Efficient and secure communication using wireless service identifiers
Systems and methods are provided for reducing communications between servers and a mobile device and providing enhanced security and privacy to wireless beacon services. This can involve a broadcast device transmitting a beacon transmission using a short range wireless radio, such a Bluetooth or WiFi, and including a MAC address, a first unique identifier, and a beacon service identifier. The mobile device then selects one or more unique identifiers from received beacon transmissions, by filtering (that is, selecting) those beacon transmissions which include the beacon service identifier. The wireless device then takes further action, if the first unique identifier is present among the selected one or more unique identifiers, using stored information from the server. The stored information may be delivered to the wireless device in response to the wireless device sending the first unique identifier to a server, or the stored information may have been previously downloaded.
1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a server, from a first mobile wireless device, a first location reporting message, wherein the first location reporting message comprises information derived from a particular beacon transmission associated with a beacon location service, the particular beacon transmission having been transmitted by a second mobile wireless device and detected by the first mobile wireless device, wherein the first location reporting message includes:
i) a unique identifier of the particular beacon transmission or information derived from the unique identifier of the particular beacon transmission, and
ii) a location of the first mobile wireless device associated with the detection of the particular beacon transmission by the first mobile wireless device;
sending, by the server, a message so as to enable an entity associated with the second mobile wireless device to be informed of the location associated with the detection of the particular beacon transmission by the first mobile wireless device;
wherein the detection of the particular beacon transmission by the first mobile wireless device associated with the beacon location service includes the particular beacon transmission having been received by the first mobile wireless device utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol and transmitted by the second mobile wireless device, wherein the particular beacon transmission was unsolicited and includes (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of the particular beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location at which the particular beacon transmission occurred, and (c) a beacon service identifier identifying a service not accessible via the Bluetooth wireless protocol, and wherein the beacon service identifier of the particular beacon transmission had the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier identifying the beacon location service; and,
wherein the particular beacon service identifier identifies the beacon location service in which a detecting device:
a) filters beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
b) sends at least one location reporting message to the server associated with the beacon location service utilizing a cellular communications protocol or wireless local area communications protocol, based upon at least one of the filtered beacon transmissions, in which the at least one location reporting message comprises:
i) a unique identifier of the at least one filtered beacon transmission or information derived from the unique identifier of the at least one filtered beacon transmission, and
ii) a location of a detecting mobile wireless device associated with the detection of the at least one filtered beacon transmission by the detecting mobile wireless device, and
wherein both the MAC address and the unique identifier values for beacon transmissions having the particular beacon service identifier value from a particular transmitting device change values over time, while the particular beacon service identifier value remains the same.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile wireless device is a cellular phone.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC address is a pseudorandom value.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the MAC address is not usable as an address in transmissions to be received by the second mobile wireless device using the Bluetooth wireless protocol.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second mobile wireless device is configured to operate in a broadcast only mode of operation in connection with the beacon location service.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon service identifier of each filtered beacon transmission identifies a wireless beacon service in which the unique identifier is relevant to stored information relating to an entity or object associated with a transmitter of a filtered beacon transmission.
7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising storing the stored information at the server.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile wireless device further comprises:
a first radio for at least one of cellular communications and wireless local area communications and a second radio for communications using the Bluetooth wireless protocol; and wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, by the server, from a second detecting mobile wireless device, a second location reporting message comprising second information derived from a second particular beacon transmission associated with the beacon location service, the particular beacon transmission having been transmitted by the first mobile wireless device and detected by the second detecting mobile wireless device, wherein the second location reporting message includes:
i) a unique identifier of the second particular beacon transmission or information derived from the unique identifier of the second particular beacon transmission, and
ii) a location of the second detecting mobile wireless device associated with the detection of the second particular beacon transmission by the second detecting mobile wireless device;
wherein the second radio of the first mobile wireless device operates as a beacon transmitter;
the first mobile wireless device being further configured to perform:
transmitting from the beacon transmitter of the second radio, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a second plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the second mobile wireless device, and (c) a second beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the second plurality of beacon transmissions have the value of the second beacon service identifier equal to a second particular beacon service identifier;
wherein the second particular beacon service identifier identifies the beacon location service.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein,
during a first time period, a first plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a first MAC address and a first unique identifier;
during a second time period, a second plurality of the beacon transmissions including the particular beacon service identifier includes a second MAC address in place of the first MAC address, and a second unique identifier in place of the first unique identifier; and,
the server providing a first location information report during the first time period based upon the first unique identifier and a second location information report during the second time period based upon the second unique identifier, so as to enable the entity associated with the second mobile wireless device to be informed by the server of the locations associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon service during each of the first time period and the second time period.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the second radio of the first mobile wireless device is configured to operate in a broadcast only mode of operation.
11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the first mobile wireless device is further configured to transmit at least one additional beacon transmission containing at least one additional beacon service identifier, wherein the at least one beacon service identifier of is associated with at least one of the following services:
a) a file transfer service to a device in proximity associated with an entity, and
b) a service to provide access to a device located in proximity to the mobile wireless device.
12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile wireless device is further configured to transmit at least one additional beacon transmission containing at least one additional beacon service identifier, wherein the at least one additional beacon service identifier of is associated with at least one of the following services:
a) providing an access code; and
b) a service to provide stored information, wherein the service includes receiving a request for approval to share stored information, and, upon approval of the request to share stored information, sharing the stored information, wherein the information comprises an access code.
13 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining, by the server, that the second mobile wireless device is being detected by the first mobile wireless device for the first time; and
performing, by the server, a first action based on a determination that the detection is for the first time.
14 . A method comprising:
receiving, by at least one server of a particular beacon location service which is configured to receive location reporting messages from a detecting mobile device and provide location information reports, so as to enable an entity associated with a mobile wireless device to be informed by the at least one server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service from the mobile wireless device;
providing, by the at least one server of the particular beacon location service, a first location information report during a first time period based upon a first unique identifier and a second location information report during a second time period based upon a second unique identifier, so as to enable the entity associated the mobile wireless device to be informed by the at least one server of the locations associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service during each of the first time period and the second time period;
wherein the mobile wireless device comprises:
a first radio for providing reception and transmission of data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors;
wherein the first radio is configured as a beacon transmitter;
wherein the beacon transmitter is configured to transmit, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmissions have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier in which the unique identifier is relevant to stored information relating to an entity or object associated with a transmitter of a respective beacon transmission;
wherein the value of the MAC address and the value of the unique identifier changes over time for beacon transmissions having a same particular beacon service identifier value from the beacon transmitter using the Bluetooth wireless protocol;
wherein the particular beacon service identifier is configured to identify the particular beacon location service in which:
a) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is configured to filter the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
b) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is further configured to send one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon location service comprising a respective unique identifier of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device;
wherein the first unique identifier and the second unique identifier are transmitted by the mobile wireless device within the plurality of beacon transmissions; and
wherein the beacon transmissions are unsolicited transmissions.
15 . A method comprising:
receiving, by at least one server of a particular beacon location service, at least one location reporting message from a detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service;
providing, by the at least one server, location information reports, so as to enable an entity associated with a mobile wireless device to be informed by the at least one server of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon location service from the mobile wireless device,
wherein the mobile wireless device comprises a first radio for providing reception and transmission of data utilizing a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
one or more processors; and
one or more memory devices coupled to the one or more processors;
wherein the first radio is configured as a beacon transmitter;
wherein the beacon transmitter is configured to transmit, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a plurality of beacon transmissions each of the beacon transmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmission is a numeric value which does not directly identify a location of the mobile wireless device, and (c) a beacon service identifier, and wherein one or more of the beacon transmissions of the plurality of beacon transmissions have the value of the beacon service identifier equal to a particular beacon service identifier in which the unique identifier is relevant to stored information relating to an entity or object associated with a transmitter of a respective beacon transmission;
wherein the value of the MAC address and the value of the unique identifier changes over time for beacon transmissions having a same particular beacon service identifier value from a particular beacon transmitter device using a Bluetooth wireless protocol;
wherein the particular beacon service identifier is configured to identify the particular beacon location service which enables the entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the at least one server of the location of the mobile wireless device;
wherein the particular beacon location service identified by the particular beacon service identifier is one in which:
a) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is configured to filter the plurality of beacon transmissions which were received having the particular beacon service identifier;
b) the detecting mobile device associated with the particular beacon location service is further configured to send one or more location reporting messages to a server associated with the particular beacon location service comprising a respective unique identifier of the filtered beacon transmissions or information derived from the respective unique identifier and a respective location of the detecting mobile device, and further wherein the beacon transmissions are unsolicited transmissions.
16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the mobile wireless device is capable of operating in a broadcast only mode of operation.
17 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising,
receiving, by the at least one server, location reporting messages from the detecting mobile device utilizing a second radio, wherein the location reporting messages comprise a unique identifier or information derived from the unique identifier derived from the beacon transmissions of the mobile wireless device, and a location of the detecting mobile device, so as to enable an entity associated with the mobile wireless device to be informed by the server, of a location associated with detection of beacon transmissions associated with the particular beacon service from the detecting mobile device;
the detecting mobile device being further configured to:
utilize the second radio for at least one of cellular communications and wireless local area communications and wherein the detecting mobile device being further configured to receive beacon transmissions utilizing the first radio and including the particular beacon service identifier transmitted from a second mobile wireless device utilizing the Bluetooth wireless protocol.
18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the detecting mobile device is further configured to transmit at least one additional beacon transmission containing at least one additional beacon service identifier, wherein the at least one additional beacon service identifier of is associated with at least one of the following services:
a) a file transfer service to a device in proximity associated with an entity, and
b) a service to provide access to a device located in proximity to the mobile wireless device.
19 . The method of claim 17 further comprising:
determining, by the at least one server, that the mobile wireless device is being detected by the detecting mobile device for the first time; and
performing, by the at least one server, a first action based on a determination that the detection is for the first time.
20 . The method of claim 19 further comprising:
performing, by the at least one server, a second action based on a determination that the detection is not for the first time.