GB2474865A

GB2474865A - Tracking location of conference attendees using wireless mobile devices and W-LAN access points

Info

Publication number: GB2474865A
Application number: GB0918903A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Areti Kampyli; Michael Lekkas
Original assignee: YASMO LIVE Ltd
Current assignee: YASMO LIVE Ltd
Priority date: 2009-10-28
Filing date: 2009-10-28
Publication date: 2011-05-04
Also published as: GB0918903D0

Abstract

A participant 8 at an event at a location 2 (eg conference, convention) registers their user details and those of their wireless mobile device 23 (eg. mobile phone, laptop, PDA) with servers/databases 4,5,7. Whilst attending the event the users location can be monitored using the registered wireless device data and wireless local area network (WLAN) (eg IEEE802.11) access points 12,14,16,18, 20. Users can register interest in other event attendees and the tracking data can alert them when that user's mobile device 22,24,26,28 enters network/access point range. Users can search other attendee's personal registration data and the tracking data can filter results to present only attendees in network range. The tracking data may also be used to log the users' movements within the conference from one access point to another.

Description

Communication system and method The present invention relates to communications systems and more particularly to apparatus and methods for facilitating communications between large numbers of devices in a facility and still more particularly to communication scheduling and networking applications for gatherings.

Background

Social networking systems permit users to identify other users based on shared links, for example having a friend or business associate in common or having shared commercial interests. It is also known to record an electronic calendar for scheduling appointments and managing meeting requests.

Wireless networks provide links between multiple wireless devices such as laptop computers or wifi enabled smart phones and internet connection points such as wireless access points and wireless routers. In a related area of wireless communication it is known for Bluetooth devices to provide a pairing mechanism where a device ID is made available to other Bluetooth devices to permit communication to be established between the two devices.

However, where large numbers of wireless devices are arranged in a single vicinity it is difficult for a user of one device to identify the presence of another user by means of the wireless network.

Summary of Invention

Aspects and examples of the invention are set out in the claims.

In an aspect there is provided a method of communicating between participants in a common event at a common location, the method comprising: receiving registration information associated with a first participant and storing the received information at a server; providing an IEEE8O2.11 wireless local area network (LAN) at the common location; receiving a packet from each of a plurality of wireless mobile devices over the wireless LAN, the wireless mobile devices associated with other participants in the event; receiving a message over the wireless LAN indicating that the first participant is in wireless communication range of the wireless LAN; and, in response to receiving the message, sending an alert based on the stored registration information over the wireless LAN to the plurality of wireless mobile devices.

In an embodiment the common location comprises a plurality of areas and the alert comprises location information indicating an area of the event. In an embodiment the alert comprises a picture of the first participant. In an embodiment registration information comprises information in a number of different languages and the method comprises determining the common location and/or selecting a language based on the common location and the alert comprises information in the selected language. In an example the selected language is user settable.

In an example the registration information comprises language preference information and alerts and information transmitted to the wireless mobile device are adapted based on the language preference. Typically such preference information includes a first (or favourite) language and one or more auxiliary languages. In an example a method includes identifying a language preference associated with a device and selecting a language for transmission to that device.

In some examples a common location can include more than one location and a common event may occur in two or more locations at the same time. A common event may take place over several days or at a connection of different times.

In an aspect there is provided a method for identifying participants in a common event at a common location, the method implemented in a first wireless mobile device coupled to a wireless local area network (LAN), the wireless mobile device storing a plurality of records each record associated with a respective other wireless mobile device, a picture of a respective participant and at least one identifier, the method comprising: selecting a set of records from the plurality of records, wherein the selected set of records are associated with wireless mobile devices that are in wireless communication with the wireless LAN; and, receiving an input from a user of the first wireless mobile device, the input selecting an identifier and filtering the set of records based on the identifier and displaying a filtered list of the records; and, receiving a search string from said user, and identifying participants by displaying records of the set which match the search string. Typically the term "string" is used in the art to mean a collection of text characters.

In general a record includes text and displaying records of the set which match the search string comprises displaying records of the set having text including the search string. Alternatively the search string may be matched against at least one of the at least one identifiers.

Typically the at least one identifier comprises at least five identifiers each identifier corresponding to an attribute of the participant such as their professional title, their name, their nationality, the company they work for and their picture.

In an example each record is editable by the participant associated with that record and each record generally comprises a profile viewable by other participants. The profile can be based on information in the record. Preferably a short profile comprises a subset of a participant's full profile and is preferably adapted for transmission over a wireless network. Preferably each record has at least one associated language preference indicator. In an example the displaying records comprises identifying the language preference associated with the user (by way of the associated record) and displaying records based on the language preference. Typically each profile comprises at least two language profiles (such as one in French and one in German or any other selected language) and displaying records comprises identifying a preferred language of the user and displaying the record in a preferred language.

In an aspect there is provided a location monitoring and reporting method for record keeping at an event in a facility, the facility comprising a number of areas, the method comprising providing a local server coupled to a wireless LAN comprising a plurality of wireless communication terminals and a plurality of wireless mobile devices, wherein the local server is operable to communicate with a remote server and with a database of records each record comprising information associated with a user of a respective wireless mobile device; the method further comprising: deriving location information for at least some of the wireless mobile devices from communication traffic on the wireless LAN, the location information indicating one of the areas; and recording time information to indicate when the location information was derived; and for each of the at least some of the wireless mobile devices, storing the location and time information; and sending the recorded location and time information to the remote server to enable it to be retrieved by a user to provide an indication of the areas visited by the user during the event and of the other users present in those areas at the same time.

An wireless network may be any appropriate short or medium range wireless network interface such as an 1EE802.11 wireless local area network interface, for example an IEEE 802.llg or IEEE 802.lln network.

In an aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving from a remote device over a first communication interface user data associated with a user of a first wireless mobile device; receiving a message from each of a first plurality of other wireless mobile devices over a second communication interface and, in response to determining that a message has been received from the first wireless mobile device over the second communication interface, sending the user data to a second plurality of other wireless mobile devices over the second communication interface.

Where the second communication interface comprises a wireless local area network (LAN) the method has the advantage of providing information to a group about the presence of a particular individual without requiring any direct communication between the individual and the group.

Typically the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes all of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices so that all of a group of devices from which a message has been received can be provided with information about a particular individual.

In an embodiment the user data comprises at least one subgroup identifier and the method further comprises storing a subgroup identifier for each of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices. This has the advantage of permitting information to be sent to a selected subgroup about the presence of a particular individual, for example the second plurality of other wireless mobile devices can be selected based on the subgroup identifier of the user data.

In one embodiment the second communication interface comprises a wireless LAN and the wireless mobile devices comprise wifi enabled hand held devices such as mobile telephones. Typically the user data is sent to the second plurality of mobile devices periodically, for example at 5 minute intervals. This has the advantage of avoiding the need for a continuous active connection between the mobile devices and the wireless LAN to preserve battery life of the hand held device.

In one possibility the method comprises aggregating user data from a plurality of messages and sending user data to the second plurality of wireless mobile devices in a batch. This has the advantage of avoiding the need for repeated communications thus further preserving battery life of the wireless mobile devices.

In general a database of wireless mobile devices comprises a plurality of relations, each relation associating a wireless mobile device with a group identifier and (optionally) one or more subgroup identifiers. Typically each wireless mobile device is also associated with corresponding user data.

Therefore, when it is determined that a message has been received from the first wireless mobile device user data and corresponding group identifiers (and/or subgroup identifiers) for the first plurality of wireless mobile devices can be sent to the first wireless mobile device. This has the advantage of providing information to a particular individual about the presence of a plurality of other individuals without requiring any direct communication between the individual and the group.

Preferably the information sent to the first wireless mobile device is selected based on one or more group and/or subgroup identifiers. This has the advantage of informing users of the presence of one or more other users based on selected group identifiers.

For example the invention finds application in conference settings. Prior to a conference a user may indicate that they wish to be informed of the attendance of users in a particular group, such as technical personnel suitably qualified in a particular area. In particularly preferable examples prior to the conference a user may indicate that they wish to be informed of the presence of a particular other user.

The message may comprise an identifier of each respective other wireless mobile device; and the method can comprise storing in a database a relation between an identifier of the first wireless mobile device and data associated with the user of the first wireless mobile device; In an aspect there is provided a communications system, the system comprising: a server coupled to at least one wireless communication interface suitable for communication with a plurality of mobile wireless devices; and a database coupled to the server, the database comprising a plurality of stored associations for a first plurality of wireless mobile devices, each association associating a wireless mobile device with corresponding user data; and a controller operable in response to receiving a message comprising received user data associated with a first wireless mobile device to select a second plurality of wireless mobile devices from the first plurality of wireless mobile devices based on the stored associations and further operable to send the received user data to the second plurality of wireless mobile devices using the wireless communication interface.

The invention also provides a computer program and a computer program product for carrying out any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein, and a computer readable medium having stored thereon a program for carrying out any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein.

The invention also provides a signal embodying a computer program for carrying out any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein, a method of transmitting such a signal, and a computer product having an operating system which supports a computer program for carrying out any of the methods described herein and/or for embodying any of the apparatus features described herein.

The invention extends to methods and/or apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Any feature in one aspect of the invention may be applied to other aspects of the invention, in any appropriate combination. In particular, method aspects may be applied to apparatus aspects, and vice versa.

Furthermore, features implemented in hardware may generally be implemented in software, and vice versa. Any reference to software and hardware features herein should be construed accordingly.

Summary of Figures

Embodiments of the invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a facility having a communications system according to one embodiment of the invention; Figures 2a provides a very schematic representation of a database record and user interface employed in examples of the invention; Figure 2b provides an example of a database record associated with a wireless mobile device employed in examples of the invention Figure 3a shows a flow chart indicating a process employed in embodiments of the invention; and Figure 3B shows a flow chart indicating a process employed in embodiments of the invention.

Specific Description

Figure 1 shows a facility 2 having a local server 4 for connection to a wide area network 6. Wide area network 6 comprises a coupling to a central sever 5. Central server 5 is coupled to a central database 7 and via wide area network 6 to one or more remote terminals 10.

Facility 2 comprises a plurality of wireless communication terminals 12, 14, 16, 18 for communication with a plurality of wireless mobile devices 20, 22, 24, 26, 28. The wireless communication terminals are IEEE 802.11g enabled wi-fi terminals, such as wireless access points, hubs or routers. Although any appropriate wireless interface may be used such as, for example an 1EEE802.lln interface. Such devices and their operation will be familiar to the skilled practitioner. As will be appreciated packets transported via a wi-fi network comprise at least one identifier of the originating device. The wireless communication terminals are arranged to communicate between central server 4 and wireless mobile devices 20, 22, 24, 26, 28. The wireless mobile devices comprise wi-fi enabled mobile telephone devices and, optionally, wi-fi enabled laptops or PDA5.

Server 4 comprises a database 32 for storing an association between an identifier of a wireless mobile device 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 and a record comprising a plurality of indicators. The database may be included in the server or coupled remotely to it.

The central database 7 attached to the central server 5 stores records received from users as described below. Prior to an event in a facility 2 user records for that event are downloaded from the central server 5 to the local server 4 and stored in the database 30 of the local server 4 which stores user records for the facility. User records stored by the database of the local server 4 are selectively downloaded to a local cache or mini-database stored in a memory associated with each wireless mobile device 20, 22, 24. For reasons of efficiency, only a short version of the user's database record is downloaded to the wireless mobile devices. Therefore, each wireless mobile device comprises data records which represent a subset of the records held in the main database.

The central server 5 provides a webpage interface for a user 8 to complete a registration process from a remote device 10 during which they provide information about themselves. This information is recorded by central server 5 in the central database 7. During the registration process a user also provides information relating to a wireless mobile device they carry such as a wi-fi enabled mobile phone. A record is created in the database which links the information provided by the user to an identifier of their wireless mobile device. At this stage an application is provided for download to the wireless mobile device and a user is provided with an access code for an event at which the system is to be used. The central server provides a means of communication with the local server of the facility. This enables users to retrieve database information from the local server over WAN 6, 6' without being present in the facility. For example the user may have recorded notes on their user profile which they wish to retrieve when they have left the facility.

As part of the registration process the user 8 has the opportunity to provide details of other users of interest to user 8. This provides a preference or "favourites" indication associated with a user's record in the database. A preference or favourites indication can relate to particular individuals or to groups of individuals.

User data provided during registration comprises information such as a picture or other identifying information, an identifier associated with a wireless mobile device and one or more attributes of the user and each attribute may have one of a set of selected values. In other words each user record comprises a number of fields (attributes) which make up their profile.

In addition, as indicated above, for the purposes of efficiency a user record also has a short profile which contains a selection of the attributes held in the full profile. This short profile provides a summary record which can easily be transmitted to a wireless mobile device and which provides a summary of the essential detail of a user's profile. The short profile comprises fields for profession, professional title, company, country and the user's name and an image of the user. Depending on operational constraints the short profile may contain more or fewer fields.

Referring now to Figure 2B a very schematic representation of a user record employed in databases according to some examples of the invention is shown. The invention employs database records at different levels of the system, i.e. one at local server level, a master database at a remote or central server and mini or local cache databases stored at wireless mobile device level.

Each database record has a unique identifier 600. Associated with each unique identifier are a set of user configurable attributes which include an image, such as a portrait photo and/or company logo 610, a profession attribute 602, a company attribute 606 and other attributes 608. As will be appreciated each attribute can be associated with one or more attribute values dependent on how the database is configured. Also associated with a unique identifier is some free text which can be configured by the associated user, in some examples this free text might comprise a link, such as a hyperlink, to further user information (e.g. a social or professional networking website). Further associated with each unique identifier is a set of non-user settable attributes 614, 616 which are configured by software associated with the database (32; Figure 1) these include, for example, a current location indicator 614 and a popularity indicator 616. The current location indicator is updated by the increment! decrement record process described below in more detail with reference to Figures 3A, 3B and 3C.

The database 32 stores an association between each wireless mobile device 20, 22, 24 and a set of user information (attributes). These attributes include information such as employer, investment portfolio, profession, age, role (i.e. managerial, marketing, procurement, recruitment etc.) and other such information. In addition each database record includes preference information which indicates the names or attributes of other individuals who a user is interested in contacting. The database record also includes a calendar which indicates each user's intended movements, for example which seminars and lectures they will attend during the conference. The calendar or diary is user configurable to allow a user to block out selected intervals in their diary for meetings with individuals having specific attributes associated with their database record. The software application and database permit users to send receive and accept meeting requests associated with this calendar or diary.

Associated with each database record is a user profile. This user profile is the information which is made available to other users of the system. Generally this will be in the user's first language.

However it is possible to add additional profiles for different languages so a user can have a profile suitable for presentation in a particular language. A basic machine translation can be provided into any language with the option for profiles to be updated by a user or on their behalf. Optionally these are selected based on the location of a facility which can be detected automatically based on an IP address or a setting of the local server. Alternatively the profile presented to another user can be selected based on language settings associated with that other user. To assist in this method a user can indicate a favourite language and a number others in order of preference so that if another user does not have a profile in their preferred language they are presented with an acceptable alternative. Although every wireless mobile device is associated with specific user data the software application permits each user to update the user data at any time.

The software application and database enable a user to indicate particular individuals with whom they wish to meet. This is done by identifying an individual by name or by a combination of attributes (e.g. legal professional, based in London [Cl). In a relational database model such preferences can be set using a relation on each user's identifier. In the context of the present application other methods of implementing such a technique will be apparent to the skilled practitioner. However such methods are implemented any given pair of wireless mobile devices (and the user's associated with them) will be assigned a two way preference indicator. That is to say the database 32 stores a preference indicator associated with wireless mobile device 20 which indicates a preference of that devices user (based on user settable attributes) for the user associated with another wireless mobile device 22. Therefore for any two wireless mobile devices 20, 22 it is possible to calculate a two-way preference indicator which can be recorded as a preference score or percentage (or as two separate scores).

When a user 8 first enters the facility 2 the wireless mobile device 23 that they carry will initiate communication with a wireless communication terminal 14 by sending a packet. This packet which may be part of a typical association request frame or other management frame used to establish communication with an access point and typically will comprise at least one identifier of the wireless mobile device. This enables the presence of the wireless mobile device in the facility to be relayed by wireless communication terminal 14 to server 4. A message is sent to the wireless mobile device which activates the software application downloaded to the wireless mobile device during registration and prompts the user to enter an access code which was provided to them during the registration process. When this access code is entered the local server relays an alert via wireless communication terminals 12, 16, 18, 19 to a plurality of wireless mobile devices which are present in the facility that the user 8 is also present. A similar process can be applied when a user leaves the facility and/or a timeout procedure can be used. Thus, when a user leaves the facility the local server relays an alert via wireless communication terminals 12, 16, 18, 19 to a plurality of wireless mobile devices which are present in the facility that the user 8 has left.

If for example the invention is employed during a conference event then, in a lobby or entrance area of the conference facility 2 it is generally desirable to provide users with a badge for the event and certain information such as leaflets, programmes and safety information. Wireless communication terminal 14 is associated with a printer device and user interface 38. Upon user 8 entering facility 2 wireless mobile device 23 establishes communication with wireless communication terminal 14 as described above. A message is provided to user comprising instructions to proceed to printer device and user interface 38. When the user approaches the printer they can send a command (if necessary including a secure password) via wireless communication terminal 14 to database 32. In response controller 4 sends a command to cause printer device and user interface to provide physical user identifying means (such as an identity card, security access card and other information).

In addition to providing physical user identification means via the terminal 38, in response to the wireless mobile device 23 initiating communication with wireless communication terminals of the facility selected user record information, relating to other wireless mobile devices present in the facility, is sent to wireless mobile device 23 from server 4. This establishes (records) in the wireless mobile device 23 a local cache (or mini-database) which represents a subset of the larger database held in the server and provides for the user 8 a summary of the people who are present in the facility.

As will be understood from the foregoing description, when a wireless mobile device initiates communication with a wireless communication terminal 20 an identifier is communicated with server 4 so that an association can be stored between the identifier (of the wireless mobile device) and the wireless communication terminal to which it is coupled. Thus a record is maintained in database 32 of the wireless mobile devices wirelessly communicating with each communication terminal. When a wireless mobile device 12 initiates communication with wireless terminal 12 controller 30 queries database 4 to determine whether the database stores a record of that wireless mobile device identifier being associated with a wireless communication terminal. In the event that it is determined that wireless mobile device 12 is associated with a wireless communication terminal the record is updated appropriately. Typically this update step comprises modifying a stored association. In the event that wireless mobile device 12 is not associated with any wireless communication terminal then a new stored association is created. This handshake and update process is described in greater detail below.

Typically a conference facility 2 is subdivided into areas 34, 36 and in each area a wireless communication terminal is present. Each wireless communication terminal can be identified by a distinct SSID. Given the typical range of a wireless communication terminal (generally approximately lOOm or more) a wireless mobile device in a typical conference facility will generally able to communicate with more than one wireless communication terminal. Each wireless communication terminal can be associated with an area of a conference facility for example seminar room 36 and coffee bar 34.

The software application which is stored on the wireless mobile devices during the registration process includes a search facility to permit a user to search the list of users who are in the facility or who are in a particular area of the facility. A two stage search method is employed. The first stage of the search is to apply a filter based on one of the fields of the short profile described above. Then once the list has been reduced by applying a filter a free text search can be applied (which looks for matches of all or part of a word or phrase in a user's profile) and/or the filtered list of profiles can be browsed by the user. Optionally as a further stage the search only displays results associated with wireless mobile devices which are in the same area of the facility as the user making the query. Thus a user can review the database records of all the people in their vicinity, filter the list of records by attribute (such as profession or home country) and then search within those results by browsing or by employing a free text search.

Figure 2a shows a very schematic view of a user interface provided by an application on a wireless mobile device. The user interface 507 provides a set of selectable option icons 502, 503, 505 each associated with an area (34; Figure 1) of a conference facility (2; Figure 1). Provided with each selectable icon is a preference indicator 500 which provides an indication about one or more attributes of that area of the conference facility. Typically a conference facility is subdivided into one or more areas each associated with a given communication terminal (or a set of such terminals) and the application is configured to provide a selectable icon 502, 503, 505 associated with each area of the facility. The selectable icons 502, 503, 505 correspond to areas which are proximate to a wireless mobile device i.e. those areas associated with a wireless communication terminal with which the mobile device is able to communicate. The preference indicator 500 provides an indication of the cumulative preference score associated with all the other users in a given area 34, 36 of the facility.

The software application provided on each wireless mobile device provides a selectable menu wherein each of the wireless communication terminals 34, 36 is displayed as an option along with an indication of the corresponding location descriptor (e.g. coffee bar, seminar room). In addition database 32 provides an accumulated preference indicator for each wireless communication terminal 12, 14, 16 (and hence area 34, 36) dependent upon the wireless mobile devices 20, 22, 24 which are registered to that terminal. The accumulated preference score provides information relating to the mutual interest scores associated with each area of a conference. This enables a user to select which area of the conference they should enter based on a score determined by user configurable conditions. This has the advantage of promoting efficient communication by permitting a user to select which area of a conference to enter based on a glance at a screen.

The software application and database permit a user to search for another conference participant using the software to locate them in an area of the conference. This can be done using the two stage search method described above, or alternatively a database query, a first user can be informed about the whereabouts of a second user in the conference without the need for any complicated location determining methods. As another example of the application a user can use the application to search for a list of named individuals and the application will provide location information for each individual (based on the wireless mobile terminal with which they are registered at that time) and an indication of their current availability as indicated in the calendar or diary associated with their database record. Time and location recorded are maintained in a local server and periodically or intermittently relayed to a remote (central) server.

When a user's wireless mobile device sends a management frame to a terminal to initiate communication the user record is added to an aggregated list. A list of updates is assembled which indicates all the new users which have registered with (or removed their registrations from) a given terminal. In this manner an aggregated list is assembled which can be sent as an update command to each of the wireless mobile devices associated with a given wireless communication terminal. This has two advantages. Firstly where a large number of users are present in a facility there will be multiple regions intermediate between two or more access points it is possible that the associations between device identifiers and wireless communication terminals will need to be updated with a relatively high frequency. By assembling an aggregated list of associations to be added or removed over an update interval it is possible for the number of required updates to be reduced. As an example, if an association between a wireless mobile device and a wireless communication terminal is added five times and removed four times during a given update interval only a single update message is required. As will be appreciated, if many wireless mobile devices are present this effect will be multiplied many times. Therefore, by aggregating a set of device-terminal registration requests it is possible to significantly reduce the bandwidth requirement of sending updates to all the wireless mobile devices. In other words, if a given wireless mobile device is associated with a wireless communication terminal and then, within the update interval that association is deleted then the addition and subtraction of the same record cancel each other out. Therefore each wireless communication terminal 12, 14, 16 can be configured to provide an incremental update to each wireless mobile device 20, 22. Rather than rewriting the entire database stored on the wireless mobile device an incremental update provides a command to delete, add or modify existing entries in the local database.

Wireless mobile devices 20, 22 store a local cache of the database held on the local server database of all other devices which are associated with a wireless communication terminal in the facility. The local database of each wireless mobile device is updated at intervals based on updates sent by the controller 4 via the wireless communication terminals 12, 14, 16. The database record for each device includes a current location indicator based on the wireless communication terminal with which that device is registered. For example if wireless mobile device 20 is associated with a particular wireless communication terminal 12 in a given area 34 of the facility then the local database of each wireless mobile device stores an association between that area 34 and the particular wireless mobile device 20. This has the advantage that any user can locate any other user within the facility by making a simple query of the database (which may be either a local cache of the database or the central database held at the server).

Thus the location of any particular user can be displayed on a diagram of the conference facility, for example on a schematic map, floorplan or graphical representation of the facility. The database 32 and therefore the local database of each wireless mobile device store an association between each wireless mobile device and one or more attributes as described below with reference to Figure 3c.

An application is provided which permits a user to select a particular attribute value and filter their view of the results based on that selection. For example a user can select an attribute, such as profession, and specify that they wish to be shown the location of each user who's profession attribute value matches a selected value e.g. profession=accountant. As will be appreciated any selection or combination of selections may be employed.

In some examples of the application selectable icons are provided corresponding to areas which are proximate to a wireless mobile device i.e. those areas associated with a wireless communication terminal with which the mobile device is able to communicate.

Figure 3A shows a flow chart indicating a schematically the process 200 which is initiated when a wireless mobile device (20; Figure 1) initiates communication with a wireless communication terminal. At 202 a wireless message which includes an identifier 201 of the wireless mobile device is received at the wireless communication terminal. The wireless communication terminal relays a message to the central server (4; Figure 1) and the controller (30; Figure 1) performs a database query 104 to determine 106 whether the identified device is recorded in the database (32; Figure 1) as being associated with any of the other wireless communication terminals. If no pre-existing association is found in the database a new registration indicator is set 109 which indicates that a new user has entered the facility, this triggers a new participant process 107 which is described below in greater detail with reference to Figure 3B If the result of the database query 106 is a determination that the identified device is recorded in the database as being associated with a wireless communication terminal the stored association is queried to determine whether the identified device is associated with a wireless communication terminal (14; Figure 1) that matches the terminal with which the wireless mobile device has initiated communication. If the wireless mobile device is already associated with that terminal no further action is required. If it is determined 108 that the wireless mobile device is associated with a second wireless communication terminal then the pre-existing record is deleted 110 and a decrement process 112 is performed to indicate that a user has moved between areas in the facility, this decrement indicator is used to update and maintain centrally stored and distributed records as described below in greater detail with reference to Figure 3c.

Figure 3B shows a very schematic representation of the process performed when a new participant 8 enters a conference at 331 a handshake is performed between a wireless mobile device (20; Figure 1) and a wireless communication terminal (12; Figure 1). A device identifier is forwarded to the controller (30; Figure 1) of the local server (4; Figure 1) which performs a database query to retrieve the database record associated with the wireless mobile device (20; Figure 1) carried by that that user (8; Figure 1). If at 330 it is determined that no record exists in the database for that user a registration web page is sent to the user's wireless mobile device. This page provides a user interface for the user to create a new record in the database. Once the user (8; Figure 1) has entered their details on the webpage at 334 it is determined 336 whether a record exists for this user being associated with another event or database linked to the system and if so a link is provided between the two records 338 and a set of associated procedures is performed.

At step 340 a software application can be downloaded via the wireless network to the wireless mobile device (20; Figure 1) carried by that user (8; Figure 1) generally however the software application should have been pre-installed, this option is provided as a contingency. The application is described in greater detail with reference to Figure 2a. At step 342 the database (4; Figure 1) is updated via the wireless network to include a new record corresponding to the wireless network device and user which have been registered according to steps 332, 334, 336, 338 and 340.

At step 343 the database record corresponding to the new user 8 is retrieved from database (4; Figure 1) . Based on the retrieved user record a batch process is executed at step 344. This process retrieves data related to other users to be sent to the mobile wireless device of the new user (8; Figure 1) and identifies other users in the database to whom alerts should be sent to inform them that the new user is present in the facility.

The batch process assembles a database query based on the user's database record to retrieve a list of a subset of the conference participants who are present in the facility and assembles a batch of data to be transferred to the wireless mobile device 20. The subset is selected from the list of current participants (those who are present in the facility) according to the user's preferences and the attributes associated with those other participants. For example, typically a user's preferences will specify individuals of interest, by name or by their role, profession, employer etc. and other identifying information. The database query employs this information to select records relating to particular individuals or groups of individuals and retrieves the records from the database. Of course, it is possible to send a complete participant list to the wireless mobile device.

Advantageously however, to minimise bandwidth requirements and the performance demands placed on the wireless mobile device which typically is a battery powered hand held device, a subset of the available information is selected for transmission. Once the batch of data has been assembled it is sent to the new user's wireless mobile device. The software application held on the user's device provides an output to the user indicating that the list of participants has been received and enables the user to browse the list of participants. The software application is described in greater detail elsewhere.

To alert other users that a new user is present in the facility (2;Figure 1), at step 344 the batch process identifies other database records which contain preferences related to the new user. This identification process is based on the attributes of the new user and preference indicators of the is database records of other users. Users who should be alerted are identified from the database if they have specified a preference for the new user by name or have specified a preference for one or more attributes associated with the new user. This process provides an alert list of all the users to be informed that the new user is present. An alert message is generated based on the newly registered user's database record and queued for transmission to devices associated with the users on the alert list.

At step 346 the queued batch of alerts are transmitted to the list devices to alert those users that the new user is present. When an alert has been sent based on attribute preferences indicated by a user the alert message includes an indication of why the user is receiving an alert. For example an alert message may read "User John Smith has arrived. John Smith has been identified as a preferred user for you because his profession is solicitor and his specialism is employment law". By this method a user can be informed of a user's presence and notified of why they have been alerted of that users presence. Alternatively, if a user has specified that a they should be informed of a particular individual's presence based on their name then they are invited (at the point they specify that individual) to indicate why they want to be informed, for example "User John Smith has arrived. John Smith was selected by you as a preferred user. The memo you recorded at the time was: ..." This enables two types of alerts to be sent, those that are automatically generated from the database and those which are pre-selected by users. With both kinds of alerts additional information is provided to indicate to the user why they have received the alert.

In addition to sending particular alerts at step 348 an increment is queued to be sent to all the wireless mobile devices which are associated with the same wireless communication terminal as the new user.

It is also necessary to register a wireless mobile device to a new terminal when it moves within the facility. The process of registration and deregistration of wireless mobile devices with wireless communication terminals is negotiated using management frames. This process is often referred to as a handshake. A handshake management frame transmitted by a wireless mobile device comprises a header including a device identifier and at least one preference update bit. The preference update bit is set by the software application in a wireless mobile device to indicate that the user's attributes, their preferences or their calendar have been modified using the software application. When received by a wireless communication terminal (12;Figure 1) the terminal performs a typical wifi handshake process with the originating wireless mobile device and adds an originating terminal address to the management frame which is relayed back to the local server (4;Figure 1). As will be appreciated this relay process may comprise adding a destination address and a next hop' address to the frame before sending it.

Figure 3B shows a very schematic representation of the process of registering a wireless mobile device with a new communication terminal. When a handshake management frame is received at the terminal it is relayed to the local server using the process described above. The management frame is then read at 310 to obtain the device identifier and the current location information by reading the originating terminal address from the frame. The preference update bit is also read at this stage, step 310.

If at 312 it is determined that the preference update bit indicates that a user's attributes, preferences or calendar have been updated an update query is sent 314 to the wireless mobile device which transmits update information according to the protocol defined for the software application. Once the update data has been received from the wireless mobile device a table entry update is assembled 316.

Following this step 316 or, if it is determined at 312 that the preference update bit indicates that a user's attributes, preferences or calendar have not been updated, the database record (table entry) corresponding to the device identifier is retrieved from the database (32; Figure 1). The table entry is modified 320 according to any table entry update that has been determined at 316 then the current location attribute of the table entry is updated 322 based on the originating terminal address added to the management frame by wireless communication terminal (12; Figure 1).

A further database query is performed 324 to retrieve database records for other devices associated with the current location of the registering wireless mobile device (20;Figure 1). Based on this query a batch of data is assembled for transmission to the registering wireless mobile device (20;Figure 1).

This batch of data includes a list of user's in the current location and, for each user, selected information is included in the batch. The selected information depends on the bandwidth requirements of the location and is configurable. However, typically the selected information at least includes current availability status. Once this batch of data has been assembled it is transmitted 326 back to the wireless mobile device (12; Figure 1). It then remains to inform other users in the facility of the change in location of user 8. Therefore at step 328 a location increment is set for the current location such that when a batch of data is next transmitted to wireless mobile devices associated with that location (i.e. those wireless mobile devices associated with that wireless communication terminal) it includes information about the wireless mobile device (20;Figure 1) that is newly associated with that location as a result of the above described handshake process.

Periodically the local server records a list of all the devices which are associated with each wireless communication terminal. These lists are then uploaded to the central server so they can be accessed remotely after the event. This process keeps track of which users were present in each area of the facility at a given time. These lists can be searched and browsed to show the profiles and pictures of users present in a given area of the conference facility at any given time. Thus, after the event a user can review the meetings they had during the conference without knowing the details of the people they spoke with, also they can contact people who they did not have a chance to speak with during the event.

Controller 30 is coupled to server 4 for monitoring connection between wireless communication terminals 12, 14, 16, 18 and wireless mobile devices 20, 22, 24, 26, 28. For example, local server 4 maintains a table comprising a plurality of entries. Each table entry comprises an identifier of a wireless mobile device and an identifier of a wireless communication terminal. When a packet is received from a wireless mobile device a corresponding entry in the table is updated according to the following process. A packet (data packet or management frame) is received at a wireless communication terminal 12 and relayed to the server 4. During the relay process an identifier of the receiving wireless communication terminal is attached to or sent with the packet such that the server 4 can record an association between the wireless mobile device from which the packet was received and the wireless communication terminal which received it. As will be appreciated by the skilled practitioner, this table can be considered as analogous to a routing table although it need not operate at any particular level of the OSI model. Therefore location information for each device can be maintained in a database at the local server (the location information being derived from the known location of each wireless communication terminal).

Typically each users registration information will indicate a set of preferences as described above. To promote communication and improve efficiency and to make best use of time and resources the batch of data selected for download to a new participants device includes at least an indication of other users who are interested in communication with the new participant. This list may similarly be filtered at the time so that a user is only provided with information regarding users where a mutual interest exists. Users can be provided with an option to review the unfiltered list of all participants whose preferences indicate that they would be interested to speak with that participant.

Attached to each users pre-registered profile is a set of attributes including profession, employer, sector, grade (CEO, director, marketing, HR etc). When the new participant process is initiated these attributes are read by the controller 30 from the database record associated with that participant.

Users already present in the facility whose preferences indicate that they are interested in users having that profile (or who have indicated that they wish to speak with the new participant in particular are added to an update data batch. Each data batch is to be sent when an aggregation limit is reached.

Once inside the facility a wireless mobile device (20, 22, 24; Figure 1) may be in communication with a number of wireless communication terminals. Each communication terminal is typically associated with a different area of the conference room. Advantageously rather than automatically attaching to the nearest wireless communication terminal (usually the strongest signal) the wireless mobile device can be configured to provide the user with an option which terminal (room) they wish to remain in communication with. This has two potential advantages. Firstly rather than involving complicated triangulation or position reporting systems based on signal strength this system permits a user to remain connected to any selected wireless communication terminal that is in range.

Therefore if they briefly leave one area of the facility (for example to visit a rest area or take a private phone call) then there is no need to report to the rest of the participants that a user has left an area of the facility. Further advantageously based on a user's preferences each room in the facility can be assigned one or more favourability scores based on the users who are present in the room. For example, when a given wireless communication terminal is in communication with 10 users, and each user has a set of attributes as described it is possible assign the room a favourability score based on the preference information of another user. A user is presented with a choice screen on her wireless mobile device which presents a set of options, each corresponding to a different area of the facility, for example: main conference room, second conference room, seminar area and coffee bar. Each wireless communication terminal is assigned at least one favourability score based on the user's own preferences and optionally on the preferences of those users who are currently registered as being in communication with that wireless communication terminal. In one example a single favourability score can be assigned based on mutual interests (that is interests shared between or corresponding with interest data associated with other users).

Claims

Claims 1. A method of communicating between participants at a common event, the method comprising: prior to the event, receiving registration information associated with a first participant and storing the received information at a server; receiving a packet from each of a first plurality of wireless mobile devices over an IEEE8O2.11 receiving a message over the wireless LAN indicating that the first participant is in wireless communication range of the wireless LAN and, in response to receiving the message, sending an alert based on the stored registration information to other participants in the event over the wireless LAN.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the common location comprises a plurality of areas and the alert comprises location information indicating one of the areas.
3. The method of claim 1 or 2 wherein the alert comprises a picture of the first participant.
4. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein registration information comprises information in a number of different languages and the method comprises determining the common location and selecting a language for the alert based on the common location.
5. A method for identifying participants at a common event, the method in a first wireless mobile device coupled to a wireless local area network (LAN), the wireless mobile device storing a plurality of records each record associated with a respective participant in the event and comprising a picture of that participant and at least one identifier, the method comprising: selecting records associated with wireless mobile devices that are in wireless communication over the wireless LAN; and, receiving an input from a user to select an identifier and filtering the set of records based on the selected identifier to present a filtered list; and receiving a search string from said user, and displaying the records of the set which match the search string.
6. A location monitoring and reporting method for record keeping at an event, the method comprising providing a local server, and a wireless LAN, the wireless LAN comprising at least three wireless communication terminals and a plurality of wireless mobile devices, the local server operable to communicate with a remote server and storing a database of records, each record associated with a respective wireless mobile device; the method further comprising: deriving from a characteristic of the wireless LAN location information associated with at least one wireless mobile device of the plurality; storing the location information in the local server, the location information being associated with a record; and sending the recorded location information to the remote server to enable it to be retrieved by a remote device.
7. A method comprising receiving from a remote device over a first communication interface user data associated with a user of a first wireless mobile device; receiving a packet from each of a first plurality of other wireless mobile devices over a second communication interface; and, in response to determining that a packet has been received from the first wireless mobile device over the second communication interface, sending an alert to a second plurality of other wireless mobile devices over the second communication interface.
8. A method according to claim 7 wherein a packet comprises an identifier of the wireless mobile device from which it is sent.
9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising, for each wireless mobile device of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices, storing an association between each wireless mobile device and a respective a location indicator.
10. A method according to claim 9 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes a subset of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices wherein the subset is selected based on the location indicator associated with the first wireless mobile device.
11. A method according to claim 10 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes a subset of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices wherein the subset is selected based on a match between the location indicator associated with the first wireless mobile device and the location indicator associated with each wireless mobile device of the subset.
12. A method according to any of claims 6 to 11 wherein the alert includes user data associated with the user of the first wireless mobile device.
13. A method according to any of claims 6 to 12 in which the user data comprises a picture of the user.
14. A method according to any of claims 6 to 13 in which the user data includes availability information which indicates an availability of the user.
15. A method according to any of claims 6 to 14 in which the user data includes preference information.
16. A method according to claim 6, 7 or 8 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes all of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices.
17. A method according to claim 6, 7 or 8 in which the user data comprises at least one group identifier and the method further comprises storing a group identifier for each of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices.
18. A method according to claim 17 in which the second plurality of other wireless mobile devices is selected based on the group identifier.
19. A method according to any of claims 6 to 18 in which the second communication interface comprises a wireless local area network (LAN) and the wireless mobile devices comprise wi-fi enabled hand held devices.
20. A method according to any preceding claim in which the wireless mobile devices comprise wi-fi enabled mobile telecommunications devices.
21. A method according to any of claims 6 to 20 further comprising delaying the alert for a delay interval before it is sent.
22. A method according to claim 21 further comprising, in response to determining that a packet has been received from a second wireless mobile device over the second communication interface, modifying the alert.
23. A method according to claim 22 further comprising modifying the alert in response to packets received from further wireless mobile devices.
24. A method according to claim 22 or 23 wherein each packet comprises an identifier of the wireless mobile device from which it was sent, the method further comprising selecting the delay interval based on the number of mobile devices from which packets have been received.
25. A method according to claim 21 wherein the delay interval comprises an interval selected from the list comprising: thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes, and five minutes.
26. A method substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
27. A computer program product comprising instructions operable to program a processor of a wireless mobile device to perform a method according to claim 5 Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows.claims 1. A method of communicating between participants at a common event at a common location, the method comprising: prior to the event, receiving registration information associated with a first participant and storing the received information at a server; receiving a packet from each of a first plurality of wireless mobile devices over an IEEE8O2.11 receiving a message over the wireless LAN indicating that the first participant is in wireless communication range of the wireless LAN and, in response to receiving the message, sending an alert based on the stored registration information to other participants in the event over the wireless LAN.2. The method of clai.m 1 wherein the common location comprises a plurality of areas and the alert comprises location information indicating one of the areas.3. The method of claim 1 or2 wherein the alert comprises a picture of the first participant.4. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein registration information comprises information in a number of different languages and the method comprises determining the common location and selecting a language for the alert based on the common location.5. A method for identifying participants at a common event, the method in a first wireless mobile device coupled to a wireless local area network (LAN), the wireless mobile device storing a plurality of records each record associated with a respective participant in the event and comprising a picture of that participant and at least one identifier, the method comprising: selecting records associated with wireless mobile devices that are in wireless communication over the wireless LAN; and, receiving an input from a user to select an identifier and filtering the set of records based on the selected identifier to present a filtered list; and receiving a search string from said user, and displaying The records of the set which match the search string.6. A location monitoring and reporting method for record keeping at an event, the method comprising providing a local server, and a wireless LAN, the wireless LAN comprising at least three wireless communication terminals and a plurality of wireless mobile devices, the local server operable to communicate with a remote server and storing a database of records, each record associated with a respective wireless mobile device; the method further comprising: deriving from a characteristic of the wireless LAN location information associated with at least one wireless mobile device of the plurality; storing the location information in the local server, the location information being associated with a record; and sending the recorded location information to the remote server to enable it to be retrieved by a remote device.7. A method comprising receiving from a remote device over a first communication interface user data associated with a user of a first wireless mobile device; receiving a packet from each of a first plurality of other wireless mobile devices over a second communication interface; and, in response to determining that a packet has been received from the first wireless mobile device over the second communication interface, sending an alert to a second plurality of other wireless mobile devices over the second communication interface.8. A method according to claim 7 wherein a packet comprises an identifier of the wireless mobile device from which it is sent.9. A method according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising, for each wireless mobile device of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices, storing an association between each wireless mobile device and a respective a location indicator.10. A method according to claim 9 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes a subset of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices wherein the subset is selected based on the location indicator associated with the first wireless mobile device.11. A method according to claim 10 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes a subset of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices wherein the subset is selected based on a match between the location indicator associated with the first wireless mobile device and the location indicator associated with each wireless mobile device of the subset.12. A method according to any of claims 6 to 11 wherein the alert includes user data associated with the user of the first wireless mobile device.13. A method according to any of claims 6 to 12 in which the user data comprises a picture of the user.14. A method according to any of claims 6 to 13 in which the user data includes availability information which indicates an availability of the user.15. A method according to any of claims 6 to 14 in which the user data includes preference information.16. A method according to claim 6, 7 or 8 in which the second plurality of wireless mobile devices includes all of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices.17. A method according to claim 6, 7 or 8 in which the user data comprises at least one group identifier and the method further comprises storing a group identifier for each of the first plurality of wireless mobile devices.18. A method according to claim 17 in which the second plurality of other wireless mobile devices is selected based on the group identifier.19. A method according to any of claims 6 to 18 in which the second communication interface comprises a wireless local area network (LAN) and the wireless mobile devices comprise wi-fl enabled hand held devices.20. A method according to any preceding claim in which the wireless mobile devices comprise wi-fi enabled mobile telecommunications devices.21. A method according to any of claims 6 to 20 further comprising delaying the alert for a delay interval before it is sent.22. A method according to claim 21 further comprising, in response to determining that a packet has been received from a second wireless mobile device over the second communication interface, modifying the alert.23. A method according to claim 22 further comprising modifying the alert in response to packets received from further wireless mobile devices.24. A method according to claim 22 or 23 wherein each packet comprises an identifier of the wireless mobile device from which it was sent, the method further comprising selecting the delay interval based on the number of mobile devices from which packets have been received.25. A method according to claim 21 wherein the delay interval comprises an interval selected from the list comprising: thirty seconds, one minute, two minutes, and five minutes.26. A method substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.27. A computer program product comprising instructions operable to program a processor of a wireless mobile device to perform a method according to claim 5