Proximity and tap detection using a wireless system
First Claim
1. A wireless mobile device, comprising:
- a receiver/transmitter unit configured to wirelessly receive packets from a signal source; and
a proximity unit configured to;
determine a received signal strength corresponding to each of a plurality of the received packets;
calculate, based at least in part on the determined received signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of the received packets, a current distance of the wireless mobile device from the signal source, wherein calculating the current distance comprises determining a weighted average signal strength based on the plurality of the received packets, wherein a more recently received packet of the plurality of the received packets is assigned a higher weight than a less recently received packet;
determine whether the current distance is within a threshold distance sufficient for enabling an exchange of data between the wireless mobile device and the signal source, wherein the threshold distance corresponds to physically introducing the wireless mobile device into proximity of the signal source; and
enable an operation based at least in part on the current distance being within a predetermined range.
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Abstract
A method for detecting the proximity of a signal source using wireless systems is contemplated in which a wireless mobile device wirelessly receives packets from a signal source and determines a received signal strength for each packet. The wireless mobile device may store information based upon the received signal strength for each packet, and calculate from the information stored for all the packets, a current path loss value corresponding to a current distance from the wireless mobile device to the signal source. The wireless mobile device may then determine whether the current distance is sufficient to be an enabling condition such as tap, for example, for a data transfer or a transaction between the wireless mobile device and the signal source.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A wireless mobile device, comprising:
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a receiver/transmitter unit configured to wirelessly receive packets from a signal source; and a proximity unit configured to; determine a received signal strength corresponding to each of a plurality of the received packets; calculate, based at least in part on the determined received signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of the received packets, a current distance of the wireless mobile device from the signal source, wherein calculating the current distance comprises determining a weighted average signal strength based on the plurality of the received packets, wherein a more recently received packet of the plurality of the received packets is assigned a higher weight than a less recently received packet; determine whether the current distance is within a threshold distance sufficient for enabling an exchange of data between the wireless mobile device and the signal source, wherein the threshold distance corresponds to physically introducing the wireless mobile device into proximity of the signal source; and enable an operation based at least in part on the current distance being within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method comprising:
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receiving signals via an antenna of a wireless mobile device, wherein the signals comprise packets transmitted from a signal source; generating, for received packets transmitted, an associated signal strength; determining a distance value representing a distance of the wireless mobile device from the signal source, based at least in part on the associated signal strength for each of a plurality of the received packets; determining to exclude a packet of the received packets from use in determining the distance value when the associated signal strength for the packet represents an outlier value; and enabling an operation based at least in part on the distance value being within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by circuitry of a wireless mobile device to:
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determine a received signal strength corresponding to each of a plurality of packets wirelessly received, from a signal source, by a receiver/transmitter of the wireless mobile device; calculate, based at least in part on the determined received signal strength corresponding to each of the plurality of the received packets, a current distance of the wireless mobile device from the signal source, wherein calculating the current distance comprises determining a weighted average signal strength based on the plurality of the received packets, wherein a more recently received packet of the plurality of the received packets is assigned a higher weight than a less recently received packet; determine whether the current distance is within a threshold distance sufficient for enabling an exchange of data between the wireless mobile device and the signal source, wherein the threshold distance corresponds to physically introducing the wireless mobile device into proximity of the signal source; and enable an operation based at least in part on the current distance being within a predetermined range. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification