Description

[0001]Making the first contact between men and women or any other pair of individuals is and has always been a psychological and emotional problem. It is traditionally expected that the men are supposed to make the first move. This can be seriously embarrassing for shy and not self-confident individuals, and sometimes also for the contacted party, turning down the approach.

[0002]To surmount this situation a large variety of solutions have been proposed, from the so-called "Pick-up Bars" to telephone or Internet based services. These processes still possess obvious drawbacks.

[0003]The present invention offers a novel method of communication between companion seeking individuals in a comfortable atmosphere and closer over-view conditions and, above all, without risking their privacy (name, picture, telephone number or e-mail address) unless and until they decide to do so.

[0004]The method is base on the following principles: [0005]The parties are able to inspect each other before establishing a closer contact therebetween; [0006]The contacted party can reject the offered contact in a fully discreet manner, which will not cause any embarrassment to neither of the parties. [0007]If the contacted party accepts the offer to get closer to the contact initiating party, both can still keep their identity in secret from each other. [0008]The following, closer acquaintance will be held in public, until both parties decide otherwise.

The implementation of the method is as follows.

[0009]In a nicely decorated, coffee-house-like place there will be included a first, "invitees" section, a second, "invitors" section, and a third, "acquaintance" section.

[0010]The invitees section (see FIG. 1) will comprise a circular or elliptical ring R of single seats numbered 1,2,3 . . . arranged around a bar counter C.

[0011]The second section will, in any suitable fashion, surround the first section. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, two galleries G₁ and G₂ are placed. Members occupying the seats (marked A, B, C . . . ) will thus have a clear view over the seats of the first section, and vise-versa.

[0012]Drinks and food will be served by waiters as usual.

[0013]The third section of the coffee-house will be in the form of a nicely decorated hall with twin seats and tables (not shown).

[0014]A closed-loop telephone network connects all seats of the first and second sections, enabling every one of the invitors to send a short-message-signal (SMS or other message) to any one of the invitees, and vise-versa.

[0015]Once an inviter decides to make contact with an invitee (or the other way round), he or she will dial her/his seat number (or character) and offer, in writing, to get together in the conversation section. The called party will be able to trace the call by the seat number of the calling party, and, after inspecting the calling party, may either accept the invitation (with or without additional SMS exchange), or reject it; preferably the rejecting party will also be able to block the other party from repeated calls in order to avoid continuing harassment.

[0016]If she/he accepts the invitation, the pair will join each other at the acquaintance section.

[0017]The above described stages are represented by the flow-chart of FIG. 2.

[0018]The personal telephones will also serve for ordering customer's service.

[0019]In a more advanced version of the present invention, the communication between all customers of the coffee-house will be established by an Intranet, local network while using their personal cell-phones. The cell-phones, with a special adaptation facilities will be supplied (or upgraded) by one of the major manufacturers such as NOKIA ("Connecting People" . . . ), who will also sponsor the line of coffee-houses to be developed all over the world in a unique style.

[0020]The layout of this improvement is schematically shown in FIG. 3 and needs no further explanation.