Patent ID: 7376640

Claim:
A method for searching a database in an information retrieval system according to user-identified geographical location information using a mobile communications device operating on a wireless network, comprising: creating a database for storing at least geographical location information for each of a plurality of items of interest, wherein creating the database comprises: prompting a user of the mobile communications device to provide a location name for a desired geographical location remote from the present geographic location of the mobile communications device; receiving geographical location information corresponding to the present geographical location of a user's communications device; comparing the present location with the desired location; if the desired location is different from the present location, confirming the desired location with the user of the wireless communications device; and storing in a database the desired location and the provided location name, for subsequent access by the user; receiving a search request from the user; detecting whether the request is to search the database for items of interest located in a vicinity of the present geographical location of the user's communications device or of a different geographical location identified by the user and being a previous geographical location of the user's mobile communications device, wherein information regarding the previous geographical location is pre-configured by the user at a prior time; if the request is for items of interest located in the vicinity of present geographical location, generating a search query for items of interest only within a certain geographical proximity of the present location; and if the request is for items of interest in a vicinity of the previous geographical location, generating a search query for items of interest only within a certain geographical proximity of the previous geographical location identified by the user.