Patent ID: 9712980
Date: 2017-07-18
CPC Classifications: G01S,H04W

Claim:
1. A facility mapping and visitor tracking system that tracks a location of a visitor within a facility to generate a facility map and deliver targeted area-specific advertising to a visitor based on the location of the visitor, said facility mapping and visitor tracking system comprising: a database management system that stores advertising data associated with a plurality of businesses within the facility; a first plurality of contiguous areas of the facility, wherein each area in the first plurality of contiguous areas is defined by a perimeter that surrounds the area, wherein each area in the first plurality of contiguous areas includes a set of businesses that are located within the perimeter that surrounds the area, wherein the set of businesses located within the perimeter that surrounds each area in the first plurality of contiguous areas is different from the businesses located within the perimeters of the other areas in the first plurality of contiguous areas of the facility; a first plurality of wireless communication devices, wherein each wireless communication device in the first plurality of wireless communication devices is located within one area of the first plurality of contiguous areas that is different from the area in which each other wireless communication device is located, wherein each wireless communication device in the first plurality of wireless communication devices defines a wireless communication range associated with an area in the first plurality of contiguous areas of the facility, wherein each wireless communication range exceeds the defined perimeter that surrounds the associated area; a portable electronic device dispenser that is physically positioned at an entry point of the facility to dispense portable electronic devices to visitors entering the facility and receive returned portable electronic devices from visitors leaving the facility; a particular portable electronic device dispensed, from the portable electronic device dispenser, to the visitor to provide facility map views of the facility and deliver targeted advertising to the visitor, wherein the particular portable electronic device is configured to connect wirelessly to a particular wireless communication device located in a particular area in the first plurality of contiguous areas when the visitor is located within a wireless communication range associated with the particular area, wherein the particular portable electronic device is configured to receive a particular facility map view from the particular wireless communication device and to display the particular facility map view on a screen of the portable electronic device while the visitor is located within the wireless communication range associated with the particular area, wherein the particular portable electronic device is configured to update the facility map view displayed on the screen in real-time as the location of the visitor changes from the wireless communication range associated with the particular area to a different wireless communication range associated with a different wireless communication device that is located in an area that is contiguous with the particular area in the first plurality of contiguous areas of the facility; and a central server that generates a unique identifier (UID) to associate with identifying information about the visitor and a unique hardware identifier of the particular portable electronic device dispensed to the visitor, wherein the central server is configured to transmit facility map views to the particular portable electronic device based on the location of the visitor.