# US 2019/0174262 A1 · Dynamic Alert System in a Facility

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- Number: US 2019/0174262 A1
- Document ID: US20190174262A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/271,034
- Filed: 2019-02-08
- Published: 2019-06-06
- Earliest claimed: 2016-12-12
- Assignees: Walmart Apollo, LLC
- Applicants: Walmart Apollo, LLC
- Inventors: Donald High; Matthew Allen Jones; Joseph Courtland Halbrook
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190174262A1

## CPC

- H04W 4/023: {using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds}
- G06Q 30/00: Commerce
- G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q 30/0201: Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
- G06Q 30/0202: Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
- G06Q 30/0241: Advertisements
- G06Q 30/0601: Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
- G06Q 30/08: Auctions
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04M 1/72436: for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
- H04M 1/72457: according to geographic location
- H04W 4/02: Services making use of location information
- H04W 4/08: User group management
- H04W 8/18: Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
- H04W 8/186: {Processing of subscriber group data}
- H04W 4/14: Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)

## Abstract

Described in detail herein are methods and systems for dynamically transmitting alerts. Sensors disposed in a facility can detect mobile devices roaming around the facility when they are within range of the sensor. The sensor can transmit the location an identification information of the mobile devices to a computing system. The computing system can determine physical objects disposed within a predetermined distance to the mobile devices. The computing system can determine if at least one physical object is of interest to the users of the mobile devices. The computing system can transmit an alert including information associated with the physical object and generate a messaging interface on the mobile devices. The computing system can prompt the users of the mobile devices to input information associated with the physical object. The computing system can dynamically update the database based on the information input associated with the physical object.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A dynamic alert system in a facility, the system comprising:
a plurality of sensors disposed in the facility selectively detecting a plurality of mobile devices based on a location of each of the mobile devices in the plurality of mobile devices; a computing system in communication with the plurality of mobile sensors, the computing system configured to:
obtain device locations of the plurality of mobile devices from the sensors;
determine that the device locations coincide with one or more areas within a facility including a plurality of physical objects;
group a first set of mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices in a first group based on the device locations of the first set of mobile devices being in a first range of a first sensor of the plurality of sensors;
group a second set of mobile devices of the plurality of mobile device in a second group based on the device locations of the second set of mobile devices being in a second range of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors;
generate a message for each of the first and second groups, wherein the content of the message is different for each of the first and second group and includes information associated with at least one of the plurality of physical objects in the facility based on the one or more areas within the facility that coincide with the device locations of each of the first and second set of mobile devices; and
transmit each message to the first and second set of mobile devices in each of the first and second groups.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sensors configured to:
detect the plurality of mobile devices within a predetermined distance of the at least one of the plurality of sensors;
determine the device locations of the plurality of the mobile devices based on detection by the at least one of the plurality of sensors;
encode the device locations in electrical signals; and
transmit the electrical signals to the computing system.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system in claim 2, wherein the computing system decodes the electrical signals to determine the device locations.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The system in claim 3, wherein the at least one of the plurality of physical object is within a predetermined distance of the device locations.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system in claim 1, wherein in response to generating the message for each of the first and second group, the computing system is further programmed to:
generate a messaging interface on a first subset of mobile devices of the first group of mobile devices and a second subset of mobile devices of the second set of mobile devices.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system in claim 5, wherein communications between the first and second subset of mobile devices are established via the messaging interface.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system in claim 6, wherein the communications are associated with information associated with the at least one physical object.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system in claim 7, wherein the computing system is further programmed to dynamically change the information associated with the at least one physical object based on the communications.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system in claim 1, wherein the message is in a Short Messaging Service (SMS) format and is transmitted to the plurality of mobile devices from a proxy telephone number.

### Claim 10

A dynamic alerting method in a facility, the method comprising:
ascertaining device locations of a plurality of mobile devices via a computing system in communication with a plurality of sensors configured to detect the plurality of mobile devices;
determining, via the computing system, that the device locations coincide with one or more areas within a facility including a plurality of physical objects;
grouping, via a computing system, a first set of mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices in a first group based on the device locations of the first set of mobile devices being in a first range of a first sensor of the plurality of sensors;
grouping, via a computing system, a second set of mobile devices of the plurality of mobile device in a second group based on the device locations of the second set of mobile devices being in a second range of a second sensor of the plurality of sensors;
generating, via a computing system, a message for each of the first and second groups, wherein the content of the message is different for each of the first and second group and includes information associated with at least one of the plurality of physical objects in the facility based on the one or more areas within the facility that coincide with the device locations of each of the first and second set of mobile devices; and
transmitting, via a computing system, each message to the first and second set of mobile devices in each of the first and second groups.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method in claim 10, further comprising:
detecting the plurality of mobile devices via at least one of a plurality of sensor disposed in the facility;
determining the device locations of the plurality of the mobile devices based on detection of the plurality of mobile devices by the at least one of the plurality of sensors;
encoding, via the at least one sensor, the device locations in electrical signals; and
transmitting, via the at least one sensor, the electrical signals to the computing system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method in claim 11, further comprising, decoding, via the computing system, the electrical signals to determine the device locations.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The method in claim 12, wherein the at least one of the plurality of physical objects is within a predetermined distance of the device locations.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The method in claim 10, further comprising generating, via the computing system, a messaging interface on a first subset of mobile devices of the first group and a second subset of the mobile devices in the second group second group of mobile devices in response to generating the message for each of the first and second groups.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method in claim 14, wherein communications between the first and second subset of mobile devices are established via the messaging interface.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method in claim 15, wherein the communications are associated with information associated with one or more physical objects.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method in claim 16, further comprising dynamically changing, via the computing system, the information associated with the at least one physical object based on the communications.

### Claim 18 (depends on 10)

The method in claim 10, wherein the message is in a Short Messaging Service (SMS) format and is transmitted to the plurality of mobile devices from a proxy telephone number.