Patent ID: 8655960
Filing Date: 2014-02-18
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more servers, a request from a requestor mobile device to locate each instant messaging (IM) friend device from an IM friends list associated with the requestor mobile device; authenticating, by the one or more servers, the request for use of location-based services; receiving, by the one or more servers, geographic location coordinates from the requestor mobile device; adding, by the one or more servers, random error coordinate information to the geographic location coordinates, sending, by the one or more servers, the request to locate each IM friend device and the geographic location coordinates with the random error coordinate information; determining, by the one or more servers, the geographic location point of each IM friend device by adding other random error coordinate information to geographic location coordinates of each IM friend device, generating, by the one or more servers and based on the location of the requestor mobile device and the geographic location point of each IM friend device, a list of IM friend devices associated with the requestor mobile device, at the time of the request from the requestor mobile device, within a particular region; and sending, by the one or more servers and to the requestor mobile device, the list of IM friend devices within the particular region near the geographic location coordinates with the random error coordinate information.