Methods, systems, and apparatus for providing enhanced telecommunication services

• US 20070155402A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 07/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.), Enhanced Telecommunications LLC
• Original Assignee: Enhanced Telecommunications LLC
• Inventors: Van Erlach, Julian
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A first method for facilitating personal contacts among a plurality of subscribers to a location-based person contact service provided by a service provider; a second method for processing a product identifying code that identifies a product; a third method for communicating information to a user of a wireless device by a server; and a fourth method for real-time monitoring of vital signs of a living being. In the first method, personal profiles are transmitted to subscribers. In the second method, a sample of the product or information pertaining to the product is transmitted to a wireless device. In the third method, a message specific to both an establishment and the user is transmitted to a wireless device or smart display proximal to the user in the establishment. In the fourth method, information relating to a violated vital sign parameter determined from the monitoring is communicated to a local communication node.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating personal contacts among a plurality of subscribers to a location-based person contact service provided by a service provider having a database that comprises a personal profile of each subscriber and filter criteria specified by each subscriber for accepting the personal profiles of the other subscribers, said method comprising:

receiving, by the service provider, a first message from a first wireless device possessed by a first subscriber of the plurality of subscribers, wherein the first message includes data from which a region may be determined by the service provider, and wherein the message further includes a request for the first wireless device to receive those personal profiles of all subscribers whose wireless devices are determined to be within the region who satisfy the filter criteria specified by the first subscriber;

extracting from the database, by the service provider, said those personal profiles; and

transmitting, by the service provider to the first wireless device after said receiving the first message, said those personal profiles.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the service provider after said transmitting, a second message from the first wireless device, wherein the second message instructs the service provider to forward the personal profile of the first subscriber to a second wireless device possessed by a second subscriber of said all subscribers whose wireless devices are determined to be within the indicated region who satisfy the filter criteria specified by the first subscriber; and

sending, by the service provider to the second wireless device after said receiving the second message, the personal profile of the first subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises an explicit identification of the region on a geocoded digital map domain.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data comprises an identification of a geographic position of the first wireless device and a specified distance from the geographic position, and wherein the region is within the specified distance from the geographic position.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the service provider prior to said transmitting, the identification of the geographic position from a global positioning system (GPS).

6. A system comprising a providing entity adapted to perform the method of claim 1, said providing entity being the service provider.

7. A method for processing a product identifying code that identifies a product, said method comprising:

receiving, by a provider from a wireless device, the product identifying code and a message, said message comprising a request for an item selected from the group consisting of a sample of the product and information pertaining to the product, a database of the provider having items and codes stored therein such that the stored codes are cross-referenced to the stored items, said stored items comprising the requested item;

matching, by the provider, the received product identifying code against the stored codes in the database to determine a matched code from the stored codes;

extracting by the provider, the requested item from the database by cross-referencing the matched code to the requested item; and

transmitting, by the provider to the wireless device, the requested item that was extracted from the database.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the product identifying code is a bar code or a radio frequency identification (RFID).

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the wireless device is being possessed by a shopper in a store while said receiving and said transmitting are being performed.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the item consists of the sample of the product.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the provider is a content provider, wherein the shopper is a registered user of the content provider, wherein the method further comprises receiving prior to said transmitting an address of the wireless device, and wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the requested item to the received address.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the product comprises digital content of music, video, games, or books.

13. A system comprising a providing entity adapted to perform the method of claim 10, said providing entity being the content provider.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the item consists of the information pertaining to the product.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the provider is a service provider, wherein the message further comprises data from which a geographic region may be determined by the service provider, and wherein the information pertaining to the product is specific to the geographic region

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the data comprises an explicit identification of the geographic region.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the data comprises an identification of a geographic position of the wireless device and a specified distance from the geographic position, and wherein the geographic region is defined as being within the specified distance from the geographic position.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining by the service provider prior to said transmitting, the identification of the geographic position from a global positioning system (GPS).

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the information pertaining to the product comprises names and associated addresses of establishments in the geographic region, a price for purchasing the product at each said establishment, and an availability of the product at each said establishment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the stored items in the database of the provider are geo-coded with respect to said addresses of establishments in the geographic region said price for purchasing the product at each said establishment and said availability of the product at each said establishment.

21. A system comprising a providing entity adapted to perform the method of claim 15, said providing entity being the service provider.

22. A system comprising a providing entity adapted to perform the method of claim 7, said providing entity being the provider.

23. A method for communicating information to a user of a wireless device by a customer relationship management (CRM) server, comprising:

receiving data from the wireless device being carried by the user in an establishment, said data identifying the wireless device or relating to the user;

cross referencing the received data against a transaction history associated with the device or the user to determine demographic information concerning the user;

generating a message specific to both the establishment and the user, said message being a function of the determined demographic information concerning the user; and

transmitting the message to an instrument selected from the group consisting of the wireless device and smart display proximal to the user in the establishment, wherein said receiving, said cross referencing, said generating, and said transmitting are performed by the CRM server.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the data identifies the wireless device.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the data relates to the user.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the transaction history is in a database comprised by the CRM server.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the instrument is the wireless device.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the instrument is the smart display.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the smart display is a smart computer-driven display.

30. A system comprising a local server adapted to perform the method of claim 23, said local server being the CRM server.

31. A method for real-time monitoring of vital signs a living being, comprising:

monitoring in real time, a location and a vital sign parameter of the person;

ascertaining from said monitoring that the vital sign parameter has been violated as an exception condition; and

after said ascertaining, communicating information to a local communication node, wherein the information comprises the violated vital sign parameter and the time when said monitoring detected the violated vital sign parameter, and wherein said monitoring, said ascertaining, and said communicating are performed by a vital sign monitor attached to or implanted in the person.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said monitoring comprising periodically receiving the location and the vital sign parameter of the person.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the information further comprises the location of the person at the time when said monitoring detected the violated vital sign parameter.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises obtaining, by the vital sign monitor, the location of the person from a global positioning system (GPS).

35. The method of claim 31, wherein said communicating further comprises instructing the local communication node to act upon the communicated information.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the local communication node comprises an emergency service provider.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the emergency service provider is a medical service provider or a police.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein said communicating comprises communicating the information to the local communication node via a telephone number or an Internet address.

39. An apparatus, comprising a device adapted to perform the method of claim 31, said device being the vital sign monitor.