Gathering information from short-range wireless portals
First Claim
1. A method of gathering information from short-range wireless portals, comprising the steps of:
- (a) physically moving a mobile device within range of a short-range wireless portal;
(b) receiving information from said portal about a service available through a local entity operating said portal;
(c) sending a message containing said information to a remote database service system; and
(d) storing said information in a database at said database service system.
5 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Businesses may offer their services not only through internet websites but also by short-range wireless portals (51A,B,C) intended to catch passers-by; indeed, this latter means of business promotion may be used instead of an internet site. A method is provided of gathering information from such portals (51A,B,C) for use in a database service system 40. More particularly, a mobile device (20) provided with a short-range wireless receiver (21) is moved within range of such a portal and collects information about the services available from the local entity operating the portal. The device (20) then uses a cellular radio network (10) to send this information, together with location data about the portal, to a remote database service system (40) holding similar information from other portals. The user of the mobile device can be credited with a reward by the database service system for collecting such information.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of gathering information from short-range wireless portals, comprising the steps of:
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(a) physically moving a mobile device within range of a short-range wireless portal;
(b) receiving information from said portal about a service available through a local entity operating said portal;
(c) sending a message containing said information to a remote database service system; and
(d) storing said information in a database at said database service system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A mobile device comprising:
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a short-range wireless receiver for receiving information from a short-range wireless portal about a service available through a local entity operating said portal;
a data handling subsystem for forming a message containing said information together with location data about a location of said portal; and
a cellular radio subsystem for sending said message to a remote database service system over a mobile radio infrastructure for storage in a database. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method of gathering information from short-range wireless portals, comprising the steps of:
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(a) physically moving a mobile device within range of a short-range wireless portal;
(b) receiving information from said portal about services available through a local entity operating said portal;
(c) sending a message containing said information to a remote database service system; and
(d) storing said information at said database service system, wherein steps (a) to (d) are repeated, using said mobile device or different mobile devices, for a plurality of short-range wireless portals, each of which provide respective information, wherein said respective information is sent to said database service system to build up at said database service system a database about services available through local entities operating said plurality of short-range wireless portals.
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18. An apparatus comprising:
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a database service system connected to a communications system that includes a mobile radio infrastructure; and
a mobile device comprising;
a short-range wireless receiver for receiving information from a short-range wireless portal about services available through a local entity operating said portal;
a data handling subsystem for forming a message containing said information together with location data about a location of said portal; and
a cellular radio subsystem for sending said message to said database service system over said mobile radio infrastructure;
wherein said database service system receives a plurality of messages containing information about a plurality of wireless portals, and uses said plurality of messages to build up a location-related database about services available through local entities operating said plurality of wireless portals.
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Specification