Computing distances of devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9924322-B2
Application number	US-201313948871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2013
Priority date	Jul 23, 2013
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for ranking devices based on a distance from a merchant device. One of the methods includes displaying, in a point-of-sale system, a listing of buyers located proximate to the point-of-sale system, the buyers having indicated using their mobile devices a desire to pursue a financial transaction in association with the point-of-sale system. The point-of-sale system determines relative distances of the mobile devices of the buyers with respect to the point-of-sale system and arranges the displayed listing in the point-of-sale system based at least in part on the determined relative distances.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
displaying, in a point-of-sale system, a listing of buyers located proximate to the point-of-sale system, the buyers including a first buyer having indicated using a first mobile device a desire to pursue a financial transaction in association with the point-of-sale system and a second buyer having indicated using a second mobile device a desire to pursue a financial transaction in association with the point-of-sale system;
determining, by the point-of-sale system, relative distances of at least the first and second mobile devices of the first and second buyers with respect to the point-of-sale system, wherein the determining comprises:
assigning a location to the first mobile device;
determining a first distance of the first mobile device from the point-of-sale device based on the location of the first mobile device;
determining a second distance of the second mobile device from the point-of-sale system based at least in part on the first location and bi-directional signal strengths between the first mobile device and the second mobile device, the bi-directional signal strengths including a first signal strength of a first signal emitted by the first mobile device and received by the second mobile device in a first direction and a second signal strength of a second signal emitted by the second mobile device and received by the first mobile device in a second direction that is opposite the first direction, the determining the second distance comprising:
determining a first candidate location of the second mobile device based on the first signal strength; and
determining a second candidate location of the second mobile device based on the second signal strength;
determining a third distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the first candidate location;
determining a fourth distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the second candidate location;
assigning a first weight to the third distance to determine a first weighted distance, the first weight being determined at least in part based on a value of signal strength variability of the first mobile device;
assigning a second weight to the fourth distance to determine a second weighted distance, the second weight being determined at least in part based on a value of signal strength variability of the second mobile device; and
determining the second distance as a weighted average distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the first and second weighted distances; and arranging the displayed listing in the point-of-sale system based at least in part on the determined relative distances.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an indication that the first buyer has completed a purchase,
rearranging the displayed listing of the buyers in the point-of-sale system without the first buyer that has completed the purchase.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a location of a third mobile device based at least in part on a third signal strength between the first mobile device and the third mobile device and a fourth signal strength between the second mobile device and the third mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the first mobile device is a fixed device; and
adjusting at least one of the first weight or the second weight based at least in part on determining that the first mobile device is the fixed device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a fifth distance between the first location of the first mobile device and a location of a third mobile device based at least in part on a third signal strength between the first mobile device and the third mobile device and a fourth signal strength between the second mobile device and the third mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein determining the fifth distance comprises:
determining a value of a y-coordinate of the location of the third mobile device based at least in part on the third signal strength between the first mobile device and the third mobile device and the fourth signal strength between the second mobile device and the third mobile device;
determining a sixth distance between the second candidate location and one candidate location of the third mobile device having a positive y-coordinate;
determining a seventh distance between the second candidate location and another candidate location of the third mobile device having a negative y-coordinate; and
determining a sign of the y-coordinate of the location of the third mobile device based at least in part on comparing the sixth distance and the seventh distance.

7. A point-of-sale system comprising:
a display; and
one or more processors; and
one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
identifying a first customer having a first mobile device and a second customer having a second mobile device;
determining respective distances between each of the first mobile device and the second mobile device and the point-of-sale system, the determining comprising:
assigning a location to the first mobile device;
determining a first distance of the first mobile device from the point-of-sale system based on the location of the first mobile device; determining a second distance of the second mobile device from the point-of-sale device based at least in part on the first location and bi-directional signal strengths between the first mobile device and the second mobile device, the bi-directional signal strengths including a first signal strength of a first signal emitted by the first mobile device and received by the second mobile device in a first direction and a second signal strength of a second signal emitted by the second mobile device and received by the first mobile device in a second direction that is opposite the first direction, the determining the second distance comprising:
determining a first approximate location of the second mobile device based on the first signal strength; and
determining a second approximate location of the second mobile device based on the second signal strength;
determining a third distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the first approximate location;
determining a fourth distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the second approximate location;
assigning a first weight to the third distance to determine a first weighted distance, the first weight being determined at least in part based on a value of signal strength variability of the first mobile device;
assigning a second weight to the fourth distance to determine a second weighted distance, the second weight being determined at least in part based on a value of signal strength variability of the second mobile device; and
determining the second distance as a weighted average distance between the point-of-sale system and the second mobile device based at least in part on the first and second weighted distances; and providing, on the display, a ranking of the first and second customers according to the respective distances.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second customers have checked in to indicate their desire to pursue a purchase transaction with the point-of-sale system.

9. The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second customers are located within a threshold d

Assignees

• Square Inc

Inventors

• Post Daniel Jeffrey
• Chatterjee Shuvo

Classifications

• H04W4/025 Primary

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• G06Q30/0259

  based on store location · CPC title

• G06Q30/0261

  based on user location · CPC title

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title