SYSTEM AND METHOD OF WIRELESS PROXIMITY AWARENESS
The present application provides a system for proximity awareness for mobile data communication on an electronic communication device comprising a client application on an electronic communication device communicating across a wireless network, and an awareness server that includes a plurality of server objects that monitor multiple devices on a wireless communication network. In addition, the client application on the electronic communication device comprises a plurality of software objects. The client application periodically broadcasts the current wireless tower that the device is communicating on to the awareness server. The awareness server tracks the location of other Tower IDs of other users in the individual's contact list. If there is a match in Tower IDs, an alert is sent to both users that they are in proximity to each other.
1 . A method comprising:
monitoring, for each mobile communication device of a plurality of mobile communication devices, which network base station the respective mobile communication device is communicating through;
performing a comparison of the network base stations to each other;
determining, through the comparison, that first and second mobile communication devices, from among the mobile communication devices, are communicating through a same network base station; and
triggered by the determination that the first and second mobile communication devices are communicating through the same network base station, transmitting a notification to the first mobile communication device indicating the second mobile communication device is nearby.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the notification is a first notification, and the transmitting includes transmitting a second notification to the second mobile communication device indicating the first mobile communication device is nearby.
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the comparison is only between mobile communication devices of a common Buddy list.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring, performing, determining and transmitting are performed by an awareness server.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring includes receiving communications, from at least one of the mobile communication devices, indicating which network base station the respective mobile communication device is communicating through.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the communications are received from the at least one of the mobile communication devices at a predetermined time interval.
7 . A method comprising:
monitoring, for each mobile communication device of a plurality of mobile communication devices, which network base station or network base stations the respective mobile communication device hears, including a network base station or network base stations that the respective mobile device does not connect to;
performing a comparison of the network base stations to each other;
determining, through the comparison, that first and second mobile communication devices, from among the mobile communication devices, hear a same network base station; and
triggered by the determination that the first and second mobile communication devices hear the same network base station, transmitting a notification to the first mobile communication device indicating the second mobile communication device is nearby.
8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the notification is a first notification, and the transmitting includes transmitting a second notification to the second mobile communication device indicating the first mobile communication device is nearby.
9 . The method of claim 7 wherein the comparison is only between mobile communication devices of a common Buddy list.
10 . The method of claim 7 wherein the monitoring, performing, determining and transmitting are performed by an awareness server.
11 . The method of claim 7 wherein the monitoring includes receiving communications, from at least one of the mobile communication devices, indicating which network base station or network base stations the respective mobile communication device hears.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the communications are received from the at least one of the mobile communication devices at a predetermined time interval.
13 . The method of claim 7 wherein the notification includes an indication of a maximum distance, expressed in terms of travel time, of the second mobile communication device from the first mobile communication device.
14 . The method of claim 7 wherein the network base stations the respective mobile communication device hears but does not connect to include network base stations that the mobile communication device hears but cannot connect to.
15 . A method comprising:
monitoring, for each mobile communication device of a plurality of mobile communication devices, which network base station the mobile communication device is communicating through and which network base station or network base stations the mobile communication device hears, including network base stations the respective mobile device hears but does not connect to;
performing a comparison of the network base stations to each other;
determining, through the comparison, that a first mobile communication device, of the mobile communication devices, is communicating through a same network base station that a second mobile communication device, of the mobile communication devices, hears; and
triggered by the determination, transmitting a notification to one of the first and second mobile communication devices indicating the other of the first and second mobile communication devices is nearby.
16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the notification is a first notification to the first communication device indicating the second communication device is nearby, and the transmitting further includes transmitting a second notification to the second mobile communication device indicating the first mobile communication device is nearby.
17 . The method of claim 15 wherein the comparison is only between mobile communication devices of a common Buddy list.
18 . The method of claim 15 wherein the monitoring, performing, determining and transmitting are performed by an awareness server.
19 . The method of claim 15 wherein the monitoring includes receiving communications, from at least one of the mobile communication devices, indicating which network base stations the respective mobile communication device hears.
20 . The method of claim 15 wherein the network base stations the respective mobile communication device hears but does not connect to includes network base stations that the mobile communication device hears but cannot connect to.