System and method of automatic conversion of units of measure in a wireless communication network

• US 7,254,385 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Atkin, Steven Edward, Sanjar, Amir Farrokh, Garfinkle, Scott E.
• Primary Examiner(s): TIEU, BENNY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US10/383,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20040176115A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 455/3.01, 455/3.06, 455/404.2, 455/412.1, 455/414.1, 455/404.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.4, 455/432.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/466
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A system and method for automatic conversions of units of measure in a wireless communication network are provided. With the system and method, when a wireless communication device enters a region of a wireless network, the wireless communication device registers with the wireless network. The registration includes the creation of a database entry at the mobile switching center that includes an indication of the origin, such as the country code, of the wireless communication device. Based on this indication of origin, a conversion function may be identified for converting of units of measure to a format that is most likely to be understood by a user of the wireless communication device. When a text based message is sent to the wireless communication device, the text message is received by the mobile switching center which determines how to route the text message and parses the text message to identify any portions of the text message that include a unit of measure that may need to be converted. These identified units of measure are then converted using the conversion functions identified based on the identification of origin. The text message with the converted units of measure is then routed to the destination wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A method of automatically converting unit of measure information in a text message to be routed to a wireless communication device via a wireless communication network, comprising:

receiving a text message that is to be routed to a destination wireless communication device;

identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message based on an identifier of an origin of a user of the destination wireless communication device; and

converting unit of measure information in the text message to the output format

wherein converting unit of measure information in the text message includes;

tokenizing the text message into a plurality of segments;

identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information; and

analyzing the candidate segments to identify segments having unit of measure information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the origin of the user is a country code associated with the destination wireless communication device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information; and

applying a conversion function to a value of the unit of measure information based on the identified type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein applying a conversion function includes:

retrieving conversion information from a source device; and

using the conversion information from the source device to determine the conversion function.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the conversion information is currency exchange rate information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the source device is a third party supplier of conversion information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information includes comparing text data for each segment in the plurality of segments to patterns retrieved from a pattern database.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the unit of measure includes one or more of a distance measurement, a volume measurement, a time measurement, an area measurement, and a currency amount.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message includes retrieving an entry associated with the destination wireless communication device from a registry, wherein the entry includes the identifier of origin of the user of the destination wireless communication device.

10. A computer program product encoded in a computer readable medium for automatically converting unit of measure information in a text message to be routed to a wireless communication device via a wireless communication network, comprising:

first instructions for receiving a text message that is to be routed to a destination wireless communication device;

second instructions for identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message based on an identifier of an origin of a user of the destination wireless communication device; and

third instructions for converting unit of measure information in the text message to the output format

wherein the third instructions for converting unit of measure information in the text message includes;

instructions for tokenizing the text message into a plurality of segments;

instructions for identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information; and

instructions for analyzing the candidate segments to identify segments having unit of measure information.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the identifier of the origin of the user is a country code associated with the destination wireless communication device.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

instructions for identifying a type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information; and

instructions for applying a conversion function to a value of the unit of measure information based on the identified type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the instructions for applying a conversion function include:

instructions for retrieving conversion information from a source device; and

instructions for using the conversion information from the source device to determine the conversion function.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the conversion information is currency exchange rate information.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the source device is a third party supplier of conversion information.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions for identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information include instructions for comparing text data for each segment in the plurality of segments to patterns retrieved from a pattern database.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the unit of measure includes one or more of a distance measurement, a volume measurement, a time measurement, an area measurement, and a currency amount.

18. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the second instructions for identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message include instructions for retrieving an entry associated with the destination wireless communication device from a registry, wherein the entry includes the identifier of origin of the user of the destination wireless communication device.

19. An apparatus for automatically converting unit of measure information in a text message to be routed to a wireless communication device via a wireless communication network, comprising:

means for receiving a text message that is to be routed to a destination wireless communication device;

means for identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message based on an identifier of an origin of a user of the destination wireless communication device; and

means for converting unit of measure information in the text message to the output format

wherein the means for converting unit of measure information in the text message includes;

means for tokenizing the text message into a plurality of segments;

means for identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information; and

means for analyzing the candidate segments to identify segments having unit of measure information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the identifier of the origin of the user is a country code associated with the destination wireless communication device.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

means for identifying a type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information; and

means for applying a conversion function to a value of the unit of measure information based on the identified type of unit of measure information for each segment identified as having unit of measure information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein applying a conversion function includes:

means for retrieving conversion information from a source device; and

means for using the conversion information from the source device to determine the conversion function.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the conversion information is currency exchange rate information.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the source device is a third party supplier of conversion information.

25. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for identifying candidate segments from the plurality of segments that may include unit of measure information includes means for comparing text data for each segment in the plurality of segments to patterns retrieved from a pattern database.

26. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the unit of measure includes one or more of a distance measurement, a volume measurement, a time measurement, an area measurement, and a currency amount.

27. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the means for identifying an output format for unit of measure information in the text message includes means for retrieving an entry associated with the destination wireless communication device from a registry, wherein the entry includes the identifier of origin of the user of the destination wireless communication device.