Systems and methods for peer to peer communication

• US 9,621,659 B1
• Filed: 05/24/2014
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Faryar Ghazanfari
• Original Assignee: Faryar Ghazanfari
• Inventors: Ghazanfari, Faryar
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Kenny
• Application Number:
  US14/287,021
• Time in Patent Office: 1,053 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Systems and methods of establishing communication between two devices via a universal proximity pairing protocol are disclosed. In an embodiment, communication between two mobile devices are established when the mobile devices are in close proximity. The proximity is determined by measuring a critical distance which is measured by a proximity sensor on either or both of the mobile devices and the time and location when each of the mobile devices indicate the presence of another nearby object. The data are sent to a server computer that matches and pairs the mobile devices.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

an infrared proximity sensor coupled to the processor;

a non-transitory computer readable medium coupled to the processor, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium is configured to store computer readable code to perform a method, the method comprising;

detecting an object embedded within another electronic device using the infrared proximity sensor wherein the infrared proximity sensor is configured to detect the object when it reaches a predetermined distance from the object;

generating a first time stamp when the infrared proximity sensor detects the nearby object; and

transmitting the time stamp to a server computer, wherein the server computer is configured to receive a second time stamp generated from the another electronic device and match the first time stamp to the second time stamp;

transmitting electronic data to the server computer after receiving an instruction from the server computer, wherein the instruction to transmit the electronic data is issued based on comparison of the first time stamp and the second time stamp such that the first time stamp and the second time stamp are within a predetermined range, and wherein when more than two time stamps are within the predetermined range, comparison of a first location information associated with the electronic device and a second location information associated with the another electronic device is used to match the first time stamp to the second time stamp.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first time stamp reflecting the time when the infrared proximity sensor detected the nearby object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the infrared proximity sensor is housed within a mobile device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the mobile device is a tablet.

5. The computer implemented method for performing peer to peer communication between two devices using a server computer configured to communicate with the two devices, the method comprising:

receiving a first time stamp from a first device having a first infrared proximity sensor;

receiving a second time stamp from a second device having a second infrared proximity sensor;

wherein when the first device comes in close proximity of the second device, the first infrared proximity sensor of the first device detects the presence of the second device and the second infrared proximity sensor of the second device detects the presence of the first device, and wherein when the first infrared proximity sensor detects the presence of the second device, the first time stamp is generated by the first device and wherein when the second infrared proximity sensor detects the presence of the first device, the second time stamp is generated by the second device;

comparing the first time stamp and the second time stamp at the server computer;

determining whether the first time stamp and the second time stamp are within a predetermined range from each other;

comparing a first location information associated with the first device and a second location information associated with the second device when more than two time stamps are within the predetermined range; and

establishing communication between the first device and the second device after determining that the first time stamp and the second time stamp are within the predetermined range, and when the first location information and the second location information are in close proximity if more than two time stamps are within the predetermined range.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first device and the second device are mobile devices.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first location information associated with the first device is the GPS location of the first device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the first infrared proximity sensor or the second infrared proximity sensor detects a nearby object in close proximity without the need for the nearby object to physically contact the first or the second infrared proximity sensor or a housing in which the first or the second infrared proximity sensor in housed in.

9. A computer implemented method for performing peer to peer communication between two devices using a server computer configured to communicate with the two devices, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of identifiers from a plurality of devices, wherein each of the plurality of identifiers include location information associated with a corresponding device of the plurality of devices from which one of the plurality of identifiers was generated as a result of detection of a nearby object by an infrared proximity sensor housed in the corresponding device, and wherein each of the plurality of identifiers include a time stamp associated with the time when the infrared proximity sensor detected the nearby object;

comparing the time stamps associated with at least two of the plurality of devices;

selecting two devices having the time stamps within a pre-determined range from each other;

if more than two device have the time stamps within the pre-determined range, comparing the location information from the plurality of identifiers;

determining whether the location information from the plurality of identifiers indicates that the selected two devices are within a predetermined radius with respect to each other; and

establishing communication between the selected two devices when the selected two devices are within a predetermined radius.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the devices are mobile devices.