PROXIMITY AND TAP DETECTION USING A WIRELESS SYSTEM

摘要

A method for detecting the proximity of a signal source using wireless systems is contemplated in which a wireless mobile device wirelessly receives packets from a signal source and determines a received signal strength for each packet. The wireless mobile device may store information based upon the received signal strength for each packet, and calculate from the information stored for all the packets, a current path loss value corresponding to a current distance from the wireless mobile device to the signal source. The wireless mobile device may then determine whether the current distance is sufficient to be an enabling condition such as tap, for example, for a data transfer or a transaction between the wireless mobile device and the signal source.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
wirelessly receiving, by a wireless mobile device, packets from a signal source and determining a received signal strength corresponding to the received packets; calculating, based at least in part on information corresponding to the determined received signal strength, a current path loss value corresponding to a current distance from the wireless mobile device to the signal source; and determining, by the wireless mobile device, whether the current distance is within a threshold distance for a tap event initiating an exchange of data between the wireless mobile device and the signal source, wherein the tap event comprises physically tapping the wireless mobile device into a field of the signal source.