Abstract text

A charging station for mobile devices that acts as an intermediary device to facilitate communication between mobile devices and other proximate devices. The charging station may receive data with a mobile device via a first communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth) or in a first data format and may transmit the received data to a proximate device via a second communication protocol (e.g., WiFi) or in a second data format. The charging station may then receive responsive data from the proximate device via the second communication protocol (e.g., WiFi) or second data format and transmit the responsive data the mobile device via the first communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth) or first data format. In some embodiments, the charging station may communicate status data about a mobile device to other proximate devices.