The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 03, 2011
Filed:
Sep. 30, 2003
John C. Krumm, Redmond, WA (US);
Susan D. Woolf, Seattle, WA (US);
Roland Fernandez, Woodinville, WA (US);
David J. Marsh, Sammamish, WA (US);
Albert D. Jee, Sammamish, WA (US);
Wayne G. King, Kirkland, WA (US);
John C. Krumm, Redmond, WA (US);
Susan D. Woolf, Seattle, WA (US);
Roland Fernandez, Woodinville, WA (US);
David J. Marsh, Sammamish, WA (US);
Albert D. Jee, Sammamish, WA (US);
Wayne G. King, Kirkland, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
A system and method in a wireless network for discovering which resources (e.g., other wireless computing devices) are proximate a user's wireless computing device. Wireless signal strengths with respect to various base stations are compared with the signal strengths of other network devices or resources, to determine which devices are experiencing similar signal strengths. Devices with similar signal strengths are deemed proximate. Each participating computing device may send its signal strength reports to a proximity server, which distributes proximity data to network clients. Each client may receive and process the signal strength data for determining which other clients/resources are proximate, or the server can perform proximity computations and return a list of proximate clients. Once computed, the identities of the proximate clients can be used to query for additional data about the clients, such as the names and other details of their owners, or information about the resource.