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Apple Files for Patent on 'iGroups' Proximity-Based Social Networking

Instead of an app, it should be some sort of API or something. Something that developers could use within their apps to add a social networking element. They could call it CoreConnection or something. That way, they could find themselves competing against Facebook and Twitter without having to do much. Making it simply an app isn't all that great, but its not out yet, so what do I know.

:apple:
 
Always nice to see what HTC will be up to in a couple of years' time. :)
 
If the iPhone is still on AT&T if/when Apple decides to use this it will be useless. Every single football game, concert, or other event with lots of people in one area I've been to AT&T service was down or just so poor it wasn't usable.
 
thetexan said:
If the iPhone is still on AT&T if/when Apple decides to use this it will be useless. Every single football game, concert, or other event with lots of people in one area I've been to AT&T service was down or just so poor it wasn't usable.
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That's the point, I think it'll use any networks as well, including WiFI. Imagine creating an internal wifi network of just your friends.
 
thetexan said:
If the iPhone is still on AT&T if/when Apple decides to use this it will be useless. Every single football game, concert, or other event with lots of people in one area I've been to AT&T service was down or just so poor it wasn't usable.
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That isn't fair. When I was with AT&T I got good reception in over 60% of my house. I ditched AT&T a few years back and will not go back to them anytime soon, regardless of the iPhone. The poor coverage indoors and while in graduate school, getting minimal reception inside the classrooms. I switched to VZW and immediately was able to get the calls I needed -even indoors and throughout my entire house. In poor coverage areas, this would be hard to make work well.
 
Huh????

I think using a rock concert as an example makes no sense.:confused:

I am there to enjoy the music not "communicate" with other people and fumble around small devices. Geez, that would REALLY subtract from the concert.

Should have picked a different example......
 
i wonder, what are buttons/switches 482 and 484? current iPhone doesn't have anything on that side...
 
cvaldes said:
There is no other consumer products company that is so closely identified with a single letter of the alphabet. That's very, very powerful in terms of consumer mindshare from a marketing standpoint.
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When I'm thinking of my next electronics purchase I'll be sure to think about letters of the alphabet to help me decide which product or brand I should choose.
 
Baumi said:
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I remember a time when people attended a rock concert to actually watch and listen to the band playing instead of fiddling around with their phones...
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QFT

That was the time, when it was actually DARK inside a concert hall. Nowadays you are so annoyed, as every person around you uses his mobile or a digicam to record crappy videos they can put on YouTube.

Meeeeeeeeeeh for that patent. It's quite ridiculous.
 
DigMe said:
Note that in the patent application if you look at the bottom figure on the left there is a circle labeled as "480". The patent application indicates that this is a camera lens on the front.
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Not looked yet, but I don't see how this can be true and everyone in the thread is still talking about iGroups and volume rockers.
 
From the patent Application:

"[0026]A key feature of the "rock concert" example described above is that a trusted service can infer the members of a group by collecting tokens from a few devices at the concert. For example, the musician's devices can exchange tokens with devices operated by users in the front row of the stadium. The front row devices can then exchange tokens with devices behind the front row, etc. Thus, token exchanges can occur in a "daisy chain" manner starting from one or more initiating devices. In this example, the musician's devices would be the group "anchor" that defines the "group." The "anchor" devices can be strategically placed around the stadium and used to triangulate the location of the users in the stadium based on their respective distances from the "anchor" devices. Since there is often enough physical separation between concertgoer devices and devices outside the stadium that the trusted service 104 can determine which devices are contained in the stadium using short-range communication technology (e.g., Bluetooth technology, Wi-Fi). In some implementations, the "anchor devices" can be access devices 114, 118. "

Real Life Example:
James hetfield pulls out his iPhone and says "Hey, suckers, now I'm gonna send you the title of the next song to your phones" :confused::confused:
 
This sounds like an interesting idea, though I agree that the rock concert example wasn't a very good one. Anyone who would spend their time at a concert playing with their phones is an idiot.
 
iPhoney:) said:
The i moniker before everything is getting so incredibly old, it just makes Apple look like they;re to lazy to come up with original names for their products, it should have stopped with iPhone!
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Definitely. Apple is better than this. It should have stopped before iPhone. I think iPhone is the weakest product name Apple has ever used (particularly since the phone part is such a minor component of the device). And I can't believe Microsoft followed suit by going with Windows Phone 7 Series. Just lame.

And revealing the name "iPad," after so much hype and speculation, was like a punch to the gut of creativity.

iTire.
 
Some other numbers on the illustration that people might be wondering about:

486 and 488 appear to be internal wifi and Bluetooth antennas.
468 = Proximity sensor
472 represents the accelerometer
470 is an ambient light sensor to auto-adjust screen brightness
466 is the headphone jack
480 = camera lens and sensor

Those may all be obvious to some and not-so-obvious to others.
 
Peter Harrison said:
Not looked yet, but I don't see how this can be true and everyone in the thread is still talking about iGroups and volume rockers.
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You know what - I didn't read the whole section. My bad..

[0060]The mobile device 400 can also include a camera lens and sensor 480. In some implementations, the camera lens and sensor 480 can be located on the back surface of the mobile device 400. The camera can capture still images and/or video.
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Sorry..

It doesn't say that it WILL be on the back but that it CAN be on the back. We'll see I guess.
 
Apple are in a great position to be a "hub" for social networks. They've started doing it a little with address book syncing to other online address books. Now they need to extend that functionality to other social networks. So, we can keep and manage all our data in one place and avoid duplicates. I hope they go the whole hog for 10.7!
 
swagi said:
From the patent Application:
Real Life Example:
James hetfield pulls out his iPhone and says "Hey, suckers, now I'm gonna send you the title of the next song to your phones" :confused::confused:
Click to expand...

Or: You could listen to the concert via your iPhone and get sound directly from the source. Everyone could share photos of the stage. Download the album for a special price. Lots of options.

Apple didn't invent this, though, but I guess the patent office don't care.
 
SeattleMoose said:
I think using a rock concert as an example makes no sense.:confused:

I am there to enjoy the music not "communicate" with other people and fumble around small devices. Geez, that would REALLY subtract from the concert.

Should have picked a different example......
Click to expand...

i think they are picking misleading examples intentionally. they don't want to "sell" ideas before it's time to make a splash with an announcement of a feature.
 
sashakla said:
i think they are picking misleading examples intentionally. they don't want to "sell" ideas before it's time to make a splash with an announcement of a feature.
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Or maybe its because its been a while since any of the bands they like (eg. Beatles) did a concert, so they don't get out much and see what it's really like.
 
WestonHarvey1 said:
Don't enough similar technologies already exist to constitute prior art? LoKast in particular already exists and is pretty similar to this.
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+1

MikhailT said:
Not exactly in the way the Apple talks about, there can be many similar technologies, you just can't use their implementation of the technology. Just like there are many other multi-touch devices out there but they aren't using the same implementation that Apple has patented. Plus Lokast was released in 09 where this patent was submitted back in Sept 08.

This is something I don't think has ever been done with mobile devices.

It's basically a secure channel to communicate data between people in a group using any type of communication method. Can be very useful for geocaching groups, study groups, researchers, party groups and so many things.
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Facebook.
 
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