CONTEXTUAL DATA COMMUNICATION PLATFORM

• US 20080189360A1
• Filed: 01/19/2008
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: 3PMobile
• Inventors: Cranstone, Peter J., Kiley, Kevin J., Coker, Elizabeth A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,873,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for a contextual data platform are provided. According to one embodiment, a request is received from a client at a server. Responsive to the request, the client is caused to display a customized menu structure by transmitting to the client contextual menu information based in part on a resource associated with the request. According to another embodiment, an augmented HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) request is received from a client application. The augmented HTTP request identifies a resource and indicates a desired action to be performed on the resource. Personalization information is identified and extracted from HTTP header fields associated with the request. The personalization information includes one or more of personal and preference information, device information and location information. Then, the content associated with the resource and/or a format in which the content is delivered to the client application is customized based on the personalization information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a client at an information server; and

responsive to the request, causing the client to display a customized menu structure by transmitting to the client contextual menu information based at least in part on a resource associated with the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises an augmented HTTP request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes contextual data indicative of one or more of (i) personal information regarding an end user of an Internet-enabled device upon which the client is running, (ii) device information regarding capabilities or characteristics of the Internet device and (iii) a geographical location of the Internet-enabled device;

and wherein the contextual menu information is influenced by the contextual data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the Internet-enabled device comprises a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, an ultra mobile PC, a game console, a pocket personal computer or a mobile phone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the customized menu structure comprises a browser menu and wherein the contextual menu information is intended at least in part to shift navigation away from a web page associated with the resource and into the browser menu.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting to the client contextual menu information comprises transmitting to the client an augmented HyperText Markup Language (HTML) file within which the contextual menu information is embedded.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the client comprises a browser, the method further comprising:

identifying and extracting contextual data from one or more HTTP header fields associated with the HTTP request; and

based on a web service identified by the HTTP request and at least a portion of the contextual data, providing the browser the contextual menu information according to which the browser is to programmatically customize menus associated with the browser.

9. A method comprising:

generating, by a client, a request to an information server;

receiving a response to the request having associated therewith contextual menu information based at least in part on a resource identified by the request; and

responsive to the contextual menu information, the client displaying a customized menu structure to facilitate ongoing interaction with the resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the request comprises a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) request.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the request comprises an augmented HTTP request.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the request includes contextual data indicative of one or more of (i) personal information regarding an end user of an Internet-enabled device upon which the client is running, (ii) device information regarding capabilities or characteristics of the Internet-enabled device and (iii) a geographical location of the Internet-enabled device;

and wherein the contextual menu information is influenced by the contextual data.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the customized menu structure comprises a browser menu and wherein the contextual menu information is intended at least in part to shift navigation away from a web page associated with the resource and into the browser menu.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said receiving a response to the request having associated therewith contextual menu information comprises receiving an augmented HyperText Markup Language (HTLM) file within which the contextual menu information is embedded.

15. A method comprising:

receiving an augmented HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) request from a client application, the augmented HTTP request identifying a resource and indicating a desired action to be performed on the identified resource;

identifying and extracting personalization information, including one or more of (i) personal and preference information regarding an end user of a client device running the client application, (ii) device information regarding capabilities or characteristics of the client device and (iii) location information indicative of a geographical location of the client device, from one or more HTTP header fields associated with the augmented HTTP request; and

customizing one or more of content associated with the identified resource and a format in which the content is delivered to the client application based on the personalization information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the personal and preference information includes one or more of personal interest data and demographic data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the personal and preference information includes user or machine-entered demographic, psychographic, preference and personally identifying data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the personally identifying data includes one or more of a name of the end user, an address of the end user, a phone number at which the end user can be contacted, an electronic mail (email) address at which the end user can be reached, a social security number of the end user, a national ID number of the end user, an employee number of the end user, credit card information of the end user and a language in which the end user would prefer information to be presented.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the device information includes one or more of characteristics, settings or parameters of an operating system installed on the client device, a first unique device identifier, a second unique device identifier and a phone number associated with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card of the client device, client device capabilities and dynamic status information.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the location information includes one or more of (i) latitude, longitude and altitude data provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver associated with the client device, (ii) absolute location data provided by the GPS receiver, and (iii) location data provided by a cell tower signal, Wi-Fi or Wi-Max access point or any other location determining technology resident on or communicatively coupled with the client device.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more HTTP header fields comprise request-header fields associated with a predefined user-agent request-header field value.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the client application comprises an HTTP browser.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the client device comprises a mobile device or a general purpose device that is designed to connect to the Internet.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein the resource is identified by way of a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

25. A method comprising:

responsive to end user interaction with a client device running a client application, generating an augmented HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) request to be processed by a server, the augmented HTTP request identifying a resource and indicating a desired action to be performed on the identified resource;

the client application inserting personalization information, including one or more of (i) personal and preference information regarding an end user of the client device, (ii) device information regarding capabilities or characteristics of the client device and (iii) location information indicative of a geographical location of the client device, into the one or more HTTP header fields associated with the augmented HTTP request; and

responsive to the augmented HTTP request, the client application receiving content associated with the identified resource in which one or more of the content and a format in which the content is received is customized based on the personalization information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the personal and preference information includes one or more of personally identifying data, personal interest data and demographic data.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the device information includes one or more of characteristics, settings or parameters of an operating system installed on the client device, a first unique device identifier, a second unique device identifier and a phone number associated with a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card of the client device, client device capabilities and dynamic status information.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the location information includes one or more of (i) latitude, longitude and altitude data provided by a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver associated with the client device, (ii) absolute location data provided by the GPS receiver, and (iii) location data provided by a cell tower signal, Wi-Fi or Wi-Max access point or any other location determining technology resident on or communicatively coupled with the client device.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the one or more HTTP header fields comprise request-header fields associated with a predefined user-agent request-header field value.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein said inserting personalization information is performed selectively on a field-by-field basis in accordance with configured preferences set within the client application.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising encrypting and compressing the personalization information prior to transmission to the server and allowing for multiple encryption and compression techniques.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the client application comprises an HTTP browser.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

responsive to the augmented HTTP request, the client device receiving an augmented HTTP response including menu information intended to facilitate interaction with the identified resource by the HTTP browser; and

dynamically and programmatically configuring a menu structure of the HTTP browser based at least in part upon the menu information.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein the client device comprises a mobile device or an Internet enabled device.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein the resource is identified by way of a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).