METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING MESSAGES

• US 20110151890A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pokos Communication Corp
• Original Assignee: Pokos Communication Corp
• Inventors: PLATT, Tim, KING, Kevin D., KRUEGER, Stephan H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided to enable real-time communication with people, groups and devices in accordance with certain embodiments. Typically, a phone number, address, or login information (“traditional identification information”) is needed to initiate a communication with a specific person. However, there are many situations where this traditional identification information is not known, but individuals still wish to communicate with others whose traditional identification information they do not know. By selecting criteria such as geographical location information that is proximate to the device, a person can identify and communicate with others while not knowing their contact information. The criteria can also include attributes, visual information, or other characteristics of the target device.

Claims

1. A method of selectively communicating with one or more other devices whose identification information is unknown, the method comprising:

launching a client application on a device, wherein the client application enables communication with other devices whose identification information is unknown;

locating other devices in a defined geographical zone proximate to the device using the client application;

obtaining information regarding the other devices located in the defined geographical zone;

compiling the information regarding the other devices located in the defined geographical zone to enable selection of at least one device to initiate communication using service messages;

displaying a selection of the at least one device from the compiled information of the other devices located in the defined geographical zone;

enabling privacy preferences for the device, wherein the privacy preferences enable the device to provide variable identification information to the at least one other device;

enabling the client application on the device to specify whether a service message is a private service message, wherein the private service message is sent only to the at least one other device; and

sending the service message from the device to the at least one other device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with a remote processing server from the client application to locate the other devices within the defined geographical zone based on the global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the device;

receiving information regarding the other devices located in the defined geographical zone from the remote processing server; and

sending the service message to the remote processing server, which sends the service message to the selected at least one other device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, at the client application, a search by a second client application on a second device;

sending from the client application to the second client application information comprising at least one of user profile attributes, a username, and a user identifier code that the second client application compiles; and

receiving a message from the second device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the client application at least one targeted marketing or other promotional message based on client application information, wherein the client application information comprises at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username.

5. A method of selectively communicating with one or more other devices whose identification information is unknown, the method comprising:

launching a client application on a device, wherein the client application enables communication with other devices whose identification information is unknown;

identifying other devices based on selected criteria specified in the client application;

receiving information regarding the other devices possessing the selected criteria;

compiling the information regarding the other devices possessing the selected criteria;

displaying a selection from the compiled information of at least one other device possessing the selected criteria;

enabling privacy preferences for the device, wherein the privacy preferences enable the device to provide variable identification information to the at least one other device;

enabling the client application on the device to specify whether a message is a private message, wherein the private message is sent only to the selected at least one other device; and

sending the message from the device to the selected at least one other device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the device is at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a computer, an Internet protocol enabled phone, a broadcast or cable-enabled television, an Internet enabled television, and a video game system, wherein the client application is implemented in at least one of hardware, firmware, and software, and wherein identification information comprises at least one of direction, location, user identifier code, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, machine access control (MAC) address, IP address, domain name, phone number, email address, user profile attributes, and username.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

communicating with a remote processing server from the client application to identify the other devices based on selected criteria, wherein the selected criteria comprises location information comprising a defined geographical zone proximate to the device, wherein the defined geographical zone is based on global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the device;

receiving information regarding the other devices located in the defined geographical zone from the remote processing server; and

sending the message to the remote processing server, which sends the message to the selected at least one other device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying by the client application is performed using at least one of Bluetooth, infrared, Near-Field Communications (NFC), and Wi-Fi technologies of the device, and wherein sending the message uses at least one of Bluetooth, infrared, NFC, Wi-Fi, and cellular technologies.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

detecting, at the client application, a search by a second client application on a second device;

sending from the client application to the second client application information comprising at least one of direction, location, user identifier code, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, machine access control address, IP address or domain name, phone number, email address, user profile attributes, and username that the second client application compiles; and

receiving a message from the second device.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the message comprises at least one of message settings, message information, and content information, and wherein the content information comprises at least one of voice, text, image, data, and video.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising receiving at the client application at least one targeted marketing or other promotional message based on client application information, wherein the client application information comprises at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one targeted marketing or other promotional message comprises a promotion that is accessible or redeemable using the client application.

13. A device for selectively communicating with one or more other devices whose identification information is unknown, the device comprising:

an interface that is configured to communicate with the one or more other devices;

a client application that is configured to communicate with the interface to search for at least one of the one or more other devices based on selected criteria specified in the client application and to compile information obtained from the one or more other devices, the client application further configured to send a message to one or more other devices selected from the compiled information, and to enable privacy preferences for the device, wherein the privacy preferences enable the device to provide variable identification information to the at least one other device as well as to enable the client application to specify whether a message is a private message, wherein the private message is sent only to the selected at least one other device.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the device is at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a computer, an Internet protocol enabled phone, an Internet enabled television, and a video game system, wherein the client application is implemented in at least one of hardware, firmware, and software, and wherein identification information comprises at least one of direction, location, user identifier code, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, machine access control address, IP address or domain name, phone number, email address, user profile attributes, and username.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the interface is configured to communicate with a remote processing server that searches for other devices based on selected criteria, wherein the selected criteria comprises location information comprising a defined geographical zone proximate to the device, wherein the defined geographical zone is based on global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the device.

16. The device of claim 13, wherein the interface is configured to search and communicate using at least one of Bluetooth, infrared, Wi-Fi, Near-Field Communications (NFC), and cellular technologies.

17. The device of claim 13, wherein the client application is configured to detect a search by a second client application on a second device, send to the second client application information comprising at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, a user identifier code, and username.

18. The device of claim 13, wherein the message comprises at least one of message settings, message information, and content information, and wherein the content information comprises at least one of voice, text, image, data, and video.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the client application is configured to receive at least one targeted marketing or other promotional message based on the device'"'"'s location and client application information comprising at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, a user identifier code, and username.

20. The device of claim 19, wherein the at least one targeted marketing or other promotional message comprises a promotion that is accessible or redeemable through the client application.