Abstract: Methods and Systems are provided for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user's mobile device over a wireless communication network to a second user's mobile device, via a central server.

Abstract: Methods and Systems are provided for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user's mobile device over a wireless communication network to a second user's mobile device, via a central server.

Abstract: There are provided methods and systems for providing viewers of a digital image with information about identifiable and scenes within the image. In an embodiment, digital images, uploaded to a host website, are customized through the incorporation of some number of selectable informational links and other text based information to provide viewers of the image real-time access to social and advertising related information regarding certain identifiable objects and scenes in the image. The selectable information links are incorporated within and around the digital image in a process referred to herein as image tagging.

Abstract: There are provided methods and systems for providing viewers of a digital image with information about identifiable and scenes within the image. In an embodiment, digital images, uploaded to a host website, are customized through the incorporation of some number of selectable informational links and other text based information to provide viewers of the image real-time access to social and advertising related information regarding certain identifiable objects and scenes in the image. The selectable information links are incorporated within and around the digital image in a process referred to herein as image tagging.

Abstract: There are provided methods and systems for linking data related to a set of similar images in a manner that both facilitates collaborative data sharing and commenting to generate a more robust set of information about the collective set of images while concurrently allowing users to maintain control over their particular images. A useful and collaborative development of content is achieved between many users interacting with similar versions of the same image. The interacting users may, for example, be friends who may have shared the image through other means, perhaps many years before, or may otherwise be unknown to one another.

Abstract: Methods and Systems are provided for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user's mobile device over a wireless communication network to a second user's mobile device, via a central server.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for distributing messages from registered users in a private network for public distribution over a general broadcast network to other registered users in the private network. Users can distribute messages that are made part of a public network. The messages are made available for delivery to people within a registered network of users. The types of messages received by users will be dictated by their preferences, and what a managing entity knows about those users. In one embodiment, the users sending messages can categorize the messages they send as belonging to a certain message category so as to increase the helpfulness and relevance to message recipients. In another embodiment, the users can search public domain messages for outstanding messages that are relevant to them and “pull” those messages down from the central server.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for facilitating a social networking service via proximity based messaging. Users fill out a profile with a service or opt into a mobile dating service in partnership with an existing dating site. Messages are delivered to users based on a compatibility score and the users geographic proximity to another user. In one embodiment, users are pre-analyzed and given a score. The scores are saved on the users mobile devices and compared in real time.

Abstract: A system and method is provided to alert users if another user has entered within a prescribed geographic region selected by the user. According to a method embodiment, a method for communicating among a plurality of users over a wireless communication network using location based messaging comprises: receiving at a central server a location based message from a user, said message including prescribed geographic region information, extracting the prescribed geographic region information from the location based message at the central server; determining at the central server whether another user has entered a prescribed geographic region corresponding to said prescribed geographic information included in said location based message, and transmitting an alert message from the central server to the mobile device of the user sending said location based message, alerting the user that another user has entered the prescribed geographic region.

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for forwarding location dependent messages from a message sender's mobile cellular device to an intended recipient's mobile cellular device. The method is principally practiced in a communication network comprising a plurality of mobile cellular devices having location determining capabilities such as triangulation and GPS. In an embodiment, the message sender identifies an intended message recipient and selects a geographic location and corresponding radius of circumference defining geographic pre-conditions for transmitting the location dependent message to the intended message recipient. The message is first transmitted to a central server which periodically monitors the geographic location of the intended recipient in real time or near real-time to determine if the intended recipient enters within the radius of circumference of the geographic location selected by the message sender.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for offering loans to users at a point-of-purchase transaction. Such loans are typically offered upon the decline of a user-tendered payment, for example of a credit or debit card or check, and typically at a retail physical location point of sale and/or at a retail website point of sale. The loan offer process is desirably integrated with the merchant's payment processing system. Term sets can be pre-established between the merchant and the loan offerer. Processing to determine whether to offer a loan and under which set of terms is desirably automated such that the decision can be made in substantially real time to motivate the completion of what might constitute an otherwise failed transaction.

Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for promoting offered products and services to a plurality of mobile device users. The method generally comprises the steps of generating at least one general broadcast message directed to commercial offers of at least one provider (i.e., retailer) of the offered products and services. The general broadcast message is preferably broadcast from a central server over a prescribed geographic area. Responses from end users to the broadcast message are monitored at the central server to create profile information of the responding users for use in qualifying business relationships with the providers of said products and services. The responses may be further utilized to construct a market directed to inducing the providers of the offered products and services to purchase broadcast message blocks for future promotions. Establishment of such a market includes the establishment of pricing criteria based on user response rate statistics.

Abstract: A call tracing and identification system for use with a public telephone network includes at least one interrogation and digital display circuit associated with a called-party telephone of the network, and an encoder circuit associated with a calling party telephone in the system. In response to an interrogation command initiated by a ringing signal or a line voltage change when the telephone is answered, the encoder circuit generates a series of coded signals and applies the same to the telephone for identifying the calling party by area code and telephone number. The identification signals are received by the display circuit of the called telephone where they are rapidly decoded, stored and displayed in digital form. The number of cycles of transmitted sine wave frequency is used for identification, and an output of a sequentially addressed memory to a display is gated in synchronism with the addressing at a rate sufficient to be visually imperceptible.