Claims:I/we claim:
1. A recommendation method comprising:
receiving, by a server, a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within an area, the location identifier provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device, wherein each of the plurality of designated locations is associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature;
receiving, by the server, contextual information associated with the user and the area from the electronic device;
determining, by the server, one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier; and
providing, by the server, the one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.

2. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, wherein providing the one or more recommendation data comprises:
transmitting one or more first recommendation data directly to the electronic device; and
transmitting one or more second recommendation data to a broadcasting system associated with the area.

3. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the location identifier comprises a unique identifier indicating the receipt of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location by the electronic device within the area, and GPS coordinates of the electronic device.

4. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the server, the area and the designated location corresponding to the location identifier via a lookup table stored in a database by running a query over the database.

5. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contextual information comprises a trip duration of the user within the area, user interaction with the one or more items present in the area, and user profile data.

6. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising sending location context signals associated with the plurality of designated locations to a programmable ultrasonic sound generator for generating location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations within the area.

7. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the one or more recommendation data comprises analyzing the contextual information associated with the user and the area.

8. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising:
identifying, by the server, real time locations of the electronic device within the area by receiving location identifiers from the electronic device in predefined intervals; and
forming, by the server, a trip map of the user within the area based on the identified real time locations.

9. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising determining a digital persona of the user based, at least in part, on the analysis of the contextual information associated with the user and the area.

10. The recommendation method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contextual information associated with the user is captured using at least one of a: near field communication (NFC) sensor, microphone, accelerometer, and global positioning system (GPS) equipped in the electronic device.

11. A server comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions;
a communication interface; and
a processor in communication with the memory and the communication interface, the processor configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory and thereby cause the server to at least:
receive a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within an area, the location identifier provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device, wherein each of the plurality of designated locations is associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature,
receive contextual information associated with the user and the area from the electronic device,
determine one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier, and
provide one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.

12. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the server is further caused to:
transmit one or more first recommendation data directly to the electronic device; and
transmit one or more second recommendation data to a broadcasting system of associated with the area.

13. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the location identifier comprises a unique identifier indicating the receipt of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location by the electronic device within the area, and GPS coordinates of the electronic device.

14. The server as claimed in claim 11, the server further caused to:
identify the area and the designated location corresponding to the location identifier via a lookup table stored in a database by running a query over the database.

15. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the contextual information comprises a trip duration of the user within the area, user interaction with the one or more items present in the area, and user profile data.

16. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the server is further caused to:
send location context signals associated with the plurality of designated locations to a programmable ultrasonic sound generator for generating location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations within the area.

17. The server as claimed in claim 11, wherein the server is further caused to:
identify real time locations of the electronic device within the area by receiving location identifiers from the electronic device in predefined intervals, and
form a trip map of the user within the area based on the identified real time locations.

18. A system, comprising:
a programmable ultrasonic sound generator configured to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to a plurality of designated locations in a commercial area;
one or more audio transceivers in communication with the programmable ultrasonic sound generator configured to emit the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures at the plurality of designated locations in pre-determined time intervals; and
a server in communication with the programmable ultrasonic sound generator, the server configured to:
receive a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of the plurality of designated locations within the commercial area, the location identifier provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device, wherein each of the plurality of designated locations is associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature,
receive contextual information associated with the user and the commercial area from the electronic device,
determine one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the commercial area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier, and
provide the one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.

19. The system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the server is further configured to send location context signals associated with the plurality of designated locations to the programmable ultrasonic sound generator for generating the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations within the commercial area.

20. The system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the location identifier comprises a unique identifier indicating the receipt of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location by the electronic device within the commercial area, and GPS coordinates of the electronic device.

Description:[0001] The present invention relates to the field of a recommendation system, more particularly, for providing recommendations in an area by tracking user’s physical behavior and location of the user using location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In today’s world, it is difficult to capture the physical footprint of users in commercial organizations (for example, retail stores, hospitals, bank, etc.). Due to that, the commercial organizations have less information about user’s journey in their commercial spaces and are not able to engage users or channelize the user’s journey for a more delightful experience. The commercial organizations fail in providing personalized recommendations to the users in real-time which may lead to some business loss. Further, there is no way to determine valuable users and their contexts of visiting the commercial spaces.
[0003] Hence, there is a need for methods and systems to digitally determine user's physical journey/behavior in an organization in a non-intrusive manner.
SUMMARY
[0004] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and systems for providing recommendations in an area by ultrasonic sound signature based location determination.
[0005] In an embodiment, a recommendation method is disclosed. The method performed by a server includes receiving, by a server, a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within an area. The location identifier may be provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device. Each of the plurality of designated locations may be associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature. The method includes receiving contextual information associated with the user and the area from the electronic device. The method further includes determining one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier. The method includes providing the one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.
[0006] In another embodiment, a server is disclosed. The server includes a memory configured to store instructions, a communication interface, a processor in communication with the memory and the communication interface, and the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory and thereby cause the server to at least receive a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within an area. The location identifier may be provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device. Each of the plurality of designated locations may be associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature. The server is caused to receive contextual information associated with the user and the area from the electronic device. The server is further caused to determine one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier. The server is caused to provide one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.
[0007] In yet another embodiment, a system is disclosed. The system includes a programmable ultrasonic sound generator configured to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to a plurality of designated locations in a commercial area. The system includes one or more audio transceivers in communication with the programmable ultrasonic sound generator configured to emit the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures at the plurality of designated locations in pre-determined time intervals. The system includes a server in communication with the programmable ultrasonic sound generator. The server is configured to receive a location identifier of a user indicating presence of the user at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within a commercial area. The location identifier may be provided by an electronic device associated with the user in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device. Each of the plurality of designated locations may be associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature. The server is further configured to receive contextual information associated with the user and commercial area from the electronic device. The server is configured to determine one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the commercial area based, at least in part, on the contextual information and the location identifier. The server is configured to provide one or more recommendation data to the electronic device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0008] For a more complete understanding of example embodiments of the present technology, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
[0009] FIG. 1 is an example representation of an environment related to at least some examples of the present disclosure;
[0010] FIG. 2 is a system for providing recommendation data to the user, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0011] FIG. 3 is a sequence flow diagram for providing recommendation data for a user based on ultrasonic sound signature interceptions, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 4 an example representation of tracking a location of a user device of a user present in a shopping mall and providing recommendation data to the user device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 5A is an example representation of a user interface (UI) displayed on the user device of the user by a recommendation application, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0014] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for providing recommendation data to users in an area by utilizing ultrasonic sound signature based location determination methods, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0015] FIG. 7 is a representation of a circuit for mixing location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures with human audible sounds, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0016] FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of the server, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0017] FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of the electronic device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0018] The drawings referred to in this description are not to be understood as being drawn to scale except if specifically noted, and such drawings are only exemplary in nature.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure can be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, systems and methods are shown in block diagram form only in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.
[0020] Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. The appearance of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification is not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features are described which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others. Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirements for some embodiments but not for other embodiments.
[0021] Moreover, although the following description contains many specifics for the purposes of illustration, anyone skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations and/or alterations to said details are within the scope of the present disclosure. Similarly, although many of the features of the present disclosure are described in terms of each other, or in conjunction with each other, one skilled in the art will appreciate that many of these features can be provided independently of other features. Accordingly, this description of the present disclosure is set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the present disclosure.
OVERVIEW
[0022] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and systems for providing recommendations in an area by ultrasonic sound signature based location determination. The present disclosure enables the system to track users’ physical action and behavior, analyze the users’ actions and behavior, and build digital persona of users in a non-intrusive manner to provide recommendations to the users, thereby experiencing the serendipitous physical journey to users in the area.
[0023] A digital persona is a portrayal of a possible loyal customer. At the most fundamental level, personas enable personalizing or focusing on promotions to be provided to customers. The digital personas provide insights into how to create offers and marketing messages to get relevant and successful results. The digital personas allow outlining and making of profoundly focused content. Hence, it's strongly prescribed to characterize personas while building marketing techniques for an item.
[0024] In an example, the present disclosure describes a server that is configured to analyze, understand users’ physical behavior, build digital personas of the users, and provide recommendations based on their physical behavior in the area. In one example, the area may be a commercial area such as retail stores, supermarkets, shopping malls, hospitals, an indoor/outdoor stadium, traffic signals, billboards, etc. The server is configured to receive a request from an administrator of the area for recommendation services for visitors and provides a layout map to the server of the area. The area is divided into a plurality of designated locations. In response, the server is configured to create a lookup table in a database storing unique identifiers corresponding to the plurality of designated locations. The server is configured to generate location context signals corresponding to the plurality of designated locations. The location context signals are embedded with the corresponding unique identifiers.
[0025] The server is configured to transmit the location context signals to a programmable ultrasonic sound generator associated with the area. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator is configured to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of locations and provide the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures to a broadcasting system of the area. The broadcasting system is configured to mix each location-specific ultrasonic signature with normal background music of the area and emit the mixed output using one or more audio transceivers installed within the area.
[0026] When a user enters a designated location of the area, the electronic device of the user is pinged with or receives a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature corresponding to the designated location. The electronic device sends a location identifier to the server after the reception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature corresponding to the designated location. In one embodiment, the server is configured to provide an instance of a recommendation application on an electronic device of a user. The recommendation application manages and controls recommendations to be provided to the user based on ultrasonic sound signature interceptions.
[0027] In one embodiment, the server is configured to a current location of the user within the area based on the location identifier. The location identifier includes a unique identifier indicating the receipt of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location by the electronic device within the area, and GPS coordinates of the electronic device. In one scenario, the unique identifier is embedded within the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature. In one embodiment, the server is configured to determine the vicinity of the user by comparing amplitudes of one or more received location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures.
[0028] The server is configured to receive contextual information as well from the electronic device. The contextual information includes, but is not limited to, a trip duration of the user within the area, user interaction with the one or more items present in the area, and user profile data. The contextual information associated with the user is captured using at least one of a: near field communication (NFC) sensor, microphone, accelerometer, and global positioning system (GPS) equipped in the electronic device.
[0029] By analyzing the location identifier and the contextual information, the server is configured to determine one or more recommendation data to the electronic device. The one or more recommendation data can be sent in two ways including: a first recommendation data sent directly to the electronic device, or a second recommendation data sent to the broadcasting system associated with the area. The broadcasting system may then send the notification to the electronic device or personnel at the area who may help out the user personally based on the one or more second recommendation data received from the server.
[0030] In an additional embodiment, the server is configured to send item context signals to programmable ultrasonic sound generators associated with areas such as railway stations, individual houses through their televisions, or desktops, traffic signals, FM radio, and the like. The item context signals may be utilized for generating item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures. For example, the item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be associated with a particular item such as a bike, a car, a smartphone. These item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be mixed along with the audio of an advertisement and may be played at various environments such as railway stations, individual houses through their televisions, or desktops, traffic signals, FM radio, and the like.
[0031] Various embodiments of the present disclosure offer multiple advantages and technical effects. For instance, the present disclosure provides an application on the user devices that is capable of seamlessly detecting location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures and contextual data associated with the user for providing recommendations to the user. The recommendation application may be running in the background when the user visits an area such as a supermarket. Further, the present disclosure provides a programmable ultrasonic sound generator that is capable of generating location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures single and providing them to respective audio transceivers. Since having a different ultrasonic signature source for each designated location is not practical, therefore, the programmable ultrasonic sound generator helps to make individual audio transceivers as unique ultrasonic sound signature emitters.
[0032] Furthermore, the present disclosure provides a method to determine user’s physical action, and behavior in a non-intrusive way to create multiple recommendations to the user. The technical problems solved by the present disclosure may include: 1) providing a connection between the physical and digital world, giving the ability to understand the user’s actions like waiting time, location and other actions in a non-intrusive way, 2) providing the ability to create the digital persona of a specific user by feeding into the server that can predict the user behaviour and providing contextual recommendation, and 3) capturing the physical journey of the user which can help business and providing different recommendations.
[0033] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure are described hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.
[0034] FIG. 1 is an example representation of an environment 100 related to at least some examples of the present disclosure. Although the environment 100 is presented in one arrangement, other embodiments may include the parts of the environment 100 (or other parts) arranged otherwise depending on, for example, determining physical behavior of a user at an area by capturing a series of sensor data in the smartphone of the user and determining the location of the user based on reception of various location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures at the area. The various location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures help in determining the physical behavior of the user in a non-intrusive manner and creating digital multiple value propositions and recommendations to the user. The environment 100 generally includes a server 102 (hereinafter interchangeably referred to as “server system 102”), a database 104, a broadcasting system 106 in communication with a programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 installed within an area 120, a user device 114 associated with a user 112, each connected to, and in communication with (and/or with access to) a network 110. The network 110 may include, without limitation, a light fidelity (Li-Fi) network, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a satellite network, the Internet, a fiber optic network, a coaxial cable network, an infrared (IR) network, a radio frequency (RF) network, a virtual network, and/or another suitable public and/or private network capable of supporting communication among the entities illustrated in FIG. 1, or any combination thereof.
[0035] Various entities in the environment 100 may connect to the network 110 in accordance with various wired and wireless communication protocols, such as, Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), 2nd Generation (2G), 3rd Generation (3G), 4th Generation (4G), 5th Generation (5G) communication protocols, Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication protocols, or any combination thereof. The network 110 may include, without limitation, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g., the Internet), a mobile network, a virtual network, and/or another suitable public and/or private network capable of supporting communication among two or more of the entities illustrated in FIG. 1, or any combination thereof. For example, the network 110 may include multiple different networks, such as a private network made accessible by the server 102, the broadcasting system 106, and the user device 114 separately, and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) through which the server 102, and the user device 114 may communicate.
[0036] The area 120 may be divided into a plurality of designated locations 120a, 120b, and 120c (e.g., zones A, B, and C). In the present disclosure, the term “designated location” or “zone” means a portion of the area. For example, a designated location is a dedicated space within a retail store that is used for the selling of a particular type of item. If a retail store sells washing machines and air-conditioners, the retail store includes two zones, a washing machine zone and an air conditioner zone. Each designated location corresponds to a particular type of items. For example, the designated location 120a may correspond to item-A and item-B, and the designated location 120b may correspond to item-C and item-D.
[0037] Each designated location is installed with an audio transceiver (e.g., audio transceiver 106a, 106b, 106c) that is controlled by the broadcasting system 106 in a centralized manner or a distributed manner. It should be noted that more than one audio transceivers (e.g., Loudspeakers) may be placed at the plurality of designated locations in the area 120. However, in one scenario, only one audio transceiver may be installed in the area 120.
[0038] Examples of the area 120 may be, but are not limited to, a shopping complex, a bank, a retail store, a clothing shop, a movie theater, a railway station, an airport, and the like.
[0039] In one embodiment, the broadcasting system 106 is connected with the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 that is configured to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations 120a, 120b, and 120c.
[0040] In one embodiment, the user device 114 (interchangeably referred as "electronic device" throughout the description) may include any type or configuration of computing, mobile electronic, network, user, and/or communication devices. Examples of the electronic device 114 include a mobile phone, a smart telephone, a computer, a laptop, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a Mobile Internet Device (MID), a tablet computer, an Ultra-Mobile personal computer (UMPC), a phablet computer, a handheld personal computer and the like. Each user device may include an ultrasound sensor, a global position satellite transceiver, WiFi transceiver, mobile telephone components, and/or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the user device 114 may be a device owned and/or operated by the user 112 of an online service. According to some embodiments, the user device 114 may communicate with the server 102 via the network 110, such as to register with a service provider, request access to online data services, transmit information about a location of the user device, receive recommendation data. The user device 114 can have unique device identifiers including MAC addresses, supported services/protocols, available ports, ports in use, etc.
[0041] In one embodiment, the user device (e.g., the user device 114) is equipped with recommendation application 116, interchangeably referred as “mobile application” throughout the description. The recommendation application 116 manages and controls recommendations to be provided to the user 112 based on ultrasonic sound signature interceptions. The user device (e.g., the user device 114) may be any communication device having hardware components for enabling User Interfaces (UIs) of the recommendation application 116 to be presented on the user device (e.g., the user device 114).
[0042] In an embodiment, the server 102 may reside software backend APIs corresponding to the recommendation application 116 which instructs the server 102 to perform one or more operations described herein. In addition, the server 102 should be understood to be embodied in at least one computing device in communication with the network 110, which may be specifically configured, via executable instructions, to perform as described herein, and/or embodied in at least one non-transitory computer readable media. The recommendation application 116 is an application/tool resting at the server 102. In one embodiment, the server 102 is configured to host and manage the recommendation application 116 and communicate with the user device (e.g., the user device 114) for providing an instance of the recommendation application 116. The recommendation application 116 may facilitate, for example, determining a designated based on the received location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures, providing location identifiers to the server 102, receiving and displaying recommendations data to the user 112, etc.
[0043] In an additional embodiment, the user device 114 may include various sensors equipped inside it, such as near field communication (NFC) sensor, global positioning system (GPS), microphone (mic), and the like. The various sensors on the user device 114 may be utilized to capture a plurality of contextual information associated with the user 112 present in the area 120. For example, the microphone is operable to listen an ultrasonic sound signature emitted by the audio transceiver (for example, audio transceiver 106a) at the area 120, and the like. In one embodiment, a microphone associated with the user device 114 may include a chip operable to recognize an ultrasonic sound signature. Alternatively, in some embodiments, processing for recognition of the ultrasound audio signature is performed remotely on the server 102. The user device 114 is configured to send data, including ultrasound sound signatures to the server 102 for further processing.
[0044] In one embodiment, the server 102 is configured to track or identify real-time locations of the user 112 within the area 120 and form a trip map of the user 112 within the area 120 based on the identified real-time locations.
[0045] In one embodiment, an administrator 118 of the area 120 may opt for recommendation services for users visiting the area 120 on his user device and register the area 120 over the recommendation application 116. The administrator 118 can divide the area 120 into the plurality of designated locations 120a-120c. In other words, the administrator 118 can tag the plurality of designation locations within the area 120 with unique identifiers. In response, the server 102 is configured to send location context signals to the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 (associated with the area 120) to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations 120a, 120b, and 120c and generate a lookup table in the database 104 storing the unique identifiers corresponding to the plurality of designated locations. The location context signals are defined based on the unique identifiers.
[0046] The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures are transmitted to the broadcasting system 106 which is configured to mix each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature with normal human audible output (e.g., background music) using a wide band mixer. The broadcasting system 106 is configured to emit each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature mixed with the human audible output at each corresponding designated location via an audio transceiver installed in proximity to the designated location. Each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature is emitted in predetermined time intervals. The mixed sound output may be provided to the audio transceiver to be played at pre-defined time intervals such as every minute, every 5 minutes, and the like.
[0047] One of the advantages of using the unique ultrasonic sound signature includes the inability of ultrasonic sound waves to penetrate walls of a building, so that the ultrasonic sound signal can be associated with a specific building, specific floor of the building, or specific room inside the building.
[0048] In one embodiment, the audible range of each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature can also be modified by an amplitude of the signal, so that an audio transceiver can emit different location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures in different designated locations of the area 120 by varying amplitudes of the signal.
[0049] When the user 112 enters into a designated location of the area 120, the user device 114 may receive a locations-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location from an audio transceiver installed within the designated location. Once the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature is received by the user device 114, the user device 114 sends a location identifier to the server 102 indicating presence of the user 112 at the designated location via the network 110. In other words, the user device 114 is configured to recognize the designated location based on the received location-specific ultrasonic sound signature by the recommendation application 116.
[0050] In one embodiment, the location identifier may include a unique identifier indicating reception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location, GPS coordinates of the user device 114, etc. In another embodiment, the location identifier includes at least an ultrasonic sound signature associated with one of the designated locations in a predefined format and GPS location of the user device 114.
[0051] The server 102 is configured to run a query over the database 104 to identify the area 120 and the designated location inside the area 120, where the user 112 is present, based at least on the location identifier.
[0052] The server 102 also receives contextual information associated with the user 112 and the area 120. The contextual information may include a trip duration of the user within the area 120, user interaction with one or more items within the area, user profile data (such as, past trip behavior, user interests, etc.) etc. In one embodiment, a multi-signal approach is utilized for determining the contextual information associated with the user 112. In particular, multiple different sensors may be used, each of which can be used to determine user intent and interactions of the user 112 with various items. The contextual information associated with the user 112 is captured using at least one of a: near field communication (NFC) sensor, microphone, accelerometer, and global positioning system (GPS) equipped in the user device 114.
[0053] Based on the contextual information, the server 102 is configured to create recommendation data for the user 112 and present it to the user 112. The recommendation data is determined based on recommendation rules set by the administrator 118 of the area 120. In one embodiment, the server 102 is configured to notify executives at the area to help the user 112.
[0054] Embodiments can take into account various details and alternatives related to the presentation. This may include information defining what, when, where and how to show recommendations for the one or more items of the area 120. Thus, the server 102 may vary a user interface including such things as: layout, brightness, color, font size, etc. on different form factor displays of the user device 114. In one embodiment, the recommendation data may be linked with the one or more items displayed on an area layout map on the user device 114.
[0055] In one example, the user 112 needs not register their mobile devices such as the user device 114 with the recommendation application 116. In this example, the server 102 sends out an electronic signal once the user 112 enters into the area 120 for installing the recommendation application 116 and the user device 114 sends back identifiable information associated with the user device 114. As a result, the server 102 identifies the user device 114 based on the identifiable information.
[0056] The database 104 is shown to be in operative communication with the server 102 for illustration purposes. The database 104 may store user information and profile data associated with a plurality of users, data regarding a plurality of areas such as commercial areas, offices, indoor/outdoor stadia, and the like. The data associated with the users and the plurality of environments may be used to provide recommendations to the users via the recommendation application 116 on their electronic devices when they are in an area. In one embodiment, the database 104 may be configured to store unique data corresponding to each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with each designated location of the area 120. Thus, the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature is significantly unique and to be recognized without errors.
[0057] In an embodiment, the server 102 may provide first recommendation data to the user devices directly as a message or a push notification on the recommendation application 116. In another embodiment, the server 102 may provide second recommendation data via the broadcasting system 106 associated with the area 120 in form of ultrasonic sound signatures to the user device 114 or sales executives within the area 120.
[0058] The number and arrangement of systems, devices, and/or networks shown in FIG. 1 are provided as an example. There may be additional systems, devices, and/or networks; fewer systems, devices, and/or networks; different systems, devices, and/or networks; and/or differently arranged systems, devices, and/or networks than those shown in FIG. 1. Furthermore, two or more systems or devices shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented within a single system or device, or a single system or device shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented as multiple, distributed systems or devices. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of systems (e.g., one or more systems) or a set of devices (e.g., one or more devices) of the environment 100 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of systems or another set of devices of the environment 100.
[0059] In an additional embodiment, item context signals may be sent to programmable ultrasonic sound generators associated with areas such as railway stations, individual houses through their televisions, or desktops, traffic signals, FM radio, and the like. The item context signals may be utilized for generating item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures. For example, the item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be associated with a particular item such as a bike, a car, a smartphone. These item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be mixed along with the audio of an advertisement by a broadcasting system and may be played at various environments such as railway stations, individual houses through their televisions, or desktops, traffic signals, FM radio, and the like.
[0060] Information regarding the users of user devices that detected these item-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be sent to the server 102. The server 102 may further determine user behavior using the information, and analyze the information. The server 102 may determine recommendations to be provided to the user based on the analysis. Overtime, a digital persona associated with each of the users may be built using the information tracked regarding the users.
[0061] FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 of a system for providing recommendation data to the user, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.. As illustrated, the system may include the server 102, the database 104, the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108, and the broadcasting system 106 installed in the area 120, one or more user devices (for example, electronic device 114) associated with users (for example, user 112) present in the area 120.
[0062] In one embodiment, the database 104 may include user profile data 202 associated with users registered on the recommendation application 116, environment database 204 associated with one or more areas, recommendation rules 206. The user profile data 202 may include past user activity of the users at an area, user interests, etc.
[0063] Initially, the server 102 is configured to extract information associated with an area 120 from the database 104 and transmit location context signals 208 associated with the plurality of designated locations within the area 120 to the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108. The location context signals may include a series of location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures. The series of location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may correspond to various designated locations in the area 120.
[0064] The programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 includes network adaptors by which the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 receives the location context signals 208. In one embodiment, the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 is configured to convert the location context signals into location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures 210 pertaining to the plurality of designated locations within the area 120 and provide the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures 210 to the broadcasting system 106. The broadcasting system 106 is configured to emit each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature 212 associated with the respective designated location along with human audible output through one or more audio transceivers installed in the respective designated location. The frequency of emission of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures can be predefined. In one embodiment, the frequency of emission of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures is controlled by the server 102 in real time.
[0065] When the user 112 enters into the area 120, the server 102 is configured to attempt to set up a communication with the electronic device 114 by sending electronic signals. In some examples, if the user 112 is already registered with the electronic device 114 on the server 102, the server 102 can identify the electronic device 114 by querying user profile data 202 over the database 104 using a device identifier or identifiable information. To register the electronic device 114 with the server 102 associated with the recommendation application 116, the user 112 downloads the recommendation application 116 on the electronic device 114. The recommendation application 116 presents a graphical user interface to the user 112 that enables the user 112 to enter information associated with the electronic device 114. The information may include a name of the device, device identifiers, etc. The recommendation application also requests the user 112 to allow the server 102 to access features such as, GPS, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, audio elements (such as, microphone).
[0066] In one embodiment, the server 102 is configured to identify and track real-time locations of the user 112 inside the area 120. In particular, once the user 112 enters into a designated location within the area 120, the electronic device 114 is pinged with or receives a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature 214 associated with the designated location via an audio transceiver. The recommendation application 116 is configured to send a location identifier along with the contextual information (see, 216) to the server 102. The location identifier may include an indicator representing reception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location, GPS coordinates of the user device 114, etc. The server 102 is configured to create a trip map for the user 112 inside the area 120 by accessing location identifiers at predefined time intervals (such as, 10 seconds).
[0067] The contextual information of the user 112 is determined based on multi-sensory data captured by the electronic device 114. The contextual information may include current trip duration within the area 120, user interaction with one or more items within the area, user profile data (such as, past trip behavior, user interests, etc.). In one example, the user 112 interacts with an item A present in the designated location. The electronic device 114 may capture multiple parameters like vicinity of the user 112 to the item A, which is associated with a digital tagging, from NFC sensors, GPS sensor, accelerometers, etc. When the user 112 interacts with the item A, the item A connected with an electronic circuit may send an electronic signal to the server 102 for indicating interaction with the item A of the user 112. Thus, based on the user interests corresponding to one or more items placed in the plurality of designated locations, the server 102 is configured to determine the contextual information of the user 112.
[0068] In one embodiment, the server 102 is configured to analyze the contextual information along with the current location of the user 112 and provide the recommendation data 218 corresponding to the one or more items to the electronic device 114 based on recommendation rules 206 set by the administrator of the area 120. In one example, the server 102 is configured to determine the recommendation data 218 based on real-time location of the user 112 inside the area 120 and the contextual information.
[0069] The recommendation data 218 may be sent by the server 102 in two ways including: a first recommendation data sent directly to the user device 114, or a second recommendation data sent to the broadcasting system 106 associated with the area. The broadcasting system 106 may then send the notification to the user device 114 or a personnel at the area 120 may help out the user 112 personally based on the recommendation data received from the server 102.
[0070] FIG. 3 is a sequence flow diagram 300 for determining physical behavior of the user at the area 120 and providing recommendation data to the user 112, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be generated by a programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be emitted by the broadcasting system 106 at pre-defined time intervals, via the audio transceivers 106a-106c placed at a plurality of designated locations in the area 120. The steps of the sequence flow diagram 300 may not to be necessarily executed in the same order as they are presented. Further, one or more steps may be grouped and performed in form of a single step, or one step may have several sub-steps that may be performed in parallel or in a sequential manner.
[0071] At 305, the server 102 sends a plurality of location context signals to the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 located at the area 120. The location context signals may be used to generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures corresponding to the plurality of designated locations in the area 120.
[0072] At 310, the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 coverts the location context signals to the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures. This conversion is a digital to analog signal conversion. The location context signals may be converted into analog signals including location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures. In one embodiment, human audible sounds may be mixed with the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures using a wideband mixer. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator may include a wide band mixer. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be generated in two ways including: 1) Hardware: Ultrasonic sound can be generated using raspberry pi-based signal generator, which converts identifier data into signal and loops it continuously in 19kHz to 20KHz, and 2) A software tool that creates ultrasonic sound from unique data signature using programming language like JS (Web audio API)/Python etc.
[0073] At 315, the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 108 transmits the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures to the broadcasting system 106 located at the area 120. The broadcasting system 106 is configured to emit the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures via audio transceivers such as the audio transceivers 106a-106c referred to in FIG. 1.
[0074] At 320, the broadcasting system 106 emits the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures via a plurality of audio transceivers installed at the corresponding designated locations at predefined time intervals. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures may be mixed with human audible sounds before providing them as inputs to the audio transceivers. Further, the mixed sound output may be provided to the audio transceivers to be played at pre-defined time intervals such as every minute, every 5 minutes, and the like. The broadcasting system 106 is configured to emit each location-specific ultrasonic sound signature mixed with the human audible output at each corresponding designated location via an audio transceiver installed in proximity to the designated location. Therefore, a different ultrasonic sound signature may be emitted at the different designated location in the area 120 by the broadcasting system 106.
[0075] At 325, the electronic device 114 intercepts or receives at least one location-specific ultrasonic sound signature, once the user enters into the area 120. The interception may be detected using the microphone of the electronic device 114.
[0076] At 330, the electronic device 114 sends a location identifier and the contextual information associated with the user to the server 102. In one embodiment, the location identifier may include an indicator representing reception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature of the designated location, GPS location coordinates of the electronic device 114, etc. The contextual information may include current trip duration within the area 120, user interaction with the one or more items within the area 120, user profile data (such as, past trip behavior, user interests, etc.). In one embodiment, the server 102 may determine a digital persona of the user 112 based, at least in part, on the analysis of the contextual information of the user 112 and the area 120.
[0077] At 335, the server 102 analyzes the location and contextual information received from the user device 114. The analysis may include applying the recommendation rules stored in a database such as the database 104. Based on the analysis, the server 102 is configured to create recommendation data for the user 112 and present it to the user 112.
[0078] At 340, based on the analysis, the server 102 determines recommendation data for the user 112.
[0079] At 345, the server 102 may provide the first recommendation data directly as a push notification or a message to the electronic device 114. In another embodiment, the second recommendation data may be provided via the broadcasting system 106 associated with the area 120 in the form of ultrasonic sound signatures.
[0080] In one example, the area 120 may be a bank and divided into various designated locations (e.g., loan section, withdrawal section, deposit section, and an account opening section). At first, the server is configured to transmit the location context signals corresponding to the various designated locations of the bank to a programmable ultrasonic sound generator located at the bank. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator generates location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures associated with the loan section, withdrawal section, deposit section, and an account opening section of the bank. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator transmits the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures to the broadcasting system that emits the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures via audio transceivers. Assume, an old citizen is in a queue in the deposit section. According to the present invention, the user device of the old citizen detects interception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the deposit section and sends the location identifier associated with the deposit section of the bank continuously or in pre-determined intervals. The user device also sends contextual information to the server. The contextual information indicates waiting time in the queue by the old citizen. Based on the contextual information, the server may notify to bank staff to help the old citizen or may recommend to the old citizen to deposit the money. The recommendation may include a link to fill a form for depositing the money at the deposit section while the user is waiting in the queue or providing an online money depositing option via an online money transfer.
[0081] FIG. 4 is an example representation of tracking a location of a user device in a shopping mall 400 and providing recommendation data to the user device of a user, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0082] As illustrated, the shopping mall 400 has a plurality of designated locations for different purposes. For example, the shopping mall 400 may include a furniture shop 402a, a footwear shop 402b, a clothing shop 402c, a vegetable shop 402d, and an electronics shop 402e. The shopping mall 400 is already been registered with the server 102 for recommendation services for customers who all are visiting the shopping mall 400. Each shop has one or more items. The server 402 may be in communication with a programmable ultrasonic sound generator 406, a broadcasting system 408 and a user device 412 associated with the user 410. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator 406 and the broadcasting system 408 may be installed inside the shopping mall 400 and be in communication with each other.
[0083] The broadcasting system 408 may be connected with one or more audio transceivers installed in the shopping mall 400. The one or more audio transceivers 414a, 414b, 414c, 414d, and 414e may be installed at various designated locations in the shopping mall.
[0084] In an embodiment, the server 404 may send location context signals associated with the designated locations in the shopping mall 400 to the programmable ultrasonic sound generator 406. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator 406 may generate location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures based on the location context signals associated with the plurality of designated locations. Thus, the broadcasting system 408 may generate five unique ultrasonic sound signatures associated with the designated locations. The programmable ultrasonic sound generator 406 may then transmit the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures to the broadcasting system 408.
[0085] In an embodiment, the broadcasting system 408 is configured to mix the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures with human audible sounds using a wide band mixer. The mixed sound outputs may then be provided to the respective audio transceivers 414a-414e installed at the corresponding designated locations. The audio transceivers 414a-414e may be configured to emit the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures provided to them by the broadcasting system 408 at pre-defined time intervals such as every minute, every five minutes, and the like.
[0086] In an example, the user 410 using the user device 412 is shown located at the furniture shop 402a searching for a furniture. The furniture shop 402a is in proximity to the audio transceiver 414a emitting the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the furniture section 402a at predefined time intervals. The user 410 may have the recommendation application installed on the user device 412. The recommendation application may detect an interception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the furniture shop 402a. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signature being emitted by the audio transceiver 414a may be detected by the microphone-equipped in the user device 412.
[0087] The recommendation application on the user device 412 may facilitate the transmission of a location identifier and contextual data associated with the user 410 to the server 404. The location identifier may be obtained from the interception of the location-specific ultrasonic sound signature by the user device 412. The location identifier may be a code or any digital identifier that facilitates the server 404 to determine that the user 410 is at the designated location in the shopping mall 400. Further, the contextual information may be obtained from various sensors such as the NFC, GPS, and the like. The contextual information may include current duration within the furniture section 402a, user interaction with one or more furniture within the furniture section 402a, user profile data (such as, past trip behavior, user interests, etc.).
[0088] The server 404 is configured to analyze the location identifier and the contextual information associated with the user 410. The analysis may be performed based on the recommendation rules to determine recommendation data to be sent to the user 410. In the example, the recommendation data may include offers regarding the furniture checked by the user 410, notifications regarding the bestselling furniture, and the like. The recommendation data determined by the server 404 may be sent to the user device 412 directly as a push notification via the recommendation application. In an alternate embodiment, the recommendation data may be sent in the form of ultrasonic sound signatures to the broadcasting system 408 located at the shopping mall 400.
[0089] FIG. 5A is an example representation of user interface (UI) displayed on the user device of the user by the recommendation application 116, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The recommendation application 116 may be running on the user 112 in the background capable of detecting ultrasonic sound signatures, displaying recommendation notifications and the like. Additionally, the recommendation application 116 may also provide UIs for user registration, customer support, online shopping, etc.
[0090] As illustrated in the FIG. 4, the server 404 is configured to analyze the location identifier and the contextual information associated with the user 410. In the example, the contextual information may include the user trying out a specific furniture for few times and spending a lot of time in the furniture section. The location identifier of the user device 412 depicts that the user is still located in the furniture section of the shopping mall. The analysis may be performed based on the recommendation rules to determine recommendation data to be sent to the user 410.
[0091] The UI 500 displays a graphical user interface of the recommendation application 502. The UI 500 includes a notification page 504 including recommendation data determined by the server 404. The recommendation data may be determined based on the time spent by the user 410 at the designated location of the store ‘ADE Shoppee’ as determined based on the interception of ultrasonic sound signature intercepted by the user device 412 at the designated location such as the jacket section.
[0092] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method 600 for providing recommendation data to users in an area by utilizing ultrasonic sound signature based location determination methods, in accordance with an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 600 depicted in the flow diagram may be executed by, for example, the at least one server system such as the server 102. Operations of the flow diagram of method 600, and combinations of operation in the flow diagram of method 600, may be implemented by, for example, hardware, firmware, a processor, circuitry and/or a different device associated with the execution of software that includes one or more computer program instructions. The method 600 starts at operation 602.
[0093] At 602, the method 600 includes receiving, by a server 102, a location identifier of a user such as the user 112 indicating the presence of the user 112 at a designated location of a plurality of designated locations within an area. The location identifier may be provided by an electronic device such as the electronic device 114 associated with the user 112, in response to a receipt of a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature associated with the designated location by the electronic device 114. Each of the plurality of designated locations may be associated with a location-specific ultrasonic sound signature.
[0094] At 604, the method 600 includes receiving, by the server 102, contextual information associated with the user 112 and area from the electronic device 114. The contextual information includes, but is not limited to, a trip duration of the user within the area, user interaction with the one or more items present in the area, and user profile data
[0095] At 606, the method 600 includes determining, by the server 102, one or more recommendation data related to one or more items within the area, based at least, on the contextual information and the location identifier. The location identifier may be received from electronic device 114.
[0096] At 608, the method 600 includes providing, by the server 102, one or more recommendation data to the electronic device 114. The recommendation data related to one or more items within the area determined at the step 606 may be sent to the electronic device 114 as a push notification or a message via the recommendation application downloaded on the electronic device 114.
[0097] FIG. 7 is a representation of a circuit 700 for mixing location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures with human audible sounds, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The mixing may be performed by the broadcasting system such as the broadcasting system 106 referred in FIG. 1. The circuit 700 may include a first circuit element (for example, resistor R1 702) and a second circuit element (see, resistor R2 704). The first circuit element is provided with the location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures while the second circuit element is provided with the human audible sounds. This setup acts as a changeable ultrasonic adapter in conjunction with an audio transceiver 706. The location-specific ultrasonic sound signatures and the human audible sounds are mixed and sent to the audio transceiver 706.
[0098] FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a server 800, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the server 800 is similar to the server 102 as described in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, the server 800 is embodied as a cloud-based and/or SaaS-based (software as a service) architecture. The server 800 is configured to determine recommendation data associated with a user based on location-based ultrasonic sound signature interceptions.
[0099] In one embodiment, the server 800 includes a computer system 802 and a database 804. The computer system 802 includes at least one processor 806 for executing instructions, a memory 808, and a communication interface 810. The one or more components of the computer system 802 communicate with each other via a bus 812.
[00100] In one embodiment, the database 804 is integrated within the computer system 802. For example, the computer system 802 may include one or more hard disk drives as the database 804. A storage interface 814 is any component capable of providing the processor 806 with access to the environment database 204. The storage interface 816 may include, for example, an Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) adapter, a Serial ATA (SATA) adapter, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) adapter, a RAID controller, a SAN adapter, a network adapter, and/or any component providing the processor 806 with access to the database 804. In one embodiment, the database 804 may include user profiles, environment database, and recommendation rules (not shown in FIG. 8).
[00101] The processor 806 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces to execute computer readable instructions for determining recommendation data for a user based on an ultrasonic sound signature intercepted by a user device associated with the user. Examples of the processor 806 include, but are not limited to, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) processor, a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and the like. The memory 808 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces to store a set of computer readable instructions for performing operations. Examples of the memory 808 include a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a removable storage drive, a hard disk drive (HDD), and the like. It will be apparent to a person skilled in the art that the scope of the disclosure is not limited to realizing the memory 808 in the server 800, as described herein. In some embodiments, the memory 808 may be realized in the form of a database server or a cloud storage working in conjunction with the server 800, without deviating from the scope of the present disclosure.
[00102] The processor 806 is operatively coupled to the communication interface 810 such that the processor 806 is capable of communicating with remote device 816 such as, user devices, broadcast systems, etc., or with any entity connected to the network 110 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1).
[00103] It is noted that the server 800 as illustrated and hereinafter described is merely illustrative of an apparatus that could benefit from embodiments of the present disclosure and, therefore, should not be taken to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It is noted that the server 800 may include fewer or more components than those depicted in FIG. 8.
[00104] In one embodiment, the processor 806 includes an application manager 818 and an analysis recommendation and action engine 820.
[00105] The application manager 818 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces to execute computer-readable instructions for managing the recommendation application 116 downloaded on the electronic devices such as the user device 112. Various functionalities provided by the recommendation application such as UIs, messages, notifications, location identifier reception at the server, etc., are facilitated and managed by the application manager 818.
[00106] The analysis recommendation and action engine 820 includes suitable logic, circuitry, and/or interfaces to execute computer-readable instructions for sending location context signals, analyzing the location identifiers and contextual information received by the server 800, and determining recommendation data to be provided to the user 112. The location identifiers and the contextual information received from the user device 800 may be used to determine a digital persona of the user associated with the user device. The digital persona may be used for targeted marketing and building empathy with the customers. The location context signals may be generated based on data received from an organization regarding designated locations in the area. Analysis is performed based on the recommendation rules in the database 804 using the contextual information received by the user device 114. Further, the analysis recommendation and action engine 820 may be coupled to the communication interface 810 to provide the recommendation data to remote device 816.
[00107] FIG. 9 shows simplified block diagram of an electronic device 900 for example a mobile phone or a desktop computer capable of implementing the various embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the electronic device 900 may correspond to the electronic device 114 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 900 is depicted to include one or more applications such as a recommendation application 906 facilitated by the server 102. The recommendation application 906 can be an instance of an application downloaded from the server 102 or a third-party server. The recommendation application 906 is capable of communicating with the server 102 for determining location of a user such as the user 112 and displaying recommendations to the user 112 on the electronic device 900.
[00108] It should be understood that the electronic device 900 as illustrated and hereinafter described is merely illustrative of one type of device and should not be taken to limit the scope of the embodiments. As such, it should be appreciated that at least some of the components described below in connection with the electronic device 900 may be optional and thus in an example embodiment may include more, less or different components than those described in connection with the example embodiment of the FIG. 9. As such, among other examples, the electronic device 900 could be any of a mobile electronic device, for example, cellular phones, tablet computers, laptops, mobile computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile televisions, mobile digital assistants, or any combination of the aforementioned, and other types of communication or multimedia devices.
[00109] The illustrated electronic device 900 includes a controller or a processor 902 (e.g., a signal processor, microprocessor, ASIC, or other control and processing logic circuitry) for performing such tasks as signal coding, data processing, image processing, input/output processing, power control, and/or other functions. An operating system 904 controls the allocation and usage of the components of the user device 900 and support for one or more application programs such as the recommendation application 906 that implements one or more of the innovative features described herein. In addition to the recommendation application 906, the applications may include common mobile computing applications (e.g., telephony applications, email applications, calendars, contact managers, web browsers, and messaging applications) or any other computing application.
[00110] The illustrated electronic device 900 includes one or more memory components, for example, a non-removable memory 908 and/or removable memory 910. The non-removable memory 908 and/or the removable memory 910 may be collectively known as a database in an embodiment. The non-removable memory 908 can include RAM, ROM, flash memory, a hard disk, or other well-known memory storage technologies. The removable memory 910 can include flash memory, smart cards, or a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The one or more memory components can be used for storing data and/or code for running the operating system 904 and the applications 906. The electronic device 900 may further include a user identity module (UIM) 912. The UIM 912 may be a memory device having a processor built in. The UIM 912 may include, for example, a subscriber identity module (SIM), a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a universal subscriber identity module (USIM), a removable user identity module (R-UIM), or any other smart card. The UIM 912 typically stores information elements related to a mobile subscriber. The UIM 912 in form of the SIM card is well known in Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, or with third-generation (3G) wireless communication protocols such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), CDMA9000, wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and time division-synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), or with fourth-generation (4G) wireless communication protocols such as LTE (Long-Term Evolution).
[00111] The electronic device 900 can support one or more input devices 920 and one or more output devices 930. Examples of the input devices 920 may include, but are not limited to, a touch screen / a display screen 922 (e.g., capable of capturing finger tap inputs, finger gesture inputs, multi-finger tap inputs, multi-finger gesture inputs, or keystroke inputs from a virtual keyboard or keypad), a microphone 924 (e.g., capable of capturing voice input), a camera module 926 (e.g., capable of capturing still picture images and/or video images) and a physical keyboard 928. Examples of the output devices 930 may include, but are not limited to, a speaker 932 and a display 934. Other possible output devices can include piezoelectric or other haptic output devices. Some devices can serve more than one input/output function. For example, the touch screen 922 and the display 934 can be combined into a single input/output device.
[00112] A wireless modem 940 can be coupled to one or more antennas (not shown in the FIG. 9) and can support two-way communications between the processor 902 and external devices, as is well understood in the art. The wireless modem 940 is shown generically and can include, for example, a cellular modem 942 for communicating at long range with the mobile communication network, a Wi-Fi compatible modem 944 for communicating at short range with an external Bluetooth-equipped device or a local wireless data network or router, and/or a Bluetooth-compatible modem 946. The wireless modem 940 is typically configured for communication with one or more cellular networks, such as a GSM network for data and voice communications within a single cellular network, between cellular networks, or between the electronic device 900 and a public switched telephone network (PSTN).
[00113] The electronic device 900 can further include one or more input/output ports 950, a power supply 952, one or more sensors 954 for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a compass, or an infrared proximity sensor for detecting the orientation or motion of the electronic device 900 and biometric sensors for scanning biometric identity of an authorized user, a transceiver 956 (for wirelessly transmitting analog or digital signals) and/or a physical connector 960, which can be a USB port, IEEE 794 (FireWire) port, and/or RS-230 port. The illustrated components are not required or all-inclusive, as any of the components shown can be deleted and other components can be added.
[00114] The disclosed method with reference to FIG. 6, or one or more operations of the method 600 may be implemented using software including computer-executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable media, such as one or more optical media discs, volatile memory components (e.g., DRAM or SRAM)), or non-volatile memory or storage components (e.g., hard drives or solid-state non-volatile memory components, such as Flash memory components) and executed on a computer (e.g., any suitable computer, such as a laptop computer, net book, Web book, tablet computing device, smart phone, or other mobile computing device). Such software may be executed, for example, on a single local computer or in a network environment (e.g., via the Internet, a wide-area network, a local-area network, a remote web-based server, a client-server network (such as a cloud computing network), or other such network) using one or more network computers. Additionally, any of the intermediate or final data created and used during implementation of the disclosed methods or systems may also be stored on one or more computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable media) and are considered to be within the scope of the disclosed technology. Furthermore, any of the software-based embodiments may be uploaded, downloaded, or remotely accessed through a suitable communication means. Such a suitable communication means includes, for example, the Internet, the World Wide Web, an intranet, software applications, cable (including fibre optic cable), magnetic communications, electromagnetic communications (including RF, microwave, and infrared communications), electronic communications, or other such communication means.
[00115] Although the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it is noted that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the various operations, blocks, etc., described herein may be enabled and operated using hardware circuitry (for example, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based logic circuitry), firmware, software and/or any combination of hardware, firmware, and/or software (for example, embodied in a machine-readable medium). For example, the apparatuses and methods may be embodied using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (for example, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) circuitry and/or in Digital Signal Processor (DSP) circuitry).
[00116] Particularly, the server 800 and its various components such as the computer system 802 and the database 804 may be enabled using software and/or using transistors, logic gates, and electrical circuits (for example, integrated circuit circuitry such as ASIC circuitry). Various embodiments of the invention may include one or more computer programs stored or otherwise embodied on a computer-readable medium, wherein the computer programs are configured to cause a processor or computer to perform one or more operations. A computer-readable medium storing, embodying, or encoded with a computer program, or similar language, may be embodied as a tangible data storage device storing one or more software programs that are configured to cause a processor or computer to perform one or more operations. Such operations may be, for example, any of the steps or operations described herein. In some embodiments, the computer programs may be stored and provided to a computer using any type of non-transitory computer readable media. Non-transitory computer readable media include any type of tangible storage media. Examples of non-transitory computer readable media include magnetic storage media (such as floppy disks, magnetic tapes, hard disk drives, etc.), optical magnetic storage media (e.g. magneto-optical disks), CD-ROM (compact disc read only memory), CD-R (compact disc recordable), CD-R/W (compact disc rewritable), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), BD (BLU-RAY® Disc), and semiconductor memories (such as mask ROM, PROM (programmable ROM), EPROM (erasable PROM), flash memory, RAM (random access memory), etc.). Additionally, a tangible data storage device may be embodied as one or more volatile memory devices, one or more non-volatile memory devices, and/or a combination of one or more volatile memory devices and non-volatile memory devices. In some embodiments, the computer programs may be provided to a computer using any type of transitory computer readable media. Examples of transitory computer readable media include electric signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. Transitory computer readable media can provide the program to a computer via a wired communication line (e.g., electric wires, and optical fibers) or a wireless communication line.
[00117] Various embodiments of the invention, as discussed above, may be practiced with steps and/or operations in a different order, and/or with hardware elements in configurations, which are different than those which are disclosed. Therefore, although the invention has been described based upon these exemplary embodiments, it is noted that certain modifications, variations, and alternative constructions may be apparent and well within the spirit and scope of the invention.
[00118] Although various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described herein in a language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.