Portable local server with context sensing

• US 20070110010A1
• Filed: 11/14/2005
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Savinen, Teppo, Kotola, Sakari
• Granted Patent: US 7,412,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system for distributing information via short-range wireless communication. A mobile server receives information from an information provider for distribution to encountered devices. The information received from the service provider may contain both content to be distributed and context information that controls how the content is distributed. The mobile server may sense current environmental conditions, which are compared to distribution rules created from the context information to control how content information is distributed. The present invention is suitable for many applications, including the distribution of podcast-related information.

Claims

1. A method for distributing information via wireless communication comprising:

receiving information into a distribution device;

creating distribution rules based upon the received information;

sensing environmental conditions pertaining to the distribution device;

determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution based on the distribution rules and the environmental conditions; and

distributing the portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution from the distribution device via short-range wireless communication.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information includes at least content information to be distributed to other encountered wireless communication devices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the received information further includes context information corresponding to the content information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the distribution rules for distributing the content information are derived from the context information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution device is enabled to communicate via long-range and short-range wireless communication.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution device receives information via an automatic download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the distribution device receives information via a manual download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensed environmental conditions include at least one of current time, current date, current location, current temperature, inputs from the distribution device mounting location and information related to other wireless communication devices in short-range communication range to the distribution device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution includes comparing conditions set forth in the distribution rules to the sensed environmental conditions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the distribution device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the other devices.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information includes links for obtaining other information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the links, when selected, cause a device containing the received information to automatically download the other information from the Internet.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the received information includes information related to the availability of podcasts.

15. A device for distributing information via wireless communication comprising:

a receiver for receiving information into the distribution device;

a computing device for creating distribution rules based upon the received information;

sensors for sensing environmental conditions pertaining to the distribution device;

a computing device for determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution based on the distribution rules and the environmental conditions; and

a transmitter for distributing the portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution from the distribution device via short-range wireless communication.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the received information includes at least content information to be distributed to other encountered wireless communication devices.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the received information further includes context information corresponding to the content information.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the distribution rules for distributing the content information are derived from the context information.

19. The device of claim 15, wherein the distribution device is enabled to communicate via long-range and short-range wireless communication.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein the distribution device receives information via an automatic download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

21. The device of claim 15, wherein the distribution device receives information via a manual download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

22. The device of claim 15, wherein the sensed environmental conditions include at least one of current time, current date, current location, current temperature, inputs from the distribution device mounting location and information related to other wireless communication devices in short-range communication range to the distribution device.

23. The device of claim 15, wherein determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution includes comparing conditions set forth in the distribution rules to the sensed environmental conditions.

24. The device of claim 15, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the distribution device.

25. The device of claim 15, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the other devices.

26. The device of claim 15, wherein the received information includes links for obtaining other information.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the links, when selected, cause a device containing the received information to automatically download the other information from the Internet.

28. The device of claim 15, wherein the received information includes information related to the availability of podcasts.

29. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied in said medium for distributing information via wireless communication comprising:

a computer readable program code for receiving information into a distribution device;

a computer readable program code for creating distribution rules based upon the received information;

a computer readable program code for sensing environmental conditions pertaining to the distribution device;

a computer readable program code for determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution based on the distribution rules and the environmental conditions; and

a computer readable program code for distributing the portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution from the distribution device via short-range wireless communication.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the received information includes at least content information to be distributed to other encountered wireless communication devices.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein the received information further includes context information corresponding to the content information.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the distribution rules for distributing the content information are derived from the context information.

33. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the distribution device is enabled to communicate via long-range and short-range wireless communication.

34. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the distribution device receives information via an automatic download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

35. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the distribution device receives information via a manual download over short-range wireless communication, long-range wireless communication or wired communication.

36. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the sensed environmental conditions include at least one of current time, current date, current location, current temperature, inputs from the distribution device mounting location and information related to other wireless communication devices in short-range communication range to the distribution device.

37. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution includes comparing conditions set forth in the distribution rules to the sensed environmental conditions.

38. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the distribution device.

39. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein communication between the distribution device and other encountered wireless communication devices is initiated by the other devices.

40. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the received information includes links for obtaining other information.

41. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein the links, when selected, cause a device containing the received information to automatically download the other information from the Internet.

42. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the received information includes information related to the availability of podcasts.

43. A wireless communication device, comprising:

a short-range wireless receiver for receiving information related to podcast availability;

sensors for sensing environmental conditions pertaining to the wireless communication device;

a computing device for determining whether the information related to podcast availability is permitted for reception in view of the sensed environmental conditions, and if permitted, for organizing the received information related to podcast availability into a user preferred listing;

a display device for displaying the user preferred listing, and for further facilitating the selection of a podcast from the user preferred listing;

a wireless transmitter for transmitting a wireless download request based on the selected podcast; and

a wireless receiver for receiving the selected podcast.

44. A system for distributing information via wireless communication comprising:

an information provider;

a distribution device;

a client device;

the distribution device receiving information from the information provider;

the distribution device creating distribution rules based upon the information received from the information provider;

the distribution device sensing current environmental conditions;

the distribution device determining a portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution to the client device based on the distribution rules and the current environmental conditions;

the distribution device distributing the portion of the received information that is permitted for distribution via short-range wireless communication;

the client device sensing current environmental conditions; and

.

the client device determining whether the distributed information is permitted for reception in view of the sensed environmental conditions.