Patent Publication Number: US-2018040005-A1

Title: Visit bigdata processing system using beacon and method for processing thereof

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0099798, filed on 5, Aug. 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a visit big data processing system, and more particularly, to a visit big data processing system using a beacon which is equipped in a visiting place to automatically calculate a number of visits for a visiting place by utilizing a beacon which detects a position of a visitor from a mobile terminal which is held by the visitor, configures big data using the number of visits for the visiting place which is calculated by the beacon, and statistically analyzes the big data to provide information on the visitor and the visiting place for various fields, such as a gender, a region, an age, a job, an interest, and a field, and configures a server to figure out an interest in the visiting place therethrough, to be utilized for marketing in various fields and a method for processing thereof. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Currently, one of methods which are the most frequently used for marketing in various service fields is blog marketing. However, recently, reliability of customers for the blogs is lowered and thus the marketing effect is not so good. Therefore, it is required to present statistical data which is reliable and desired by the consumers. A problem of the blog marketing is that the blog is configured by an experiential group and the experiential group receives cash or goods from an advertiser so that many of blogs are related with a reward. 
     An ICT convergence technology is commercialized with respect to a government, research organizations, and industries so that IT based corporations in domestic and foreign countries provide various management marketing services based on a location recognizing technique. A location based service (LBS) is being grown along with a smart phone market and is prospected to expand to a convergence platform in which location information, commerce, and entertainment are combined. 
     In the meantime, a concept of a smart shopping through convergence of a mobile technique and a management marketing model appears and necessity of a shopper marketing model service is gathering strength. 
     In order to realize the smart shopping, a center of an enterprise marketing strategy is changed from consumer marketing which focuses on psychological change of a customer to shopper marketing which focuses on a behavior in a shopping place so that various information services based on locations of a user are provided. A service providing company simultaneously uses customer information (big data), location information of a customer which is generated in a store, and other information to build a shopper marketing model. 
     Through the realization of shopper marketing, convenience of the user is improved and sales of a related service company are grown and a brand asset thereof is increased. Further, a new blue ocean market is created to enter a small and medium industry and create employment, so that technical development is urgently needed. Specifically, an intelligent location estimating technique utilizing industry is a core foundation industry of various IT convergence services in the future and industrial utilization thereof may result in a high synergy effect not only in the smart shopping but also at various aspects of the management marketing. 
     Further, in recent years, an area of internet of things (IoT) called a future food and a core of a trend has expanded. In particular, there is a trend that as a smart phone is supplied, personalization of IT is diffused, and as a result, various contents have been released through linkage with various home appliances and various smart devices. 
     In recent years, Bluetooth smart, the mobile device or the smart device which supports Bluetooth low energy (BLE) can transmit information among devices without performing the pairing process and since a period of transmitting data is longer than that in the existing Bluetooth scheme, the power consumption is relatively small. 
     Further, a manufacturing cost of the mobile device is low so that the mobile device may be used as a Bluetooth beacon which provides various information for various purposes. 
     The Bluetooth beacon may be installed at a desired place and may be easily accessed through a mobile device or a smart device which supports Bluetooth which may be used without performing a pairing process and may be utilized in various fields as various information provided from the Bluetooth beacons at the installation places. 
     RELATED ART DOCUMENT 
     Patent Document 
     Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1579968 (firm date: Dec. 23, 2015). 
     Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1587888 (firm date: Jan. 22, 2016) 
     Korean Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-2016-0026739 (Published date: Mar. 9, 2016) 
     Korean Patent Unexamined Publication No. 10-2015-0120887 (Published date: Oct. 28, 2016) 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a visit big data processing system using a beacon to automatically calculate a number of visits for various visiting places and a method of processing thereof. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a visit big data processing system which automatically calculates the number of visits for a visiting place using a beacon, makes information of a visitor and the visiting location therethrough as big data to provide various information to be utilized for marketing and a method of processing thereof. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, the visit big data processing system automatically calculates a number of visits for a visiting place by using beacons which are provided in various visiting places, configures big data using the calculated position information and the number of visits, and statistically analyzes the big data to provide information on the visitor and the visiting place for various fields. As described above, according to the visit big data processing system of the present invention, when the consumer visits a visiting place, the number of visits is automatically calculated and managed to figure out an interest in the visiting place and provide visitor information and visiting place information on the visiting place that the consumer wants to know about therethrough. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for processing a visit big data processing system includes: installing one beacon in which identification information recognized by a mobile terminal is stored in various visiting places, registering and managing the identification information for each beacon, and registering and managing the mobile information on each of the mobile terminals, by a visit big data processing server, automatically activating an application installed in the mobile terminal when the mobile terminal located in the visiting place recognizes the beacon through a wireless communication network, receiving the identification information from the recognized beacon through the wireless communication network, and counting a number of visits for the visiting place; transmitting the identification information corresponding to the beacon recognized by the mobile terminal through the wireless communication network and the counted number of visits to the visit big data processing server; receiving, collecting, and storing the identification information and the number of visits for various visiting places from the plurality of mobile terminals through the wireless communication network, by the visit big data processing server; and providing information on the visitor and the visiting place to be utilized for various marketing fields by calculating a total number of visits for the visiting places from the big data to generate big data by the visit big data processing server and statistically analyzing the big data. 
     As described above, according to the present invention, the visit big data processing system automatically calculates a number of visits for a visiting place by using beacons which are provided in various visiting places, configures big data using the calculated position information and the number of visits, and statistically analyzes the big data to provide information on the visitor and the visiting place for various fields, thereby figuring out an interest for the visiting place, and providing visitor information and visiting place information on the visiting place which are desired by the user, to be utilized for marketing in various fields. 
     Further, according to the present invention, the visit big data processing system automatically figures out a place where the customer visits using a beacon, so that there is no need to input the visiting place for receiving a reward, unlike the bloggers and there is no need to separately execute the application. As a result, the users may conveniently use the system. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a network configuration of a visit big data processing system according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a beacon illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a mobile terminal illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a visit big data processing server illustrated in  FIG. 1 ; and 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence of a visit big data processing system according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 5 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 to 4 , the visit big data processing system  2  of the present invention automatically calculates the number of visits for a visiting place using a beacon  100  equipped in various visiting places, builds big data using the calculated position information and number of visits and statistically analyzes the big data to provide information on a visitor and a visiting place for various fields. 
     When a customer visits various visiting places such as a restaurant, a store, a lodging, a tourist attraction, a museum, a zoo, and the like, the visit big data processing system  2  of the present invention automatically calculates and manages the number of visits to figure out an interest in the visiting place and provides various information about visiting place, for example, including visitor information and visiting place information for a sex, an age, a job, a region, a field, and an interest of the visitor that the consumer wants to know. Further, the visit big data processing system  2  allows the consumer to utilize the information for marketing. 
     To this end, the visit big data processing system  2  of the present invention includes a wireless communication network  10 , a plurality of beacons  100 , a plurality of mobile terminals  200 , and a visit big data processing server  100 . 
     The wireless communication network  10  is equipped with Bluetooth, WiFi, a mobile communication network, and the like. The wireless communication network  10  connects the plurality of beacons  100 , the plurality of mobile terminals  200 , and the visit big data processing servers  300  to each other. In this exemplary embodiment, the beacons  100  and the mobile terminals  200  are connected through the wireless communication network  10 , for example, a Bluetooth communication network. The mobile terminals  200  and the visit big data processing servers  300  are connected through the wireless communication network  10  such as a mobile communication network, Bluetooth, and WiFi. 
     Each beacon is provided in various visiting places such as a restaurant, a lodging, a store, a tourist attraction, a museum, a zoo, and the like. In order to prevent the mobile terminal  200  from double counting the number of visits, the beacon  100  is provided in a specific location (for example, a counter). The beacon  100  has a predetermined wireless communication range. The beacon  100  is provided to automatically count the number of visits when a customer having the mobile terminal  200  enters the visiting place at first. To this end, the beacon  100  stores different identification information and position information according to the visiting place. When the mobile terminal  200  is recognized, the beacon  100  transmits the identification information and the position information to the mobile terminal  200  through the wireless communication network  10 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the beacon  100  includes a control unit  110 , a wireless communication module  120 , a memory  130 , and a battery  140 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     Specifically, the control unit  110  controls an overall operation of the beacon  100  to be processed. That is, the control unit  110  controls the wireless communication unit  120 , the memory  130 , and the battery  140 . When the mobile terminal  200  recognizes the beacon  100 , the control unit  110  controls the beacon  100  to read the identification information  132  and the position information  134  from the memory  130  to transmit the identification information  132  and the position information  134  to the mobile terminal  200  through the wireless communication module  120 . The wireless communication module  120  is provided as for example, a Bluetooth module and is controlled by the control unit  110  to transmit the identification information  132  and the position information  134  to the outside through the wireless communication network  10 . In the memory  130 , the identification information  132  which is provided to allow the mobile terminal  200  to discern the beacon  100  and position information  134  on the visiting place are stored. The battery  140  is provided as for example, a primary battery, a rechargeable secondary battery, and the like and is controlled by the control unit  110  to supply driving power of the beacon  100 . 
     The mobile terminal  200  is provided as for example, a portable electronic device such as a smart phone, a tablet phone, or a tablet PC and is held by a consumer who visits various visiting places. The mobile terminal  200  receives the identification information and the position information from the beacon  100  through the wireless communication network  10  using an application  232  to calculate a number of visits and transmits the identification information and the number of visits to the visit big data processing server  300  through the wireless communication network  10 . When the beacon  100  is recognized, the mobile terminal  200  may collect various information from the beacon  100  without performing a pairing operation. 
     Further, the mobile terminal  200  requests to search and check various information on the visiting place from the visit big data processing server  300  using an application  232 . 
     In the exemplary embodiment, the mobile terminal  200 , as illustrated in  FIG. 3 , includes a control unit  210 , a wireless communication unit  220 , a touch panel  240 , and a memory  230  in which the application  232  is installed. 
     The control unit  210  controls an overall operation of the mobile terminal  200  to be processed. That is, the control unit  210  controls the wireless communication unit  220 , the touch panel  240  and the memory  230 . When a beacon  100  of a specific visiting place is recognized, the control unit  210  automatically activates the application  232  and controls a function of the application  232 , for example, to calculate the number of visits for the visiting place. 
     The wireless communication unit  220  is connected to the wireless communication network  10  by being controlled by the control unit  210  to process mutual data communication with the beacon  100  and the visit big data processing server  300 . When the beacon  100  is recognized, the wireless communication unit  220  receives identification information and position information from the beacon  100  through the wireless communication network  10 . The wireless communication unit  220  transmits the identification information, the position information, and the number of visits to the visit big data processing server  300  through the wireless communication network  10 . The touch panel  240  displays various user interfaces of the application  232  and inputs various information to the user interfaces of the application  232 . 
     The application  232  downloaded from the visit big data processing server  300  or an application market is installed in the memory  230 . When the beacon  100  is recognized, the application  232  is automatically executed to be activated. The application  232  calculates the number of visits for the visiting place by receiving the identification information and the position information from the beacon  100  and transmits the identification information, the position information, and the number of visit to the big data processing server  300 . In this case, when one beacon  100  for one visiting place is recognized, the application  232  is set so as not to count the same beacon  100  for a predetermined time so that the number of visits for the visiting place is not double counted. 
     The visit big data processing server  300  receives the identification information and the position information of the beacon  100  corresponding to the visiting place, and the number of visits from the plurality of mobile terminals  200  to construct big data for each visiting place and statistically analyzes the big data to provide various information to the mobile terminal  200 . Therefore, instead of inputting evaluation and contents by a blogger or an experiential group who visits the visiting place, the visit big data processing server  100  automatically calculates and manages the number of visits when the customers visit the visiting place and process statistical analysis together with the user information of the mobile terminal  200  to generate big data and extracts and provides various informations such as the sex, the age, the job, a class, the field, and the interest of the visitor of the visiting place through the big data to figure out the interest in the visiting place. 
     The visit big data processing server  300  of the exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , includes a control unit  302 , a communication unit  304 , a visit big data processing unit  310 , and a database  320 . Further, although not illustrated, the visit big data processing server  300  includes components of a typical computer system, for example, a central processing device, a memory device, an input/output device, a storage device, and the like. 
     Specifically, the control unit  302  controls an overall operation of the visit big data processing server  300  to be processed. That is, the control unit  302  controls the communication unit  304 , the visit big data processing unit  310 , and the database  320 . In addition, although not illustrated, the control unit  302  may include software such as an operating system program and a control program as well as hardware such as the central processing device, the memory or a web server. 
     The control unit  302  controls the visit big data processing unit  310  to collect visiting place information transmitted from the mobile terminal  200  through the wireless communication network  10  and generates big data through the collected visiting place information. The big data generated as described above is statistically analyzed as information on the visiting place and the visitor to be utilized for services in various fields, for example, marketing for promotion, advertisement, and business. Detailed processing contents for the control unit  302  and the visit big data processing unit  310  will be described in detail in  FIG. 5 . 
     The communication unit  304  is connected to the beacon  100  and the visit big data processing server  300  through the wireless communication network  10  by being controlled by the control unit  302  to process the mutual data communication to receive identification information and the position information from the beacon  100  and transmit the identification information, the position information, and the number of visits to the visit big data processing server  300 . 
     When the mobile terminal  200  recognizes the beacon  100  of a specific visiting place through the wireless communication network  10 , the visit big data processing unit  310  provides the application  232  which is automatically activated and receives the identification information and the position information of the beacon  100  installed in the visiting place and the number of visits for the visiting place from the mobile terminal  200  using the application  232  to calculate the number of visits for the visiting place, and statistically analyzes the identification information, the position information, the number of visits, and user information of the mobile terminal  200  to generate big data, and extracts the big data in which information requested in the mobile terminal  200  is included. 
     The visit big data processing unit  310  of the exemplary embodiment includes a number-of-visits collecting unit  312  which receives the identification information and the position information on the specific visiting place, and the number of visits from the mobile terminal  200  through the wireless communication network  10  to collect the information on the plurality of visiting places to automatically calculate the number of visits for the visiting place, a data analyzing unit  314  which statistically analyzes the data on the number of visits to generate big data, and an information providing unit  316  which extracts information on the desired visiting place of the mobile terminal  200  from the big data (for example, various information on the visitor and the visiting place for a region, an age, a sex, a job, an interest, and a field) to be provided. 
     The database  320  stores various information according to the processing process of the visit big data processing unit  110  by being controlled by the control unit  302 . In the exemplary embodiment, the database  320  is equipped in the visit big data processing server  300 , but may be equipped as a separate database server. 
     The database  320  of the exemplary embodiment stores beacon management information  322  including the identification information and the position information of the beacon, the visiting place information on an installation location (for example, a restaurant, a store, and a lodging) of the beacon, mobile information  324  including the user information (for example, a sex, an age, a region, a job and the like) of the mobile terminal  200  and identification information of the mobile terminal  200 , number-of-visits information  326  including a number of visits for the visiting place transmitted from the mobile terminal  200 , and big data  328  generated by statistically analyzing the beacon management information  322 , the mobile information  324 , and the number-of-visits information  326 . 
     As described above, the visit big data processing system  2  of the present invention automatically calculates the number of visits using the beacon  100  installed in various visiting places, builds the big data therethrough, and provides various information on the visitor and the visiting place from the big data, to be utilized for a marketing material in various service fields. 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a processing sequence of a visit big data processing system according to the present invention. This sequence is a program by which the beacon  100 , the mobile terminal  200  and the visit big data processing server  300  are interlinked to each other and is processed by the application  232  and the visit big data processing unit  310 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , in the visit big data processing system of the present invention, one beacon  100  is installed for every visiting place in step S 400 . In this case, the identification information which is recognized by the mobile terminal  200  and the position information of the visiting place are stored in the beacon  100 . 
     In step S 402 , the visit big data processing server  100  registers and manages beacon information of each beacon  100 , that is, the identification information and the position information. For example, when the beacon  100  is installed in a specific restaurant, if the beacon  100  is recognized by the mobile terminal  200 , the visit big data processing server  100  receives the identification information and the position information from the mobile terminal  200  to discern the visiting place in which the beacon is currently installed as the specific restaurant through the identification information and discern the position information to figure out the position of the specific restaurant. 
     In step S 404 , the visit big data processing server  100  registers and manages the mobile information for every mobile terminal  200 . In step S 406 , the mobile terminal  200  downloads the application  232  through the visit big data processing server or an application market to install the application therein. When the application  232  is installed in the mobile terminal  200 , user information is transmitted through a member registration process and the identification information of the mobile terminal  200  is recognized to manage the user of the mobile terminal  200 . 
     In step S 408 , when the mobile terminal  200  moves to be located in a specific visiting place and recognizes the beacon  100  through the wireless communication network  10  (for example, Bluetooth), the mobile terminal  200  automatically activates the application  232  in step S 410 . 
     In step S 410 , the mobile terminal  200  receives the identification information and the position information from the recognized beacon  100  to count the number of visits. In this case, the mobile terminal  200  sets a predetermined period (for example, 12 hours after counting the number of visits at first) or a calculation cycle (for example, two times per day) set so as not to double count the number of visits in one visiting place and counts the number of visits one time for the set period. Further, the mobile terminal  200  transmits the identification information and the position information corresponding to the beacon  100  recognized through the wireless communication network  10 , and the number of visits to the visit big data processing server  300 . 
     In step S 412 , the visit big data processing server  300  receives the identification information, the position information, and the number of visits for various visiting places from the plurality of mobile terminals  200  through the wireless communication network  10  to collect and store the information. In step S 414 , the visit big data processing server  300  generates and stores big data of various collected and stored information and in step S 416 , the big data is statistically analyzed to be extracted as various information. 
     In step S 418 , when the mobile terminal  200  requests the visit big data processing server  300  to search for desired information using the application  232 , in step S 420 , the visit big data processing server  300  extracts the corresponding information from the big data and in step S 422 , provides the corresponding information to the mobile terminal  200  through the wireless communication network  10 . Next, in step S 424 , the mobile terminal outputs the corresponding information through the application  232  to be checked. 
     Hereinabove, although the configuration and the action of the big data processing system according to the present invention have been illustrated according to the detailed description and the drawings, this is just described by using the exemplary embodiment and various changes and modifications can be made without a scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.