Local ephemeral location tracking of mobile device users

An apparatus determining location of a mobile device in a physical venue to within a predetermined spatial resolution, the apparatus comprising:

• at least one of plural scanners operating to detect presence of the mobile device within a predetermined area of the venue based on a received advertisement signal autonomously transmitted by the mobile device;
• at least one processor programmed to obtain a current hardware address code of the detected mobile device from the advertisement signal received by the at least one scanner;
• at least one processor programmed to use the obtained current hardware address code and at least one of the plural scanners to repeatedly attempt to dynamically connect with a predetermined background peripheral service (BPS) installed in the detected mobile device so as to thereby temporarily activate the BPS, where the BPS is programmed to output a wireless signal including a temporary identification sequence (TID) when the BPS is connected to and thus activated and to then to go to sleep, the TID being one that has been pre-assigned to the BPS;
• at least one processor programmed to receive TID detection and signal strength reports from one or more of the scanners and to thereby determine the TID and estimate a current location of the mobile device;
• at least one processor programmed to generate a logical association between the determined TID and the current hardware address code of the detected mobile device;
• and
• at least one processor programmed to output a location signal representing the determined location and identification of the detected mobile device.

A computer system comprising one or more processors and a memory having collectively stored therein instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processor to:

• detect presence of a mobile device within a scanners-covered area of a venue;
• obtain a current hardware address code of the detected mobile device;
• use the obtained current hardware address code to repeatedly attempt to dynamically connect to a predetermined background peripheral service (BPS) installed in the detected mobile device, where the BPS is configured to output a wireless signal including a temporary identification sequence (TID) when the BPS is connected to, the TID being one that has been pre assigned to the BPS;
• in response to receiving at one or more of the scanners of the venue, the wireless signal output by the BPS, determine the strength of the received wireless signal and acquire the TID provided within the received wireless signal;
• generate a logical association between the acquired TID and the current hardware address code of the detected mobile device,
• use the determined signal strength to determine a location of the detected mobile device to within the predetermined spatial resolution;
• and
• output a location signal representing the determined location and identification of the detected mobile device.