System, Method and Computer Program Product for Collecting and Distributing Mobile Content

Abstract

A system, method and computer program product facilitating communications between a plurality of users using wireless mobile devices is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving, from each of a plurality of mobile devices, information of a location of the mobile device and information sufficient for identifying the user associated with the mobile device, receiving from a first mobile device information regarding a business located at a first location that is supplied by the first user, receiving location information of a second mobile device associated with a second user, determining that the second mobile device is within a distance of the first location, and in response, transmitting data related to the business, based at least in part on the information supplied by the first user, to the second mobile device for presentation to the second user.

1 . A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to implement a method for providing information to and from a plurality of mobile devices, said method comprising:
 receiving, from each of the plurality of mobile devices,
 information of a location of the mobile device, 
 information identifying the mobile device, and 
 rating data, supplied by a user of the mobile device, that relates to a 
 business at the location of the mobile device; 
   storing, in a memory, received rating data in association with the location of the mobile device;   computing a rating value for a plurality of businesses for which multiple rating data has been received;   storing the rating value in memory in association with the plurality of businesses;   a) receiving from a first mobile device, location information of the first mobile device and information identifying the first mobile device;   b) based on the received location information of the first mobile device, retrieving the rating value associated with one or more businesses within a distance of the location of the first mobile device;   c) transmitting the rating value of the one or more businesses locations within a distance of the location of the first mobile device to first the mobile device for presentation to the user of the first mobile device; and   performing a-c for a plurality of locations of the first mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises storing information identifying a business category associated with each location. 
     
     
         3 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the information of the location received from the plurality of mobile devices comprises names of businesses. 
     
     
         4 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , further comprising a non- transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to implement a method of operation of a mobile device, the method of operation comprising:
 performing the following processes without receiving a user input:   determining the information of the location of the mobile device;   transmitting the information of the location of the mobile device to a remote computer;   receiving the rating value of the one or more businesses; and   outputting for presentation to the user the rating value for at least some of the one or more businesses locations.   
     
     
         5 . The computer program product of  claim 4 , the method of operation comprising determining a name of a business at the location of the mobile device without receiving a user input. 
     
     
         6 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises storing user configuration information of the user of the first mobile device in memory; and
 wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting the rating value only for the one or more businesses that satisfy criteria of the user configuration information of the user of the first mobile device.   
     
     
         7 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises:
 receiving from a second mobile device,
 information of a location of the second mobile device, and 
 information identifying the second mobile device; 
   based on the information identifying the second mobile device, identifying a plurality of members of a network having a connection to a user of the second mobile device;   based on the location of the second mobile device, determining that a location of a third mobile device associated with a member of the network having a connection to the user of the second mobile device is within a distance of the location of the second mobile device;   transmitting a notification to the second mobile device that indicates that the member of the network having a connection to the user of the second mobile device is within a distance of the location of the second user; and   wherein the notification identifies the member of the network having the connection to the user of the second mobile device.   
     
     
         8 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 determining if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device; and   transmitting a notification to the first mobile device if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device.   
     
     
         9 . The computer program product of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving a search request that includes one or more keywords from a second mobile device;   searching a database for the one or more keywords to provide search results;   sorting the search results based, at least in part, on the rating value; and   transmitting at least a portion of the sorted search results to the second mobile device.   
     
     
         10 . A method for facilitating communications between a plurality of users, each user having a mobile device configured to communicate wirelessly, and wherein at least some of the users are a member of a social network, the method comprising:
 storing in a memory information identifying each of the plurality of users and an associated mobile device;   receiving, from each of a plurality of mobile devices, information of a location of the mobile device and information sufficient for identifying the user associated with the mobile device;   receiving from a first mobile device, location information of the first mobile device and information sufficient for identifying a first user associated with the first mobile device;   based, at least in part, on the information received from the first mobile device, determining that a location of a second mobile device associated with a member of the social network having a connection to the first user satisfies a similarity threshold to a location of the first mobile device;   transmitting a notification to the first mobile device that indicates that the member of the network having a connection to the first user is at a location that satisfies the similarity threshold to the location of the first user; and   wherein the notification identifies the member of the network having the connection to the first user.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein said receiving from each of the plurality of mobile devices further comprises receiving rating data supplied by the user of the mobile device, the method further comprising:
 storing, in a memory, received rating data in association with the location of the mobile device; and   computing an average rating for a plurality of locations for which multiple rating data is received.   
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 a) receiving from a third mobile device, location information of the third mobile device and information identifying the third mobile device;   b) based on the received location information of the third mobile device, retrieving the average rating associated with one or more locations within a distance of the location of the third mobile device;   c) transmitting the retrieved average rating of the one or more locations within a distance of the location of the third mobile device to the third mobile device for presentation to the user of the third mobile device; and   performing a-c for a plurality of locations of the third mobile device.   
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 11 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a search request that includes one or more keywords from a third mobile device;   searching a database for the one or more keywords to provide search results;   sorting the search results based, at least in part, on the average rating; and   transmitting at least a portion of the sorted search results to the third mobile device.   
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving from a third mobile device, associated with a third user, information regarding a first location supplied by the third user;   receiving location information of a fourth mobile device associated with a fourth user;   determining that the fourth mobile device is within a distance of the first location; and   in response to said determining the fourth mobile device is within a distance of the first location, transmitting data regarding the first location, based at least in part on the information supplied by the third user, to the fourth mobile device for presentation to the fourth user.   
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 10 , the method further comprising:
 determining if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device; and   transmitting a notification to the first mobile device if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device.   
     
     
         16 . A method for facilitating communications between a plurality of users having a mobile device configured to communicate wirelessly, the method comprising:
 storing in a memory information identifying each of a plurality of users and an associated mobile device;   receiving, from each of a plurality of mobile devices, information of a location of the mobile device and information sufficient for identifying the user associated with the mobile device;   receiving from a first mobile device information regarding a business located at a first location that is supplied by the first user;   receiving location information of a second mobile device associated with a second user;   determining that the second mobile device is within a distance of the first location; and   in response to said determining, transmitting data related to the business, based at least in part on the information supplied by the first user, to the second mobile device for presentation to the second user.   
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the information regarding the business that is supplied by the first user comprises a rating of the business. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the information regarding the business that is supplied by the first user comprises a textual review of the business. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein at least some of the users are a member of a network, the method further comprising:
 receiving from a third mobile device, location information of the third mobile device and information sufficient for identifying a third user associated with the third mobile device;   based at least in part on the information received from the third mobile device, determining that a location of a fourth mobile device associated with a member of the social network having a connection to the third user is within a distance of the location of the third mobile device;   transmitting a notification to the third mobile device that indicates that the member of the network having a connection to the third user is within a distance of the location of the third user; and   wherein the notification identifies the member of the network having the connection to the third user.   
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 16 , the method further comprising:
 determining if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device; and   transmitting a notification to the first mobile device if a coupon is available for a business within a distance of the location of the first mobile device.   
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 16 , wherein said receiving from a first mobile device information regarding a business located at a first location that is supplied by the first user comprises receiving rating data for the business, the method further comprising:
 storing received rating data in association with the business;   computing an average rating for a plurality of businesses for which multiple rating data is received;   a) receiving from a third mobile device, location information of the third mobile device and information identifying the third mobile device;   b) based on the received location information of the third mobile device, retrieving the average rating associated with one or more businesses within a distance of the location of the third mobile device;   c) transmitting the retrieved average rating of the one or more businesses within a distance of the location of the third mobile device to the third mobile device for presentation to the user of the third mobile device; and   performing a-c for a plurality of locations of the third mobile device.   
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 21 , the method further comprising:
 receiving a search request that includes one or more keywords from a fourth mobile device;   searching a database for the one or more keywords to provide search results;   sorting the search results based, at least in part, on the average rating; and   transmitting at least a portion of the sorted search results to the fourth mobile device.