| 主权项 |
1. A method for causing a transfer of an article between a first and second custodians of said article, comprising:
coupling a transaction server, over at least one wireless communication path, using respective authenticated communication links, so as to establish respective authenticated communication links with each of a first mobile communication device co-located with the first custodian, and a second mobile communication device co-located with the second custodian; providing from said transaction server to the first and second mobile communication devices respective digital messages comprising transaction identifier data and other data regarding said transferring of the article from one of the first custodian and the second custodian to the other; determining, at said transaction server, respective physical locations of said first and second mobile communication devices with respect to one another based at least partly on respective first and second location data generated respectively by first and second geographic location circuits disposed in each of the corresponding first and second mobile communication devices; when said first and second mobile communication devices are within a pre-determined geographic proximity of one another, the transaction server instructing the first mobile communication device to broadcast over the air a short-range wireless radio frequency signal including at least said transaction identifier data using a first short-range wireless radio frequency communication transmitter therein; at the second mobile communication device, using a second short-range wireless radio frequency communication receiver to receive said short-range wireless radio frequency signal from the first mobile communication device, confirming the presence of said transaction identifier data in the short-range wireless radio frequency signal, and using the short-range wireless radio frequency signal to determine when said first and second mobile communication devices are within a pre-determined short range communication proximity of one another; when the second mobile communication device has confirmed the presence of said transaction identifier data and determined that said first and second mobile communication devices are within said pre-determined short-range communication proximity of one another, the second mobile communication device sending a proximity confirmation signal to the transaction server indicating that the first and second mobile communication devices are within said pre-determined short-range communication signal proximity of one another; after receiving said proximity confirmation signal from the second mobile communication device, the transaction server and the first mobile communication device exchanging a verification token with one another; the transaction server causing said first mobile communication device to wirelessly broadcast over the air using said short-range wireless radio frequency a composite signal comprising both the transaction identification data as well as the verification token; at the second mobile communication device, using a respective second short-range wireless radio frequency receiver to receive the composite signal including the verification token from the first mobile communication device and sending the received verification token from the second mobile communication device to the transaction server; at the transaction server, confirming that the verification token received from the second mobile communication device corresponds to the verification token exchanged with the first mobile communication device; and upon successfully confirming said verification tokens, the transaction server sending article transfer confirmation signals to each of the first and second mobile communication devices so as to affect a transfer of said article from the custodian having custody of the article to the other custodian. |
