HUMAN READABLE ICONIC DISPLAY SERVER

• US 20120137256A1
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent Canada Incorporated (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Lalancette, Richard, Elias, Mike, West, Stephen Nelson
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/846
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/30 Transportation; Communications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

The invention is directed to providing a method for managing a human-readable icon associated with a user for displaying the human-readable icon on one or more target displays in response to a request for a service from the user. An icon server is used to manage and validate a unique human readable icon. The publicly-viewable human-readable icon can provide confirmation to the user for a request for service while providing a level of anonymity.

Claims

1. A method of managing a human readable icon, the method comprising steps of:

receiving a request for a service for a user;

associating said request with a human-readable icon for said user; and

sending said human-readable icon to a display upon grant of said request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said request comprises an identifier associated with said user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said associating step further comprises a step of retrieving said human-readable icon from an icon database using said identifier.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said step of receiving a request comprises receiving said request from a service provider.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of receiving a request comprises receiving said request from a user-operable device.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said user-operable device comprises a portable device.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of selecting said display from among a plurality of displays.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said display is at a point of service.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said step of sending said icon comprises sending said icon to one or more of said plurality of displays.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said one or more of said plurality of displays are arranged to direct said user spatially.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said one or more of said plurality of displays are mobile.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein one of said plurality of displays comprises a display on said user-operable device.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein said service comprises a taxi service and wherein said step of selecting comprises selecting a taxi and wherein said one or more of said plurality of displays comprise a rooftop display and a dashboard-mounted driver display of said taxi.

14. The method of claim 3 wherein said associating step further comprises a step of verifying said human-readable icon is unique among icons stored on said icon database.

15. The method of claim 3 wherein said human-readable icon is selected from a predefined set of unique human-readable icons stored on said icon database.

16. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps of claim 1.