| 摘要 |
This invention provides a context-aware search engine that communicates with users having a particular location at a particular time within a tessellated network of geographically spaced-apart communication nodes, typically wireless nodes/access points (APs). Based upon the user's location and time, the search engine delivers relevant site-specific information germane to that user's place and time. In an illustrative embodiment, the search engine correlates the address of the node within which the user is located when making a query to the engine via a wireless device such as a laptop computer, PDA or cellular telephone. The time of the query is also accounted for. The query causes the search engine to focus its database search (from a large array of information resources indexed by the search engine and accessible thereby) on those informational items/web sites that fit the appropriate place and time of the user. In particular wireless nodes are viewed as spatial aggregation units (such as polygons) of demarcation in an urban or other densely settled environment (e.g. a university campus, institution, etc.) to identify and characterize the physical environment of the information-seeker.
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