Method and device for the exchange of data

• US 7,606,869 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2002
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Micronas Gmbh (TDK Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Micronas Gmbh (TDK Corporation)
• Inventors: Sieben, Ulrich, Temerimac, Miodrag, Swirski, Burkhard
• Primary Examiner(s): LIN, WEN TAI
• Application Number:
  US10/499,774
• Publication Number:
  US 20050193086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,499 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/216
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system for exchanging data includes at least two memory units, each unit functioning as both a transmitter and a receiver of data. The exchange of data occurs whenever at least two memory units are within a certain distance of each other. The user is thus capable of simultaneously being both a transmitter and a receiver of data, such that the transmitter can send data continuously but can receive data transmitted from other memory units only when the receiver is within a certain distance from a transmitter. As a result, data are received only by those memory units that are located in the immediate environment of the transmitter. Since the data transmitted can be selected personally by the user, the data thus reflects the preferences of the user acting as the transmitter.

Claims

1. A system for exchanging data, comprising at least two memory units, each memory unit being configured both as a wireless transmitter of data and a wireless receiver of data, where an exchange of data directly between at least two of the memory units automatically occurs whenever the two memory units are within a certain distance from each other, where the distance between the units is variable over time, where an exchange of data is controlled by at least one preference defined by a user of one of the memory units and relating to requested data to be received from another one of the memory units, where the data transmitted from one of the memory units to another one of the memory units are provided with supplementary information that relates to the transmitted data and are also provided with meta-data separate from the supplemental information which identify at least one relationship between the data exchanged between the at least two memory units, where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates the number of the memory units with the data from the memory unit that transmitted data in which the data have been received without modification by one of the memory units and where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates in how many of the memory units have modified the data, and the supplemental data is included in the automatic exchange of data between the at least two of the memory units.

2. The system of claim 1, where the distance between the at least two memory units can be determined by a calibration signal.

3. The system of claim 1, where each of the at least two memory units has a unique identifier.

4. The system of claim 1, where for a predetermined period of time no additional data are exchanged with a certain one of the memory units with which data have already been exchanged.

5. The system of claim 1, where a portion of the data from a first one of the memory units is transmitted automatically to a second one of the memory units.

6. The system of claim 1, where the data transmitted from one of the memory units is stored on another one of the memory units.

7. The system of claim 1, where one of the memory units is searched for data by user-defined preferences.

8. The system of claim 1, where the user-defined preferences are adapted to the behavior of the user of one of the memory units.

9. The system of claim 1, where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates the number of memory units to which the corresponding data have been transmitted.

10. The system of claim 1, where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates how often the user has obtained the data from certain ones of the memory units.

11. The system of claim 1, where the meta-data contain information on additional data which have been linked to the data.

12. The system of claim 1, where from the meta-data a determination can be made as to how often certain data have been interlinked by a user with other data.

13. The system of claim 1, where the meta-data contain information about an identification of the memory unit in which certain data have been linked with other data.

14. The system of claim 13, where the memory units can be associated with certain interest groups based on the meta-data.

15. The system of claim 14, where the exchange of data is a function of relationships which have been created by members of a certain interest group.

16. The system of claim 1, where data received during the exchange of data are stored in the memory unit according to an organizing system of rules.

17. The system of claim 16, where the organizing system of rules contains a profile of the user.

18. The system of claim 16, where the organizing system of rules is sorted based on indexes.

19. The system of claim 16, where in the organizing system of rules the data is organized based on meta-information of the data.

20. A device for exchanging data, comprising:

a microphone that provides audio data;

a memory unit that includes an executable speech recognition program;

a wireless receiver that receives incoming data and provides received incoming data;

a processor that receives and compares the received incoming data to receiver rules to decide if the received incoming data satisfies the receiver rules and if so the processor writes the received incoming data to the memory unit, and the processor processes the audio data using the speech recognition program; and

a low power wireless transmitter that transmits information stored in the memory unit to another device, where the transmitted information includes supplementary information that relates to the transmitted information and also includes meta-data separate from the supplemental information which identify at least one relationship involving the transmitted data, where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates the number of the memory units with the data from the memory unit that transmitted data in which the data have been received without modification by one of the memory units and where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates in how many of the memory units have modified the data, and the supplemental data is included in the automatic exchange of data between the at least two of the memory units.

21. A system for exchanging data, comprising:

at least two memory units, each memory unit being configured both as a wireless transmitter of data and a wireless receiver of data;

where an exchange of data between at least two of the memory units occurs directly whenever the two memory units are within a certain distance from each other;

where the distance between the units is variable over time;

where an exchange of data is controlled by at least one preference defined by a user of one of the memory units and relating to the data to be received from another one of the memory units; and

where the data transmitted from one of the memory units to another one of the memory units are provided with supplementary information and meta-data which identify at least one relationship between the data exchanged between the at least two memory units, the meta-data at least associated with aiding one of the memory units in completing an interrupted data transfer, where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates the number of the memory units with the data from the memory unit that transmitted data in which the data have been received without modification by one of the memory units and where the supplementary information includes an index which indicates in how many of the memory units have modified the data, and the supplemental data is included in the automatic exchange of data between the at least two of the memory units.