Patent ID: 7620404

Claim:
In a mobile communications network, said network including an information server and a mobile communications device coupled to said server via at least a wireless link, a method of operating comprising: transmitting a message including location information from said mobile communications device to said server via said at least wireless link; transmitting a list of contacts from said mobile communication device to said server via said at least wireless link; matching said contacts with said location information using data maintained for other communications devices to generate a list of proximate users, said act of matching comprising: determining at least one coordinate for each contact in said list of contacts, said at least one coordinate selected from the group consisting of: (i) longitude-latitude, (ii) GPS coordinates, and (iii) UTM coordinates; computing a distance from a current location for said mobile communications device derived from said location information to said at least one coordinate; and removing contacts having a distance that that does not meet one or more screening criteria; transmitting said list of proximate users to said mobile communications device; and displaying at least a portion of said list of proximate users on said mobile communications device.