Facilitating wireless connections using a BLE beacon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9648652-B2
Application number	US-201414248273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2014
Priority date	Apr 8, 2014
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for facilitating wireless connections using a Bluetooth® low energy (BLE) beacon installed at a location. In particular, the provided systems and methods may facilitate wireless connections by providing credentials for accessing a wireless network at the location when a user checks in to the location using a user device in communication with the BLE beacon. The provided systems and methods may further facilitate wireless connections by establishing a Wi-Fi Direct connection with the user device to quickly provide content to the user device while at the location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more wireless transceivers;
a network interface component;
a non-transitory memory; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the one or more wireless transceivers, the network interface component, and the non-transitory memory, the one or more hardware processors being configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
determining whether content received from a remote server via the network interface component includes video or audio content; and
in response to a determination that the content includes the video or audio content:
sending credentials, for establishing a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection between the system and a user device on a first wireless network, to the user device using the one or more wireless transceivers and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications protocol on a second wireless network, the second wireless network being different from the first wireless network, the credentials comprising a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection;
establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection with the user device on the first wireless network using the credentials; and
sending the content to the user device using the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection on the first wireless network.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
broadcasting a broadcast identifier using the one or more wireless transceivers and the BLE communications protocol on the second wireless network; and
sending, using the one or more wireless transceivers and the BLE communications protocol on the second wireless network, metadata, a beacon token, and a digital signature in response to receiving, from a user device, a request to communicate with the user device, the metadata, beacon token, and digital signature being used to complete a check in at a location.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise sending, using the one or more wireless transceivers and the BLE communications protocol on the second wireless network, the credentials for accessing the first wireless network in the metadata.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein sending the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection occurs after a check in at a location is completed.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection further comprise a user name.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection is a Wi-Fi Direct connection.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the content comprises at least one of a video advertisement or an audio advertisement.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
receiving content from a remote server;
determining whether the content includes video or audio content;
in response to a determination that the content includes the video or audio content:
sending credentials, for establishing a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection with a user device on a first wireless network, to the user device using a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications protocol on a second wireless network, the credentials comprising a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection;
establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection with the user device on the first wireless network using the credentials, the second wireless network being different from the first wireless network; and
sending the content to the user device using the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection on the first wireless network.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
broadcasting a broadcast identifier on the second wireless network; and
sending metadata, a beacon token, and a digital signature in response to receiving a request to communicate with the user device, wherein the metadata, beacon token, and digital signature are for performing a check in at a location.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein sending the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection comprises sending the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection in the metadata.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection further comprise a user name.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection is a Wi-Fi Direct connection.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein sending the content comprises sending at least one of a video advertisement or an audio advertisement.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein sending the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection occurs after a check in at a location is completed.

15. A method for sending content to a user device, the method comprising:
receiving, via a network interface component, the content from a remote server;
determining, using one or more hardware processors, whether the content includes video or audio content; and
in response to a determination that the content includes the video or audio content:
sending credentials, for establishing a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection with the user device on a first wireless network, to the user device using a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications protocol on a second wireless network, the second wireless network being different from the first wireless network, the credentials comprising a Service Set Identifier (SSID) and a password for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection;
establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection with the user device on the first wireless network; and
sending the content to the user device using the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection on the first wireless network.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
broadcasting, using the BLE communications protocol on the second wireless network, a broadcast identifier; and
sending, using the BLE communications protocol on the second wireless network, metadata, a beacon token, and a digital signature in response to receiving a request to communicate with the user device, the metadata, beacon token, and digital signature being used to complete a check in at a location.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein sending the credentials for establishing the first wireless network comprises sending the credentials for accessing the first wireless network in the metadata.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein sending the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection occurs after a check in at a location is completed.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the credentials for establishing the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection comprises sending a user name.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection is a Wi-Fi Direct connection.

21. The method of claim 15 , wherein sending the content comprises sending at least one of a video advertisement or an audio advertisement.

Assignees

• Paypal Inc

Inventors

• Granbery John Hastings

Classifications

• H04L63/062

  for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819) · CPC title

• H04L63/0823

  using certificates (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263) · CPC title

• H04L63/0442

  wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30) · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W84/12 Primary

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title