Automatic wireless consumer checkins

Abstract

Computing systems and methods for facilitating consumer transactions in retail and other establishments include communication interfaces adapted to couple a computing system to a plurality of third party phones or other mobile electronic devices, storage components adapted to store user information, participating merchant information, or any combination thereof, and processors in communication with the communication interfaces and storage components. The processors are adapted to facilitate the automatic wireless checkins of third party users of the third party phones or other mobile electronic devices at participating merchants. Such automatic wireless checkins take place when the third party phones or mobile electronic devices are simply present at the participating merchants, without any affirmative activity by the users at the participating merchants.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing system, comprising:
 one or more communication interfaces adapted to couple the computing system to a plurality of third party mobile electronic devices;   one or more storage components adapted to store user information, participating merchant information, or any combination thereof; and   one or more processors in communication with the one or more communication interfaces and the one or more storage components, said one or more processors being adapted to facilitate the automatic wireless checkins of third party users of the third party mobile electronic devices at participating merchants, wherein said automatic wireless checkins take place when the third party mobile electronic devices are simply present at the participating merchants without any affirmative activity by the users at the participating merchants.   
     
     
         2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein said automatic wireless checkins are facilitated using Bluetooth low energy protocols and communications. 
     
     
         3 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more processors are further adapted to facilitate output presentations on the third party mobile electronic devices, the output presentations including indications or information regarding the automated wireless checkins. 
     
     
         4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein said one or more processors are further adapted to provide application downloads to the third party mobile devices. 
     
     
         5 . A non-transitory medium having a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a server controlled by a service provider, are adapted to cause the server to perform a method comprising:
 providing software code to be used on a third party mobile computing device to a user thereof, the software code including information regarding automatic wireless checkins using said third party mobile computing device, said providing being performed electronically by a processor;   enabling the third party mobile computing device to utilize a Bluetooth low energy protocol to detect the presence of a nearby merchant device using the provided software code, said detecting occurring automatically without any affirmative action by the user;   facilitating a wireless communications exchange between the third party mobile computing device and the nearby merchant device, said exchange occurring automatically without any affirmative action by the user; and   checking in the user of the third party mobile computing device as a known consumer at the merchant of the nearby merchant device, said checking in occurring automatically without any affirmative action by the user.   
     
     
         6 . A method of automatically checking in a user at a merchant, comprising:
 transmitting, by one or more merchant devices, Bluetooth™ low energy (BLE) communications;   sending, by the one or more merchant devices, BLE communications to a connected user device;   receiving, by the one or more merchant devices, BLE communications from the connected user device; and   automatically checking in, by the merchant device, a user of the user device with the merchant based on the received BLE communications.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein transmitting BLE signals comprises transmitting BLE signals including a generic universally unique identifier (UUID). 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein transmitting BLE signals comprises transmitting BLE signals on an unencrypted channel. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein sending BLE communications comprises sending metadata and a specific beacon token to the connected user device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein receiving BLE communications comprises receiving an encrypted token from the connected user device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein checking in a user of the user device comprises:
 sending, by the merchant device, the received encrypted token to a remote server for decryption; and   receiving, by the merchant device, checkin instructions based on the decrypted received encrypted token.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 determining if the user device is near a point of sale device; and   completing a transaction at the point of sale device when the user is near the point of sale device.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the point of sale device includes one of the one or more merchant devices. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the one or merchant devices comprise beacon devices for transmitting and receiving BLE signals. 
     
     
         15 . A method of automatically checking in at a merchant, comprising:
 receiving, by a user device, Bluetooth™ low energy (BLE) communications from one or more merchant devices, the BLE communications including at least a generic universally unique identifier (UUID); and   sending, by the user device to the one or more merchant devices, BLE communications, the BLE communications including at least an encrypted token, wherein
 the one or more merchant devices automatically checks in the user device based on the sent encrypted token. 
   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein receiving BLE communications comprises receiving metadata and a specific beacon token. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein receiving BLE communications comprises receiving BLE communications on an unencrypted channel. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the user device comprises a mobile device. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the one or merchant devices comprise beacon devices for transmitting and receiving BLE signals. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 receiving, by the user device, at least one key and at least one user token; and   encrypting, by the user device, the token with that least one key.