Seamless multiple access internet portal

• US 20040225752A1
• Filed: 05/08/2003
• Published: 11/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rivera, Jose F., OʼNeil, Douglas R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,366,795 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/567 Integrating service provisioning from a plurality of service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Multiple access internet portals are provided. A representative system, among others, includes a communication facility and a wireless internet server. The communication facility is operable to connect to a plurality of wireless devices through a mobile network. The wireless internet server is coupled to the communication facility and retrieves a personalized profile associated with a registered user an one of the plurality of wireless devices, and provides substantially similar personalized content to said at least one registered user on a variety of platforms associated with the wireless devices. Methods and other systems for multiple access portals are also provided.

Claims

1. A multiple access internet portal, comprising:

a communication facility operable to connect to a plurality of wireless devices on different platforms through a mobile network; and

a wireless internet server coupled to the communication facility and operable to retrieve a personalized profile associated with at least one registered user associated with one of the plurality of wireless devices, and provide substantially similar personalized content to said at least one registered user on a variety of platforms associated with the wireless devices.

2. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the variety of platforms comprise a wireless access enabled phone and a short message service enabled phone.

3. The multiple access internet portal of claim 2, wherein the variety of platforms further comprise an analog phone.

4. The multiple access internet portal of claim 3, wherein the variety of platforms further comprises a computer with high speed wireless internet access.

5. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, the multiple access portal further comprising:

a voice portal operable to receive verbal commands from a person using a wireless device and translate the verbal commands to electronic commands to be passed to the wireless internet server.

6. The multiple access internet portal of claim 5, wherein the voice portal is further operable to receive personalized content from the internet and transfer it to at least one of the plurality of wireless devices.

7. The multiple access internet portal of claim 6, wherein the voice portal is further operable to convert internet content to speech.

8. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, further comprising:

a wireless access protocol gateway operable to receive personalized content through the wireless internet server, and pass the content to a wireless device, the wireless access protocol gateway being further operable to receive at least one command from the wireless device and transmit the command to the wireless internet server.

9. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, further comprising:

a short message service center operable to receive at least one short message via the wireless internet serve and transfer the short message to a wireless device, the short message service center being further operable to receive at least one command from the wireless device and transfer said at least one command to the wireless internet server.

10. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the registered user can personalize content through at least one of a wireless access protocol enabled phone, a short message service enabled phone, and analog phone, and a web page.

11. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the wireless internet server is further operable to authenticate said at least one registered user attempting to access personalized content associated with said at least one registered user.

12. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the wireless internet server is operable to use a centralized mobile authentication registration application.

13. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, further comprising:

a content provider operable to provide internet content and applications to the plurality of wireless devices.

14. The multiple access internet portal of claim 13, wherein the content provider comprises:

a mobile authentication registration application operable to receive an authentication request from the wireless internet server and authenticate at least one registered user, and being further operable to provide the wireless internet server with personalized information associated with said at least one user; and

a content translator operable to receive a plurality of content feeds and translate the plurality of content feeds into any protocol used by the plurality of wireless devices.

15. The multiple access internet portal of claim 14, wherein the content provider further comprises a content hub operable to store at least one of the plurality of content feeds and provide the content translator said at least one of the plurality of content feeds.

16. The multiple access internet portal of claim 13, wherein the content provider further comprises:

a plurality of applications that can be accessed by the plurality of wireless devices.

17. The multiple access internet portal of claim 16, wherein the plurality of applications comprises an e-mail, an instant messaging, a personal information manager, and a chat application.

18. The multiple access internet portal of claim 17, wherein the plurality of applications further comprises a location sensitive application.

19. The multiple access internet portal of claim 18, wherein plurality of applications further comprises a commerce application.

20. The multiple access internet portal of claim 13, wherein the content provider is operable to receive at least one third party application and at least one content feed over the internet.

21. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the communication facility further comprises a location determination logic operable to determine the location of a wireless device.

22. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the communication facility further comprises an interactive voice response system operable to send a variety of prompts to a user and receive a response from the user.

23. The multiple access internet portal of claim 22, wherein the interactive voice response system is further operable to transfer a call to a customer service representative.

24. The multiple access internet portal of claim 23, wherein the customer service representative can provision a user to become a registered user.

25. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, wherein the communication facility further comprises a location determination logic operable to determine the location of a wireless device.

26. The multiple access internet portal of claim 1, further comprising:

a transaction billing system operable to receive call information from the wireless internet server and format the call information such that a billing platform at the communication facility can process the formatted call information.

27. The multiple access internet portal of claim 26, wherein the transaction billing system is further operable to usage generate reports for the communication facility and a content provider.

28. The multiple access internet portal of claim 26, wherein the billing platform is operable to bill a user according to use of the wireless internet server.

29. A method of providing a seamless multiple access portal, the method comprising:

receiving a request for internet content from any of a plurality of wireless device platforms associated with a wireless device;

authenticating the request from the wireless device;

transmitting a personalized internet content to the wireless device upon authentication, the personalized content being substantially similar across the plurality of wireless device platforms.

30. The method of claim 29, the method further comprising:

transmitting public information to the user upon receiving no authentication.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the plurality of wireless device platforms associated with a wireless device comprises at least two of a wireless access protocol telephone, a short message service enabled telephone, analog telephone, and a computer with wireless high speed internet.

32. The method of claim 29, the method further comprising:

retrieving the personalized internet from a content server, the content server having access to the internet.

33. The method of claim 29, the method further comprising:

retrieving the personalized internet from the internet.

34. The method of claim 33, the method further comprising:

storing at least a portion of the personalized internet; and

sending the content to the wireless device periodically.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

prompting a user associated with the wireless device to select a method of access using an interactive voice response system.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

translating text content to voice using a voice portal upon the user selecting to use the voice portal

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

using a wireless access protocol gateway to transmit the personalized internet to the wireless device upon the user selecting wireless access protocol.

38. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

using a short message service center to transmit the personalized internet to the wireless device upon the user selecting short message service.

39. The method of claim 29, wherein authenticating the request from the wireless device comprises:

prompting a user of the wireless device for a password associated with the wireless device identification;

receiving the password from the wireless device.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein authenticating the request from the wireless device further comprises:

sending the password and a mobile identification number associated with the wireless device to a central authentication system; and

receiving authentication of the user from the authentication system upon the central authentication system finding a valid mobile identification number and password.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein authenticating the request from the wireless device further comprises:

allowing the user to browse a public portion of the service upon finding an invalid mobile identification and password combination.

42. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

tracking use of the internet content by a user associated with the wireless device.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

billing the user according to usage of the internet content.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising:

collecting revenue from the user.

45. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

distributing at least a portion of the revenue to an internet content provider providing internet content for the user.

46. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

allowing a user associated with a wireless device to access the system from any of the plurality of platforms using a single mobile identification number and password combination via a central authentication system.

47. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

providing a of personalized internet content including access to e-mail, instant messaging, chat, and personal information manager applications

48. The method of claim 47, further comprising:

providing a of personalized internet content including a location sensitive application and a commerce application.

49. The method of claim 29, wherein an internet content provider collects and stores internet content to be distributed as the personalized internet content.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the internet content is provided by a third party content provider.