Method and system for detecting presence using a WiFi network probe detector
Assigneeshopkick, Inc.
InventorsCyriac Roeding, Aaron T. Emigh
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The detection system monitors WiFi wireless communications at a wireless device and detects a probe request associated with a location. The WiFi device may be a dedicated presence detection device or may offer access to internet and other services as a WiFi access point. A device identifier associated with the originating device may be a component of the probe request. Using the device identifier, the system can detect the presence of a consumer at the location associated with the wireless communications device and transmit information to the consumer based upon the device identifier.
Claims53
A method, comprising:
- detecting, at a wireless communications device configured for WiFi communications at a store, a probe request from an originating device at the store scanning for an available WiFi network;
- extracting a MAC address of the originating device from the probe request;
- and
- providing the MAC address of the originating device to a server-side processor associated with a rewards service configured to infer presence of a user associated with the MAC address at the store, wherein in response to inferring presence the server-side processor is further configured to check whether the user is currently running an associated client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device, the server-side processor is configured to determine that the user is currently not running the client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device, and the server-side processor is configured to send a message to the originating device to notify the user to run the client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device to receive an offer or reward for presence at the store.
A system comprising a wireless transceiver for WiFi communications at a store configured to:
- receive a probe request from an originating device at the store scanning for an available WiFi network;
- extract a MAC address of the originating device from the probe request;
- and
- transmit the MAC address of the originating device to a server-side processor associated with a rewards service configured to infer presence of a user associated with the MAC address at the store, wherein in response to inferring presence the server-side processor is further configured to check whether the user is currently running an associated client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device, the server-side processor is configured to determine that the user is currently not running the client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device, and the server-side processor is configured to send a message to the originating device to notify the user to run the client-side rewards service application installed on the originating device to receive an offer or reward for presence at the store.
A system, comprising:
- a server-side processor associated with a rewards service configured to:
- receive a MAC address of a user device from a wireless communications device that is configured:
- for WiFi communications at a store, to detect a probe request at the store from the user device, and to extract the MAC address of the user device from the detected probe request;
- map the MAC address of the user device to a user registered with the rewards service;
- check whether the user is currently running an associated client-side rewards service application on the user device;
- determine that the user is currently not running the client-side rewards service application installed on the user device;
- and
- send a message to the user device to notify the user to run the client-side rewards service application installed on the user device to receive an offer or reward for presence at the store;
- and
- a memory coupled to the server-side processor and configured to provide instructions to the server-side processor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.