Method and apparatus for continuous narrowcast of individualized information over a data network

• US 6,567,411 B2
• Filed: 12/31/1998
• Issued: 05/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dahlen, Robert L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pezzlo, John
• Application Number:
  US09/224,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20010012299A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,601 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/354-356, 370/400, 370/401, 709/201, 709/219, 709/302, 709/231, 709/225, 709/223, 709/206, 707/4, 707/1, 707/523, 707/6, 707/9, 707/100, 707/501, 706/10, 345/327, 345/349, 348/7
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1836 with heterogeneous network architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus which narrowcasts individualized information to system users with access to a data network which carries information such as broadband video data, voice data, or other types of equivalent data such as the Worldwide Web. Connected to the data network is a push server which includes a memory which holds information related to various system users. Included in the memory are user ID, password, as well as a listing of the types of information which the system user wishes to receive. Also connected to the data network are various data sources which provide various types of information. For example, one source of information may be a report server which on a periodic basis provides report information. Another type of information may be from a alarm server which in real time provides alarms and associated relevant information. The system accesses and retrieves information from these sources. The information is converted to a common format which in turn is provided to the push server. The server may further bond other relevant information to the system user'"'"'s preferences. The data preferences may include information which relates to the system user alone, such as monitoring information for the system user'"'"'s own systems or components. The push server then narrowcasts this information out over the data network to the system user which has requested the information.

Claims

1. A system for narrowcasting selected information to subscribers over a data network, comprising:

a network interface device connectable to the data network which provides for two-way communication over the data network, where functionality is included in the interface device to detect when at least one subscriber is connected to the data network;

a memory device connectable to said network interface device in which information preferences for the at least one subscriber may be stored and which is accessible to identify and retrieve the preferences for the at least one subscriber when the at least one subscriber is detected to be connected to the data network;

at least one data storage device connectable to the data network which is configurable to receive information from remote systems and is searchable to provide data related to the preferences for the at least one subscriber; and

wherein the data network interface device is configured to continually search and retrieve the data from the at least one data storage device, convert the data to a common display format, wherein the common display format Includes at least one interactive display which further includes at least one of;

an interactive device for manipulating the interactive display and a user selectable device for retrieving and displaying bonded information, and continually narrowcast the formatted data over the data network to the at least one subscriber for as long as the least one subscriber Is connected to the data network.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the data network is the worldwide web.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the network interface device is a network server with push technology capability.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the memory device is a database incorporated into the network server.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one data storage device includes at least one of:

an alarm server accessible over the data network, a report server accessible over the network, and a database server accessible over the network.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the alarm server includes an alarm notifier which receives alarm information and updates the alarm status of the alarm server, where the alarm server further provides alarm information in a predetermined format for narrowcast to the subscribers which have requested the alarm information.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the report server receives report information and provides the report information in a predetermined format for narrowcast to the at least one subscriber which have requested the report information.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein the at least one subscriber establish contact with the interface device through use of a web browser.

9. The system of claim 2 wherein the data narrowcast to the at least one subscriber relates to operation of a frame relay network.

10. A method of providing selected information to at least one system user over a data network comprising the steps of:

providing a least one source of information which includes information that is accessible over the data network;

detecting connections established over the data network by the at least one of system user;

scanning a system user database to identify preferences for data which the at least one system user with established connections wish to receive via a narrowcast over the data network;

establishing a connection with at least one source of information, wherein the on source of information is configured to retrieve and store information from remote systems, and locating and formatting the selected types of information resident on the at least one source of information which relate to preferences for the at least one system user into a common display format, wherein the common display format includes at least one interactive display which further includes at least one of;

an interactive device for manipulating the interactive display and a user selectable device for retrieving and displaying bonded information; and

narrowcasting the formatted selected types of information over the data network to the at least one system user which have established connections based on the information identified in the system user database.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one source of information includes alarm information which is generated upon detection of an alarm state and the alarm information is provided to via the narrowcast to the at least one system user which have chosen to receive the alarm information upon the creation of the alarm information.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one source of information includes report information which is provided to the at least one system user which have chosen to receive the report information upon establishing a connection with the at least one source of information and then provided on a periodic basis thereafter.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the narrowcast is performed using push technology for a data network.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the data network is the Worldwide Web.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the information provided by the at least one source of information is provided by the at least one system user.

16. The method of claim 10 further including the step of automatically bonding relevant information to the selected types of information for narrowcasting to the at least one system user.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the relevant types of information include at least one of:

trouble ticket information and historical information.

18. A system for narrow casting individualized information to at least one system user through a data network, comprising:

at least one source of information accessible through the data network, which provides information; and

a server connectable to the data network comprising;

a memory which includes a listing of the at least one of system user and data preferences for each of the at least one system user;

a processor which accesses the at least one source of information and retrieves information relating to the data preferences;

a convertor which converts the information retrieved to a common format, wherein the common display format includes at least one interactive display which further includes at least one of;

an interactive device for manipulating the interactive display and a user selectable device for retrieving and displaying additional selected data; and

a narrowcaster which receives the converted information from the processor and narrowcasts it over the data network to the at least one subscriber.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor automatically bonds relevant information retrieved from the at least one source of information with the information narrowcast to the at least one system user.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the relevant data includes at least one of:

trouble ticket data and historical information.