Patent Issued for Beacon-Based Location Introduction System (USPTO 10,660,059)

2020 JUN 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Knas, Michal (Monson, MA); John, Jiby (Suffield, CT), filed on February 11, 2019, was published online on June 1, 2020.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,660,059 is Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (Springfield, Massachusetts, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Large buildings, such as office campuses, can be disorienting and confusing to navigate. This problem is particularly acute when many buildings and floors look the same, which can be troublesome for clients/employees unfamiliar with the building(s). Current methods of locating or tracking people are manual and cumbersome. Currently, people must train each other to navigate new spaces, which has proven inefficient for many institutions with new employee or employees working from different office locations. Many new employees, unfamiliar with the buildings and other employees, may not be able to find other like-minded employees. In some cases, even if the new employees find another like-minded employee, they may not be able to find them.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “For the aforementioned reasons, there is a need for better indoor positioning systems. There is a need for an efficient and accurate computer system and method to manage indoor navigation, automatically find interested individuals based on their mobile devices, and generate notifications to guide employees towards other targeted individuals within the building. The systems and methods disclosed herein attempt to address the above-mentioned shortcomings in the art and provide a variety of other benefits. The systems and methods described herein can create, maintain, transmit, and utilize data from receiving devices and beacons. The systems and methods disclosed herein attempt to address the shortcomings in the art and provide a variety of other benefits. The systems and methods described herein can create, maintain, and transmit information about an interested user and provide a location based guidance as to where the interested user is located.

“In an embodiment a method comprises receiving, by a server, a first device identifier and first location information from a first receiving device, the first location information being associated with a first location of the first receiving device received from one or more beacons, wherein the first device identifier comprises a distinctive combination of at least one of numbers and characters uniquely identifying the first receiving device; determining, by the server, a location associated with the first receiving device based at least on one of the first location information and the first device identifier; receiving, by the server, a request to find a second device identifier, wherein the request comprises a set of attributes associated with the second receiving device; determining, by the server, a time value associated with the second receiving device, wherein the time value corresponds to the time that the second receiving device will remain in the location associated with the second receiving device; querying, by the server, a database to identify the second receiving device responsive to the set of attributes received from the first receiving device, wherein the database is configured to store one or more records of the set of attributes associated with one or more records of a plurality of receiving devices including the first and the second receiving devices, wherein the time value associated with the second receiving device satisfies a threshold; receiving, by a server, a second device identifier and second location information from the second receiving device, the second location information being associated with a second location associated with the second receiving device received from one or more beacons, wherein the second device identifier comprises a distinctive combination of at least one of numbers and characters uniquely identifying the second receiving device; determining, by the server, a location associated with the second receiving device based at least on one of the second location information and the second device identifier; determining, by the server, a path associated with the first receiving device, wherein the path corresponds to the location associated with the first receiving device in relation to the second receiving device; transmitting, by the server, the path to the second receiving device.

“In another embodiment a server configured to receive a first device identifier and first location information from a first receiving device, the first location information being associated with a first location of the first receiving device received from one or more beacons, wherein the first device identifier comprises a distinctive combination of at least one of numbers and characters uniquely identifying the first receiving device; determine a location associated with the first receiving device based at least on one of the first location information and the first device identifier; receive a request to find a second device identifier, wherein the request comprises a set of attributes associated with the second receiving device; receive a second device identifier and second location information from the second receiving device, the second location information being associated with a second location associated with the second receiving device received from one or more beacons, wherein the second device identifier comprises a distinctive combination of at least one of numbers and characters uniquely identifying the second receiving device; determine a location associated with the second receiving device based at least on one of the second location information and the second device identifier; determine a time value associated with the second receiving device, wherein the time value corresponds to the time that the second receiving device will remain in the location associated with the second receiving device; query a database to identify the second receiving device responsive to the set of attributes received from the first receiving device, wherein the database is configured to store one or more records of the set of attributes associated with one or more records of a plurality of receiving devices including the first and the second receiving devices, wherein the time value associated with the second receiving device satisfies a threshold; determine a path associated with the first receiving device, wherein the path corresponds to the location associated with the first receiving device in relation to the second receiving device; and transmit the path to the second receiving device.

“A beacon is small, battery-friendly device that sends out a low-voltage signal, such as Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE), for a programmable distance between about a few cm to 40-50 m. In addition, some smartphones can act as beacons. The frequency of sending the signal can also be programmable; for example, a signal can be sent every 100-400 milliseconds. Beacons can be placed strategically indoors or outdoors to perform many actions.

“Beacons can transmit small packets of data or advertisement data packets. Here the term ‘Beacon’ applies to any device, mobile or fixed, that is capable of transmitting an advertisement data packet. An advertisement data packet can be the same as defined in the Bluetooth specification or any other data packet that transmits a unique identifier. Currently, beacons repeatedly transmit advertisement data packets in set intervals. The iBeacon system (implemented by Apple.RTM.) utilizes iBeacons (a form of beacon) to transmit an advertisement data packet consisting mainly of three pieces of information--a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), a major field, and a minor field. And an iBeacon typically transmits that packet over and over again. Further information about beacons can be found in the Supplement to the Bluetooth Core Specification, Version 5, which is incorporated by reference herein.

“In one use case, retailers use these beacons or transmitters as a hyper-local device tracking mechanism, i.e., to locate smartphones within the proximity. Non-limiting examples of transmitters include an iBeacon, AltBeacon, and EddyStone, a wireless router, a cellular phone, a tablet, a workstation, or any other suitable computing or other electronic device. Location-based information is provided to a consumer’s personal device based on its receipt a packet from a beacon. One or more mobile applications on receiving devices can use the advertisement data packet to assess current location or other information. For instance, the one or more applications can transmit information, such as a UUID, contained in the advertising data packet, to a server to retrieve information associated with the advertising data packet. These advertising data packets also allow for delivery of specific content to users based on location. For example, an iBeacon located in aisle 3 of a personal goods store transmits its UUID to consumers’ mobile devices. If a consumer has a smartphone that contains the application for the personal goods store, then the store can transmit special offers for products sold in aisle 3. The UUID portion of the advertising data packet is associated with the personal goods store while the major and minor field identifies specific section and aisle of the personal goods store. The iBeacon devices are little power-efficient sensor-like devices that do not receive anything, but transmit an identity in a given proximity, about a 30-foot range.

“Additional information can be gleaned from BLE signals, including an approximate distance between the beacon and the receiving device. Beacons can be programmed to broadcast their signals at different power levels, known as the ‘Broadcasting Power.’ The BLE beacon can transmit its Broadcasting Power to the receiving device, which can approximate its distance from the beacon by comparing the Broadcasting Power to the strength of the signal as received, known as the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).

“The term ‘beacon’ as used herein refers to any device configured to transmit a data packet, which is used by a receiving device to identify the transmitting device and compute the relative distance between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beacons can be physical devices or virtual beacons. Beacons transmit small packets of data. Currently, beacons repeatedly transmit data packets in set intervals. There are several types of beacons and associated protocols available in the market such as iBeacon system (implemented by Apple.RTM.), AltBeacon (provided by Radius Networks), and EddyStone.RTM. (from Google.RTM.). The iBeacons and AltBeacons broadcast a data packet consisting mainly of following pieces of information--a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID), a major number, a minor number, and a transmission power level known as the ‘Broadcasting Power.’ These formats require external databases to give meaning to the beacon data packets. Receiving devices can approximate distance from the beacon by comparing the Broadcasting Power to the strength of the signal as received, known as the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). As these devices typically transmit that packet over and over again, this type of transmission defines the advertising functionality of beacons. These data packets are recognized only by special apps on the mobile phone of the users. Beacons supporting the Eddystone format broadcast three different packets: a unique ID number, a URL address, and telemetrics based on sensors. They don’t require an external database; instead they use web links to either link to data directly and could function via a two-way communication method. The Eddystone-URL frame type broadcasts information that can be used by a phone even without a specialized application. Virtual beacons may not require specialized devices and may use existing indoor positioning systems and the user devices to deliver location-based information. Beacons can be configured to broadcast sensor data such as temperature and battery level, or even data gathered from other sensors in the room such as motion-detectors. Some embodiments can use RSSI or triangulation to assess more accurately the location of a receiving device. For instance, the receiving device may receive signals from more than once source or of more than one type, e.g., Wi-Fi, BLE, and GPS. By relying on more than once source, these embodiments are more reliable and more accurate.

“One problem with current beacon technology is that they are single use, and therefore do not present accurate granular location information. Embodiments of the present invention solve this problem by allowing one or a plurality of beacons to transmit information at different ranges to provide more granular location information.

“Additional features and advantages of an embodiment will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description. The objectives and other advantages will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the exemplary embodiments in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory, and are intended to provide further explanation of embodiments as claimed.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claim is:

“1. A method comprising: continuously monitoring, by a server using location data periodically received from a plurality of electronic devices, location of each electronic device within the plurality of electronic devices, whereby each electronic device receives location data from a plurality of transmitters broadcasting location signals, where each electronic device periodically transmits location data to the server, and where each transmitter is located within a pre-determined area; upon a first electronic device being located within the pre-determined area, querying, by the server, a database to retrieve a user profile comprising a set of user preference attributes associated with a user operating the first electronic device; querying, by the server, the database to identify a second electronic device within the plurality of electronic devices, the second electronic device being responsive to the set of user preference attributes, wherein the second electronic device is located within the pre-determined area; and generating and transmitting, by the server, a notification to the first electronic device, the notification comprising an identifier of the second electronic device and a location of the second electronic device.

“2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the server, a path from the first electronic device to the second electronic device; and transmitting, by the server, the path for display on the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, by the server, a map of the pre-determined area on the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second electronic device is within a pre-determined proximity to the first electronic device.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein a pre-determined proximity threshold is inputted by the user operating the first electronic device.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing, by the server, a communication session between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

“7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server transmits the second electronic device’s location in response to the second electronic device accepting a request to meet the user.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of user preference attributes are received, by the server, from the first electronic device and stored in the database within a profile associated with the first electronic device.

“9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data received from the plurality of electronic devices corresponds to universally identifiable beacon identification data.

“10. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data received from the plurality of electronic devices corresponds to Wi-Fi data.

“11. A computer system comprising: a plurality of electronic devices configured to capture and transmit location data; at least one location identification sensor configured to transmit location data to the plurality of electronic devices; and a server in communication with each electronic device, the server configured to: continuously monitor, using location data periodically received from the plurality of electronic devices, location of each electronic device within the plurality of electronic devices, whereby each electronic device receives location data from a plurality of transmitters broadcasting location signals, where each electronic device periodically transmits location data to the server, and where each transmitter is located within a pre-determined area; upon a first electronic device being located within the pre-determined area, query a database to retrieve a user profile comprising a set of user preference attributes associated with a user operating the first electronic device; query the database to identify a second electronic device within the plurality of electronic devices, the second electronic device being responsive to the set of user preference attributes, wherein the second electronic device is located within the pre-determined area; and generate and transmit a notification to the first electronic device, the notification comprising an identifier of the second electronic device and a location of the second electronic device.

“12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to: determine a path from the first electronic device to the second electronic device; and transmit the path for display on the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

“13. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to: display a map of the pre-determined area on the first electronic device or the second electronic device.

“14. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the second electronic device is within a pre-determined proximity to the first electronic device.

“15. The computer system of claim 14, wherein a pre-determined proximity threshold is inputted by the user operating the first electronic device.

“16. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server is further configured to: establish a communication session between the first electronic device and the second electronic device.

“17. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the server transmits the second electronic device’s location in response to the second electronic device accepting a request to meet the user.

“18. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the set of user preference attributes are received, by the server, from the first electronic device and stored in the database within a profile associated with the first electronic device.

“19. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the location data received from the plurality of electronic devices corresponds to universally identifiable beacon identification data.

“20. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the location data received from the plurality of electronic devices corresponds to Wi-Fi data.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Knas, Michal; John, Jiby. Beacon-Based Location Introduction System. U.S. Patent Number 10,660,059, filed February 11, 2019, and published online on June 1, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,660,059.PN.&OS=PN/10,660,059RS=PN/10,660,059

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