Proximity Discovery System and Method

• US 20180295088A1
• Filed: 06/12/2018
• Published: 10/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plexus Meet, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Plexus Meet, Inc.
• Inventors: Larson, Erika
• Granted Patent: US 10,250,542 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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
• 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

Abstract

A proximity discovery system enabling a person to quickly and efficiently discover colleagues within their proximity without visual contact. The system comprises a mobile computing device including an antenna and transceiver for exchanging messages with a plurality of other mobile devices nearby the user device, a user detection module for detecting the messages from the other mobile devices, a proximity detector for estimating a distance between the user device and each of the mobile devices, a connection module for sharing biographic and professional information with the plurality of mobile devices based on one of a plurality of connection levels.

Claims

1. A proximity discovery system comprising:

a server for storing contact data; and

a plurality of user devices comprising a first user device and a second user device;

each of the plurality of user devices comprising;

a) an antenna and transceiver for exchanging discovery messages with any one or more of a plurality of mobile devices;

b) a proximity detector for estimating a distance from the user device to any one or more of the other plurality of mobile devices;

c) a user detection module configured to;

i) generate discovery messages for any one or more of the other plurality of mobile devices; and

ii) detect the discovery messages from any one or more of the other plurality of mobile devices;

d) a connection module configured, if at least one user requests a connection, to;

i) transmit a user profile to the at least one user requesting the connection; and

ii) receive a user profile from the at least one user requesting the connection;

2. The proximity discovery system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of user devices further comprises:

a camera for capturing a digital image of a paper business card; and

an optical character recognition (OCR) module configured to;

a) extract a user name and contact information from the digital image; and

b) retrieve a user photo from a social media website if said contact information comprises a social media website address.

3. The proximity discovery system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of user devices further comprises:

an alert generator configured to detect when a person previously determined by a user to be of interest has been detected within a range of approximately 100 meters of the user device, and alerting the user of the proximity of that person of interest.

4. A proximity discovery system comprising a user device and server for storing contact data, the user device comprising:

an antenna and transceiver for exchanging discovery messages with any one or more of a plurality of mobile devices;

a user detection module for detecting the discovery messages from any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices;

a proximity detector for estimating a distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices;

a connection module for sharing information with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices based on one of a plurality of connection levels.

5. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, further comprising:

a display generator for generating a proximity graphic comprising;

a) a name and image for one or more persons associated with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices nearby the user device; and

b) indicia indicating the estimate of the distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices.

6. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, wherein the messages are exchanged with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices.

7. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, wherein the indicia indicating the estimate of the distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices is selected from the group consisting of:

(1) an indicia identified as close suggesting that there is a strong signal strength;

(2) an indicia identified as near suggesting that there is an intermediate signal strength; and

(3) an indicia identified as far suggesting that there is a weak signal strength.

8. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, further comprising:

an alert generator configured to detect when a person of interest pre-determine by a user has been detected nearby the user device, and alerting the user of the proximity of that person of interest.

9. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, further comprising:

a scheduling module configured to exchange messages with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices, and generating a time and location for one or more meetings.

10. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, further comprising:

a messenger module configured to transmit instant messages to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices nearby the user device, and to receive instant messages from any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices nearby the user device.

11. The proximity discovery system of claim 4, further comprising:

an optical character recognition (OCR) module configured to process and extract name and professional data from digital images of business cards.

12. A method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices in proximity of user with a user device, the method comprising:

transmitting a discovery message to any one or more of a plurality of mobile devices;

receiving a discovery message from any one or more of a from a plurality of mobile devices;

estimating a distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices;

exchanging information with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices based on one of a plurality of connection levels.

13. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, further comprising:

generating a proximity graphic comprising;

a) a name and image for each person associated with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices within approximately 100 meters of the user device; and

b) indicia indicating the estimate of the distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices.

14. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, wherein the messages are exchanged with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices.

15. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, wherein the indicia indicating the estimate of the distance from the user device to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices is selected from the group consisting of:

(1) an indicia identified as close suggesting that there is a strong signal strength;

(2) an indicia identified as near suggesting that there is an intermediate signal strength; and

(3) an indicia identified as far suggesting that there is a weak signal strength.

16. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, further comprising:

detecting a person of interest pre-determine by a user nearby the user device; and

alerting the user of the proximity of that person of interest.

17. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, further comprising:

exchanging meeting messages with any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices; and

generating a time and location for one or more meetings.

18. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting instant messages to any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices nearby the user device; and

receiving instant messages from any one or more of the plurality of mobile devices nearby the user device.

19. The method of discovering a plurality of mobile devices of claim 12, further comprising:

processing and extracting a name and professional data from digital images of business cards using optical character recognition (OCR).