System and method for facilitating interpersonal contacts and social and commercial networking

• US 20120088524A1
• Filed: 10/06/2011
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Connectquest LLC
• Original Assignee: Connectquest LLC
• Inventors: Moldavsky, David, Tocco, Joseph A.
• Application Number:
  US13/267,732
• Publication Number:
  US 20120088524A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The system and method of the present invention is a mobile computing device application or “mobile application” designed to assist users in performing directed searches within defined geographic scope to achieve specific goals within social, e-commerce and collaborative spaces.

Claims

1. A method for notifying at least one user u_i of presence of at least one user u_k, comprising the steps of:

determining locations of users u_i and u_k, wherein user u_i has at least one electronic device, e_i, and user, u_k, has at least one electronic device e_k;

generating at least one pre-qualifying list of users u_k and sending the pre-qualifying list to user u_i, wherein the pre-qualifying list is generated by a server based on criteria c_i for user u_i, criteria c_k for user u_k and locations of users u_i and u_k; and

notifying the user u_i when the user u_k is within about 30 meters of user u_i.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is determined by at least one location-based service (LBS).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the LBS comprises a GPS (global positioning system), a cell phone tower, and/or an IEEE 802.11 network (WiFi).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of user u_i is a static location selected by the user u_i.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is in wireless internet communication with the server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the electronic device communicates with the server through a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device sends a unique user identification to the server before receiving the pre-qualifying list.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the criteria, c_i and c_k, comprise a set of user preferences.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the criteria comprise dating preferences, friendship preferences, collaboration preferences and/or purchasing preferences for the user u_i.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the server comprises a means for matching criteria c_i and C_k.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device e_i comprises a software application for the user to set up the criteria.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the user u_i is notified when a short-range wireless communication protocol determines the user u_i to be within about 30 meters of user u_k.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol comprises Bluetooth.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol comprises RFID, Wibree, UWB (ultra-wideband), WUSB (wireless USB) and/or WLAN (wireless local area network) connection.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the user u_i is notified when the short-range wireless communication protocol determines user u_i to be within about 25 meters of another user u_k.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol determines user u_i to be within about 25 meters of another user u_k.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein electronic devices e_i and e_k are mobile devices.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein user u_k is notified.

18. The method of claim 18, wherein the mobile device is a smart phone or a cell phone.