US 10,542,380 B2Granted

Beacon-based media network

AssigneeBby Solutions, Inc.

InventorsMatthew Hurewitz, William Don Wortley

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Abstract

Techniques and system configurations for providing content to a mobile device based on activity in a physical commercial environment such as a retail store are described herein. Mobile devices that are operated by an associated customer may be tracked with the use of beacons to determine customer activities in the retail store, including particular areas visited in the store, activities conducted by the customer in the store, and like tracking information. The customer activity and data for the activities and locations in the physical environment may be correlated to an identifier, profile, or other tracking information. This tracking information may be subsequently used by the mobile device to identify the user to an advertising network, or other information service, and obtain customized media content and information.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method for obtaining location-selected content for a user from a media content network, the method performed by a mobile computing device, and the method comprising:

transmitting, from a first software application of the mobile computing device to a device tracking system, an identifier unique to the mobile computing device, wherein the device tracking system collects location data for the mobile computing device at a time that the mobile computing device is located within a tracked physical environment;
transmitting, from a second software application of the mobile computing device to a media content network system, the identifier unique to the mobile computing device, wherein the identifier is transmitted to the media content network system at a subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the tracked physical environment;
receiving, with the second software application of the mobile computing device from the media content network system, media content selected for the mobile computing device, wherein the media content network system selects the media content for the mobile computing device based on the identifier unique to the mobile computing device, wherein the media content network system further selects the media content for the mobile computing device based on activity information of the user determined from the tracked physical environment by the device tracking system;
and
displaying the media content selected for the mobile computing device in the second software application, wherein the displaying of the media content in the second software application occurs at the subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the tracked physical environment;
wherein the activity information of the user in the tracked physical environment is communicated from the device tracking system to the media content network system independently of the mobile computing device, and wherein the activity information of the user in the tracked physical environment is determined by the device tracking system based on the location data.

3 more elements

At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions for obtaining content selected for a user by a content media network, comprising instructions, that when executed by a mobile computing device, cause the mobile computing device to:

detect, from operation of a first software application on the mobile computing device, a location identifier for a beacon of a tracking system, the location identifier provided as a unique identification of a mapped portion of a physical area, wherein the tracking system collects location data for the mobile computing device at a time that the mobile computing device is located within the mapped portion of the physical area;
transmit, from the first software application to the tracking system, an identifier unique to the mobile computing device and the location identifier for the beacon;
transmit, from a second software application of the mobile computing device to the content media network, the identifier unique to the mobile computing device, wherein the identifier unique to the mobile computing device is transmitted to the content media network at a subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the mapped portion of the physical area;
receive, with the second software application of the mobile computing device from the content media network, content information that is selected for the mobile computing device based on the identifier unique to the mobile computing device and the location identifier for the beacon, wherein the content media network further selects the content information for the mobile computing device based on activity information of the user determined from activity in the physical area by the tracking system;
and
provide, for display in the second software application on the mobile computing device, the content information retrieved from the content media network, wherein the display of the content information in the second software application occurs at the subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the mapped portion of the physical area;
wherein the activity information of the user in the mapped portion of the physical area is communicated from the tracking system to the content media network independently of the mobile computing device, and wherein the activity information of the user in the mapped portion of the physical area is determined by the device tracking system based on the location data.

4 more elements

A mobile computing device operable by a user, comprising:

a processor;
a storage device to provide:
tracking instructions in operation with the processor, the tracking instructions operable with a first software application to transmit, to a device tracking system, data being unique to a visit of the mobile computing device within a tracked physical environment, the data including an identifier unique to the mobile computing device and location data from the tracked physical environment, wherein the device tracking system tracks the location data for the mobile computing device obtained within the tracked physical environment at a time that the mobile computing device is located within the tracked physical environment;
content retrieval instructions in operation with the processor, the content retrieval instructions operable with a second software application to transmit the identifier from the second software application of the mobile computing device to a media content network system, and retrieve media content for the mobile computing device from the media content network system at a subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the tracked physical environment, wherein the media content is selected for the mobile computing device based on the identifier unique to the mobile computing device and the location data for the mobile computing device within the tracked physical environment;
and
content display instructions in operation with the processor, the content display instructions operable with the second software application to display the media content within the second software application, wherein the displaying of the media content in the second software application occurs at the subsequent time that the mobile computing device is located outside of the tracked physical environment;
wherein the activity information of the user in the tracked physical environment is communicated from the device tracking system to the media content network system independently of the mobile computing device, and wherein the activity information of the user in the tracked physical environment is determined by the device tracking system based on the location data.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.