System and method for communication between mobile devices
View Patent ↗Method for transferring an entitlement from a first party to a second party in a communication network. The second party which is preferably a mobile communication connects to a mobile communication network and to a peer-to-peer network. The second party selects, over the peer-to-peer network, entitlement offered by the first party to purchase or to use a product or a service. The second party effects the entitlement, using the mobile communication terminal, to purchase or to use the product or the service.
1. A method for communicating from a first party to a second party, the first party using a first mobile communication terminal, and the second party a using a second mobile communication terminal, the method comprising:
connecting the first mobile communication terminal to a mobile communication network;
connecting the first mobile communication terminal to a peer-to-peer network;
offering a communication service for sharing with another party by publishing the offer using an exchange or publishing server of the peer-to-peer network;
attaching a condition to the offer, where the condition includes a limitation on use or sharing of the communication service; and
sharing the communication service with the second party in response to the second mobile communication terminal selecting the communication service from the exchange server by the first mobile communication terminal connecting with a third mobile communication terminal over the mobile communication network and connecting with the second mobile communication terminal over the peer-to-peer network and in accordance with the limitation on use or sharing.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication service includes at least one of:
airtime minutes for voice communication; and
network bandwidth.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the condition includes at least one of:
a limit on the use of voice airtime to specific times of day;
enable sharing of the communication service only when the first user is not using the communication service; or
enable sharing of the communication service only when the first mobile communication terminal is within wireless broadband network coverage.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the communication service allows the second party to communicate with a third party, and further wherein the second party communicates with the third party via the first mobile communication terminal.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication service allows the second party to communicate with a third party, and further wherein the second party communicates with the third party via a network gateway.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile communication network comprises a cellular network.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication service is shared by the first party to the second party by communicating the communication service to the second mobile communication terminal over at least one of the mobile communication network and the peer-to-peer network.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication service is shared by the first party from the first mobile communication terminal.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein sharing the communication service comprises communicating the communication service to the second mobile communication terminal from a network server via the first mobile communication terminal.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first mobile communication terminal comprises a cellular telephone device.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first party is at least one of:
a subscriber of a mobile communication network; and
a provider of the communication service.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein connecting the first mobile communication terminal to the mobile communication network comprises connecting the first mobile communication terminal to a broadband network connection.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein sharing the communication service with the second party includes:
communicating between the first mobile communication terminal and the second communication terminal over the peer-to-peer network via the Internet.
14. A computer program product, stored on one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, comprising instructions operative to cause a programmable processor of a first mobile communication terminal to:
connect the first mobile communication terminal to a mobile telephone network and a peer-to-peer network;
publish an offer to share a communication service of the mobile telephone network with other users of the peer-to-peer network, where publishing the offer includes posting the offer using a network server of the peer-to-peer network or publishing the offer directly to a second mobile communication terminal also connected to the peer-to-peer network; and
in response to a selection of the communication service by the second mobile communication terminal, sharing the communication service with a user of the second mobile communication terminal subject to a condition of use or a condition of sharing by the first mobile communication terminal connecting with a third mobile communication terminal over the mobile telephone network and connecting with the second mobile communication terminal over the peer-to-peer network.
15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein sharing the communication service enables the user of the second mobile communication terminal to communicate with a third party over the mobile telephone network.
16. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein sharing the communication service enables the user of the second mobile communication terminal to communicate with a third party via the first mobile communication terminal.
17. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein sharing the communication service enables the user of the second mobile communication terminal to communicate with the third party via a network gateway connected to the peer-to-peer network.
18. The computer program product according to claim 14 , wherein a user of the first mobile communication terminal is at least one of:
a subscriber of the mobile telephone network; and
a provider of the communication service.
19. A first mobile communication terminal device comprising:
a memory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executable code having stored thereon instructions for performing a method of communicating with a second mobile communication terminal device;
a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the machine executable code to:
receive a communication service for use on a mobile communication network;
connect the first mobile communication terminal device to the mobile communication network and to a peer-to-peer network;
publish an offer to share the communication service with another mobile communication terminal device, wherein publishing the offer includes either publishing the offer on a network server of the peer-to-peer network or publishing the offer directly to the second mobile communication terminal device via the peer-to-peer network; and
sharing the communication service with a user of the second mobile communication terminal device in response to a selection of the communication service by the user of the second mobile communication terminal device, wherein sharing the communication service includes by the first mobile communication terminal device connecting with a third mobile communication terminal device over the mobile communication network and connecting with the second mobile communication terminal device over the peer-to-peer network, wherein the sharing is limited by conditions placed on the sharing by a user of the first mobile communication terminal device.
20. The first mobile communication terminal device of claim 19 , comprising a cellular phone.