Method and apparatus for implementing a mobile web server based system

• US 20060200541A1
• Filed: 03/03/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Wikman, Johan, Tarkiainen, Mikko, Dosa, Ferenc, Nykanen, Katja
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A method and apparatus for facilitating access to mobile Web servers by any requesting entity from within a network. The mobile Web servers are allocated Uniform Resource Locators (URL), which are discoverable by the requesting entities through conventional use of search engines, service discovery mechanisms, registries, etc. A direct communication link exists between the mobile Web servers and the gateway to allow specific information to be obtained from the mobile Web servers and subsequently advertised by the gateway in the form of an indexed list. The indexed list allows the requesting entities to browse the mobile Web servers sponsored by the gateway for any location specific content/data that may be of interest to the requesting entities. The mobile Web servers facilitate the ability for the requesting entities to influence the content/data that is offered by the mobile Web servers.

Claims

1. A method of accessing a mobile Web server via a gateway within a network, comprising:

compiling a list of mobile Web servers hosted by the gateway;

receiving mobile Web server requests from requesting entities within the network;

indexing a group of mobile Web servers in response to the mobile Web server requests; and

providing access to the indexed group of mobile Web servers, wherein access to a selected mobile Web server of the indexed group of mobile Web servers is optionally provided to the requesting entities by the selected mobile Web server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein compiling a list of mobile Web servers comprises accumulating information associated with each mobile Web server hosted by the gateway.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein accumulating information includes accumulating location data associated with a position of each mobile Web server hosted by the gateway.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein accumulating information includes accumulating data types associated with data stored within each mobile Web server hosted by the gateway.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving mobile Web server requests comprises receiving requests for mobile Web servers at a particular location.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving mobile Web server requests comprises receiving requests for mobile Web servers having a particular data type stored within the mobile Web servers.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein indexing the group of mobile Web servers comprises generating a list of mobile Web servers having a position that corresponds to the particular location requested by the requesting entity.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein indexing the group of mobile Web servers comprises generating a list of mobile Web servers having data types that corresponds to the particular data type requested by the requesting entity.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the indexed group of mobile Web servers comprises:

selecting one of the indexed group of mobile Web servers; and

providing a directory of data files contained within the selected mobile Web server.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising allowing selection of at least one of the data files in the directory, and in response, downloading the contents of the data file to the requesting entities.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the indexed group of mobile Web servers comprises:

selecting one of the indexed group of mobile Web servers; and

providing a configuration window associated with the selected mobile Web server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein providing the configuration window comprises providing a command field to allow the requesting entities to deliver commands to the selected mobile Web server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein providing the configuration window comprises providing a delivery option field to allow selection of delivery options for the delivered commands.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing access to non-indexed mobile Web servers in response to a denial of access by the selected mobile Web server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein providing access to non-indexed mobile Web servers comprises providing access to mobile Web servers in proximity to the selected mobile Web server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein providing access to mobile Web servers in proximity to the selected mobile Web server comprises configuring the selected mobile Web server to conduct a search for the proximately located mobile Web servers.

17. A mobile Web server based content system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile terminals located within the content system, each mobile terminal having attributes indicative of a context of the mobile terminal;

a gateway coupled to the plurality of mobile terminals and adapted to index the attributes of the plurality of mobile terminals into an attribute list; and

a requesting entity coupled to the gateway and adapted to send requests to a portion of the plurality of mobile terminals having attributes that correspond to the attribute list, wherein the portion of the plurality of mobile terminals are adapted to send data to the requesting entity in response to the requests.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the attributes include a location attribute indicative of a position of the mobile terminal.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the attributes further include a content attribute indicative of a data type contained within the mobile terminal.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein each mobile terminal comprises an intelligent configuration agent coupled to the gateway and adapted to provide the attributes to the gateway.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the requesting entity comprises a browser adapted to send the requests to Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) associated with the portion of mobile terminals.

22. A mobile terminal capable of being wirelessly coupled to a network which includes requesting entities gaining access to the mobile terminal via a gateway, the mobile terminal comprising:

a memory capable of storing a telemetry module and an intelligent configuration agent;

a processor coupled to the memory and configured by the telemetry module to maintain position information associated with the mobile terminal and configured by the intelligent configuration agent to provide context specific information associated with the mobile terminal to the gateway; and

a transceiver configured to receive requests from the requesting entities and configured to provide data in response to the received requests.

23. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising a textual display coupled to the transceiver and adapted to visually display the received requests.

24. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising a speaker coupled to the transceiver and adapted to provide the received requests in an audible format.

25. The mobile terminal of claim 22, further comprising a camera coupled to the transceiver and adapted to provide video data in response to the received requests.

26. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which are executable by a mobile terminal for providing content to a gateway by performing steps comprising:

obtaining location updates relative to a position of the mobile terminal;

communicating the location updates to the gateway;

communicating information to the gateway that is context specific to the mobile terminal; and

receiving requests from the gateway for data contained within the mobile terminal, the requests being received in response to the location and the context of the mobile terminal.

27. A gateway capable of being coupled to a network to facilitate a mobile Web server based content search, the gateway comprising:

means for receiving location updates from a plurality of mobile terminals;

means for receiving context specific information from a plurality of mobile terminals;

means for providing a list of the location and the context specific information associated with the plurality of mobile terminals to the network; and

means for receiving requests for data from the network in response to the provided list.

28. The gateway of claim 27, further comprising means for providing the requests for data to the plurality of mobile terminals.

29. The gateway of claim 28, further comprising means for receiving responses from the plurality of mobile terminals in response to providing the requests for data to the plurality of mobile terminals.

30. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which are executable by a gateway by performing steps comprising:

receiving location updates from a plurality of mobile terminals;

receiving context specific information from a plurality of mobile terminals;

providing a list of the location and the context specific information associated with the plurality of mobile terminals to the network; and

receiving requests for data from the network in response to the provided list.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, further comprising instructions performing steps comprising providing the requests for data to the plurality of mobile terminals.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 31, further comprising instructions performing steps comprising receiving responses from the plurality of mobile terminals in response to providing the requests for data to the plurality of mobile terminals.