Context diary application for a mobile terminal

• US 20060148528A1
• Filed: 12/31/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Maenpaa, Petri H., Persson, Per, Jung, Younghee, Piippo, Petri
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,139 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72439 for image or video messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The invention provides a presentation of contextual information to a digital device in relation to a period of time. As such the invention provides for efficient user access to historical, as well as, current and future or forecasted contextual information. In addition, the present invention provides for current contextual information to be presented in an idle mode view, a scrolling bar mode view or another inconspicuous view. Additionally the present invention provides a novel means of using context information to create multimedia file presentations; image or video file presentations that can be associated with previous periods of time, locations or other context data.

Claims

1. A computer program product for providing access to context information on a digital device, the product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:

first instructions for generating a context view that provides for at least one category of the context information and provides user-access to at least one item of context information within the at least one category; and

second instructions for generating a timeline view that is presented in combination with the context view and provides user-access to the at least one item of context information in relation to a period of time.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising third instructions for generating a media view that provides access to at least one digital media file and is presented in combination with the timeline view to provide user-access to the at least one digital media file in relation to a period of time.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, further comprising fourth instructions for associating the at least one context information with the at least one digital media file.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein the fourth instructions for associating the at least one context information with the at least one digital media file further comprises associating by time metadata included in the at least one context information and the at least one digital media file.

5. The computer program product of claim 3, further comprising fifth instruction for visually indicating the association between the at least one context information and the at least one media file.

6. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein the first, second and third instructions are implemented concurrently to generate a context access view that provides user-access to the context view in combination with the timeline view and the media view in combination with the timeline view.

7. A method for accessing context information on a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

monitoring the mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data; and

presenting, on a mobile terminal display, a context view that provides at least one context category associated with the one or more context data and at least one context item within the at least one context category,

wherein the at least one context item is related to a period of time.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of monitoring the mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data further includes the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal further comprises the step of sensing one or more context data from sensors disposed within the mobile terminal.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal further comprises the step of accessing a mobile terminal application to receive one or more context data.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of monitoring the mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data further includes the step of receiving one or more context data from an external context data source.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of receiving one or more context data from an external context data source further includes receiving one or more context data from an external context data source that is in wireless communication with the mobile terminal.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising the steps of

presenting, on the mobile terminal display, a calendar view;

and

selecting a period of time within the calendar view for presenting the context view that is associated with the period of time.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of presenting, on a mobile terminal display, a context view that provides at least one context category associated with the one or more context data and at least one context item within the at least one context category further comprises presenting, on the mobile terminal display, the context view in combination with a timeline view that provides at least one context category associated with the one or more context data and at least one context item within the at least one context category associated with a period of time within the timeline view.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of presenting, on a mobile terminal display, a context view that provides at least one context category associated with the one or more context data and at least one context item within the at least one context category further defines the at least one context category as chosen from the group consisting of calendar events, terminal location, short-range communication devices encountered, location characteristics, and terminal movement.

16. A mobile terminal device for providing user-access to context data;

the device comprising;

a display;

a processing unit in communication with the display; and

a memory module in communication with the processor that stores a context diary application executed by the processor, wherein the application generates a context view and a timeline view that are displayed on the display concurrently such that the user may be provided access to context data within the context view in relation to a period of time within the timeline view.

17. The device of claim 16, further comprising one or more sensors in communication with the processor for sensing one or more context data, wherein the one or more context data is provided to the context diary application such that the context view provides user-access to the context data sensed by the one or more sensors.

18. The device of claim 16, wherein the memory module further comprises one or more context data-generating applications that generate one or more context data, wherein the one or more context data is provided to the context diary application such that the context view provides user-access to the context data generated by the one or more context data-generating applications.

19. The device of claim 16, further comprising a wireless communication module in communication with the processor that provides for wireless communication with external elements that provide one or more context data to the application such that the context view provides user-access to the context data communicated from the external elements.

20. A user interface application for a digital terminal, the application comprising:

first instructions for generating the display of a context view in combination with a timeline view that provides a display of one or more context data in relation to periods of time; and

second instructions for selecting, by user input, one of the one or more context data to provide a more detailed context view related to the data associated with the activated context data.

21. The application of claim 20, wherein the first instructions further comprises instructions for generating the display of a media view in combination with the timeline view that provides a display of one or more media files in relation to periods of time.

22. The application of claim 21, wherein the first instructions further comprises instructions for providing visual indication on the display of an association between one or more context data and the one or more media files.

23. The application of claim 22, wherein the second instructions further comprises instructions for selecting, by user input, the one or more context data or the one or more media files to visually indicate an association between one or more context data and one or more media files.

24. A method for providing user-access to current context information on a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of:

monitoring the current mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data;

presenting the current monitored context data in user-accessible form on a display of the mobile terminal;

updating the context data on the display when there is a change in the mobile terminal environment; and

accessing the monitored context data to provide user management of the context data.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of monitoring the mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data further includes the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal further comprises the step of sensing one or more context data from sensors disposed within the mobile terminal.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of receiving one or more context data from within the mobile terminal further comprises the step of accessing a mobile terminal application to receive one or more context data.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of monitoring the mobile terminal environment to determine one or more context data further includes the step of receiving one or more context data from an external context data source.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of presenting the monitored context data in user-accessible form on a display of the mobile terminal further comprises presenting the monitored context data on an idle screen mode.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of presenting the monitored context data in user-accessible form on a display of the mobile terminal further comprises presenting the monitored context data on a ticker bar mode that scrolls monitored context data.

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of presenting the monitored context data in user-accessible form on a display of the mobile terminal further comprises presenting the monitored context data on a background image.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of presenting the monitored context data in user-accessible form on a display of the mobile terminal further comprises presenting the monitored context data within a secondary application.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of updating the context data on the display when there is a change in the mobile terminal environment further defines a change in the mobile terminal environment as chosen from the group consisting of a change in terminal location;

detection of an external context data source;

acknowledging the disappearance of a signal from a detected external context data source and detecting a new value for at least one of the monitored context data.

34. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of accessing the monitored context data to provide user management of the context data further comprises the step of accessing an external device that is providing one or more context data.

35. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of accessing the monitored context data to provide user management of the context data further comprises the step of accessing the monitored context data to change a parameter related to the one or more context data.