METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN USER EQUIPMENTS

• US 20110244800A1
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Bogestam, Kent, Damola, Ayodele
• Granted Patent: US 8,406,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A method of providing wireless communication between user equipments, comprising the steps of: retrieving (102) user data and a predefined communication criterion from a first wireless user equipment (202) having at least two communication interfaces; selecting one of the communication interfaces in dependence of the predefined communication criterion; identifying (107) by using the selected interface wireless user equipments (402) in a proximity of the first user equipment (202); determining (117) if there is a match between the user data of the first user equipment and user data of a second (402) user equipment of the identified user equipments; and initiating wireless communication between the first and the second user equipment. A system, user equipment and computer readable medium are also described.

Claims

1. A method of providing wireless communication between user equipments, the method comprising the steps of:

retrieving (102) user data (226) and a predefined communication criterion (227) via a software application (204a) residing on a first wireless user equipment (202) having at least two communication interfaces (213a, 213b),

selecting (105) one of the communication interfaces (213a) in dependence of the predefined communication criterion (227),

identifying (107), by using the selected communication interface (213a), wireless user equipments (402, 502) in a proximity of the first user equipment (202),

determining (117) if there is a match between the user data (226) of the first user equipment (202) and user data of a second user equipment (402) of the identified user equipments (402, 502), and

initiating (121), if a match is determined, wireless communication between the first (202) and the second (402) user equipment, by sending (120) to any of the user equipments (202, 402) a message associated with the match.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the predefined communication criterion (227) comprises a distance value (D).

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the selecting (105) of one of the communication interfaces (213a, 213b) comprises selecting the interface in dependence of a type of the software application (204a) residing on the first user equipment (202).

4. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the initiating (121) of the wireless communication is performed if the predefined communication criterion (227) of the first user equipment (202) is fulfilled.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the initiating (121) of the wireless communication is performed if a predefined communication criterion of the second user equipment (402) is fulfilled.

6. A method according to any one of claims 1-5, comprising the step of determining (109) a total number of identified user equipments (402, 502) in the proximity of the first user equipment (202), and, if the number is below a predetermined value:

selecting (105′

) another communication interface (213b) of the two communication interfaces (213a, 213b), and

identifying (107), by using said another communication interface (213b), wireless user equipments (402, 502) in the proximity of the first user equipment (202).

7. A method according to any one of claims 1-6, comprising the step of storing (118), in the second wireless user equipment (402), user equipment identification data pertaining to the first user equipment (202).

8. A method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein the communication interface (213a) comprises a server (303) for wireless communication.

9. A method according to claim 8, comprising the step of sending (106), from the first user equipment (202) to the server (303), information pertaining to a location of the first user equipment (202).

10. A method according to claim 8 or 9, comprising the step of collecting (108), by the server (303), information pertaining to a location of a respective wireless user equipment of a plurality of wireless user equipments (402, 502).

11. A method according to any one of claims 1-10, wherein the first user equipment (202) comprises

an application abstraction layer (203) for the software application (204a),

a communication abstraction layer (211) for the communication interfaces (213a, 213b), and

an intermediate abstraction layer (206) arranged between the application abstraction layer (203) and the communication layer (211).

12. A system for providing wireless communication between user equipments, the system being configured to:

retrieve (102) user data (226) and a predefined communication criterion (227) via a software application (204a) residing on a first wireless user equipment (202) having at least two communication interfaces (213a, 213b),

select (105) one of the communication interfaces (213a) in dependence of the predefined communication criterion (227),

identify (107), by using the selected communication interface (213a), wireless user equipments (402, 502) in a proximity of the first user equipment (202),

determine (117) if there is a match between the user data (226) of the first user equipment (202) and user data of a second user equipment (402) of the identified user equipments (402, 502), and

initiate (121), if a match is determined, wireless communication between the first (202) and the second (402) user equipment, by sending (120) to any of the user equipments (202, 402) a message associated with the match.

13. A user equipment for wireless communication, configured to:

retrieve (102) user data (226) and a predefined communication criterion (227) via a software application (204a) residing on the user equipment (202) which comprises at least two communication interfaces (213a, 213b),

select (105) one of the communication interfaces (213a) in dependence of the predefined communication criterion (227),

initiate, by using the selected communication interface (213a), identification (107) of wireless user equipments (402, 502) in a proximity of the user equipment (202),

receive (120), if there is a match between the user data (226) of the user equipment (202) and user data of a responding (402) user equipment (402) of the identified user equipments (402, 502), a reply from the responding user equipment (402), and

send (121) to the responding user equipment (402), if the reply is received, a message associated with the match.

14. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program (204a) having software instructions which when run on the computer (202) cause the computer (202) to perform the steps of:

retrieving (102) user data (226) and a predefined communication criterion (227) via a software application (204a) residing on the user equipment (202) which comprises at least two communication interfaces (213a, 213b),

selecting (105) one of the communication interfaces (213a) in dependence of the predefined communication criterion (227),

initiating, by using the selected communication interface (213a), identification (107) of wireless user equipments (402, 502) in a proximity of the user equipment (202),

receiving (120), if there is a match between the user data (226) of the user equipment (202) and user data of a responding (402) user equipment (402) of the identified user equipments (402, 502), a reply from the responding user equipment (402), and

sending (121), if the reply is received, to the responding user equipment (402) a message associated with the match.