Authorising the execution of a command from a wireless terminal based on the presence or absence of nearby terminals

摘要

Methods are disclosed for enabling the response to a command from a wireless terminal to be based at least partially on the presence or absence of other users nearby (i.e. in the same perimeter as the terminal), and possibly the identity of those users. In the illustrated embodiment, a server maintains an updated list of the locations of fixed and wireless terminals within an area (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 wireless access point's area of coverage, a CDMA base station's cell, etc.). When a user issues a command to his or her wireless terminal, the command is transmitted to the server. The server determines whether there are any other nearby wireless terminals (and inferentially, the users associated with these terminals), and then determines whether the command is authorized in that environment. Different versions of content requested to the server will be derived according to the presence or absence of certain nearby users (e.g. supervisors or suspicious individuals). The content delivered will be encoded in a particular way according to information on the terminal location, description of a perimeter surrounding the terminal, etc.