Patent Application
20070150607
This invention relates generally to mobile communication systems and, more specifically, to proximity communication with mobile devices.
Many systems exist for enabling the interaction of people. These generally include formal settings that the participants have paid money to join. However, there does not exist any effective systems that facilitate communication outside of these formal settings.
Therefore, there exists a need for facilitating personal connections in public forums.
The present invention provides systems and methods for allowing communication between two or more proximate mobile computing devices. An example method detects the presence of a second mobile computing device at a first mobile computing device, receives at least one of a portion of a list of media files or user information from at least one of the second mobile computing device or a server over a wireless network, and determines if there exists a match between the first mobile computing device and the second mobile computing device based on the received at least one of the portion of the list of media files or the user information from the second mobile computing device and at least one of a portion of a list of media files or user preference information associated with the first mobile computing device. An alert is outputted, if a match is determined.
Preferred and alternative embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings:
Via network 217, the device 200 may communicate to other mobile devices such as computers 221 and servers 231 via the network 218. The radio 210 sends and receives both Short Message Service (SMS) messages 228 through the phone network 217 to other devices identified by their phone numbers and sends a variety of packet data 229 through the data network 218 via a predefined protocol (UDP, TCP, SMTP, HTTP, etc).
In one embodiment, at least one of a variety of short-range wireless communication interfaces, including Bluetooth radio 211, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) radio 212, and an infrared transceiver 213. The Bluetooth radio 211 allows communication via a short-range microwave link 223 (10s of meters) with Bluetooth adaptors 222 connected to computers 221 and by extension through them via a router 220 to other devices on the public or private data network 218. The Bluetooth radio 211 is able also communicate directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones
WiFi radio 212 provides communication via short-range microwave links 224 (10s-100s of meters) WiFi basestations 219 connected via the router 220, which may be incorporated into the WiFi basestations 219, to the public or private data network 218. The WiFi radio 212 allows communication directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones.
The infrared transceiver 213 allows communication with infrared adaptors 232 connected to computers 221 and by extension through them via the router 220 to other devices on the public or private data network 218. The infrared transceiver 213 also allows communication directly to other similarly enabled mobile phones.
The server complex 231 enables: (a) storage and comparison of content files stored on user devices and user content preferences; (b) receiving of signals from user devices; (c) alerting user devices to presence of other user devices with similar content or content preferences; and (d) passing messages anonymously between user devices.
Connected to the cell phone carrier 215 is a short message service center 230 (SMS-C) that enables transmission of messages between phones routed by their phone number and between the server complex 231 and phones.
As shown in
The radios 403, 413 send and receive both Short Message Service (SMS) messages 404, 414 through the phone carriers 427 to other phones identified by their phone numbers and send a variety of packet data 405, 415 according to a protocol (such as UDP, TCP, SMTP, HTTP, etc) through the data network 430.
In one embodiment, the devices 402, 412 include at least one of a variety of short-range wireless communication interfaces, including Bluetooth radios 407, 417, WiFi radios 408, 418, and infrared transceivers 406, 416. The Bluetooth radio 407 may communicate with Bluetooth adaptors 435 connected to computers 434 and by extension through them via a router 432 to other devices on the public or private data network 430. The Bluetooth radio 407 is also able to communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices.
WiFi radio 408 is able to communicate with WiFi basestations 433 connected via the router 432 (which may be incorporated into 433 to the public or private data network 430. WiFi radio 408 may also communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices 412.
The infrared transceiver 406 may communicate with infrared adaptors (not shown) connected to computers and by extension through them via the router 432 to other devices on the public or private data network 430. The infrared transceiver 406 may also communicate directly to other similarly enabled devices.
Connected to the data network 430 is the server complex 431 that enables: (a) storage and comparison of content files stored on user devices 402, 412 and user content preferences; (b) receiving signals from user devices; (c) alerting user devices to presence of other user devices with similar content or content preferences; and (d) passing messages anonymously between user devices. Connected to the cell phone carrier 427 is a short message service center 428 (SMS-C) enabling transmission of messages between phones routed by their phone number.
Example of content preferences include music genres, favorite artists (artists most often played, artists responsible for largest number of stored files, artists responsible for highest dollar value of content owned or streamed, etc.), favorite movie director, favorite film genre, list of media bookmarked for future purchase, data on media streamed to user device, or any other information that relates to stored or desired media.
This could be performed by a key word or similar type of search. Various different aspects of the list of media files may be compared, such as artist or song, or metadata, such as musical genre. At block 305, if criteria for matching threshold are satisfied, alert user of first device to presence of second device. This alert might come in the form of a similarities score or the alert may only be generated if the number of similar content matches exceeds a threshold amount. At block 306, on signal from the first use 402, a message is transmitted by an anonymous path to the second user device 412.
In another embodiment, when a device senses a proximate device (a device within a certain range as determined by signal strength or exchanged location information), the user device sends a request to the server to perform a comparison of the user's play list to a play list of the proximate device as determined by an identifier supplied to the user's device from the proximate device.
The user device includes one or more parameters (user preferences) that define whether the user device will provide access to its list of media files. The parameters may be set or adjusted by the authorized user of the user device. Example parameters include, but are not limited to, date, time, threshold relating to the comparison between the resident list and the list associated with the proximate user device, or age or sex of the registered user of the proximate user device. In another embodiment, parameters are stored on the server.
For example, during a busy day Adam attended several meetings, a business lunch, and a cultural event. At the end of the day, he receives a message on his user device from an anonymous person informing him of eight musical recommendations that includes a new Nora Jones track. He listens to the new Nora Jones track. He opts to purchase the track and at the same time sends an anonymous thank you to the anonymous person from whom he got the recommendation. With the thank you he includes a personal message. The next day, while listening to the track again he receives a message from Eve, the anonymous person, who was sitting in the row behind him at the cultural event the day before. The message may include information that the anonymous person desires to send.
In another embodiment, a parameter for determining if a match occurs or does not occur may be one that denies a match if a condition is met. For example, if a parameter of the first user device indicates that they hate rap, then a match will be denied if the list of media files includes rap or a threshold amount of rap.
While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not limited by the disclosure of the preferred embodiment. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
This invention claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/752,538 filed Dec. 21, 2005, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60752538 | Dec 2005 | US |
