Peer-to-peer discovery for location-based forwarding
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- (a) a transmitter for broadcasting a query to at least one telecommunications terminal, wherein said query requests the telecommunications terminal'"'"'s location;
(b) a receiver for receiving the locations from said telecommunications terminals; and
(c) a processor for selecting one of said telecommunications terminals based on the locations and said apparatus'"'"' location, and sending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to said apparatus to be forwarded to the selected telecommunications terminal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus for enabling signals directed to a first telecommunications terminal to be forwarded intelligently to a second telecommunications terminal in the vicinity of the first terminal is disclosed. In particular, the illustrative embodiment automatically forwards signals from a first terminal to the closest terminal in the network that the first terminal is authorized to forward to. The closest authorized terminal is determined via short-range wireless communication between the first terminal and other terminals in the first terminal'"'"'s vicinity. In the illustrative embodiment, the terminals communicate with each other via Bluetooth transceivers.
46 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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(a) a transmitter for broadcasting a query to at least one telecommunications terminal, wherein said query requests the telecommunications terminal'"'"'s location;
(b) a receiver for receiving the locations from said telecommunications terminals; and
(c) a processor for selecting one of said telecommunications terminals based on the locations and said apparatus'"'"' location, and sending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to said apparatus to be forwarded to the selected telecommunications terminal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus comprising:
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(a) a transmitter for broadcasting a query to at least one telecommunications terminal, wherein said query requests the telecommunications terminal'"'"'s location;
(b) a receiver for receiving the locations from said telecommunications terminals; and
(c) a processor for selecting one of said telecommunications terminals based on the locations and said apparatus'"'"' location, and sending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to the selected telecommunications terminal to be forwarded to said apparatus. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a query requesting a contact identifier and an associated location;
(b) receiving at least one response comprising said identifier and said location;
(c) selecting the contact identifier associated with the closest location; and
(d) sending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to a first contact identifier to be forwarded to the selected contact identifier.
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20. A method comprising:
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(a) broadcasting a query requesting a contact identifier and an associated location;
(b) receiving at least one response comprising said identifier and said location;
(c) selecting the contact identifier associated with the closest location; and
(d) sending a forwarding message that causes a signal directed to the selected contact identifier to be forwarded to another contact identifier.
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Specification