Distribution system for data items

• US 20080195943A1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spinlet Corp.
• Original Assignee: Spinlet Corp.
• Inventors: Leino, Ville V., Leino, Sami S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,154 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/705
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Distribution system for data items where information on amounts of topics may be used to scope further actions on the information. Data items are created topically in various locations, provided with position-based annotation and made publicly available. Search on desired data items is scoped using views that show the amount of available data items for one or more sub-areas of a geographical area.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

recording data items provided by mobile user terminals, a data item being associated with position information element;

providing a position selection view, the position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements, a coordinate element corresponding to at least one position information element;

providing, in response to a selection of a coordinate element from the position selection view, a data item view comprising data items associated with position information elements that correspond with the selected coordinate element;

providing, in response to a selection of a data item, access to the data item.

32. A system configured to implement the method of claim 1.

35. A computer program product encoding a computer process of instructions for executing a computer process for data item transmission, the process including the steps of claim 1.

36. A computer program distribution medium readable by a computer and encoding a computer program of instructions for data item transmission, the process including the steps of claim 1.

37. The computer program distribution medium of claim 36, the distribution medium comprising a computer readable medium, a program storage medium, a record medium, a computer readable memory, a computer readable software distribution package, a computer readable signal, a computer readable telecommunications signal, and a computer readable compressed software package.

2. A method comprising:

contracting in a user terminal of a telecommunication system a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy defining accessibility of the data items generated in the user terminal to other entities contracting the same distribution policy;

generating in the user terminal a data item;

marking in the user terminal the data item public, the public marking indicating that other entities may inherently access the data item according to the contracted distribution policy;

generating an indexing record on the data item;

providing the indexing record at least to other entities contracting the same distribution policy;

providing access to the data item according to the contracted distribution policy.

3. A method according to claim 2, comprising

storing generated data items in the user terminal;

configuring the user terminal with at least one transmission state, a transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the user terminal during which transmission of one or more data items from the user terminal is allowed; and

preventing transmission of data items from the user terminal during operational states that do not correspond with any of the transmission states.

4. A method according to 3, comprising

allowing transmission of indexing records also during operational states that do not correspond with any of the transmission states.

5. A method according to claim 2, comprising

storing generated data items in the user terminal;

configuring the user terminal with at least one indexing state, the indexing state corresponding with an operational state of the user terminal during which generation of indexing records on data items is allowed; and

preventing generation of indexing records during operational states that do not correspond with any of the indexing states.

6. A method according to claim 5, comprising

configuring an indexing state to correspond with an idle state of the user terminal, the idle state of the user terminal being an operational state during which the user terminal is not sending or receiving user data through the telecommunication system.

7. A method according to claim 2, comprising

annotating the data item with position information element;

including the position information element to the indexing record.

8. A method according to claim 2, comprising

contracting the distribution policy for data items in form of application program executed in the user terminal.

9. A method according to claim 8, comprising

storing generated data items in the user terminal;

sending to an application node a notification when entering the communication system.

10. A method according to claim 9, comprising

contracting the distribution policy in a mobile user equipment of a cellular network;

sending the notification to the application node from the mobile user equipment in response to registering to the communication system.

33. A user terminal configured to implement the method of claim 2.

11. A method for a user terminal of a telecommunication system, the method comprising:

contracting a retrieving policy for data items, the retrieving policy defining accessibility of data items generated in other entities contracting the same distribution policy, and each of the data items having an indexing record comprising at least a position information element;

providing a first selection view for selecting a number of coordinate elements;

providing subsequently a second selection view for selecting data items, indexing records of which include a position information element that corresponds with a coordinate element selected through the first selection view;

retrieving through the telecommunication system the data items selected through the second selection view.

12. A method according to claim 11, comprising

sending, in response to a selection of a coordinate element, to the telecommunication system information for determining at least one position information element that corresponds to the selected coordinate element;

receiving from the telecommunication system information on at least one data item, an indexing record of which includes the determined position information element.

13. A method according to claim 11, comprising

defining for information retrieval a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in indexing records of the data items;

providing in the second selection view only data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

14. A method according to claim 13, comprising including in the filter condition a requirement for at least one of the following information elements:

type of the data item, time of generation of the data item, type of source of the data item, size of the data item, search term associated with the data item, media type of the data item, output device type definition associated with the data item.

15. A method according to claim 11, comprising

configuring the first selection view such that the first view comprises a group of coordinate elements, and for each of the coordinate elements the amount of data items generated within a predefined period of time and the indexing records of which comprise position information elements corresponding to the coordinate element becomes visible.

16. A method according to claim 15, comprising providing the first view in form of a map comprising a number of map coordinate elements, and data items being shown as visual indications in place of the corresponding map coordinate elements.

17. A method according to claim 14, comprising

providing before the first selection view a third selection view for selecting a group of coordinate elements from a number of groups of coordinate elements.

18. A method according to claim 14, comprising

defining for information retrieval a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in indexing records of the data items;

providing before the first selection view a fourth selection view for selecting at least one filter condition for the filter;

providing in the first selection view only data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

19. A method according to claim 11, comprising utilizing a data item in at least one of the following ways:

outputting the data item through a user equipment device of the user terminal, initiating a communication session by activating a link included in the data item.

20. A method according to claim 11, comprising storing values of one or more information elements in indexing records of selected data items into search profile.

21. A method according to claim 20, comprising sending the search profile to an application node accessible through the telecommunication system.

22. A method according to claim 20, comprising

sending a request for data items fulfilling the search profile at defined intervals through the telecommunication system.

23. A method, comprising:

connecting through a telecommunication system a plurality of user terminals to an application node;

recording in the application node data items of a plurality of user terminals;

providing the recorded data items for search to the plurality of user terminals;

receiving from a user terminal a request for a searched data item;

checking the availability of the data item;

initiating, in response to the data item not being available, a follow-up procedure for detecting an instance when the data item becomes available;

retrieving the data item from the user terminal in response to detecting the instance;

providing the retrieved data item to the user terminal.

24. A method according to claim 23, comprising

recording data items of user terminals storing generated data items and transmitting data items only at predefined transmission states;

storing received data items in a database accessible to the application node;

checking the availability of the data item first from a database;

checking the availability of the data item from the storing user terminal, in response to the data item not being available in the database.

25. A method according to claim 24, comprising

recording data items of a mobile user equipment of a cellular network;

receiving a notification from a mobile user equipment in response to the user equipment registering to the communication system.

checking the availability of the data item from the mobile user equipment in response to detecting the notification.

26. A method according to claim 23, comprising

contracting a retrieving policy for data items, the retrieving policy defining accessibility of data items generated in user terminals contracting the same distribution policy, and each of the data items having an indexing record comprising at least a position information element;

receiving from a user terminal information for determining at least one position information element of a data item;

sending information on at least one data item, an indexing record of which includes the determined position information element.

27. A method according to claim 26, comprising

defining a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in indexing records of the data items;

sending information only on data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

28. A method according to claim 27, comprising including in the filter condition a requirement for at least one of the following information elements:

time of generation of the data item, type of source of the data item, size of the data item, search term associated with the data item, media type of the data item, output device type definition associated with the data item, capabilities of output device related to the data item reflecting to data item itself, location of the data item, location where the data item was created, type of data item, annotation of data item, private or public status of data item.

29. A method according to claim 23, comprising storing values of one or more information elements in indexing record of one or more data items parallelly or subsequently requested by the user equipment into a search profile.

30. A method according to claim 23, comprising receiving a search profile comprising values of one or more information elements in indexing record of one or more data items parallelly or subsequently requested by the user equipment.

31. A method according to claim 29, comprising Searching for data items fulfilling the search profile at defined intervals through the telecommunication system.

34. An application node configured to implement the method of claim 23.

38. A method for providing additional data items along with user data items, comprising:

associating a plurality of user data items with respective position information elements;

associating at least one of the data items with at least two additional data items;

retrieving the selected data item to the user terminal;

determining the position of the user consuming the data item;

selecting the additional data item to be provided to the user consuming the data item according to the position of the user.