Automating actions within a phone network based upon scanned wireless signals

Abstract

A method for automating actions within a network includes receiving at least one wireless signal from at least one wireless network device; determining identifying information associated with the at least one wireless signal; determining a scanned wireless fingerprint associated based upon the identifying information; matching the scanned wireless fingerprint to a stored wireless fingerprint; and initiating an action in response to matching of the scanned wireless fingerprint to the stored wireless fingerprint.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing control in an environment about a given mobile unit, comprising the steps of:
 receiving proximity information from at least one external source, which proximity information represents attributes of the at least one external source relative to the proximity (physical) of the given mobile unit;   comparing the received proximity information with stored proximity information representing a compendium of previously received proximity information received from external sources external to the given mobile unit or other mobile units and received thereby;   determining if the attributes received by the given mobile unit match any of the stored proximity information;   providing a stored set of predetermined actions related to one or more of the previously stored proximity information;   selecting a related action from one or more of the stored actions in response to the step of determining a match to the received proximity information; and   executing the selected action.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of receiving proximity information from at least one external source comprises receiving broadcast information from at least one external source over a wireless communications channel. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein there are multiple external sources and the step of receiving is able to receive information from two or all of the multiple external sources which, when aggregated, comprises the proximity information. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the attributes of all of the received information and the associated attributes that form the received proximity information provide a fingerprint of the multiple external sources that form the aggregated information. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the fingerprint varies as a function of the physical proximity of the mobile unit to the two or all of the multiple external sources that provide the aggregated information, and wherein each of the two or all of the multiple external sources have attributes that differ as a function of physical proximity to the mobile unit. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of determining requires that the match operation only substantially match stored proximity information with received proximity information within a predetermined range. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the step of determining utilizes a predetermined matching algorithm to determine if a match occurred. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of executing the action comprises modifying the operation of the mobile unit. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of executing the action comprises modifying some aspect of the environment surrounding the mobile unit. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein modifying some aspect of the environment surrounding the mobile unit is controlled by a server and not by the mobile unit.