Efficient and secure communication using wireless service identifiers

A mobile wireless device associated with an entity, the mobile wireless device comprising:

• a first radio for providing reception and transmission of data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memory devices storing a set of instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:
• configuring the first radio as a beacon transmitter;
• transmitting from the beacon transmitter, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmission have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier;
• wherein the particular beacon service identifier identifies a particular beacon location service in which:
• a) a detecting mobile device filters any of the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
• b) the detecting mobile device sends one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon location service comprising a respective unique identifier of each of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device;
• and,
• c) at least one server of the beacon location service is configured to receive the location reporting messages from the detecting mobile device and provide location information reports, so as to enable the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service from the mobile wireless device.

A mobile wireless device associated with an entity, the mobile wireless device comprising:

• a first radio for providing reception and transmission of data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors;
• wherein the first radio is configured as a beacon transmitter;
• wherein the beacon transmitter is configured to transmit, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmission have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier;
• wherein the particular beacon service identifier is configured to identify a particular beacon location service in which:
• a) a detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is configured to filter any of the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
• b) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is further configured to send one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon service comprising a respective unique identifier of each of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device;
• and,
• c) at least one server of the particular beacon location service is configured to receive the location reporting messages from the detecting mobile device and provide location information reports, so as to enable the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service from the mobile wireless device;
• wherein, during a first time period, a first plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a first MAC address and first unique identifier;
• during a second time period, a second plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a second MAC address in place of the first MAC address, and a second unique identifier in place of the first unique identifier;
• and,
• wherein the at least one server of the beacon location service is configured to provide a first location information report during the first time period based upon the first unique identifier and a second location information report during the second time period based upon the second unique identifier, so as to enable the entity associated the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of the locations associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon service during each of the first time period and the second time period.

A computer program product for installation in a non-volatile memory in a wireless device associated with an entity, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions that, when read from the non-volatile memory, and then executed by one or more processors in the wireless device, cause the wireless device to:

• configure a first radio as a beacon transmitter;
• transmit from the beacon transmitter, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmission have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier;
• wherein the particular beacon service identifier identifies a particular beacon location service in which:
• a) a detecting mobile device filters any of the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
• b) the detecting mobile device sends one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon location service comprising a respective unique identifier of each of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device;
• and,
• c) at least one server of the particular beacon location service is configured to receive the location reporting messages from the detecting mobile device and provide location information reports, so as to enable the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon service from the mobile wireless device;
• wherein during a first time period, a first plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a first MAC address and first unique identifier,
• wherein during a second time period, a second plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a second MAC address in place of the first MAC address, and a second unique identifier in place of the first unique identifier;
• and,
• wherein the at least one server of the beacon location service provides a first location information report during the first time period based upon the first unique identifier and a second location information report during the second time period based upon the second unique identifier, so as to enable the entity associated the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of the locations associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service during each of the first time period and the second time period.

A mobile wireless device associated with an entity, the mobile wireless device comprising:

• a first radio for providing reception and transmission of data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors;
• wherein the first radio is configured as a beacon transmitter;
• wherein the beacon transmitter is configured to transmit, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmissions have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier;
• wherein the particular beacon service identifier is configured to identify a particular beacon location service which enables the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by a server of a location of the mobile wireless device.

A mobile wireless device associated with an entity, the mobile wireless device comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors;
• means for transmitting and receiving data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
• wherein the means for transmitting and receiving is configured to transmit, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier, and (c) a beacon service identification means, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmission have the value of the beacon service identification means equal to a particular beacon service identification means;
• wherein the particular beacon service identification means is configured to identify a particular beacon location service in which:
• a) the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device,
• b) a detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is configured to filter any of the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identification means;
• c) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is further configured to send one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon service comprising a respective unique identifier of each of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device;
• and,
• d) at least one server of the particular beacon location service is configured to receive the location reporting messages from the detecting mobile device and provide location information reports, so as to enable the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service from the mobile wireless device;
• wherein, during a first time period, a first plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identification means includes a first MAC address and first unique identifier;
• during a second time period, a second plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identification means includes a second MAC address in place of the first MAC address, and a second unique identifier in place of the first unique identifier;
• and,
• wherein the at least one server of the beacon location service is configured to provide a first location information report during the first time period based upon the first unique identifier and a second location information report during the second time period based upon the second unique identifier, so as to enable the entity associated the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of the locations associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon service during each of the first time period and the second time period.