Proximal advertising using hand-held communication devices
View Patent ↗A system for commercial promotion has a first computerized appliance enabled for data reception on a close-proximity wireless local area network (LAN) having a limited effective range, and for providing received data in a human-understandable form to a user of the first appliance, and a second computerized appliance enabled for data transmission on the close-proximity wireless LAN and having access to a data repository storing promotional material. The first and the second computerized appliances establish a connection on the wireless LAN by virtue of proximity within the limited effective range, the second appliance transmits promotional material to the first appliance in response to the connection, and the first appliance renders the promotional material in human-understandable form for the user in response to receiving the promotional material.
1. A system for commerce, comprising:
an Internet-connected subscription server hosted by an enterprise, said server storing consumer profiles or accessing stored consumer profiles;
at least one Internet-connected computerized appliance and wireless LAN of at least one commercial business registered as a subscriber with the host of the Internet-connected server, the business selling one or more products or services; and
portable communication devices enabled to connect to the wireless LAN provided by the commercial business when within range of the wireless LAN, the portable communication devices in the possession of consumers, and configured to receive and download digital coupons from the at least one commercial business, when within range of the wireless LAN, the digital coupons having specific value related to one or more of the products or services wherein the products or services are determined according to preferences created by the consumer and stored at the enterprise;
said subscription server configured to match said consumer profiles with identification of said at least one commercial business, select one or more commercial businesses as matches, and to enable the receipt of said digital coupons only from the computerized appliances of one or more said commercial businesses matching preferences in the stored profiles of consumers.
2. A method for a commerce provider comprising:
(a) providing an Internet-connected subscription server;
(b) registering a commercial business at the Internet-connected subscription server selling one or more products or services, the business having an Internet-connected computerized appliance and a wireless LAN;
(c) registering a consumer at the Internet-connected subscription server, the consumer having a portable communication device enabled to connect to the wireless LAN provided by the commercial business when within range of the wireless LAN;
(d) storing a preference of products or services, configured by the consumer, at the Intenet-connectecd subscription server including at least selecting specific businesses to allow receipt of coupons at the consumer's portable communication device for products or services only from said selected businesses;
(e) identifying the consumer's portable communication device automatically when in range of the wireless LAN, matching the identity with a stored preference for the consumer; and
(f) providing the consumer an electronic coupon on the portable communication device via the wireless LAN from the commercial business according to the consumer's stored preferences.