Abstract:
A communications device receives a broadcast wireless communication transmission from a sender to initiate communication with the device. The received transmission includes the sender&#39;s identification, location information and other information about the transmission. The device maps relative locations of the sender and the device on a display of the device. The device also looks up a profile about the sender at a remote resource and updates the information about the sender. The device responds to the received transmissions by a broadcasting wireless communication transmission under certain situations. The remote resource may inform the sender of the profile lookup by the sender and provides the sender with the device&#39;s identification and location information.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    None. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    This invention generally relates to communications devices and, particularly, to a short-range broadcasting communications device and methods used by such a communications device to communicate with other devices. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Nowadays, for users of the mobile communications devices, a pre-condition for them to communicate with each other is that the one who initiates the communication must know the other&#39;s phone number, email address, or some other kinds of communication identifiers (IDs) in order to establish such communications, either via telephonic calls, the Internet communications, or video calls. However, more often than not, people desire to meet strangers or those of interest to them in some public occasions, for instance, in a hotel lobby, a coffee shop, or even on the street, but if the one who would like to initiate the contact does not know the other&#39;s phone number or email address, the only way to approach the other one is to come up to start a direct talk. In some situations, a direct talk may seem intruding, or socially inappropriate. 
         [0006]    For business owners, specifically targeting potential customers within proximity of their business may generate immediate sales. More importantly, using a short-range broadcasting communication to advertise business can save cost otherwise needed in doing conventional advertisement, such as cost in paper printing, designing, etc., and provide an environment-friendly way for promoting their products. 
         [0007]    The invention presented in this disclosure is to provide an innovative approach in people-to-people communications within short distances by using their communications devices, to create a new type of communications system employing the devices. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In view of the foregoing and other issues, drawbacks, and disadvantages of the conventional methods and devices of communications, an exemplary feature of the present invention is to provide easy and convenient methods and devices for establishing contact among people who don&#39;t know each other, and are within short distances. The invention disclosed through exemplary embodiments here tries to provide an innovative solution for short-range communications among peoples, especially for those who don&#39;t know each other before the communications. The solution provides communication methods and devices employed the people. A device used by a person who initiates the communication sends out short-range broadcasting signals that includes a special sender identifier (sender ID) for the communication transmission, the location information of the person, contact information, and other information as desired; a device held by another person that receives the broadcast signals then retrieves the sender ID, the location information of the sender, i.e., the device that sent out the request, and the contact information and other information embedded within the transmission. The receiving device maps the location of the sending device based on the location information, and the location of the receiving device, and displaying the information regarding the transmission. The profile of the sending device, or the sender, may be looked up either locally within the receiving device, or remotely at a networked remote resource. The person using the receiving device can see the location of the sending device on the map, and the purpose of the transmission from the map, and when the person using the receiving device decides to respond to the transmission, he or she can use the contact information from the sender to contact the person using the sending device, either by sending a response via a short-range broadcasting signal to the sender, or via other communication means. 
         [0009]    Additionally, when the receiving device looks up the profile of the sender ID remotely with the remote resource, it may also provides its own location information and contact information. The remote resource may then contact the sending device to inform the lookup of the request by the receiving device and provide location information and other information of the receiving device. Invitation to register with remote resource may also be solicited. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         [0010]    The foregoing and other exemplary purposes, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be better understood in principle from the following detailed description of one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings, in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1 , a schematic view, illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a communications device displaying a map showing received communication transmissions, and a communication environment; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2 , a functional block diagram, illustrates components of the communications device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3 , a flowchart, illustrates a flow of processing of a communication transmission received by the communications device of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  further illustrates a detailed flow of an exemplary embodiment of profile lookup of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  further illustrates details of an exemplary embodiment of map-rendering of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  further illustrates details of an exemplary embodiment of responding to the communication request of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  further illustrates an exemplary embodiment of filtering the received communication transmission of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 8 , a schematic, block diagram, illustrates contents for a request or a response communication transmission; 
           [0019]      FIG. 9 , is a flowchart illustrating a remote resource communicating with a sender of the received communication transmission; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 10 , a schematic diagram, showing a communications system including the communications device, the sender and the remote resource, especially the way the remote resource communicating with the sender. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    The invention will now be described in detail through several embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
         [0022]    Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIGS. 1-2 , an exemplary embodiment of a communications device  100  is illustrated. The device  100  has several function units that include a transmitter  1015 , a receiver  1017 , a display  1019 , a storage unit  1021 , a network unit  1022 , an input unit  1023 , and an alerter  1024 . The communications device (“device”)  100  has at least one processor  1025 , which executes and controls various control modules that include a positioning module  1027 , a communications module  1029 , an interface (UI) module  1031 , an updating module  1033 , a filtering module  1035 , an alerting module  1037 , a data module  1039 , and a multimedia module  1041 . Each of the control modules can be implemented either as hardware with firmware embedded therein or as software module, as far as technologies and other considerations are concerned. 
         [0023]    The positioning module  1027  and the communications module  1029  control the transmitter  1015  and the receiver  1017  to communicate with other devices, such as mobile devices, fixed communications devices, positioning satellites, or indoor positioning systems. The receiver  1017  receives communication transmission (“transmission”) from a sender device (“sender”)  200 , being either a request to communicate (“request transmission”) with the user of the device  100 , or a response to a communication request (“response transmission”) from the device  100 . The transmitter  1015  sends transmission to other devices. Taking a transmission from the sender  200  (“received transmission”) as example, the communication signals carrying received transmission may be a short-range wireless communication signals, such as BLUETOOTH signals, WIFI signals, near field communication (NFC) signals, radio signals within FRS/GMRS or UHF ranges, or any other radio frequency signals suitable for short-range communications. The communication signals may be signals for connection inquiries, like in BLUETOOTH, in FRS/GMRS radio frequencies, or other pre-determined communication signals, and are broadcast blindly towards surrounding area where the device  100  is in. In one embodiment, the contents of the received transmission will be able to be processed by the device  100  without going though security routines, pairing/acceptance checks. Such a received transmission may have a structure like a transmission  600  shown in  FIG. 8  (Labels “700” series indicates an out-going transmission from the device  100 ). The received transmission  600  includes a sender ID segment  60001 , which can be pre-set by the sender  200 , or set by the user of the sender  200 ; a location information segment  60003 , which indicates the location of the sender of the received transmission  600 ; a contact information segment  60005  about the sender, which may include a phone number, a specific ID for an account with a specific networked resource, or any other recognizable contact information by the device  100 . The received transmission  600  may further includes a description segment  60007  for describing the purpose of the communication, e.g., what the purpose of the transmission is, or whether this transmission is a response transmission, etc. Alternatively, the format of the sender ID  60001  may be specific enough to indicate whether the transmission  600  is a request transmission or a response transmission, following a pre-determined syntax. For instance, the sender ID  60001  may be as simple as a single section ID “XXXXX” to represents the sender  200 , or a composite, multiple section ID as in syntax like “AAA-BBB-CCC-DDD,” where the “AAA” represents the sender, the “BBB” represents the type of the transmission, i.e., a request or a response, the “CCC” represents an ID of a previous communication the transmission is responding to, and the “DDD” may represents an alternative ID registered with a third party resource where more information about the sender is available. A payload segment  60009  may also be included in the received transmission  600  to include multimedia contents for the device  100  to process and execute. The format of the structure of the transmission  600 , including those of the segments can be pre-determined, following certain syntaxes, e.g., in name-value pairs, or in layered structures. 
         [0024]    The receiver  1017 , controlled by the positioning module  1027 , receives location information of the device  100 , such as positioning data from satellites, e.g., from the GPS system, or from an indoor positioning system (IPS). When both satellite signals and IPS signals are strong and equal to or above pre-defined threshold values, a priority may be given to one kind of signals over the other, e.g., using IPS data as location information, instead of, e.g., GPS data, or vise versa. On the other hand, when one kind of positioning data, e.g., GPS signals, is weak and lower then the pre-defined threshold values, the other kind of positioning data, e.g., IPS data, will be used as location information. If the device  100  is fixed in a location, then the location information may be entered via the input unit  1023  by the user of the device  100 , in such case, the positioning module will not use the positioning data received by the receiver  1017 , and the user input positioning data will be used as the location information. 
         [0025]    The communications module  1029  controls the receiver  1017  to receive transmissions from the sender  200 , which could be request transmissions or response transmissions. The transmissions may have the same or similar structures as the one shown in  FIG. 8 . After receiving the transmission  600 , the data module  1039  first recognizes the data structure of the received transmission  600  and then retrieves data form therefrom. The data module  1039  gets the sender ID  60001 , location information  60003  of the sender  200 , the contact information  60005 , description  60007  of the received transmission  600 , and the payload  60009  if there is one. 
         [0026]    After the data module  1039  has retrieved necessary data about the received transmission  600 , the filtering module  1035  starts filtering the received transmission  600 . The filtering module  1035  checks the retrieved data to determine whether the transmission  600  is a request transmission or a response transmission based on the retrieved data, and marks the received transmission  600  accordingly. The filtering module  1035  further determines whether the sender ID  60001  is in a blocking list  102101  maintained by the device  100  in its storage  1021 , or whether the type of the retrieved transmission  600  based on the retrieved description  60007 , a timestamp of receipt of the transmission  600 , or the distance of the sender based on the retrieved location information  60003  should also blocked by the criteria of the blocking list  102101 . When the filtering module  1035  determines that the received transmission  600  should be blocked according to the blocking list  102101 , the retrieved transmission  600  will not be processed further by the device  100 , except that the updating module  1033  will update a database (DB)  102103  maintained in the storage  1021  to log the transaction. 
         [0027]    When the received transmission  600  passes through the filtering process by the filtering module  1035 , several processes ensue. The alerting module  1037  may alter the user of the device  100  on the received transmission  600 , either by audio, visual or mechanical means via the alerter  1024 ; the interface (UI) module  1031  will render a visual layout of the communication situations on the display  1019  of the device  100 ; the data module  1039  may further look up the sender&#39;s profile either locally or remotely based on the sender ID  60001  and other information from the retrieved data. In connecting to a networked remote resource  300 , such as an online application, to do a profile lookup remotely, the communications module  1029  will control the network unit  1022  to establish network connections with the remote resource  300 . 
         [0028]    In rendering the visual layout of communication situations by the UI module  1031 , various formats of layout can be employed, such as using a simple listing style, or a more complex, picturesque layout. The rendering process is hereby called mapping, and the result would be a map  1004  of the communication situation. Referring to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary embodiment of mapping is shown, as rendered on the display  1019 . The UI module  1031  draws an symbol  1009  to indicate the location of the device  100  according to the location information provided by the positioning module  1027 , and a symbol  1001  to indicate the current position of the sender of the transmission  600  based on the retrieved location information  60003 . Other symbols to represent other locations of communication transmissions, such as the one  1007  from a business, are also be displayed. Symbols  1003  and  1007  can also be drawn to indicate the distances and relative directions between the senders of the transmissions and the symbol  1009  of the device  100 . For instance, symbol  1003 , an arrow line, is drawn to give a visual feeling of the distance between sender symbol  1001  and the symbol  1009  of the device  100 ; symbol  1005  displays relative directions of the business  1007  to the symbol  1009 , and the distance in feet. Message box  1012  may also be drawn by UI module  1031  to display more information based on retrieved contact information  60005  and description  60007 . Additionally, reference lines  1013  can be drawn in the background of the display  1019  to give the user of the device  100  a quick estimation of distances between senders of communication transmissions and the device  100 , concentric circles  1013  are used here as example on the display  1019 . 
         [0029]    In case the sender  200  is on the move while sequentially or intermittently sending multiple transmissions  600 , in other words, the transmissions  600  are received in time sequence, as long as the transmissions  600  received has the same sender ID or similar IDs  60001  which can be recognized as the same sender by the device  100 , specifically, for instance, by the data module  1039  or the communications module  1029 , multiple symbols  1001 ,  1002 , etc. may be drawn on the display  1019  to show the movement of the sender  200 . In one embodiment, symbol  1002  is drawn in dashed lines to indicate a previous location based on previous location information retrieved by the data module  1039  from a previously received transmission, and the symbol  1001 , in solid lines, is for the current location. 
         [0030]    The user of the device  100  then may select a sender displayed in the display  1019  and check out associated information such as those in the message box  1012 , and go deeper down for more information by selecting “more details” symbol  1014 . In case there is a multimedia payload  60009 , such as text, visual or audio contents, the user may select to check out the payload  60009 , and the multimedia module  1041  will execute the payload  60009 . The user can also check if the received transmission  600  is a response transmission responding to an out-gone request transmission from the device  100 , as such a response is marked differently by the data module  1039 , and displayed accordingly, either on the symbol  1001 , or in the associated message box  1014 . 
         [0031]    If a profile associated with the sender ID  60001  can be found by the data module  1039 , either locally or remotely, the updating module  1033  may update the map  1004 , based on the profile found. For instance, the message box  1014  for the sender  200  can be updated by adding more information about the sender, including personal profile, additional contact information via other means, such as a user identifier registered with the remote resource  300 , etc. 
         [0032]    If the user of the device  100  decides to respond to the received transmission  600  from the sender  200  which interests him or her, the user can then use the retrieved contact information  69995  of the sender  200 , as updated, if any, to contact the sender by letting the data module  1039  to prepare contents for an out-going transmission  700  as depicted by  FIG. 8 , in which the location information  70003  will be gathered by the positioning module  1027  via the receiver  1017 , and the out-going transmission  700  will be marked as a response transmission by the data module  1039  either in the description segment  70007  or by the sender ID  70001  as agreed upon by the pre-determined syntaxes between the sender  200  and the device  100 . In one embodiment, the contents of response can be set in the description segment  70007  as, for instance, textual message, and any multimedia contents can be set in the payload segment  70009 , therefore, the response will not be a real-time, instant communication as a telephone call. The prepared out-going transmission  700  will be transmitted as broadcasting signals by communications module  1029  via the transmitter  1015  to the sender  200 . Alternatively, the device  100  may first get paired with the sender  200  if sufficient information for paring was got from the received transmission  600 , like pairing in BLUETOOTH communications, and then send the out-going transmission  700  via the transmitter  1015  specifically targeting the sender  200  without broadcasting the response. After responding, the symbol  1001  may be changed, for instance, in color, or shape, etc., indicated as an already responded sender. The updating module  1033  may update the message box  1014  associated with the symbol  1001  to reflect the contents in the response. 
         [0033]    If the retrieved contract information  60005  from the received transmission  600  contains a telephone number, the user of the device  100  may directly phone the text the sender via the phone number. If other communication means are provided either in the retrieved contact information  60005 , or from the profile found, for instance, a user ID with the remote resource  300 , the user of the device  100  may contact the sender via the remote resource  300 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary flowchart for a method of processing the transmission  600  received by the device  100 . The figure shows only exemplary steps in an embodiment to describe the principles of the method, and the order of the steps is not necessarily fixed as shown, might be altered, and certain steps might be omitted without departing from the principles of the invention. 
         [0035]    In step S 400 , the receiver  1017  receives the transmission  600  broadcast from the sender  200 . In step S 402 , the contents of the transmission are processed by the data module  1039 , and the sender ID  60001 , the location information  60003 , the contact information  60005 , and other segments as depicted in  FIG. 8  are respectively retrieved. 
         [0036]    After the data retrieval, the received transmission  600  will be filtered by the filtering module  1035  in step S 410 . If the filtering module determines that the transmission  600  should not be clocked based on the blocking list  102101 , then the process goes on, either synchronously or asynchronously, to steps S 404 , S 406  and S 412 . In step S 404 , the alerting module  1037  will control the alerter  1024  to alert the user of the device  100  of the received transmission  600 . In step S 412 , the UI module  1032  will render the map  1004  on the display  1019 . And in step S 406 , the data module  1039  will look up the sender ID  60001  either locally through the DB 102103  or remotely through the remote resource  300 . Alternatively, if the received transmission  600  meets certain criteria set by the blocking list  102101 , the filtering module  1035  may respond to the transmission  600  by using a pre-set response. For instance, if the retrieved sender ID is a pre-determined one, or if the retrieved description  60007  contains certain keywords, or contents, the filtering module  1035  will ask the data module  1039  to load the pre-determined response, and the communications module  1029  will control the transmitter  1015  to send a response transmission  700  as depicted in  FIG. 8  to the sender  200 . 
         [0037]    After the lookup, if a profile associated with the sender ID  60001  is found, the updating module  1033  will update the map  1004  in step S 412  with the profile, and meanwhile, update the DB  102103  with the profile either through updating profile data in the DB  102103  with the received transmission  600 , or creating a new profile of the sender ID  6001  with the received transmission if no profile matching the sender ID  60001  already exists in the DB  102103 . 
         [0038]    After the map  1004  has been rendered in step S 412 , or after the map  1004  has been updated by the updating module  1033  with the found profile, the user of the device  100 , after viewing the information displayed on the map  1004 , may, in step S 416 , decide to respond to the received transmission  600 . In doing so, the data module  1039  will prepare a response transmission  700  and the communications module  1029  will control the transmitter  1015  to either send the response transmission  700  to the sender  200 , or to use the retrieved contact information  60005  from the sender  200  to contact the sender  200 , or the sender via other means. If the received transmission  600  contains a payload  60009  of multimedia contents, the device  100  may choose to playback the multimedia contents either automatically by pre-set rule or by the user of the device  100 . 
         [0039]    Various steps in  FIG. 3  can have further detailed implementations.  FIGS. 4-7  show flowcharts illustrating exemplary embodiments of some steps in the method of  FIG. 3 . Again, each of those figures shows only exemplary steps in an embodiment to describe the principles of the method, and the order of the steps is not necessarily fixed as shown, might be altered, and certain steps might be omitted without departing from the principles of the invention. 
         [0040]      FIG. 7  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of step S 410  of filtering the received transmission  600  in  FIG. 3 . In step S 41000 , the filtering module  1035  detects whether the received transmission  600  is a request transmission or a response transmission, by either examining the retrieved description segment  60007 , or alternatively by directly examining the sender ID which might includes specific indicator. If the received transmission  600  is a response transmission to an out-gone transmission  700  from the device  100 , the received transmission  600  will be marked specially as a response transmission. The filtering module  1035  will continue to check whether the retrieved sender ID  60001  is in the blocking list  102101  or not, if a match is found, then in step S 41003 , the receiver transmission  600  will be blocked; otherwise, the process will proceed to the steps S 412 , S 404  and S 406 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0041]    An embodiment of profile lookup in step S 406  is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . In step S 40600 , the data module  1039  will first query the DB  102103  to try to retrieve a profile associated with the retrieved sender ID  60001 , if such a profile exists in step S 40602 , the DB  102103  will return the profile in step S 40608  and the updating module  1033  will use the profile to update the map  1004  in step S 412 , and may also update the profile in the DB  102103  about the received transmission  600 . If the sender ID  60001  or the retrieved contact information  60005  includes a user identifier with the remote resource  300 , the data module  1039  may, in step S 40610 , inform the remote resource  300  of the lookup by the device  100  by providing the retrieved contents of the received transmission  600  and the device  100 &#39;s ID and location formation, etc. Even if the retrieved contact information does not include a user identifier with the remote resource  300 , the data module  1039  can still inform the remote resource  300  of the lookup with the same information. 
         [0042]    If a profile associated with the retrieved sender ID  60001  does not exists in the DB  102103 , in step S 40604 , the data module will connect to the remote resource  300  and query about the sender ID  60001 , or any user identifier from the retrieved contact information  60005 , if a profile associated with the sender ID  60001  or the user identifier is found in step S 40606 , the profile will be returned in step S 40612 , and the updating module  1039  will do the same as described in the preceding paragraph in updating the remote resource  300 , and updating the map  1004  in step S 412 . Additionally, the updating module  1033  will create a profile for the retrieved sender ID  60001  in the DB  102103  on the received transmission  600  in step S 408 . In another embodiment, even if a local profile associated with the sender ID is found, the data module  1039  can still further look up for a profile at the remote resource  300  to get updated information about the sender  200 . 
         [0043]    Exemplary steps of mapping are illustrated in  FIG. 5 , for implementing S 412  of  FIG. 3  in step S 41200 , the UI module  1031  renders background of the map  1004  on the display  1019 , including drawing the reference lines  1013 , and any other symbols as pre-defined by the user of the device  100 . In step S 41202 , the UI module  1031  draws a symbol or symbols  1002  for the previous locations of the sender  200  according to the previously retrieved location information of the sender  200  of previously received transmissions, if such transmissions existed and the location information has been retained by the device  100 . In step S 41204 , the UI module draws the symbol  1001  for the sender&#39;s location on the display  1019  according to the retrieved location information  60003  currently being received. In step S 41206 , if the received transmission  600  has been marked by the data module  1039  as a response transmission, the symbol  1001  will be drawn differently from the one for a request transmission, in order to differentiate the response transmission from the request transmission, by, for instance, colors, shapes, etc. In step S 41208 , the location of the device  100  will be drawn based on the device  100 &#39;s location information from the positioning module  1027 . In addition, symbols such as an arrow line  1003 , and a message box  1007 , can also be drawn to indicate the relative positions of the sender  200  and the device  100 , and related information. 
         [0044]    In step S 41210 , the UI module  1039  renders some sender-related information on the map  1004 , such as the message box  1014 , showing the retrieved contact information  60005 , and the retrieved description  60007 . After the lookup for the sender ID  60001  in Step S 406 , the map  1004  can be updated, in step  41212 , based on the found profile associated with the sender ID  60001 . 
         [0045]      FIG. 6  shows a flowchart of exemplary steps for the device  100  to respond to the received transmission  600  in step S 416 . In step S 41600 , the user of device  100  reviews the displayed information regarding the received transmission  600  on the display  1019 . If there is a multimedia content in the payload  60009 , the device  100  can playback the multimedia content in step S 41601 . In case the sender  200  is of interest to the user of the device  100 , the user may choose to respond to the received transmission  600 , and select a type of response in step S 41612 . In step S 41612 , the user can select to respond via voice/video calls, or text message using the retrieved contact information  6005 , or via the remote resource  300  if a user identifier with the remote resource  300  is provided by the contact information  60005 . Thirdly, the user may select to respond via the same communications means as the received transmission  600 . 
         [0046]    If the user selects to respond via voice/video calls or text message, in steps S 41602  and S 41203 , the device  100  gets the retrieved contact information  60005  and makes the calls or sends text messages. And if the user of the device  100  decides to contact the sender via the remote resource  300 , in step S 41610 , the data module  1039  will get the sender ID  60001  or the user identifier from the retrieved contact information  60005  and connects to the remote resource to respond to the sender  200 . 
         [0047]    If, however, the user of the device  100  decides to respond via the same communications way as the received transmission  600 , the process goes to step S 41612  to get the device  100 &#39;s ID (or the user of the device  100 &#39;s ID) to set as the sender ID  70001  of an out-going response transmission  700 . In step S 41606 , the data module  1039  will prepare the response transmission  700  in a format depicted in  FIG. 8 , setting various segments  70001 - 70009 , especially the description  70007  to indicate that this is a response to the received transmission  600  associated with retrieved sender ID  60001 , or includes special indicator as pre-agreed upon in the sender ID  70001  (the user/device  100 &#39;s ID) to indicate the same. In step S 41604 , the communications module  1029  will control the transmitter  1015  to send to out-going response transmission  700  as wireless communications signals broadcast to surrounding environment including the sender  200 , or after first pairing with the sender  200 , then send out the response transmission specifically targeting the sender  200 . 
         [0048]    At the end of process of  FIG. 6 , e.g., after the step S 41604 , the process may invoke step S 408  to update the local profile associated with the retrieved sender ID  60001  with the response transmission  700 . 
         [0049]      FIG. 9  illustrates possible steps at the remote resource  300  during step S 406  of lookup in  FIG. 3 , in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. In step S 501 , the remote resource  300  received the request for a profile lookup from the device  100 . Next, the remote resource  300  will retrieve lookup requester&#39;s ID (the device  100 &#39;s ID), the requester&#39;s location information, and contact information from the lookup request. In step S 505 , the remote resource will further retrieve the profile ID to look up for, which could be the retrieved sender ID  60001  or a user identifier registered with the remote resource  300  and contained in the retrieved contact information  60005 . The sender&#39;s location information and contact information can also be retrieved in the same step. In step S 507 , the remote resource searches for a profile associated with the profile ID, and the search result is then returned to the lookup requestor, i.e., the device  100  in this case, in step S 509 , whether or not a profile is found or not. From there, the remote resource  300  may take further steps to contact the sender  200 . 
         [0050]    If the remote resource does not find a profile matching the profile ID as requested, in step  515 , it may use the contact information retrieved from the lookup request to contact and sender  200 , and ask the sender  200  to register with the remote resource  300  in step S 517 . And whether a profile about the profile ID is found or not, the remote resource can contact the sender  200  and inform it of the lookup request by the requestor, i.e., the device  100 , in step S 513 , by providing the device  100 &#39;s location information, and contact information for the device  100 . 
         [0051]      FIG. 10  illustrates a communications system  800  and networked relations among the device  100 , the sender  200  and the remote resource  300 . A network  900 , for instance, the Internet, connects the device  100  and the remote resource  300  such that they can communicate with each other for lookup in step S 406  in  FIG. 3 . In case the remote resource  300  decides to communicate with the sender  200 , as in steps S 515 , S 517  and S 513  of  FIG. 9 , it can use the retrieved contact information to contact the sender either via the network  900 , or other communications means, be it messaging, email, or specially-tailored format of communications, as the contact information permits. In one embodiment, the remote resource may use the sender  200 &#39;s location as acquired in step S 505  to find a nearby communications node  920  in the network  900 , which could be a pre-installed hot spot, and is within the reach of short-range wireless communication signals, and the communications node  920  will generate wireless communications signals either broadcast to or specifically targeting the sender  200  to inform the sender  200  of the lookup request by the device  100 , and optionally, also providing device  100 &#39;s location and the contact information to the sender  200 . Therefore, the sender  200  will be aware of the fact that someone is interested in its (his/her) profile via a third party, i.e., the remote resource  300 . The communication signals can be the same type as communications signals  910  the sender sent to the device  200  to carry the transmission  600 . The communication contents in step S 517  can also conveyed to the sender  200  in the same way if the sender is not already a registered with the remote resource  300 . 
         [0052]    While the invention has been described in terms of several exemplary embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. In addition, it is noted that, the Applicant&#39;s intent is to encompass equivalents of all claim elements, even if amended later during prosecution.