Patent ID: 8527340

Claim:
A computer implemented method of determining the shifting level of interest in an object at an event or location, which comprises: identifying in a computer system, a particular object of interest at an event or location; receiving a real time stream of data at the computer system relating to the object of interest, which data are transmitted from one or more electronic devices present at the particular event, wherein the electronic devices are remote from the computer system; storing the data values comprising the data stream from each of the electronic devices on the computer system, wherein the data values comprise at least the GPS coordinates and the compass heading of the transmitting electronic device; determining a line of sight from each of the electronic devices based upon the GPS position and compass heading; determining the distance and direction between a pair of electronic devices; calculating the point of intersection of the lines of sight for the pair of electronic devices through triangulation; repeating the determination of the distance and direction for each possible pair of electronic devices at the event and the calculations of the points of intersection for the lines of sight of each possible pair of electronic devices through triangulation to create a set of such points; analyzing the distance between the points of intersection of the set to determine where a subset of the points forms one or more intersection cluster(s), wherein the intersection cluster is a subset of points located within a predetermined distance from all the other points, and each intersection cluster is associated with a particular object of interest; tracking the change in the points of intersection over time to determine changes in the position and size of the intersection cluster(s), wherein changes in the number of points forming the intersection cluster identifies shifting levels of interest between particular objects of interest; and transmitting the location of a cluster to a third-party for monitoring of the formation of such clusters at the event.