Wireless Social Networking

• US 20130170394A1
• Filed: 09/13/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bill, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,042,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/10 Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A first device may communicate by joining a wireless mesh network that includes at least one wireless device configured to operate a wireless routing protocol, discovering a group of other wireless devices configured to participate in the wireless mesh network, and accessing an interest metric for a second wireless device in the group of other wireless devices. The interest metric is based in part on a network topology from the wireless mesh network. The interest metric is related to an interest threshold and it is determined whether relating the interest metric to the interest threshold supports enabling messaging communications. If so, messaging communications may be enabled.

Claims

1. A method of enabling a first wireless device to exchange communications with other wireless devices in a wireless mesh network that enables the first wireless device to exchange communications with a second wireless device using a third wireless device, the method comprising:

enabling the first wireless device to join the wireless mesh network;

configuring the first wireless device to implement a wireless routing protocol that enables the first wireless device to exchange network topology information with other wireless devices in the wireless mesh network;

developing a network topology that indicates a location of the first wireless device in the wireless mesh network and a location of the second wireless device relative to a location of wireless routers;

presenting a presence-based messaging interface in the first wireless device enabling the user to exchange communications with a second user on the second wireless device in the wireless mesh network, the presence-based messaging interface structured and arranged to exchange communications between users in real-time that have elected to become online;

creating a communications label for the second user on the second wireless device in the presence-based messaging interface,

modifying the communications label to reflect the location of the first wireless device in the wireless mesh network relative to the location of the second wireless device.