Ability to interact with passive beacon receiver devices in a short-range wireless beacon communication system

Abstract

A beacon transmitter device (BTD.sub.1; 700; 900) is disclosed. The beacon transmitter device comprises a controller (710; 910) and a short-range wireless beacon transmitter (732; 932). The controller is configured to cause a first transmission (S12) of a short-range wireless beacon signal (BA.sub.1) by the beacon transmitter, the beacon signal identifying a beacon region. The controller is also configured to wait during a beacon delay time period (BDTP), and then cause a second transmission (S32) of the short-range wireless beacon signal (BA.sub.1) by the beacon transmitter. The beacon delay time period (BDTP) is sufficiently long to allow a short-range wireless beacon receiver device (P.sub.1), when being in a passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to receive and react (S34) on the second transmission of the beacon signal.

Claims

1. A beacon communication system comprising a plurality of beacon transmitter devices, each beacon transmitter device comprising a controller and a short-range wireless beacon transmitter, the controller being configured to cause a first transmission of a short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, the beacon signal identifying a beacon region, wait during a beacon delay time period, and cause a second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, wherein the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal causes a short-range wireless beacon receiver device, when being in a passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and receiving the first transmission of the beacon signal, to: report to an external device that it has entered into the beacon region, then enter into a deafened-out state in which the beacon receiver device will not be capable of reacting to subsequent transmissions of the beacon signal, then once the deafened-out state has ended report an exit event to the external device; and wherein the beacon delay time period is defined to last at least as long as the deafened-out state of the beacon receiver device, the beacon delay time period being sufficiently long to allow the short-range wireless beacon receiver device, when being in the passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to receive and react on the second transmission of the beacon signal, wherein the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal, the waiting during the beacon delay time period, and the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal occur essentially concurrently at the respective beacon transmitter devices, each beacon transmitter device having a communication interface for data communication, and wherein: the controller of each beacon transmitter device is further configured to: obtain a current time value from either a local clock provided in the beacon transmitter device or an external time keeping service accessible via the communication interface; determine whether the obtained time value indicates that at least a time corresponding to the beacon delay time period has elapsed since the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter; and if the determination is affirmative, cause the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter.

2. The beacon communication system according to claim 1, wherein the beacon delay time period is defined to be at least equal to an expected duration it would take for the short-range wireless beacon receiver device, after having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to become capable of receiving and reacting on the second transmission of the beacon signal.

3. The beacon communication system according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to operate on a periodic basis, such that after the transmission of the second transmission of the beacon signal, the controller waits during the beacon delay time period and then causes a third transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, and so on.

4. The beacon communication system according to claim 1, wherein the controller of each beacon transmitter device is configured, when the determination is affirmative, to terminate the beacon delay time period and thus cause the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter.

5. A beacon communication system comprising a plurality of beacon transmitter devices, each beacon transmitter device comprising a controller and a short-range wireless beacon transmitter, the controller being configured to cause a first transmission of a short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, the beacon signal identifying a beacon region, wait during a beacon delay time period, and cause a second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, wherein the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal causes a short-range wireless beacon receiver device, when being in a passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and receiving the first transmission of the beacon signal, to: report to an external device that it has entered into the beacon region, then enter into a deafened-out state in which the beacon receiver device will not be capable of reacting to subsequent transmissions of the beacon signal, then once the deafened-out state has ended report an exit event to the external device; and wherein the beacon delay time period is defined to last at least as long as the deafened-out state of the beacon receiver device, the beacon delay time period being sufficiently long to allow the short-range wireless beacon receiver device, when being in the passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to receive and react on the second transmission of the beacon signal, wherein the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal, the waiting during the beacon delay time period, and the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal occur essentially concurrently at the respective beacon transmitter devices, the beacon communication system further comprising an external device, each beacon transmitter device having a communication interface for data communication, wherein: the external device is configured to periodically send beacon transmission synchronization signals to the beacon transmitter devices; and wherein the controller of each beacon transmitter device is further configured to: receive a first beacon transmission synchronization signal from the external device via the communication interface; cause the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter; receive a second beacon transmission synchronization signal from the external device via the communication interface; and cause the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter.

6. The beacon communication system according to claim 5, wherein the beacon delay time period is defined to be at least equal to an expected duration it would take for the short-range wireless beacon receiver device, after having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to become capable of receiving and reacting on the second transmission of the beacon signal.

7. The beacon communication system according to claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to operate on a periodic basis, such that after the transmission of the second transmission of the beacon signal, the controller waits during the beacon delay time period and then causes a third transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter, and so on.

8. The beacon communication system according to claim 5, wherein the controller of each beacon transmitter device is configured, in response to receiving the second beacon transmission synchronization signal, to terminate the beacon delay time period and thus cause the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a basic short-range wireless beacon system having at least one static-location beacon transmitter device and a plurality of mobile devices acting as beacon receivers.

(2) FIGS. 1C-1D illustrate an alternative short-range wireless beacon system having a plurality of mobile devices acting as beacon transmitters as well as beacon receivers.

(3) FIGS. 2A-B illustrate a general method according to the invention of operating a short-range wireless beacon communication system with improved ability to interact with passive beacon receiver devices, and an associated schematic timeline diagram.

(4) FIGS. 3A-3C are illustrations of a chain of events occurring in a beacon system comprising a beacon transmitter device generally designed according to an embodiment of the system in FIG. 1A when being subjected to the operating method of FIG. 2A.

(5) FIG. 4 is a schematic timeline diagram which illustrates an embodiment which can be seen as an extension of FIG. 2B.

(6) FIGS. 5A-5C are illustrations of a chain of events occurring in a beacon communication system comprising a plurality of beacon transmitter devices.

(7) FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic views of a mobile communication device according to two respective embodiments.

(8) FIG. 7 is a schematic view of components of the mobile communication device in FIG. 6A or 6B.

(9) FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a computer-readable medium.

(10) FIG. 9 is a schematic view of components of a beacon transmitter device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(11) The disclosed embodiments will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which certain embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

(12) FIG. 2A illustrates a general method according to the invention of operating a short-range wireless beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 with improved ability to interact with passive beacon receiver devices. FIG. 2B is a schematic timeline diagram for an embodiment of the method in FIG. 2A. Elements in FIG. 2B which contain the same reference numerals Snn as in FIG. 1B have essentially the same function as already described in the Background section for FIG. 1B, and the description of them is not repeated.

(13) The beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 may be a stationary beacon transmitter device generally of the kind shown in FIGS. 1A-B, or a mobile beacon transmitter device generally of the kind shown in FIGS. 1C-D, however improved in an inventive way which will now be explained. Exemplary implementations of the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 are described later in this document with reference to FIGS. 7 and 9.

(14) In a first step 210 in FIG. 2A, the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 makes a first transmission of a short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1. This is seen at step S12 in FIG. 2B. The beacon signal BA.sub.1 identifies a beacon region, as has been described in the Background section of this document. The transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1 may preferably made by a short-range wireless beacon transmitter of the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, the transmitter being implemented, for instance, by a first communication interface 732 of a wireless communication means 730 as seen in FIG. 7, or being implemented, for instance, by a first communication interface 932 of a wireless communication means 930 as seen in FIG. 9. The transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1 may be caused by a controller of the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, the controller being implemented, for instance, by a controller 710 as seen in FIG. 7, or being implemented, for instance, by a controller 910 as seen in FIG. 9.

(15) In a second step 220 in FIG. 2A, (the controller of) the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 waits during a beacon delay time period BDTP. This is seen at S18 in FIG. 2B. The beacon delay time period BDTP is sufficiently long to allow a short-range wireless beacon receiver device P.sub.1, when being in a passive mode, being in range of the beacon region and having received the first transmission of the beacon signal, to receive and react (see S34 in FIG. 2B) on a second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1. The short-range wireless beacon receiver device P.sub.1 is typically a passive mobile device generally of the kind shown in and described above for FIGS. 1A-D.

(16) Hence, the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 makes no further transmissions of the beacon signal BA.sub.1 during the beacon delay time period BDTP, which is selected, chosen, designed or otherwise defined to last at least as long as the deafened out state S20 of the passive mobile device P.sub.1 This is in contrast to the frequent subsequent transmissions of the beacon signal at steps S22, S24, . . . , in the prior art according to FIG. 1B.

(17) Then, after the waiting step 220, in a third step 230 in FIG. 2A, the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 makes a subsequent second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1, see step S32 in FIG. 2B. Again, the transmission may be caused by the aforementioned controller.

(18) Thanks to the waiting in step 220/S18 during the beacon delay time period BDTP, the subsequent second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1 willas seen at S32 in FIG. 2Boccur when the deafened out state S20 of the passive mobile device P.sub.1 has ended and a new beacon scanning period S30 of the monitoring has commenced. This will allow the short-range wireless beacon receiver device P.sub.1 to receive and react (step S34) on the second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1, for instance in the same way or a way similar to how it reacted on the first transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1.

(19) As will be understood from the above, the beacon delay time period BDTP is advantageously defined to be at least equal to an expected duration it would take for the short-range wireless beacon receiver device P.sub.1, after having received a first transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1, to become capable of receiving and reacting on a subsequent second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1.

(20) FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate what happens to the beacon system as seen in FIG. 1A (the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 being the stationary beacon transmitter device B.sub.1) or FIG. 1C (the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 being the mobile device A.sub.1) when subjected to the operating method of FIG. 2A. The situation in step 210 is represented by FIG. 3A; the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 makes the first transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1. Active mobile device A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A.sub.3 and passive mobile device P.sub.1 may receive and react upon the beacon signal BA.sub.1, and passive mobile device P.sub.1 will then be deafened out for some time as previously discussed. The situation in step 220 is represented by FIG. 3B. Here, the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 suspends transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal during the beacon delay time period BDTP.

(21) The situation in step 230 is represented by FIG. 3C where the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 resumes transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal. Thanks to the waiting during the beacon delay time period BDTP, the subsequent second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1 in FIG. 3C is likely to occur when the passive mobile device P.sub.1 is no longer deafened out.

(22) In one embodiment, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 is configured to operate on a periodic basis, such that after the transmission of the second transmission of the beacon signal BA.sub.1, the controller will wait during the beacon delay time period BDTP and then cause a third transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1 by the beacon transmitter, and so on.

(23) The duration of the beacon delay time period BDTP may be configurable. In one embodiment, this may be done by the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 receiving beacon delay control data BDCD from an external device (such as a service provider SP or a system server SS) via a communication interface. See 310 in FIG. 3A. The communication interface may, for instance, be implemented by a second communication interface 734 of the wireless communication means 730 as seen in FIG. 7, or by a second communication interface 934 of the wireless communication means 930 as seen in FIG. 9.

(24) The (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 will derive a timer value from the received beacon delay control data, and set the duration of the beacon delay time period BDTP to the derived timer value.

(25) In an alternative embodiment, the duration of the beacon delay time period BDTP is not fixed a priori. Instead, the end of the beacon delay time period BDTP may be controlled from an external device (such as the service provider SP or the system server SS) via the aforementioned communication interface. See 320 in FIG. 3B. The (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 will receive a beacon transmission resumption command BTRC from the external device. In response, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 will terminate the beacon delay time period BDTP and cause the second transmission of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1 by the beacon transmitter.

(26) In yet an alternative embodiment, the duration of the beacon delay time period BDTP is not fixed a priori. Instead, the end of the beacon delay time period BDTP may be controlled by the beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 by enquiring an external device (such as the service provider SP or the system server SS) via the aforementioned communication interface. This is illustrated in FIG. 4 which can be seen as an extension of FIG. 2B (again, the same reference numerals represent essentially the same elements/functionality).

(27) In FIG. 4, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 sends in step S21 an inquiry Enq_heard (BTD.sub.1) to the external device SS, SP via the communication interface. The inquiry is sent during the beacon delay time period BDTP.

(28) In response, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 receives in step S23 a response Resp_heard from the external device SS, SP via the communication interface.

(29) The (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 then determines whether the received response indicates presence of at least one short-range wireless beacon receiver device, being in the passive mode, having received the first transmission S12 of the beacon signal BA.sub.1, having reported S14 an entry event for the beacon region as identified by the beacon signal BA.sub.1 to the external device SS, SP but not having reported an exit event for the beacon region to the external device.

(30) If the determination is affirmative, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 continues the beacon delay time period BDTP. This is seen for the received inquiry response Resp_heard (BTD.sub.1, P.sub.1, NoExit) in step S23 of FIG. 4. The beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 is hence informed that there is indeed a passive mobile device P.sub.1 which has reported an entry event but not an exit event for the monitored beacon region. The beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 may thus conclude that the passive mobile device P.sub.1 is probably deafened out and that the beacon delay time period BDTP should continue.

(31) The passive mobile device P.sub.1 then reports an exit event to the external device SS, SP in step S26, and the external device SS, SP registers this in step S28, as previously described.

(32) The (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 then sends in step S29 another inquiry Enq_heard (BTD.sub.1) to the external device SS, SP via the communication interface. The inquiry is still sent during the beacon delay time period BDTP.

(33) In response, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 receives in step S31 a response Resp_heard from the external device SS, SP via the communication interface.

(34) The (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 then determines whether the received response indicates presence of at least one short-range wireless beacon receiver device, being in the passive mode, having received the first transmission S12 of the beacon signal BA.sub.1, and having reported an entry event S14 as well as an exit event S26 for the beacon region as identified by the beacon signal BA.sub.1 to the external device SS, SP.

(35) If the determination is affirmative, the (controller of the) beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 terminates the beacon delay time period BDTP, and causes the second transmission S32 of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1 by the beacon transmitter 732; 932. This is seen for the received inquiry response Resp_heard (BTD.sub.1, P.sub.1, ExitDone) in step S31 of FIG. 4. The beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 is hence informed that there is indeed a passive mobile device P.sub.1 which has reported an entry event as well as an exit event for the monitored beacon region. The beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1 may thus conclude that the passive mobile device P.sub.1 is not deafened out anymore and that the beacon delay time period BDTP should be terminated.

(36) A beacon communication system may comprise a plurality of beacon transmitter devices, each essentially operating as has been described above. FIGS. 5A-C illustrates one embodiment of such a beacon communication system, comprising three beacon transmitter devices BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 (the number of beacon transmitter devices in a beacon communication system may of course be less than or more than three depending on implementation). The beacon transmitter devices BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 are operative to transmit short-range wireless beacon signals BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 and BA.sub.3. The first transmission 210 of the respective short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 or BA.sub.3, the waiting 220 during the beacon delay time period BDTP, and the second transmission 230 of the respective short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 or BA.sub.3 occur essentially concurrently at the beacon transmitter devices BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 and BA.sub.3.

(37) This is beneficial, since it will reduce the risk that a passive mobile device in range of the beacon region (but not shown in FIGS. 5A-C for reasons of brevity) would be deafened out to an extent where it could not be reached for a long time after it detected the first transmission 210 of one of the short-range wireless beacon signals, because the first transmissions 210 of the other short-range wireless beacon signals would in effect prolong the deafened out period (if the passive mobile device stays within the beacon region).

(38) To this end, in one embodiment an external device such as a server SS, SP is configured to periodically send a beacon transmission synchronization signal BTSS to the beacon transmitter devices BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3. More specifically, the aforementioned controller 710, 910 of each beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 is configured to receive a first beacon transmission synchronization signal BTSS from the external device SS, SP via the aforementioned communication interface. This is seen at 510 in FIG. 5A. In response, the controller of each beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 is configured to cause the aforementioned first transmission 210 of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 or BA.sub.3 by the beacon transmitter 732; 932.

(39) The beacon transmitter devices BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 will then wait 220 during a beacon delay time period BDTP in which no beacon signals BA.sub.1, BA.sub.2 or BA.sub.3 are sent. This is seen in FIG. 5B.

(40) The end of the beacon delay time period BDTP will not need to be defined a priori. Instead, the controller of each beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 is configured to receive a second beacon transmission synchronization signal BTSS from the external device SS, SP via the communication interface, and in response cause the second transmission 230 of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter 732; 932 as seen in FIG. 5Cthereby in effect ending the beacon delay time period BDTP.

(41) In one embodiment, the beacon transmission synchronization signal BTSS can implement the beacon transmission resumption command BTRC which has been described above for FIG. 3B.

(42) As an alternative to external synchronization, the beacon transmitter devices BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 can themselves keep track of the duration of the beacon delay time period BDTP by using a current time value. In such an embodiment, the controller 710, 910 of each beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 may be configured to obtain a current time value from either a local clock provided in the beacon transmitter device or an external time keeping service accessible via the communication interface. If local clocks are used, they should be synchronized by some available means, such as a common time reference accessible via the communication interface.

(43) The controller 710, 910 of each beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 may further be configured to determine whether the obtained time value indicates that at least a time corresponding to the beacon delay time period BDTP has elapsed since the first transmission 210 of the short-range wireless beacon signal BA.sub.1-BA.sub.3 by the beacon transmitter 732, 932. If the determination is affirmative, the controller will cause the second transmission 230 of the short-range wireless beacon signal by the beacon transmitter.

(44) One exemplary but beneficial use of a synchronized beacon communication system according to the invention is to track the movement of mobile devices (including passive mobile devices) as they are carried around in a shop, mall, sports arena, etc. Every time the first or second transmission of the beacon signals BA.sub.1-BA.sub.3 occurs from a beacon transmitter device BTD.sub.1, BTD.sub.2, BTD.sub.3 in the beacon region, the mobile devices may report this to an external device such as the server SS, SP. By using information obtained by beacon ranging, the external device may then determine a current relative location of each mobile device in the shop, mall, sports arena, etc. (for instance by triangulation), and in response take appropriate action. Such action may for instance involve offering the individual mobile device a customized content depending on the current relative location of the mobile device, its movement behavior, etc.

(45) FIGS. 6A and 6B generally show a mobile, or wireless, communication device 600 which may implement any of the mobile devices A.sub.1-A.sub.3, P.sub.1 referred to above. Referring to FIG. 6A, the wireless communication device is a mobile telecommunications terminal in the form of a smartphone or a tablet computer (arranged with a wireless communication interface), comprising a housing 610 in which a display 620 is arranged. In one embodiment the display 620 is a touch display. In other embodiments the display 620 is a non-touch display. Furthermore, the smartphone 600 comprises two keys 630a, 630b. In this embodiment there are two keys 630, but any number of keys is possible and depends on the design of the smartphone 600.

(46) In one embodiment the smartphone 600 is configured to display and operate a virtual key 635 on the touch display 620. It should be noted that the number of virtual keys 635 depends on the design of the smartphone 600 and an application that is executed on the smartphone 600. The smartphone 600 may also be equipped with a camera 660. The camera 660 may be a digital camera that is arranged to take video or still photographs by recording images on an electronic image sensor (not shown). In one embodiment the camera 660 may be an external camera. In one embodiment the camera may alternatively be replaced by a source providing an image stream. The smartphone 600 may also be equipped with a loudspeaker 640 and a microphone 645.

(47) Referring to FIG. 6B, a laptop computer 600 comprises a display 620 and a housing 610. The housing comprises a controller or CPU (not shown) and one or more computer-readable storage media (not shown), such as storage units and internal memory. Examples of storage units are disk drives or hard drives. The laptop computer 600 further comprises at least one data port. Data ports can be wired and/or wireless. Examples of data ports are USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports, Ethernet ports or WiFi (according to IEEE standard 802.11) ports. Data ports are configured to enable the laptop computer 600 to connect with other computing devices or a server.

(48) The laptop computer 600 further comprises at least one input unit such as a keyboard 630. Other examples of input units are computer mice, touch pads, touch screens or joysticks, to name a few.

(49) The laptop computer 600 may further be equipped with a camera 660. The camera 660 may be a digital camera that is arranged to take video or still photographs by recording images on an electronic image sensor (not shown). In one embodiment the camera 660 may be an external camera. In one embodiment the camera may alternatively be replaced by a source providing an image stream. The laptop computer 600 may also be equipped with a loudspeaker 640 and a microphone 645. The wireless communication device 600 according to FIG. 6A or FIG. 6B may be configured to detect and track an object, for instance a hand of a user, via the camera 660.

(50) FIG. 7 shows a schematic view of the general structure of a communication device according to FIG. 6A or FIG. 6B. The device 700 comprises a controller 710 which is responsible for the overall operation of the wireless communication device 700 and is preferably implemented by any commercially available CPU (Central Processing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or any other electronic programmable logic device. The controller 710 is configured to read instructions from a memory 740 and execute these instructions to control the operation of the wireless communication device 200. The memory 740 may be implemented using any commonly known technology for computer-readable memories such as ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM, CMOS, FLASH, DDR, SDRAM or some other memory technology. The memory 740 is used for various purposes by the controller 710, one of them being for storing application data and program instructions 750 for various software modules in the wireless communication device 700. The software modules may include a real-time operating system, drivers for a user interface 720, an application handler as well as various applications 750.

(51) The wireless communication device 700 further comprises the user interface 720, which in the devices 700 of FIGS. 6A and 6B is comprised of the display 620 and the keys 630, 635. The user interface may also comprise the microphone 645 and the loudspeaker 644.

(52) The wireless communication device 700 further comprises wireless communication means 730, which is adapted to allow the wireless communication device 700 to communicate with other devices through the use of different radio frequency technologies. More specifically, the wireless communication means 730 comprises a first communication interface 732 for short-range wireless beacon broadcast messaging. The first communication interface 732 may implement the short-range wireless beacon transmitter as referred to previously in this document and may, advantageously, be implemented as an iBeacon and/or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)/Bluetooth 4.0 compliant communication interface.

(53) Moreover, the wireless communication means 730 comprises a second communication interface 734 for communicating with a server like the system server SS and/or the service provider SP via the communication network NW. The communication with the server typically occurs at a substantially higher bandwidth than the short-range wireless beacon broadcast messaging. The server may be a standalone computing resource external to the wireless communication device 700, a cloud-based (distributed) computing resource, or, in alternative embodiments, implemented at least partly in and by the wireless communication device 700. The second communication interface 734 may, advantageously, be implemented as a communication interface compliant with IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, ZigBee, WirelessHART, WiFi, Bluetooth, WCDMA, HSPA, GSM, UTRAN, UMTS, and LTE, to name a few. It should be noted that, as is commonly known, the wireless communication means 730 may be arranged to communicate according to more than one technology and many different combinations may therefore be available; for example, a smartphone is commonly arranged to communicate according to the Bluetooth standard, the WiFi standard and the LTE standard.

(54) The wireless communication device 700 is further equipped with a camera 760. The camera 760 is a digital camera that is arranged to take video or still photographs by recording images on an electronic image sensor (not shown). The camera 760 is operably connected to the controller 710 to provide the controller with a video stream 765, i.e. the series of images captured, for further processing possibly for use in and/or according to one or several of the applications 750. In one embodiment the camera 760 is an external camera or source of an image stream.

(55) FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of the general structure of a communication device 900 which may implement any of the beacon transmitter devices B.sub.1 or B.sub.1 as described herein. The device 900 comprises a controller 910 which is responsible for the overall operation of the wireless communication device 900 and is preferably implemented by any commercially available CPU (Central Processing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor) or any other electronic programmable logic device. The controller 910 is configured to read instructions from a memory 940 and execute these instructions to control the operation of the wireless communication device 900. The memory 940 may be implemented using any commonly known technology for computer-readable memories such as ROM, RAM, SRAM, DRAM, CMOS, FLASH, DDR, SDRAM or some other memory technology. The memory 940 is used for various purposes by the controller 910, one of them being for storing application data and program instructions 750 for software which defines the device's 900 operating as a beacon transmitting device.

(56) The wireless communication device 900 further comprises wireless communication means 930, which is adapted to allow the wireless communication device 900 to communicate with other devices. More specifically, the wireless communication means 930 comprises at least a first communication interface 932 which supports short-range wireless beacon broadcast messaging and may, advantageously, be implemented as an iBeacon and/or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)/Bluetooth 4.0 compliant communication interface. The first communication interface 932 may implement the short-range wireless beacon transmitter as referred to previously in this document.

(57) The wireless communication means 930 may also comprise a second communication interface 934 for communicating with a server like the system server SS and/or the service provider SP via the communication network NW. The second communication interface 934 will receive the refresh control data RCD when applicable and may, advantageously, be implemented as a communication interface compliant with IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, ZigBee, WirelessHART, WiFi, Bluetooth, WCDMA, HSPA, GSM, UTRAN, UMTS, and LTE, to name a few.

(58) References to computer-readable storage medium, computer program product, tangibly embodied computer program etc. or a controller, computer, processor etc. should be understood to encompass not only computers having different architectures such as single/multi-processor architectures and sequential (Von Neumann)/parallel architectures but also specialized circuits such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific circuits (ASIC), signal processing devices and other devices. References to computer program, instructions, code etc. should be understood to encompass software for a programmable processor or firmware such as, for example, the programmable content of a hardware device whether instructions for a processor, or configuration settings for a fixed-function device, gate array or programmable logic device etc.

(59) FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of a computer-readable medium as described in the above. The computer-readable medium 830 is in this embodiment a data disc 830. In one embodiment the data disc 830 is a magnetic data storage disc. The data disc 830 is configured to carry instructions 831 that when loaded into a controller, such as a processor, executes a method or procedure according to the embodiments disclosed above. The data disc 830 is arranged to be connected to or within and read by a reading device 832, for loading the instructions into the controller. One such example of a reading device 832 in combination with one (or several) data disc(s) 830 is a hard drive. It should be noted that the computer-readable medium can also be other media such as compact discs, digital video discs, flash memories or other memory technologies commonly used.

(60) The instructions 831 may also be downloaded to a computer data reading device 834, such as a laptop computer or other device capable of reading computer coded data on a computer-readable medium, by comprising the instructions 831 in a computer-readable signal 833 which is transmitted via a wireless (or wired) interface (for example via the Internet) to the computer data reading device 834 for loading the instructions 831 into a controller. In such an embodiment the computer-readable signal 833 is one type of a computer-readable medium 830. The instructions may be stored in a memory (not shown explicitly in FIG. 8, but referenced as 740 in FIG. 8) of the computer data reading device 834.

(61) References to computer program, instructions, code etc. should be understood to encompass software for a programmable processor or firmware such as, for example, the programmable content of a hardware device whether instructions for a processor, or configuration settings for a fixed-function device, gate array or programmable logic device etc.

(62) The various functionality described in this document may be performed in part or fully in a wireless communication device 700 or 900 comprising a controller as disclosed above with reference to FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7 and 9, and/or caused to be performed by executing instructions stored on a computer-readable medium as disclosed with reference to FIG. 8.

(63) The location of applications programs, or apps, as referred to in this document with respect to a hierarchical software model is not critical; hence, they may be located at an application layer or alternatively at a lower layer, such as for instance being part of an operating system.

(64) Even though the embodiments described above are based on beacon systems where a beacon region is represented by a universally unique identifier (UUID), the invention may be applied also to other types of beacon systems. For instance, the invention may be applied to beacon system like AltBeacon, URIBeacon and Eddystone, which do not use a UUID but another form of identity (such as a tiny URL) in the 31-byte GAP BLE packet for the beacon signal.

(65) The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.