# US 10,455,077 B2 · Contextually configuring consistent proximity beacon identifiers

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- Number: US 10,455,077 B2
- Document ID: US10455077B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/086,650
- Filed: 2016-03-31
- Published: 2017-10-05
- Granted: 2019-10-22
- Earliest claimed: 2016-03-31
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Jeremy A. Greenberger; Jana H. Jenkins
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10455077B2

## CPC

- H04M 1/72457: according to geographic location
- G01S 1/0423: {Mounting or deployment thereof}
- G01S 1/0428: {Signal details}
- G01S 5/0242: {Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning (G01S5/0289 takes precedence)}
- H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
- H04W 4/30: Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
- G01S 1/68: Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information
- G01S 5/14: Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
- G01S 2205/01: specially adapted for specific applications
- H04M 2250/02: including a Bluetooth® interface
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

Administration and consistency of proximity beacon naming within one or more venues is improved by use of a mobile device to discover ranges of the beacons, and upon discovery, determining a location of a mobile computing device within the venue; receiving at the location by the mobile computing device one or more identifiers from one or more proximity beacons within range of the location; and updating by the mobile device at least one of the one or more identifiers according to a proximity beacon naming policy.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for improving administration and consistency of proximity beacon naming within a venue, comprising:
responsive to encountering a plurality of wireless proximity beacons while being operated in a venue, determining, by a mobile computing device, an actual location of the mobile computing device within the venue by using wireless signal triangulation;
for at least one of the wireless proximity beacons:
receiving, by the mobile computing device, from the wireless proximity beacon, a unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number from the wireless proximity beacon;
extracting, by the mobile computing device, from the major number an indication of a wireless proximity beacon site location, and from the minor number an indication of at least one sub-location within the site location selected from the group consisting of a floor location and a zone location;
verifying, by the mobile computing device, that the extracted site location and sub-location match one or more corresponding actual wireless proximity beacon locations selected from a site, a floor and a zone, according to the beacon name coding policy; and
responsive to the verification finding a mismatch, sending, via wireless communications, by the mobile computing device, to the wireless proximity beacon, an administrative command to change the wireless proximity beacon's major number, minor number, or both, to match the wireless proximity beacon's actual location according to the beacon name coding policy, thereby leaving the unique identifier of the wireless proximity beacon unchanged while providing two levels of location precision including a site value and a sub-location value within the site value.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command:
notifying a user of the mobile computing device via a user interface of one or more of the major number, and the minor number;
proposing by the mobile computing device to the user via the user interface one or more changes to the one or more major number and the minor number according to the beacon name coding policy; and
receiving, by the mobile computing device, one or more user-selected changes from the user interface;
wherein the sending the administrative command further includes the user-selected changes.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command, communicating by the mobile computing device with a naming server, wherein the updating includes at least one change communicated from the naming server.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the proximity beacons comprise at least one Bluetooth Low Energy beacon.

### Claim 5

A system for improving administration and consistency of proximity beacon naming within a venue, comprising:
a mobile computing device having a processor;
a computer-readable, tangible storage memory accessible by the processor; and
one or more program instructions encoded by the computer-readable, tangible storage memory for causing the processor to, when executed:
responsive to encountering a plurality of wireless proximity beacons while being operated in a venue, determine, by a mobile computing device, an actual location of the mobile computing device within the venue by using wireless signal triangulation;
for at least one of the wireless proximity beacons:
receive, by the mobile computing device, from the wireless proximity beacon, a unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number from the wireless proximity beacon;
extract, by the mobile computing device, from the major number an indication of a wireless proximity beacon site location, and from the minor number an indication of at least one sub-location within the site location selected from the group consisting of a floor location and a zone location;
verify, by the mobile computing device, that the extracted site location and sub-location match one or more corresponding actual wireless proximity beacon locations selected from a site, a floor and a zone, according to the beacon name coding policy; and
responsive to the verification finding a mismatch, send via wireless communications, by the mobile computing device, to the wireless proximity beacon, an administrative command to change the wireless proximity beacon's major number, minor number, or both, to match the wireless proximity beacon's actual location according to the beacon name coding policy, thereby leaving the unique identifier of the wireless proximity beacon unchanged while providing two levels of location precision including a site value and a sub-location value within the site value.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command:
notify a user of the mobile computing device via a user interface of one or more of the major number, and the minor number;
propose by the mobile computing device to the user via the user interface one or more changes to the one or more major number and the minor number according to the beacon name coding policy; and
receive one or more user-selected changes from the user interface;
wherein the sending the administrative command further includes the user-selected changes.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command, communicating by the mobile computing device with a naming server, wherein the updating includes at least one change communicated from the naming server.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein the proximity beacons comprise at least one Bluetooth Low Energy beacon.

### Claim 9

A computer program product for improving administration and consistency of proximity beacon naming within a venue, comprising:
a computer-readable, tangible storage memory accessible by a processor of a mobile computing device which is not a propagating signal per se; and
one or more program instructions encoded by the computer-readable, tangible storage memory for causing the processor to, when executed:
responsive to encountering a plurality of wireless proximity beacons while being operated in a venue, determine, by a mobile computing device, an actual location of the mobile computing device within the venue by using wireless signal triangulation;
for at least one of the wireless proximity beacons:
receive, by the mobile computing device, from the wireless proximity beacon, a unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number from the wireless proximity beacon;
extract, by the mobile computing device, from the major number an indication of a wireless proximity beacon site location, and from the minor number an indication of at least one sub-location within the site location selected from the group consisting of a floor location and a zone location;
verify, by the mobile computing device, that the extracted site location and sub-location match one or more corresponding actual wireless proximity beacon locations selected from a site, a floor and a zone, according to the beacon name coding policy; and
responsive to the verification finding a mismatch, send via wireless communications, by the mobile computing device, to the wireless proximity beacon, an administrative command to change the wireless proximity beacon's major number, minor number, or both, to match the wireless proximity beacon's actual location according to the beacon name coding policy, thereby leaving the unique identifier of the wireless proximity beacon unchanged while providing two levels of location precision including a site value and a sub-location value within the site value.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The computer program product as set forth in claim 9 wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command:
notify a user of the mobile computing device via a user interface of one or more of the major number, and the minor number;
propose by the mobile computing device to the user via the user interface one or more changes to the one or more major number and the minor number according to the beacon name coding policy; and
receive one or more user-selected changes from the user interface;
wherein the sending the administrative command further includes the user-selected changes.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The computer program product as set forth in claim 9 wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for, subsequent to the receiving the unique identifier, a major number, and a minor number, and prior to sending the administrative command, communicating by the mobile computing device with a naming server, wherein the updating includes at least one change communicated from the naming server.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The computer program product as set forth in claim 9 wherein the proximity beacons comprise at least one Bluetooth Low Energy beacon.