A Device, System and Method for Recording Personal Encounter History

• US 20080146157A1
• Filed: 12/15/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aaron, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,602 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/66.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/60 logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• 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 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Provided are exemplary embodiments including a method for creating and using a personal encounter history using a communication device. The method involves the communication device receiving the transmission of a pseudo identifier from a proximal communication device where the pseudo identifier is associated with the user of the proximal communication device. Once received, the method continues with the wireless communication device requesting and receiving the actual identification of the user of the proximal communication device that is correlated with the pseudo identifier. The communication device includes a transceiver capable of communicating wirelessly with a mobile telecommunications network, a memory device and a processor. To ensure privacy, the processor is capable of receiving a pseudo identifier from a proximate communication device and then requesting an actual identification correlated with the pseudo identifier of the proximate communication device.

Claims

1. A method for creating and using a personal encounter history comprising:

at a communication device, receiving a proximal pseudo identifier from a proximal communication device, wherein the proximal pseudo identifier is associated with a user of the proximal communication device;

requesting an actual identification correlated with the proximal pseudo identifier of the proximal communication device by the communication device; and

,

receiving the actual identification correlated with the proximal pseudo identifier at the communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the proximal identification data is one of a hash and a user created moniker.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the proximal pseudo identifier occurs as a result of one of a broadcast by the proximal communication device and as a reply to an identification request from the communication device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

logging the receipt of the proximal pseudo identifier into a personal encounter history log computer file stored at the communication device;

recording location data for the proximal communication at the time of receiving at the communication device, wherein the location may be one of an actual location and a pseudo location; and

searching the personal encounter history log file for the proximal pseudo identifier of the proximal communication device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein searching the personal encounter history log includes grouping pseudo identifiers by location according to a set of search rules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein requesting an actual identification includes one of querying the user of the proximal communication device and receiving the actual identification via an intermediary computing device using a set of consent rules.

7. A communication device comprising:

a transceiver capable of communicating wirelessly with a mobile telecommunication network;

a memory device; and

a processor, in communication with the transceiver and the memory device, capable of receiving a proximal pseudo identifier from a proximal communication and requesting an actual identification correlated with the proximal pseudo identifier of the proximal communication device.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 7, wherein the processor is capable of creating a pseudo identifier exclusively associated with a user of the communication device wherein further the pseudo identifier is one of a hash and a moniker.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further comprising:

an alternative transceiver capable of communicating directly with a proximal communication device.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 9, wherein the processor initiates transmission of the pseudo identifier periodically and upon receiving a request from the proximal communication device.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 9, wherein receiving the proximal pseudo identifier is in response to broadcasting a periodic request for proximal identification data.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 10, wherein the periodicity of the request for the proximal pseudo identifier varies with a velocity at which the wireless communication device is moving.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 7, further including a sensor suite, wherein the sensor suite contains a plurality of environmental sensors including optical sensors, motion sensors, audio sensors and weather sensors.

14. A computer readable medium within a communication device containing instructions to:

transmit a request from the communication device for a proximal pseudo identifier of a proximal communication device;

receive the proximal pseudo identifier from the proximal communication device, wherein the proximal pseudo identifier is exclusively associated with at least a user of the proximal communication device;

associate the proximal pseudo identifier with an environmental circumstance in which the request for the proximal pseudo identifier occurs.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 further containing instructions to:

record a location associated with the proximal pseudo identifier at the time of receiving the proximal pseudo identifier.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein further the location associated with the proximal pseudo identifier is detected by a geographical information system.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the request for a proximal pseudo identifier is transmitted based on a proximity to the proximal communication device.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the proximity is determined by periodic ranging.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14 further containing instructions to:

request an actual identification correlated with the proximal pseudo identifier of the proximal communication device by the communication device; and

,

receive the actual identification corresponding with the proximal pseudo identifier at the communication device.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14 further containing instructions to:

upload the personal encounter history file to a central server.