System, method, and computer program for transmitting occupancy data from sensors to a remote server

1. A method for transmitting occupancy-related data from sensor to a remote server, the method comprising:

collecting occupancy-related data on a sensor;

periodically generating, by the sensor, a plurality of advertisement beacons with an identifier; adding, by the sensor, occupancy-related data payloads to the advertisement beacons; wirelessly broadcasting, by the sensor, the advertisement beacons with the occupancy-related data payloads and the identifier; scanning on mobile devices for advertisement beacons with the identifier, wherein the scanning occurs without user notice or interaction; and in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier on a mobile device, automatically uploading, by the mobile device, the advertisement beacon and the corresponding occupancy-related data payload to the remote server; wherein the advertisement beacon is uploaded without user interaction.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving the advertisement beacons on the server;

determining a location associated with each received advertisement beacon; and

calculating, by server, an occupancy estimate for a location over a period of time using the occupancy-related data payloads in the received advertisement beacons corresponding to the location.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the occupancy-related data comprises data related to one of the following sensed parameters in a location: infrared light, carbon dioxide, temperature, or light.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor buffers the occupancy-related data for a period of time and wherein the sensor rotates the occupancy-related data in the data payload to cover multiple time periods across the plurality of advertisement beacons.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein, to minimize power usage, the sensor transmits advertisement beacons less frequently when no activity is sensed and more frequently when activity is sensed.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement beacon is a BLE beacon.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning and uploading steps are performed by an application executing on the mobile device, and wherein the application is in a lower power mode when scanning and switches to a higher power method in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier.

8. A system for transmitting occupancy-related data from a sensor to a remote server, the system comprising:

a sensor having a non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor on the sensor, causes the sensor to perform the following method:

collecting occupancy-related data;

periodically generating a plurality of advertisement beacons with an identifier; adding occupancy-related data payloads to the advertisement beacons; and periodically broadcasting the advertisement beacons with the occupancy-related data payloads and the identifier;

and a mobile computing device having a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executing by the mobile computing device, enables the mobile computing device to perform the following method for receiving and forward communications from the sensor:

scanning for advertisement beacons with the identifier, wherein the scanning occurs without user notice or interaction; and in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier on a

mobile device, automatically uploading the advertisement beacon with the identifier and the occupancy-related data to a server, wherein the advertisement beacon and corresponding occupancy-related data is uploaded without user interaction.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:

a server having a second non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executed by the server, enables the server to perform the following method for receiving occupancy related data from the mobile computing device and determining the occupancy of a location, the method comprising:

receiving uploaded advertisement beacons;

determining a location associated with each received advertisement beacon; and

calculating an occupancy estimate for a location over a period of time using the occupancy-related data payloads in the received advertisement beacons corresponding to the location.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the occupancy-related data comprises data related to one of the following sensed parameters in a location: infrared light, carbon dioxide, temperature, or light.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the sensor buffers the occupancy-related data for a period of time and wherein the sensor rotates the occupancy-related data in the data payload to cover multiple time periods across the plurality of advertisement beacons.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein, to minimize power usage, the sensor transmits advertisement beacons less frequently when no activity is sensed and more frequently when activity is sensed.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the advertisement beacon is a BLE beacon.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the scanning and uploading steps are performed by an application executing on the mobile computing device, and wherein the application is in a lower power mode when scanning and switches to a higher power mode in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier.

15. A system for transmitting occupancy-related data from a sensor to a remote server, the system comprising:

a first non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor on the sensor, causes the sensor to perform the following method:

collecting occupancy-related data;

periodically generating a plurality of advertisement beacons with an identifier; adding occupancy-related data payloads to the advertisement beacons; and

periodically broadcasting the advertisement beacons with the occupancy-related data payloads and the identifier;

and

a second non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executing by a mobile computing device, enables the mobile computing device to perform the following method for receiving and forward communications from the sensor:

scanning for advertisement beacons with the identifier, wherein the scanning occurs without user notice or interaction; and in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier on a mobile computing device, automatically uploading the advertisement beacon with the identifier and the occupancy-related data to a server; wherein the advertisement beacon and corresponding occupancy-related data is uploaded without user interaction.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:

a second non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program that, when executed by the server, enables the server to perform the following method for receiving occupancy related data from the mobile computing device and determining the occupancy of a location, the method comprising: receiving uploaded advertisement beacons; and

determining the location associated with each received advertisement beacon;

calculating an occupancy estimate for the location over a period of time using the occupancy-related data payloads in the received advertisement beacons corresponding to the location.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the occupancy-related data comprises data related to one of the following sensed parameters in the location: infrared light, carbon dioxide, temperature, or light.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the sensor buffers the occupancy-related data for a period of time and wherein the sensor rotates the occupancy-related data in the data payload to cover multiple time periods across the plurality of advertisement beacons.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein, to minimize power usage, the sensor transmits advertisement beacons less frequently when no activity is sensed and more frequently when activity is sensed.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the advertisement beacon is a BLE beacon.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein the scanning and uploading steps are performed by an application executing on the mobile computing device, and wherein the application is in a lower power mode when scanning and switches to a higher power mode in response to detecting an advertisement beacon with the identifier.