Commercial beacons, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, IR or other wireless technology beacons are becoming more widespread, and can be used to send wireless messages, such as advertisements, to mobile devices, wearable devices, and other wireless-enabled devices. As illustrated in FIG. 8D, when such wireless messages, which are sent by a commercial wireless beacon 815, are received at mobile device 808 they can trigger data collection module 810 to collect sensor data, which is stored in data buffer 811 and is subsequently uploaded into remote database 812.

Data Collection Based on Geofencing

Many mobile devices provide a geofencing API. By using such an API, the system can trigger sensor data collection and uploading when the mobile device enters a specific geographical area, like a user's home or workplace, or alternatively a store, a museum or any other specified area. For example, FIG. 8E illustrates how a geofencing API 816, which is available in many mobile devices, can be used to trigger data collection module 810 when mobile device 808 enters a predefined location. The location of mobile device 808 can be determined using: the GPS sensor running on mobile device 808, IP-based geolocation, or any other method of detecting geographical location or proximity to a location.

Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.