Method and communication system for providing geographic data during the retrieval of information from the www/wap

• US 20030046332A1
• Filed: 09/20/2002
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH & Company KG (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH & Company KG (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Riegel, Maximilian
• Application Number:
  US10/239,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20030046332A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a communications system for providing geographic data during the retrieval of information from a packet-oriented communications system. The aim of the invention is to enable information which has a geographic location reference to be requested from a network server by a data terminal (1), e.g. a WAP-enabled mobile station, via a radio communication link (V), using an information request (2). In order to provide geographic data during the retrieval of information in a simple and anonymous manner, the request for information is routed via an interfacing proxy-server (5) which supplements the information request (2) with geographic information (7).

Claims

1. Method for making geographical data available when data are called up from a communications system, wherein

information is requested by a data terminal (1) by way of at least one communications connection (V) with a communications network of a station (3) providing information, by means of an information request (2),

the request for the information being passed on by way of an interconnected station (5),

characterized in that

the interconnected station (5) supplements the information with geographical information (7).

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the station (3) providing the information provides geographical information (4) in accordance with the geographical location information (4) in the request.

9. Communications system for implementing a method for making geographical data available when data are called up from a communications system, particularly as recited in one of the previous claims, with

a communications network for establishing and maintaining a communications connection (V) between a data terminal (1) and a station (3) providing information, from which the data terminal (1) can request information by means of an information request (2), and

at least one interconnected station (5), by way of which the information request (2) coming from the data terminal (1) is passed along,

characterized in that

the interconnected station (5) has a supplementing device for supplementing the information request (2) with geographical location information (7).

10. The communications system as recited in claim 9, wherein the interconnected station is a special network access computer or Web proxy server (5) that is particularly dialed up directly by the data terminal (1).

11. The communications system as recited in claim 9 or 10, the communications system being a mobile communications system.

3. The method as recited in a previous claim, wherein a special network access computer or Web proxy server (5) is used as the interconnected station for transmitting the information request (2).

4. The method as recited in a previous claim, wherein the interconnected station (5), when supplementing the information request (2) by the geographical location information, makes the sender (1) anonymous with regard to the information-providing station (5).

5. The method as recited in a previous claim, wherein the user of the data terminal (1) selects to what extent he/she wishes to utilize the location information and, in this connection, to what extent he/she wishes to reveal his/her identity, by selecting and entering an appropriate interconnecting station (5).

6. The method as recited in a previous claim, wherein the communications connection is established by way of a mobile telephone connection (V) of a mobile interface of a mobile communications network, with the WAP standard of GSM or UMTS mobile telephone systems or future mobile communications systems, in particular, being used for data exchange.

7. The method as recited in a previous claim, wherein the location information (7) that is added in the interconnected station (5) relates to the geographical location of the intermediate station (5) and/or the geographical location of the data terminal (1) and/or a registration location of the data terminal (1) and/or the geographical location of the station (3) providing the information.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the geographical location to be added is selected by an optional preliminary setting in the data terminal (1) and/or in the interconnected station (5).