Patent Application
20250200148
Augmented reality, geofencing, and other digital technologies often affect or interfere with usage and enjoyment of real property. For example, a “brick and mortar” retailer may lose sales to a competitor directing advertisements to mobile devices of patrons of the retailer in a geofencing campaign. Virtual rights such as digital air rights have emerged to address such abstract encroachments, but realization of virtual rights associated with real property has heretofore been difficult and hence virtual rights have been largely inconsequential.
Embodiments of the present invention solve the above-described and other problems by providing systems and methods for facilitating claiming, verifying, recording, asserting, and enforcing virtual rights associated with a real property.
An embodiment of the present invention is a computer system for facilitating an assertion of virtual rights associated with a real property. The computer system broadly comprises a processing element and a communications element. The processing element is configured to, among other features, maintain a database of virtual rights associated with real properties including the real property, create a user account corresponding to a virtual rights claimant, associated the user account with the real property, and generate a notice representing the assertion of virtual rights by the assertive entity of the real property. The communications element is configured to, among other features, receive, via a network, a signal representative of an instruction to create the user account and a signal representative of data for creating the user account. The communications element is further configured to transmit the notice over the network.
Another embodiment is a computer-implemented method of facilitating an assertion of virtual rights associated with a real property. The method comprises steps of maintaining a database of virtual rights associated with real properties including the real property, creating a user account corresponding to a virtual rights claimant, associating the user account with the real property, and generating a notice representing the assertion of virtual rights by the virtual rights claimant.
This summary is not intended to identify certain features of the present invention, and is not intended to be used to limit the scope of the claims. These and other aspects of the present invention are described below in greater detail.
Embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The figures are not intended to limit the present invention to the specific embodiments they depict. The drawings are not necessarily to scale.
The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention references the accompanying figures. The embodiments are intended to describe aspects of the invention in sufficient detail to enable those with ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the claims. The following description is, therefore, not limiting. The scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
In this description, references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” mean that the feature or features referred to are included in at least one embodiment of the invention. Separate references to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, or “embodiments” in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and are not mutually exclusive unless so stated. Specifically, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments, but is not necessarily included. Thus, particular implementations of the present invention can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein.
Turning to
With particular attention to
The processing element 102 may include electronic hardware components such as processors, microprocessors (single-core and multi-core), microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), analog and/or digital application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, or combinations thereof. The processing element 102 may generally execute, process, or run instructions, code, code segments, software, firmware, programs, applications, apps, processes, services, daemons, or the like. The processing element 102 may also include hardware components such as finite-state machines, sequential and combinational logic, and other electronic circuits that can perform the functions necessary for the operation of the current invention. The processing element 102 may be in communication with remote computing devices 200, 300, 400 via a wired or wireless communications network 500.
The memory 104 may be any computer-readable non-transitory medium that can store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The computer-readable medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electro-magnetic, infrared, or semi-conductor system, apparatus, or device. More specific, although not inclusive, examples of the computer-readable medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable, programmable, read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, and a portable compact disk read-only memory (CDROM).
The communications element 106 allows the processing element 102 to communicate with the remote computing devices 200, 300, 400 or other electronic devices via the communications network 500. The communications element 106 may include a signal or data transmitting and receiving circuit including components such as an antenna, an amplifier, filters, mixers, oscillators, digital signal processors (DSPs), and the like.
The remote computing device 200 enables the assertive entity to manage the virtual rights via the website. The remote computing device 200 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like. The remote computing device 200 may be configured to communicate with the computer system 100 via the communications network 500.
The remote computing device 300 enables a prospective user or licensee of virtual rights to search for, inspect, and enter into agreements for virtual rights via the website. Similar to the remote computing device 200, the remote computing device 300 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like.
The third-party computing device 400 may be configured to host a third-party website such as a real estate website or geographical information website. The third-party computing device 400 may be a server, cloud computing device, desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like.
Turning to
Access to the website may be provided to a property owner or representative of the property owner (i.e., the assertive entity) via the communications element 106, as shown in block 1002. To that end, the assertive entity may access the website via the remote computing device 300.
An account for the assertive entity may then be created by the processing element 102, as shown in block 1004. This may be achieved by the assertive entity requesting the creation of an account via the remote computing device 300. The assertive entity may populate the account with information including assertive entity identity, an address associated with the assertive entity (which may or may not be the same as the property having virtual rights to be enforced), an address or geographic location or description of the property having virtual rights to be enforced, billing information, and other suitable information.
The processing element 102 may then record and register the geographic location or description of the property in the database and assign a unique property identification (ID) or other identifier for the property, as shown in block 1006. The ID may be a number, a code, or the like. The registered property may also be assigned a property notice web page or other publicly accessible computer record.
A public notice form that can be recorded with a county records office for real property, the secretary of state, or other governmental agency may be provided, as shown in block 1008. The public notice form may be licensed for one time use and may be associated with the ID for the property. The legally recorded version of this form may be uploaded back to the website to verify that in fact a legal public notice has been created.
The processing element 102 may then generate a network navigational link for a QR code, bar code, or other reference that links a physical yard sign that can be displayed publicly on the property to the ID for the property and hence the property notice web page, as shown in block 1010. The assertive entity may receive or create the physical yard sign to include the QR code, bar code, or other reference and display the physical yard sign on or near the property.
A notice representing an assertion of virtual rights by the assertive entity may then be generated, as shown in block 1012. For example, claims to the virtual rights or other virtual rights may then be marketed or publicized via the web page and/or other media or via API database map layers provided to third party websites dealing with real estate, as shown in block 1014. The property notice page may allow the assertive entity to identify what rights are available for the property. The assertive entity may, for example, provide a notice that digital or virtual objects may be geolocated on the property, the property may be geofenced and used with digital games or related activities, and the like. The assertive entity may also indicate what activities are prohibited.
A searchable list (e.g., database) of all properties registered per the above steps may be created and maintained on the memory 104 or a remote storage system. Others wishing to seek permission to use virtual rights can research, via the searchable list, who to contact for more information, as shown in block 1016.
As mentioned above, a public notice form that can be recorded with a county records office for real property, the secretary of state, or other governmental agency may be provided to the assertive entity. The public notice form may be reviewed by the assertive entity's legal counsel and recorded by the legal counsel or by a title company.
In addition to facilitating recording the public notice with a county records office or other governmental agency as described above, the operator of the website may allow title companies, realtors, law firms, etc. to integrate the ID or other identifier for the property and the unique virtual rights property notice into property sale closing and recording services. For example, a title company, realtor, or law firm that has registered with the website operator as a licensed channel partner can pay a fee to the website operator, enter their client's information, prove client consent, and then receive the public notice form with the ID. The title company, realtor, or law firm can then resell the public notice form and ID as part of their service package to their client.
A marketing platform may also be provided via the virtual rights website for property owners to lease, license, and sell virtual rights or other virtual rights to others. For example, a property owner who has claimed virtual rights can log into his account and list his property “for lease”. A marketing company may browse (or web crawl) the website and determine that the subject property is available for lease. The marketing company may request an exclusive lease, for example. An exemplary lease may provide rights to render a virtual image, such as an image of a popular soda drink bottle, in the parking lot of the property for a number of days that correspond to an upcoming local sporting event. The website may provide template lease agreements that may be executed by the property owner and the marketing company once they agree upon price and other terms for the lease. In another example, the property owner may decide not to grant an exclusive lease to the parking lot but may instead offer the rights to place virtual objects in designated areas on the property. In a related example, the owner may grant licenses to geofence the property. In another example, the property owner may offer to sell their virtual rights to an investor who may then attempt to monetize the rights.
Another avenue for virtual rights to be licensed and/or traded is via tokenization of the digital air right record public notice form into a nonfungible air rights token. This could allow for peer-to-peer exchanges of the claimed virtual rights and enable a decentralized marketplace. These air rights tokens may allow for royalties to be paid to the original owners every time an exchange is made or other smart contract terms to be introduced.
The computer system 100, via the website, or other computer systems that implement or partially implement aspects of the invention may also facilitate enforcement of the virtual rights or other virtual property rights. These enforcement mechanisms may include an artificial intelligence agent that scans for advertisements and other geolocated services that are rendered on a property or otherwise associated with a property that is registered with the website or other computer systems that implement the present invention. Such scanning may be accomplished by imitating electronic devices in each location and detecting and logging the various rendering and tracking occurring without permission. insurance with coverage for unauthorized use of a registered property may also be offered via the website. Notices may be sent to detected trespassers with links to the relevant property notice web page so the trespassers may pay any required license or lease fees. The computer system 100 may also geolocate devices on registered properties and track their data activity to verify their usage complies with the property owners virtual rights property notice. The website may also provide a publicly accessible search function that allows the public to determine if a property is in the registry. The website may also enable bulk search access to its private registry database of properties so that advertising firms and others may know which properties have virtual rights or other virtual rights available for lease, license, or sale.
Turning to
The assertive entity may then decide to claim virtual rights associated with their real property, as shown in block 2002. To aid this decision, the assertive entity may use the website to determine virtual rights associated with their real property and virtual rights claiming and enforcing options. For example, the assertive entity may browse the website for a list of virtual rights and view a graphical representation of the real property and the virtual rights, as shown in block 2004.
A search for the assertive entity's real property may be made by entering an address or geographical coordinates of the real property. Alternatively, the assertive entity may select the real property from a list or a map or other graphical representation of the real property, as shown in block 2006.
A payment to the website host may then be made, as shown in block 2008. This may allow the assertive entity to register with the website and receive a public notice form.
The assertive entity may have the public notice form reviewed by their legal counsel and record (optionally via the legal counsel or a title company) the public notice form with a county records office for real property, the secretary of state, or other governmental agency, as shown in block 2010.
The assertive entity may also receive a physical yard sign with a QR code or other link to the webpage associated with the real property and display the physical yard sign on or near the associated property, as shown in block 2012. To that end, the physical yard sign may be mailed to the assertive entity (to an address provided during checkout or to the property). The assertive entity may also receive access to a virtual rights marketplace, among other services and products.
The assertive entity may then set up a login to the virtual rights marketplace, as shown in block 2014. The assertive entity may then log in to the virtual rights marketplace, as shown in block 2016, from which a number of options may be selected. For example, the real property may be shown as claimed on the website and is not to be used for commercial purposes without owner permission, as shown in block 2018. The real property may also be listed for lease and a price for lease may be set. Other terms of the lease may be standardized, as shown in block 2020. The real property may also be listed for sale and a sale price may be set, as shown in block 2022.
The assertive entity may also receive an offer via email or other communication means to sign up for additional benefits. For example, virtual rights protection plans may be offered, as shown in block 2024.
The above-described system and methods provide several advantages. For example, virtual rights can be claimed and asserted in an organized manner on a dedicated platform. Claimants of virtual rights can control how others use digital or virtual representations of spaces related to their real property, thus preventing encroachment of the full enjoyment and use of the real property. It also provides a marketplace for virtual rights, thus enabling their monetization.
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“Parcel” means a contiguous portion of Real Property that has been legally separated from a larger tract of such Real Property. A parcel can be identified based on the legal description of the Real Property and has legal boundaries. A parcel may be assigned a unique identifier by a local governing authority for the purposes of identification.
“Real Property” means a parcel or parcels of land and any improvements thereon. Improvements may include buildings, structures, and equipment, for example, that are permanently attached to the land.
“Owner” means a fee simple owner of a parcel of real property or the legal owner of digital air rights related to a parcel or parcels of real property. An owner can be an individual, a group of individuals, a trust, a business entity, a non-profit organization, or a governmental entity.
“Digital Air Space” means digital and virtual space on, over, above, across, and through a parcel of real property.
“Digital Air Right” (DAR) means a segregable right of an owner of real property. This includes a right to use, enjoy, exclude, possess, control, and/or dispose of (including a right to sell, lease, or transfer) the digital air space related to a parcel of real property.
“Virtual Advertisement” includes a virtual billboard, a digital or virtual display, an advertisement delivered to a mobile device, or other virtual or digital content delivered from a third party to a consumer.
“Commercial Purposes” means intention of leading to a commercial transaction such as in the case of a communication that offers a good or service or directs the recipient to a virtual or physical location for facilitating a commercial transaction. This may include commercial promotional data delivered to a mobile device and may include marketing or digital content delivered to a mobile device. Furthermore, this may include search engines or digital marketing firms delivering geo-location based advertising or search results.
“Location-Based Communication” means a communication in which digital information is provided to a user based on the user's geographical location. This may include providing search engine results or a virtual advertisement for commercial purposes based on a mobile device's geographic location.
“Geo-Location” means geographic location.
“Mobile Device” means a wearable, implantable, handheld, or portable device that can be used to deliver or receive digital content. This may include virtual, audio, or written content or messages, or other digital material.
“Closing Agent” means a person or organization having authority to record and/or register digital air rights to a parcel of real property on behalf of the existing legal owner of the digital air rights.
The owner portal computing device 3002 may be used by the owner of a parcel of real property to search for a property owned by the owner. The owner portal computing device 3002 may also be used by the owner to claim digital air rights of the parcel of real property as described in more detail below. The owner portal computing device 3002 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like. The owner portal computing device 3002 may be configured to communicate with the closing agent portal computing device 3004, the transactional portal computing device 3006, and/or the central computing system 3008 via a communication network as described above.
The closing agent portal computing device 3004 may be used by a closing agent to register digital air rights to real property as described in more detail below. The closing agent portal computing device 3004 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like. The closing agent portal computing device 3004 may be configured to communicate with the owner portal computing device 3002, the transactional portal computing device 3006, and/or the central computing system 3008 via the communication network 3010.
The transactional portal computing device 3006 may be used by an advertiser, marketer, or the like to search for real properties for whose digital air rights are of interest, as described in more detail below. The transactional portal computing device 3006 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like. The transactional portal computing device 3006 may be configured to communicate with the owner portal computing device 3002, the closing agent portal computing device 3004, and/or the central computing system 3008 via the communication network 3010.
The central computing system 3008 may manage property searches (for DAR claims and for potential transactions), DAR claims, DAR registration, DAR bids, and transactions for DAR, and/or facilitate such management, as described in more detail below. The central computing system 3008 or another computing system in communication with the central computing system 3008 may maintain a DAR database of DAR and associated parcels of real property, owners, and other information. The DAR database may include a comprehensive catalog of real property such as every parcel of real property in the United States and the associated DAR, for example. Additional regions or jurisdictions may be added. The central computing system 3008 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet, a mobile phone, a digital personal assistant, or the like. The central computing system 3008 may be configured to communicate with the owner portal computing device 3002, the closing agent portal computing device 3004, and the transactional portal computing device 3006 via the communication network 3010.
The system 3000 may facilitate protecting and monetizing digital air space related to a parcel of real property. The system 3000 may be used to claim, verify, and register DAR to digital air space related to the parcel of real property. The system 3000 may also be used to lease, license, and/or transfer the DAR to interested third parties. Use of the system 3000 may be separated into three parts: 1) claiming DAR of a parcel of real property; 2) verification of DAR ownership and claim registration; and 3) monetization of DAR.
An owner of a parcel of real property may, via the owner portal computing device 3002, identify the owned property, select the owned property, and claim ownership of the corresponding DAR of the property. Specifically, the owner of the parcel of real property may search for the owned parcel (block 4000) and submit a claim via an application to register the DAR for that parcel (block 4002). The owner may provide relevant information to facilitate the registration of the DAR for that parcel.
Once the owner of a parcel of real property registers ownership of the corresponding DAR, the geo-location data of any mobile device within the registered geo-location cannot be used as a location identifier for determining specific marketing data or other data for commercial purposes to be delivered to the mobile device without consent of the owner of the DAR of the parcel of real property.
Once a claim of ownership is made, a closing agent may register the DAR ownership claim via the closing agent portal computing device 3004. Specifically, once the claim of ownership is made, the central computing system 3008 may provide, via the closing agent portal computing device 3004, the application or details of the application to a closing agent who may have authority to operate within the jurisdiction corresponding to the parcel of real property, as shown in block 4004. The central computing system 3008 may locate, select, or choose a closing agent based on factors such as availability, authority, priority, or the like. The closing agent may, via the closing agent portal computing device 3004, process and file the DAR ownership claim with applicable local governing authority corresponding to the parcel of real property, as shown in block 4006. Furthermore, an applicable governing authority may record and maintain the DAR ownership claim similar to (and in some cases along with) maintenance of real property titles and records, as shown in block 4008. The central computing system 3008 may also update the DAR database to indicate the DAR for the parcel of property has been registered.
After registration of the DAR, the owner of the DAR may list the DAR on a public marketplace for licensing, rental, or purchase by an entity that may want to market a product or service to mobile devices via geo-location or using the geo-location as a location identifier, as shown in block 4010.
Marketing, advertising, or search engine entities or companies wishing to use geo-location based marketing material or virtual advertisements for commercial purposes may search the DAR database for specific locations and corresponding parcels of real property, as shown in block 4012. If a parcel of real property has a registered claim to its DAR, an entity desiring to rent, lease, or purchase the DAR may contact the owner of the DAR via the system 3000. To that end, the system 3000 may provide a virtual auction platform, a virtual marketplace, or other tools to enable competing parties to bid on the DAR or make offers therefor, as shown in block 4014. The system 3000 may facilitate negotiation between the owner of the DAR and the entity seeking to rent, lease, or purchase the DAR for contract terms and completing aspects of negotiation including signing contractual documents related to the DAR, as shown in block 4016. The system 3000 may also manage billing, funds transfer, and other transaction functions, as shown in block 4018.
If a search for a parcel of property or for DAR yields a parcel of property that has no registered owner of the corresponding DAR, the system 3000 may notify the owner that a third party is interested in commercializing the DAR, as shown in block 4020. The system 3000 may also prompt the owner to claim the DAR via an owner portal computing device such as owner portal computing device 3002, as shown in block 4022.
The above-described system 3000 provides several advantages. For example, the system facilitates claiming, verifying, and registering DAR to digital air space related to parcels of real property. Once such DAR to a parcel of real property are registered, the geographic location or associated location data of mobile devices using wireless communication technology cannot be utilized for commercial purposes without consent of the owner of the DAR. Use of the location data related to a mobile device when the mobile device is within the registered real property, including to identify its location for the purpose of delivering digital commercial purpose material, marketing, virtual advertisement, or any type of communication that is commercial in nature (including but not limited to search engine results based on geo-location, message-based advertising, location-based advertising, and the like) can be denied without, for example, written and contractual permission of the owner of the DAR. Once the DAR to a parcel of real property is registered, the owner of the DAR may lease, license, and/or transfer the DAR to interested third parties. In this way, the present invention protects digital air space related to a parcel of real property.
The description and drawings are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order to avoid obscuring the description. References to one embodiment or an embodiment in the present disclosure are not necessarily references to the same embodiment; and, such references mean at least one.
The use of headings herein is merely provided for case of reference, and shall not be interpreted in any way to limit this disclosure or the following claims.
References to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, and are not necessarily all referring to separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by one embodiment and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for one embodiment but not for other embodiments. Unless excluded by explicit description and/or apparent incompatibility, any combination of various features described in this description is also included here.
In the foregoing specification, the disclosure has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
Although the invention has been described with reference to the one or more embodiments illustrated in the figures, it is understood that equivalents may be employed and substitutions made herein without departing from the scope of the invention as recited in the claims.
Having thus described one or more embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following:
This regular utility patent application is a continuation-in-part, and claims priority benefit with regard to all common subject matter, of earlier-filed U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 18/321,324, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CLAIMING, VERIFYING, RECORDING, AND ENFORCING DIGITAL AIR RIGHTS”, and filed on May 22, 2023. application Ser. No. 18/321,324 claims priority benefit with regard to all common subject matter, of earlier-filed U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/346,068, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CLAIMING, VERIFYING, RECORDING, AND ENFORCING DIGITAL AIR RIGHTS”, and filed on May 26, 2022. The identified earlier-field patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties into the present application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63346068 | May 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 18321324 | May 2023 | US |
| Child | 19064070 | US |
