Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

U.S. Philips Corporation

Paul John Rankin

Richard Cole

Rosa Freitag

Martin A Shiels

Karen Irene Trovato

Carolyn Christine Ramsey

Christopher Brian Marshall

Jonathan Charles Griffiths

Robert J Davies

Simon Royce Turner

Jacquelyn Annette Martino

Yevgeniy Eugene Shteyn

Sailesh Rachabathuni

Alan James Davie

David Hillary Evans

Daniel Pelletier

Stefan Pannenbecker

Balthasar Antonius Gerardus Vanluijt

A wireless local area network (LAN) comprises an access point which transmits a beacon signal at 0 dBm. The detection threshold of the mobile unit is &#x2212;65 dBm and thus the mobile unit is detected when located within 10 meters of the access point.

System for locating a mobile unit

An electronic device such as a mobile telephone is provided with a reader for reading data from a physical data carrier. Physical data carriers are incorporated into accessories of the device, for example a telephone carrying case. The act of inserting the telephone into the case causes the reader to read data from the data carrier and the data is used to implement required device settings of the electronic device. The data carrier may be a bar code, RF tag or contact tag. By providing a number of carrying cases each with its own data carrier, merely exchanging cases initiates a number of associated device settings to be selected. Each case may be associated with a particular environment or user context allowing the user to alter the behavior of the device to suit context merely by interchanging carrying case. Data carrier may also be provided in other accessories such as car-telephone kits and battery chargers to alter device behavior accordingly. Device settings include those which govern the type of information relayed to the user when the device receives information from data delivery services.

Device control apparatus and method

A communications system comprises at least one beacon device capable of wireless message transmission and at least one portable device capable of receiving such a message transmission. The beacon is arranged to broadcast a series of inquiry messages each in the form of a plurality of predetermined data fields (INQ) arranged according to a first communications protocol, such as Bluetooth. For the delivery of additional data via broadcast, the beacon adds to each inquiry message prior to transmission an additional data field (BCD) carrying audio data, with the portable device receiving the transmitted inquiry messages, reading the audio data from the additional data field, and reproducing the audio to a user.

Localised audio data delivery

An interactive system in which information read from two or more tags (or) jointly determines a process to be carried out. One of the tags may identify a user by for example his/her store loyalty card number or by a personal identifying tag (or card) in a cordless RF terminal and the other of the tags may be a RF-ID tag storing details of an action to be performed such as the number of credit points to be given to the loyalty card in response to a transaction or provide promotional information to the user. The process may comprise issuing a command to an action server () to provide, or instruct the sending of, output information to a user, by for example over a radio link to a cellular telephone apparatus () or PDA, or displayed to the user on a video display unit ().

Interactive system using tags

In a networked communications apparatus comprising at least one server () and a plurality of user terminals (), together with a portable communications device () co-operating with one or more user terminals (), the coupling () between terminal and communications device is by wireless transmission. The portable communications device () means for receiving wireless transmissions from the terminal are further configured to receive additional data transmitted wirelessly from other sources, such as message delivery beacons (B1&#x2013;BN) distributed in the locality.

Networked message delivery system

A communications system is provided comprising a communal audio message recordal apparatus GAMB () with multiple users () enabled to record and access recorded messages. The recordal of each message includes capture and storage of at least one qualifying parameter pertaining to the access to the recordal means, for example the time/date or the location from which access occurred. The qualifying parameter is further checked () against a subsequent request for access by a user to previously recorded messages, with access only being granted to those messages having a matching qualifying parameter.

Group audio message board

A beacon () adapted for use in an arrangement () for providing an information service, comprising a storage () for storing data related to the information service, local communication means () for establishing a short range communication link () with a mobile device (), and a processor () adapted for autonomously performing the service based on the data in the storage () with the mobile device () using the short range communication link (). The arrangement () preferably further comprises a server () arranged to receive data to be used in the information service from a terminal () and to forward the received data to the beacon () over the long range communication link ().

Arrangement with beacon for providing information service

A method is provided for power saving in a mobile device () for use in conjunction with a plurality of beacon devices (), together with devices for use in such systems. The mobile device detects and receives data from such beacon devices including a first one of said beacon devices when the mobile device is at a first location within a first predetermined distance from said first one of said beacon devices. The mobile device is equipped to detect movement thereof and, having detected the first one of said beacon devices, the mobile device is disabled from detecting such beacon devices until said device has determined that it has moved from said first location.

Mobile device power saving

A method of power saving in a mobile device () for use in conjunction with a plurality of beacon devices (), together with a mobile device operable or configured to effect such method. The mobile device detects and receives data from such beacon devices including a first one of said beacon devices when said mobile device is at a first location within a first predetermined range from said first one of said beacon devices. The current location of the mobile device is determined and compared with stored location data for at least some of said plurality of beacon devices, and the communications means are disabled from detecting such beacon devices when it is determined that the current location for the mobile device is outside said first predetermined range from a beacon device for which location data is held.

A system, apparatus, and method for providing a distributed location based service system to a mobile user. Information related to a particular geographic location may be electronically transferred to a mobile electronic device, without a request from the user, and interpreted locally on the device in the form of a virtual map of location based resources. The mobile device is capable of determining its location using a GPS (Global Positioning System) or a process of measurement and prediction based on calculation. The mobile device can then use the location information and compare it to available location based resources within the device.

Distributed location based service system

A geographic region has a network of beacons. Each beacon transmits a short-range facilitation signal for receipt on a user's mobile communication device. The facilitation signal initiates associating the facilitation signal with a service and conditionally alerts the user to the service via the device dependent on a user profile. The user-profile and the association between facilitation signal and service are user-programmable.

Mobile micro portal

In a networked communications apparatus, comprising at least one server ( ) and a plurality of user stations ( ) coupled via a first network ( ), storage means ( ) hold a profile database containing data representing a characteristic behaviour of an associated user. The user station further comprises a portable communications device ( ) connectable to the said at least one server ( ) via a second network ( ), with the means for automatically acquiring user data storing access data for establishing a connection via said second network with the associated user terminal network address or addresses.

User profiling communications system

When a person requests access to a chat session, the time of the request is used to determine which chat room the person is placed. Other parameters are used to determine the surrounding factors, or context, within which the person initiated the request, such as the particular television program that the person was watching at the time of the request. By forming chat rooms based on the time of entry and the context in which the request is made, the chat rooms are likely to contain people with a common topic to discuss, such as the television news story being broadcast at that time. These time-of-entry chat rooms can also be structured to be of limited duration, obviating the overhead burden of deleting topic-specific chat rooms when the topic ceases to be of interest.

System creating chat network based on a time of each chat access request

A communications system comprises at least one first portable communications device ( ) capable of wireless message transmission and at least one second portable communications device ( ) capable of receiving such a message transmission. The first device ( ) is arranged to broadcast a series of inquiry messages ( ) each in the form of a plurality of predetermined data fields (INQ) arranged according to a first communications protocol, such as Bluetooth. For the delivery of additional data via broadcast, the first device ( ) adds to each inquiry message prior to transmission an additional data field (BCD) carrying broadcast data, with the second portable device ( ) receiving the transmitted inquiry messages and reading the broadcast data from the additional data field.

Data delivery through portable devices

A method of selecting an application in a wireless device and a user location method are provided. In the method of selecting an application, specific messages are received from a wireless station. The application specific messages are specific to services provided via a wireless station transmitting the application specific messages. The application specific messages have an application specific identifier identifying a specific application and data corresponding to the specific application. It is determined whether an application is present in the wireless device that corresponds to the received application specific identifier. If it is determined that the corresponding application is absent in the wireless device, the correspondingly received data is ignored. In the user location method that is used in a wireless system, locations and user identities of users of wireless devices are registered. The wireless devices are capable of roaming through the wireless system when the wireless devices enter into coverage areas of wireless stations in the system. A user location awareness application uses the registered locations and user identities of the wireless devices.

Wireless system, a method of selecting an application while receiving application specific messages and user location method using user location awareness

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Horley, United Kingdom

Paul John Rankin