METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS NARROWCAST OF INDIVIDUALIZED INFORMATION OVER A DATA NETWORK

• US 20010012299A1
• Filed: 12/31/1998
• Published: 08/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: DAHLEN, ROBERT L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,567,411 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/429
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1836 with heterogeneous network architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus which narrowcasts individualized information to system users with access to a data network which carries information such as broadband video data, voice data, or other types of equivalent data such as the Worldwide Web. Connected to the data network is a push server which includes a memory which holds information related to various system users. Included in the memory are user ID, password, as well as a listing of the types of information which the system user wishes to receive. Also connected to the data network are various data sources which provide various types of information. For example, one source of information may be a report server which on a periodic basis provides report information. Another type of information may be from a alarm server which in real time provides alarms and associated relevant information. The system accesses and retrieves information from these sources. The information is converted to a common format which in turn is provided to the push server. The server may further bond other relevant information to the system user'"'"'s preferences. The data preferences may include information which relates to the system user alone, such as monitoring information for the system user'"'"'s own systems or components. The push server then narrowcasts this information out over the data network to the system user which has requested the information.

Claims

1. A system for narrowcasting selected information to subscribers over a data network, comprising:

a network interface device connectable to the data network which provides for two-way communication over the data network, where functionality is included in the interface device to narrowcast information over the data network to system user'"'"'s with connections to the data network;

a memory device connectable to said network interface device in which information relative to preferences for the subscribers may be stored and is searchable based on information received by the network interface device relative to any of the system user'"'"'s which have established a connection with the network interface device; and

at least one data storage device connectable to the data network which stores the data to be provided to the subscribers, where certain portions of the data are retrieved based on communications from the network interface device, converted to a common format, and provided to the network interface device for narrowcast over the data network.

2. The system of

claim 1

wherein the data network is the worldwide web.

3. The system of

claim 1

wherein the network interface device is a network server with push technology capability.

4. The system of

claim 3

wherein the memory device is a database incorporated into the network server.

5. The system of

claim 1

wherein the at least one memory means includes at least one of:

an alarm server accessible over the data network, a report server accessible over the network, and a database server accessible over the network.

6. The system of

claim 5

wherein the alarm server includes an alarm notifier which receives alarm information and updates the alarm status of the alarm server, where the alarm server further provides alarm information in a predetermined format for narrowcast to the subscribers which have requested the alarm information.

7. The system of

claim 5

wherein the report server receives report information and provides the report information in a predetermined format for narrowcast to the subscribers which have requested the report information.

8. The system of

claim 2

wherein the subscriber'"'"'s establish contact with the interface device through use of a web browser.

9. The system of

claim 2

wherein information is provided to the subscribers to operation of a frame relay network.

10. A method of providing selected information to system users over a data network comprising the steps of:

providing a least one source of information which includes information that is accessible over the data network;

detecting connections established over the data network by at least one of the system users;

scanning a system user database to identify selected types of information which the system users with established connections wish to receive via a narrowcast over the data network;

establishing a connection with the at least one source of information, and locating and formatting the selected types of information resident on the at least one source of information; and

narrowcasting the selected types of information to the subscribers which have established connections based on the information identified in the subscriber database.

11. The method of

claim 10

wherein the at least one source of information includes alarm information which is generated upon detection of an alarm state and the alarm information is provided to via the narrowcast to the subscriber'"'"'s which have chosen to receive the alarm information upon the creation of the alarm information.

12. The method of

claim 10

wherein the at least one source of information includes report information which is provided to the system users which have chosen to receive the report information upon establishing a connection with the at least one source of information and then provided on a periodic basis thereafter.

13. The method of

claim 10

wherein the narrowcast is performed using push technology for a data network.

14. The method of

claim 10

wherein the data network is the Worldwide Web.

15. The method of

claim 10

wherein the information provided by the at least one source of information is provided byte system user.

16. The method of

claim 10

further including the step of automatically bonding relevant information to the selected types of information for narrowcasting to the system users.

17. The method of

claim 16

wherein the relevant types of information include at least one of:

trouble ticket information and historical information.

18. A system for narrowcasting individualized information to system users through a data network, comprising:

at least one source of information accessible through the data network, which provides information; and

a server connectable to the data network comprising;

a memory which includes a list of system user'"'"'s and their data preferences;

a processor which, based on information relative to the system users data preferences stored in the memory, accesses the at least one source of information and retrieves information relating to the data preferences;

a convertor which converts the information retrieved to a common format; and

a narrowcaster which receives the information from the processor and narrowcasts it over the data network to the subscriber.

19. The system of

claim 18

wherein the processor automatically bonds relevant information retrieved from the at least one source of information with the information narrowcast to the system users.

20. The system of

claim 19

wherein the relevant data includes at least one of:

trouble ticket data and historical information.