On July 12, 2021 we were informed that our sixth patent was approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Patent application 2019 / 0172096 A1, “Mobile Device Detection and Tracking”, was first published on June 6, 2019 and its approval demonstrates our ongoing technology leadership and reflects our commitment to innovate for the benefit of our customers. Jan-Willem Korver, BlueZoo CTO, explains that “while patent awards are not the purpose of our innovation, they are a natural outcome of our vision for a world where occupancy is measured in a privacy-centric way”. Let’s review our approach to innovation.
First, we focus on value to our customers. Our goal is not to deliver innovative technologies for their own sake. Indeed, we leverage the best of open source and 3rd-party technologies we can find, such as Google Cloud’s BigQuery and Google Cloud’s Looker. Gone are the days of developing software from the ground up. Instead, we build on the shoulders of giants.
Second, we leverage the accumulated experience created by having thousands sensors deployed around the globe, Earlier this year we announced that our 48 billionth (yes billion with a ‘B’) sensor probe was processed. We understand many of the nuances of building shapes and types, as well as unique differences in outdoor spaces. If experience and data are the lifeblood of insight and differentiation, our extensive probe data are creating an enormous ‘moat of differentiation’ about the measurement of people in spaces.
Third, when we realize meaningful breakthroughs that are novel and core to our ongoing differentiation, such as with our Wi-Fi sensor privacy protection processes, we may choose to protect them with patents. This mostly means that when our customers use our software they know that they are using exclusive innovations and are protected.
While we are proud of our development team and thrilled to have another patent approved, we are still in our early stages. Our team is working on new ways to leverage machine learning with Wi-Fi and optical sensors to provide even more insight about people, spaces, and buildings. We look forward to sharing more innovations soon