Proximity Beacon Wayfinding with Sensor Array
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for retail establishments to engage with consumers are not user-specific and do not utilize location-based interactions, failing to effectively target customers with proximity-based offers.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing proximity sensors that emit beacon signals, allowing mobile devices to communicate with a server to provide location-specific interactions, such as targeted advertisements and navigation within facilities, by determining the device's proximity to sensors and updating routes based on sensor data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional advertising methods (print, online, email) are used to reach consumers, then broad coverage is achieved, but the offers are not user-specific and do not utilize location-based interactions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having users opt-in to location services and by pre-establishing beacon infrastructure at retail locations before actual marketing interactions occur. This enables the system to capture location data and prepare user profiles in advance, allowing for personalized offers when users enter proximity of relevant locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback loops where beacon signals detect user proximity, trigger location-based offers, and receive user responses. This feedback mechanism allows the system to refine user profiles and deliver increasingly personalized offers based on actual user behavior and preferences captured through continuous location-based interactions.
2Measurement precision
If beacon signals are continuously transmitted to track user location, then precise location-based targeting is achieved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuous transmission, beacon signals are transmitted periodically at intervals. This periodic action maintains the ability to detect user proximity and deliver location-based offers while significantly reducing energy consumption compared to continuous transmission. The system balances detection accuracy with energy efficiency by optimizing the transmission interval.
3Measurement precision
If multiple sensors are deployed throughout a facility to improve wayfinding, then navigation accuracy is enhanced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beacon sensors deployed throughout facilities serve multiple functions: they provide wayfinding navigation, enable location-based marketing offers, and collect anonymized foot traffic data. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized systems, thereby managing complexity while achieving high location accuracy for wayfinding purposes.
Data Source
AI summary
A system that provides a way finder throughout a facility includes an array of sensors distributed throughout the facility, each sensor able to transmit a wireless beacon signal, each beacon signal including a unique sensor ID; at least one mobile device able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a first sensor from the array of sensors and generate a request for a route to a destination and further able to receive the wireless beacon signal from a second sensor from the array of sensors and generate an update request; and a server able to receive the request for the route and generate the route based on the fixed location of the first sensor and a location of the destination, the route traversing a section of the at least one path, where the server updates the route to the destination based on the fixed location of the second sensor.