Patent Application
20130282438
Efficient, directed customer service is often difficult for merchants, retailers, and other businesses to accomplish. For market or service models that utilize numerous locations and customer service representatives, merchants may not be able to immediately address and attend to customers with seamless, “high touch” service. In particular, counter staff, waiters, and attendants may have to conduct “cold start” interactions with customers to learn the customers' identities, preferences, and particular needs. For example, customer service personnel may have to ask many questions of customers to discover preference information, such as favorite colors/styles of clothing, sizing information, shoe size, and other essential data related to the customers' experience. Merchants may benefit from an automated process that provides such customer information to expedite, customize, and improve dining, shopping, and other service experiences.
Further, when customers do provide essential customer information, merchants may access non-essential customer information that is unnecessary for serving the customer. For example, to meet with state alcohol licensing regulations, a bartender may request to see a customer's driver's license to confirm a legal drinking age and, as a result, may view the customer's address and other unrelated personal information. Customers may desire a more controlled manner of delivering personal information to services that protects privacy by only disclosing information authorized by the customers.
Additionally, retailers, merchants, and payment providers are trying to innovate around new payment technologies and processes utilizing mobile devices and enhanced foot traffic metrics. A key problem these providers are trying to solve involves hands-free payment via proximity. Currently providers are using global positioning systems (GPS) and near-field communication (NFC) to try to achieve a hands-free payment authentication system, but each technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. In particular, some providers may use geofencing GPS technology to establish a virtual fence, however GPS geofencing requires a much larger radius that what is necessarily ideal for a payment engagement. For example many providers may use a geofence radius of 300 feet which may place a customer into a point-of-sale system for payment engagement when he/she is not even located within the retail store. Additionally problematic, in an area with numerous closely positioned retailers (e.g., a mall), retailer geofences may overlap and cause a customer to be in proximity for payment engagement at many merchants' stores at the same time. Further, due to various interferences, GPS does not work well within buildings. NFC systems may provide more granular proximity detections useful for hands-free payment engagements. However, NFC may utilize too small a proximity for hands-free payments (e.g., less than one foot radius), and NFC devices used in payment engagements may need to be pulled out and bumped or come very close to point-of-sale devices (e.g., cash registers, etc.).
The various embodiments provide systems, devices, and methods for dynamically providing relevant user information to devices within proximity of a user, such as a customer within a retail store. In general, a compact wireless identity transmitter associated with a registered user (or customer) may be configured to broadcast messages that include a unique and secure identification code via a short-range wireless radio, such as a Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) transceiver. The identification broadcast packets (“broadcast messages”) may be received by physically proximate proximity broadcast receivers (PBR), which may be dedicated receivers, smartphones configured with a PBR application, tablet computers configured with a PBR application, and stationary receivers, to name just a few examples. The broadcast messages may be received by proximity broadcast receivers when the wireless identity transmitter is within reception range (e.g., within 0 to 25 feet). Proximity broadcast receivers may be mobile (e.g., smartphones configured with a PBR application) or stationary. Stationary proximity broadcast receivers may be positioned in strategic locations, such as in a movie theater, in or near stores within a shopping mall, at various locations within an amusement park, near doors of a house, and near particular product displays within a retail store. Because the wireless identity transmitter broadcasts short-range wireless signals, the proximity of the wireless identity transmitter to the areas may be recognized by reception of the signals by a proximity broadcast receiver located in the area. As the user travels through the place (e.g., a retail store), the proximity broadcast receivers may receive broadcast messages from user's wireless identity transmitter.
Proximity broadcast receivers may relay received broadcast messages, along with other information (e.g., timestamp data, proximity information, etc.), to a central server in the form of sighting messages. Such a central server may use the information received in sighting messages to track the wireless identity transmitter, and thus a user associated with that device. The central server may maintain a database of relayed information that may represent both historical and actively updated information for the customer's wireless identity transmitter, such as proximities to proximity broadcast receivers and/or point-of-sale devices over a period. The central server may use the identification code within the relayed messages to identify the wireless identity transmitter, and thus the user of the device.
Once the user is identified as being within proximity of a proximity broadcast receiver, the central server may be configured to identify profile information associated with the user and relevant to the proximity broadcast receiver and/or a registered service deploying the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the central server may identify information indicating the user's food preference as relevant to a restaurant deploying the proximity broadcast receiver. In various embodiments, the central server may compare information within profiles associated with both the user and the registered service related to the proximity broadcast receiver to identify relevant or matching profile information. The central server may transmit such relevant profile information to the proximity broadcast receiver or another device associated with the proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., another computing device within the same restaurant). In this way, the central server may not divulge the entirety or unnecessary information within the user's stored profile, and thus third-parties, such as stores and restaurants, may only gain access to information on a “need-to-know” basis. In various embodiments, the user may provide permissions (or permissions settings) that are stored and used by the central server to protect the privacy of the user. For example, the central server may only identify and transmit profile information that is authorized by the user for transmission to a particular store or type of business. Thus, the user may provide his/her information only when a possible recipient may need the information and is authorized to receive it by the user.
In another embodiment, the central server may identify and transmit profile information that may be used to authenticate payments related to the user. The central server may determine when the user is within proximity of a point-of-sale device within a place, such as a cash register device within a retail store, and may transmit payment-related profile information to the point-of-sale device. For example, the central server may transmit a photograph or signature sample of the user to a device for verification by a cashier. Transmitting payment authentication information authorized by the user for delivery may promote proximity payment authentication services, such as identification confirmation, queuing for proximity payments, and expedited payment for goods while in line at a cash register
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and constitute part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the features of the invention.
The various embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. References made to particular examples and implementations are for illustrative purposes, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention or the claims.
The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any implementation described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other implementations.
The term “mobile device” is used herein to refer to any one or all of cellular telephones, smart-phones (e.g., iPhone®), web-pads, tablet computers, Internet enabled cellular telephones, WiFi enabled electronic devices, personal data assistants (PDA's), laptop computers, personal computers, and similar electronic devices equipped with a short-range radio (e.g., a Bluetooth® radio, a Peanut® radio, a WiFi radio, etc.) and a wide area network connection (e.g., an LTE, 3G or 4G wireless wide area network transceiver or a wired connection to the Internet). Reference to a particular type of computing device as being a mobile device is not intended to limit the scope of the claims unless a particular type of mobile device is recited in the claims.
The term “broadcast message” is used herein to refer to short-range wireless broadcast signals broadcast by wireless identity transmitters (defined below) that may include identification information (i.e., identifiers) associated with the wireless identity transmitters and/or their users. Such identifiers may be periodically changed and encrypted, encoded, or otherwise obscured (i.e., rolling identifiers). In various embodiments, broadcast messages may include other identifying information, such as Bluetooth® MAC addresses and counters, which may also be encrypted. Additionally, broadcast messages may include metadata and other data, such as characteristics of the transmitting wireless identity transmitter (e.g., device type), sensor data, and/or commands or other instructions. In various embodiments, broadcast messages may be transmitted via a wireless communication protocol, such as Bluetooth® Low Energy, WiFi, WiFi Direct, Zigbee®, Peanut®, and other RF protocol. In various embodiments, because of the high unreliability of certain short-range transmission channels, broadcast messages may be single packet transmissions limited to a certain size (e.g., 80 bits, 10 bytes, 20 bytes, etc.). For example, the payload of an embodiment broadcast message may be 80 total bits, including 4 bits that indicate battery status information and 76 bits that indicate a rolling identifier. As another example, an embodiment broadcast message may include 20 bits representing a counter and 60 bits representing a rolling identifier, such as generated with a pseudo-random function or encryption algorithm.
The term “wireless identity transmitter” is used herein to refer to a compact device configured to periodically transmit broadcast messages via short-range wireless transmitters. Wireless identity transmitters may be mobile, such as when carried or affixed to mobile persons or items, or alternatively may be stationary, such as when installed within buildings. Wireless identity transmitters may store and be associated with a unique device identifier (i.e., a “deviceID”), such as a factory ID. In an embodiment, the unique device identifier may be a code 56-bits in length. In various embodiments, for security purposes, this unique device identifier, along with other data (e.g., counter values), may be encoded, encrypted, or otherwise obfuscated when included within broadcast messages as a “rolling identifier.” Wireless identity transmitters may be configured to maintain inaccurate time (e.g., UTC) information, such as by using a 30 ppm 16 kHz crystal oscillator as a clock. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may be within or a mobile device, or alternatively, operations may be performed by a mobile device that are similar to the operations of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, a smartphone may execute software that configures that smartphone to utilize its Bluetooth® radio to transmit broadcast messages that include a secured, unique identifier. Wireless identity transmitters are described in more detail below with reference to
The term “proximity broadcast receiver” is used herein to refer to devices that are configured to receive broadcast messages, such as transmitted by wireless identity transmitters. In various embodiments, proximity broadcast receivers may be stationary devices (or “stationary proximity broadcast receivers”) permanently positioned throughout places (e.g., buildings, retail stores, etc.) or alternatively may be mobile devices configured to operate as proximity broadcast receivers (or “mobile proximity broadcast receivers”). For example, a smartphone may be configured to receive broadcast messages and operate as a mobile proximity broadcast receiver. Reference to a particular type of computing device as being a proximity broadcast receiver is not intended to limit the scope of the claims unless a particular type of device is recited in the claims. Further, unless otherwise indicated, references to proximity broadcast receivers throughout this disclosure are not intended to limit any method or system to a particular type of proximity broadcast receiver device (e.g., wireless or stationary). Proximity broadcast receivers are described in more detail below with reference to
The terms “identity transceiver” and “wireless identity transceiver” are used herein to refer to devices that are configured to receive and transmit broadcast messages. In other words, an identity transceiver may function as both a proximity broadcast receiver and an identity transmitter. For example, a smartphone may be configured to broadcast short-range signals that include its unique identifier as well as receive broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters within proximity. Throughout this disclosure, various operations may be described as being distinctly performed by either a wireless identity transmitter or a proximity broadcast receiver, however, those skilled in the art should appreciate that a device configured to operate as an identity transceiver may be configured to perform any or all of the same operations and thus may be interchangeable with references to either a wireless identity transmitter or a proximity broadcast receiver.
The term “sighting message” is used herein to refer to reports, signals, and/or messages sent by proximity broadcast receivers to a central server in response to receiving broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters. Sighting messages may be transmissions that include part or all of the information encoded in received broadcast messages, including any obscured or encrypted information, such as identifiers of wireless identity transmitters. Additionally, sighting messages may include metadata and other information (or “associated data”), such as the sending proximity broadcast receivers' identification information (e.g., device ID, third-party affiliations, etc.), whether the proximity broadcast receiver paired with a wireless identity transmitter, transmissions context information (e.g., a code indicating the sighting message is related to an alert or a registered service), information regarding software or applications executing on proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., app IDs), location information, proximity information with respect to known areas within a place, and timestamp data. In an embodiment, sighting messages may also include authentication information (e.g., secret keys, passes, special codes, digital certificates, etc.) that may be used by a central server to confirm the identification (or identification information) of proximity broadcast receivers transmitting the sighting messages. For example, a sighting message may include a code from a hash function that can be decoded by the central server to ensure the sending proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a particular registered service. In various embodiments, sighting messages may be sent immediately after receipt of broadcasts (e.g., when related to an alert), buffered, or scheduled along with other scheduled transmissions.
The various embodiments provide methods, devices, and systems for dynamically providing user profile information to computing devices within proximity of a wireless identity transmitter associated with a user in a trusted architecture. Using a proximity-based signaling system, the embodiments provide mechanisms for delivering user profile information as permitted by the user to the organization where the user is standing in a manner that can be trusted by both the user and the recipient, such as a merchant. For example, when a user approaches a proximity broadcast receiver, such as at a merchant check out counter, that proximity broadcast receiver receives signals broadcasted by the user's wireless identity transmitter. The proximity broadcast receiver relays identity information obtained from the received broadcast signal in a sighting message sent to a central server trusted that by both the user and the merchant. The central server uses the identity information received in the sighting message to access a data record that includes user profile information (e.g., photo, name, address, credit card numbers, etc.). The central server may send a portion of the user's profile information, selected based on user privacy settings and permissions, to a merchant computing device, such as a computing device near or coupled to the proximity broadcast receiver. Since the central server is trusted by the merchant and the user profile information is sent to the merchant only when the user is close to the proximity broadcast receiver, the merchant can rely on the profile information to complete a transaction with the user.
In various embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter may be a compact device configured to transmit a packet with an identification code in a format that can be received by any proximity broadcast receiver within range of the short-range wireless broadcast. Since the wireless identity transmitter relies on relatively short-range wireless signaling (e.g., short-range radio signals, Peanut®, Zigbee®, RF, WiFi, Bluetooth® Low Energy signals, light signals, sound signals, etc.) to transmit broadcast messages that include its identifier, only proximity broadcast receivers within proximity of the transmitter may receive such broadcast messages. Thus, a proximity broadcast receiver's own location may provide an approximate location for the wireless identity transmitter at the time of receipt of a broadcast message. Wireless identity transmitters may be deployed by various parties registered with the central server, such as government agencies, merchants, retailers, and stores. In an embodiment, the broadcast range of wireless identity transmitters may be three or less to one hundred feet while within a retail store.
Proximity broadcast receivers, in particular mobile proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., smartphones, etc.), may be configured with processor-executable instructions, such as an application that users may download or that may be incorporated in the device by the manufacturer. By configuring many mobile devices with such an application, a wide spread network of proximity broadcast receivers may be deployed for little or no cost, taking advantage of the popularity of smartphones. Stationary proximity broadcast receivers may be deployed in strategic places, such as throughout retail stores, to supplement the network of smartphones. Proximity broadcast receivers may be located coincident to, within, or otherwise within proximity of certain areas within a place, such as merchandise displays in a move theater, point-of-sale devices, or an entrance to a retail store. For example, a proximity broadcast receiver may be on top of, next to, or within a product display arranged within a product aisle. Point-of-sale devices may coincide with either stationary proximity broadcast receivers or wireless identity transmitters deployed within an area (e.g., a retail store) to detect nearby customers. For example, a cash register device may coincide with a wireless identity transmitter that broadcasts messages related to a merchant.
Each proximity broadcast receiver receiving a broadcast message from the wireless identity transmitter may pass information to a central server for processing, such as by transmitting sighting messages including the rolling identifier of the wireless identity transmitter. Sighting messages transmitted by proximity broadcast receivers to the central server may include part or all of the information encoded in received broadcast messages from proximate wireless identity transmitters, including any rolling, obscured, or encrypted information related to the wireless identity transmitters. In various embodiments, sighting messages may be sent immediately after receipt of broadcast message (e.g., when related to an alert), buffered, scheduled along with other scheduled transmissions, or otherwise based on characteristics of broadcast message. Sighting messages may include metadata, header information, or other encodings to indicate various reported data. For example, a sighting message may contain metadata that includes a code for a particular merchant, and may therefore indicate that the sighting message was transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver within the merchant's store. As another example, a sighting message may contain metadata that includes a code indicating a user's smartphone and therefore the proximity broadcast receiver may be a mobile proximity broadcast receiver belonging to the user. In an alternative embodiment, a local computing device, such as a retail store server or router, may receive sighting messages from proximity broadcast receivers and may in turn pass each sighting message to the central server.
Upon receipt of sighting messages, the central server may decode, decrypt, or otherwise access obscured information (e.g., rolling identifiers) within the sighting messages. For example, the central server may decode a broadcast message within a sighting message and determine the customer associated with the broadcast message using data stored within a registration database. Based on the location of a proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted a sighting message, the central server may determine the proximity of the related broadcast message, or the approximate proximity. For example, since a stationary proximity broadcast receiver that transmits a sighting message is within proximity of a customer's wireless identity transmitter at the time of receiving a broadcast message, the central server may determine the customer's wireless identity transmitter is within several feet of the GPS coordinates indicated in the proximity broadcast receiver's sighting message or known to the central server in the case of fixed proximity broadcast receivers. Further, the central server may be configured to transmit messages in response to receiving and processing sighting messages. For example, the central server may transmit return messages to devices associated with a merchant/retailer/store, such as a store server, a point-of-sale device (e.g., a cash register device), a mobile device or other computing device used by an employee of the merchant (e.g., a tablet device used by a waiter/hostess/customer service rep, etc.), and/or a proximity broadcast receiver associated with the merchant (e.g., a stationary proximity broadcast receiver that relayed the broadcast signal from the customer's wireless identity transmitter).
In various embodiments, the central server may serve as a trusted “middle-man” that delivers certain profile information to devices associated with registered services (e.g., retailers, merchants, marketing services), and only when the user's wireless identity transmitter is in proximity with a proximity broadcast receiver of the registered service. In other words, the central server may act as an indirection mechanism that transmits subsets of a user's profile when the user is within proximity of a registered service's devices. The central server may store profiles (or profile information) of users received during registration procedures. For example, a user may be required to submit personal information to the central server when activating a wireless identity transmitter and/or a mobile proximity broadcast receiver. During such a registration, users may indicate various profile information describe the users' interests, personal demographics or personal information (e.g., race, gender, age, etc.), characteristics, issues, needs, wants, and preferences regarding various topics. For example, profile information may include a user's birth date, residence, medical information, health conditions (e.g., food allergies), age, customer preferences, and clothing size information (e.g., shirts, pants, shoes, etc.). As another example, profile information may indicate preferences for certain products, colors, styles, brands, sellers, stores, communities, websites, shopping experiences (e.g., how to be approached by salespersons), foods, beverages, and automobiles.
The central server may categorize or otherwise label all profile information associated within user profiles. For example, individual pieces of data provided by a customer may be labeled as relating to “Food,” “Clothes,” “Entertainment,” “Personal,” “Health,” “Politics,” etc. The types of categories may be simple, discrete headings (e.g., “Shopping”) and/or may include detailed sub-categories/groups (e.g., Shopping->Shoes->Sandals). In an embodiment, the central server may obtain (or “scrape”) profile information from other databases or online services users may be affiliated with or use to store personal information. For example, the central server may perform operations to receive preference information, shopping history, personal data, and other historical information about the user from shopping accounts or websites, such as an Amazon shopping profile/account, or social networking accounts, such as a Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, or FourSquare account.
In an embodiment, the profile information may be continually updated based on scheduled operations by the central server (e.g., the central server may query an Amazon account daily to detect shopping patterns or preferences) and/or from received sighting messages associated with the user. For example, the central server may determine the user was last in a certain restaurant based on broadcast signals being received by stationary proximity broadcast receivers within that restaurant. Additionally, the central server may determine profile information based on the user's behavior over time. For example, the central server may store indicators that the user prefers a certain sporting team based on recorded attendance at a sporting event.
In various embodiments, the central server may determine categories describing profile information based on predefined relationships. For example, a certain profile creation question presented to the user during registration may be related to a “Job” category. Users may also manually modify and/or set categories for profile information stored within the central server. Further, the central server may process stored profile information using natural language processing to determine the nature or topic of particular data within a profile. Alternatively, the central server may simply prompt parties registering with the central server, such as individual users or registered services (e.g., merchants, retailers, etc.), to provide categories that describe their primary demographics (e.g., “Shoe store,” “customer,” etc).
The central server may also store permissions corresponding to user profiles that may indicate how the central server is authorized to share profile information with third-parties, such as merchants, government entities, and/or other users (i.e., registered services). The terms “permissions” or “permissions settings” are used herein to refer to settings, tags, flags, or other information that indicates whether a user authorizes to have various information stored within a profile provided to third-parties, merchants, retailers, and other registered services. Permissions may be set, provided, or otherwise indicated during procedures initiated and/or participated in by users, such as during registration as a user with the central server or during configuration of a wireless identity transmitter. For example, a user may update his/her permission settings to indicate a certain store may subsequently receive messages including the user's preference of cola drink. Permissions may indicate authorizations for individual recipients (e.g., no information sharing with Restaurant B), general types of recipients (e.g., information sharing is authorized for all hospitals), individual pieces of profile information (e.g., birth date is private), or sections of profiles (e.g., any data related to shopping habits is public), and any combination of similar authorizations (e.g., birth date is authorized for any recipient EXCEPT Restaurant B). Alternatively, permissions may include global settings for all profile information (i.e., an entire profile is private/public).
During and after registration, users may set profile permissions that may indicate subsets (e.g., “windows”) of the stored profile information that may be provided to particular registered services or in particular circumstances. For example, a user may indicate that all personal information stored within his/her profile, such as birth date, address, and health information, may be private and thus may not be disclosed to any merchant. As another example, the user may indicate that his/her shopping preferences may be shared with merchants who offer particular products or services. When permissions are stored, the central server may only transmit profile information that is authorized, regardless of its relevant to a registered service. With permissions, the central server may provide profile information that assists third-parties in providing improved services to users while maintaining relative anonymity of the users.
In another embodiment, permissions may indicate a hierarchy of profile information that may be shared with third-parties. Such a hierarchy may indicate various conditions or categories must be present for certain profile information to be authorized for transmission to a registered service. For example, a user may indicate permissions settings that enable the central server to share basic information with a restaurant hostess (e.g., share the user's first name), more specific information with the restaurant's bartender (e.g., the user's is above the legal drinking age), and more information with the restaurant's waiter (e.g., a signature or photo for payment authentication).
In response to receiving a sighting message corresponding to broadcast messages from a user's wireless identity transmitter, the central server may identify profile information within the user's profile that is relevant to a registered service related to a received sighting message. Relevant profile information may be determined by matching categories related to the user and the registered service. Registered services may be associated with various categories that describe at least one of the services offered, the products offered, the type of business, demographics, interests, and/or target audience of the registered service. For example, a show seller that is registered with the central server may be associated with the categories of “Shoes,” “Stores,” and “Shopping,” and thus the central server may identify profile information within the user's profile that relate to the categories of “Shoes,” “Clothing,” and/or “Shopping,” such as prior sneaker purchases or preferences in sneaker brands or shoe design. In an embodiment, the central server may find matches of categories related to information stored in two different profiles corresponding to the sighting message. For example, the central server may compare a first profile of the registered service (or another user) and a second profile of the user to find any similar or matching categories to determine relevant profile information of the user.
When there is relevant profile information that is authorized for sharing based on permissions, the central server may transmit a return message including the relevant profile information. For example, the central server may transmit a message to a computer within a retail store that instructs customer service representatives in the retail store to approach the user by name and show him/her shoes that are in his/her size. As another example, a waiter receiving food/beverage preferences profile information on a tablet device may offer a preferred drink or food selection, or alternatively avoid offering food with nuts when the profile information indicates a customer has a nut allergy.
In an embodiment, profile information may be shared between mobile devices without transmitting messages to the central server. For example, in response to receiving a short-range wireless signal from a first device within proximity that shares data from a first user's profile information, a second mobile device may respond with a transmission that includes certain profile information of a second user. In another embodiment, the central server may transmit payment authentication information to a point-of-sale device (e.g., a cash register computing device) when a user is determined to be within proximity. The term “payment authentication information” is used herein to refer to information stored within a user's profile that may be utilized by third-parties to confirm the user's identity and otherwise facilitate a transaction. For example, payment authentication information may include address information, email addresses, photographs, audio samples of a user's voice, and signature samples that may be used to verify the identity of the user carrying a wireless identity transmitter within a retail store. Additionally, payment authentication information may include financial information, such as a user's credit card information (e.g., number, expiration date, etc.) or information about a preferred banking account. Store agents (e.g., customer service representatives, managers, cashiers, salesmen, etc.) may use payment authentication information to approach users waiting in line to efficiently conduct transactions and provide “high-touch” service.
To transmit payment authentication information, the central server may compare the location of a proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted a received sighting message to known locations of point-of-sale device within a place, such as a retail store. For example, the central server may compare the location of the proximity broadcast receiver indicated within the sighting message to the locations of all cash register point-of-sale devices within the retail store. When the proximity broadcast receiver is within a certain proximity threshold of a point-of-sale device, the wireless identity transmitter related to the sighting message may be assumed to be near a payment area (e.g., waiting at a check-out counter, in line at a cash register, etc.), and so the central server may transmit payment authentication information to the retail store. For example, the central server may send a photo of the user to a cash register near the user to assist store employees operating the cash register. Payment authentication information may only be relevant when users are in a location that is likely to include payment transactions, such as in a cash register line. Thus, the central server may use a rather small proximity threshold to ensure data is not sent to point-of-sale devices when users are merely walking or alternatively when users are not in a payment area. In an embodiment, the proximity threshold may be three feet or less to twenty-five feet or more.
In various embodiments, proximity information of wireless identity transmitters may be estimated by proximity broadcast receivers and/or a server (e.g., a local computing device, a central server, etc.). Based on signal strength of received broadcast messages or concurrent sighting messages from more than one proximity broadcast receiver, a server may determine the proximity broadcast receiver closest to the wireless identity transmitter. In other words, a central server may determine the proximity broadcast receiver among a plurality of proximity broadcast receivers that is closest to a wireless identity transmitter. When the proximity broadcast receivers are placed in strategic places, such as on a cash register or embedded within aisles of a retail store, determining the proximity broadcast receiver that is closest to a transmitter possessed by a user may enable a server to determine the area or point-of-sale device the user intends to address (e.g., a particular check-out line).
In various embodiments, the operations to determine whether a wireless identity transmitter is within proximity of a point-of-sale device may be performed by a central server as described above, a local computing device, such as a retail store server, and/or proximity broadcast receivers. For example, a local computing device within the retail store may compare the location of a proximity broadcast receiver receiving a broadcast message to the locations of all cash register computing devices within the retail store to detect whether a wireless identity transmitter is within a proximity threshold.
In another embodiment, data within received sighting messages may be useful in generating statistical information and customer trending data (i.e., foot traffic information). For example, even when broadcast messages are received outside of the proximity threshold for a particular area within the retail store (e.g., the wireless identity transmitter is twenty-five to one hundred feet from a product aisle or point-of-sale device), data within the sighting message may be stored by the central server. The central server may store data from sighting messages in relation to users and collect valuable information about the users' habits while within places. Such data may include unique visitor counts, aggregated dwell time, specific customer dwell time, purchase conversions, passing-by data, and data useful in developing loyalty programs. Over time, the central server may receive and store proximity information of a particular customer's wireless identity transmitter to various areas within a place, and may determine paths the customer repeatedly made throughout the place. For example, the data may describe the customer as walking from the entry of a retail store to a particular department numerous times over a period of time. As another example, the data from sighting messages may show that the user went to a check-out area after visiting a particular department, indicating a completed transaction. The various statistical information and trending data may be used by merchants, retailers, and other registered services to create profit equations and understand customer behaviors.
In various embodiments, a place, such as a retail store, building, or location associated with a registered service, may utilize stationary proximity broadcast receivers to receive and relay broadcast messages from customers' wireless identity transmitters. Alternatively, the place may deploy stationary wireless identity transmitters and customers' mobile proximity broadcast receivers may receive and relay broadcast messages. In further embodiments, the place may employ both proximity broadcast receivers and wireless identity transmitters to receive, relay, and process data from both users carrying wireless identity transmitters and/or mobile proximity broadcast receivers. Regardless of the source of broadcast messages, the central server (or a local computing device) may determine approximate proximities between a proximity broadcast receiver and a wireless identity transmitter based on received sighting messages.
Additionally, based on identification of the proximity broadcast receiver and the wireless identity transmitter related to a received sighting message, the central server may be configured to determine which device is related to a registered service (e.g., a retail store) and which is related to a user (e.g., a customer). The term “registered service” may be used herein to refer to a party or service that is registered, authenticated, valid, or otherwise known to a central server and that may be related with sighting messages. Registered services may include merchants, retailers, services, stores (e.g., big-box retailers, local coffee shops, etc.), and various other third-parties that are registered with the central server. Registered services may also include known routines, actions, or services managed by the central server, such as particular searches or active alerts, or alternatively applications that may be executing on a mobile device (e.g., a third-party app). In an embodiment, registered services may further include any third-parties that have registered as developers with the central server. For example, a registered service may correspond to a merchant that has registered proximity broadcast receivers with the central server. In an embodiment, registered users (e.g., customers) employing mobile proximity broadcast receivers that transmit sighting messages in response to receiving broadcast messages from others' wireless identity transmitters (e.g., a merchant's stationary identity transmitter positioned within a retail store) may also be considered registered services by the central server.
For illustration purposes, a mobile proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., a smartphone configured to operate as a proximity broadcast receiver) carried by the user waiting in the check-out line may receive a broadcast message from a wireless identity transmitter positioned on top of the cash register point-of-sale device within the retail store and may transmit a sighting message to the central server. Upon receive of the sighting message, the central server may determine that the wireless identity transmitter belongs to the retail store based on the profile that corresponds to a rolling identifier and that the mobile proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a customer profile based on an identifier of the proximity broadcast receiver included within metadata in the sighting message. From this information, the central server may securely transmit payment authentication information to a cash register point-of-sale device within proximity of the customer's proximity broadcast receiver.
In various embodiments, a wireless identity transmitter may be configured to periodically generate new identification data (referred to as a rolling identifier) that may be decoded by a central server to reveal the unique device identifier and other identifying information of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, a wireless identity transmitter may be configured to periodically broadcast a Bluetooth® packet including an encoded version of the wireless identity transmitter's device identifier (i.e., deviceID). Such encryption of identifiers indicated in broadcast messages may be required to enable the central server to reliably identify the wireless identity transmitter that sent the broadcast message while forcing a third-party (e.g., passive attacker) to determine the origin of the broadcast message by guessing. For example, if the identifier was static, the third party could sniff the identifier, such as by impersonating a proximity broadcast receiver, and then use the identifier to track the wireless identity transmitter. Rolling identifiers may make such an attack impossible if the third party lacks the means of generating the encrypted identifiers.
In various embodiments, a single packet broadcast message may not support a payload that can fit cipher text of a conventional asymmetric key encryption, making standard private/public key pair encryption impossible. Additionally, communications between wireless identity transmitters and various devices, such as direct transmissions to proximity broadcast receivers or indirect messages to a central server, may be one-way and not utilize any back channels. Therefore, in various embodiments, the central server may process encrypted message payloads by pre-provisioning a shared secret key unique to each wireless identity transmitter. Such secret keys may be associated with each wireless identity transmitter's unique device identifier at the central server and may be used to decode data (e.g., identifiers) encoded by the each wireless identity transmitter. Performing an embodiment method, a wireless identity transmitter may use a streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR) to encrypt its device identifier, shared secret key, and a counter, broadcasting a payload that includes the encrypted data with and the counter in the clear. Performing another embodiment method, a wireless identity transmitter may use a pseudo-random function to encrypt the device identifier, shared secret key, and a counter, broadcasting a payload that includes the encrypted data without the counter in the clear. Performing another embodiment method, a wireless identity transmitter may use a combination of a streaming-like and pseudo-random function encryptions to generate a payload to broadcast. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter and the central server may each have a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator or algorithm that is used to generate identifiers on a common time scale so that any given moment, the central server can calculate the identifier being transmitted by a particular wireless identity transmitter.
In various embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter may maintain a counter (or clock data) that periodically increments to represent the passage of time and that may be used in various encryption methods. When the wireless identity transmitter is powered on (or the battery is replaced), the counter may be set to a known initial value, such as 0. As the wireless identity transmitter functions, the counter may increment periodically (e.g., increment by one every several minutes/hour). If the wireless identity transmitter encounters inconsistent power (e.g., the battery is taken out or replaced), the counter may reset. Using such a counter, a wireless identity transmitter may be configured to periodically broadcast messages with encrypted payloads that include changing and encrypted device identification. In an embodiment, an encrypted payload may contain a concatenation of the device's unique identifier (i.e., the deviceID) and a current counter value for that wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may encrypt the concatenated data using a secret key. Payloads may be broadcast at varying frequencies.
In an embodiment, the central server may be configured to identify wireless identity transmitters by matching received encrypted payloads with pre-generated payloads (or model payloads) corresponding to registered wireless identity transmitters. Based on information obtained during registration operations between the central server and wireless identity transmitters, the central server may store unique information about each wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may know the secret key, device identifier (or deviceID), and initial counter value of a wireless identity transmitter based on registration communications. Using such stored information, the central server may generate a series of model payloads the wireless identity transmitter is expected (or likely) to broadcast within a time period, such as a 24-hour period. If the central server receives a payload that matches any of these model payloads, the central server may determine the identity of the originating wireless identity transmitter as well as a loosely-accurate counter value within the wireless identity transmitter. Model payloads may be generated based off of a current, synched counter for each registered wireless identity transmitter (i.e., current model payloads). In an embodiment, the central server may also adjust for wireless identity transmitter clock skew by keeping a window of model payloads. For example, the central server may generate payloads using counter values representing times before and after an expected counter. The central server may also determine the period of the wireless identity transmitter clock by monitoring the change in the received payloads over time. In an embodiment, the central server may track changes of the reported counter values of a wireless identity transmitter and may report how inaccurate a device clock is for a particular period of time.
Model payloads may also be generated based off of initial counter values reported by each registered wireless identity transmitter during registration operations (i.e., initial model payloads). When a wireless identity transmitter is powered off and on again (e.g., rest, battery replaced, etc.), the wireless identity transmitter may reset to the original or initial counter value. If an encrypted payload received at the central server does not match any current model payload, the central server may compare the received encrypted payload to stored initial model payloads. When the central server finds an initial model payload matches the received encrypted payload (e.g., the wireless identity transmitter was reset), the central server may update a database to indicate the corresponding wireless identity transmitter's counter was reset, thus re-synchronizing with the reset wireless identity transmitter's clock.
In a situation in which a wireless identity transmitter pauses for a period but does not reset its counter used for generating encrypted payloads, payloads subsequently generated by the wireless identity transmitter may not match expected payloads stored in the central server (e.g., current model payloads and initial model payloads). Accordingly, the central server may determine that a pause occurred when model payloads and/or counter values do not match a received encrypted payload. The central server may identify the wireless identity transmitter by performing a brute-force search of all known and/or registered wireless identity transmitters represented in a database and decode the received encrypted payload based on recorded secret keys and device identifications. In an embodiment, the brute-force search may include only wireless identity transmitters that have not broadcast payloads recently received by the central server.
Additional precautions may be important to protect against security breaches, such as hacker attacks against databases associated with a central server, as well as to provide registered users (e.g., merchants, parents, children, etc.) peace of mind and confidence their privacy may be fully protected. Such privacy safeguards may be provided to parties registered with embodiment systems by storing identifying information (e.g., names, addresses, financial information, medical information, etc.) separately from other information related to tracking devices and/or proximity information of users. In particular, to avoid unintended leaking of personal information of registered merchants, customers, children, or individuals, embodiment systems may utilize “double-blind” architectures. For example, such a double-blind architecture may use a first unit (e.g., a server, database, or other computing hub) that stores and has access to information related to the proximity information or other location-based data of registered users' devices (e.g., wireless identity transmitters, proximity broadcast receivers, identity transceivers, mobile devices, etc.). In other words, the first unit may access information associated with sighting messages that indicate approximate locations/proximities of various users' devices. However, the first unit may not store uniquely identifying personal information, such as user names, addresses, and/or social security numbers. Instead, a second unit may store the identifying personal information without being configured to access any location/proximity information as used by the first unit. The first and second units may use anonymous identifiers that connect data stored within the two units without indicating the protected information stored in either unit. In an embodiment, the first and second units may be maintained by separate entities (e.g., service providers), and further, at least one of such entities may be trusted by registered users who provide identifying information.
The various embodiments may leverage a large infrastructure of mobile devices already in place. Many modern mobile devices, such as smartphones, are already equipped with multiple radios, including short-range radios such as Bluetooth® radios, and therefore may be configured to perform as mobile proximity broadcast receivers and receive identification codes from a proximate wireless identity transmitter. For example, a customer carrying a smartphone configured to operate as a mobile proximity broadcast receiver (or mobile identity transceiver) may receive broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters within a retail store. Mobile devices are also often equipped with a clock that may provide a current time and a GPS receiver that may provide a current location whenever a wireless identity transmitter identifier is received. The mobile devices may communicate these identification codes, times, and locations via sighting messages to central servers through longer range network connections, such as a cellular radio connection. Thus, many of the large number of mobile devices already in use or soon to be in use may be incorporated as mobile proximity broadcast receivers to extend the reach of various embodiment systems.
By relying on the long range radios and other services of proximity broadcast receivers to report the location and time of received broadcast message (or “sightings”) to a central server, wireless identity transmitters can be relatively small, inexpensive, and simple devices, including little more than a short-range radio, such as a Bluetooth® LE transceiver, and a battery. In various embodiments, wireless identity transmitters may also include additional short-range radios, such as Peanut® radios. In various embodiments, the wireless identity transmitters may not include a user interface, multiple radios, global positioning system (GPS) receiver, or other features common on mobile devices. Embodiment wireless identity transmitters may also consume very little power allowing them to be deployed without needing to be frequently recharged or replaced. These characteristics make them ideal for a wide variety of uses and implementation in a variety of physical configurations. For example, wireless identity transmitters may be easily hidden or incorporated into many different personal objects, such as buttons, watches, shoes, briefcases, backpacks, ID badges, clothing, product packaging, etc.
In further embodiments, wireless identity transmitters and proximity broadcast receivers may be configured to exchange transmissions using various wireless technologies, such as LTE-D, peer-to-peer LTE-D, WiFi, and WiFi Direct. In an embodiment, wireless identity transmitters may be configured to broadcast messages via a WiFi radio such that proximity broadcast receivers with WiFi transceivers may receive the broadcast messages. In such embodiments, wireless identity transmitters may utilize WiFi transmissions to broadcast identification information similar to WiFi access point broadcasts advertisements. For example, a wireless identity transmitter including a WiFi radio may be configured to transmit broadcast messages via WiFi transmissions with low power so that the reception range is limited, thereby providing a short-range radio signal with a range similar to that of Bluetooth® LE transmissions. In utilizing various wireless broadcast technologies and communication protocols with wireless identity transmitters, proximity broadcast receivers with limited capabilities may still be capable of receiving and processing broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters. For example, a smartphone configured to operate as a mobile proximity broadcast receiver and including a WiFi transceiver but not a Bluetooth® LE radio may receive and process broadcast messages from a wireless identity transmitter configured to broadcast short-range signals with a WiFi radio. In an embodiment, wireless identity transmitters may broadcast over multiple radios, such as a Bluetooth® LE transceiver and a low-power WiFi transceiver, in order to enable more models of proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., more types of smartphones) to receive and relay sightings.
Wireless identity transmitters and proximity broadcast receivers are described throughout this disclosure as exchanging short-range wireless signals that include short-range RF signals, such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy, Peanut, Zigbee, etc. However, such short-range wireless signals are not limited to short-range RF signals, and wireless identity transmitters may broadcast messages using other forms of wireless signaling, such as infrared light, visible light, vibration, heat, inaudible sound, and audible sound, as well as combinations of radio frequency (RF) signals and non-RF signals. For example, wireless identity transmitters may emit heat signals, such as infrared light, using infrared light-emitting diodes or other components capable of emitting infrared radiation. Additionally, wireless identity transmitters may emit vibration signals using vibration motors and other mechanical components capable of generating controlled vibrations. Wireless identity transmitters may also emit light signals from a number of common emitters, such as light emitting diodes, incandescent lights and projectors. Light signals may be received by light sensors (e.g., cameras) on proximity broadcast receivers, and may include visuals, such as lights, colors, and imagery (e.g., photos, projections, videos, symbols, etc.). Wireless identity transmitters may also or alternatively emit audible or inaudible (i.e., infrasonic or ultrasonic) sound signals from a speaker (e.g., a piezoelectric speaker). Sound signals may be received by a microphone of the proximity broadcast receivers, and may include a variety of sounds, such as beeps, voices, noise, clicks, ultrasounds, tones, and musical notes.
Wireless identity transmitters may be configured to broadcast the various short-range wireless signals in particular sequences, patterns, manners, durations, or manifestations such that proximity broadcast receivers may convert the signals into data in a manner similar to how RF signals (e.g., Bluetooth® LE signals) are interpreted in embodiments described herein. For example, a wireless identity transmitter may broadcast particular sequences of modulating visible or sound signals, such as strings of differing musical notes, changing images, or flashing lights that a proximity broadcast receiver may receive and convert into data that includes an identity of the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, proximity broadcast receivers may convert such wireless signals into data (and vice versa) based on matching sequences of signals with patterns within predefined protocols. As an illustrative example, a wireless identity transmitter affixed to the outside of a child's clothing may periodically emit a sequence of flashes using an embedded light source (e.g., an LED bulb) that may be received, converted to data, and relayed by a proximity broadcast receiver to a central server for determining identification information related to the child. As another example, a wireless identity transmitter within a business establishment may be mounted on the ceiling and may periodically emit a sequence of flashes using an embedded light source that may be received, converted to data, and relayed by a proximity broadcast receiver to a central server to obtain coupons, announcements or customer-incentives tied to the customer being on the premises.
The various embodiments are described within this disclosure as including communication systems for providing intermediary communications between wireless identity transmitters, proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., mobile proximity broadcast receivers and stationary proximity broadcast receivers) and a central server that utilize short-range messaging (such as with Bluetooth® LE signaling) that enables proximity detection based simply on signal reception. However, the various embodiments are not limited to the described communication systems and methods, and other communication systems, protocols, devices, methods and messaging protocols may be used to convey information to a central server to enable identifying when customers are within proximity of predefined areas to enable the central server to distribute relevant information without disclosing unauthorized information of customers. For example, transceivers in a retail store may be configured to monitor for WiFi, Zigbee®, Bluetooth®, Peanut®, and/or other radio frequency signaling from customers' mobile devices or wireless broadcasting devices within proximity, and relay proximity information to a central server that delivers coupons to customers. Further, embodiments may not require determining exact locations for wireless identity transmitters and/or proximity broadcast receivers but instead may determine approximate and/or relative locations of devices between each other. Accordingly, references to determining location and/or distance throughout the disclosure may be for the purpose of determining proximity between signaling devices.
The central server 120 may include several components 104-109 to perform various operations to process data, such as received from proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138, third-party systems 101, or other support systems and/or services 102. In particular, the central server 120 may include a data warehouse component 104 that may store long-term data (e.g., archived user data, past location information, etc.). The central server 120 may also include an operations, administration and management (or OA&M) component 105 that may manage, process and/or store software associated with user portal accesses, scripts, tools (e.g., software utilities, routines, etc.), and any other elements for administering the central server 120. The central server 120 may also include a developer portal component 106 that may store developer account data and perform registration, account management, and alert (or notice) management routines associated with developers, such as vendors or merchants that register to interact with users of wireless identity transmitters 110. The central server 120 may also include a rolling identifier (or ID) resolver component 107 that may store factory keys associated with wireless identity transmitters 110 as well as perform operations, software, or routines to match encrypted, encoded, rolling, or otherwise obfuscated identification information within received sighting messages with affiliated user data. The central server 120 may also include a user portal component 109 that may store user account data and perform registration, account management, and search routines associated with users, such as persons associated with wireless identity transmitters 110. The central server 120 may also include a core component 108 that may process sighting messages, execute an alert or notice engine module, handle application programming interface (API) commands, and exchange data with other components within the central server 120. The core component 108 is described below with reference to
In various embodiments, the various system components 104-109 may be computing devices, servers, software, and/or circuitry that is included within, connected to, or otherwise associated with the central server 120. For example, the core component 108 may be a server blade or computing unit included within the central server 120. As another example, the data warehouse component 104 may be a remote cloud storage device that the central server 120 communicates with via Internet protocols. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receivers 142 and mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be configured to execute a core client module 115 that may be software, instructions, routines, applications, operations, or other circuitry that enable the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 to process received broadcast messages from proximate wireless identity transmitters 110. The core client module 115 may also handle communications between the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 and the central server 120, such as transmitting sighting messages and receiving return messages from the central server 120. Further, the mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be configured to execute third-party applications module 116 that may related to performing software instructions, routines, applications, or other operations provided by various third-parties (e.g., merchant apps). In an embodiment, when configured as registered services with the central server 120, the third-party applications module 116 may receive various data from the core client module 115. For example, a third-party application that is registered with the central server 120 may be configured to receive notifications from the core client module 115 when the user of the mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 enters, remains, and/or leaves a particular place (e.g., a geofence, a retail store, etc.).
In another embodiment, the mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be configured to receive and transmit broadcast messages and may also be referred to as “wireless identity transceivers.” For example, a user may employ a smartphone that is configured to receive broadcast messages from nearby wireless identity transmitters 110 as well as broadcast signals that include identifying information associated with the user.
The communication system 200 may include a wireless identity transmitter 110. The wireless identity transmitter 110 may be coupled with various objects. For example, it may be embedded in a bracelet. The wireless identity transmitter 110 may transmit a short-range wireless signal 114, such as a broadcast message as described above. For example, this short-range wireless signal 114 may be a periodic broadcast of a packet, which includes the wireless identity transmitter's identification code. Alternately, the short-range wireless signal 114 may be an attempt to establish a wireless communication link with any of a plurality of mobile devices 138 that may be acting as proximity broadcast receivers. The short-range wireless signal 114 may be received by proximate proximity broadcast receivers, such as stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 and/or mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138.
The short-range wireless signal 114 may be according to any of a variety of communication protocols, such as Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® LE®, Wi-Fi, infrared wireless, induction wireless, ultra-wideband (UWB), wireless universal serial bus (USB), Zigbee®, Peanut®, or other short-range wireless technologies or protocols which have or which can be modified (e.g., by restricting transmit power) to limit their effective communication range to relatively short range (e.g., within about 100 meters). In some embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may use the low energy technology standardized in the Bluetooth® 4.0 protocol (or later versions). For example, in some embodiment systems a wireless identity transmitter 110 may periodically broadcast identification packets configured as an advertiser as described in the Bluetooth® 4.0 protocol, and proximate proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 may be configured to act as scanners according to that protocol.
The Bluetooth® protocol and Bluetooth® devices (e.g., Bluetooth® LE devices) have a relatively short effective communication range, are widely used in deployed communication and computing devices, have standard advertising or pairing procedures that meets the discovery and reporting needs of various embodiments, and exhibit low power consumption, which make the protocol ideal for many applications of the various embodiments. For this reason, Bluetooth® and Bluetooth® LE protocols and devices are referred to in many of the examples herein for illustrative purposes. However, the scope of the claims should not be limited to Bluetooth® or Bluetooth® LE devices and protocol unless specifically recited in the claims. For example, Peanut® transceivers may be included within wireless identity transmitters 110 and may be used to transmit two-way communications with proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 also configured to utilize Peanut® short-range radio transmissions.
The communication system 200 may include a plurality of stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142, which may be deployed by authorities, merchants, or various third-parties throughout a region, building, or place. Such stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be designed specifically for wireless identity transmitters 110 (or include such tracking functions in addition to other primary functionality, such as traffic lights, utility transformers, etc.). Stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be located in strategic locations within a locality, such as forming a perimeter about a community and/or being located in high traffic areas (e.g., major intersections and highway on-ramps). The stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be in communication with a local area network 202, such as a WiFi network, that may include an Internet access server 140 that provides a connection 148 to the Internet 103. Stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be connected to the local area network 202 by a wired or wireless link 146. In various embodiments, the stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be contained within or located nearby the Internet access server 140. For example, the stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be components within the Internet access server 140 or alternatively, may be placed on top of or to the sides of the Internet access server 140. In an embodiment, stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may be located in strategic places within a locality, such as forming a perimeter about a community and/or being located in high traffic areas (e.g., along aisles of a retail store, at entry ways to buildings, etc.). In an embodiment, stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may have additional functionality. For example, stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may also function as or be included within cash registers, point-of-sale devices, and/or display units within a retail store.
The communication system 200 may also include one or more mobile devices configured to act as mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138. The mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be typical mobile devices or smartphones communicating with a cellular network 121 via long range wireless links 136 to one or more base stations 134 coupled to one or more network operations centers 132 by a wired or wireless connection 158. Such cellular network 121 may utilize various technologies, such as 3G, 4G, and LTE. The network operations centers 132 may manage voice calls and data traffic through the cellular network 121, and typically may include or may be connected to one or more servers 130 by a wired or wireless connection 156. The servers 130 may provide a connection 154 to the Internet 103. In the various embodiments, the mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be mobile devices configured by an application or other software module to act as proximity broadcast receivers to relay reports of received broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters 110 (i.e., sighting messages) to the central server 120 by way of the Internet 103. In an embodiment, stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may also communicate with the cellular network 121 via long range wireless links 136 to a base station 134.
Proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may be configured to report contacts (or sightings) with a wireless identity transmitter 110 to a central server 120 via the Internet 103. For example, the proximity broadcast receivers 142 may transmit a sighting message to the central server 120 that includes a rolling identifier corresponding to the identity of a user of the wireless identity transmitter 110. Each time a proximity broadcast receiver 138, 142 receives an identifier from a wireless identity transmitter 110, the identifier may be associated with the time of the connection and the location of the proximity broadcast receiver 138, 142, and this information may be transmitted to the central server 120, such as within a sighting message. In some embodiments, the identifier, the time, and the location of the contact may be stored in the memory of the proximity broadcast receiver 138, 142 (or an intermediary server 130, 140) for later reporting, such as in response to a query message broadcast or multicast by the central server 120. Also, the central server 120 may store location information reported by sighting messages in a database, which may be used for locating, tracking or otherwise monitoring movements of the wireless identity transmitter 110.
In an embodiment, mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138 may be configured to exchange short-range wireless signals 189 with stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142. In other words, a mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 may be configured to operate as a wireless identity transceiver that is capable of receiving short-range wireless signals 114 (i.e., broadcast messages) from the wireless identity transmitter 110 as well as transmitting short-range wireless signals 189 for receipt by proximity broadcast receivers 142.
In an embodiment, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may transmit wireless signals 188 to a wireless router 185, such as part of the local area network 202, which may provide a connection 187 to the Internet 103. For example, the stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142 may transmit sighting messages that include data from broadcast messages transmitted by the wireless identity transmitter 110 to a WiFi wireless router 185.
The central server 120 may also be connected to the Internet 103, thereby allowing communication between proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 and the central server 120. As described above, the central server 120 may include a plurality of components, blades, or other modules to process sighting messages and data received from proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138. Further embodiments may provide a direct connection (not shown) between the central servers 120 and any of the mobile device network components, such as the network operations centers 132, to more directly connect the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 and the central servers 120.
The communication system 200 may also include computing terminals 124, such as personal computers at home or work, through which users may communicate via the Internet 103 with the central server 120. Such terminals 124 may allow users, such as parents, police, fire, medical attendants, and other authorized authorities to register devices (e.g., wireless identity transmitters 110), access tracking records on the central servers 120, and/or to request that the central server 120 initiate a search for a particular wireless identity transmitter 110. In an embodiment, users may use such terminals 124 to register wireless identity transmitters 110, proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 (e.g., smartphones configured to execute client software associated with the central server), and/or identity transceivers (not shown), such as by accessing web portals and/or user accounts associated with the central server 120. Similarly, third-parties, such as merchants, may use terminals 124 to register wireless identity transmitters 110, proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 (e.g., stationary receivers configured to execute client software and relay broadcast to the central server), and/or identity transceivers (not shown).
Based on the location of the proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 within a place, multiple proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may be within the broadcast area of the wireless identity transmitter 110 and may concurrently receive broadcast messages. As described below with reference to
The communication system 200 may operate in a passive information gathering mode and/or an active search mode. In the passive information gathering mode, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may continuously listen for broadcasts from any wireless identity transmitters 110, and report all identifier reception events via sighting messages (e.g., transmissions including identifiers, time and location) to the central server 120. When no active search is underway (i.e., no one is looking for a particular wireless identity transmitter 110), sightings of wireless identity transmitters 110 or received broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters 110 may be stored in memory of the proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 or the central server 120 for access at a later time. In order to protect privacy, such stored data may be stored for a limited period of time, such as a day, a week or a month, depending upon the person or asset being tracked. Then, if a person or asset is discovered to be missing, the stored data may be instantly accessed to locate and track the associated wireless identity transmitter 110, or at least determine its last reported location.
In a modification of the passive tracking mode, each proximity broadcast receiver 138, 142 may store IDs, times and locations corresponding to received broadcast messages (or contacts) from wireless identity transmitters 110 for a limited period of time. Alternatively, such information may be stored in servers 130, 140 connected to such proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142. Then, if a person or asset associated with a wireless identity transmitter 110 is discovered missing, a search can be initiated by the central server 120 querying the proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 (or servers 130, 140) to download their stored data (e.g., databases indicating contacts with wireless identity transmitters 110) for analysis and storage in a database of the central server 120.
In an embodiment, in order to limit the demands on civilian mobile devices configured to operate as mobile proximity broadcast receivers 138, the passive tracking mode may only be implemented on the stationary proximity broadcast receivers 142. While the fewer number of such devices means the tracking of wireless identity transmitters 110 may be less effective, this embodiment may nevertheless enable receiving broadcast messages and thus the tracking of wireless identity transmitters 110 through high-traffic zones, such as intersections, highway on/off ramps, bus stations, airports, etc.
In the passive information gathering mode/embodiment, a user may use the communication system 200 to request the location of a particular wireless identity transmitter 110, such as by sending a request from a terminal 124 to the central server 120. For example, a mother may log in on her home computer terminal 124 and request the location of the wireless identity transmitter 110 in her child's backpack. The request may include a serial number, code, or other identifier corresponding to the wireless identity transmitter 110. The central server 120 may search the stored identification messages for the serial number, code, or other identifier and return any reported locations matching entered information, along with the times of such locations were reported via sighting messages. In further embodiments, the serial number or code entered by the parent may be cross-referenced with the identifier that the requested wireless identity transmitter 110 communicates in broadcast messages and that are relayed to the central server 120 in sighting messages submitted by proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142. In this manner only an authorized user (i.e., someone who knows the access code, password, or other secret code associated with a particular wireless identity transmitter 110) can obtain information regarding a given wireless identity transmitter 110 even though data is being gathered continuously.
In the active search mode/embodiment, the central server 120 may instruct proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 to actively search for a particular wireless identity transmitter 110 (i.e., a “targeted” wireless identity transmitter). An active search may be initiated in response to a request received from a terminal 124. Such a request may include the identifier for the particular wireless identity transmitter 110, or an account number/name that is or can be cross-linked to the identifier of the wireless identity transmitter 110. The central server 120 may transmit activation messages, such as via broadcast or multicast, to proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 that may instruct proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 to search for a particular wireless identity transmitter 110 and that may include an identifier of the targeted wireless identity transmitter 110 (i.e., target device ID). For example, an activation message corresponding to an active search for a targeted wireless identity transmitter 110 may include a rolling identifier that the wireless identity transmitter 110 changes periodically in an unpredictable manner and that is known to the central server 120. In an embodiment, activation messages transmitted, broadcast or multicast by the central server 120 may be sent only to proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 within particular sectors or within a given distance of a particular location. Alternatively, the activation messages may identify particular sectors or a distance from a particular location to enable the proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 to determine whether the activation message is applicable to them based on their own known location. In this manner the search can be focused on a given area, such as a sector encompassing the last known location of the wireless identity transmitter 110 or an eye witness sighting. By focusing the search in this manner, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 not within the sector of search need not be activated.
In the active search mode/embodiment, in response to receiving activation messages from the central server 120 that include target device IDs and determining that they are within the identified sector of search, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may configure their short-range radios (e.g., Bluetooth® radio) to listen for broadcast messages having the identifiers. In other words, the proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may be considered activated for a search and may or pairing attempts with an identifier look for the identifiers included in the activation message (i.e., target device IDs). In embodiments that do not rely on pairing with the wireless identity transmitter, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 matching an identifier within a received broadcast message to a target device ID within an activation message may promptly report the event to the central server 120 via sighting messages transmitted via links 146 or long-range wireless links 136. In embodiments that rely on pairing or an exchange of messages between the wireless identity transmitter and proximity broadcast receivers, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may listen for and only complete communication handshaking or pairing with a device that broadcasts the target device ID, and ignore other pairing attempts. In this alternative embodiment, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may be protected from pairing with unauthorized devices while in the active search mode. Also, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 may modify the pairing process in the active search mode to terminate the communication link as soon as the device ID is received, further protecting against pairing with unauthorized devices in the active search mode. In the active search mode/embodiment, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 receiving the target device ID may promptly report that event to the central server 120 via a wired or wireless link to the Internet 103. As mentioned above, such a report may include the location of the proximity broadcast receiver 138, 142 and the time when the identifier was received if the report is not transmitted immediately. In the active search mode/embodiment, each sighting message received by the central server 120 may be reported to an interested person or authority, such as in the form of a webpage showing an update location indicator on a map.
Further, in the active search mode/embodiment, an authorized user, such as a police, FBI, fire/rescue or other person of authority may use the communication system 200 to activate a search for a particular wireless identity transmitter 110, such as by using a terminal 124 to provide the central server 120 with the target device ID and search location or sectors to be searched. For example, a mother discovering that her child is missing may call the police and provide them with an identifier of the wireless identity transmitter 110 concealed in her child's clothing. With the search activated, the central server 120 may transmit an alert (or message that indicates a search for a wireless identity transmitter has been activated) to proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 within the initial targeted search sector. The central server 120 may then activate a webpage that presents a map of the search area and that may be maintained in near-real time so, that as relevant sighting messages are received, reported location information is displayed on the map. Authorized users may then access the website (or other information provided by the server) to coordinate in-person search efforts.
Of course, information gathered and stored in proximity broadcast receivers 138, 142 or in a database of the central server in the passive mode may be used upon initiation of an active search, such as to identify an initial search location or sector, track recent locations and movements, and to provide/display a history of locations reported by sighting messages that may be combined with near-real time search reports.
In another embodiment, the communication system 200 may further include a plurality of wireless identity transmitters (not shown in
In various embodiments, the message broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter (i.e., the broadcast message) may include an identifier segment, such as a rolling identifier. In various embodiments, the broadcast message may also include additional segments, such as a type segment. The type segment may indicate the type of wireless identity transmitter. For example, wireless identity transmitters may be marketed for various purposes, such as child safety devices, dog collars, or security tags for stores. The wireless identity transmitters may have a different type segment based on the intended purpose (e.g., one code for child safety devices, a second code for dog collars, etc.). Type segments may be static and set by manufacturers, while the remaining portion of the identifier may be unique to each device, and may roll as described below. The type segment may also be changed by a user, such as when a wireless identity transmitter is reset for a different purpose or application.
In other embodiments, a broadcast message may also include one or more static or dynamic segments with instructions or commands to be implemented by a proximity broadcast receiver. Such command segments may also be passed along to instruct a central server or other network device. Command segments may be set or static, similar to type segments, or may vary over time based on various conditions, such as pairings or data from one or more proximity broadcast receivers. Such command settings may also be configured by a user of the wireless identity transmitter. Second or additional segments may also indicate the status of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, a second segment may indicate the remaining power or estimated time left before the battery dies. Proximity broadcast receivers or a central server may interpret this status and respond accordingly.
Returning to
As mentioned above, the algorithm (or rolling identifier algorithm) used in block 308 may generate a rolling identifier which is very difficult to predict or recognize by a device or system that does not know either an identity of the wireless identity transmitter 110 (e.g., a MAC or Bluetooth® ID), a decode key, and/or the algorithm used to generate the rolling identifier. As discussed below with reference to
The method 300 also illustrates operations that may be implemented in the proximity broadcast receiver 142. In block 312, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may receive the broadcast message from the wireless identity transmitter 110. The proximity broadcast receiver 142 may receive the broadcast message when within proximity of the wireless identity transmitter 110 (i.e., within communication range). When the broadcasted message with included identifier is received, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may analyze header or metadata within the received broadcast message, as well as parse and evaluate various data within the broadcast message. In an embodiment, the broadcast message may contain encrypted and non-encrypted data that the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may or may not be configured to decrypt or otherwise access. In block 314, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may transmit a sighting message to the central server 120 including the identifier, location information, and time corresponding to the receipt of the broadcast message. This transmission may be accomplished via a wireless wide area network, such as a cellular data network coupled to the Internet. In various embodiments, the operations in blocks 312 and 314 may be performed by a stationary proximity broadcast receiver, a mobile proximity broadcast receiver, or alternatively, an identity transceiver (e.g., a smartphone configured to operate as both a transmitter and a receiver).
In general, sighting messages may include metadata or header information that may describe received broadcast messages (e.g., message size, indicators of subject matter, etc.), the proximity broadcast receiver 142, such as the proximity broadcast receiver identification (e.g., a code, username, etc.), indications of services with which the proximity broadcast receiver 142 is affiliated regarding the server (e.g., the proximity broadcast receiver 142 participates in a tracking program for a particular vendor, merchant, area, etc.), as well as the conditions at the time of receipt of the broadcast message. For example, the sighting message may include signal strength information of the received broadcast message. In an embodiment, sighting messages may each include codes, flags, or other indicators that describe the general topic, subject matter, or reason for the sighting message. For example, the sighting message may contain a flag that indicates a relation to an active alert.
Additionally, sighting messages may include location information of the proximity broadcast receiver 142. In particular, sighting messages may indicate network-specific information that relates to a location. For example, a sighting message may indicate the cell site (e.g., cell site ID), cellular network tower (e.g., cell tower ID), or other wireless network with which a mobile proximity broadcast receiver was in communication at the time of receipt of the broadcast message. Further, sighting messages may include more refined location information based on data from global positioning systems (GPS) or chips included within the proximity broadcast receiver 142. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may determine GPS information (i.e., GPS coordinates) of the proximity broadcast receiver 142 at the time of receipt of a broadcast message, including the coordinates in the corresponding sighting message. In an embodiment, sighting messages may also include sensor data from various sensors within the proximity broadcast receiver 142, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers. Further, sighting messages may include authentication information that may confirm the legitimacy of the sighting message as coming from a known, registered, or otherwise valid proximity broadcast receiver 142. For example, authentication information included in a sighting message may include secret codes, certificates, or hash data that is shared between the proximity broadcast receiver and the central server 120.
In various embodiments, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may generate sighting messages by appending data and various information to broadcast messages received from the wireless identity transmitter 110. In an embodiment, sighting messages may include the entirety of received broadcast messages or, alternatively, only portions of the received broadcast messages that the proximity broadcast receiver 142 determines to be of significance. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may extract particular header or metadata information from a broadcast message before generating a corresponding sighting message. As another example, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may compress, abbreviate, truncate and/or summarize data within the broadcast message. In another embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may simply redirect, relay, or retransmit received broadcast messages to the central server.
Sighting messages may be transmitted via a wireless or wired communication link, such as a wireless cellular network, a local area network configured to communicate via Internet protocols, a long-range radio communication link, or a short-range radio. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may transmit sighting messages over a cellular network via the Internet to the central server. As another example, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may transmit sighting messages via a wired Ethernet connection.
Returning to
In block 340, the central server 120 may perform an action in response to the sighting message, such as transmit a message to a recipient, send a coupon, and/or calculate rewards. In an embodiment, the central server 120 may transmit a return message to a recipient, such as the proximity broadcast receiver 142, that includes instructions, software, or codes indicating how the proximity broadcast receiver 142 may respond to the received broadcast message. For example, the return message may direct the proximity broadcast receiver 142 to transmit a link advertisement message. Recipients of such messages from the central server may include various devices and parties, including computing devices of registered services (e.g., merchants, emergency personnel), mobile devices of users, and proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., the proximity broadcast receiver 142 that received the broadcast message). In another embodiment, the central server 120 may use the stored data to identify when the wireless identity transmitter 110 enters, is within, and/or leaves a designated area. In other words, the central server 120 may identify when the wireless identity transmitter 110 comes within proximity, stays within proximity, or leaves proximity of a proximity broadcast receiver 142.
Such incoming short-range wireless communications may include instructions, software, firmware, commands, or other code for setting values for configuration parameters utilized by the wireless identity transmitter for performing various functions. In particular, the incoming communications may include configuration settings (or values) the wireless identity transmitter may use to set or modify established configuration parameters associated with transmitting broadcast messages that include identification information of the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, incoming communications that include configuration settings may be Bluetooth® signals (e.g., setters or getters) that may not require pairing operations between the sender and receiver (i.e., the wireless identity transmitter). In other words, the incoming communications may be non-pairing Bluetooth® advertisements.
Configuration parameters may include the transmit interval for transmitting broadcast messages (i.e., how often the wireless identity transmitter should broadcast packets that include its identity) and the transmit power for transmitting broadcast messages (i.e., what signal strength to use when broadcasting). For example, received configuration settings may vary the intervals (i.e., broadcasting frequency) at which the wireless identity transmitter broadcasts its identifier in a manner configured to facilitate accurate tracking of the wireless identity transmitter while conserving battery power. This may be important as setting transmit power configuration parameters may affect the battery service life of the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., a longer interval may include a longer sleep mode and thus decreased power consumption). In an embodiment, configuration parameters may also include a debug parameter that may be set or modified by a manufacturer or administrative party (e.g., a central server). The debug parameter may be utilized by software or algorithms executed by the wireless identity transmitter and may indicate when the wireless identity transmitter should generate new identifiers to broadcast (e.g., an interval for generating a new rolling identifier or Bluetooth® MAC address identifier). In another embodiment, incoming communications with configuration settings may include commands that instruct the wireless identity transmitter to change the data represented within broadcast messages, such as by entering/exiting an encoded mode. Alternatively, incoming communications may include instructions for the wireless identity transmitter to shorten its broadcast signal range to emulate near field communications (NFC).
In block 402, the wireless identity transmitter may boot-up. In other words, the wireless identity transmitter may be energized, initialized, and otherwise configured to operate from a hibernating, sleep, dormant, or otherwise deactivated state. In various embodiments, the boot-up operations may be performed in response to a user input (e.g., a button press), the insertion of a battery in the wireless identity transmitter, or receiving a short-range wireless signal (e.g., an activation signal). In block 403, the wireless identity transmitter's short-range radio may be activated. This activation may be accomplished by a timer or by the microcontroller determining that a duration has expired since the boot-up operations were performed or concurrently with the boot-up operations. In an embodiment, the activation of the short-range radio may be a routine within the boot-up operations in block 402.
In block 404, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast a configuration message indicating there are configuration parameters that can be set in the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the configuration message may include the wireless identity transmitter's identity (or identifier) as well as an indication that a certain number or type of configuration parameters can be set, modified, or initialized by subsequent short-range wireless signals. In an embodiment, the configuration message may include a list of configuration parameters available to be set, such as the transmit interval.
In an alternative embodiment, the configuration message may include an indicator that the wireless identity transmitter is available to receive configuration settings. In such an embodiment, any responding devices, such as proximate proximity broadcast receivers, may transmit responses (e.g., Bluetooth® LE signals) that request the list of configuration parameters. In response to receiving such a request, the mobile proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a second message that includes the list of configuration parameters.
In determination block 406, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether configuration settings are received, such as in a short-range wireless signal from a proximate proximity broadcast receiver or identity transceiver. The wireless identity transmitter may monitor the short-range radio to determine whether a response is received from a proximate device. A response may be in the form of a simple response packet or pulse that the wireless identity transmitter microcontroller can recognize, or alternatively, an advertisement according to the Bluetooth® LE protocol. If configuration settings are received (i.e., determination block 406=“Yes”), in block 408 the wireless identity transmitter may set parameters based on the received configuration settings. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may set a value that indicates how often it transmits broadcast messages. If no configuration settings are received (i.e., determination block 406=“No”), or if the wireless identity transmitter performs the operations in block 408, in determination block 410 the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether a configuration period has elapsed. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may evaluate a counter or timer to determine whether a predefined number of seconds (e.g., 60 seconds) have elapsed since the boot-up operations were performed. If the configuration period has not elapsed (i.e., determination block 410=“No”), in optional block 411 the wireless identity transmitter may wait a period, such as a number of milliseconds, seconds, etc., and then may continue with the operations in block 404.
However, if the configuration period has elapsed (i.e., determination block 410=“Yes”), in block 302′ the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast a message including an identifier based on the configuration parameters. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may transmit a broadcast message at a signal strength indicated by configuration parameters set in response to receiving configuration settings (or values) from a nearby proximity broadcast receiver. In optional block 412, the wireless identity transmitter may go to sleep for a period based on the configuration parameters, such as a transmit interval configuration parameter. In block 308, the wireless identity transmitter may generate a new device identifier (e.g., rolling identifier) from an algorithm, and may continue with the operations in block 302′.
In alternate embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter may be configured to receive incoming messages from proximity broadcast receivers based on clock timing (or clock signals), detected inputs from a user (e.g., a detected button press), or information within a previously received signal (e.g., a received message from a proximity broadcast receiver may instruct the wireless identity transmitter to become available for subsequent messages at a particular future time).
In block 552, the wireless identity transmitter may reset a counter, such as a counter variable to indicate the beginning (or initialization) of a period during which the wireless identity transmitter may not receive messages. The counter may be reset to a zero value and may be incremented up to a predefined number during the operations of the method 550. Alternatively, the counter may be reset or initialized at a predefined number and decremented down to a zero value. The use of a counter variable is merely a non-limiting example technique for the wireless identity transmitter determining when to configure itself for receiving messages. In alternate embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter may instead determine when to be available for receiving incoming messages based on clock timing (or clock signals), detected inputs from a user (e.g., a detected button press), information within a previously received signal (e.g., a received message from a proximity broadcast receiver may instruct the wireless identity transmitter to become available for subsequent messages at a particular future time), or power-cycling (e.g., one such time might be for the sixty seconds after initial boot-up or reboot of the wireless identity transmitter).
In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may be roughly in clock synchronization with or maintain the counter variable that it is known and roughly tracked by various proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., smartphones, listening radios throughout a place, etc.) and/or a central server. For example, when the wireless identity transmitter is activated (e.g., turned on, initialized by inserting a battery, etc.), a user may register the wireless identity transmitter with a central server that stores the wireless identity transmitter identification along with information that enables the central server to estimate a counter value or clock timing within the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, such a counter variable or clock synchronization may be used to disambiguate wireless identity transmitter identities and/or be used as a decryption key for obfuscated or encoded messages. Such registration and synchronization operations are described further below.
In block 554, the wireless identity transmitter may generate a message including identification information, counter, and time of availability for receiving messages. The generated message may include information about the wireless identity transmitter's identity (e.g., a serial code/number, a username, or a rolling identifier). In an embodiment, the generated message may be encrypted, encoded, or otherwise obscured to prevent proximity broadcast receivers from determining the identity of the wireless identity transmitter and/or the user thereof. For example, the generated message may employ a rolling identifier or code known only to the wireless identity transmitter and a central server but not proximity broadcast receivers.
The generated message may also include information indicating a time or condition when the wireless identity transmitter may be available for accepting communications for proximity broadcast receivers. For example, the message may describe the current value of the counter or indicate a count-down timer showing when the wireless identity transmitter may be available. In another embodiment, the generated message may include instructions for proximity broadcast receivers to enable successful transmissions to the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the generated message may contain specifications (e.g., required codes, content, delivery time, etc.) for any messages transmitted by proximity broadcast receivers to the wireless identity transmitter.
In block 556, the transmitter may broadcast the generated message via short-range wireless transmissions, such as Bluetooth® LE packets. If within the range of the short-range broadcasts, a proximity broadcast receiver may receive and process the broadcasts as described below.
The wireless identity transmitter may periodically broadcast the same generated message multiple times for each counter time period. In other words, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast the generated message more than once before modifying the counter variable value. In determination block 558, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether the predetermined counter time period has expired. If the counter time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 558=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue to broadcast the generated message periodically in block 556.
If the counter time period has expired (i.e., determination block 558=“Yes”), in block 560 the wireless identity transmitter may increment the counter and, in determination block 562, determine whether the wireless identity transmitter has become available for receiving messages based on the counter value. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may compare the current counter variable value to a predefined maximum (or minimum) counter value. As stated above, in various other embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter may determine availability for receiving messages based on other evaluations of time or instructions stored within the wireless identity transmitter.
If it is not available to receive messages (i.e., determination block 562=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue with the operations in block 554 to generate a new message to broadcast. If the wireless identity transmitter is available to receive messages (i.e., determination block 562=“Yes”), in block 564 the wireless identity transmitter may listen for incoming messages, such as by monitoring a receiver circuit for incoming short-range radio transmissions, and in block 566 the wireless identity transmitter may process any received incoming messages, such as with software or operations running on a processor or wireless modem within the wireless identity transmitter.
In determination block 568, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether the receiving time period has expired. In other words, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether incoming messages may still be received. The time period for receiving incoming messages may be based on a counter variable maintained by the wireless identity transmitter, a clock signal indication, or information within a received message. If the receiving time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 568=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue to listen for incoming messages in block 564. However, if the receiving time period has expired (i.e., determination block 568=“Yes”), the wireless identity transmitter may repeat the process by returning to block 552.
The mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 may include a core client module 115 that may be software, instructions, routines, applications, operations, or other circuitry utilized to process received broadcast messages from proximate wireless identity transmitters 110. The core client module 115 may also handle communications between the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 and the central server 120, such as transmitting sighting messages and receiving return messages from the central server 120. For example, the core client module 115 may operate as a background service that performs operations, such as uploading or transmitting sighting messages, without interaction from a user.
The core client module 115 may include an API component 606 that corresponds to application programming interface data, code, or other commands related to broadcast messages and/or sighting messages. For example, the API component 606 may be utilized by a proximity broadcast receiver when listening for Bluetooth® LE advertising packets received from the wireless identity transmitter 110. As another example, the API component 606 may be utilized to register the mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 to receive notifications, alerts, or other communications corresponding to wireless identity transmitters 110. The core client module 115 may also include an authorization system component 608 for processing received broadcast messages. For example, the mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 may support oAuth for authorization requests and xAuth for approved communication partners. The core client module 115 may also include a radio specific sightings receiver component 610 (e.g., a component for handling Bluetooth® LE, LTE-D, WiFi, and other communications), an operations, administration, and management module 612, a wireless identity transmitter network manager component 614, an event registration component 616 that relates to stored look-ahead identifiers, and a sightings manager component 618. In an embodiment, the event registration component 616 may store numerous rolling identifiers downloaded from the central server 120 and corresponding to a particular wireless identity transmitter 110, such as a set of rolling identifiers that may match possible rolling identifiers broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter 110 during a certain time window.
Like many modern mobile devices, the mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 may be configured to execute third-party applications (or “apps”), and thus may include a third-party applications module 116 that may execute, manage, and otherwise perform software instructions and routines related to applications provided by various third-parties (e.g., merchants). For example, the third-party applications module 116 may receive various data from the core client module 115 to be used by various third-party applications. For illustration purposes, a third-party application related to a department store that is registered with the central server 120 may be configured to receive notifications from the core client module 115 when the user of the mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 enters, remains, and/or leaves the department store (e.g., a geofence of the store). In an embodiment, for optimization purposes, applications or apps executing via the third-party applications module 116 may register or otherwise be configured to received notifications from the core client module 115 when particular wireless identity transmitters are within proximity, or alternatively, leave proximity. For example, applications may register in advance with the core client module 115 to receive event notifications that indicate whether a particular wireless identity transmitter enters proximity, stays within proximity (e.g., standing nearby and not moving), or leaves proximity of a proximity broadcast receiver.
The mobile proximity broadcast receiver 138 may also include an operating system and platform module 620 for performing various operations and managing circuitry, such as short-range signal receiver circuitry. In particular, the operating system and platform module 620 may include a Bluetooth® Low Energy module 624 for processing communications utilizing Bluetooth® LE protocols, a cellular network module 626 for processing communications corresponding to various cellular and similar long-range wireless networks (e.g., LTE-D, etc.). The operating system and platform module 620 may also include a time services component 628 that may track time and generate timestamp data, a location services component 630 that may maintain low-precision location data or alternatively more precise GPS (or A-GPS) location data, a storage component 632, and a wireless wide area network/wireless local area network component 622 for enabling communications via WiFi or other wireless networks.
In an embodiment, the core client module 115 may request from the central server sets of wireless identity transmitter identifiers (e.g., rolling identifiers of all transmitters on an interested list, identifiers for all transmitters owned by a user, etc.). Such sets may correspond to wireless identity transmitters that are currently in use and are expected to be in use for some period of time.
If the proximity broadcast receiver receives a broadcast message (i.e., determination block 702=“Yes”), in block 704 the proximity broadcast receiver may generate a sighting message based on information from the received broadcast message and other associated data. In particular, the sighting message may include an identifier specific to the wireless identity transmitter that transmitted the received broadcast message, such as a rolling identifier (i.e., an encoded device identifier), MAC address, or other unique code that may be used to identify the particular wireless identity transmitter. In alternate embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter's identifier may be received as part of a pairing process. The other associated data may include various information related to the receipt of the broadcast message, such as the time the proximity broadcast receiver received the broadcast message, location information, the proximity broadcast receiver's identification information, related services (e.g., associated merchants), and signal strength information. In other words, the proximity broadcast receiver may associate data about present conditions (e.g., a timestamp, GPS coordinates, Cell ID of the closest base station, etc.) with the broadcast message and/or the wireless identity transmitter's identifier. This data may be stored in any of various types of data structures, such as an array with one or more identifiers associated with timestamps and GPS coordinates from when the sighting corresponding to each identifier occurred. In an embodiment, the sighting message may include authentication data, such as a digital certificate or code, that may be used by a central server to confirm the identity of the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, within the metadata of the sighting message, the proximity broadcast receiver may include a special hash code known only to the proximity broadcast receiver and the central server.
In block 706, the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit the sighting message to a central server, such as via a cellular (e.g., an LTE, 3G, or 4G network) or other network and the Internet as discussed above with reference to
In some embodiments, identifiers and the associated data may be transmitted (or uploaded) to the central server without any of a user's personal data to protect privacy. In the various embodiments attempting to leverage personal mobile phones, the phone users may opt-in as mobile proximity broadcast receivers. However, these phone users may refuse to opt-in if they fear that personally identifiable data will also be transmitted to the central server. Therefore, an application for uploading received identifiers installed on these personal mobile devices (i.e., mobile proximity broadcast receivers) may prohibit transmission of personal data or other data that may identify the mobile proximity broadcast receivers.
The central server 120 may receive a user request 806 from a user device, such as a terminal 124 or a mobile device, requesting the location of a wireless identity transmitter. This request may be sent by a user after logging into an account associated with a particular wireless identity transmitter. For example, each wireless identity transmitter may be registered with an authenticated user such that a request 806 for the registered wireless identity transmitter's location can only be transmitted after the authenticated user logs into a secure account.
After receiving a user request 806, the central server 120 may search through the previously reported wireless identity transmitter identifiers that are received via sighting messages to find any matches with the identifier of the requested wireless identity transmitter. Any matches could be reported to the user in a response 808. The response 808 may also include associated data (e.g. timestamp, GPS coordinates, Cell ID) within the sighting message 804. A user may use this associated data to help locate or track the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., a mother could look for a lost child at the latest location reported for the child's wireless identity transmitter).
A proximity broadcast receiver may handle the broadcast message or identifier differently based on a type or command segment. For example, the message may be stored locally for a certain time (e.g., various times depending on the value of the segment) prior to being transmitted to a central server. Alternatively, the message or identifier, along with any associated data such as timestamps and GPS coordinates, may be transmitted to multiple locations.
As another example, a proximity broadcast receiver may initiate various communications based on the type and/or command segments. The proximity broadcast receiver may report to particular URLs, transmit an SMS message, initiate a phone call, or establish new network connections. In various embodiments, some of these actions may be optionally disabled to protect user privacy.
In further embodiments, the proximity broadcast receiver may be configured to transmit the additional segment or other message to another network device for the other network device to take some action. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may forward the message along with associated data to the central server. The central server may perform an action based on the additional segment in the message, such as automatically sending a message to a user without waiting for a user request.
If an associated action is not found locally (i.e., determination block 1005=No), the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a sighting message with the identifier and/or second segment to a central server in block 1010. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a message to another device, such as a user device. The proximity broadcast receiver may receive an instruction message in block 1012. This instruction may be sent by the central server or other device in response to the sighting message with the identifier and/or second segment. In block 1014, the proximity broadcast receiver may perform an action based on the received instruction message, such as access content by going to a web page or other online resource. In alternate embodiments, the proximity broadcast receiver may skip the determination block 1005 and automatically proceed to either transmit a sighting message in block 1010 or attempt to perform an action stored locally.
A proximity-based content publishing system may be used for a wide range of activities. For example, teens may carry a wireless identity transmitter with them that they point to their social networking pages (e.g., Facebook®). When they are proximate to friends, the pages can be quickly accessed on proximity broadcast receivers (i.e., mobile phones configured to operate as mobile proximity broadcast receivers). Realtors may setup a web page for a home and affix to the home's signpost a wireless identity transmitter pointing to the web page so that anyone driving by the home can access that information. Stores may include wireless identity transmitters with products to provide dynamic displays such as links to coupons, customer reports, or additional nutritional information. If a lost dog has a wireless identity transmitter on its collar, instead of trying to wrestle the dog for access to his collar, a proximity broadcast receiver may simply access the wireless identity transmitter and send a message or call the owner.
The various features and alternative actions may enable the system to have flexible and extensible functionality. The functionality could be added later as the actions taken are controlled by applications that may be updated in proximity broadcast receivers over time.
However, as discussed above, the wireless identity transmitter may obscure, encode, or encrypt data within broadcast messages to protect the privacy and identity of the wireless identity transmitter user. For example, the broadcast messages may not transmit the user's identity in the clear. To determine the identity information related to received broadcast messages, the proximity broadcast receiver may relay the broadcast messages to the central server, which may identify the wireless identity transmitter and its user based on information in the messages (e.g., a disguised, rolled, or encrypted device ID). As discussed above, the central server may store a secret to decrypt messages transmitted by the wireless identity transmitter. In response to receiving a sighting message, the central server may transmit a return message to the proximity broadcast receiver including identification information of the wireless identity transmitter.
In an embodiment, the central server may also store additional information relevant to the operations of the facility associated with the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the central server may be an information hub that stores proprietary information related to the operations of the facility the proximity broadcast receiver is within. As another example, the central server may contain instructions for the proximity broadcast receiver to perform based on the identity of the wireless identity transmitter. Accordingly, the central server may transmit a return message that may not identify the wireless identity transmitter (or its user) related to a sighting message, but may instead includes data relevant to the wireless identity transmitter. In various embodiments, return messages may include or not include either data or identification information based on the preferences of the user of the wireless identity transmitter and/or the services associated with the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may be registered as relating to a trusted service for the user of the wireless identity transmitter, and therefore the central server may transmit return messages that identify the user. As another example, the user of the wireless identity transmitter may have set privacy permissions (or settings) during a registration procedure with the central server that enable anonymous data to be distributed to proximity broadcast receivers. Privacy permissions are further discussed below.
In determination block 702, the proximity broadcast receiver may determine whether a broadcast message is received, such as from a wireless identity transmitter. If no broadcast message is received (i.e., determination block 702=“No”), the proximity broadcast receiver may continue with the operations in determination block 702. If a broadcast message is received (i.e., determination block 702=“Yes”), in block 706 the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a sighting message to a central server. For example, the sighting message may include identification information of the wireless identity transmitter as well as associated data, such as the location of the proximity broadcast receiver and a timestamp. In determination block 1101, the proximity broadcast receiver may determine whether a return message from the central server is received. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may record identification information about the sighting message and may compare that information to received messages to find a match. If no return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“No”), the proximity broadcast receiver may continue with the operations in determination block 702. Alternatively, if no return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“No”), the proximity broadcast receiver may optionally re-transmit the sighting message to the central server in block 706. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may retransmit sighting messages a predefined number of times over a period of time when no return message is received.
When a return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“Yes”), in determination block 1102 the proximity broadcast receiver may determine whether the return message includes wireless identity transmitter identification information. For example, identification information may include user names, addresses, sensitive information (e.g., social security number, banking information, passwords, etc.), and other data describing the wireless identity transmitter and/or the user of the wireless identity transmitter. If the return message does contain identification information (i.e., determination block 1102=“Yes”), in optional block 1104 the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a message to a local device, such as a local server, for processing. In other words, the proximity broadcast receiver may relay the identification information in the return message to a local device associated with proximity broadcast receiver and/or the facility in which the proximity broadcast receiver is located. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit the identification information of the wireless identity transmitter to a local computing device of a gym, retail store, a school, or other third-party that may in turn determine instructions for the proximity broadcast receiver based on the identification information. In an embodiment, the local device may store the identification information and/or relate the information to database data for further use with the various related devices of the facility.
If the return message does not include identification information (i.e., determination block 1102=“No”) or the proximity broadcast receiver transmits a message to the local device in optional block 1104, the proximity broadcast receiver may determine whether the return message includes other data for use, such as by the proximity broadcast receiver or other devices associated with the proximity broadcast receiver in determination block 1106. For example, the return message may include commands or instructions for the proximity broadcast receiver to perform. Additionally, the data may contain configuration data (or configuration information) that may be used by various devices to accommodate the wireless identity transmitter and/or the preferences of the wireless identity transmitter's user. For example, the return message may contain software instructions for the proximity broadcast receiver to use or transfer to the local device, the wireless identity transmitter, or various other associated devices. If the return message includes data for use (i.e., determination block 1106=“Yes”), in block 1108 the proximity broadcast receiver may use the data within the return message. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may execute operations to utilize configuration data from the return message (e.g., set equipment to suit the user's preferences). If the return message does not contain data for use by the proximity broadcast receiver (i.e., determination block 1106=“No”), the proximity broadcast receiver may continue with the operations in determination block 702.
As a non-limiting, illustrative example: the proximity broadcast receiver may be connected to a piece of exercise equipment within a fitness facility that is registered with a central server (i.e., the facility relates to a registered service). When the proximity broadcast receiver receives a broadcast message from the wireless identity transmitter carried by a user intending to work-out on the exercise equipment, the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a sighting message to the central server. The proximity broadcast receiver may receive a return message from the central server that includes data which may be used to configure the exercise equipment to suit the anatomical dimensions and preferences of the user of the wireless identity transmitter without necessarily sharing the user's identity. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may use the data to adjust the height of the equipment's seat or pedals. As another example, the data may define a workout routine to be executed on the exercise equipment. Alternatively, the return message may include the user's fitness facility identification, which the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit to a local server (e.g., a gym administrative server). The local server may compare the user's fitness facility identification to a local database and in response to the comparison, may transmit personalized configuration instructions to the proximity broadcast receiver and exercise equipment. Other non-limiting but illustrative applications of return message data may include configuring rental cars (e.g., seat positions, settings, etc.) and computer components (e.g., mouse, keyboards, etc.) for personalized use by the user of the wireless identity transmitter.
In an embodiment, return messages may include identification information such as photographic imagery useful to identify the user of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, in response to receiving a return message identifying the user of the wireless identity transmitter, the proximity broadcast receiver may display an image of the user or a sample of the user's handwriting (e.g., a signature). This functionality may be used by emergency personnel, citizens on alert, or merchants when attempting to quickly verify the identity of a person (e.g., a missing child, customer, etc.) equipped with a wireless identity transmitter. In another embodiment, a merchant's proximity broadcast receiver engaged in a business transaction (e.g., a point-of-sale device with an embedded proximity broadcast receiver) may transmit a sighting message including information broadcast by a proximate user's wireless identity transmitter. The resulting return message may include confirmation that the identities of the registered user of the wireless identity transmitter and the user match (i.e., the in-store person matches the user indicated in the central server as relating to the wireless identity transmitter). Additionally, if the identities are the same, the return message may include additional information to assist in the transactions, such as payment information, credit card numbers, or contact information for follow-up communications.
In another embodiment, the return message from the central server may include software instructions and/or data that may cause the proximity broadcast receiver to modify, adjust, remove, activate, or disable components, sensors, features, software, and/or functions of the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the return message may include software instructions that the proximity broadcast receiver executes upon receiving the return message, or triggers the proximity broadcast receiver to execute a pre-loaded routine or enter a particular operating mode. Such software instructions may define operations the proximity broadcast receiver may execute that configure the proximity broadcast receiver, such as activating (or de-activating) a camera component, a cellular network modem, speaker systems, WiFi transceivers, etc. As another example, the return message may instruct the proximity broadcast receiver, such as a smartphone configured to operate as a mobile proximity broadcast receiver, to execute an application, transmit a message (e.g., email, SMS, short-range radio signal, etc.), or turn itself off. Software instructions within such return messages may include timing information that indicates when affected components, sensors, features, software, and/or functions may be configured and/or re-configured. For example, the return message may include instructions that cause the proximity broadcast receiver to disable a microphone for a certain period of time. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may be configured to reverse any modifications, adjustments, operating mode selections, or other configurations identified in return message software instructions after a period of time and/or when the proximity broadcast receiver no longer receives broadcast messages from wireless identity transmitters related to the return message. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may disable the speakers on the proximity broadcast receiver so long as the proximity broadcast receiver receives broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter. In another embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may modify, adjust, remove, activate, or disable components, sensors, features, software, and/or functions of the proximity broadcast receiver based on information within received broadcast messages. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may process a received broadcast message and execute detected software instructions that direct the proximity broadcast receiver to disable a sensor, such as a camera.
As described above with reference to
The central server 120 may include several components 104-109 to perform various operations to process data, such as received from proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138, third-party systems 101, or other support systems and/or services 102. In particular, the central server 120 may include a core component 108 that may process sighting messages, execute an alert or notice engine module, handle application programming interface (API) commands, and exchange data with other components within the central server 120. The core component 108 may include a data layer module 1202 that may include units for storing short-term data and third-party specific data. The core component 108 may also include an alert engine module 1204 for generating alert messages for transmissions to proximity broadcast receivers and initiating searches of various target wireless identity transmitters. The core component 108 may further include a data anonimizer module 1206 that may generate generic, anonymous, or otherwise processed data based on privacy policies or profile preferences of users. For example, the data anonimizer module 1206 may strip personal information from return messages transmitted to a proximity broadcast receiver associated with a store so that a customer user of a wireless identity transmitter is not identified to the store, but the fact that the user is within the store is still reported to the store. The core component 108 may also include a privacy manager module 1208 that may maintain privacy permission information for various users. For example, the privacy manager module 1208 may include a database of privacy parameters provided by users at registration. In an embodiment, the data anonimizer module 1206 and/or the privacy manager module 1208 may utilize the permissions described below.
The core component 108 may also include a search manager module 1210 for assisting in organizing and administering searches and an authorization system module 1212. The core component 108 may further include a sightings resolver module 1214 that may be utilized by the central server 120 for identifying wireless identity transmitters associated with broadcast messages reported within received sighting messages from proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138. The core component 108 may include an API module 1216 that may include functions and interfaces for initiating operations, a sightings aggregator module 1218 for compounding various sighting messages over a period for transmissions in consolidated form to merchants, third-parties, and other services. The core component 108 may also include a network module 1220 for transmitting and receiving various communications with devices, such as proximity broadcast receivers 142, 138 and third-party systems 101 via the Internet.
The central server 120 may also include a data warehouse component 104 that may store long-term data (e.g., archived user data, past location information, etc.). The data warehouse component 104 may include various databases for storing information pertinent to users of wireless identity transmitters, such as profile information provided by users via registration websites. The data warehouse component 104 may be configured to exchange data with the data layer module 1202 of the core component 108. The central server 120 may also include an operations, administration, and management component 105 that may process and/or store software associated with user portal accesses, scripts, and tools (e.g., software utilities, routines, etc.). The operations, administration, and management component 105 may be configured to exchange data with the core component 108.
The central server 120 may also include a developer portal component 106 that may store developer account data and perform registration, account management, and alert (or notice) management routines associated with developers, such as vendors or merchants that register to interact with users of wireless identity transmitters 110. The central server 120 may also include a user portal component 109 that may store user account data and perform registration, account management, and search routines associated with users, such as persons associated with wireless identity transmitters. The user portal component 109 and developer portal component 106 may be configured to exchange data with the authorization system module 1212 of the core component 108. The central server 120 may also include a rolling identifier (or ID) resolver component 107 that may store factory keys associated with wireless identity transmitters 110 as well as perform operations, software, or routines to match encrypted, encoded, rolling, or otherwise obfuscated identification information within received sighting messages with affiliated user data. The rolling identifier (or ID) resolver component 107 may be configured to exchange data with the sightings resolver module 1214 of the core component 108.
In various embodiments, the modules and components described with reference to
In particular, through registration, a timing mechanism may be synchronized between each wireless identity transmitter and the central server (i.e., a counter). With such a counter, a wireless identity transmitter and the central server may encode (or roll) and decode identifiers respectively, keeping the identity associated with the wireless identity transmitter (and its users) concealed and private. The most appropriate time to synchronize such a timing mechanism or counter may be during a device registration and/or account creation process as described below. For the purpose of
In block 1302, a user's mobile device (e.g., an iPhone, Android, tablet device, etc.) may install an application for use with wireless identity transmitters. Such an application (or “app”) may execute on the mobile device's processor as a background service or alternatively may be activated for selective use by the user. As described throughout this disclosure, such an application may enable the mobile device to process short-range broadcast messages from proximate wireless identity transmitters, such as by identifying received signals as broadcast messages and relaying sighting messages having location information to the central server in response. In block 1304, the mobile device may transmit a registration request with user information (e.g., a device identity or “deviceID”). The registration request may be sent to the central server via Internet communications with a web portal, web site, or web server controlled or otherwise accessible by the central server. In other words, the mobile device may invoke the registration process or by providing user information (e.g., device ID) through the installed app by providing the device ID (deviceID) and other information the central server may utilize to bind the registration request to an account. For example, the user's mobile device may access a registration website, receive inputs from the user, and transmit the user input as data to the registration website for use by the central server as described above with reference to
In block 1306, the central server may receive the user information for account registration. In block 1308, the central server may register an account for the user. For example, the central server may store the user's information, including provided device identifications, in a database of all registered users. In block 1310 the central server may provide account creation information to the user. The account creation information may include an authentication code or other information the user's mobile device may store for future use. For example, the central server may display confirmation of account creation on a website accessible by the user's mobile device or alternatively may transmit a confirmation signal, text message, email, or other communication to the user's mobile device.
In block 402, the wireless identity transmitter boots-up, such as in response to the user inserting a battery. When the wireless identity transmitter boots, a counter value may be initialized. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may begin to increment a value that represents the passage of time, starting from a zero value. In block 1313, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast a message (i.e., a broadcast message) that includes an encoded (or rolling) identifier. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may begin transmitting broadcast messages every few seconds. The wireless identity transmitter may generate rolling identifiers with the embodiment methods described below. In general, the broadcast message may include a payload that includes data generated by performing a pseudo-random function. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may perform a pseudo-random function to generate encoded data based on input values of the wireless identity transmitter's device ID, a counter value, and a secret key, seed, or other value known only to the wireless identity transmitter and the central server. In an embodiment, the pseudo-random function may be a polynomial time computable function that may utilize a randomly selected seed value only known to the wireless identity transmitter and the central server, such that the pseudo-random function may be computationally indistinguishable from a random function defined on the same domain with output to the same range as the pseudo-random function. In an embodiment, the keyed-hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) or the cipher-based Message authentication Code (CMAC) may be used as the pseudo-random function.
In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may be required to be activated within a predefined number of seconds within the time the mobile device begins the registration process with the operations in block 1304. In other words, once the wireless identity transmitter begins incrementing its counter value, the user must register with the central server within a certain period. This enables the central server to try at only a certain number of values when trying to determine the counter value at the wireless identity transmitter during registration.
In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may indicate an initial broadcast by adjusting data within a broadcast message's payload. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may change a bit within a broadcast message that the central server may recognize as indicating an initialization time period for the wireless identity transmitter. If there are initialization indicators within payloads, the central server may expedite comparisons between received payloads and stored payloads by avoiding comparisons to payloads corresponding to already registered (or recognized) wireless identity transmitters within a central server lookup data table.
In block 1314, the user's mobile device may receive the broadcast message. In other words, based on the installed application (or app), the mobile device may function as a mobile proximity broadcast receiver. An installed application may, such as the app installed with the operations in block 1302, may be waiting to receive such a broadcast message in response to initiating registration operations with the central server via the registration request. In block 1316, the mobile device may transmit the wireless identity transmitter's rolling identifier and other information, such as the stored device ID and authentication information. In an embodiment, the mobile device may extract encoded information from the received broadcast message, such as by using text comparison and/or parsing operations. For example, the mobile device may perform a most-significant bit operation.
In block 1318, the central server may receive the message with the encoded information, as well as the authentication information and the device ID. In block 1320, the central server may validate authentication information, such as in the received message from the mobile device. In particular, the central server may compare the authentication information to information generated in the operations in blocks 1308-1310. In block 1322, the central server may generate a set of rolling identifiers using the device ID and possible counter values. The central server may compare the encoded identifiers of the set with the rolling identifier received from the mobile device. In an embodiment, the central server may compute a set of encoded data by using a pseudo-random function, such as described above, along with the device ID and a number of counter values. For example, the central server may execute the pseudo-random function with a seed shared with wireless identity transmitters, the device ID indicated by the mobile device, and many counter values, starting with 0. In block 1324, when the central server matches the received rolling identifier to one of the rolling identifiers in the generated set, the central server may store relevant counter value and time in relation to the WIT. The central server may use the counter value used to generate the matching rolling identifier to sync with the counter running on the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the central server may store an indicator that describes the wireless identity transmitter as having been successfully registered and/or synced. In optional block 1326, the central server may then transmit a registration result message to the user, such as by transmitting a message to the mobile device. The registration result message may indicate whether or not the central server was able to match the received encoded identifier with a generated identifier. In optional block 1328, the mobile device may receive the registration result message. In an embodiment, the registration result message indicates that the registration process failed (e.g., the received broadcast message received by the mobile device did not correspond to the user's wireless identity transmitter), the mobile device may re-attempt the registration by receiving and relaying another broadcast message.
The operations described above, particularly within blocks 1313-1324, assume that message processing operations performed by the various devices, as well as any propagation delay, may be much smaller than the time required to increment (or update) the counter value at the wireless identity transmitter. This ensures that the counter values at the wireless identity transmitter and central server do not differ by more than 1.
If the central server receives a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in block 1404 the central server may identify wireless identity transmitter information, proximity broadcast receiver information, and associated data based on the sighting message. The central server may evaluate, parse, and otherwise make accessible various data and information segments within the received sighting message. For example, the central server may parse the sighting message to identify an included broadcast message from the wireless identity transmitter. As another example, the central server may identity encoded data corresponding to a wireless identity transmitter identity (i.e., rolling identifier), proximity broadcast receiver identification information (e.g., a receiver ID), location information, timestamp information, sensor data (e.g., accelerometer sensor data, etc.), identifiers of applications (or apps) associated with a proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., a list of installed applications, an identifier for a relevant app executing on the proximity broadcast receiver, etc.). In an embodiment, the central server may perform the operations of block 1404 with a sightings resolver module as described above.
In block 1406, the central server may obtain the wireless identity transmitter identity based on the rolling identifier within the sighting message. The central server may perform operations to decode, descramble, decrypt, or otherwise make accessible the rolling identifier. For example, the central server may perform operations to apply a secret key or decoding algorithm to obtain the identity of the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the operations of block 1406 may be performed by the central server by way of a rolling ID resolver component as described above. For example, the central server may cause a sightings resolver module to exchange data with the rolling ID resolver component to obtain a decoded wireless identity transmitter identifier. Embodiment operations to identity the wireless identity transmitter based on a sighting message that includes a rolling identifier are described below.
In block 1408, the central server may retrieve the wireless identity transmitter user information based on the obtained wireless identity transmitter identity. For example, the central server may retrieve user account information related to the wireless identity transmitter, such as demographics information, stored data indicating previous behaviors (e.g., travel paths, location history, etc.). In an embodiment, the operations of block 1408 may be performed by the central server by way of an authorization system module as described above. For example, the central server may cause the authorization system module to exchange wireless identity transmitter identity information with a user portal component to obtain user information as saved within user registration databases.
In block 1410, the central server may retrieve proximity broadcast receiver identification information, such as proximity broadcast receiver user information and related services, based on the identified proximity broadcast receiver information. For example, the central server may retrieve the merchant identity associated with the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the received sighting message, the tracking services the proximity broadcast receiver is registered to participate in, as well as any other relevant information to the proximity broadcast receiver. The central server may retrieve email addresses, MAC addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information related to a user of related proximity broadcast receiver based on the information within the sighting message. For example, the central server may determine the user contact information associated with a proximity broadcast receiver that may be used for subsequent transmissions from the central server, such as emails or SMS text messages that indicate proximity to an item of interest. In an embodiment, the central server may determine the identity of a user of a smartphone that is configured to perform operations of a mobile proximity broadcast receiver. In an embodiment, the operations of block 1410 may be performed by the central server by way of an authorization system module as described above. For example, the central server may cause the authorization system module to exchange proximity broadcast receiver information with a developer (or user) portal component to obtain information about related registered services (e.g., merchants, stores, vendors, services, etc.) as saved within developer registration databases.
In optional block 1411, the central server may authenticate the sighting message. Based on authentication information within the received sighting message, the central server may perform authentication operations that confirm the legitimacy of the sighting message as coming from a known or otherwise valid proximity broadcast receiver. As described above, sighting messages may include data, such as secret codes, certificates, or hash data, that can be used to confirm the identities of valid proximity broadcast receivers. As third-parties may attempt to spoof proximity broadcast receivers associated with registered services (e.g., a nefarious spammer may attempt to imitate a merchant's store proximity broadcast receiver by sending a fraudulent sighting message), the central server may check for authentication information that confirms the information within the sighting message is useful and related to a registered service (e.g., a registered merchant, a valid developer, or other party that deploys legitimate proximity broadcast receivers). For example, the central server may detect obscured header information within the sighting message that relates to a merchant established within the central server as a registered developer. When the sighting message does not include authentication information expected by the central server, such as a special code that all proximity broadcast receivers within a certain building possess, or does include authentication information that does not match information stored in the central server, the central server may disregard the sighting message and all included information. For example, a sighting message with out-of-date or incomplete authentication information may be disregarded by the central server, or alternatively stored in a list for potentially fraudulent proximity broadcast receivers.
In optional block 1412, the central server may generate hashed data based on the obtained and/or retrieve data. In an embodiment, the operations of optional block 1412 may be performed by the central server by way of a data anonimizer module as described above. In block 1414, the central server may store data based on the sighting message in relation to the wireless identity transmitter identity. For example, the central server may store identified associated data from the sighting message in a database in relation to the wireless identity transmitter's decoded identity. In an embodiment, the operations of block 1414 may be performed by the central server by way of a data layer module as described above.
Messages transmitted by the central server in response to receiving sighting messages may be transmitted to inform devices, such as a mobile phone or mobile proximity broadcast receiver carried by a user, of the location of proximity of known wireless identity transmitters. For example, when a proximity broadcast receiver, such as a stationary proximity broadcast receiver within a retail store, relays a broadcast message from a wireless identity transmitter associated with a user, the central server may respond by transmitting a message back to a mobile device of the user indicating the user is near the store's proximity broadcast receiver. Further, a third-party application running on the user's device may use information within the message. For example, a retail store app running on a user's smartphone may receive a notice that the user has moved within proximity of a display area within proximity of a retail store building. In various other embodiments, the third-party applications may be utilized to track owned items associated with wireless identity transmitters. For example, a particular third-party application may perform a ring tone when the user is within proximity of a searched for missing child.
In determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received. If the central server does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. If the central server receives a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in block 1404 the central server may identify wireless identity transmitter information, proximity broadcast receiver information, and associated data based on the sighting message. In block 1406, the central server may obtain the wireless identity transmitter identity based on the rolling identifier within the sighting message. In block 1408, the central server may retrieve the wireless identity transmitter user information based on the obtained wireless identity transmitter identity. In block 1410, the central server may retrieve proximity broadcast receiver identification information, such as proximity broadcast receiver user information and related services, based on the identified proximity broadcast receiver information. In optional block 1412, the central server may generate hashed data based on the obtained and/or retrieve data. In block 1414, the central server may store data based on the sighting message in relation to the wireless identity transmitter identity.
In determination block 1452, the central server may determine whether a third-party application (or app) is allowed to have obtained proximity broadcast receiver information. In other words, based on data stored in the central server that is associated with the user of the wireless identity transmitter, the central server may detect any registered services or third-party applications that are associated with the user's devices. For example, the central server may evaluate database information to identify the user has installed a third-party application on his/her smartphone that corresponds to a retail store. The proximity broadcast receiver information may include proximity broadcast receiver identification (e.g., an ID code or identifier) and the user identity of the proximity broadcast receiver. In an embodiment, the central server may identify whether third-party applications are allowed such information based on the third-party's developer rights, such as indicated when the third-party registered as a developer or registered service, or alternatively based on the user's permission settings, as described below. In an embodiment, the central server may use application identification information provided within the received sighting message to determine whether the third-party applications on the user's device may receive proximity broadcast receiver information. For example, the sighting message may contain indicators of applications (e.g., app IDs) that correspond to the sighting message and thus are allowed to receive any proximity broadcast receiver information from the central server.
If the third-party app is not allowed to have the obtained proximity broadcast receiver information (i.e., determination block 1452=“No”), in block 1456 the central server may transmit a message to the user's device that includes only wireless identity transmitter identification information and associated data from the sighting message. For example, the message transmitted by the central server may include the obtained wireless identity transmitter identity, user information, timestamp data, and location information from the sighting message. If the third-party app is allowed to have the obtained proximity broadcast receiver information (i.e., determination block 1452=“Yes”), in block 1454 the central server may transmit a message to the user's device that includes wireless identity transmitter identification information, proximity broadcast receiver information, and associated data from the sighting message. For example, the message transmitted by the central server to the user's smartphone may include indicators of the obtained proximity broadcast receiver identification (e.g., serial code, group affiliation, merchant category, etc.). The central server may then continue with the operations in determination block 1402. In an embodiment, the central server may utilize an alert engine module, such as described above with reference to
The central server may receive and process the sighting message 804. When the central server determines that the sighting message 804 requires a response based on the information in the sighting messages (e.g., metadata requesting a response, the sighting message relates to a wireless identity transmitter that needs to receive upgraded firmware, etc.), the central server may generate and transmit a return message 1502 to the proximity broadcast receiver. In various embodiments, the return message 1502 may contain configuration information, identification information describing the wireless identity transmitter, or other data as described above. The proximity broadcast receiver may receive and process the return message 1502. Based on the data within the return message 1502, the proximity broadcast receiver may optionally transmit a message 1504 to the wireless identity transmitter that may contain configuration information and other data from the central server. The wireless identity transmitter may selectively accept transmissions such as the message 1504 using operations as described above with reference to
As another option, the proximity broadcast receiver may transmit a message 1506 to a local server based on the return message 1502. The message 1506 may contain wireless identity transmitter identification information, configuration information, software routines, and various other data from the return message 1502 for storage, processing, and otherwise additional use by the local server. Based on the message 1506, the local server may in turn transmit an optional response message 1508 to the proximity broadcast receiver that may include software instructions, configuration data, or other data generated in response to receiving the message 1506.
In an embodiment, the central server may also transmit messages directly to the local server (not shown) that include configuration information and other data. For example, the sighting message 804 from the proximity broadcast receiver may provide the contact information for the local server which the central server may utilize for subsequent communications.
As described above, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may periodically transmit a broadcast message 802 via short-range wireless signals (e.g., Bluetooth® LE radio signals). When within signal range of the broadcast message 802, the proximity broadcast receiver may receive the broadcast message 802 using a similar transceiver. The broadcast message 802 may be processed by the proximity broadcast receiver and transmitted to the local computing device as a first sighting message 804′ for processing. The local computing device may in turn transmit a second sighting message 1552 to the central server. The second sighting message 1552 may be identical to the first sighting message 804′ or alternatively a new or modified version of the first sighting message 840′. For example, the second sighting message 1552 may include identification information of the local computing device in addition to a representation of the broadcast message 802.
The central server may receive and process the second sighting message 1552, as described above, and may generate and transmit a return message 1554 to the local computing device. In an embodiment, the local computing device may be configured to act as a message router and may transmit a message 1556 to the proximity broadcast receiver. The message 1556 may be similar to the return message 1554 or alternatively may include only portions of the return message 1554. For example, the message 1556 may contain information (e.g., marketing information, payment authentication information, etc.) to be rendered or otherwise used by the proximity broadcast receiver. In an embodiment, the message 1556 may include instructions for presenting marketing information, such as software instructions for rendering an advertising video.
In an embodiment, the central server may transmit a return message 1502 to the proximity broadcast receiver, which may in turn transmit a message 1560 to the local computing device that reports various information (e.g., the identification information of the wireless identity transmitter). In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may process the return message 1502 and the message 1556 and may store, utilize, and/or evaluate data of the return message 1502. For example, the stationary proximity broadcast receiver may detect software instructions within the return message 1502 or the message 1556, such as an instruction to re-calibrate a radio within the proximity broadcast receiver, and may perform operations in response to detecting the software instructions. As another example, the proximity broadcast receiver may store a list of wireless identity transmitter identities based on the return message 1502 or the message 1556. In an embodiment, the return message 1502, 1554 may not include identification information of the wireless identity transmitter, but may instead include an indicator of whether the wireless identity transmitter is related to an authorized user.
In determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received. If no sighting message is received (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. If a sighting message is received (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in determination block 1602 the central server may determine whether the wireless identity transmitter identity is known. In other words, the central server may perform the operations in block 1404-1410 as described above with reference to
In determination block 1604, the central server may determine whether the received sighting message relates to a registered service. In other words, the central server may compare information obtained from the sighting message to lists of registered services to determine whether the sighting message is valid (or authenticated) and corresponding to a third-party, merchant, or other service registered with the central server. To make the determination, the central server may analyze the received sighting message and evaluate any metadata or header information that identifies the proximity broadcast receiver, the subject matter of the sighting message, or other descriptive information regarding the proximity broadcast receiver and/or the wireless identity transmitter that transmitted the broadcast message reported by the sighting message. For example, the sighting message may contain metadata that indicates the sighting message was sent by a proximity broadcast receiver in response to an active alert. Alternatively, the sighting message may contain header information that indicates relevance to a particular vendor facility or service. For example, the sighting message may contain metadata that indicates the proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a particular third-party application (e.g., a retail store app ID). As another example, the central server may evaluate metadata within the sighting message to detect a code that identifies a registered merchant or retail store that is associated with a marketing service or data collection scheme. A sighting message may not relate to a registered service if the transmitting proximity broadcast receiver is not registered, authenticated, or otherwise known to the central server.
If the sighting message is not related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. If the sighting message does relate to a registered service, such as a valid vendor service or an active alert (i.e., determination block 1604=“Yes”), in block 1606 the central server may generate a return message. The return message may include information that indicates the sighting message, the proximity broadcast receiver, related services, time of receipt of the sighting message, and other informational data. In determination block 1608, the central server may determine whether the proximity broadcast receiver is allowed to receive identification info. In other words, the central server may determine whether the proximity broadcast receiver has permission or is authorized to receive identification information of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, based on metadata within the sighting message indicating that the proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a vendor or a registered service, the central server may determine that the identification of the wireless identity transmitter (or its user) may not be included within the return message. In an embodiment, the central server may evaluate a stored database that describes information permissions based on the identity of the proximity broadcast receiver and its associated services. For example, the database may indicate that the proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a service that is allowed to receive identification information about the wireless identity transmitter. Such permissions or privacy settings are described below with reference to
If the proximity broadcast receiver is allowed to receive identification information (i.e., determination block 1608=“Yes”), in block 1610 the central server may append identification information to the return message. For example, the return message may include the username, customer ID, address and/or name of the user of the wireless identity transmitter. If the proximity broadcast receiver is not allowed to receive identification information (i.e., determination block 1608=“No”) or if the central server appended identification information to the return message in block 1610, the central server may determine whether there is stored data related to the wireless identity transmitter and the registered service in determination block 1612. The central server may evaluate a database and identify whether the proximity broadcast receiver, its associated devices or services (e.g., a local server), and/or the wireless identity transmitter require data based on the sighting message. Examples of such data may include firmware, software instructions, configuration information, proprietary information (e.g., customer ID), activity information (e.g., information describing recent wireless identity transmitter activities related to the proximity broadcast receiver), or any other relevant information. The central server may query the database using the wireless identity transmitter identification information in combination with the proximity broadcast receiver identification information to detect data within the database that may be included in the return message. For example, the return message may contain personalization information for the user of the wireless identity transmitter to be used by the proximity broadcast receiver. In an embodiment, the database may indicate that the proximity broadcast receiver is associated with a service (e.g., vendor, merchant, etc.) that stores proprietary data within the central server database.
If there is stored data related to the wireless identity transmitter and the registered service (i.e., determination block 1612=“Yes”), in block 1614 the central server may append the data regarding registered service and the wireless identity transmitter to the return message. If there is no stored data related to the wireless identity transmitter and the registered service (i.e., determination block 1612=“No”), or if data is already appended, in block 1616 the central server may transmit the return message, such as to the proximity broadcast receiver. The central server may then continue to perform the operations in determination block 1402.
In block 1702, the central server may register a relationship between the proximity broadcast receiver and the wireless identity transmitter, such as by storing information within a database. In various embodiments, each proximity broadcast receiver and wireless identity transmitter may be involved in numerous relationships. Additionally, the relationship information may be stored based on user input data to the central server via a registration web portal (e.g., the user may access a website and indicate all of his/her wireless identity transmitters). During such a registration, the central server may prompt the user to provide conditions under which the central server should transmit messages when wireless identity transmitters are lost or otherwise outside of the proximity of the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the user may enter configuration data stored by the central server that indicates that if the proximity broadcast receiver does not receive broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter between certain hours of the day, the central server should transmit a warning message.
In determination block 1704, the central server may determine whether a sighting message has been received from the proximity broadcast receiver related to the wireless identity transmitter. In other words, based on whether or not such a sighting message is received, the central server may detect if the wireless identity transmitter is close to the proximity broadcast receiver. The central server may also evaluate sighting messages received over a period to determine whether the wireless identity transmitter is (or has recently been) within proximity of the proximity broadcast receiver. In an embodiment, the central server may determine whether it receives a sighting message for each wireless identity transmitter registered in the relationship. For example, if the registered relationship includes multiple wireless identity transmitters, the central server may expect to receive sighting messages from the proximity broadcast receiver regarding all the wireless identity transmitters. If the central server receives a sighting message related to the wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 1704=“Yes”), in optional block 1705 the central server may wait a period and may continue with the operations in determination block 1704. In various embodiments, the central server may perform the operations in determination block 1704 periodically, such as every few seconds, minutes, or hours.
If the central server does not receive a sighting message related to the wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 1704=“No”), in block 1706 the central server may transmit a message indicating the wireless identity transmitter is lost. In various embodiments, the central server may transmit such a message to the proximity broadcast receiver, other devices associated with the user of the proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., a smartphone, tablet), and/or any other device relevant to the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may transmit a warning message to a police server when the wireless identity transmitter is lost and associated with a child.
In particular, two proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′ may receive broadcast messages from a wireless identity transmitter 110. Since the reception range of signals transmitted by wireless identity transmitters 110 is limited, proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′ may receive the broadcast messages only if the wireless identity transmitter 110 is within that reception range 1801, 1801′. Thus, if both proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′ receive the same broadcast message from the wireless identity transmitter 110, then the wireless identity transmitter 110 must be located in the overlapping region that is within the reception range 1801, 1801′ of both of the two proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′. Since the reception range 1801, 1801′ will depend upon signal attenuators (e.g., structures and vegetation) along the transmission path and the sensitivity of proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′, this variability may be taken into account by a central server, such as by treating the reception range 1801, 1801′ as a statistical parameter (e.g., average range with standard deviations, which may be determined through field testing). In such an embodiment, the central server may assign probabilities to different overlapping region sizes, which may help searchers focus initial search efforts.
If the central server determines that two or more sighting messages are concurrent (i.e., determination block 1825=“Yes”), the central server may compute the location and area of an overlapping region related to the concurrent sighting messages in block 1828. For example, based on the locations of each of the proximity broadcast receivers associated with the concurrent sighting messages and the known transmission range of the wireless identity transmitter, the central server may compute the reception radius of each proximity broadcast receiver to determine the overlapping region. The location of each proximity broadcast receiver may be included in sighting messages transmitted by each proximity broadcast receiver.
In block 1830, the central server may associate the overlapping region (i.e., the computed location and area of the overlapping region) with the wireless identity transmitter. In other words, the central server may associate a finer grained location of the wireless identity transmitter by calculating multiple reception radii for each of the proximity broadcast receivers and identifying an overlapping region that falls within the reception range of each proximity broadcast receiver. This finer grained location may also be associated with the contents of one or more of the proximity broadcast receiver sighting messages (e.g., timestamp, sensor data, etc.). Also as part of block 1830, the central server may identify a number of overlapping area boundaries and assign a probability value to each based on the average and variability of the transmission range.
Embodiment method 1820 may be applied to many concurrent sighting messages received from several proximity broadcast receivers, which may enable the overlapping area to be more narrowly defined. For example, the central server may compute the overlapping region between several proximity broadcast receiver listening ranges or refine a previously computed overlapping region based on another overlapping report (i.e., compute the overlapping region shared by a previous overlapping region and another proximity broadcast receiver listening area). For example, as searchers close in on the wireless identity transmitter, each of their respective mobile proximity broadcast receivers will begin to transmit sighting messages related to the wireless identity transmitter, which the central server may combine to further narrow the search area as searchers approach from different directions. This capability may be further leveraged by having some searchers move away from a suspected location of the wireless identity transmitter until their mobile proximity broadcast receivers are transmitting sighting messages only intermittently, indicating they are on the edge of the transmission range. With multiple proximity broadcast receivers positioned near the apparent maximum transmission range, the overlapping area computed by the central server can be minimized, thereby helping to further pinpoint the location of the wireless identity transmitter.
Further embodiments may provide increased location granularity by considering the power level of the broadcast messages received by multiple proximity broadcast receivers. As is well known, the signal strength of a radio transmission from a point transmitter decreases with distance by a factor proportional to the inverse of the square of the distance (i.e., 1/R2), with any intervening structure or vegetation causing further attenuation. Thus, proximity broadcast receivers located at different distances from a wireless identity transmitter will typically receive the broadcast messages with different signal strengths. For, example,
A proximity broadcast receiver's distance to the wireless identity transmitter 110 may be estimated as inversely proportional to the power level. Distance estimations may also account for channel conditions such as intervening signal attenuators (e.g., vegetation, buildings, etc.), echoes (i.e., multipath reception) or other interferences. The distance may be estimated locally on the proximity broadcast receiver 138,138′ or alternately by the central server if the proximity broadcast receiver 138, 138′ includes the power level in a sighting message. Each proximity broadcast receiver's own location and estimated distance from the wireless identity transmitter 110 may be used to triangulate the approximate location of the wireless identity transmitter 110. For example, as searchers close in on the wireless identity transmitter, the signal strength of received broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter may increase, enabling the central server to further narrow the search area as searchers approach from different directions. Thus, when proximity broadcast receivers 138, 138′ include signal strength data in sighting messages, the central server can reduce the overlap area for searching as multiple searchers approach the wireless identity transmitter 110 (which would not be the case in the circumstances similar to illustrated above with reference to
If the central server determines that two or more sighting messages are concurrent (i.e., determination block 1825=“Yes”), the central server may compute a finer grained location of the wireless identity transmitter based on the received signal power levels and the locations of proximity broadcast receivers transmitting the concurrent sighting messages in block 1868. The central server may estimate the distance between the proximity broadcast receivers and the wireless identity transmitter or may receive an estimated distance in the sighting messages as discussed above. Each proximity broadcast receiver's location and estimated distance from the wireless identity transmitter may be used to triangulate the finer grained location. Triangulation based on information within sighting messages received from only two proximity broadcast receivers may result in two possible locations for the wireless identity transmitter. However, information in sighting messages from three or more proximity broadcast receivers may be used to better approximate the wireless identity transmitter's location. The central server may associate the finer grained location (i.e., the triangulated location) with the wireless identity transmitter in block 1870. This finer grained location may also be associated with the contents of one or more of the proximity broadcast receiver sighting messages (e.g., timestamp, sensor data, etc.).
In optional block 1872, the central server may transmit a return message to a proximity broadcast receiver that is closest to the wireless identity transmitter based on signal power information reported in received sighting messages. In other words, the central server may determine the closest proximity broadcast receiver to the wireless identity transmitter among the plurality of proximity broadcast receivers that transmitted the concurrent sighting messages. Often, a user of a wireless identity transmitter may intend to use a device associated with a single proximity broadcast receiver within a plurality of proximity broadcast receivers (e.g., a point-of-sale device in a line of point-of-sale devices each connected to proximity broadcast receivers). The central server may use signal strength or signal power indicators within concurrent sighting messages, as well as any other relevant data (e.g., location information, direction of the wireless identity transmitter based on previous sighting messages, etc.) to determine the single proximity broadcast receiver the user of the wireless identity transmitter likely intends to interface. The return message may indicate to the proximity broadcast receiver that the wireless identity transmitter is likely intending to interface with that proximity broadcast receiver, and may additionally include instructions, data, or other information for the proximity broadcast receiver. For example, the return message may include a message indicating the user of the wireless identity transmitter is near, or alternatively instructions on how to handle the user.
In an embodiment, the return message may indicate information describing the certainty of the determination that the recipient proximity broadcast receiver is the closest to the wireless identity transmitter. Additionally, the return message may request a confirmation of proximity to the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the closest proximity broadcast receiver may confirm that it is the closest proximity broadcast receiver based on subsequent input data related to the user of the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., the user of the wireless identity transmitter pressed a ‘confirm’ button on the proximity broadcast receiver). In another embodiment, the central server may transmit messages to the proximity broadcast receivers determined to not be the closest proximity broadcast receiver, indicating that these proximity broadcast receivers are not closest and/or the identity of the determined closest proximity broadcast receiver. In response, the proximity broadcast receivers that are not the closest may modify their subsequent transmission of sighting messages regarding the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the proximity broadcast receivers may adjust (i.e., increase or decrease) the frequency of transmitting sighting messages regarding the wireless identity transmitter (i.e., adjust receiver thresholds) or alternatively may ignore future broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter for a period of time.
Generating rolling identifiers, or other methods of obfuscating identifiers, is important in that it may prevent sniffing attacks from a third party. For example, if the identifier was static, a third party could sniff the identifier, such as by impersonating a proximity broadcast receiver, and then use the identifier to track the wireless identity transmitter. A rolling identifier may hinder such an attack impossible if the third party lacks the pseudo-random number generator or other means of generating the latest rolling identifiers.
In block 1902, the central server may receive a wireless identity transmitter's rolling identifier in a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver. In block 1904, the central server may compare the rolling identifier with code calculated by an algorithm shared with the wireless identity transmitter, such as a pseudo-random function or an encryption algorithm with shared secret keys. The algorithm may be software instructions, routines, algorithms, circuitry, or modules that are utilized by the central server to calculate codes that are expected to align with rolling identifiers generated and broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter over a period. In various embodiments, the central server may compare the received identifier with the next several codes in case some identifiers were missed. If the received identifier matches any codes generated or expected by the central server, in block 1906 the central server may associate the matching identifier and any associated data with a serial code corresponding to the wireless identity transmitter. This way, if the central server later receives a user request with the wireless identity transmitter's serial code, such as a request from a parent to locate the wireless identity transmitter carried by a child, then the central server can find all the prior matches and any associated data without having to search for every previous rolling identifier.
In an embodiment, when initiating a search for a target wireless identity transmitter, the central server may use the shared algorithm and information (e.g., key) to generate a target device ID that is transmitted in an alert message. In this embodiment, alert messages may be retransmitted with an updated target device ID whenever the target wireless identity transmitter is scheduled to roll its identifier. Various algorithms for generating rolling identifiers or other encoded identifiers, as well as other decoding algorithms, are discussed below.
Due to privacy concerns regarding unintended tracking of devices described above, the wireless identity transmitter may obscure information within the transmitted messages through obfuscation measures (e.g., encryption or pseudo-random data generation) known only to the central server and wireless identity transmitter. In general, the wireless identity transmitter may maintain a clock or timer mechanism that is represented by a counter value (or a “nonce”) and that may begin once the device is operational (e.g., activated through the insertion of a battery). The clock may be relatively low-quality and therefore may drift unlike more accurate clocks, such as in the central server (e.g., clocks calibrated by periodic atomic clock readings). The counter (or nonce) may be a non-repeating number generated by the wireless identity transmitter, and may be changed each time wireless identity transmitter encodes its identifier for broadcasting, such as once every hour or even once every broadcast message. In various embodiments, counters (or counter values) may be encrypted or encoded using pseudo-random functions or other encryptions algorithms (e.g., AES). For example, a wireless identity transmitter may encode a counter value with an AES-CTR block cipher to create a nonce for use in generating the payload including a rolling identifier of a broadcast message. As another example, a nonce may be generated by applying a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) to a counter value.
As described throughout the disclosure, the wireless identity transmitter may also store a unique device identification code or number (i.e., a device identifier or ‘deviceID’) and be pre-provisioned with a per-device shared secret key (or K) which is associated with the unique identifier at the central server. For example, the central server may store the unique device identifier and the secret key in a database and may maintain a table of deviceID and K pairs for all wireless identity transmitters registered with the central server. The central server may use the device identifier and secret key, along with other information such as reported counter values, to identify, decrypt and otherwise process obscured messages from the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the device identifier (or deviceID) may be generated sequentially or randomly.
In block 2004, the wireless identity transmitter may encode the device identifier (deviceID), secret key (K), and a counter value via a streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR encryption) to generate a rolling identifier. “AES-CTR” is one of the confidentiality modes recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for implementations of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may include an AES coprocessor that is configured to support the “CTR” mode. In an embodiment, the rolling identifier may be represented by the following equation:
Rolling identifier=(deviceID∥bat_stat)XOR(MSB—N(AES—K(t)))
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘bat_stat’ is the battery status information of the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., a 4-bit code), ‘∥’ means concatenation, ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 60 bits).
In block 2006, the wireless identity transmitter may then broadcast a message that includes the counter and the rolling identifier. In an embodiment, the broadcast message may be a single packet length Bluetooth® LE® chirp message. In various embodiments, the counter included in the broadcast message may be 20 bits and the rolling identifier may be 60 bits, so that the entire broadcast message is 80 bits.
In an embodiment, the broadcast message (or the payload of the broadcast message) may be represented by the following equation:
Payload=t|(deviceID∥bat_stat)XOR(MSB—N(AES—K(t)))
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘bat_stat’ is the battery status information of the blip device (e.g., a 4-bit code), ‘∥’ means concatenation, ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 60 bits). In other words, the embodiment broadcast message may include the counter in the clear (i.e., not encrypted) in addition to a rolling identifier that includes a battery level indicator. In another embodiment, the battery level indicator (i.e., bat_stat) may not be encrypted.
In block 2010, the central server may receive the shared secret key (K), such as during the account creation operations described above with reference to
In block 2014, the central server may receive a message including the counter and the rolling identifier. For example, the received message may be a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver that includes the information broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter with the operations in block 2006. In block 2016, the central server may extract the counter from the received message, and in block 2018 may extract the rolling identifier. In block 2019, the central server may select a wireless identity transmitter (i.e., selected wireless identity transmitter) to evaluate. In other words, the central server may obtain a stored deviceID, K, and counter for a registered wireless identity transmitter known to the central server, such as from the database or data table storing such information for all registered wireless identity transmitters. In block 2020, the central server may decode the rolling identifier via the same streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR) with the counter and the selected wireless identity transmitter's secret key (K) to generate a decoded device identifier (or M). For example, the central server may perform a decoding operation based on the AES-CTR algorithm that uses the rolling identifier as input along with the selected wireless identity transmitter's secret key (K) and the counter indicated in the received message.
In an embodiment, the decoded device identifier (M) may be represented by the following equation:
M=(rolling identifier)XOR(MSB—{N−a}(AES—K(t))),
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘MSB_{N−a}’ means the ‘N−a’ most significant bits (e.g., 56 bits when a is 4 bits and N is 60 bits).
In determination block 2022, the central server may determine whether the decoded device identifier (M) and the deviceID match. In other words, the central server may compare the decoded device identifier (M) to the deviceID for the selected wireless identity transmitter whose secret key (K) was used with the AES-CTR algorithm operations to obtain the decoded device identifier (M). If M and the deviceID do match (i.e., determination block 2022=“Yes”), in block 2024, the central server may identify the broadcast message as originating from the selected wireless identity transmitter. If M and the deviceID do not match (i.e., determination block 2022=“No”), in block 2026 the central server may decode the rolling identifier with secret keys associated with other wireless identity transmitters. For example, the central server may select the next registered wireless identity transmitter and use the corresponding stored pair of a secret key (K) and corresponding deviceID. In this manner, all K and deviceID pairs stored for all registered wireless identity transmitters and/or users of the system may be tried by the central server until a match is found that indentifies the originator of the broadcast message.
In block 2102, a user of the wireless identity transmitter may register the device with the central server. The services the wireless identity transmitter utilizes may require registrations of all active devices employed by users (e.g., customers, proprietors, etc.). The registration process may include an initial synchronization with the central server by the user of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the user of the wireless identity transmitter may register the device with the central server through a Web application, in a mobile device or a PC able to receive wireless identity transmitter messages and operated by the user. The wireless identity transmitter may be required to be registered with the central server within a certain time period from activation of the device. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may be required to be registered within the first 24 hours after the device is initiated (e.g., a battery is placed within the wireless identity transmitter). Registration operations are further described above with reference to
In block 2104, the wireless identity transmitter may initialize an internal counter, such as by setting the counter to a zero value. The counter initialization may occur due to a triggering event, such as the placement of a battery or power source within the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the counter may begin incrementing once the wireless identity transmitter is activated or powered on. Alternatively, the initialization may occur in response to registration operations described above. The counter may begin with ‘0’ (or any other starting value, such as ‘1’) and may be incremented periodically by the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, when the battery of the wireless identity transmitter is replaced (e.g., due to battery failure) or the wireless identity transmitter is otherwise reset/restarted/rebooted, the counter may return to the initial value (e.g., ‘0’). The counter may not repeat the value it represents unless the wireless identity transmitter is reset/restarted/rebooted. In an alternative embodiment, during initialization of the counter, the wireless identity transmitter may read from flash memory a predefined initial counter value. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may initialize the counter with a value set at a factory or updated by an installed application.
In an embodiment, the counter (or nonce) may be initialized and adjusted in a random or pseudo-random fashion using methods well known in the art. The counter may be a pseudo-randomly generated value that can be replicated in both the wireless identity transmitter and the central server. In another embodiment, the counter or nonce may be generated by the wireless identity transmitter using a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) with a proper period configured to create counter values that do not repeat during the lifetime of the device. Such counters derived from the LFSR may also be pseudo-random.
In block 2106, the wireless identity transmitter may encrypt the concatenated data using a secret key and encryption algorithm known to the central server. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may encode the counter and/or the device identifier (i.e., deviceID) using an AES-CTR block cipher. The encryption algorithm may utilize the secret key for encryption and decryption purposes, as the secret key is known by both the central server and wireless identity transmitter. The encryption algorithm may result in encrypted (or encoded) data of a certain size. For example, using the AES-CTR cipher, the wireless identity transmitter may generate encoded data of 128-bits. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may generate encrypted data represented by the following equation:
(deviceID∥bat_stat)XOR(MSB—N(AES—K(t))),
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘bat_stat’ is the battery status information of the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., a 4-bit code), ‘∥’ means concatenation, ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 60 bits). In other words, the embodiment broadcast message may include the counter in the clear (i.e., not encrypted) in addition to a rolling identifier that includes a battery level indicator. In another embodiment, the encrypted data may be represented by the following equation:
(deviceID)XOR(AES—K(t)),
where deviceID is a unique device identifier, t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 60 bits).
Due to the limited communication capabilities of the wireless identity transmitter, the payload of broadcast messages (e.g., the payloads supported by Bluetooth® LE broadcast packets) may not be able to contain the entire encrypted message, but instead only include a portion of an encrypted piece of data. Accordingly, in block 2108, the wireless identity transmitter may truncate data to generate an indecipherable rolling identifier. In other words, by truncating the encrypted data, the wireless identity transmitter may create an identifier to be put in a broadcast message (or payload) such that the identifier's size may be supported by the utilized communication format, such as Bluetooth® LE. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may truncate the encrypted data to fit within an 80-bit payload maximum size. When encrypted data is truncated, the decryption of that data within the central server may be impossible. However, the incomplete encrypted data may still be used by the central server as described below with reference to
TRUNC(deviceID XOR AES—K(t)),
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter (e.g., a 20 bit value), ‘XOR’ denotes the bitwise exclusive-or operation, ‘AES_K( )’ is the AES block cipher with key ‘K’, and ‘TRUNC ( )’ denotes a truncation operations that may create a certain number of bits or bytes (e.g., 56 bits or 7 bytes).
In block 2110, the wireless identity transmitter may concatenate the current counter with the truncated data to make a message payload. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may combine the current wireless identity transmitter system clock value (e.g., 20 bits long) with the unique identification code of the wireless identity transmitter truncated to be 60 bits long. In an embodiment, the payload may include both encrypted data and unencrypted data (or “in the clear” data). For example, the payload may contain many bits representing the encrypted and/or truncated data and several other bits that represent the battery status of the wireless identity transmitter or a counter value.
In block 2112, the wireless identity transmitter may periodically transmit broadcast messages that include the payload with the rolling identifier, such as by broadcasting via short-range wireless communication techniques as described above. The frequency of transmissions of the broadcast messages may vary dependent upon system configurations, user settings, or any other source of scheduling and timing relevant for wireless identity transmitters communicating via radio signals. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast the rolling identifier every few seconds.
In determination block 2114, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether a predefined counter time period has expired. This counter time period may be set in a similar manner as the broadcast frequency periodicity as described above. For example, the manufacturer or may establish the counter time period using various techniques, such as hard-coding variables within the wireless identity transmitter's processor circuitry.
If the counter time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue with the operations in block 2112. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast the payload via short-range radio transmissions at a frequency of a few seconds for a time period of many minutes.
If the device determines the counter time period has expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“Yes”), in block 2116 the wireless identity transmitter may increment the counter value, such as by adding 1. In block 2117, the wireless identity transmitter may reset the counter time period. For example, after a counter time period has expired, the wireless identity transmitter may increase the counter by a value of 1 and reset the counter time period to 0. The wireless identity transmitter may continue with the operations in block 2106 (e.g., the wireless identity transmitter may create a new payload and broadcast it for another counter time period).
In various embodiments, when a wireless identity transmitter is registered, the central server may store the initial counter value for the wireless identity transmitter. Dependent upon the time between the activation of the wireless identity transmitter (e.g., when the battery was inserted and the device became operational) and the registration of the device, the initial counter for the wireless identity transmitter may or may not be 0. For example, if the registration of the wireless identity transmitter with the central server occurred several hours after a user inserted a battery in the wireless identity transmitter, the initial counter may not be 0. In an embodiment, the central server may also indicate the registration status of the wireless identity transmitter by setting a registration flag or other indicator and may store information describing wireless identity transmitters that have yet to be registered in the database. In an embodiment, the central server may maintain a database with initial values provided for all known wireless identity transmitter whether or not they have been registered. For example, based on manufacturing records, the central server may contain a database having information about every wireless identity transmitter created.
The central server may generate and store model payloads using operations similar to those described above with reference to blocks 2106-2110. Model payloads may be payloads the central server expects to receive from the wireless identity transmitter based on stored secret key, device identifier (deviceID), and counter information. For example, for each registered wireless identity transmitter, the central server may create a model payload by concatenating the device's deviceID to a counter value, encrypting the concatenated data using an encryption protocol that employs the secret key for the wireless identity transmitter, and truncating the encrypted data. Each model payload may be stored in a central server data table (or lookup table) in relation to the corresponding deviceID and counter values used to generate the respective model payloads. For example, for each model payload for each wireless identity transmitter, the central server may store in the data table the model payload, a time offset value (e.g., −2, −1, 1, 2, etc.), and the counter, all in relation to the deviceID of the wireless identity transmitter.
In block 2154, the central server may generate and store initial model payloads for the wireless identity transmitter for a defined initialization period. For example, starting at the initial counter value (e.g., 0 or a pseudo-random value known to the device and the central server), the central server may generate model payloads using counter values that are the same, lower, and/or higher than the actual initial counter of a wireless identity transmitter such that these model counters cover the initialization period. In an embodiment, the initialization period may be an hour, several hours, days, etc.). The central server may store the initial model payloads for use in the event of a registration/reset/reboot of a wireless identity transmitter.
In block 2155, the central server may also generate and store current model payloads for wireless identity transmitters expected to be received within a defined time window. To account for possible clock drift in wireless identity transmitters, the central server may generate and store model payloads for the defined time window (or time period) by using multiple derivative counter values that represent a range of possible counters. In other words, derivative counter values may be offsets to the current counter value stored for a wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may generate model payloads for derivative counter values that are lower and higher than the currently stored counter value in the database. A derivative counter value may be the result of an offset value (e.g., −2, −1, 1, 2, etc.) added to the stored counter value for a wireless identity transmitter. The central server may generate model payloads to represent the stored counter value and derivative counter values that incrementally represent the window time period. For example, the model payloads may represent counters increasing by a small time value, such as an hour, and covering a large period of time, such as multiple hours. As another example, the central server may store a payload corresponding to the current counter value stored for a wireless identity transmitter, a payload corresponding to the previous counter value for the device, and a payload corresponding to the next counter value for the device.
In an embodiment, the first generated current model payloads for a given wireless identity transmitter may be identical to the initial model payloads for the wireless identity transmitter as both sets of payloads may be generated by the central server based on the same initial counter values. In an embodiment, the initialization period may coincide with the defined time window. For example, the initialization period may involve a similar number of days, hours, minutes, etc. as the defined time window.
In determination block 2156, the central server may determine whether a counter time period has expired. The central server may initialize the evaluation of a counter time period at an arbitrary time or, alternatively, upon the receipt of a wireless identity transmitter registration. The counter time period may be the same period of time used by the wireless identity transmitters as described above with reference to determination block 2114.
If the counter time period has expired (i.e., determination block 2156=“Yes”), in block 2155′ the central server may generate and store updated current model payloads for registered wireless identity transmitters. The updated current model payloads may replace the previous current model payloads and may be based on the stored counter value in each respective wireless identity transmitter's database record.
If the counter time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 2156=“No”) or if the counter time period has expired and the central server has generated updated current model payloads, in determination block 2160, the central server may determine whether any payloads have been received. In an embodiment, payloads may be delivered directly from wireless identity transmitters or alternatively indirectly from proximity broadcast receivers via sighting messages which include (or relay) rolling identifier payloads from proximate wireless identity transmitters to the central server. If no payloads have been received (i.e., determination block 2160=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 2156.
If a payload has been received (i.e., determination block 2160=“Yes”), in block 2162, the central server may be configured to evaluate the received payload using stored, current model payloads, such as the current model payloads stored for each registered wireless identity transmitter. As described above, the central server may maintain two sets of stored model payloads for each registered wireless identity transmitter, an initial model payload set that may include model payloads based on the initial counter and derivative counter values that span the initialization period, and a current model payload set that is based on the current counter value stored within the database record for each wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the central server may set a system variable indicating the central server should compare the received payload to stored, current model payloads. The system variable may be set to direct the central server to evaluate either the current or initial model payloads for wireless identity transmitters.
In blocks 2164-2172, the central server may perform an operational loop in which the central server compares the received payload (i.e., data broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter) to stored model payloads for all registered wireless identity transmitters until a match is found. In block 2164, the central server may select a next registered wireless identity transmitter. The central server may determine the next registered device based on the database of registered wireless identity transmitters and may sequentially iterate through each device during the operations in blocks 2164-2172. In block 2166, the central server may compare the received payload to the stored model payloads for the selected wireless identity transmitter based on the system configuration, such as the configuration set in the operations in block 2162. For example, based on the system variable set to ‘current’ with the operations in block 2162, the central server may compare the received payload to stored current model payloads for the selected wireless identity transmitter. Based on the form of the encrypted data of the received payload, the comparison may be a pattern-matching routine in which the central server compares the data of the model payloads against the received payload. For example, the central server may compare the bit values for the stored and received payloads.
In determination block 2168, the central server may determine whether any of the stored model payloads match the received payload. If none of the stored model payloads match the received payload (i.e., determination block 2168=“No”), in determination block 2170, the central server may determine whether there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate. In other words, the central server may determine whether the stored model payloads of all registered wireless identity transmitters have been evaluated. If there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate (i.e., determination block 2170=“Yes”), the central server may continue by selecting the next registered wireless identity transmitter with the operations in block 2164.
If the central server has evaluated the stored model payloads of all registered wireless identity transmitters (i.e., determination block 2170=“No”), in block 2172, the central server may be configured to evaluate the received payload using stored, initial model payloads, such as the initial model payloads stored for each registered wireless identity transmitter at the time of the devices' registration. For example, the central server may set a system variable indicating the central server should compare the received payload to stored, initial model payloads for evaluated registered wireless identity transmitters (e.g., the system variable may be set to ‘initial’). The operational loop may then continue with the operations in blocks 2164-2168 wherein the central server may select each registered wireless identity transmitter and compare the initial model payloads of that selected device to the received payload.
If the central server does find a match between the received payload and any of the stored model payloads (current or initial) of a registered wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 2168=“Yes”), in block 2174, the central server may determine a wireless identity transmitter identity based on the match. In other words, the central server may identify the wireless identity transmitter corresponding to the received payload based on the identification information (e.g., deviceID) stored in relation to the matching stored model payload. In block 2176, the central server may update the database with the identified wireless identity transmitter's counter based on the received payload. Based on the database record corresponding to the matching stored model payload, the central server may determine the derivative counter value corresponding to the received payload and may update the stored counter value to represent the derivative counter value, thus syncing the identified wireless identity transmitter's counter and the central server counter. In an embodiment, the central server may also store in the database the central server counter (or time) at which the central server received the received payload.
In an embodiment, the central server may maintain a list (or data table) of recently received messages and the corresponding wireless identity transmitter identification. For example, the central server may record within a data table the deviceID and payload information for messages received within a certain period. The central server may compare any subsequently received payload to the data table to determine whether the subsequently received payload is redundant based on recently received payloads from the same wireless identity transmitter. For example, a subsequently received payload may represent a certain counter value from a particular wireless identity transmitter that was already received and processed by the central server a few minutes ago. This may expedite the method 2150 process and decrease search times for the operations in blocks 2164-2172. In an embodiment, the central server may expunge (or clear) the data table of recently identified payloads and wireless identity transmitters and may schedule the clearing operations similarly as described in block 2176 (e.g., the recent data table may be cleaned every time the counter time period is determined to be expired).
In block 2002, the wireless identity transmitter may receive a shared secret key (i.e., “K”). For example, each wireless identity transmitter may be pre-provisioned with a per-device shared secret key which is associated with the wireless identity transmitter's unique device identifier (or deviceID) at the central server. In block 2204, the wireless identity transmitter may synchronize a counter. The counter may be synchronized with the central server upon registration of the wireless identity transmitter at the central server. The synchronized counter value may also be associated with the deviceID and K in a data table stored in the central server (e.g., a table with stored pairs of IDs and K values).
In block 2206, the wireless identity transmitter may increment the counter to the wireless identity transmitter's current device time. For example, the counter may be incremented after a predefined number of seconds (e.g., one second, one hour, etc.). As another example, every 3600 seconds the wireless identity transmitter may increment the counter by one value. In this manner, the counter value may change to the current time as counted by the oscillator on the wireless identity transmitter. In block 2208, the wireless identity transmitter may encode via a pseudo-random function the device identifier (i.e., deviceID), the shared secret key (i.e., K), and the counter to generate a rolling identifier. In this manner, the rolling identifier may be generated as the counter value changes. In an embodiment, the pseudo-random function may be a polynomial time computable function with a seed (‘s’) and input variable (‘x’), such that when the seed is randomly selected and not known to observers, the pseudo-random function (e.g., PRF(s, x)) may be computationally indistinguishable from a random function defined on the same domain with output to the same range. For example, the Keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) or the Cipher-Based Message Authentication Code (CMAC) may be used as the pseudo-random function.
In block 2210, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast a message (e.g., a Bluetooth® LE chirp message of 1 packet length) that includes the rolling identifier. In an embodiment, the broadcast message (or the payload of the broadcast message) may be represented by the following equation:
Payload=MSB—N(PRF(K,(deviceID∥t)))
where t is the value of the wireless identity transmitter's counter, ‘∥’ means concatenation, ‘PRF ( )’ is the pseudo-random function, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 80 bits). In other words, the wireless identity transmitter may intentionally obscure (or skew) the device identifier and the counter information, thus the broadcast message's payload may not include either the device identifier or the counter information in the clear.
In block 2010, the central server may receive the shared secret key (K). In block 2212, the central server may synchronize a counter. For example, the counter may be set to represent a value included in a previous message related to the wireless identity transmitter, such as a registration message. In block 2214, the central server may associate the shared secret key (i.e., K) and counter with the wireless identity transmitter's device identifier (i.e., deviceID). For example, the central server may store the deviceID, K, and counter in a data table of registered devices (e.g., in a tuple record of a database). In an embodiment, the central server may also store an indicator or flag indicating whether each wireless identity transmitter has been registered or activated.
In block 2216, the central server may receive a message including the rolling identifier. For example, the received message may be a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver that includes the rolling identifier broadcast by the wireless identity transmitter with the operations in block 2210. In block 2018, the central server may extract the rolling identifier, such as by parsing the received message to identify the payload of the rolling identifier.
In block 2019, the central server may select a wireless identity transmitter (i.e., selected wireless identity transmitter) to evaluate. In other words, the central server may obtain a stored deviceID, K, and counter for a registered wireless identity transmitter known to the central server, such as from the database or data table storing such information for all registered wireless identity transmitters. In block 2218, the central server may increment the selected wireless identity transmitter's counter to the server's current time. In an embodiment, the central server may then increment the stored counter value to account for the time that has elapsed since the stored counter value was synchronized. As an example, the central server may compare the time of receipt of the message with the operations in block 2216 to the central server's current time (e.g., via a central server clock or time mechanism). Based on a known periodicity that wireless identity transmitters may increment their individual counters (e.g., once every hour), the central server may increment the selected counter value to account for the time difference.
In an embodiment, the central server may only increment the selected counter an amount that represents the time between broadcasts by a wireless identity transmitter. In other words, the central server may not increment the selected counter to include the time between receiving the message within the operations in block 2216 and the time a proximity broadcast receiver received the broadcast message. For example, the proximity broadcast receiver may have buffered broadcast messages before relaying sighting messages to the central server. The central server may calculate this time difference based on metadata within the message received with the operations in block 2216. For example, a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver may indicate when a broadcast message was received. Thus, the amount the selected counter is incremented may be based on when the proximity broadcast receiver actually received the broadcast message and not when the message from the proximity broadcast receiver was received by the central server.
In block 2220, the central server may encode via a pseudo-random function the selected wireless identity transmitter's device identifier, secret key, and counter to generate a server-encrypted data (i.e., C′). The pseudo-random function may be the same pseudo-random function utilized in the operations in block 2208. In an embodiment, the generated server-encrypted data may be represented by the following equation:
C′=MSB—N(PRF(sel—K,(sel_deviceID∥sel—t)))),
where sel_K is the value of the selected wireless identity transmitter's secret key, sel_deviceID is the value of the selected wireless identity transmitter's unique device identifier, sel_t is the value of the selected wireless identity transmitter's counter, ‘∥’ means concatenation, ‘PRF ( )’ is the pseudo-random function, and ‘MSB_N( )’ means the ‘N’ most significant bits (e.g., 60 bits, 74 bits, 80 bits, etc.).
In determination block 2222, the central server may determine whether the generated server-encrypted data (C′) is the same as the received rolling identifier. In other words, the central server may compare the received rolling identifier to the generated server-encrypted data to determine whether they match. If the rolling identifier and the generated server-encrypted data match (i.e., determination block 2222=“Yes”), in block 2024 the central server may identify the received message as originating from the selected wireless identity transmitter (e.g., corresponding to the selected wireless identity transmitter's unique identifier).
If the rolling identifier and the generated data do not match (i.e., determination block 2222=“No”), in block 2224 the central server may encode device identifiers, secret keys, and counters for other wireless identity transmitters to identify the originator of the received message. In other words, the central server may select the next stored deviceID, counter, and K group from the database, increment that selected counter value, encode the selected deviceID, counter, and K, and compare the generated encoded data to the received rolling identifier until a match is found and the identity of the originator of the rolling identifier in the received message is known.
In an embodiment, when the wireless identity transmitter's battery has been removed and re-installed, the latest counter value may be persisted in the non-volatile memory of the wireless identity transmitter, so that the counter value can be read back from the non-volatile memory of the wireless identity transmitter when the battery is removed and then put back in. Alternatively, if no non-volatile memory is available or is not used, the wireless identity transmitter may fall back to the initial counter value after a battery re-installation. The central server may be required to be modified slightly to accommodate such a “counter synchronization”. More specifically, in addition to trying values greater than the largest counter value for the pre-computed counter (or nonce) list, the central server may also try values, such as (counter+i) where i=0, . . . , n, when a “counter synchronization” is performed. In this case, a wireless identity transmitter user may need to be informed that the battery needs to be re-installed when “counter synchronization” fails multiple times.
In block 2102, a user of the wireless identity transmitter may register the device with the central server. In block 2104, the wireless identity transmitter may initialize an internal counter, such as by setting the counter to a zero value. In block 2302, the wireless identity transmitter may concatenate the current counter with the wireless identity transmitter's unique device identifier (i.e., deviceID). In block 2304, the wireless identity transmitter may generate a payload with a rolling identifier using pseudo-random function with the concatenated data and the secret key. For example, the pseudo-random function may take as inputs the concatenated data (i.e., the deviceID+counter) and may use the secret key for the wireless identity transmitter as a randomness seed variable. The payload with the rolling identifier may include the output data from the pseudo-random function. In an embodiment, the payload with the rolling identifier may also include in-the-clear information regarding other aspects of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may append to the payload several bits (e.g., 4 bits) of information which describe the battery status of the wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the pseudo-random function may be a polynomial time computable function that is computationally indistinguishable from a random function defined on the same domain with output to the same range as the pseudo-random function. For example, the keyed hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) or the Cipher-based Message Authentication Code (CMAC) may be used as the pseudo-random function. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may or may not perform a truncation operation to the generated rolling identifier payload. For example, the payload with the rolling identifier may be the result of performing a most-significant-bit operation on the results of the pseudo-random function.
In block 2112, the wireless identity transmitter may periodically transmit broadcast messages that include the payload with the rolling identifier, such as by broadcasting via short-range wireless communication techniques as described above. In determination block 2114, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether a predefined counter time period has expired. If the counter time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue with the operations in block 2112. If the device determines the counter time period has expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“Yes”), in block 2116 the wireless identity transmitter may increment the counter value, such as by adding 1. In block 2117, the wireless identity transmitter may reset the counter time period, and may continue with the operations in block 2302.
In block 2352, the central server may establish database records having device identifier (i.e., deviceID), counter, time, registration status (i.e., ‘reg_stat’), and secret key (i.e., ‘K’) information for each wireless identity transmitter in a system. The time may indicate the last time the central server received a message corresponding to a particular wireless identity transmitter (e.g., a sighting message relaying a broadcast message), or in other words, the central server clock value at the moment when the counter value for a wireless identity transmitter was received/recorded in the database. It may be assumed that the period between when a wireless identity transmitter broadcasts a message with a rolling identifier (or rolling identifier payload) and when the central server receives the rolling identifier is very short. Thus, the stored counter and time values may be assumed to create a roughly accurate clock status of a wireless identity transmitter.
Additionally, once a wireless identity transmitter transmits registration information, the central server may indicate a valid registration by setting a registration flag in the database for the wireless identity transmitter (e.g. ‘reg_stat’). The central server may query the database for all wireless identity transmitter records where the reg_stat indicates a valid registration has been conducted and may create data tables that include only registered wireless identity transmitters based on the reg_stat values.
In block 2354, the central server may receive a rolling identifier payload via a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver. The sighting message may have time information appended to the payload that describes the time at which the proximity broadcast receiver encountered the payload via a broadcast message from the respective wireless identity transmitter. For example, a payload may be received by a smartphone proximity broadcast receiver which in turn may append its own system clock reading to the payload information and transmit the data to the central server as a sighting message. The time measurement provided by the proximity broadcast receiver may be approximately synchronized with the central server system time. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver may append other additional information to the sighting message, such as location information (e.g., GPS coordinates) of the proximity broadcast receiver. In block 2356, the central server may obtain a proximity broadcast receiver time (i.e., ‘ir_time’) from the sighting message, such as indicated within the sighting message. For example, the central server may parse the sighting message and extract a time value indicating when the proximity broadcast receiver received a broadcast message that corresponds to the rolling identifier payload.
In blocks 2164-2374, the central server may perform an operational loop in which the central server may evaluate all registered wireless identity transmitters stored within the central server's database to find a device record that matches the received rolling identifier payload. In block 2164, the central server may select a next registered wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may iteratively select the next wireless identity transmitter represented in a data table of all wireless identity transmitters that have the reg_stat variable set to indicate registration occurred. The central server may sequentially iterate through such a data table or list for each device during the operations in blocks 2164-2374. In an embodiment, the central server may access a stored database record corresponding to the selected registered wireless identity transmitter that contains the current values for the information established with registration operations in block 2352.
In block 2360, the central server may compute the time difference (i.e., ‘t_diff’) between the time indicated in the sighting message (ir_time) and the time stored within the database record of the selected registered wireless identity transmitter (i.e., ‘sel_time’). For example, the t_diff value may be a non-zero or a zero value. This time difference may be a measure of the expected elapsed time between instances of the central server receiving payloads from the selected wireless identity transmitter.
In block 2362, the central server may set a clock drift offset (i.e., ‘offset’) to a next value. In general, the central server may account for possible wireless identity transmitter clock drift (e.g., inaccurate device system clock readings) by setting the clock drift offset value. The clock drift offset values may represent offsets that, when applied to counter values, may represent counters lower, the same, or higher than an expected counter value. In other words, the clock drift offsets may represent time before, during, or after the time represented by the current counter for the selected registered device. The clock drift offset value may be one of a sequence of clock drift offset values. In an embodiment, the clock drift offset value may be 0. In an embodiment, possible clock drift offset values may include numbers within a set {−N, . . . , −1, 0, 1, . . . , N}, where N is an arbitrary number.
In block 2364, the central server may compute an expected counter value (i.e., ‘new_ctr’) using the selected wireless identity transmitter's stored counter value, the computed time difference (i.e., t_diff) and the set offset value (i.e., offset). As described above, the counter may be stored within the selected registered wireless identity transmitter database record. For example, the central server may calculate new_ctr by adding the clock drift offset value to the sum of the t_diff value and the stored counter value.
In determination block 2366, the central server may encode via a pseudo-random function the selected wireless identity transmitter's device identifier, secret key, and computed counter (i.e., new_ctr) to generate a server-encrypted data (i.e., C′). The pseudo-random function may be the same pseudo-random function utilized by a wireless identity transmitter as described above with reference to
In determination block 2222, the central server may determine whether the generated server-encrypted data (C′) is the same as the received rolling identifier. In other words, the central server may compare the received rolling identifier to the generated server-encrypted data to determine whether they match. If the rolling identifier and the generated server-encrypted data match (i.e., determination block 2222=“Yes”), the central server may identify the received message as originating from the selected wireless identity transmitter (e.g., corresponding to the selected wireless identity transmitter's unique identifier). In an embodiment, the secret key (K) may be the seed value of the pseudo-random function. In an embodiment, the central server may concatenate the selected wireless identity transmitter's deviceID and the computed new_ctr value and provide that concatenated data to the pseudo-random function. The pseudo-random function may return (or output) encrypted data having a similar structure as received rolling identifier payload.
If the rolling identifier, such as received in the sighting message, and the generated server-encrypted data (i.e., C′) match (i.e., determination block 2222=“Yes”), in block 1276 the central server may update the database record of the selected wireless identity transmitter with the counter and time information, such as the new_ctr and the ir_time. For example, the central server may update the database record's time value to represent the time of receipt of the payload within the proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., ir_time) and may also update the stored counter value to represent the new_ctr value. The central server may continue with the operations in block 2354.
If the rolling identifier, such as received in the sighting message, and the generated server-encrypted data (i.e., C′) do not match (i.e., determination block 2222=“No”), the central server may determine whether there is a next clock drift offset value in determination block 2370. In other words, the central server may determine whether new_ctr values have been computed using all possible clock drift offset values (e.g., −1, 0, 1, etc.). If there is a next clock drift offset value (i.e., determination block 2370=“Yes”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2362. However, if there is not a next clock drift offset value (i.e., determination block 2370=“No”), in determination block 2170, the central server may determine whether there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate. If there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate (i.e., determination block 2170=“Yes”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2164. However, if there is no other registered wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 2170=“No”), in block 2374 the central server may configure the system to evaluate initial counter values stored for each registered wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the registration database described above may further include data that represents the initial counter value corresponding to each registered wireless identity transmitter. This initial counter value may be used if/when the various wireless identity transmitters are rebooted or otherwise reset their counters. For example, a wireless identity transmitter may operate and deliver payloads describing non-initial counters for a period of time before resetting its internal counter due to battery replacement. In such a scenario, the wireless identity transmitter may broadcast messages that include rolling identifier payloads based on reset counter information.
In another embodiment, the operations in block 2374 may be performed for individual registered selected devices during the operational loop in blocks 2362-2370, wherein the stored counter value in block 2364 may be replaced with the initial stored counter value. For example, once the central server determines a selected registered wireless identity transmitter's stored counter value with the various clock drift offset values cannot be used to generate encrypted data that matches the received rolling identifier payload, the central server may evaluate the initial stored counter value of the selected wireless identity transmitter before selecting the next registered wireless identity transmitter.
In block 2102, a user of the wireless identity transmitter may register the device with the central server. For example, the wireless identity transmitter may provide the unique device identifier (i.e., deviceID) to a central server for storage in a database of registered wireless identity transmitters. In block 2402, the wireless identity transmitter may store a first secret key (K) and a second secret key (K′) and an initial counter that are known to the central server. For example, these values may be shared between the central server and the wireless identity transmitter during registration operations described in this disclosure. In block 2404, the wireless identity transmitter may initialize a current counter by setting it to the value of the initial counter value.
Similar to as described above with reference to
Encoded counter=MSB—M(PRF(K′,t)),
where ‘K” is a per-device second secret key (usually different from the first per-device secret key K), ‘t’ is the current counter, PRF ( )’ is the pseudo-random function, and ‘MSB_M( )’ means the ‘M’ most significant bits (e.g., 20 bits).
In block 2410, the wireless identity transmitter may periodically transmit broadcast messages that include the payload with the rolling identifier and the encoded counter. In determination block 2114, the wireless identity transmitter may determine whether a predefined counter time period has expired. If the counter time period has not expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“No”), the wireless identity transmitter may continue with the operations in block 2410. If the device determines the counter time period has expired (i.e., determination block 2114=“Yes”), in block 2412 the wireless identity transmitter may increment the current counter value, such as by adding 1. In block 2117, the wireless identity transmitter may reset the counter time period and may continue with the operations in block 2406.
In block 2452, the central server may establish a database entry having a device identifier (i.e., deviceID), initial counter, current counter, and secret keys (K and K′) for all wireless identity transmitters in the system. The current counter values may be the same as the initial counters at the time of registration of wireless identity transmitters. In block 2454, the central server may pre-compute encoded counters using a pseudo-random function, the second secret key (K′), and current counter values for all wireless identity transmitters. For example, the central server may generate a plurality of encoded counter values for each registered wireless identity transmitter, such as one based on the current counter value, another based on a value one larger than the current counter value, etc. In an embodiment, the central server may pre-compute 24 encoded counters for each registered wireless identity transmitter. In an embodiment, the central server may store a separate list (or data table) of the pre-computed encoded counters for all registered wireless identity transmitters that also includes the device identifiers associated with each stored pre-computed encoded counter.
In block 2456, the central server may receive a message including an encoded counter and a rolling identifier, such as within a sighting message transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver. In block 2458, the central server may extract an encoded counter from the received message, and in block 2018 may extract a rolling identifier from the received message. In determination block 2460, the central server may determine whether the extracted counter (or ‘ctr’) matches any of the pre-computed counters. For example, the central server may compare the encoded counter value extracted from the received message to the plurality of central server-encoded counter values for each registered wireless identity transmitter to identify any matches.
If the extracted counter matches a pre-computed counter (i.e., determination block 2460=“Yes”), in block 2462 the central server may identity a candidate wireless identity transmitter based on the matching pre-computed counter. In other words, the central server may identity the candidate as the deviceID stored in relation to the pre-computed counter in a data table in the central server. In block 2464, the central server may decode the rolling identifier via a streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., the same AES-CTR wireless identity transmitters use when performing the operations in
If the deviceID and decoded identifier (M) match (i.e., determination block 2466=“Yes”), in block 2470 the central server may identity the received message as originating from the candidate wireless identity transmitter. In block 2472, the central server may update current counters and pre-computed encoded counters. For example, the database entry for the wireless identity transmitter identified as the originator of the received message may be updated with new current counter information as well as new pre-computed encoded counters. Additionally, any stored lists of pre-computed encoded counters may have older pre-computed encoded counters removed at the same time newly computed encoded counters corresponding to the identified wireless identity transmitter are added to the list.
In another embodiment, if the wireless identity transmitter identified as the originator of the received message is indicated in the central server's database as “not activated” (i.e., a flag is not set), then the central server may also adjust the database to reflect that the identified wireless identity transmitter is now activated (e.g., set a flag). The central server may then continue with the operations in block 2456.
If the deviceID and decoded identifier (M) do not match (i.e., determination block 2466=“No”), in determination block 2468, the central server may determine whether there are other candidates, such as other registered wireless identity transmitters that have not been evaluated by the central server. If there are other candidates (i.e., determination block 2468=“Yes”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2462, such as by identifying the next wireless identity transmitter to evaluate regarding the rolling identifier.
If there are no other candidates (i.e., determination block 2468=“No”), or if the extracted counter does not match the pre-computed counter (i.e., determination block 2460=“No”), the central server may attempt to identify the originator of the received message by comparing the extracted rolling identifier to information associated with all registered wireless identity transmitters in the system. Thus, in determination block 2170 the central server may determine whether there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate. For example, the central server may iteratively use information of all registered wireless identity transmitters. If there is not another (i.e., determination block 2170=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2456.
If there is another (i.e., determination block 2170=“Yes”), in block 2164 the central server may select the next registered wireless identity transmitter. In block 2474, the central server may decode the rolling identifier via the streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR) with the selected wireless identity transmitter's initial counter and first secret key (K) to find a decoded device identifier (M′), similar to as described above with reference to
In block 2452, the central server may establish a database entry having a device identifier (i.e., deviceID), initial counter, current counter, and secret keys (K and K′) for all wireless identity transmitters in the system. In block 2454, the central server may pre-compute encoded counters using a pseudo-random function, the second secret key (K′), and current counter values for all wireless identity transmitters. In block 2482, the central server may pre-compute encoded device identifiers with a streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR block cipher), the device identifier, current counter, and the first secret key (K) for all wireless identity transmitters. In other words, the central server may generate a plurality of encoded device identifiers for each registered wireless identity transmitter, such as by using the current counter and predefined offset counter values, or alternatively, only a single encoded device identifier based only on the current counter stored within the central server.
In block 2456, the central server may receive a message including an encoded counter and a rolling identifier, such as within a sighting message transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver. In block 2458, the central server may extract an encoded counter from the received message, and in block 2018 may extract a rolling identifier from the received message. In determination block 2460, the central server may determine whether the extracted counter (or ‘ctr’) matches any of the pre-computed counters. If the extracted counter matches a pre-computed counter (i.e., determination block 2460=“Yes”), in block 2462 the central server may identity a candidate wireless identity transmitter based on the matching pre-computed counter. In determination block 2484, the central server may determine whether the extracted rolling identifier matches any of the pre-computed identifiers, such as the pre-computing device identifiers for the candidate wireless identity transmitter.
If the extracted rolling identifier does match any of the pre-computed identifiers for the candidate wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 2484=“Yes”), in block 2470 the central server may identity the received message as originating from the candidate wireless identity transmitter. In block 2472′, the central server may update current counters and pre-computed encoded counters and pre-computed encoded device identifiers. For example, the database entry for the wireless identity transmitter identified as the originator of the received message may be updated with new current counter information as well as new pre-computed encoded counters and pre-computed encoded device identifiers. Additionally, any stored lists of pre-computed encoded counters may have older pre-computed encoded counters or encoded device identifiers removed at the same time newly computed encoded counters or device identifiers corresponding to the identified wireless identity transmitter are added to the list. In another embodiment, if the wireless identity transmitter identified as the originator of the received message is indicated in the central server's database as “not activated” (i.e., a flag is not set), then the central server may also adjust the database to reflect that the identified wireless identity transmitter is now activated (e.g., set a flag). The central server may then continue with the operations in block 2456.
If the extracted rolling identifier does not match any of the pre-computed identifiers for the candidate wireless identity transmitter (i.e., determination block 2484=“No”), in determination block 2468, the central server may determine whether there are other candidates, such as other registered wireless identity transmitters that have not been evaluated by the central server. If there are other candidates (i.e., determination block 2468=“Yes”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2462, such as by identifying the next wireless identity transmitter to evaluate regarding the rolling identifier.
If there are no other candidates (i.e., determination block 2468=“No”), or if the extracted counter does not match the pre-computed counter (i.e., determination block 2460=“No”), the central server may attempt to identify the originator of the received message by comparing the extracted rolling identifier to information associated with all registered wireless identity transmitters in the system. Thus, in determination block 2170 the central server may determine whether there is another registered wireless identity transmitter to evaluate. For example, the central server may iteratively use information of all registered wireless identity transmitters. If there is not another (i.e., determination block 2170=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 2456.
If there is another (i.e., determination block 2170=“Yes”), in block 2164 the central server may select the next registered wireless identity transmitter. In block 2474, the central server may decode the rolling identifier via the streaming-like encryption algorithm (e.g., AES-CTR) with the selected wireless identity transmitter's initial counter and first secret key (K) to find a decoded device identifier (M′). In determination block 2476, the central server may determine whether the decoded device identifier (M′) matches the selected wireless identity transmitter's deviceID. If the identifiers do not match (i.e., determination block 2476=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 2170. However, if the identifiers match (i.e., determination block 2476=“Yes”), in block 2478 the central server may identify the received messages as originating from the selected wireless identity transmitter, and may continue with the operations in block 2472′.
The central server may store such profile information within databases or other structures and may also include descriptions, codes, tokens, tags, variables, or other indicators that describe the nature, topic, subject, or characteristics (referred to below as ‘categories’ or a ‘category’) of the various information. For example, the central server may store within a data table associated with a “Restaurants” category the names of a plurality of eating establishments that a user indicated were favorites of his/hers. As another example, the central server may store within a data table associated with a “Food” category the types of food (e.g., pizza, hotdogs, etc.), the brands of food products (e.g., “John's Cookies,” “Soft Drink X,” etc.), and the providers of food (e.g., “Store X”) that a user indicated were favorites of his/hers. In other words, profiles may include information that may be categorized and identified as relevant to parties related to similar categories.
In various embodiments, the central server may transmit profile information stored within a profile (or account) of a registered user in response to receiving sighting messages corresponding to a device (e.g., wireless identity transmitter, wireless identity transceiver, mobile proximity broadcast receiver, etc.) associated with the user. For example, as a customer walks around carrying a wireless identity transmitter, a retail store's stationary proximity broadcast receivers may receive and relay a broadcast message, causing the central server to transmit relevant profile information. As another example, the central server may transmit relevant profile information in response to receiving sighting messages from mobile proximity broadcast receivers carried by customers within the retail store configured with stationary wireless identity transmitters. In various embodiments, registered services, such as government entities or retail stores, may employ both proximity broadcast receivers and wireless identity transmitters (or identity transceivers) to receive, relay, and process data from both users carrying wireless identity transmitters and/or mobile proximity broadcast receivers.
Such profile information may be identified as relevant by the central server when related to the device (e.g., proximity broadcast receiver, mobile proximity broadcast receiver, etc.) and/or associated registered service (e.g., merchants, marketing services, stores, users of mobile proximity broadcast receivers, etc.) that transmitted the corresponding sighting message. For example, upon receiving a sighting message from a proximity broadcast receiver within a restaurant, the central server may identify characteristics or categories associated with a proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., “Food,” “Dining, “Restaurants,” etc.) and match those identified categories to a user's profile to obtain relevant profile information to return to the proximity broadcast receiver. In this way, the central server may dynamically grant access to profile information that is relevant to those registered services within proximity of a user.
The mobile device 2550 may also be within the restaurant for use by the wait staff, the restaurant manager, or other personnel. For example, the mobile device 2550 may be a tablet device used by a hostess at the front of the restaurant. The mobile device 2550 may receive a message from the central server via the Internet 103 through a wired or wireless communications connection 2522. The message may be received in response to the central server processing the sighting message transmitted by the proximity broadcast receiver 142, and thus may include relevant profile information corresponding to the user 2504. The mobile device 2550 may render the received information for use by the restaurant personnel to approach, accommodate, and otherwise provide effective and efficient customer service to the user 2504.
For illustration purposes, the mobile device 2550 may display various notices, statements, messages, or other information based on the received relevant profile information. In particular, the mobile device 2550 may render a first notice 2552 that the user (or customer) is near a particular table 2502, such as Table #2. A second rendered notice 2554 may indicate the customer is a vegan. A third rendered notice 2555 may be a command to the restaurant staff indicating that only vegan items on the restaurant's menu should be offered to the user 2504. The third rendered notice 2555 may be generated based on the profile information of the user 2504 by software executing on the mobile device 2550 or alternatively by the central server 120. A fourth rendered notice 2556 may indicate the user 2504 is above the legal drinking age and a fifth rendered notice 2558 may indicate the user 2504 has a preference for beer. A sixth rendered notice 2559 may include a command or other instructions to the restaurant staff that they should tell the user 2504 about the beers on tap based on the received profile information that indicates the user 2504 prefers beer. In various embodiments, notices rendered by the mobile device 2550 may include varying specificity and identifying information about the user 2504 based on privacy permissions or settings stored by the central server, as described below. For example, the mobile device 2550 may render a notice that includes the name of the user 2504 for use by wait staff in addressing the user 2504.
In another exemplary scenario, the proximity broadcast receiver 142 and mobile device 2550 may be used within a hospital. In such an implementation, the system may function as a virtual medical alert bracelet by causing the central server 120 to transmit medical information of the user 2504 for use by the mobile device 2550 accessed by emergency room staff (e.g., nurses, doctors, EMTs, etc.). For example, when the user 2504 enters an emergency room, an attendant carrying the mobile device 2550 may receive a list of medicine allergies and prior medical procedures related to the user 2504.
In block 2602, the central server may receive profile information from a user during registration, such as during registration procedures described above. For example, the central server may receive profile information (e.g., dietary restrictions and clothing preferences) when a user registers a wireless identity transmitter via a web portal. In optional block 2604, the central server may automatically obtain profile information related to the user from online sources, such as social networking accounts and shopping websites and/or accounts. For example, the central server may access the user's Facebook account to get information about preferred topics or products, or alternatively access the user's shopping account on the Amazon website and gather purchase history information. In block 2606, the central server may store profile information from the user. For example, the profile information may be stored as a profile or as data entries within a database. In various embodiments, the profile may be associated with the unique identity (i.e., device identifier or deviceID) of the user's wireless identity transmitter. In other words, the central server may use the device identifier as a database key to access relevant stored profile information corresponding to the user. In block 2608, the central server may assign categories to the profile information. For example, food preference information may be assigned a “Food” category, medical data may be assigned a “Personal Info” category, and the names of the user's favorite shirts may be assigned a “Clothing” category.
As described above, in determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received, such as a sighting message transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver located within a retail store or restaurant. For example, as a user carrying a wireless identity transmitter walks near the entry of a diner, a proximity broadcast receiver located within the diner may receive broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter, create sighting messages based on the received broadcast messages, and transmit the sighting messages to the central server. In an embodiment, the sighting message may also contain indicators of attractions, incentives, point-of-sale devices, and/or products within proximity of the proximity broadcast receiver transmitting the sighting message. For example, a proximity broadcast receiver may be configured to indicate within sighting messages that it is stationed near a wait staff desk, a bar, a cash register, or a ‘returns’ area in a department store. If the central server does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
However, if the central server does receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in determination block 1602 the central server may determine whether a wireless identity transmitter identity is known based on the received sighting message. The central server may detect identification information related to the broadcast message within the sighting message, such as by parsing the sighting message, decrypting or decoding identification information related to a wireless identity transmitter (i.e., a rolling identifier), and matching the identification information to a registered user or registered wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may compare decrypted (or decoded) identification information from the sighting message to a list of all rolling identifiers related to registered wireless identity transmitters. If the wireless identity transmitter identity is not known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“No”), in block 1603 the central server may ignore the sighting message and continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
If the wireless identity transmitter identity is known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“Yes”), in determination block 1604 the central server may determine whether the sighting message is related to a registered service. For example, the central server may evaluate metadata within the sighting message to detect a code that identifies a merchant or retail store as being registered. In an embodiment, registered services may be affiliated with a profile information delivery service managed by the central server. If the sighting message is not related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 1603. If the sighting message is related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“Yes”), in block 1414 the central server may store data based on the sighting message in relation to the wireless identity transmitter identity. In other words, the central server may store data in relation to the user of the wireless identity transmitter. The stored data may be used to update individual customer accounts, records, or profiles within the central server. For example, the central server may update a database entry related to the identified wireless identity transmitter (or its associated customer or user account), indicating the wireless identity transmitter was within proximity of the proximity broadcast receiver associated with the sighting message, as well as any other relevant information indicated in the sighting message (e.g., timestamps, etc.). In various embodiments, such stored data may be used by the central server to generate foot traffic reports or statistics for the registered service.
In block 2612, the central server may identify categories corresponding to the registered service, such as the registered service associated with the received sighting message. In an embodiment, the central server may maintain a database that describes merchants, retailers, and other third-parties in relation to relevant categories or service labels. For example, the central server may store a database that indicates that “Tom's Bar and Grill” relates to “food,” “alcohol,” and “beverage” categories. Alternatively, the central server may identify categories based on a stored profile associated with the registered service. For example, the central server may identify the registered service's business type, services offered, products offered, demographics, interests, and/or target audience within a business profile stored at the time the registered service registered with the central server. In block 2614, the central server may identify relevant profile information associated with the wireless identity transmitter identity by using the identified categories. In other words, the central server may generate a data table that includes subsets of relevant information from the stored profile information corresponding to the user associated with the known wireless identity transmitter. The relevant information may be the data within the user's stored profile information having assigned categories that match the categories identified in the operations in block 2612. For example, the data table may include data describing the user's favorite alcoholic beverage when identifying information relevant to the category “alcohol. In block 2616, the central server may transmit a return message that includes the identified relevant profile information to a local computing device related to the registered service. For example, the central server may transmit a message to a mobile device carried by a waiter working at the restaurant associated with the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the received sighting message.
In optional block 2618, the central server may store data in relation to the registered service based on the identified relevant profile information, and then the central server may then continue with the operations in determination block 1402. For example, the central server may update a database entry for a merchant with the user's (or customer's) proximity or location information determined based on the sighting message. As another example, the central server may record the type of profile information that was determined to be relevant to the registered service for particular users. In general, such stored data may be valuable to stores, merchants, and various services registered with the central server for generating profit equations, mapping foot traffic, calibrating building floor plans, and otherwise understanding user trends (e.g., purchase convergence, number of visits to the retail store per user per time period, etc.). Stored information may also include indicators of behavioral information of users, such as where users are moving within a stores, how long users stay in particular areas (e.g., how long a shopper was in front of an end cap), movement routes within evaluated areas (e.g., data showing a user moves from the Toys department to the Automotive department, etc.). In an embodiment, behavioral information may include data describing a user's usage of in-store WiFi provided in relation to a registered service. For example, the central server may store information that indicates a user entered a retail store and accessed a free WiFi local area network to view a website of a competitor store.
The central server may also update and store statistical information based on the sighting message and/or the transmitted return message, such as modifying data that indicates the number of unique users within a building (e.g., a retail store), the amount of time (i.e., “dwell” time) the user was within a particular area (e.g., aisle, department, cash register line, etc.), the interests of such users, and the travel routes users make within observed places, such as a retail store. The central server may store data that indicates an aggregated amount of time that all users dwelled within a particular area. In another embodiment, the central server may store information from individual sighting messages and/or return message or alternatively may only store summary or average data based on a plurality of messages. For example, each time the central server receives a new sighting message or transmits a return message associated with a particular user's wireless identity transmitter, the central server may store an updated average of the user's dwell time within a particular department of a retail store.
In various embodiments, the data stored in relation to the registered service may vary based on relevant permissions settings associated with a user's registered account or profile. For example, if the user related to the sighting message and/or wireless identity transmitter does authorize his/her data to be used by registered services, the central server may store behavioral information that identifies the user in relation to his/her activities (e.g., user A walked to a certain area within a local coffee shop, user X bought a coffee and sat in the lobby for an hour, etc.). However, the central server may act as a shield for the user's identity by storing but not providing identifying information to merchants without permission or authorization from the users. For example, this stored information may not be communicated, transmitted, or other made available to merchants, retailers, or the retail store, but may instead be used exclusively by the central server. The central server's use of stored permissions is further described below.
In block 2602, the central server may receive profile information from a user during registration, such as during registration procedures described above. In optional block 2604, the central server may automatically obtain profile information related to the user from online sources, such as social networking accounts and shopping accounts. In block 2606, the central server may store profile information from the user. In block 2608, the central server may assign categories to the profile information.
In block 2652, the central server may receive profile permissions from the user. As described above, the user may provide identities of third-parties or registered services (e.g., merchants, marketing services, etc.) that are authorized to receive categories of profile information or particular data within the user's profile. The user may also provide permissions that indicate any merchant or third-party (or alternatively no merchant or third-party) may receive information in certain categories or particular data. In an embodiment, the profile permissions may indicate whether certain pieces of profile information are public or private. For example, the central server may store a permission that indicates that a user's name is private information not to be shared at large, and another permission setting that indicates the user's favorite sporting team is public to be shared to anyone. In block 2654, the central server may store the profile permissions. For example, each piece of profile data stored in relation to the user may have a tag, flag, or indicator that indicates whether the central server may transmit that data to a particular merchant.
In determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received, such as a sighting message transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver located within a retail store or restaurant. If the central server does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. However, if the central server does receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in determination block 1602 the central server may determine whether a wireless identity transmitter identity is known based on the received sighting message. If the wireless identity transmitter identity is not known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“No”), in block 1603 the central server may ignore the sighting message and continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
If the wireless identity transmitter identity is known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“Yes”), in determination block 1604 the central server may determine whether the sighting message is related to a registered service. If the sighting message is not related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 1603. If the sighting message is related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“Yes”), in block 1414 the central server may store data based on the sighting message in relation to the wireless identity transmitter identity. In block 2612, the central server may identify categories corresponding to the registered service, such as the registered service associated with the received sighting message. In block 2614, the central server may identify relevant profile information associated with the wireless identity transmitter identity by using the identified categories.
In block 2660, the central server may identify relevant profile information the registered service is authorized to receive based on stored permissions. For example, the central server may evaluate permissions indicators associated with the identified relevant profile information and identify a subset (or window) of the profile information relevant to the identified categories that the user has authorized to be delivered to the registered service (e.g., merchant, retailer, etc.). In an embodiment, all, some, or none of the relevant information identified in the operations in block 2614 may be authorized to share with the registered service. For example, although the profile information includes several pieces of data relevant to the category of “Food,” the central server may not identify any authorized information to transmit to a restaurant registered service when the user has indicated the restaurant may not receive any profile information.
In determination block 2662, the central server may determine whether the registered service is authorized to receive any information. If the registered service is not authorized to receive information (i.e., determination block 2662=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. However, if the registered service is authorized to receive the information (i.e., determination block 2662=“Yes”), in block 2664 the central server may transmit a return message that includes authorized, relevant profile information to a computing device related to the registered service. For example, the central server may transmit the return message to a point-of-sale device near the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the sighting message. In an embodiment, the computing device may display the profile information to an employee, such as a waiter. In another embodiment, the central server and/or the computing device may generate instructions for the employee based on the identified profile information. For example, the central server and/or the computing device may generate instructions that direct a waiter to present a vegetarian menu to the user/customer when the identified profile information indicates the user doesn't eat meat. In optional block 2618, the central server may store data in relation to the registered service based on the identified relevant profile information, and then the central server may then continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
The central server may generate a first data table 2700 that includes information obtained by the central server by performing the operations in blocks 2602-2654 in
The first data table 2700 may include numerous data columns 2701-2706 that describe various information stored in the profile. For the purposes of illustration, the first data table 2700 may include a first data column 2701 (“Description”) that includes descriptive labels for stored profile information. For example, a description in the first data column 2701 may be a question posed to the user during registration (“What is your favorite drink?) or a general label (e.g., “Birthdate”). The first data table 2700 may also include a second data column 2702 (“Value”) that includes the stored value of a profile entry, and a third data column 2703 (“Category”) that indicates the general topic, subject matter, category, or other means of organizing and relating the profile information stored within a particular data entry. The first data table 2700 may also include a fourth column 2706 (“Permissions”) that may include information representing the names and/or categories of registered services (e.g., merchants, vendors, stores, people, etc.) that are authorized to receive the profile information within an entry. The fourth column 2706 may also include tokens that indicate whether related profile information may be available to any recipient (i.e., “Public”) or no recipient (i.e., “Private”).
The first data table 2700 may also include numerous data rows 2710-2718 that include the stored profile information provided by the user. For illustration purposes, a first data row 2710 may include profile information that indicates the user is a vegan, a second data row 2711 may include profile information that indicates the user's show size is 11.5″, a third data row 2712 may include profile information that indicates the user's favorite type of drink is beer, a fourth data row 2713 may include profile information that indicates the user's favorite bar is McCall's Pub, a fifth data row 2714 may include profile information that indicates the user's birth date is Jun. 1, 1978, a sixth data row 2715 may include profile information that indicates the date the user last visited any restaurant as Aug. 12, 2012, a seventh data row 2716 may include profile information that indicates the user's home country as the United States, an eighth data row 2717 may include profile information that indicates the user's name is John Smith, and a ninth data row 2718 may include profile information that indicates that the user does not mind if customer service people approach him.
The central server may also generate a second data table 2720 that includes information related to the operations in block 2612 in
The central server may generate a third data table 2730 that includes profile information from the first data table 2700 based on a comparison with the information from the second data table 2720. In other words, the third data table 2730 may be generated by the central server by performing the operations in block 2660 in
The third data table 2730 may include data rows 2741-2746 that include profile information that are both relevant to the categories of the registered service indicated within the second data table 2720 and authorized by the user based on permissions indicated within the first data table 2700. For the purposes of illustration, a first data row 2741 may include profile information that indicates the user is vegan because that information is relevant to the “Food” category and authorized by the “All Food” permission, a second data row 2742 may include profile information that indicates the user's favorite drink is beer because that information is relevant to the “Alcohol” category and authorized by the “Tom's Bar & Grill” permission, a third data row 2743 may include profile information that indicates the user's birth date because that information is relevant to the “Personal” category and authorized by the “All Food” permission, a fourth data row 2744 may include profile information that indicates the user's country because that information is relevant to the “Personal” category and authorized by the “Public” permission, a fifth data row 2745 may include profile information that indicates the user's name because that information is relevant to the “Personal” category and authorized by the “All Services” permission, and a sixth data row 2746 may include profile information that indicates the user does not mind being approached by customer service agents because that information is relevant to the “Service” category and authorized by the “All Services” permission.
For the purposes of illustration, the user and the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″ may be within a mall or some other place where each may be within proximity of the wireless identity transmitter 110 at the same time. Additionally, each proximity broadcast receiver 142, 142′, 142″ may be associated with different registered services. For example, the first proximity broadcast receiver 142 may be associated with a “Shop A” (e.g., an electronics shop), the second proximity broadcast receiver 142 may be associated with a “Shop B” (e.g., a restaurant), and the third proximity broadcast receiver 142 may associated with a “Shop C” (e.g., an accounting firm office), all within the mall.
As the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″ are within proximity of the wireless identity transmitter 110 (i.e., each is within the broadcast range), broadcast messages may be received by each of the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″ via short-range wireless signals 114. As described above, in response, the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″ may transmit sighting messages 2802, 2804, 2806 via the Internet 103 to a central server 120 for processing. Each of the sighting messages 2802, 2804, and 2806 may include different information (i.e., metadata or header information) that indicates the various associated registered services, location information, etc. However, the sighting messages 2802, 2804, and 2806 may all report similar information based on the received broadcast message from the user's wireless identity transmitter 110. In other words, each of the sighting messages 2802, 2804, and 2806 may include the same rolling identifier of the wireless identity transmitter 110.
For illustration purposes, the central server 120 may transmit to a first proximity broadcast receiver 142 associated with “Shop A” a first message 2852 that includes profile information indicating the user's customer identity (i.e., “customerId”) and photo. Such profile information may be used for authenticating a payment, purchase, or other transaction within Shop A. The central server 120 may also transmit to a second proximity broadcast receiver 142 associated with “Shop B” a second message 2854 that includes profile information indicating the user's allergies, food preferences, and first name. Such profile information may be used for expediting food-related customer service with the user within Shop B.
In an embodiment, the user may provide the central server 120 with permissions that disallow transmission of profile information to any registered service when the user has not explicitly indicated that a particular registered service (or category of registered service) may receive profile information. For example, based on performing the method 2650 described above, the central server 120 may not identify any profile information that the user has authorized to be transmitted to the registered service associated with “Shop C,” and thus the central server 120 may not transmit any message to a third proximity broadcast receiver 142 associated with Shop C.
As another illustration, the user carrying the wireless identity transmitter 110 may walk inside of a movie theater that houses a bar, a concessions stand, and a ticket counter, all of which having a proximity broadcast receiver. In response to sighting messages sent by the various proximity broadcast receivers, the central server may transmit a first message to the bar that includes the user's age, a second message to the concessions stand that includes the user's favorite candy type, and a third message to the ticket counter that indicates the user is eligible for a student discount.
In another embodiment, the central server 120 may perform operations as described above with reference to
In further embodiments, the central server 120 may also transmit messages 2860, 2862, 2864 to the user's mobile device 2810 based on the sighting messages 2802, 2804, 2806 received from the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″. Such messages 2860, 2862, and 2864 may include information corresponding to the registered services associated with the proximity broadcast receivers 142, 142′, 142″. In other words, registered services may also wish to control their privacy (or information flow), and so the central server 120 may identify profile information of registered services that is authorized to be shared with the user. The information within such messages may be identified using operations similar to those described below with reference to
For illustration purposes, the central server 120 may transmit to the mobile device 2810 a first message 2860 that includes information indicating Shop A's store hours, a second message 2862 that includes information indicating Shop B's culinary specialties, and a third message 2864 that includes information indicating Shop C's logo and mission statement.
In other embodiments, the central server 120 may also transmit coupons, promotions, and marketing information to the mobile device 2810. For example, the central server may generate coupons that are relevant to the user of the mobile device 2810 based on his/her profile information.
In block 2602′, the central server may receive profile information from parties during registration. Such parties may include registered services, user, vendors, merchants, and any other parties that provide identifying information to the central server during a registration procedure. For example, a merchant registering with the central server may provide profile information that indicates the merchant's type of business, preferred customer base/demographics, Securities and Exchange Commission filings information, and any other identifying information. In block 2606′, the central server may store the profile information from the parties, such as by storing profiles within a database. The central server may store the profiles in different databases based on the type of party being registered, such as by storing business profiles in a business database and individual profiles in a users database. In block 2608, the central server may assign categories to the stored profile information. In block 2652′, the central server may receive profile permissions from the parties. For example, a merchant registering a profile may indicate to the central server that only other users who are shareholders of the merchant's corporation may receive certain profile information. In block 2654, the central server may store the profile permissions, such as within data tables associated with the parties as described above.
In determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received, such as a sighting message transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver located within a retail store or restaurant. If the central server does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402. However, if the central server does receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), the central server may process the sighting message (e.g., decrypt, decode, access rolling identifiers, etc.) as described above. In block 2872 the central server may identity a first profile based on the wireless identity transmitter rolling identifier within the sighting message. For example, the central server may decode the rolling identifier and identify the profile corresponding to the user of the wireless identity transmitter. The operations in block 2872 may be similar to those described above with reference to determining whether a wireless identity transmitter identity is known by the central server (e.g., the operations in determination block 1602). In block 2874, the central server may identify a second profile based on information related to a proximity broadcast receiver within the sighting message. In other words, the central server may evaluate the received sighting message to detect the identity of the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the received sighting message and may use that identity to identify the second profile. For example, the sighting message may include metadata that indicates the sighting message was transmitted by a device within a certain retail store that has registered a profile with the central server. The operations in block 2874 may be similar to those described above with reference to determining whether a received sighting message relates to a registered service (e.g., the operations in determination block 1604).
In block 2876, the central server may identify authorized, relevant first profile information to share based on the permissions of the first profile and the assigned categories of the first and second profiles. The operations in block 2876 may be similar to the operations in blocks 2612, 2614, and 2660 with reference to
In an embodiment, the central server may identify relevant, authorized first profile information based on public profile information within the second profile. The central server may only be enabled to match categories of information within the first profile with categories of information set as “public” within the second profile. For example, the central server may use the public information of “favorite sports team” within a second profile to match with the first profile, but not the second profile's private information of “religious affiliation.” In this way, both parties and profiles may be secured from divulging private information.
In an embodiment, the central server may determine relevant information based on various characteristics stored within a profile. For example, the central server may identify food preferences from the first profile as relevant when the second profile includes profile information that indicates the user of the second profile is a waitress and/or affiliated with a restaurant. The central server may also determine relevance of profile information based on location information provided by the received sighting message. For example, the central server may determine the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the sighting message is within a restaurant based on metadata, and thus may combine that location information with profile information that indicates a waitress occupation to conclude that the user of the proximity broadcast receiver is a waitress on-duty within the restaurant.
In determination block 2878, the central server may determine whether there is any first profile information to share. In other words, the central server may determine whether any authorized and relevant information from the first profile was identified in the operations in block 2876. If there is first profile information is to be shared (i.e., determination block 2878=“Yes”), in block 2880 the central server may transmit a message including the authorized first profile information to a device associated with the second profile. Such a device associated with the second profile may be a local server, proximity broadcast receiver, or mobile device that is indicated in the second profile as being an appropriate recipient for the first profile information. In various embodiments, such a device may be the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the received sighting message.
If no first profile information is to be shared (i.e., determination block 2878=“No”), or if the message is transmitted in block 2880, in block 2882 the central server may identify authorized, relevant second profile information to share based on the permissions of the second profile and the assigned categories of the first and second profiles. The operations in block 2882 may be similar to the operations described above related to identifying authorized, relevant first profile information. In other words, the central server may compare assigned categories of the two profiles to identify relevant information of the second profile and check the second profile's permissions to determine whether any relevant information is authorized to be shared from the second profile.
In determination block 2884, the central server may determine whether there is any second profile information to share. In other words, the central server may determine whether any authorized and relevant information from the second profile was identified in the operations in block 2882. If there is second profile information is to be shared (i.e., determination block 2884=“Yes”), in block 2886 the central server may transmit a message including the authorized second profile information to a device associated with the first profile. For example, the central server may transmit an email, SMS text message, or other message to a mobile device associated with the first profile as described above with reference to
In another illustration, when authorized by permissions, the central server may transmit medical information from the first profile to a device associated with the second profile (or vice versa) when the second profile corresponds to a user with a medical background (e.g., doctor, EMT, nurse, etc.). Due to the sensitive nature of medical information, the central server may utilize other determinations before transmitting such medical information, such as whether an emergency is indicated (e.g., sensor data within the received sighting message indicates the user of the first profile is sick/injured) and/or whether the user of the second profile is on active duty and/or within a medical care facility (e.g., the nurse is on-duty and within a hospital geofence, etc.).
In an embodiment, the method 2870 may be performed by the central server to enable speed dating. Based on received sighting messages from one or both identity transceivers carried by speed dating participants, the central server may identify related profiles, match the identified profiles, and transmit messages to the participants when there is matching profile information. For example, the central server may compare the occupations indicated in two profiles to identify if they are similar, within the same field, or other measures of commonality. Alternatively, the central server may simply analyze the two profiles and return any public profile information that may be of interest to the participants. For example, if a user sets permissions to allow her salary range to be a public or shared piece of information, the central server may transmit a message indicating the salary to another participant.
In an embodiment, the profile information within the response message 2914 may be normally set as private by the user of the second device 2902 and may only be transmitted when the received message from the first device 2901 includes certain information. For example, the second device 2902 may only transmit the response message 2914 when it receives a message from the first device 2901 that indicates the first device 2901 is associated with an emergency service (e.g., an EMT).
In optional block 2952, the computing device may receive profile information from user interaction, such as inputs on a smartphone graphical user interface. For example, a user input may provide text or selections that indicate personal information, categories of information relevant to the user of the computing device, as well as permissions for the profile information (e.g., indicators of the public/private nature of particular pieces of information, whether certain third-parties may receive certain data, etc.). In optional block 2954, the computing device may download profile information from a central server. For example, the computing device may be configured to periodically download profile information associated with the user of the computing device as is currently stored in the central server. In other words, users may download their current profiles from the central server for use with software and services executing on the computing device (e.g., an app executing on a smartphone).
In block 2956, the computing device may store profile information locally, such as in a database within the computing device. The profile information may also include permissions as described above, such as indicators whether various pieces of the profile may be shared with certain categories of third-parties (e.g., public, private, only for sharing with “Tom's BBQ Restaurant,” etc.). In an embodiment, the computing device may store the profile information such that the information is connected to or otherwise accessible to software executing on the computing device that is in communication with the central server. In determination block 2957, the computing device may determine whether a short-range wireless message is received from a proximate device, such as a broadcast message from a proximate wireless identity transmitter. In various embodiments, the short-range wireless message may be transmitted by a wireless identity transceiver or alternatively any device configured to broadcast signals in a protocol and format recognized by the computing device. If a message is not received (i.e., determination block 2957=“No”), the computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 2957.
If a message is received (i.e., determination block 2957=“Yes”), in block 2958 the computing device may identify categories based on an evaluation of the received message. In particular, the computing device may parse the received message to detect whether any profile information and/or descriptive indicators are within the received message. The computing device may evaluate metadata, header information, or other information appended to or within the received message. In an embodiment, the computing device may generate categories for information included in the received message, such as by performing natural language evaluation routines to determine the content or meaning of any data within the message. In block 2960, the computing device may identity relevant, authorized profile information to share based on stored profile permissions and the identified categories. In other words, the computing device may match the identified categories related to the received message with the locally stored profile information to find relevant information, and may use stored permissions to identify any of such relevant information that may be shared. For example, in response to the computing device identifying that the received message includes information regarding a restaurant, the computing device may identify food-related profile information that has been authorized (or labeled) by the user to be public information. In determination block 2962, the computing device may determine whether there is profile information to share, such as profile information marked with a “public” permissions setting that also relates to the received message. If there is no profile information to share (i.e., determination block 2962=“No”), the computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 702.
If there is profile information to share (i.e., determination block 2962=“Yes”), in optional block 2964 the computing device may obscure authorized profile information based on instructions in the received message. In an embodiment, received messages may solicit response messages and may include instructions, such as encryption requests and transmissions scheduling, that the computing device may perform prior to transmitting the profile information. For example, the computing device may detect instructions which indicate a secret key that may be used to encrypt, encode, or otherwise obscure any authorized profile information such that only the device that transmitted the received message may access the profile information. In block 2966, the computing device may transmit a response message that includes the authorized profile information, and may continue with the operations in determination block 702.
Once received from the central server, merchants, vendors, and other registered services may utilize payment authentication to expedite a purchase or customer service with a registered user. For example, a proximity broadcast receiver within a retail store may receive payment authentication for a proximate user and may display photographic information of the user for use by customer service agents. As another example, a point-of-sale device may receive and display a list of previous purchases by a user along with a message to a retail store's agent instructing him/her to go talk to the user.
For illustration purposes, the display 3090 may include a food items section 3096, a pricing section 3097, and a customer section 3091 that may include payment authentication information based on data within return messages received from the central server. In particular, the customer section 3091 of the display 3090 may include an in-line section 3092 that indicates customers (i.e., customers who are users registered with a central server) within proximity of the local computing device as well as an in-store section 3098 that indicates customers that are within the retail store but not within proximity of the local computing device. The display 3090 may indicate customer names 3093, customer photographs 3094, and even prior purchase information 3095, such as food items previously purchased by the various customers. Such displayed information may be used by store employees to identify and facilitate payments and customer interactions.
In general, as users walk around the retail store, they may pause to browse inventory, exit the retail store, and wait in particular areas of the retail store. For example, users may wait in line to pay for merchandise, return products, and/or receive user service assistance. In particular, users' wireless identity transmitters may transmit broadcast messages that are received by proximity broadcast receivers within the retail store. The central server may receive sighting messages from these proximity broadcast receivers and may determine whether a point-of-sale device is located near the users. If users are near point-of-sale devices, such as computing devices configured to perform as cash registers or user kiosks, the central server may transmit relevant, authorized payment authentication information for use in the retail store.
In block 3102, the central server may store profile information that may include permissions settings from a user. As described above, profile information, such as personal information (e.g., name, birth date, etc.) may be stored in databases or other data structures and may also include indicators of how, when, and/or to whom profile information may be shared. In determination block 1402, the central server may determine whether a sighting message is received. As described above, the sighting message may be transmitted by a proximity broadcast receiver located within the retail store. For example, as a user carrying a wireless identity transmitter walks within proximity of a point-of-sale device (e.g., a cash register device), a proximity broadcast receiver located within the point-of-sale device may receive broadcast messages from the wireless identity transmitter and transmit sighting messages to the central server based on the received broadcast messages. If the central server does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
However, if the central server does receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 1402=“Yes”), in determination block 1602 the central server may determine whether a wireless identity transmitter identity is known based on the received sighting message. If the wireless identity transmitter identity is not known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“No”), in block 1603 the central server may ignore the sighting message and continue with the operations in determination block 1402. If the wireless identity transmitter identity is known by the central server (i.e., determination block 1602=“Yes”), in determination block 1604 the central server may determine whether the sighting message is related to a registered service, such as the retail store. If the sighting message is not related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“No”), the central server may continue with the operations in block 1603. If the sighting message is related to a registered service (i.e., determination block 1604=“Yes”), in block 1414 the central server may store data based on the sighting message in relation to the wireless identity transmitter identity, such as by updating information within the user's profile. In another embodiment, the central server may also store data that may be used by the registered service (e.g., merchant, retail store, etc.) for generating foot traffic data. For example, the central server may use the received sighting message to update and/or modify information describing the number of unique users within the retail store at a given time, day, week, or month.
In determination block 3104, the central server may determine whether the wireless identity transmitter is near a point-of-sale device. For example, the central server may determine whether the wireless identity transmitter is within a few inches, feet, or meters of any computing device within the retail store that is used for performing sales transactions. In various embodiments, the retail store may include various proximity broadcast receivers that are placed throughout the retail store (e.g., around show floors, at the entrance, on shelves, etc.). The central server may store data that indicates the location of such stationary proximity broadcast receivers within the retail store and well as data that indicates the location of various known point-of-sale devices within the retail store. For example, the central server may maintain a database that describes the GPS coordinates and/or relative location information of all stationary proximity broadcast receivers and point-of-sale devices within the retail store. Since the wireless identity transmitter is within proximity of the proximity broadcast receiver associated with the received sighting message, the central server may compare a location (e.g., GPS coordinates) of the proximity broadcast receiver to stored location data of point-of-sale devices to determine whether the wireless identity transmitter is near a point-of-sale device. When the distance between the location of the proximity broadcast receiver and the location of a point-of-sale device is within a proximity threshold, the wireless identity transmitter may be considered near to (or within proximity of) the point-of-sale device.
In various embodiments, proximity broadcast receivers within the retail store may be positioned near (or collocated) and connected to point-of-sale devices. For example, a proximity broadcast receiver positioned on top of a point-of-sale device may transmit text and/or audio data received from the central server to the point-of-sale device for rendering. Alternatively, proximity broadcast receivers and point-of-sale devices may be within a common (or same) device. For example, a cash register point-of-sale device may include a short-range wireless transceiver configured to receive short-range broadcast messages from proximate wireless identity transmitters.
In various embodiments, the central server may utilize additional information when determining whether the wireless identity transmitter is near a point-of-sale device. In particular, the central server may estimate the position of the wireless identity transmitter as within a circular area of the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the sighting message. The circular area may have a radius equal to the wireless identity transmitter's average broadcast range. The central server may also evaluate signal strength information describing the broadcast message reported within the sighting message to determine more precise proximity information of the wireless identity transmitter. For example, based on known capabilities of the proximity broadcast receiver and the signal strength of the associated broadcast message, the central server may determine that the wireless identity transmitter was within a certain distance from the proximity broadcast receiver at the time of transmitting the broadcast message within the sighting message. In an embodiment, the central server may use received signal strength indication (or “RSSI”) information from within the sighting message to determine approximate distance of the wireless identity transmitter to the proximity broadcast receiver. In another embodiment, the central server may also employ schematics or other floor plan or blueprint data of the retail store to determine more precise location information of the proximity broadcast receiver and thus the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may determine that the wireless identity transmitter is located to the east or south side of the proximity broadcast receiver based on a floor plan that indicates the proximity broadcast receiver is surrounded by exterior walls to the north and west. In an embodiment, the central server may also perform the operations of the methods 1820 and/or 1860 described above to determine more precise proximity information for the wireless identity transmitter. For example, the central server may compare information within concurrent sighting messages to define a precise proximity of a wireless identity transmitter within the retail store.
If the central server determines the wireless identity transmitter is within proximity of server point-of-sale devices, such as a cluster or line of check-out terminals, the central server may identify a closest point-of-sale device based on signal strength information within the sighting message. For example, if the proximity broadcast receiver (and thus the wireless identity transmitter) is determined to be within the proximity threshold of more than one cash register devices within a store, the central server may determine the closest register device (or the device that is most likely to be the closest) as the device with the shortest distance to the proximity broadcast receiver's estimated location. When point-of-sale devices are proximity broadcast receivers, the central server may simply determine the closest point-of-sale device as the device related to a sighting message indicating the strongest signal strength. In another embodiment, the central server may utilize dead reckoning and other estimation routines or algorithms to determine whether the customer (and the wireless identity transmitter) may be near a point-of-sale device in the near future. For example, the central server may evaluate recent movement patterns of the customer to determine within a few seconds he/she may be in front of a product display.
Returning to
In block 3106, the central server may transmit a return message to the point-of-sale device that includes payment authentication information. For example, the point-of-sale device may be a computing device that is configured to receive return messages via Internet protocols from the central server. This return message may be used by the point-of-sale device to assist in a transaction between the retail store and the user. In an embodiment, the central server may generate a return message for transmission to a local computing device within the retail store which in turn may deliver payment authentication information to the point-of-sale device near the user. For example, the point-of-sale device may be a computing device that is configured to receive return messages routed from a retail store server. Once the payment authentication information is transmitted, the central server may continue with the operations in determination block 1402.
In another embodiment, the central server may perform the method 3100 in response to receiving a sighting message transmitted by a mobile proximity broadcast receiver carried by the user within the retail store. As described above, instead of deploying proximity broadcast receivers, a retail store may deploy wireless identity transmitters throughout the building, such as in departments or at check-out or payment lines. When a user's mobile proximity broadcast receiver (e.g., such as smartphone configured to execute software that can relay broadcast messages to the central server) is within proximity of one of the retail store's wireless identity transmitters, the mobile proximity broadcast receiver may receive a broadcast message and transmit a sighting message to the central server. In such a scenario, the central server may identify that the wireless identity transmitter is a store device and that the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the received sighting message belongs to the user (i.e., the user may be considered a “registered service” as referred to in
If a return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“Yes”), in block 3202 the local computing device may parse the return message to detect data related to a user, such as identification and proximity (or location) information related to a user's wireless identity transmitter within the retail store. For example, the local computing device may evaluate the received return message and identify wireless identity transmitter identification information, a data segment that includes software instructions (e.g., firmware update instructions, etc.), and/or a data segment that contains payment authentication information associated with the user's profile stored on the central server. In an embodiment, the local computing device may also decode, decrypt, or otherwise access obscured data transmitted by the central server. For example, the local computing device and central server may share a secret code that may be used by the local computing device to decode contents of the return message.
In optional block 3203, the local computing device may store the data from the return message and/or sighting message in a local database. For example, payment authentication information for a particular user may be stored in the local computing device (e.g., a local store server) so that subsequent transactions may be more efficient without the need for the central server to retransmit the same data numerous times. In an embodiment, the local computing device may store data to generate statistical or historical information, as described above. For example, in addition to or in place of the central server accumulating data for foot traffic reports (e.g., the number of unique visitors to the retail store within a certain period, the duration of a particular user's dwelling within a certain area of the retail store, etc.), the local computing device may maintain similar statistical information. In an embodiment, the local computing device may be configured to only store data relevant to the particular store building, or alternatively, to interactions related to the local computing device itself. For example, when the local computing device is configured to operate as a proximity broadcast receiver and/or point-of-sale device, payment authentication information may be stored only when it relates to broadcast messages directly received by the local computing device.
In determination block 3204, the local computing device may determine whether the return message contains payment authentication data. For example, the local computing device may evaluate metadata associated with various data segments within the return message. In an embodiment, the return message may contain metadata and/or header information that indicates when payment authentication information is contained within the return message. For example, header information may include a code known by the local computing device to indicate the presence of payment authentication information. In an embodiment, the local computing device may determine whether imagery, credit card information, or other particular data types are contained within the return message and its data segments. For example, if the return message contains a photographic image of a face, or alternatively, facial characteristics data as generated by a facial recognition algorithm, the local computing device may determine that payment authentication information is contained within the return message. If the return message does not contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 1101.
However, if the return message does contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“Yes”), in block 3206 the local computing device may utilize the payment authentication information to assist in a transaction with the user. For example, the local computing device may display a picture of the user on a connected LCD screen so that a customer service agent using the local computing device may recognize the user waiting in line. In an embodiment, the local computing device may initiate software, applications, or routines based on receiving the payment authentication information. For example, upon receiving the return message, the local computing device may enter a transaction application and auto-fill data to represent the user's personal information. Additionally, the local computing device may transmit various messages to assist in the transaction based on the payment authentication information. For example, if the payment authentication information indicates the user is a preferred or rewards member, the local computing device may display a message for customer service representatives to make certain promotional offers and/or address the user in a particular manner (e.g., by name or by rewards zone experience or status indicators, etc.). As another example, the local computing device may instruct store agents by sending texts to employees, such as a manager or a particular sales rep, to come greet the user or try to conduct follow-up communications. After utilizing the payment authentication information, the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 1101.
In determination block 3252, the local computing device may determine whether a sighting message is received from a proximity broadcast receiver. If the local computing device does not receive a sighting message (i.e., determination block 3252=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 3252. However, if the local computing device receives a sighting message (i.e., determination block 3252=“Yes”), in optional block 3254 the local computing device may append additional data to the sighting message. For example, the appended information may include data identifying the local computing device, such as a local server ID, relative location information within the store, a registered service code known by the central server, the store's name/address/contact information, etc.). In block 3256, the local computing device may relay the sighting message (and any additional data) to the central server.
In determination block 1101, the local computing device may determine whether a return message has been received from the central server. If a return message is not received (i.e., determination block 1101=“No”), the local computing device may continue to perform the operations in determination block 1101. In an alternative embodiment, if a return message is not received (i.e., determination block 1101=“No”), the local computing device may continue to perform the operations in determination block 3252.
However, if a return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“Yes”), in block 3202 the local computing device may parse the return message to detect data related to a user, and in optional block 3203, the local computing device may store the data from the return message and/or sighting message in a local database. In determination block 3204, the local computing device may determine whether the return message contains payment authentication data. If the return message does not contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 3252. If the return message does contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“Yes”), in block 3206 the local computing device may utilize the payment authentication information to assist in a transaction with the user, and may continue with the operations in determination block 3252.
In determination block 1101, the local computing device may determine whether a return message is received from the central server. If a return message is not received (i.e., determination block 1101=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 1101. If a return message is received (i.e., determination block 1101=“Yes”), in block 3202 the local computing device may parse the return message to detect data related to a users, such as profile information related to the user's preferred payment methods and/or proximity information related to a user's wireless identity transmitter within the retail store. In optional block 3203, the local computing device may store the data from the return message. In determination block 3204, the local computing device may determine whether the return message contains payment authentication data. If the return message does not contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 1101.
However, if the return message does contain payment authentication information (i.e., determination block 3204=“Yes”), in block 3276 the local computing device may identify a proximity broadcast receiver within proximity of the user based on the return message. In other words, based on information within the return message (e.g., metadata, etc.) the local computing device may obtain the identifier (e.g., a unique code) of the proximity broadcast receiver that transmitted the sighting message reporting the user's wireless identity transmitter. For example, the return message may include data indicating that the return message was transmitted in response to receiving a sighting message from a particular proximity broadcast receiver within the retail store. In addition, the return message may include the identity of the wireless identity transmitter as well as the signal strength of the broadcast message related to the return message. In an embodiment, the return message may include the location information of the proximity broadcast receiver in addition to or instead of the proximity broadcast receiver identifier.
In determination block 3278, the local computing device may determine whether the proximity broadcast receiver is near a point-of-sale device. The operations in determination block 3278 may be similar to the operations in determination block 3104 described above with reference to
In various embodiments, the proximity broadcast receivers of the retail store may be the same as the point-of-sale devices in the retail store. For example, the proximity broadcast receivers may all be cash register computing devices that are configured to receive and relay broadcast messages from users' wireless identity transmitters. In another embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver related to the return message may be coincident with or the same as the local computing device. For example, the return message may correspond to a sighting message generated and transmitted by the local computing device.
If the proximity broadcast receiver is not near a point-of-sale device within the retail store (i.e., determination block 3278=“No”), the local computing device may continue with the operations in determination block 1101. However, if the proximity broadcast receiver is near a point-of-sale device (i.e., determination block 3278=“Yes”), in block 3206 the local computing device may utilize the payment authentication information to assist in a transaction with the user, as described above. In optional block 3280, the local computing device may transmit a message to a point-of-sale device with payment authentication. For example, based on the operations in blocks 3276-3278, the local computing device may identify a cash register computing device that is within proximity of the user and that is capable of presenting the user's payment authentication to customer service agents. The local computing device may then continue with the operations in determination block 1101.
The wireless identity transmitter 110 may be coupled with or built into various objects, such as a bracelet. For example, an exemplary wireless identity transmitter 110 may be in a form easily attached to a strap, such as a watchband or dog collar. Alternate embodiments may incorporate a wireless identity transmitter 110 into any other mobile objects that may need tracking
The wireless identity transmitter 110 may conserve power by periodically entering a power saving mode or going to sleep, such as regularly alternating between sleeping and broadcasting of the packet with the wireless identity transmitter 110's identification code. Various embodiments may include different cycles of broadcasting and sleeping, such as some embodiments broadcasting more or less frequently, such as waking and broadcasting every few seconds or minutes between periods of sleep.
In an embodiment, the battery 3310 may be a replaceable coin cell battery. In another embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may utilize the antenna 3306 to receive update software, instructions, or other data for storage and use in configuration operations, such as configuring transmission intervals and/or transmissions power. The wireless identity transmitter 110 may also store and execute software, algorithms, instructions, code, or other routines for generating rolling codes or identifiers, as described above. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter may not maintain time (e.g., UTC) information, but may instead use a 30 ppm 16 kHz crystal as a clock. Such use of a crystal as a clock may create a timing drift of approximately 40 seconds per year.
In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may include a speaker (not shown) configured to emit a sound capable of being received by a proximity broadcast receiver and/or being heard by a heard by a user. For example, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may emit audible communications that may indicate its presence to listening proximity broadcast receivers. In another embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may be configured to transmit signals at varying signal strengths, thereby varying the range at which broadcasts from the wireless identity transmitter 110 may be received by proximity broadcast receivers.
Additionally, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may include one or more sensors for measuring various conditions and variables. In an embodiment, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may include an accelerometer 3315 (or any other motion sensor such as a gyroscope or gravitometer), which may collect data indicative of motion of an asset associated with the wireless identity transmitter 110. For example, the accelerometer 3315 may generate motion data describing the movements of a child carrying the wireless identity transmitter 110. Other sensors that may be included within the wireless identity transmitter 110 include a temperature sensor 3316 (such as a thermistor), a radiation sensor 3317, a humidity sensor 3318, and a carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor 3319. In the various embodiments, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may include any combination of these and other sensors. These potential sensors are only examples of the types of sensors that may be integrated into wireless identity transmitters 110 and other types of sensors may be included. For example, the wireless identity transmitter 110 may also include sensors not shown in the various diagrams, such as a microphone, a camera, a heat sensor, a pressure sensor, and a light sensor.
In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver 3475 may store software instructions, such as within the memory 3412 or other circuitry that may be utilized by the processor 3402 and/or the system-on-chip 3478 to perform operations to transmit and/or receive short-range and long-range signals, respectively. In an embodiment, the proximity broadcast receiver 3475 may utilize the antennas 3406, 3476 to receive update software, instructions, or other data for storage and use in updating firmware, modifying operating parameters, and other configuration modifications.
The processors 3501, 3601 may be any programmable microprocessor, microcomputer or multiple processor chip or chips that can be configured by software instructions (applications) to perform a variety of functions, including the functions of the various embodiments described below. In some mobile proximity broadcast receivers, multiple processors 3501 may be provided, such as one processor dedicated to wireless communication functions and one processor dedicated to running other applications. Typically, software applications may be stored in the internal memory 3502, 3602 before they are accessed and loaded into the processor 3501, 3601. The processor 3501, 3601 may include internal memory sufficient to store the application software instructions.
The foregoing method descriptions and the process flow diagrams are provided merely as illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the steps of the various embodiments must be performed in the order presented. As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art the order of steps in the foregoing embodiments may be performed in any order. Words such as “thereafter,” “then,” “next,” etc. are not intended to limit the order of the steps; these words are simply used to guide the reader through the description of the methods. Further, any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles “a,” “an” or “the” is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.
The hardware used to implement the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed 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. Alternatively, some steps or methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.
In one or more exemplary aspects, 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. The steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable software module, which may reside on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Tangible, non-transitory processor-readable storage medium or non-transitory computer-readable storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such non-transitory processor-readable and computer-readable storage media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. 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 non-transitory processor-readable storage medium. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a tangible, non-transitory machine readable medium and/or computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.
The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
The present application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/773,379, titled “Platform for Wireless Identity Transmitter and System Using Short-Range Wireless Broadcasts,” filed Feb. 21, 2013 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/773,336, titled “Preserving Security By Synchronizing a Nonce or Counter Between Systems,” filed Feb. 21, 2013, each of which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/601,620, filed Feb. 22, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/637,834, filed Apr. 24, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/693,169, filed Aug. 24, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/670,226, filed Jul. 11, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/701,457, filed Sep. 14, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/713,239, filed Oct. 12, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/716,373, filed Oct. 19, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/717,964, filed Oct. 24, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/728,677, filed Nov. 20, 2012, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/745,395, filed Dec. 21, 2012, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/745,308, filed Dec. 21, 2012, the entire contents of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61637834 | Apr 2012 | US | |
| 61693169 | Aug 2012 | US | |
| 61670226 | Jul 2012 | US | |
| 61701457 | Sep 2012 | US | |
| 61713239 | Oct 2012 | US | |
| 61716373 | Oct 2012 | US | |
| 61717964 | Oct 2012 | US | |
| 61728677 | Nov 2012 | US | |
| 61745395 | Dec 2012 | US | |
| 61745308 | Dec 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13773379 | Feb 2013 | US |
| Child | 13833227 | US | |
| Parent | 13773336 | Feb 2013 | US |
| Child | 13773379 | US |
