Patent ID: 9633493
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: G07B,G07C,H04W

Claim:
1. A secure short-distance-based communication and validation system to validate users in a validation area, the system comprising: a beacon disposed in each zone of a plurality of zones in a validation area; and a plurality of computers, wherein each computer of the plurality of computers is associated with a different zone and each computer comprises: a processor; and a short-distance communication interface to communicate with a mobile device at a location within a zone of the associated computer, wherein each computer is to broadcast a beacon identifying signal via the beacon disposed within the associated zone, wherein the beacon identifying signal is different for each zone of the plurality of zones, wherein to validate a user associated with the mobile device for a first zone of the plurality of zones, the computer associated with the first zone is to: receive a first mobile device identifier transmitted from the mobile device via the short-distance communication interface, wherein the first mobile device identifier is based on the beacon identifying signal for the first zone; determine, based on the broadcasted beacon identifying signal and the received first mobile device identifier, whether the mobile device is in the first zone; determine, in response to determining the mobile device is in the first zone, whether the user associated with the mobile device is validated for the first zone, and in response to determining the user is validated for the first zone, sending a signal to the mobile device indicating the user is validated for the first zone, and wherein to validate the user for a second zone of the plurality of zones, the computer associated with the second zone is to: receive a mobile signal from the mobile device, the mobile signal including a second mobile device identifier transmitted from the mobile device via the short-distance communication interface, wherein the second mobile device identifier is based on the beacon identifying signal for the second zone; ignore the mobile signal in response to a determination that the user validation for the first zone is applicable to the second zone; and validate the user for the second zone in response to a determination that the user validation for the first zone is not applicable to the second zone.