Method of providing content to a mobile web browsing device

• US 20070078964A1
• Filed: 09/16/2004
• Published: 04/05/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Synchronoss Software Ireland Limited (Synchronoss Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: ShoZu, Inc. (Synchronoss Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Greenwell, Thomas, Spence, Stephen, Stalker, Mark, East, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,771 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

Content is automatically provided to a mobile web browsing device from a web server, by the following process: (a) receiving at a computer, remotely connected to the device over a wireless network, a log of data identifying content that has been viewed by the device; (b) automatically sending updated content stored on the web server to the device over the wireless network; (c) causing that updated content to be automatically stored in device memory. Because user activity is replicated back from the device to the remote computer, the content cached on a given device can be completely optimised for the user of that device and no-one else.

Claims

1. A method of providing content to a mobile web browsing device from a web server, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving at a computer, remotely connected to the device over a wireless network, a log of data identifying content that has been viewed by the device;

(b) automatically sending updated content stored on the web server to the device over the wireless network;

(c) causing that updated content to be automatically stored in device memory.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the log is generated at the device and replicated at the remote computer.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer views multiple content from the web server and determines if the content has changed.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer views multiple content from the web server and determines when the content has changed.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer is notified by the web server if the content on the server has changed.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer directly sends updated content to the device or causes the updated content to be sent to the device.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the remote computer makes a decision whether or not to send, or cause to be sent, the updated content, by taking into account one or more of the following:

(a) How fast the content on the web server is changing;

(b) How often the user views the content;

(c) What time of day it is;

(d) What day of the week it is;

(e) What an operator of the wireless network wants to promote.

8. The method of claim 1 in which the operator of the wireless network can set thresholds for all of the above conditions.

9. The method of claim 7 or 8 in which these thresholds are controlled at the remote computer and so can be updated at any point by the operator if it wants to implement different caching strategies.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer determines how long the cached data on the phone should stay cached before the data is removed and the device goes back to using a normal download from the web server.

11. The method of claim 1 in which the remote computer sends data to the device that automatically causes the device to display a link to new content, the new content being automatically stored on the device.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the device includes a user interface that indicates whether given content is already stored in device memory or not.

13. The method of claim 1 in which the log also records the time that a specific item of content was viewed by the device.

14. The method of claim 1 in which the log identifies whether content that is being viewed is updated content that had earlier been stored in device memory.

15. The method of claim 1 in which the updated content is sent at off-peak periods or to otherwise fill bandwidth troughs.

16. A mobile web browsing device able to download and store content from a web server over a wireless network, wherein the device is programmed to:

(a) create a log of data identifying the content that is being viewed by the device;

(b) send that log to a remote computer;

(c) receive updated content;

(d) automatically store that updated content in memory.

17. A software application, programmed to allow a mobile web browsing device to download and display content from a web server over a wireless network, wherein the application is further programmed to:

(a) log data identifying content that is being viewed by the device;

(b) cause the log to be sent to a remote computer;

(c) receive a notification that updated content has been received by the device;

(d) cause that updated content to be automatically stored in device memory.