Content delivery to a mobile device from a content service

• US 20090157792A1
• Filed: 12/13/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Inventors: Fiatal, Trevor
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/72 Subscriber identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

Systems and methods for delivering digital content to a mobile device from a digital content provider are disclosed. Digital content is selected using a selection interface on the mobile device. The selected content is then transferred to a computing device by the digital content provider and subsequently transferred to the mobile device by the computing device. In some embodiments, the digital content is reformatted before being transferred to the mobile device. The digital content may be streamed from the computer system to the mobile device. A service provider of a network through which the mobile device connects to the digital content provider may bill a user of the mobile device on behalf of the digital content provider. The digital content provider may bill the user of the mobile device using a Premium SMS service.

Claims

1. A system for delivery of digital content to a mobile device comprising:

a server hosting digital content, the server configured to;

transfer digital content to a computing device via a network connection, the digital content transferred in response to a user selection at the mobile device; and

a computing device communicatively coupled to the server and the mobile device via at least one network, the computing device configured to;

receive the digital content from the server via the network connection,

store the digital content in a computer readable storage medium, and

transfer a representation of the digital content to the mobile device via a mobile network connection, the representation of the digital content transferred in response to the user selection at the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to reformat the digital content before transferring the digital content to the mobile device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein reformatting the digital content is performed based upon available bandwidth of the mobile network connection.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein reformatting the digital content is performed based upon a characteristic of the mobile device selected from the group consisting of screen size, screen resolution, memory size, available free memory, supported codecs, supported bit rate, supported sampling rate, supported sample resolution, supported video frame rate, processing power, user-selectable preference, and preset preference.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the transfer includes streaming the representation of the digital content to the mobile device via the mobile network connection.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to conduct a financial transaction related to the user selection, and wherein the mobile device provides a unique authentication token to validate the financial transaction.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the unique authentication token includes at least one identifying element selected from the group consisting of Electronic Serial Number (ESN), telephone number, customer account number, user ID, and password.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the server is further configured to bill a user of the mobile device for the financial transaction via a service operator of a mobile network associated with the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the server is further configured to bill a user of the mobile device for the financial transaction via a Premium SMS message sent via a service operator of a mobile network associated with the mobile device in response to the user selection at the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device acts as a proxy to facilitate communication between the mobile device and the server hosting digital content.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a central server communicatively coupled to the computing device and to the mobile device, the central server configured to relay a representation of the digital content from the computing device to the mobile device and to optionally reformat the representation of the digital content while relaying the representation of the digital content to the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to selectively transfer a representation of a portion of the digital content to the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to selectively replace existing digital content with the representation of the digital content transferred to the mobile device by the computing device.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to transfer multiple representations of the digital content to the computing device.

15. A method for delivery of digital content to a mobile device comprising:

receiving digital content from a server at a computing device in response to a user selection at a mobile device, the computing device including a computer readable storage medium;

storing the digital content on the computer readable storage medium at the computing device; and

transferring a representation of the digital content from the computing device to the mobile device in response to the user selection at the mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising reformatting the representation of the digital content.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein transferring the digital content from the computing device to the mobile device includes streaming the digital content from the computing device to the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising conducting a financial transaction related to the user selection of digital content at the mobile device.

19. A method of billing for digital content purchased from a digital content provider using a mobile device, the method comprising:

identifying a user of the mobile device;

identifying the digital content purchased by the user of the mobile device;

determining a price of the digital content purchased by the user of the mobile device;

submitting information representative of the purchase to a service provider of a mobile network associated with the mobile device, the invoice comprising;

the identity of the user of the mobile device, and

the price of the digital content purchased by the user of the mobile device, wherein the user is billed by the service provider of the network on behalf of the digital content provider.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising sending a Premium SMS message to the user via the network to conduct a financial transaction relating to the purchase.

21. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor for performing a method for delivery of data to a mobile device, the method comprising:

listing data available for transfer to the mobile device;

receiving a user selection of data to transfer to the mobile device;

optionally reformatting a representation of the data to transfer to the mobile device; and

transferring the representation of the data to the mobile device.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein transferring the representation of the data to the mobile device includes streaming the data to the mobile device.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises receiving the data from a server at a computing device in response to the user selection.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the computing device serves as a proxy for the mobile device to access the server.