US 11,638,117 B2 · Beacon addressing

Abstract

The present disclosure describes how a master beacon having a known UUID can be used to capture beacons within its range and superimpose a systematic address scheme on those beacons. The superimposed address scheme can then be used as a proxy for the individual beacons when developing applications that make use of the beacons. A master beacon automatically detects each beacon in a plurality of beacons and, for a set of beacons in the plurality of beacons, automatically changes either the first profile identifier or the second profile identifier for each beacon in the set of beacons. The change is such that the first profile identifier or the second profile identifier is identical for each beacon in the set of beacons and is also associated with the master beacon.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A method of automatically linking beacons to a first master beacon, the method comprising:

automatically detecting, by the first master beacon, each beacon in a plurality of beacons by detecting a beacon advertisement for each beacon wherein each beacon advertisement includes at least a universally unique identifier (UUID) for the respective beacon;
wherein at least the UUID is stored in a beacon storage on the respective beacon;
for each beacon in a set of beacons in the plurality of beacons, automatically setting in the beacon storage, by the first master beacon, one of a first profile identifier and a second profile identifier;
so that the one of the first profile identifier and the second profile identifier is identical for each beacon in the set of beacons;
and
the one of the first profile identifier and the second profile identifier is associated with the master beacon.

3 more elements

A beacon network, the beacon network comprising:

a master beacon, the master beacon comprising:
a master beacon processing unit;
at least one of a cellular communication unit and a wireless local network unit coupled to the master beacon processing unit;
a BLE-capable Bluetooth unit coupled to the master beacon processing unit;
a master beacon storage coupled to the master beacon processing unit;
and
a power source adapted to power the master beacon;
the master beacon storage storing:
a master beacon identifier for the master beacon;
a first profile identifier for the master beacon;
a second profile identifier for the master beacon;
and
instructions executable by the master beacon processing unit;
and
a plurality of beacons within BLE range of the master beacon, each beacon comprising:
a BLE unit;
a beacon processing unit coupled to the BLE unit;
a beacon storage coupled to the beacon processing unit;
a power source adapted to power the beacon;
wherein for each beacon in the plurality of beacons, the beacon storage stores
a UUID for that beacon, the UUID forming part of a beacon advertisement for that beacon;
wherein the beacon storage is further adapted to store:
a first profile identifier for that beacon;
and
a second profile identifier for that beacon;
wherein the instructions comprise:
instructions for connecting to a remote server using the at least one of the cellular communication unit and the wireless local network unit;
and
instructions for automatically detecting, by the first master beacon, the plurality of beacons by detecting a beacon advertisement for each beacon wherein each beacon advertisement includes at least a universally unique identifier (UUID) for the respective beacon, wherein at least the UUID is stored in the beacon storage on the respective beacon;
instructions for automatically setting, in the beacon storage of each of the detected beacons in the plurality of beacons, by the first master beacon, one of the first profile identifier and the second profile identifier;
so that the one of the first profile identifier and the second profile identifier is identical for each beacon in the set of beacons;
and
the one of the first profile identifier and the second profile identifier is associated with the master beacon.

30 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

17/206,224Filed 19 Mar 2021 · continuation

Priority

31 Oct 2014

Published

US 2021/0235223 A129 Jul 2021

Granted

25 Apr 2023

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04W 4/023
Services making use of location information: using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets…
H04L 67/04
Protocols: specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
H04L 67/12
Protocols: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in…
H04L 67/303
Profiles: terminal profiles

Family

Application62/073,746Us provisional application · filed 31 Oct 2014

Application14/928,639Parent of this continuation · filed 30 Oct 2015

Application15/878,264Parent of this continuation · filed 23 Jan 2018

US 9,913,090 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 6 Mar 2018

Application16/552,185Parent of this continuation · filed 27 Aug 2019

US 2021/0235223 A1Pre-grant publication · published 29 Jul 2021

US 10,979,853 B2Parent of this continuation

US 10,440,511 B2Parent of this continuation

US 2016/0128049 A1Published application

US 2018/0152811 A1Published application

US 2019/0387358 A1Published application

US 11,638,117 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Beacon addressing

Life of this patent

Beacon addressing

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims13