Method and system for infrared data communications
First Claim
1. A system for making a service available over a network in response to an advertisement conveyed to users operating handheld devices, said system comprising:
- means for advertising said service over said network by conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith, said photo emissive device for conveying said advertisement as a transmitted signal to said handheld devices located within a coverage area associated with said transmitter;
means for providing said service over said network; and
a diffuse infrared protocol capable of providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld devices, said protocol defining a first link layer in said transmitter that matches a second link layer in said handheld devices;
wherein said second link layer is an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer;
wherein said handheld devices generate replies in response to said advertisement; and
wherein said replies are conveyed to said system using a point-of presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network and said system.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for conveying contextually relevant information to a wireless client are disclosed. More particularly, a transmitter transmits a diffuse infrared signal to a client having an IrDA compliant communication interface. The transmitter communicates with the client by making a link layer in the transmitter compliant with an IrDA link layer running on the client. To perform communication, data is received at the transmitter from a service provider. The data is formatted into an IrDA compliant diffuse infrared signal and transmitted to the client. The client receives the data and parses it to extract contextually relevant information contained therein. The client may reply to the transmitter if a user of the client is interested in a service offered by the service provider. If the service provider receives a reply from the client, the service is made available to client.
132 Citations
44 Claims
-
1. A system for making a service available over a network in response to an advertisement conveyed to users operating handheld devices, said system comprising:
-
means for advertising said service over said network by conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith, said photo emissive device for conveying said advertisement as a transmitted signal to said handheld devices located within a coverage area associated with said transmitter; means for providing said service over said network; and a diffuse infrared protocol capable of providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld devices, said protocol defining a first link layer in said transmitter that matches a second link layer in said handheld devices; wherein said second link layer is an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer; wherein said handheld devices generate replies in response to said advertisement; and wherein said replies are conveyed to said system using a point-of presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network and said system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method for providing a service over a network in response to an advertisement, said method comprising:
-
generating said advertisement about said service at a service provider; and conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith and operatively coupled to said network, said transmitter further conveying said advertisement to handheld devices having users associated therewith; providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld devices through a diffuse infrared protocol; and defining, through the diffuse infrared protocol, a first link layer in said transmitter that matches a second link layer in said handheld devices; wherein said second link layer is an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer; wherein said handheld devices generate replies in response to said advertisement; and wherein said replies are conveyed to said service provider using a point-of-presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method for providing a service over a network in response to advertisement conveyed to users operating handheld services, said method comprising the steps of:
-
generating an advertisement associated with said service at a service provider; making said advertisement available to said network, said network for conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith, said transmitter further conveying said advertisement to handheld devices having users associated therewith; and receiving a replies over said network, said replies having been placed on said network by a point-of presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network after receiving said replies from said handheld devices, said handheld devices having generated said replies after displaying said advertisement to users associated therewith, providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld device through a diffuse infrared protocol; and defining, through the diffuse infrared protocol, a first link layer in said transmitter that matches a second link layer in said handheld devices; wherein said second link layer is an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
-
23. A network for conveying an advertisement associated with a service offered by a service provider to users operating handheld devices, said network comprising:
-
means for determining a destination for said advertisement, said destination having a photo emissive device capable of generating an infrared-data-association (IRDA) compliant diffuse infrared signal having a coverage area associated therewith and said photo emissive device for conveying said advertisement to said handheld devices; means for conveying said advertisement to said destination over said network; means for providing said IrDA compliant diffuse infrared signal though a diffuse infrared protocol; and means for defining, though said diffuse infrared protocol, IrDA compliant link layers in said handheld devices; wherein said handheld devices generate replies in response to said advertisement; and wherein said replies are conveyed to said service provider using a point-of-presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A method for conveying an advertisement over a network from a service provider to handheld devices having diffuse infrared signals operating within a coverage area associated with a transmitter conveying an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compatible diffuse infrared transmitter signal having a diffuse infrared protocol link layer, said method comprising:
-
receiving said advertisement from said service provider over said network; routing said advertisement to said transmitter over said network; receiving replies from a point-of-presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network, said replies having been generated at said handheld devices; conveying said replies using said point-of-presence (POP) to said service provider over said network; providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld devices through a diffuse infrared protocol; and defining, through the diffuse infrared protocol, IrDA compliant link layers in said handheld devices that match the diffuse infrared protocol link layer in said transmitter. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
-
-
40. A system for performing infrared data communication with handheld devices using an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compatible diffuse infrared signal, said system comprising:
-
means for generating an advertisement associated with a service, said service further being associated with a service provider; means for converting said advertisement into an advertising signal; means for making said advertising signal available to a network; means for receiving said advertising signal at a transmitter over said network, said transmitter further having a photo emissive device associated therewith for producing a transmitted signal containing at least a portion of said advertising signal; means for transmitting said transmitted signal to the handheld devices; means for receiving replies at a point-of-presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network and said system from the handheld devices; means for conveying said replies using said point-of-presence (POP) to said service provider over said network; providing communications between said transmitter and said handheld devices through a diffuse infrared protocol; and defining, through said diffuse infrared protocol, a first link layer in said transmitter that matches IrDA compliant link layers in said handheld devices. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
-
Specification