Multimedia communicator

• US 10,397,068 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2016
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Percept Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Percept Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Lewis, Scott W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Guadalupe Cruz, Aixa A
• Application Number:
  US15/043,324
• Publication Number:
  US 20170041202A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

A multimedia communicator is disclosed. The multimedia communicator comprises a processing unit; and a storage device coupled to the processing unit. The multimedia communicator further includes a plurality of interfaces to allow the multimedia communicator to offer a user a plurality of services. The MMC which includes a microprocessor computing system may be located in a car, for example, or within a handset similar to handsets presently utilized for cell phones. The MMC may be connected to a WiFi Internet connection, a cellular network, a satellite radio or equivalent satellite network, or to other available wireless networks. Additionally, the MMC has the potential to interface with GPS signals as desired.

Claims

1. A multimedia communicator (MMC) comprising:

a processing unit;

a storage device coupled to the processing unit;

a location information source coupled to the processing unit, the location information source being responsive to a plurality of locations of a corresponding plurality of objects;

at least one interface coupled to the processing unit to allow the multimedia communicator to offer a user a plurality of services;

wherein the MMC acts as a hybrid multimedia communicator in a hybrid environment,

wherein a protocol of the hybrid multimedia communicator determines partnerships between one or more cellular providers;

wherein the MMC receives location information from the location information source and provides a service responsive to the locations of the objects for a plurality of second MMCs;

wherein the location information source is a GPS location information source;

wherein the MMC accesses a database in response to the location information, combines information from the database with the location information, and controls a mobile device in response to a combination of the information from the database with the location information.

2. The multimedia communicator of claim 1 wherein the multimedia communicator is coupled to a plurality of databases which offer the different type of services, each database being responsive to at least a portion of the location information source.

3. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the databases are internal to the multimedia communicator.

4. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with multiple or redundant networks.

5. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with MMC Jr. client and R2R networks.

6. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with customized media insertion.

7. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with customized ad insertion.

8. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with optimizing services.

9. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with predictive/preference services/and autobilling services.

10. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with link services.

11. The multimedia communicator of claim 10 wherein the MMC is utilizing links services to obtain vendor locations.

12. The multimedia communicator of claim 10 wherein the MMC is utilizing links services to enable a transaction related to the vendor.

13. The multimedia communicator of claim 2 wherein the multimedia communicator is utilized with radio/Internet/media services received either from WiFi networks, satellite networks, and/or cellular networks, then rejoining the segmented packets of information, thereby overcoming the lack of contiguous signals and providing the user with a continuous playback uninterrupted by service disconnections.

14. The multimedia communicator of claim 1 wherein the interfaces include one or more of:

a WiFi connection/interface, uplink GPS/Traffic data connection/interface, cellular connection/interface, radio transmitter to radio transmitter (R2R) connection/interface, data services connection/interface, outside devices voice/location based services (LBC)/device connection/interface, subscriber database/Internet providers connection/interface, satellite network connection/interface, voice recognition protocol connection/interface, voice activated connection/interface, display connection/interface, linked services connection/interface, geographic links connection/interface, VoIP connection/interface, car cell phone connection/interface, and an outside providers services connection/interface.

15. The multimedia communicator of claim 1 wherein the multimedia may utilize a network function or a peer to peer function.

16. The multimedia communicator of claim 1 wherein the services are provided at different levels of complexity.

17. The multimedia communicator of claim 1 wherein the services comprise one or more of:

geography-based services, location-based services, radio services, video services, playback of audio, video and data programming, telephony services including intelligent roaming and optimized cost- and quality-efficient services, cellular services, WiFi services, traffic information services, weather information services, integrated database services such as integrated traffic and weather services, traffic safety services, military logistics services, stock information services, product ordering and purchasing services which may be integrated with preference-based services, billing services, optimization of cost and quality level of services, customized advertising services and customized media insertion services.

18. A multimedia communicator as in claim 1,

wherein a network center, responsive to the at least one interface and the location information source for a plurality of MMCs located in a defined geographic area, collects information associated with that plurality of MMCs and distributes that collected information to each MMC in that defined geographic area, and

wherein each one MMC in that defined geographic area analyzes that collected information to provide information to a recipient external to and associated with that one MMC.

19. A multimedia communicator as in claim 1,

wherein each MMC in a defined geographic area, responsive to the at least one interface and the location information source for a plurality of MMCs located in that defined geographic area, collects information associated with one or more of that plurality of MMCs and distributes that collected information to one or more of that plurality of MMCs, and

wherein each one MMC in that defined geographic area analyzes that collected information to provide information to a recipient external to and associated with that one MMC.

20. A multimedia communicator as in claim 1,

wherein the location information source is a cellular connection location information source.