Configurable man-machine interface

• US 6,509,913 B2
• Filed: 04/30/1998
• Issued: 01/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovation Company Limited Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Openwave Systems Incorporated (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Boyle, Steve S., Martin, Jr., Bruce K., Schwartz, Bruce V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao H.
• Application Number:
  US09/070,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20020122061A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,727 Days
• Field of Search: 345/329, 345/334, 345/335, 345/339, 345/349, 345/346, 345/357, 345/968, 345/733, 345/765, 345/762, 345/764, 345/804, 345/854, 707/513, 707/531, 707/512, 455/418, 455/419, 455/420, 455/566
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0879 Manual configuration through operator
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00503 Customising to a particular machine or model, machine function or application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00509 Personalising for a particular user or group of users, e.g. a workgroup or company

Abstract

Improved techniques for configuring user interfaces (e.g., man-machine interfaces) for wireless devices are disclosed. The configuring of user interfaces is able to be controlled by a network operator such that replacement, alteration or customization of the user interfaces by network operators is possible. Besides the ability to partially or completely change the user interface, such configuring or customization enables network operators to provide options, logos, advertising, etc. in a controllable way.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a user interface on a display screen associated with a remote computing device operating a browser program and capable of being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:

(a) receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being received at least partially from the network server, and the screen configuration information further including resource locators that specify content to be displayed in the user interface components, the content being separate and apart from the screen configuration information;

(b) locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

(c) retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

(d) displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on the display screen.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the screen configuration information provides a screen layout description and controls placement of the user interface components.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the configuration information is provided by a markup language.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein at least one of the resource locators is a default resource locator.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portable computing device is a mobile phone.

5. A method for configuring a user interface on a display screen associated with a remote computing device operating a browser program and capable of being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:

(a) receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being received at least partially from the network server, and for each of the user interface components, the configuration information designates either a default resource locator or an override resource locator;

(b) locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

(c) retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

(d) displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on the display screen.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein the override resource locators are locators of content on a remote server.

7. A method for configuring a user interface on a display screen associated with a remote computing device operating a browser program and capable of being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:

(a) receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being received at least partially from the network server, the configuration information including resource locators for content to be displayed in the user interface components, and the resource locators being stored in an alias table in the remote computing device;

(b) locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

(c) retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

(d) displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on the display screen.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein for each of the user interface components, the configuration information designates either a default resource locator or an override resource locator, and

wherein the alias table stores URIs for at least the override resource locators.

10. A method for configuring a user interface on a display screen associated with a remote computing device operating a browser program and capable of being coupled to a network server, said method comprising:

(a) receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being provided by a remote server machine with which the remote computing device can couple with to retrieve the screen configuration information, and the screen configuration information further including resource locators that specify content to be displayed in the user interface components, the content being separate and apart from the screen configuration information;

(b) locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

(c) retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

(d) displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on the display screen.

11. A mobile device that couples to a network server, comprising:

a display screen; and

a computer readable media storing computer program instructions for operating a browser program and for storing computer program instructions for configuring a user interface on said display screen,

wherein the computer program instructions for configuring the user interface on said display screen include;

program code for receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being received at least partially from the network server, and the screen configuration information further including resource locators that specify content to be displayed in the user interface components, the content being separate and apart from the screen configuration information;

program code for locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

program code for retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

program code for displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on said display screen.

12. A mobile device as recited in claim 11, wherein said mobile device is a mobile telephone and has said display screen integral therewith.

13. A mobile device as recited in claim 11, wherein said mobile device is a wireless pager and has said display screen integral therewith.

14. A mobile device as recited in claim 11,

wherein said mobile device includes volatile memory storage, and

wherein said program code for locating utilizes a look-up table stored in said volatile memory storage.

15. A mobile device as recited in claim 11,

wherein said mobile device includes volatile memory storage, and

wherein said program code for locating comprises:

program code for downloading the screen configuration information from the network server; and

program code for storing the screen configuration information in said volatile memory storage.

16. A mobile device as recited in claim 15,

wherein said program code for storing the screen configuration information in said volatile memory storage stores the screen configuration information in a table within said volatile memory storage, and

wherein said program code for storing the screen configuration information in said volatile memory storage includes program code for indexing into the table using the user interface component to identify the resource location for the user interface component.

17. A computer readable medium containing program code for configuring a user interface on a display screen associated with a remote computing device operating a browser program and capable of being coupled to a network server, said computer readable medium comprising:

first program code for receiving screen configuration information that contains a plurality of user interface components that together form a screen to be displayed on the display screen, each of the user interface components corresponding to a particular aspect of the user interface, the screen configuration information being received at least partially from the network server, and the screen configuration information further including resource locators that specify content to be displayed in the user interface components, the content being separate and apart from the screen configuration information;

second program code for locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

third program code for locating particular content information for the user interface components based on the screen configuration information;

fourth program code for retrieving the particular content information for the user interface components; and

fifth program code for displaying the content information for the identified user interface component on the display screen.

18. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 17, wherein the remote computing device is a mobile device having the display screen integrally formed therewith.

19. A server machine for centrally managing user interfaces for different mobile devices having display screens, said computer system comprising:

a memory for storing user interface information for mobile devices; and

a user interface controller operatively connected to said memory, said user interface controller operates to identify a particular one of the mobile devices, determine appropriate screen setup information for the particular one of the mobile devices, and forward the determined appropriate screen setup information to the particular one of the mobile devices such that the particular one of the mobile devices can setup a screen displayed on its display screen in accordance with the appropriate screen setup information.

20. A server machine as recited in claim 19, wherein the particular one of the mobile devices is identified by a device identifier associated therewith, and the appropriate screen setup information for the particular one of the mobile devices is determined by the device identifier.

21. A server machine as recited in claim 20, wherein said server machine coupled between a carrier network for the mobile devices and a wired network.

22. A server machine as recited in claim 21, wherein the wired network is the Internet.

23. A server machine as recited in claim 19, wherein the particular one of the mobile devices is a mobile phone having a display screen integral therewith.

24. A server machine as recited in claim 19, wherein said user interface controller identifies the particular one of the mobile devices using a unique device identifier for the particular one of the mobile devices.

25. A server machine as recited in claim 24, wherein said user interface controller selects the appropriate screen setup information for the particular one of the mobile devices based on the device identifier for the particular one of the mobile devices.

26. A server machine as recited in claim 19, wherein said user interface controller determines the appropriate screen setup information for the particular one of the mobile devices based on preferences associated with the particular one of the mobile devices.

27. A method of modifying user-interface configuration content associated with a plurality of wireless communication devices serviced by a network gateway device, said method comprising:

providing user-interface configuration files at the network gateway device for one or more of the plurality of wireless communication devices serviced by the network gateway device, the user-interface configuration files including user-interface configuration content;

receiving a device identifier from one of the plurality of wireless communication devices serviced by the network gateway device; and

forwarding the corresponding one of the user-interface configuration files from the network gateway device to the one of the wireless communication devices associated with the received device identifier over a wireless communications network using a wireless communications protocol.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein one of the user-interface configuration files is provided for each of the wireless communication devices.

29. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration files are stored in account information storage areas at the network gateway device associated with the wireless communication devices.

30. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration files are markup language files.

31. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the wireless communication protocol is selected from one of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or HTTP.

32. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration content contains screen displayable components and uniform resource indicators (URIs).

33. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration content includes screen configuration and placement instructions.

34. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration content includes one or more resource locators for one or more screen displayable components for display on a display screen of one of the wireless communication devices.

35. A method as recited in claim 34, wherein the user-interface configuration content designates either a default resource locator or an override resource locator.

36. A method as recited in claim 35, wherein the override resource locators are associated with content updates stored on a remote server device, where the content is designated for one or more of the wireless communication devices serviced by the network gateway device.

37. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein the user-interface configuration content describes a plurality of user interface components to be displayed on the one of the wireless communication devices.

38. A method as recited in claim 37, wherein the user-interface configuration content includes a resource locator for each of the user interface components to be displayed.

39. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the resource locators designated by the user interface configuration content and provided for the one of the wireless communication devices stored in an alias table on the one of the wireless communication devices.

40. A method as recited in claim 39, wherein the alias table stores URIs for the override resource locators.

41. A method as recited in claim 37, wherein for each of the user interface components, the user-interface configuration content designates either a default resource locator or an override resource locator.

42. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein a plurality of the wireless communication devices are mobile phones.

43. A method as recited in claim 42, wherein said method further comprises:

altering a user-interface for the one of the wireless communication devices based on the user-interface configuration content included within the corresponding one of the user-interface configuration files forwarded by the network gateway device.

44. A method as recited in claim 43, wherein the user-interface configuration content describes a plurality of user interface components to be displayed on the one of the wireless communication devices.

45. A method as recited in claim 44, wherein the user-interface configuration content includes a resource locator for each of the user interface components to be displayed.

46. A method as recited in claim 45, wherein the resource locators designated by the user interface configuration content and provided for the one of the wireless communication devices stored in an alias table on the one of the wireless communication devices.

47. A method as recited in claim 43, wherein the user-interface configuration content is contained within a markup language file.

48. A method as recited in claim 43, wherein the plurality of wireless communication devices are mobile phones.

49. A method of modifying user-interface configuration content associated with a plurality of wireless communication devices serviced by a network gateway device, said method comprising:

forwarding a device identifier for a wireless communication device to the network gateway device, the device identifier being used by the network gateway device to retrieve user-interface configuration content associated with the device identifier;

receiving user-interface configuration content from the network gateway device; and

implementing the received user-interface configuration content on the wireless communication device.