Data prioritization and distribution limitation system and method

• US 20080014988A1
• Filed: 06/28/2007
• Published: 01/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kammer, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,039 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method of communicating between a handheld computer and other local area computing devices having wireless communication capability includes providing a handheld computer and identifying a plurality of other local area computing devices having wireless communication capability. The method further includes creating an identifier for one or more of the plurality of other local area computing devices and listing each identifier on a display. The list is sorted in order of at least one of distance and direction from the handheld computer.

Claims

1-32. -32. (canceled)

33. A method, comprising:

receiving data from a wireless computing device;

displaying an indicator on a mobile computing device corresponding to the wireless computing device;

assigning a name for the wireless computing device; and

displaying the name of the wireless computing device.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of communicating comprises communicating with the wireless computing device via local area wireless communication.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the indicator is numerical, wherein the step of assigning a name comprises replacing the numerical indicator with an alphabetical name.

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of communicating comprises communicating via an IEEE communication protocol.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of communicating comprises communicating with the wireless computing device to communicate with the Internet.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising receiving a selection by the user of the wireless computing device and sending a communication from the mobile computing device to the selected wireless computing device.

39. The method of claim 33, further comprising synchronizing personal information management data between the mobile computing device and a computer.

40. The method of claim 33, wherein the mobile computing device has telephony functionality and comprises input keys and a display in a fixed relationship to the keys on a surface of the mobile computing device.

41. A method, comprising:

sending a signal from a mobile computing device having telephony to a wireless computing device;

receiving a response signal from the wireless computing device; and

determining a distance from the mobile computing device to the wireless computing device based on the signal and response signal.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of sending occurs continuously without user interaction.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising synchronizing personal information management data between the mobile computing device and a computer, wherein the mobile computing device comprises input keys and a display in a fixed relationship to the keys on a surface of the mobile computing device.

44. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a radio frequency transceiver;

a display; and

a processing circuit configured to provide a wireless telephony function using the radio frequency transceiver, wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide distance data representing distance from the mobile computing device to a plurality of computing devices and to present the plurality of computing devices in distance order on the display.

45. The mobile computing device of claim 44, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to provide internet connectivity.

46. The mobile computing device of claim 45, wherein the processing circuit is configured to synchronize personal information management data between the mobile computing device and a computer, wherein the mobile computing device comprises input keys and a display in a fixed relationship to the keys on a surface of the mobile computing device.

47. A method, comprising:

identifying at a mobile computing device a plurality of nearby computing devices;

determining distances from the mobile computing device to the nearby computing devices;

displaying the nearby computing devices based on the distance data on the mobile computing device;

receiving a selection of one of the displayed computing devices on the mobile computing device; and

sending data from the mobile computing device to the selected computing device.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of displaying comprises displaying the nearby computing devices in distance order.

49. The method of claim 47, further comprising sending automated teller machine data to an automated teller machine.

50. The method of claim 47, further comprising synchronizing personal information management data between the mobile computing device and a computer, wherein the mobile computing device provides telephony functionality and comprises input keys and a display in a fixed relationship to the keys on a surface of the mobile computing device.

51. The method of claim 47, further comprising providing internet connectivity at the mobile computing device.

52. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of sending data comprises sending a radio frequency message.