US Patent 10149159 Trusted beacon system and method

A trusted beacon system is disclosed. An electronic beacon broadcasts a cryptographically signed beacon identifier to listening devices. Listening devices are configured to verify the integrity of the cryptographically signed beacon identifier by using the beacon's public key. Listening devices may also be configured to verify the validity of the public key by verifying a digital certificate corresponding to the beacon. Also, listening devices may be configured with location-based functionality that determines a relative location of the listening device or carries out other functionality if the cryptographically signed beacon identifier is verified.