Providing content to store visitors without requiring proactive information sharing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10872353-B2
Application number	US-201514968378-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2020
Grant date	Dec 22, 2020

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a user device including one or more processors, a signal pushed to the user device from an in-store device physically located in a store. The signal includes a first store identifier. The method further includes storing the first store identifier in memory. The method further includes receiving a content item from a third-party content provider device, the content item including a second store identifier. The third-party content provider device transmits the content item to a plurality of user devices within a geographic area around a location associated with the second store identifier. The method further includes providing the content item for display in response to determining the first store identifier matches the second store identifier. The content item is displayed without providing an indication of the presence of the user device at the store to the in-store device or to the third-party content provider device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a user device comprising one or more processors and a memory, a signal from an entity device physically located in a first entity, the signal including an entity identifier;
generating, by the user device, a list of entities including the first entity using the signal and the associated entity identifier, the first entity of the list of entities determined to have been within a predetermined distance from the user device based on the signal received by the user device from the entity device located within the first entity;
storing, by the one or more processors of the user device, the list of entities in the memory of the user device;
receiving, at the user device, a content item from a third-party content provider device or a content management system, the content item including a content item identifier, the third-party content provider device or the content management system configured to transmit the content item to a plurality of user devices including the user device that are within a geographic area around a location associated with the entity identified by the content item identifier;
storing, by the one or more processors of the user device, the content item and the content item identifier in the memory of the user device;
determining, by the one or more processors of the user device, whether the entity identified by the content item identifier matches one or more entities included in the list of entities; and
displaying, by the one or more processors of the user device, the content item responsive to the user device determining that the entity identified by the content item identifier matches the one or more entities included in the list of entities; or
discarding, by the one or more processors of the user device, responsive to the user device determining that the entity identified by the content item identifier does not match any of the one or more entities included in the list of entities, the content item from the memory of the user device without displaying the content item.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the user device, a second content item from a second third-party content provider device or the content management system, the second content item including a second content item identifier, the second third-party content provider device or the content management system configured to transmit the second content item to a second plurality of user devices within a second geographic area around a second location associated with the entity identified by the second content item identifier;
storing, by the one or more processors of the user device, the second content item and the second content item identifier in the memory of the user device;
comparing, by the one or more processors of the user device, the entity identified by the second content item identifier to the list of entities;
determining, by the one or more processors of the user device, that the entity identified by the second content item identifier does not match any of the one or more entities included in the list of entities; and
discarding, by the one or more processors of the user device, responsive to determining that the entity identified by the second content item identifier does not match any of the one or more entities included in the list of entities, the second content item from the memory of the user device without displaying the second content item.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the entity device comprises a wireless router.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the entity device comprises a beacon.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, at the user device, a user input for opting out of receiving content items; and
deleting all entity identifiers from the memory of the user device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the content item further comprises receiving, at the user device, the content item responsive to receipt by the third-party content provider device or the content management system of an input from an administrator device associated with the entity identified by the content item identifier.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the input from the administrator device comprises a beacon identifier.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the input from the administrator device comprises a media access control (MAC) address of a wireless router.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, by one or more processors of the user device, an indication that the content item was displayed on the user device to an analytics server, wherein the analytics server is configured to determine a number of impressions of the content item over the plurality of user devices.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the user device restricts information from which the analytics server can identify the user device or a user of the user device.

11. A system comprising:
a user device comprising one or more processors and a memory and configured to:
receive a signal from an entity device physically located in a first entity, the signal including an entity identifier;
generate a list of entities including the first entity using the signal and the associated entity identifier, the first entity of the list of entities determined to have been within a predetermined distance from the user device based on the signal received by the user device from the entity device located within the first entity;
store the list of entities in the memory of the user device;
receive a content item from a third-party content provider device or a content management system, the content item including a content item identifier, the third-party content provider device or the content management system configured to transmit the content item to a plurality of user devices including the user device that are within a geographic area around a location associated with the entity identified by the content item identifier;
store the content item and the content item identifier in the memory of the user device;
determine whether the entity identified by the content item identifier matches one or more entities included in the list of entities; and
display the content item responsive to the user device determining that the entity identified by the content item identifier matches the one or more entities included in the list of entities; or
discard, responsive to the user device determining that the entity identified by the content item identifier does not match any of the one or more entities included in the list of entities, the content item from the memory of the user device without displaying the content item.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the user device is further configured to:
receive a second content item from a second third-party content provider device or the content management system, the second content item including a second content item identifier, the second third-party content provider device or the content management system configured to transmit the second content item to a second plurality of user devices within a second geographic area around a second location associated with the entity identified by the second content item identifier;
store the second content item and the second content item identifier in the memory of the user device;
compare the second content item identifier to the list of entities;
determine that the entity identified by the second content item identifier does not match any of the one or more entities included in the list of entities; and
discard, responsive to determining that the entity identified by the second content item identifier does not

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Price Thomas
• Toksoz Tuna

Classifications

• G06Q30/0259

  based on store location · CPC title

• G06Q30/0269

  based on user profile or attribute · CPC title

• G06Q30/0255

  based on user history · CPC title

• G06Q30/0267

  Wireless devices · CPC title

• H04W4/33

  for indoor environments, e.g. buildings · CPC title