Identifying user device status via rotating codes broadcast by a beacon device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10278006-B2
Application number	US-201715440973-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2017
Priority date	Feb 23, 2016
Publication date	Apr 30, 2019
Grant date	Apr 30, 2019

Abstract

A user enters a location with a user device. A beacon device broadcasts a first beacon device code comprising a hardware identifier via a local wireless network at the location. A service application of the user device receives the first beacon device hardware identifier, logs a check-in status of the user, and transmits the check-in status to a service provider system. The beacon device generates, after a predetermined period of time, a subsequent beacon device code comprising a random number to broadcast at the location via the local wireless network. In response to receiving the subsequent beacon device code broadcast by the beacon device, the user device logs and transmits a subsequent check in status to the service provider system via the network. The service provider system provides services to the user device or another device at the location in accordance with the check-in status of the user device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method to enable repeat checkin signals by user computing devices via periodically changing beacon device codes, comprising:
receiving, by a user computing device and from a beacon device at a location of a service provider system, a first beacon device code using an application operating in a background of an operating system of the user computing device;
in response to receiving the first beacon device code, transmitting, by the user computing device to one or more computing devices using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the user computing device, a first checkin signal comprising a user computing device identifier and a user account identifier associated with a user account;
at a time after receiving the first beacon device code, receiving, by the user computing device and from the beacon device, a second beacon device code using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the user computing device, wherein the second beacon device code is different from the first beacon device code; and
in response to receiving the second beacon device code, transmitting, by the user computing device to the one or more computing devices using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the user computing device, a second checkin signal comprising the user computing device identifier and the user account identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the first beacon device code, logging, by the user computing device, first location data of the user computing device and transmitting the first location data to the one or more computing devices along with the first checkin signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the second beacon device code, logging, by the user computing device, second location data of the user computing device and transmitting the second location data to the one or more computing devices along with the second checkin signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in response to receiving the first checkin signal, the one or more computing devices log a checkin status for the user account and a first timestamp.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein, in response to receiving the second checkin signal within a specified amount of time from the time of the first timestamp, the one or more computing devices log a checkin status for the user account.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first beacon device code comprises a first random number generated by the beacon device and wherein the second beacon device code comprises a second random number generated by the beacon device.

7. A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to enable repeat checkin signals by user computing devices via periodically changing beacon device codes, the computer-executable program instructions comprising:
computer-executable program instructions to receive, from a beacon device using an application operating in a background of the operating system of a computer, a first beacon device code;
in response to receiving the first beacon device code, computer-executable program instructions to transmit, to one or more computing devices using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the computer, a first checkin signal comprising a user computing device identifier and a user account identifier associated with a user account;
at a time after receiving the first beacon device code, computer-executable program instructions to receive, from the beacon device using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the computer, a second beacon device code, wherein the second beacon device code is different from the first beacon device code; and
in response to receiving the second beacon device code, computer-executable program instructions to transmit, to the one or more computing devices using the application operating in the background of the operating system of the computer, a second checkin signal comprising the user computing device identifier and the user account identifier.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising:
computer-executable program instructions to log, in response to receiving the first beacon device code, first location data of the user computing device; and
computer-executable program instructions to transmit the first location data to the one or more computing devices along with the first checkin signal.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising:
computer-executable program instructions to log, in response to receiving the second beacon device code, second location data of the user computing device; and
computer-executable program instructions to transmit the second location data to the one or more computing devices along with the second checkin signal.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein, in response to receiving the first checkin signal, the one or more computing devices log a checkin status for the user account and a first timestamp.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein, in response to receiving the second checkin signal within a specified amount of time from the time of the first timestamp, the one or more computing devices log a checkin status for the user account.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the first beacon device code comprises a first random number generated by the beacon device and wherein the second beacon device code comprises a second random number generated by the beacon device.

13. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the beacon device is located at a location of a service provider system.

14. A checkin system to enable repeat checkin signals by user computing devices via periodically changing beacon device codes, comprising:
a storage device; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the storage device, wherein the processor executes application code instructions that are stored in the storage device to cause the checkin system to:
receive, from a beacon device using an application operating in a background of an operating system of the checkin system, a first beacon device code;
in response to receiving the first beacon device code, transmit, to one or more computing devices using the application operating in a background of the operating system of the system, a first checkin signal comprising a user computing device identifier and a user account identifier associated with a user account;
at a time after receiving the first beacon device code, receive, from the beacon device using the application operating in a background of the operating system of the system, a second beacon device code, wherein the second beacon device code is different from the first beacon device code; and
in response to receiving the second beacon device code, transmit, to the one or more computing devices using the application operating in a background of the operating system of the system, a second checkin signal comprising the user computing device identifier and the user account identifier.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute application code instructions that are stored in the storage device to cause the system to:
log, in response to receiving the first beacon device code, first location data of the user computing device; and
transmit the first location da

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Chandrasekaran Sashikanth
• Palczewski Michal
• Chitilian Varouj

Classifications

• H04L67/146

  Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding · CPC title

• G01S1/04

  Details · CPC title

• G06Q20/405

  Establishing or using transaction specific rules · CPC title

• H04W4/30

  Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title