System to support mobile visual communications

• US 6,760,759 B1
• Filed: 05/01/2000
• Issued: 07/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: MTel Ltd. (Mobile Telecom (BVI) Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: MTel Ltd. (Mobile Telecom (BVI) Ltd.)
• Inventors: Chan, Chung
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US09/564,352
• Time in Patent Office: 1,527 Days
• Field of Search: 707/2-10, 707/203, 709/217, 709/200, 709/203, 709/219, 709/249, 709/250, 455/426.2, 455/3.01
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• 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 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

A set of applications to facilitate mobile communications and use of the Internet are bundled to allow the wireless environment to tailored to the handle the load imposed by WEB surfing. The applications include a quick connection to the server, validation of user and user device, resumption of disconnected sessions, and snapshot quantized information delivery. In addition, fast service for likely requested location specific information, search narrowing before search, user behavior habit learning speed-up, consideration of Internet contractual issues, and a speedy search engine make searching more timely. Reliability of information pages is assured by authenticating the updates before they are placed in local storage. Applications to implement this include online authenticated snapshot update provisioning, Internet page conversion tools, tailored Internet page conversion tools, and Information Content Provider tools. The tools learn based on the activities of the user, moving often r tailored to the presentation device, snapshot creation tools requested data into local storage for faster delivery.

Claims

1. A system to enable mobile wireless data communication by a plurality of handheld units, said system comprising:

at least one computer system including peripherals to execute applications and support connections from said plurality of handheld units;

at least one handheld unit operative to target searches for information;

an expedited connection facility between said at least one computer system and said plurality of handheld units, the expedited connection facility being configured to automatically establish a data connection with said at least one computer system;

a dedicated mobile server information services provider (ISP) to receive mobile wireless connections from said at least one handheld unit and process data requests by directing searches to databases of said at least one computer system and data sources on an Internet;

a gateway in said at least one computer system to Internet content provider (ICP) sites providing data tailored for mobile users;

an on-line conversion utility in said at least computer system to convert desktop formatted information from preselected ICPs to mobile format;

a search engine in said at least one computer system, the search engine being operative to access a plurality of databases, each database having an associated speed of response and being accessible by the search engine in an order based on the associated speeds of response, the search engine being adapted to convert Internet desktop screens to mobile screens on request; and

a facility in said at least one computer system to allow an ICP to simultaneously update desktop pages and mobile pages held in said tailored databases.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database of frequently requested data stored in said at least one computer system.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a database of likely to be requested data stored in said at least one computer system.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein said database of frequently requested data includes tags to allow selection of recently changed desired information, the frequently requested data being tagged to distinguish a static field from a dynamic field, and wherein the respective tags identify a most recent update of each dynamic field.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein said database of likely to be requested data includes tags to allow selection of recently changed desired information, the likely to be requested data being tagged to distinguish a static field from a dynamic field, and wherein the respective tags identify a most recent update of each dynamic field.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the search engine is further operative to present a preselected set of options on a screen of said handheld unit, to interpret an input from a user of said handheld unit and, based on a selected option, to present narrower related options, and to continue narrowing options to a predetermined level and to transmit a last option to a wireless server, thereby facilitating the targeted information searches from the handheld unit.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said handheld unit includes:

a targeted search capability.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said handheld unit is operative to function as a wireless telephone.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said handheld unit is operative to function as a personal digital assistant (PDA).

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said handheld unit is operative to provide prompts to a user.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer system includes:

applications to convert desktop formatted pages to handheld screen formats.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer system is operative to resume transfer of data with a handheld unit in the event that communication with the at least one handheld unit was interrupted and then reestablished.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one handheld unit interprets WAP protocol.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one handheld unit interprets XML protocol.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one handheld unit interprets XTML protocol.

16. The system of claim 7 wherein said targeted search capability comprises:

a broad category menu for starting a search definition;

a set of first level menus for narrowing said search definition after said broad category selection;

successive menus for further narrowing said search definition after each prior level selection; and

a formatting routine to translate a final menu selection into a data request for transmitting to said at least one compute system.

17. A system to enable mobile wireless data communication by a plurality of handheld units, said system comprising:

at least one computer system including Peripherals to execute applications and support connections from said plurality of handheld units;

at least one handheld unit operative to target searches for information;

an expedited connection facility between said at least one computer system and said plurality of handheld units, the expedited connection facility being configured to automatically establish a data connection with said at least one computer system;

a dedicated mobile server information services provider (ISP) to receive mobile wireless connections from said at least one handheld unit and process data requests by directing searches to databases of said at least one computer system and data sources on an Internet;

a gateway in said at least one computer system to Internet content provider (ICP) sites providing data tailored for mobile users;

an on-line conversion utility in said at least computer system to convert desktop formatted information from preselected ICPs to mobile format;

a search engine in said at least one computer system, the search engine being operative to access a plurality of databases, each database having an associated speed of response and being accessible by the search engine in an order based on the associated speeds of response, the search engine being adapted to convert Internet desktop screens to mobile screens on request; and

a facility in said at least one computer system to allow an ICP to simultaneously update desktop pages and mobile pages held in said tailored databases,

wherein said at least one computer system includes;

presearch sequences, downloadable to said at least one handheld unit, to facilitate data access from said at least one handheld unit.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said at least one computer system includes:

tutorials for the available searching techniques, downloadable to said at least one handheld unit.

19. A system for mobile, wireless, web communication between a user using at least one handheld unit and at least one computer system, comprising:

at least one handheld unit operative to initiate a telephone connection; and

a telecommunications facility for receiving said telephone connection from said handheld unit and for establishing communication with said at least one computer system,

said at least one computer system being operative to identity said user via a telephone connection characteristic and to identify an approximate location of said user via the wireless transmission from the handheld unit, and

wherein the computer system is further operative to provide data to the handheld unit based at least in part on the identity of the user and on a status of a previous telephone connection initiated via the handheld unit.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the at least one computer system includes a database of preselected data for access by the handheld unit.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the at least one computer system is operative to interpret data requests received from the handheld unit and to provide in response thereto a subset of data contained in the database of preselected data.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least one computer system further includes a search engine operative to seek data from at least one other database in the event that data requested by the handheld unit is not found in the database of preselected data.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the at least one computer system is operative to count requests for data from said at least one other database and, if said count exceeds a predetermined value, to store such data in the database of preselected data.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein said database of preselected data includes data formatted to fit on a screen of said handheld unit.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein said data formatted to fit on a screen of said handheld unit is provided and updated by a content provider.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein said content provider updates a public copy of said data and said system copies said updates into the database after verifying said content provider'"'"'s authorization to update the data.

27. A system for mobile, wireless, web communication between a user using at least one handheld unit and at least one computer system, comprising:

at least one handheld unit operative to initiate a telephone connection;

a telecommunications facility for receiving said telephone connection from said handheld unit and for establishing communication with said at least one computer system;

said at least one computer system being operative to identify said user via a telephone connection characteristic and to identify an approximate location of said user via the wireless transmission from the handheld unit,

wherein the at least one computer system includes a database of preselected data for access by the handheld unit, and

wherein the preselected data is tagged to distinguish a static field from a dynamic field, said tag identifying the most recent update of each dynamic field.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein said handheld unit interprets the tags and requests a most recent update of a predetermined dynamic field.