METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING MESSAGES

• US 20110177829A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pokos Communication Corp
• Original Assignee: Pokos Communication Corp
• Inventors: PLATT, Tim, KING, Kevin D., KRUEGER, Stephan H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,396,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus are provided to enable real-time communication with people, groups and devices in accordance with certain embodiments. Typically, a phone number, address, or login information (“traditional identification information”) is needed to initiate a communication with a specific person. However, there are many situations where this traditional identification information is not known, but individuals still wish to communicate with others whose traditional identification information they do not know. By selecting criteria such as geographical location information that is proximate to the device, a person can identify and communicate with others while not knowing their contact information. The criteria can also include attributes, visual information, or other characteristics of the target device.

Claims

1. A method of selectively communicating between devices when identification information used to contact a device is unknown, the method comprising:

receiving, at a remote processing server, registration information from a first device;

creating user identification information for the first device and associating the user identification information with the registration information;

determining location information for the first device and associating the location information in the database with the user identification information of the first device;

receiving, at the remote processing server, a second registration from at least one other device;

organizing information from the first device and the at least one other device in a database on the remote processing server;

determining location information for the at least one other device and storing in the database;

receiving a service message, at the remote processing server, from the first device, wherein the service message comprises content and device or user identification information;

searching the database using the location information of the first device to locate at least one other device that is located within a defined geographical zone of the first device;

obtaining information for the at least one other device and processing the service message to send to the at least one other device; and

sending a processed service message including the content of the service message to the at least one other device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a computer, an Internet protocol enabled phone, a broadcast or cable-enabled television, an Internet enabled television, and a video game system and the location information comprises at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the device, cell identification, physical street address, and compass information, and wherein the identification information comprises at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing marketing or other promotional service messages at the remote processing server that are associated with location information;

receiving, at the remote processing server, a location update from the at least one other device;

determining if the location update triggers sending a marketing or other promotional service message; and

sending at least one marketing or other promotional service message to the at least one other device.

4. A method of selectively communicating between devices when identification information used to contact a device is unknown, the method comprising:

receiving, at a remote processing server, registration information from a first device;

creating user identification information for the first device and associating the user identification information with the registration information;

determining criteria for the first device and associating the criteria in the database with the user identification information of the first device;

receiving, at the remote processing server, a second registration from at least one other device;

organizing information from the first device and the at least one other device in a database on the remote processing server;

determining criteria for the at least one other device and storing in the database;

receiving a service message, at the remote processing server, from the first device, wherein the service message comprises content and device or user identification information;

searching the database using the criteria selected by the first device to detect at least one other device that is within parameters specified by the first device;

obtaining information for the at least one other device and processing the message to send to the at least one other device; and

sending a processed message including the content of the message to the at least one other device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first device is at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a computer, an Internet protocol enabled phone, a broadcast or cable-enabled television, an Internet enabled television, and a video game system and the criteria comprise at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username, wherein the user profile attributes include information regarding a user of the device comprising at least one of the user'"'"'s professional, associational, personal, physical, social, athletic, recreational, hobby and other interests and attributes.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing, at the remote processing server, device information comprising at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username, wherein the user profile attributes include information regarding a user of the device comprising at least one of the user'"'"'s professional, associational, personal, physical, social, athletic, recreational, hobby and other interests and attributes;

responding to a query from the first device to send a message to the at least one other device based on at least one of location information and other information regarding the user of the device comprising at least one of such user profile attributes; and

sending the message to the at least one other device based on at least one of location information and a match of at least one of such user profile attributes.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the message comprises at least one of message settings, message information, and content information, and wherein the content information comprises at least one of voice, text, image, data, and video.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein message processing is performed based on privacy preference settings of the first device and comprises removing identifying information from the message and adding a tag to associate the processed message with the identifying information.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a reply message at the remote processing server from the at least one other device;

associating the reply message with the message sent from the first device; and

sending the reply message to the first device.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing marketing service messages at the remote processing server that are associated with criteria, wherein the criteria comprises at least one of direction, location, unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, user profile attributes, phone number, email address, a user identifier code, and username, wherein the user profile attributes include information regarding a user of the device comprising at least one of the user'"'"'s professional, associational, personal, physical, social, athletic, recreational, hobby and other interests and attributes;

receiving, at the remote processing server, a criteria update from the at least one other device;

determining if the criteria update triggers sending a marketing or other promotional message; and

sending at least one marketing service message to the at least one other device.

11. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

sending selected user profile attributes to a requestor;

receiving a marketing or other promotional message at the remote processing server and rules for targeted distribution of the marketing or other promotional message, wherein the rules comprise at least one of location information and at least one user profile attribute.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the marketing or other promotional message comprises a promotion that is accessible or redeemable using the client application.

13. A communication server that provides communication between devices where identification information of an intended recipient is unknown, the server comprising:

an interface that is configured to receive registration information and messages from a first device and to send a processed message to at least one intended recipient;

a service book database that is configured to store registration information and criteria for a plurality of devices and to maintain associations between various types of information for each device; and

a processor that is configured to organize the service book database with criteria and registration information of each device, to initiate a search of the service book database to identify at least one intended recipient based on criteria specified by a sending device that is included in the message, and to prepare the message for sending to the at least one intended recipient.

14. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the device is at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a computer, an Internet protocol (IP) enabled phone, a broadcast or cable-enabled television, an Internet enabled television, and a video game system, and wherein the location information comprises at least one of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates of the device, the unique device identifier, software ID, firmware ID, MAC address, IP address or domain name, cell identification, physical street address, and compass information.

15. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the service book database is configured to store device information comprising at least at least one of the user'"'"'s professional, associational, personal, physical, social, athletic, recreational, hobby and other interests and attributes, and wherein the processor is configured to search the service book using at least one of location information and user profile attributes of the intended recipient.

16. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the message comprises at least one of message settings, message information, and content information, and wherein the content information comprises at least one of voice, text, image, data, and video.

17. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the processor processes the service message based on privacy preference settings of the first device, wherein the processing comprises removing identifying information from the message and adding a tag to associate the processed message with the identifying information.

18. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the interface receives a reply message, the processor associates the reply message with a message from the first device, and the interface sends the reply message to the first device.

19. The communication server of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine if a location update received on the interface triggers sending at least one marketing or other promotional message by checking location information and parameters for the marketing or other promotional message, and wherein the interface is configured to send the at least one marketing or other promotional message to the intended recipient.

20. The communication server of claim 13, further comprising a memory configured to store at least one marketing or other promotional message for distribution to a plurality of intended recipients based on at least one of the location and at least one user profile attribute of the indented recipient.