Beacon service method, device and server

Abstract

Disclosed herein are a beacon service method, and a device and a sever employed by the method. Contents information associated with a shop that a user is visiting is provided to the user by using only a beacon signal transmitted from the shop. For providing a beacon service, contents are filtered, so that only useful contents are displayed. In addition, a user terminal carried by a user is prompted to output a beacon signal, so that a nearby user terminal having recognized the beacon signal may be provided with location-based contents.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A service server comprising:
 a beacon request transmitting unit configured to transmit a request to output a beacon signal to a beacon terminal to have the beacon terminal to output a beacon signal, if it is determined that the beacon terminal has entered a predetermined area based on location information received from the beacon terminal;   an approach information receiving unit configured to receive approach information recognized from the beacon signal from a user terminal that has recognized the beacon signal; and   a contents providing unit configured to provide the user terminal with contents information extracted based on the approach information.   
     
     
         2 . The service server of  claim 1 , wherein the beacon signal include at least one of identification information of the beacon terminal, information regarding the area where the beacon terminal is located, and shop information received from the service server. 
     
     
         3 . The service server of  claim 1 , wherein the approach information may include at least one of identification information of the beacon terminal, information regarding the area where the beacon terminal is located and shop information received from the service server, and identification information of the user terminal. 
     
     
         4 . The service server of  claim 1 , wherein if there is shop information that is matched to the predetermined area that the beacon terminal has entered, the beacon request transmitting unit is configured to transmit the request to output a beacon signal such that the beacon terminal outputs the beacon signal containing information related to the shop information. 
     
     
         5 . The user terminal of  claim 4 , wherein the beacon signal includes
 at least one of a first beacon signal used for checking if the user has entered the shop based on intensities, and a second beacon signal containing identification information of the shop.   
     
     
         6 . The user terminal of  claim 1 , wherein the contents information is displayed by the user terminal when usefulness index for the beacon terminal is equal to or larger than a threshold value. 
     
     
         7 . The user terminal of  claim 6 , wherein the usefulness index is determined based on at least one of a time period for which the contents information is displayed and whether the user inputs a predetermined operation after the contents information is displayed. 
     
     
         8 . A method of operating a service server, the method comprising:
 transmitting a request to output a beacon signal to a beacon terminal to have the beacon terminal to output a beacon signal, if it is determined that the beacon terminal has entered a predetermined area based on location information received from the beacon terminal;   receiving approach information recognized from the beacon signal from a user terminal that has recognized the beacon signal; and   providing the user terminal with contents extracted based on the approach information.   
     
     
         9 . The service server of  claim 8 , wherein the beacon signal include at least one of identification information of the beacon terminal, information regarding the area where the beacon terminal is located, and shop information received from the service server. 
     
     
         10 . The service server of  claim 8 , wherein the approach information may include at least one of identification information of the beacon terminal, information regarding the area where the beacon terminal is located and shop information received from the service server, and identification information of the user terminal. 
     
     
         11 . The service server of  claim 8 , wherein if there is shop information that is stored by being matched to the predetermined area that the beacon terminal has entered, the transmitting comprises transmitting the request to output a beacon signal such that the beacon terminal outputs the beacon signal containing information related to the shop information. 
     
     
         12 . The user terminal of  claim 11 , wherein the beacon signal includes
 at least one of a first beacon signal used for checking if the user has entered the shop based on intensities, and a second beacon signal containing identification information of the shop.   
     
     
         13 . The user terminal of  claim 8 , wherein the contents information is displayed by the user terminal when usefulness index for the beacon terminal is equal to or larger than a threshold value. 
     
     
         14 . The user terminal of  claim 13 , wherein the usefulness index is determined based on at least one of a time period for which the contents information is displayed and whether the user inputs a predetermined operation after the contents information is displayed.