System and method for pushing information to a mobile device

• US 7,248,861 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2006
• Issued: 07/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Brown, Michael S., Mousseau, Gary P., Lazaridis, Mihal
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Duc M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Win; Aung T.
• Application Number:
  US11/451,083
• Publication Number:
  US 20060229065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 407 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/412.1, 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system for pushing information to a mobile device includes an information source, a wireless network, and a proxy content server. The information source stores information. The wireless network sends and receives transmissions to and from the mobile device. The proxy content server is in communication with the information source and the wireless network and receives information from the information source. In addition, the proxy content server stores information received from the information source to one of a plurality of channels based on pre-defined information categories, and automatically transmits information from a selected channel over the wireless network to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A system for pushing information to a mobile device, comprising:

an information source that stores information;

a wireless network that sends and receives transmissions to and from the mobile device; and

a proxy content server in communication with the information source and the wireless network, the proxy content server being configured to receive information from the information source, and automatically transmit information from a selected memory location over the wireless network to the mobile device;

wherein the information includes advertising content, and the proxy content server is configured to categorize the advertising content as either static advertising content, dynamic advertising content, or default advertising content;

wherein the mobile device stores categorized advertising content received from the proxy content server, and combines stored advertising content to display an advertising message such that the advertising message includes static advertising content and dynamic advertising content when dynamic advertising content is available, and if dynamic advertising content is not available, then the displayed advertising message includes static advertising content and default advertising content.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computer network, wherein the information source and the proxy content server are in communication with the computer network, and wherein the proxy content server receives the information from the content server through the computer network or transmits information to the wireless network through the computer network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy content server receives a feedback signal from the wireless network and uses the feedback signal to select the memory location for transmission.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the feedback signal indicates the location of the mobile device in the wireless network.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the feedback signal is generated by the mobile device and transmitted to the proxy content server through the wireless network.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the feedback signal is generated by a base station in the wireless network.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the feedback signal is a command generated by the mobile device and transmitted to the proxy content server through the wireless network.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the command instructs the proxy content server to cease transmission of the information over the wireless network for an identified period of time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy content server polls the information source at regular intervals in order to receive information from a content server.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the information source automatically transmits the information to the proxy content server.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a proxy content server database coupled to the proxy content server that stores data relating to the mobile device, wherein the data is used by the proxy content server to select the memory location for transmission over the wireless network to the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a plurality of information sources coupled to the computer network that transmit information to the proxy content server, wherein the proxy content server stores information from each of the plurality of information sources to a different one of a plurality of memory locations.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless network is a cellular network.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the static advertising content is advertising data that relates to an identity of an advertiser;

the dynamic advertising content is advertising data that is time-sensitive and that includes information relating to one or more specific advertisements from the advertiser; and

the default advertising content is advertising data that is not time-sensitive and that includes information relating to one or more specific advertisements from the advertiser.

15. mobile device configured to receive information over a wireless network from a proxy content server operating on a computer network, comprising:

means for receiving the information transmitted over the wireless network from the proxy content server;

means for processing the information; and

means for storing the information in a plurality of content locations;

wherein the plurality of content locations include a static content location, a dynamic content location, and a default content location, and wherein information from the static content location is combined with other information from one of the dynamic or default content locations to generate a complete message to display on the mobile device;

wherein the complete message includes information from the static content location and dynamic content location when information from the dynamic content location is available, and if information from the dynamic content location is not available, then the complete message includes information from the static content location and default content location.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the mobile device further comprises:

an operating system that tracks the location of the mobile device within the wireless network and generates a feedback signal indicating the location that is transmitted to the proxy content server, wherein the proxy content server uses the feedback signal to select the channel for transmission.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the proxy content server transmits a display command over the wireless network to the mobile device that identifies information stored in a content location in the channel content database, and wherein the channel viewer and selector module retrieves the identified information from the channel content database for display on the mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 15, further comprising means for tracking the location of the mobile device.

19. A method of categorizing advertising content on a mobile device, comprising:

receiving advertising data;

categorizing the advertising data as either static advertising content, dynamic advertising content, or default advertising content;

static advertising content being advertising data that relates to an identity of an advertiser;

dynamic advertising content being advertising data that is time-sensitive and that includes information relating to one or more specific advertisements from the advertiser;

default advertising content being advertising data that is not time-sensitive and that includes information relating to one or more specific advertisements from the advertiser; and

processing the advertising data for display on the mobile device such that the display includes static advertising content and dynamic advertising content when dynamic advertising content is available on the mobile device, and if dynamic advertising content is not available, then the display includes static advertising content and default advertising content.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving computer instructions identifying advertising content for display on the mobile device;

in response to receiving the computer instructions, determining if dynamic advertising content is stored on the mobile device;

if dynamic advertising content is stored on the mobile device, then combining the dynamic advertising content with static advertising content to generate the advertising message; and

if dynamic advertising content is not stored on the mobile device, then combining default advertising content with static advertising content to generate the advertising message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the computer instructions are included in information received over a wireless network by the mobile device from a server operating on a computer network.