Unsolicited wireless content delivery and billing apparatus and method

• US 20040127235A1
• Filed: 12/26/2002
• Published: 07/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kotzin, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,395,048 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2026 Wireless network, e.g. GSM, PCS, TACS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/32 Involving wireless systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

A wireless communication system (10) provides unsolicited content (40) to a wireless device (12) by using a network element (14) that contains logic circuitry that sends unsolicited content for the wireless device (12), without request by the wireless device (12) and during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system (10). The network element (14) logs a billing event associated with the unsolicited content (40) in response to wireless device use indication data (42) that represents that the wireless device (12) used the unsolicited content (40) at a later time.

Claims

1. A method for providing content to a wireless device that is operative to wirelessly communicate with a wireless communication system comprising:

sending unsolicited content to the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system; and

logging a billing event associated with the unsolicited content in response to at least one of;

a determination that the wireless device accessed the sent unsolicited content and

a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of sending the unsolicited content to the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation, includes sending, during an idle mode of the wireless device, a plurality of unsolicited content modules for local storage on the wireless device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein logging a billing event associated with the unsolicited content includes generating user billing information indicating use of the unsolicited content by the wireless device associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein logging the billing event associated with the unsolicited content includes keeping track of which sent unsolicited content modules were accessed without being requested by the wireless device.

5. The method of claim 1 including determining preferred content for sending as unsolicited content, based on at least one of:

a user'"'"'s prior history and a user'"'"'s previously requested content.

6. The method of claim 1 including sending data representing marketing/sales offers associated with certain content that has already been sent as unsolicited content to the wireless device.

7. The method of claim 1 including at least one of:

debiting a user account based on the billing event and sending billing information to the wireless device relating to the billing event.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the unsolicited content to the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation includes sending encrypted unsolicited content to the wireless device and sending a decryption key to the wireless device based on a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content and wherein the step of logging the billing event includes logging the billing event in response to sending the decryption key to the wireless device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the unsolicited content includes at least one of data representing:

audio, video, an HTML page, and an XML page.

10. A method for providing content for a wireless device that is operative to wirelessly communicate with a wireless communication system comprising:

receiving, by the wireless device, unsolicited content without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system;

storing, by the wireless device, the received unsolicited content; and

performing at least one of;

sending a request for the unsolicited content to the communication system; and

determining if the stored unsolicited content has been accessed and notifying the wireless communication system of the same.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of receiving the unsolicited content by the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation, includes receiving, during an idle mode of the wireless device, a plurality of unsolicited content modules and locally storing the unsolicited content modules on the wireless device.

12. The method of claim 10 including presenting a wireless device user interface containing data representing the stored unsolicited content that allows user selection of the received unsolicited content;

and

in response to selection of the stored unsolicited content, generating wireless device use indication data for the wireless communication system.

13. The method of claim 10 including keeping track of which received unsolicited content modules were accessed from memory by the wireless device when the wireless device is not in communication with the wireless communication system.

14. The method of claim 13 including sending wireless device use indication data to the wireless communication system, during a peak period of operation of the wireless communication system, indicating that unsolicited content that was previously received during a non-peak period has been used by the wireless device.

15. A wireless device comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

logic circuitry, operatively coupled to the wireless transceiver, and operative to control acceptance of unsolicited content during a non-peak period of operation of a wireless communication system; and

memory, operatively coupled to the logic circuitry, containing the received unsolicited content;

the logic circuitry also operative to perform one of;

sending a request for content to the wireless communication system and

determining if the stored content has been accessed and causing access notification data to be sent, via the wireless transceiver, to the wireless communication system.

16. The wireless device of claim 15 wherein the logic circuitry includes at least one processor that executes programming instructions, stored in memory, that:

controls acceptance of unsolicited content during a non-peak period of operation of a communication system, and

performs one of;

sending a request for content to the communication system and determining if the stored content has been accessed and causing an access notification to be sent, via the wireless transceiver, to the wireless communication system.

17. The wireless device of claim 16 wherein the logic circuitry keeps track of which sent unsolicited content was accessed without being requested by the wireless device, and sending the access notification data based on whether stored unsolicited content was accessed.

18. The wireless device of claim 15 wherein the logic circuitry controls receiving of a plurality of unsolicited content modules, without request by the wireless device during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system and during an idle mode of the wireless device for local storage on the wireless device.

19. The wireless device of claim 15 wherein the control logic presents a interface containing data representing the stored unsolicited content that allows user selection of the received unsolicited content;

and

in response to selection of the stored unsolicited content, generates wireless device use indication data for the wireless communication system.

20. The wireless device of claim 15 wherein received unsolicited content is encrypted and wherein the logic circuitry decrypts stored encrypted unsolicited content using a decryption key received from the wireless communication system, to allow user access to the stored unsolicited content.

21. A network element operatively coupled with a wireless communication system for providing content to a wireless device comprising:

logic circuitry operative to send unsolicited content for the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system; and

to log a billing event associated with the unsolicited content in response to at least one of;

a determination that the wireless device accessed the sent unsolicited content and a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content.

22. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry causes sending of the unsolicited content to the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation, sends, during an idle mode of the wireless device, a plurality of unsolicited content modules for local storage on the wireless device.

23. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry generates user billing information indicating use of the unsolicited content by the wireless device associated with the user in response to at least one of:

a determination that the wireless device accessed the sent unsolicited content and a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content.

24. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry is operative to determine preferred content for sending as unsolicited content, based on at least one of:

a user'"'"'s prior history and a user'"'"'s previously requested content.

25. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry causes the sending of data representing marketing/sales offers associated with certain content that has already been sent as unsolicited content to the wireless device.

26. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry debits a user account based on the billing event and sends billing information to the wireless device relating to the billing event.

27. The network element of claim 21 wherein the logic circuitry causes sending of the unsolicited content to the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation by sending encrypted unsolicited content to the wireless device and sending a decryption key to the wireless device based on a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content and logs the billing event in response to sending the decryption key to the wireless device.

28. A wireless communication system for providing content to a wireless device comprising:

at least one wireless device and

at least one network element, operatively coupled with the wireless device including;

logic circuitry operative to send unsolicited content for the wireless device, without request by the wireless device and during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system; and

to log a billing event associated with the unsolicited content in response to at least one of;

a determination that the wireless device accessed the sent unsolicited content and a request from the wireless device for the unsolicited content; and

wherein

the at least one wireless device including;

a wireless transceiver;

wireless device logic circuitry, operatively coupled to the wireless transceiver, and operative to control acceptance of the unsolicited content during a non-peak period of operation of the wireless communication system; and

memory, operatively coupled to the wireless device logic circuitry, containing the received unsolicited content;

the wireless device logic circuitry also operative to perform one of;

sending a request for content to the wireless communication system and

determining if the stored content has been accessed and causing access notification data to be sent, via the wireless transceiver, to the wireless network element.