Abstract:
A method is disclosed for tracking advertisement effectiveness. First information associated with desired advertising information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed information nodes. A mobile unit receives the broadcast information and outputs the desired advertising information. An advertisement counter is started at the time of receipt of the broadcast information and presence information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed monitoring nodes over a restricted broadcast range, which at least one fixed monitoring node is disposed in a predetermined fixed physical proximity with a vendor location. The broadcast presence information is received at the mobile unit and a presence counter is started in response to receipt of the presence information. At the mobile unit loss of receipt of the broadcast presence information, the presence counter is stopped.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/639,158, filed Apr. 27, 2012, entitled TRACKING ADVERTISEMENT EFFICACY USING AN URBAN MOBILE NETWORK (Atty. Dkt. No. BLNX-30764), the specification of which is incorporated herein in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    As the use of internet-enabled mobile devices capable of running complex applications becomes more and more widespread, it has become desirable for advertisers to use a mobile device user&#39;s location to modify advertising content that is delivered to the user. Furthermore, it is also desirable to measure the effectiveness of such advertising, especially in the case that the advertisement is intended to incentivize the user to enter a nearby retail location. To that end a system is presented which provides a method of obtaining and delivering information to advertisers which is correlated to a user&#39;s movement subsequent to viewing an advertisement. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    The present invention, in one aspect thereof, comprises a method for tracking advertisement effectiveness. First information associated with desired advertising information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed information nodes. A mobile unit receives the broadcast information and outputs the desired advertising information. An advertisement counter is started at the time of receipt of the broadcast information and presence information is broadcast from at least one of a plurality of fixed monitoring nodes over a restricted broadcast range, which at least one fixed monitoring node is disposed in a predetermined fixed physical proximity with a vendor location. The broadcast presence information is received at the mobile unit and a presence counter is started in response to receipt of the presence information. At the mobile unit loss of receipt of the broadcast presence information, the presence counter is stopped. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0004]    For a more complete understanding, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0005]      FIG. 1  illustrates a diagrammatic view of a network using geotag; 
           [0006]      FIGS. 2 and 2A  illustrate transmission diagrams for the various beacons and geotag signals; 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  illustrates a diagrammatic view of a retail establishment utilizing the geotag; 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  illustrates a more detailed embodiment of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  illustrates a diagrammatic view of the movement of a mobile unit through a group of geotags from one geotag to a click-through geotag; 
           [0010]      FIG. 6  illustrates an over embodiment to the retail establishment with a mobile unit moving therethrough; 
           [0011]      FIG. 7  illustrates a detail of one of the rooms in the retail environment; 
           [0012]      FIG. 8  illustrates a timeline for movement of mobile unit through the retail environment; 
           [0013]      FIG. 9  illustrates a table depicting the information collected by the mobile unit; 
           [0014]      FIG. 10  illustrates a flow chart for loading the application; 
           [0015]      FIG. 11  illustrates a flow chart of the overall click-through operation; 
           [0016]      FIG. 12  illustrates a flow chart for the uploaded information to the central location; 
           [0017]      FIG. 13  illustrates a diagrammatic view of the geotag communicating with the base station; 
           [0018]      FIG. 14  illustrates the ability of downloading information to the geotag to the base station; 
           [0019]      FIG. 15  illustrates a flow chart for generating new advertisements for transmission to the geotag; 
           [0020]      FIG. 16  illustrates a flow chart defining an alternate technique for the geotag operation; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 17  illustrates a diagrammatic of multiple areas for geotags wherein geotags can be programmed to increase or decrease the number thereof. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0022]    Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numbers are used herein to designate like elements throughout, the various views and embodiments of use of localized broadcast signals to modify mobile application behavior are illustrated and described, and other possible embodiments are described. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scale, and in some instances the drawings have been exaggerated and/or simplified in places for illustrative purposes only. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the many possible applications and variations based on the following examples of possible embodiments. 
         [0023]    Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
         [0024]    The present system allows an advertiser to gauge the effectiveness of a piece of location based advertising by tracking whether or not the recipient of the advertising visited the advertiser&#39;s establishment soon after receiving the advertisement. A preferred embodiment of this system uses the urban mobile network system described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/502,040, entitled URBAN MOBILE NETWORK SYSTEM, incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
         [0025]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , there is illustrated an example of an urban mobile network. A central unit  102  contains a memory which has stored within it at least one data structure, which contains multiple data files such as advertisements. This data structure may be transmitted in whole or in part to other devices having a memory in which to store the data structure, such as mobile unit  104 . Mobile unit  104  may have multiple antennas for use with a variety of communications protocols. In one embodiment, central unit  102  may be connected to a cellular tower  106  which is operable to transmit the data structure wirelessly via cellular data transmission protocols to the mobile unit  104 . In another embodiment, central unit  102  may be connected via a Global Communication Network (GCN)  108 , such as the Internet, to a local network  110 , which may transmit the data structure via a wireless router  112  using WiFi protocols to the mobile unit  104 . In another embodiment, central unit  102  may be connected via a GCN  108  to a base station  114  which operates under a modification of the IEEE 802.15.4 protocol to transmit the data structure to mobile unit  104 . The base station  114  additionally communicates with a “geotag”  116  which itself may communicate with base station  114  and mobile unit  104 . The geotag  116  contains a small amount of data, for example the latitude and longitude of its own location. When the geotag  116  communicates with the mobile unit  104  it transmits this location data to the mobile unit  104 . 
         [0026]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is illustrated a diagram of communications between the base station  114 , geotag  116 , and mobile unit  104 . In a preferred embodiment, the geotag  116  runs with very little power consumption and thus with a minimum of transmissions. In order to facilitate this, the base station  114  coordinates communication between the geotag  116  and the mobile unit  104 . The base station  114  transmits a synchronization (sync) pulse  202  at a time  204  which is received by both the mobile unit  104  and the geotag  116  at times  208  and  206 , respectively. When the geotag  116  receives sync pulse  202  it in turn sends out a beacon signal  210  at time  212 , which is received by the mobile unit  104  at time  214 . After this communication has occurred, the base station  114  performs other data communications  216 . Data communications  216  with the mobile unit  104  may contain information such as new advertisements or responses to requests for information from the mobile unit  104 . Data communications  216  with the geotag  116  typically contain an update to the location information stored in the geotag  116  or requests for a status update from the geotag  116 . In order to ensure that there are no collisions between the geotag&#39;s beacon  214  and the base station&#39;s data  216  at the mobile unit  204 , there is a dead period  220  starting at time  204  and lasting long enough to prevent collision. In a preferred embodiment this entire communication process happens within one second and is repeated cyclically every second. In this way the base station  114  and geotag  116  are continuously broadcasting their information for any mobile unit  104  that comes within their range to receive.  FIG. 2A  illustrates the timing of the geotag operation and the data structure. Each geotag is operable to be accessed at a particular time after the Synch pulse is generated by the base station. Typically, all geotags have the first time slot reserved. 
         [0027]    Referring now to  FIG. 3 , there is illustrated a mobile urban network system in use in an urban environment. A base station  114  transmits a signal within a range  302  defined as the range at which a mobile unit  104  can successfully receive information from the base station  114 . Geotags  116  are placed in various areas around the urban area and have a transmission range  304 , similarly defined as the range at which a mobile unit  104  can successfully receive information from the geotag  116 . The range  304  is significantly smaller than the range  302  because the geotag  116  in this embodiment is operating at very low power. A person carrying a mobile unit  104  moves around the urban environment and in and out of the range of various base stations  114  and geotags  116 . When the mobile unit  104  enters the range  304  of a base station  114  and receives a first data communication  216  it learns a number of network IDs, one for each geotag  116  within base station  114 &#39;s range  302 . When the mobile unit  104  moves within the range  304  of any geotag  116  it receives the geotag&#39;s beacon  210 . The beacon  210  may contain location information such as longitude and latitude, or in another embodiment it may contain reference data for an application in mobile unit  104  which will allow the application to determine its location. Once the mobile unit  104  knows its location it will activate an application which displays one or more advertisements for local establishments, such as establishment  306 . These advertisements may be stored in local memory on the mobile unit  104  at a prior time, received from base station  114  or a cellular connection upon entrance within range  302 , requested from base station  114  or a cellular connection upon entering the geotag&#39;s range  304 , or the like. Knowledge of which advertisements have been viewed may also be used interactively by the application in order to modify the behavior of future advertisements. For example, if the mobile unit  104  moves into the area of the specific geotag  308 , an advertisement for establishment  306  may be displayed. If the mobile unit then moves near specific geotag  310 , knowledge that the mobile unit  104  has passed through the area of specific geotag  308  may be used to discern that the user is moving past the establishment  306 , and a more enticing offer might be displayed. 
         [0028]    Once an advertisement for establishment  306  has been displayed by mobile unit  104  the viewer may or may not choose to enter establishment  306 , but it would be beneficial for the advertiser to know which choice was made. 
         [0029]    Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is illustrated the interior of an establishment  306 . Within establishment  306  are various points of interest (POIs)  402  which a customer will be expected to visit. Geotags  116  are placed at POIs  402  in order to determine if a customer visits any POIs. If a customer has walked past a geotag  116  outside of establishment  306  and triggered an advertisement within a recent time frame then when the customer visits a POI  402  and enters the range  304  of a geotag inside the establishment, the advertisement application notes that the advertisement has been successful and registers a “geoclick.” The application may furthermore track how much time the customer spends at a POI  402  within the range  304  of a geotag  116 . This information will be reported back to the central unit  102  through one of the various channels available. Additionally, a point of sale (POS)  404  in an establishment  306  may be within range  304  of a geotag  116  and connected to central unit  102  so that sales may be reported to central unit  102  and correlated with the presence of mobile unit  104  within range of the same geotag  116  in the same time frame as a sale, further determining the effectiveness of an advertisement. Additionally, once the user has entered establishment  306 , this knowledge may be used by the application to modify future advertisements offered to the user, for example better offers based on more frequent visits to establishment  306  or offers for partner establishments that the user may be interested on based on their entrance of establishment  306 . 
         [0030]    Referring now to  FIG. 5  there is illustrated another embodiment of a mobile network and a system for triggering the display of an advertisement on a mobile device and subsequently tracking the device&#39;s movement. Mobile unit  502  is a device such as a smart phone which may have multiple antennas for receiving and transmitting radio signals using a variety of communication protocols. Mobile unit  502  is also capable of running various applications. Base station  104  is a network base station which is capable of forming a bidirectional communication link with mobile unit  502  using a cellular communication protocol or other wireless communication protocol and is capable of providing data which is requested by the mobile unit  502 , such as an advertisement. There are multiple “geotags” (GTs)  506  arrayed around the environment. These GTs are small, low power devices which contain a small amount of data and which are capable of communicating with mobile unit  502  within a limited transmission range  506 . In an ideal embodiment, the GTs  506  contain a unique identification number (ID) and an instruction for an application running on mobile unit  502 . When mobile unit  502  moves into transmission range  508  of a GT  506 , GT  506  communicates its data to mobile unit  502 . In an ideal embodiment this data triggers an application running on mobile unit  502  to perform a function, for example displaying an advertisement which is in mobile unit  502 &#39;s memory. There are furthermore arrayed in the environment special “click-through geotags” (CT GTs)  510  which are similar to GTs  506  but which contain different data. When mobile unit  502  enters the transmission range  512  of CT GT  510 , the CT GT  510  communicates its data to the mobile unit  502 . In an ideal embodiment, this data triggers the application running on mobile unit  502  to perform a function, for example recording data correlating to how long it took the user to move from GT  506 &#39;s transmission zone  508  to CT GT  510 &#39;s transmission zone  512  for later transmission to the advertiser via base station  504 . 
         [0031]    [Further to the operation of the GT  506 , this is a radio transmitter utilizing an 802.15.4 transmission protocol. This is a low power transmission protocol. This radio has associated therewith a particular PHY layer and a particular MAC layer in accordance with the operation of the protocol. Also associated with that radio will be an application layer. One application layer is referred to as the ZIGBEE application. However, any type of 802.15.4 application could be run. 
         [0032]    In this application, there are multiple modes of operation. In one mode of operation, it may be that the GT  506  is required to communicate with the base station  504  in order to receive information therefrom or to request information. In order to request information, the GT  506  must increase its transmission range. The GT  506  has the ability to control the transmission power, and, therefore, the transmission radius. In normal operations, as will be described herein below, the transmission radius is restricted such that it does not “overlap” with other GTs. However, this is a communication mode with a base station, and, during normal operation, the GT  506  merely transmits information on a periodic basis that can be received by any mobile unit passing within its limited and restricted transmission radius. In accordance with 802.15.4 protocol, there are required certain synchronization signals to be transferred from the base station to synchronize all of the mobile units and the other radios transmitting/receiving on the network. These GTs are designed to transmit within a particular slot such that the mobile unit will recognize a GT when it is within range thereof. Again, the GTs are typically not in an overlapping operation, whereas the 802.15.4 is designed to have overlapping radios. 
         [0033]    As a mobile unit traverses a particular area, it occasionally will fall within the transmission range of a GT. At this time, it will receive information from the GT, which is a broadcast operation. The mobile unit does not contact the GT; rather, all it receives is a synchronization signal from the base station synchronizing its receive operation and then a transmission from any GT in whose range it might be within the defined time slot. Each time the synchronizing signal occurs it can look to see if other units are broadcasting, and, if so, information can be determined from those broadcasts. The broadcast can be merely an identification of the device, or, it could contain information such as GPS coordinates or advertising codes. These GPS coordinates would function to give geographic information. Additionally, the ID of a particular unit could be utilized in an application running on a mobile unit to trigger some event therein. These GTs can be placed at any location within a particular environment to achieve the purpose thereof. 
         [0034]    In the embodiment illustrated in the  FIG. 5 , as the mobile unit  502  traverses through the area  508  to the area  512 , what occurs is that the first GT  506  associated with the transmission range  508  causes the application to trigger some kind of display advertisement or the such on the mobile unit. This also might initiate a counter when the mobile unit traverses from the GT  506  range to the transmission range  512  associated with a GT  510 . What will occur is that a counter will stop and this may start a new behavior. This is the ability to basically determine the amount of time it takes to go from one transmission area to another transmission area. This can be utilized to merely determine the characteristics of the person utilizing the mobile unit, or to determine that the user has moved from one area to another either entering a store or exiting a store. 
         [0035]    Referring now to  FIG. 6 , there is illustrated an embodiment of the above system in a shopping mall. As the mobile unit  502  travels down a hallway between stores it may pass by one of various GTs  506  arrayed throughout the hallway. When mobile unit  502  passes through the transmission zone  508  of a GT  506  it receives a trigger from the GT which tells an application running on mobile unit  502  to display an advertisement for store  602  and to begin a timer. If mobile unit  502  enters store  602  it will also enter the transmission range  512  of a CT GT  510 . The mobile unit  502  will receive a trigger from the CT GT  510  which tells the application running on mobile unit  502  to stop the timer, save its value and transmit it to the advertiser when possible. In another embodiment, the trigger from the CT GT  510  may also tell the application running on mobile unit  502  to start a new timer, to stop this timer when the mobile unit  502  leaves the transmission range  512  of CT GT  510 , and to transmit the value to the advertiser when possible. In another embodiment, the application running on mobile unit  502  may keep track of the unique IDs of GTs  506  and CT GTs  510  which it receives transmissions from, and it may keep track of the order in which it passes by these GTs and CT GTs. If the mobile unit  502  passes through the transmission range  508  of a GT  506  with unique ID  01  and then passes through the transmission range  508  a GT  506  with unique ID  02  without having passed through transmission range  512  of a CT GT  510  with unique ID  11 , the application may deduce that the user of the mobile unit  502  has bypassed store  602  despite receiving an advertisement. In this case, the trigger sent by the GT  506  with unique ID  02  will cause the application to display a new advertisement offering an increased incentive to enter store  602 . 
         [0036]    Referring now to  FIG. 7 , a detailed illustration is shown of a mobile unit  502  entering a store  602 . There may be more than one CT GT  510  inside of a store  602 , allowing the system to gather further information on the movement of the mobile unit  602  within the store. For instance, it may be useful for an advertiser to know whether a mobile unit user has gone to a certain section of store  602  which contains the product which the user received an advertisement for. Furthermore, it may be useful for the advertiser to know whether the mobile unit user visited other section of the store as well, or whether the user left the store immediately after visiting the section containing the advertised-for product. 
         [0037]    By placing the CT GT  510  inside the store and “linking” this operation to that of a GT outside of the store, it is possible for an advertiser to determine the information as to the effectiveness of a particular ad. If the GT  506  triggers an ad to the mobile unit  502  when it passes thereby, the advertiser would like to know if the user is actually attracted to the store. They can correlate the fact that the user saw the ad and then walked in the store within a predetermined amount of time and walked to a particular area of the store or just stayed in the store a certain amount of time. Just entering the store is some indication that the advertisement worked. Thus it is the correlation between the trigger that triggers the advertisement and the mobile user walking in to the store. All of this is achieved with no interaction by the user with the particular GT or with the advertiser. The application running on the phone, a proprietary application, will have associated therewith some type of pre-stored information as to a particular ad or the ability to pull an ad down from a remote network such as a data network. It is the triggering of this via a broadcast signal that causes the ad to be displayed to the user, or it could even be an audio output such as “please turn in here.” It may be just the ID of the GT that is known to the application or the GT may transmit an advertising code. This will cause a counter to be initiated and then stop when the mobile unit reaches the transmission range of the GT  510 . This provides a clear indication that the advertisement has worked. 
         [0038]    Since the mobile unit works primarily on broadcast signals, the mobile unit collects the data. The GT  510  has no knowledge of any mobile unit walking within its range, since it is merely a broadcasting unit. Thus, the application running on the mobile unit will collect the data, i.e., it sees the unique ID from the GT  506  that triggers the application and starts the counter, and then it sees the unique ID of the GT  510  that tells it to stop the counter and accumulate the data. This also triggers an event that requires some type of communication with an advertiser. This can be an immediate transmission to another WiFi hub of some sort, or it can be a later upload via a data network on a mobile unit. This could be a pull operation or a push operation. 
         [0039]    Referring now to  FIG. 8 , there is illustrated a time diagram of the system in operation. At time t=0 the mobile unit  502  enters the transmission range  508  of a GT  506  and an application running on the mobile unit  502  is triggered by the GT to perform a function, such as displaying an advertisement for a store  602 . At time t=t 1  the mobile unit  502  enters a desired location, such as the store  602 . At time t=t 2  the mobile unit  502  enters the transmission range  512  of a CT GT  510  and the application running on the mobile unit  502  is triggered to perform a further function, such as storing and sending a counter value representing elapsed time since t=0 to the advertiser. This elapsed time represents the time it took the mobile unit  502  to enter store  602  after receiving an advertisement for the store from a GT  506 . At time t=t 3  the mobile unit  502  leaves the transmission range  512  of CT GT  110 , which may trigger the application running on mobile unit  502  to perform a further function, such as storing and sending a counter value representing elapsed time since t=t 2  to the advertiser. This elapsed time represents the time the mobile unit  502  spent in the store  602 , or in another embodiment the amount of time spent in a specific section of the store  602 . 
         [0040]    Referring now to  FIG. 9 , there is illustrated a table of the information stored and transmitted by the mobile unit  502  after coming into contact with a GT  506  in an ideal embodiment of the system. Column  902  contains information on the vendor associated with an advertisement triggered by a GT  506 . In an ideal embodiment, this vendor would be the owner of a store  602  or an advertiser hired by the owner of the store. Column  904  contains information representing the unique ID associated with the GT  506  which the mobile unit  502  has communicated with. Column  906  contains information representing an ID associated with an advertisement whose display has been triggered by the GT  506 . This advertisement is contained in the mobile unit  502 &#39;s memory, and the ID is used by the application running on mobile unit  502  to access the advertisement. Column  908  contains information representing the time elapsed between the mobile unit  502  communicating with the GT  506  and entering the transmission range  512  of a desired CT GT  510 . Column  910  contains information representing the time elapsed between the mobile unit  502  entering and leaving the transmission range  512  of the desired CT GT  510 . Column  911  contains information representing the unique ID associated with a CT GT  510  which the mobile unit  502  has communicated with. With reference to columns  908  and  910 , a desired CT GT  510  is one which the vendor intends the mobile unit  502  to come in contact with after displaying an advertisement to the user of mobile unit  502 . Each row  912  and  914  contains all information relating to one vendor. It can be seen that the information stored may be used to infer various things about the behavior of the user of mobile unit  502 . For instance, the GT IDs in column  904  may show from which direction the user approached the store  602 . Furthermore, the elapsed time information from column  908  may indicate to the vendor how effective their advertisement was in drawing the user to the store  602 , while the elapsed time information in column  910  may indicate whether the user seriously investigated the store or just briefly looked around before leaving. 
         [0041]    Referring now to  FIG. 10 , there is illustrated a flowchart for an ideal embodiment of an application running on the mobile unit  502  which displays advertisements in response to instructions from a GT  506 . At block  1002  the application is loaded into memory by the mobile unit  502 . Flowing to block  1004 , the application is run by the mobile unit  502 . Flowing to block  1006 , the application waits for a broadcast transmission containing information related to desired advertising information from a GT  506 . Flowing to block  1008  when the desired transmission is received, the application checks to see where it needs to look up the desired advertising information which is associated with the received broadcast information. If the advertising information is stored locally on the mobile unit  502  then the application flows to block  1010  and loads the advertising information from local memory. If the advertising information is stored on the web then the application flows to block  1012  and loads the advertising information from the web. If the advertising information is stored elsewhere then the application flows to block  1014  and loads the advertising information from the appropriate location. Flowing to block  1016 , the application displays the advertisement. Flowing to block  1018 , the application optionally plays an audible tone or activates a vibration to alert the user of the advertisement. Flowing to block  1020 , the application waits for the advertisement to time-out after a predetermined amount of time, after which the application flows back to block  1006  and waits to receive another transmission from a GT  506 . 
         [0042]    Referring now to  FIG. 11 , there is illustrated a flowchart for an application running on the mobile unit  502  which records and transmits information representing the amount of time elapsed between displaying an advertisement and entering a location associated with the advertisement and representing the amount of time spent in a location associated with the advertisement. Starting at block  1102 , the application waits to receive a broadcast from a GT  506 . Flowing to block  1104 , the application determines if the received broadcast information is related to advertisement information or a “clickthrough.” If the received broadcast information is related to advertisement information then the application flows to block  1106  and determines if the received broadcast information is associated with an advertisement which the mobile unit  502  can retrieve. If not, the application returns to block  1102  and waits for another broadcast. Otherwise the application flows to block  1108  and displays the advertisement for a predetermined amount of time. The application then flows to block  1110  and begins an “advertisement counter.” Flowing to block  1112  the application looks for a “clickthrough” GT signal. If the clickthrough GT is not present the application flows to block  1114  and increments the advertisement counter, then flows to block  1116  and checks whether a predetermined time-out threshold has been reached. If the time-out threshold has been reached then the mobile unit user has likely ignored the advertisement and the application ends. If the time-out threshold has not been reached, then the application returns to block  1112  and continues checking for the clickthrough GT signal. When a clickthrough GT signal is present, the application flows to block  1118  and stops the advertisement counter, then flows to block  1120  and stores the accumulated advertisement counter value. Flowing to block  1122  the application uploads the counter to a base station  504 . The application then ends. 
         [0043]    Returning to block  1104 , if the received broadcast information is related to a clickthrough GT then the application flows to block  1124  and begins a “clickthrough counter.” Flowing to block  1126  the application checks to make sure that it is continuing to receive a broadcast clickthrough GT signal. If it does continue to receive a broadcast clickthrough GT signal, then the application flows to block  1128  and accumulates the clickthrough counter, then flows back to block  1126  to continue checking for the broadcast clickthrough GT signal. When the broadcast clickthrough GT signal is no longer present the application flows to block  1130  and begins decrementing a “delay counter” from a predetermined amount of time. Flowing to block  1132  the application checks to see if the delay counter has reached zero. If not, the application decrements the delay counter while continuing to increment the clickthrough counter and flowing back to block  1132  to continue checking for the delay counter reaching zero. When the delay counter has reached zero, the application flows to block  1136  and checks to see if the mobile unit has begun receiving the broadcast clickthrough GT signal once again. If so, the application flows back to block  1128  and accumulates the clickthrough counter, then flows once more to block  1126  to continue checking for the presence of the broadcast clickthrough GT signal. If, after the delay counter has reached zero at block  1132 , the broadcast clickthrough GT signal is not present then the application flows to block  1138  where it stops and stores the clickthrough counter value minus the initial delay counter value for an end value representing the amount of time spent inside the range of the clickthrough GT. The application then flows to block  1122  and uploads the clickthrough counter value to a base station  504 . The application then ends. 
         [0044]    Referring now to  FIG. 12 , there is illustrated a flowchart for the behavior of the base station  504  when the mobile unit  502  wants to transmit information such as that detailed in  FIG. 9 . At block  1202  the base station waits to receive a request from the mobile unit  502  to upload information to the base station  504 . Once it receives this request, the base station flows to block  1204  and sends an acknowledgment of the request to mobile unit  502 . Flowing to block  1206 , the base station receives the upload from mobile unit  502 . Flowing to block  1208 , the base station records and stores the uploaded information. 
         [0045]    Referring now to  FIG. 13 , there is illustrated in detail communications between a GT  506  or a CT GT and a base station  504  and the transmission capability of a GT  506  or a CT GT. The GT or CT GT is able to alter the power of its transmission signal to increase or decrease the effective range at which its transmissions may be received. In a default mode the GT  506  uses low power to transmit with a very short effective range  1304 . This power setting is used to broadcast, for instance, advertising or clickthrough information to mobile units which enter close proximity with the GT or CT GT. The GT  506  or CT GT is also able to increase its transmission power to reach a much larger effective range  1306 . This transmission range may be large enough to communicate, for instance, with a base station  504 . This power setting is used, for instance, to request updated information from the base station or to notify the base station of the GT&#39;s location. The base station  504  has a transmission range  1308  and communicates with any GTs or CT GTs within this range. The base station may contain information such as a table  1310  which associates codes representing a particular advertisements with unique IDs associated with individual GTs or CT GTs. Communication between the GTs or CT GTs and the base station may facilitate the base station updating an advertisement code stored within a GT or CT GT, a new GT or CT GT registering its location with the base station, or a GT or CT GT uploading other information to the base station, such as the counter information generated in the process of  FIG. 11 . 
         [0046]    Referring now to  FIG. 14 , there is illustrated an embodiment of a process wherein a set of GTs are configured to transmit a particular advertisement code based on their proximity to a vendor location to trigger display of an advertisement. An array of GTs  506  are placed around a vendor location  602  which is in communication with a base station  504 . The base station  504  and vendor location  602  are connected in an ideal embodiment by a wireline communication service  1402 . When the vendor decides to distribute an advertisement to mobile units  502  passing in proximity to the vendor location  602  it communicates with the base station  504  through the wireline communication service  1402 . The base station  504  has, in an ideal embodiment, a table of unique IDs  1310  associated with information about the physical location of individual GTs  506  and advertisement codes. The base station  504  determines a sub-set of GTs  1404  which are within the desired proximity of vendor location  602  and updates the advertisement codes associated with those GTs  1404  to a code associated with information about the desired advertisement of vendor location  602 . In an ideal embodiment this information may include an ID for the advertisement and information about where a mobile unit  502  should retrieve the advertisement from. The base station  504  then transmits to the set of GTs  1404  and instructs them to update the information contained within GTs  1404  to reflect the desired advertisement of vendor location  602 . There remain a set of GTs  1406  which are outside of the proximity which is desired by vendor location  602  and which are not updated by base station  504 . 
         [0047]    Referring now to  FIG. 15 , there is illustrated a flow chart describing the process by which a base station  504  updates GTs  1404 . Beginning at block  1502  the base station determines whether a new advertisement is requested. If so, the process flows to block  1504  and the base station determines a desired range over which the advertisement is to be distributed. Flowing to block  1506 , the base station communicates with GTs within the desired range, updating the advertisement code that they contain. Flowing to block  1508 , the base station instructs the GTs within the desired range to begin broadcasting the newly updated advertisement code. 
         [0048]    Referring now to  FIG. 16 , there is illustrated a flow chart describing a method for monetizing geotag advertising and geotag clickthroughs. The advertisement in this scenario may be one for a vendor&#39;s location, such as a store, or it may be for a specific product sold at multiple different vendors. Beginning at block  1602 , a set of geotags within a desired proximity to a vendor location is defined. Flowing to block  1604 , the system chooses whether or not to limit the time for which the advertisement will be distributed. If not, the system skips ahead to block  1608 . If a time limit is desired, however, the system flows to block  1606  and the start and stop time for distribution is set. Flowing to block  1608 , the advertisement information and the start and stop time for distribution of the advertisement is downloaded to the previously defined set of geotags. Flowing to block  1610 , the geotags broadcast the advertisement information. Flowing to block  1612 , the system determines the number of mobile units which have entered the vendor location. Flowing to block  1614 , the system logs information related to the advertisement effectiveness and the number of geotag clickthroughs as described above. Flowing to block  1616 , the system invoices the vendor or product manufacturer based on the advertisement effectiveness and the number of clickthroughs. 
         [0049]    Referring now to  FIG. 17 , there is illustrated an embodiment of the system in which multiple vendors are simultaneously advertising in proximity to their locations via geotags. There are various vendor locations  602 , each of which has at least one clickthrough geotag  510  on their premises and each of which has chosen a proximity  1704 ,  1708  and  1712  around their location in which to advertise. Separate sets of geotags  1702 ,  1706  and  1710  are designated to carry advertisements for each vendor location. Geotags  1702  are designated within the area  1704  to advertise for the vendor location  602  labeled as store A. Similarly, geotags  1706  are designated within the area  1708  to advertise for store B and geotags  1710  are designated within the area  1712  to advertise for store C. A base station  504  coordinates these designations, downloads desired advertisement information to the geotags and gives them any other necessary instructions. A table such as  1714  is contained inside the base station  504  and contains information relating each unique geotag ID with its advertisement code and any other necessary information. 
         [0050]    It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that this use of localized broadcast signals to modify mobile application behavior provides an advertiser with a tool that allows them to deliver an ad to a phone and then determine if the phone has entered the store where the ad attracts the consumer to. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description herein are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive manner, and are not intended to be limiting to the particular forms and examples disclosed. On the contrary, included are any further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope hereof, as defined by the following claims. Thus, it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such further modifications, changes, rearrangements, substitutions, alternatives, design choices, and embodiments.