SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING TIME-SENSITIVE ALERTS IN A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20110153754A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Clear Wireless LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: GUNASEKARA, Don
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,514 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

In various embodiments, a method for receiving alerts through a network includes providing a device having a pop-up management module and a display; providing a communications interface between the device and one or more database systems located outside the network; providing a user interface configured to allow the user to selectively choose to display, on the display, one or more message types generated by the one or more database systems, wherein said one or more message types are received by said pop-up management module via the network and displayed on the display as a pop-up message. A related system includes a device registered in the network having a processor, a memory device, a transceiver, a user interface, and a display, wherein the processor is configured to control a pop-up management module for displaying one or more message types as a pop-up message. The device may be a WiMAX-enabled device and the network may be a WiMAX network.

Claims

1. A method of receiving alerts through a communications network, the method comprising:

providing a mobile device registered in the network, said mobile device comprising a pop-up management module and a display;

providing a communications interface between the mobile device and one or more database systems located outside the network;

providing a user interface in the mobile device configured to allow the user to selectively choose to display, on the display, one or more message types generated by the one or more database systems,

wherein a message of said one or more message types are pushed over the network from a network server and received by the mobile device, wherein said received message is processed by said pop-up management module and displayed on the display as a pop-up message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more message types comprise a plurality of message types selected from the group consisting of a missing child alert, a weather alert, a traffic alert, a natural disaster alert, and a governmental alert.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more message types comprise one or more governmental alerts selected from the group consisting of a crime alert, a terrorism alert, and a disaster alert.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more database systems comprise one or more governmental databases selected from the group consisting of a law enforcement database, a missing persons database, and a weather database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more database systems comprise one or more subscription-based database systems.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more subscription-based databases comprise a news database system or a financial investment database system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a WiMAX-enabled device and the network is a WiMAX network, wherein the communications interface between the WiMAX-enabled device and one or more database systems located outside the WiMAX network is implemented using TCP/IP.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pop-up management module is implemented as a client application configured to operate in a client-server relationship with the one or more database systems.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is adapted to allow the user to selectively configure one or more of an audio alert and a pop-up duration for each of the one or more message types.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is adapted to allow the user to selectively establish a non-real time display schedule for each of the one or more message types.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the pop-up management module processes the received message by translating a native format of the one or more message types into the pop-up message.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting text in the pop-up message to audio using a text-to-voice converter.

13. A system for providing alerts to a user through a data network, the system comprising:

a mobile device registered in the network, said mobile device comprising a processor, a memory device, a transceiver configured to selectively transmit and receive data over the network, a user interface, and a display, wherein the processor is configured to control a pop-up management module;

a communications interface between the mobile device and one or more database systems located outside the network;

wherein the user interface is configured to allow the user to selectively choose to display, on the display, one or more message types generated by the one or more database systems,

wherein said one or more message types are received by said pop-up management module via the network and displayed on the display as a pop-up message.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more message types comprise a plurality of message types selected from the group consisting of a missing child alert, a weather alert, a traffic alert, a natural disaster alert, and a governmental alert.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more message types comprise one or more governmental alerts selected from the group consisting of a crime alert, a terrorism alert, and a disaster alert.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more database systems comprise one or more governmental databases selected from the group consisting of a law enforcement database, a missing persons database, and a weather database.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more database systems comprise one or more subscription-based database systems.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more subscription-based databases comprise a news database system or a financial investment database system.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile device is a WiMAX-enable device and the data network is a WiMAX network, wherein the communications interface between the WiMAX-enabled device and one or more database systems located outside the WiMAX network is implemented using TCP/IP.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the pop-up management module is implemented as a client application configured to operate in a client-server relationship with the one or more database systems.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to allow the user to selectively configure one or more of an audio alert and a pop-up duration for each of the one or more message types.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the user interface is adapted to allow the user to selectively establish a non-real time display schedule for each of the one or more message types.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein the pop-up management module processes the received message by translating a native format of the one or more message types into the pop-up message.

24. The system of claim 13, further comprising a text-to-voice converter configured to convert text in the pop-up message to audio.

25. A computer-readable medium comprising computer readable code embodied thereon which, when executed by a processor arranged in a WiMAX-enabled device comprising a display, a pop-up management module, and a user interface, causes the processor to carry out the functions of:

receiving one or more alert message types over a communications interface between the WiMAX-enabled device and one or more database systems located outside the WiMAX network;

allowing the user to selectively configure display characteristics for each of the one or more message types received from the one or more database systems;

processing one or more messages from the one or more database systems in the pop-up management module; and

displaying said one or more messages processed by said pop-up management module on the display as a pop-up message.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the communications interface between the WiMAX-enabled device and one or more database systems located outside the WiMAX network is implemented using TCP/IP.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the pop-up management module is implemented as a client application configured to operate in a client-server relationship with the one or more database systems.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the user interface is controlled by the processor to allow the user to selectively configure one or more of an audio alert and a pop-up duration for each of the one or more message types.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the pop-up management module processes the received message by translating a native format of the one or more message types into the pop-up message.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the user interface is configured to allow the user to selectively establish a non-real time display schedule for each of the one or more message types.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the functions carried out by the processor further comprise converting text in the pop-up message to audio via a text-to-voice conversion process.