System and method for facilitating interpersonal contacts and social and commercial networking

• US 9,743,229 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2013
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Connectquest LLC
• Original Assignee: Connectquest LLC
• Inventors: Moldavsky, David, Tocco, Joseph A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fang, Keith
• Application Number:
  US13/965,951
• Publication Number:
  US 20150057020A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• 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 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Disclosed is a mobile computing device application or “mobile application” designed to assist users in performing directed searches within defined geographic scope to achieve specific goals within social, ecommerce and collaborative spaces. The Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) is used for data transfer. An Internet-based server is responsible for coordinating all connections between mobile peers. Peer matches are pre-qualified by the server based on available location-based service (LBS) data and other criteria. Short-range wireless communication protocols, such as Bluetooth, radio-frequency identification (RFID), Wibree, UWB (ultra-wideband), WUSB (wireless USB) and WLAN (wireless local area network) connection, are used as a trigger to indicate proximity. Thus, contact between users in close proximity is established without the need for continuous communication between the mobile device and the server.

Claims

1. A computer program product for notifying at least one user u_i of presence of at least one user u_k, the computer program product comprising:

a first non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon first program instructions executable by a first processor located on a server to cause the first processor to;

determine locations of users u_i and u_k, wherein user u_i has at least one electronic device, e_i, and user, u_k, has at least one electronic device e_k;

generate at least one pre-qualifying list of users u_k; and

send, via a network, the pre-qualifying list to user u_i,

wherein the pre-qualifying list is generated by the first processor based on criteria c_i for user u_i, criteria c_k for use u_k and locations of users u_i and u_k; and

a second non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon second program instructions executable by a second processor located on the electronic device e_i to cause the second processor to;

detect when the user u_k is within a close proximity of user u_i; and

notify the user u_i when the user u_k is within the close proximity of user u_i

wherein the detecting and notifying are performed by the second processor independently of the network.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the location is determined by at least one location-based service (LBS).

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the location of user u_i is a static location selected by the user u_i.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the electronic device e_i is in wireless internet communication with the server.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the electronic device e_i sends a unique user identification to the server before receiving the pre-qualifying list.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the criteria, c_i and c_k comprise a set of user preferences.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the criteria comprise dating preferences, friendship preferences, collaboration preferences and/or purchasing preferences for the user u_i.

8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first program instructions when executed by the first processor further cause the first processor to match criteria c_i and c_k.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second program instructions when executed by the second processor further cause the second processor to set up the criteria c_i.

10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the user u_i is notified when a short-range wireless communication protocol determines the user u_i to be within about 30 meters of user u_k.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol comprises Bluetooth.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol comprises RFID, Wibree, UWB (ultra-wideband), WUSB (wireless USB) and/or WLAN (wireless local area network) connection.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the user u_i is notified when the short-range wireless communication protocol determines user u_i to be within about 25 meters of another user u_k.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the short-range wireless communication protocol determines user u_i to be within about 25 meters of another user u_k.

15. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein electronic devices e_i and e_k are mobile devices.

16. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second program instructions when executed by the second processor further cause the second processor to notify user u_k.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the notifying user u _k is via a short range wireless communication protocol.

18. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the close proximity is about 3 meters.

19. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the detecting includes using a short range wireless communication protocol.

20. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second program instructions when executed by the second processor further cause the second processor to:

based on the detecting, determine that user u_k is on at least one of the pre-qualifying lists, wherein the notifying is responsive to the determining and the determining is performed by the second processor independently of the network.