units/kiosks/lockers discussed throughout may be placed in a registered business subject to, for example, payment of rent. This and other costs to the charging unit provider may be recouped by charging consumers for the services discussed, by accepting sponsorships, by accepting advertisements or promotions to be provided to consumers (which may be from the registered business ultimately used by the user and/or from other registered businesses and/or sponsors) for a fee, and the like. Additionally, payment may be received for other occurrences, such as revenue sharing. For example, a credit card company, such as VISA, may sponsor a kiosk, and thereby the kiosk may be free to use for consumers who swipe a VISA card. For users who do not hold a VISA card, the use of the unit may be free to those consumers if they agree to apply (such as conveniently through an electronic interface at the kiosk) for a VISA card. Upon receipt of an application for a VISA card, VISA may pay a fee to the kiosk provider.
Continuing with the foregoing example, upon receiving a recharging alert, the mobile app may provide the user with a map or similar interface showing local charging stations having charging units available to the user. Further, the mobile app may provide, such as on the map, or in a list or secondary window in conjunction with the map, an indication of ones of the registered businesses with local charging available and which are making special offers, such as sales, coupons, targeted offers based on the user's history (in the mobile app and/or on the device more generally), and/or unique deals for users of the present invention.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate, in light of the disclosure herein, that the aforementioned mobile app may serve principally or exclusively to monitor a mobile device charge, and alert a user to a need for recharge, i.e., the disclosed mobile app may be a stand alone mobile app for alerting a user to a low device batter charge. Such a mobile app may provide the alert when the battery charge falls below a predetermined threshold, which threshold may be preset or entered by the user, as discussed herein.
Returning now to the foregoing example, once the user selects one of the registered businesses, the user may seek out and/or be directed to the selected business. Upon arrival, the user may or may not be provided with advertising at the charging station, such as by a display associated with the station. Further, the user may be asked, such as via the same display or via a second display, to enter user information to secure the user's device once placed into a charging unit. Additionally or alternatively, the charging unit may secure the device by a physical key.
Via any user-entered information, and/or via any information gained from the phone through the communicative plug of the phone upon recharging, and/or via a profile entered by the user (such as into the mobile app), and/or via the user history, a user profile may be created. For example, redeemed deals and special offers made in the mobile app may be tracked by the disclosed system as an indication of user product and service preferences. The profile may be maintained by the system discussed above, and may allow for targeted marketing, both of the charging services discussed herein, and of third-party goods and services, such as those provided by the registered business and/or by other businesses. For example, geo-targeted ads may be offered via the mobile app.
Further, the user's time in-store is thereby increased as the user shops while awaiting a recharge. The user is also provided with a differentiated, enhanced customer shopping experience that increases consumer loyalty.
Moreover, the accumulation of user data and profiles, such as including user shopping data, provides the aforementioned and other data mining opportunities through the use of the present invention. For example, the accumulation of data may be indicative of users' usage of GPS, and/or GPS-invoking apps, and the affects thereof on battery life. The accumulated data may also indicate battery life by device type, by usage type, or the like, and may thus serve as a research tool for device manufacturers, or as a purchase tool (to the extent the information is publicly available) for a user and/or for a non-user. Of course, availability of such recommended purchase data only to users of the mobile app may drive non-users to obtain the mobile app.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.
In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, and preferably on a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
As illustrated in
The GUI may provide an indication of the charge capacity and the charge remaining in at least one battery and/or battery cell, associated with mobile device 104. The GUI may also include indicators as to page and/or content amount and the location of the user among such options. For example, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
As discussed herein, the charging status of the phone may be brought to the attention of the user and, as illustrated in
The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
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| 20140155100 A1 | Jun 2014 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61732731 | Dec 2012 | US |
