Method and apparatus for arranging network content on mobile devices

• US 20050208930A1
• Filed: 07/09/2004
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ZMR Communications Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ZMR Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Zmrzli, Robert
• Application Number:
  US10/888,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20050208930A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.400
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications

Abstract

A method for enabling wireless communications is provided. The method includes detecting one or more user actions when the user is browsing one or more network sites. One or more content items may be selected from the page based on the user interaction. The content items may be formatted for a specific end device based on the one or more content items. The content is directed to an end device that has wireless communication capabilities.

Claims

1. A method for providing network content on a mobile device, the method comprising:

detecting transmission of data corresponding to a particular content item;

identifying a source of the particular content item;

displaying a content based at least in part on the data;

wherein the step of displaying the content includes positioning the content on a display area of the mobile device based on the source of the particular content item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of positioning content on a display area includes selecting a segment that forms only a portion of the display area.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a source of the particular item includes identifying a network site on which content items that include the particular content item are provided.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting transmission of data corresponding to a particular content item includes detecting a wireless communication addressed to the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein detecting the wireless communication includes detecting a text-based message transmission.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein displaying a content includes displaying text.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the text-based message transmission corresponds to a short message service (SMS) format.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying a content includes performing an operation to derive the content based on the data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting transmission of data includes detecting transmission of text-data, and wherein the step of performing the operation includes converting the text-data into a graphical representation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying a content based at least in part on the data includes performing an operation on the data in order to display the content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing the operation includes formatting the data for one or more of the particular display segment and the display area of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing the operation includes sizing the content for the particular display segment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of sizing the content includes providing only a portion of the content to be viewable at a given instance, and enabling the user to manipulate the mobile device to view a remainder of the content.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of enabling the user to manipulate the mobile device includes displaying at least a portion of the remainder of the content in response to a user causing contact with the display area.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing an operation includes identifying text data from the transmitted data.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of performing an operation includes performing a conversion operation to present the content in a graphical form.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying a content based at least in part on the data includes interactively displaying the content so as to be responsive to user-input.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of detecting transmission of data corresponding to a particular content item includes detecting a message sent to the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the message is addressed to an email address of the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising detecting a plurality of messages sent to the mobile device, and wherein the step of detecting transmission of data corresponds to combining data provided by each of the plurality of messages.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each message is transmitted using a short message service (SMS) format.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying a source of the particular content item includes identifying a tag associated with the content item, wherein the tag is generated by a service that retrieves the particular content item from a corresponding one or more network sites.

23. A method for providing network content on a mobile device, the method comprising:

designating individual segments of a display area for the mobile device to a corresponding source of content items;

detecting transmission of a first set of data corresponding to a first content item;

identifying a source of the first content item;

determining that a first one of the individual display segments in the display area is designated for the source of the first content item; and

displaying a first content based on the first set of data on the first display segment.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

detecting transmission of a second set of data corresponding to a second content item;

identifying a source of the second content item;

determining that a second one of the individual display segments in the display area is designated for the source of the second content item; and

displaying a second content based on the second set of data on the second display segment.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of displaying the second content based on the second set of data includes displaying the second content in the second display segment concurrently with displaying the first content in the first display segment.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the first display segment and the second display segment form only a portion of display area.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

detecting transmission of a third set of data corresponding to a third content item;

identifying a source of the third content item;

determining that a third one of the individual display segments in the display area is designated for the source of the third content item; and

displaying a third content based on the third set of data on the third display segment.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of displaying the third content based on the third set of data includes displaying the third content in the third display segment concurrently with displaying the first content in the first display segment.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the source of the first display segment is a network site.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the source of at least one of the first and second display segment is a first network site and a second network site respectively.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising the step of enabling a user to configure one or more of the individual display segments.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of enabling the user to configure one or more of the individual display segments includes enabling the user to select a size of each of the display segments.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of enabling the user to configure one or more of the individual display segments includes enabling the user to select an arrangement for how each display segment is to be positioned with respect to other display segments on the display area.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein at least the step of displaying a second content based on the second set of data is performed independently of displaying a first content based on the first set of data.

35. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of detecting a first set of data is performed at a first instance of time, the step of detecting a second set of data is performed at a second instance of time that is different than the first instance of time, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

detecting transmission of a third set of data corresponding to one of an updated first content item or updated second content item;

identifying the source of the one of the updated first content item or updated second content item; and

updating one of the first content or second content by

if the third set of data corresponds to the updated first content item, then updating the first content on the first display segment,

if the third set of data corresponds to the updated second content item, then updating the second content on the second display segment.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the step of updating the first content or second content includes updating the first content while displaying the second content and not updating the second content.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the first content item and the updated first content item originate from a first set of one or more network sites, and wherein the second content item and the updated second content item originate from a second set of one or more network sites.

38. The method of claim 24, wherein the steps of detecting transmission of a first set of data and detecting transmission of a second set of data includes:

receiving a plurality of messages on the mobile device; and

sorting the messages so that at least (i) a first set of one or more messages is identified to correspond to the first set of data, and (ii) a second set of one or more messages is identified to correspond to the second set of data.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein each of the first set of one or more messages and the second set of one or more messages is addressed to an email address of the mobile device.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein each message is transmitted using a short message service (SMS) format.

41. A method for providing network content on a mobile device, the method comprising:

copying content items provided at a plurality of network sites, including copying at least a first content item from a first network site and a second content item from a second network site;

generating data corresponding to the copies content items, wherein said data includes data (i) identifying a source of the first content item as the first network site, and (ii) identifying a source of the second content item as the second network site;

messaging said data to the mobile device.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of copying content items provided at a plurality of network sites includes copying the content items according to a schedule specified by a user of the mobile device.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of copying the content items includes copying text-based content.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of generating data corresponds to generating data to provide only text from the first content item and the second content item.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of copying content items provided at a plurality of network sites includes using identification information to locate the content items on the plurality of network sites independent of knowing a position of the respective content items.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the step of using identification information includes using information provided by the user of the mobile device.

47. The method of claim 45, wherein the step of using identification information includes using a recipe that provides said identification information.

48. The method of claim 45, wherein the step of using identification information includes accessing a library on which a plurality of recipes are stored, and using a plurality of recipes that provide computer-implemented instructions for locating each of the content items provided at the plurality of network sites.

49. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of messaging said data includes segmenting said data into a plurality of data blocks, and sending each of the plurality of data blocks as a separate message.

50. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of messaging said data includes using an email address of the mobile device.

51. The method of claim 49, sending each of the plurality of data blocks as a separate message includes sending each message as a short message service (SMS) message.

52. A mobile computing device comprising:

a communication port to receive communications from over a network;

one or more processors configured to;

detect transmission of data corresponding to a particular content item;

identify a source of the particular content item;

cause a content based at least in part on the data to be displayed on a display associated with the mobile device;

wherein the processor is configured to position the content on the display based on the source of the particular content item.

53. The mobile computing device of claim 52, wherein the communication port is configured to receive the communications wirelessly.

54. The mobile computing device of claim 52, wherein the communication port is configured to receive the communications through a cellular network.

55. The mobile computing device of claim 54, wherein the communication port is configured to receive the communications as a series of short message service (SMS) messages.

56. The mobile computing device of claim 52, wherein the display is integrated with the device.

57. The mobile computing device of claim 56, wherein the display is contact-sensitive in order to receive user-input for affecting operations of the processor when displaying the content.

58. The mobile computing device of claim 52, wherein the one or more processors position the content by assigning a portion of the display to the content.

60. The mobile computing device of claim 52, wherein the one or more processors cause the display of the content concurrently with causing the display of another content from another source.

59. The mobile computing device of claim 59, wherein at least one of a size and a location of the portion of the display are determined by a user-input.