System and method for locating and notifying a user of a person, place or thing having attributes matching the user's stated preferences

A method of notifying a user using a stand-alone device about people, places and things having attributes that match explicit preferences of the user and are within a desired proximity to the user's location, the method comprising the steps of:

• creating a user preference profile, wherein the user preference profile is created by the user;
• storing the user preference profile;
• creating a profile of at least one of the people, places and things;
• storing the at least one of the people, places and things profile;
• determining the location of the user;
• comparing the user preference profile and the at least one of the people, places and things profile to determine if the at least one of the people, places and things has attributes that match the preferences of the user, wherein the step of comparing the user preference profile with the at least one of the people, places and things profile comprises the step of determining whether the at least one of the people, places and things is within a distance that is specified by the user in the user preference profile;
• notifying the user of the at least one of the people, places and things that match the user's explicit preferences and are within the desired proximity to the user's location;
• and
• downloading the profiles of the at least one of the people, places and things.

A location-based and preference-based matching system for notifying a user about people, places and things having attributes that match preferences of the user and are within a desired proximity to a location associated with the user, the system comprising:

• a device comprising output means:
• input means for the user to input the user preferences;
• means for determining the location of the user;
• input means for creating a profile for the people, place and things;
• storage means for storing the user preferences;
• storage means for storing the profiles of the people, places and things;
• means for comparing the user preferences and the attribute profiles of the people, places and things to determine whether there are any matches that are within the desired proximity to the location of the user;
• and
• means for displaying information about all of the matches, if any, on the output means.