Location-dependent user interface

• US 6,760,046 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2001
• Issued: 07/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilcock, Lawrence, McDonnell, James Thomas Edward, Hawkes, Rycharde Jeffery, Waters, John Deryk, IʼAnson, Colin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bayeri, Raymond J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thai, Cuong T.
• Application Number:
  US09/814,129
• Publication Number:
  US 20020054150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 345/700, 345/740, 345/744, 345/745, 345/746, 345/747, 345/703, 345/762, 345/765, 709/201, 709/217
• US Class Current: 715/746
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method is provided of adapting a user interface to the user'"'"'s current situation. The method involves a user specifying a home-area interface (83), for example, a web browser home page, and an “away” interface (84). When the user connects to a network (10) using a device (20) and calls up his/her browser home page, a determination is made of the location of the device in order to decide which version of the home page is to be served back to the user device by the home-page server of the user. In a preferred embodiment, the “away” home page (84) includes specific types of local data of interest to the user (such as best local restaurants). When asked to provide the “away” home page, the homepage server uses this information to find the URLs of local special interest web sites (122) carrying the relevant type of data, the server inserting these URLs in the “away” home page (84) before providing it to the user device (20) concerned.

Claims

1. A method of adapting a network-browser user interface to a user'"'"'s location, comprising the steps of:

storing, in a system connected to a user-accessible network, user-specific interface specification data defining at least first and second user interface data sets for use in implementing network-browser user interface in respective different geographic areas, the interface specification data specifying for each data set a respective set of subjects about which information is to be presented,

with the user using a device running a network browser for browsing said network, determining which user-interface data set of the user'"'"'s interface specification data is appropriate for the current location of that device, transferring the appropriate data set to the device and using it to implement the network-browser user interface;

at least one data set specifying the inclusion of one or more elements relevant to the locale of the user device;

fetching said one or more elements in dependence on the current location of the device if a said at least one data set is determined to be the appropriate data set.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the task of fetching said one or more elements for the data set determined as appropriate for the current device location is effected by an intermediate entity associated with the locale where the device is situated, the relevant interface specification data being passed to this entity from where it is stored.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein a said element comprises one of the following:

a specific data item of local information;

a hyperlink to a resource containing local information.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the task of fetching said one or more elements for the data set determined as appropriate for the current device location is effected by an intermediate entity associated with the locale where the device is situated, the relevant interface specification data being passed to this entity from said system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one user-interface data set also specifies the inclusion of one or more elements by type as well as relevance to the locale of the user device, the method further including fetching said one or more elements in dependence on their respective specified types, as well as the current location of the device if at least one user-interface data set is determined to be the appropriate user-interface data set.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the task of fetching said one or more elements for the user-interface data set determined as appropriate for the current device location is effected by an intermediate entity associated with the locale where the device is situated, the relevant user-specific interface specification data being passed to this entity from where it is stored.

7. A method according to claim 5, wherein a said element comprises one of the following:

a specific data item of local information;

a hyperlink to a resource containing local information.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the task of fetching said one or more elements for the user-interface data set determined as appropriate for the current device location is effected by an intermediate entity associated with the locale where the device is situated, the relevant user-specific interface specification data being passed to this entity from said system.

9. A method according to claim 5, wherein the set of subjects of each of the first and second user-interface data sets are specified at least in part by said user.

10. A method according to claim 5, wherein the first user-interface data set is intended for use in implementing the network-browser user interface in a home area of a user and the second user-interface data set is intended for use in implementing the network-browser user interface in other areas, the step of determining which user-interface data set is appropriate for the current location of a user device including determining the current location of the user device and comparing it with the home area of the user.

11. A method according to claim 5, wherein the determination of which user-interface data set to use includes, in addition to making a location-dependent determination, a determination based on the type of the device concerned.

12. A method according to claim 5, wherein the user-specific interface specification data takes the form of a respective web page file for each said data set.

13. A method according to claim 5, wherein the user-specific interface specification data comprises data held in a user profile stored in said system and identifying, for each data set, said set of subjects.

14. A method according to claim 5, wherein each user-interface data set, taken individually, relates to a network-browser user interface of one of the following types:

a graphical user interface for a web browser;

an audio interface for a web browser.

15. A system comprising:

a communications subsystem;

a data store for storing user-specific interface specification data defining at least first and second user-interface data sets for use in implementing a network-browser user interface in respective different geographic areas, each user-interface data set specifying a respective set of subjects about which information is to be presented, and at least one user-interface data set specifying the inclusion of one or more elements, specified by type, relevant to the locale of the user device;

a control subsystem for handling a user request for a user-interface data set, the request being received via the communications subsystem from a user device running a network browser, and the control subsystem comprising;

a user-identity checking arrangement for checking the identity of the user of said device;

a location arrangement for providing location information about the location of the device;

a processing arrangement for determining which of the user-interface data sets of the user'"'"'s own user-specific interface specification data is appropriate for the current location of the device as provided by the location-data arrangement;

a fetching arrangement, arranged to be responsive to the appropriate user-interface data set being determined to be a said at least one user-interface data set specifying the inclusion of one or more elements relevant to the locale of the user device, for fetching said one or more elements in dependence on the current location of the device and their respective specified types and

an arrangement for sending to the user device the user-specific interface data set determined as appropriate by the processing arrangement together with the fetched elements.

16. A system according to claim 15, wherein a said element comprises one of the following:

a specific data item of local information;

a hyperlink to a resource containing local information.

17. A system according to claim 15, wherein the first user-interface data set is intended for use in implementing a network-browser user interface in a home area of the user and the second user-interface data set is intended for use in implementing a network-browser user interface in other areas, the processing arrangement being arranged for determining which user-interface data set is appropriate for the current location of the user device by comparing the current location of the user device with the home area of the user as indicated by data stored in respect of that user in the data store.

18. A system according to claim 15, wherein the location arrangement is operative to receive said location data, via the communications subsystem, from one of:

the device concerned;

a location server.

19. A system according to claim 15, the user-specific interface specification data takes the form of a respective web page file for each said data set.

20. A system according to claim 15, wherein the user-specific interface specification data comprises data held in a user profile stored in said data store and identifying, for each data set, said set of subjects.