Seamless retrieval of non-standard items for a mobile device

• US 7,680,899 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2006
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Barnes, James D., Biere, Devon L., Distler, Peter H., Sharma, Sanjay K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): GEORGANDELLIS, ANDREW C
• Application Number:
  US11/433,301
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232, 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]

Abstract

Systems and methods for seamless retrieval of coupons and other non-standard items to a mobile device. Some method embodiments comprise: receiving a communication that specifies a user id and a coupon id, and storing the user id and a location of the coupon in a table in response to said receiving. A response to the communication is sent to the mobile device to invoke an application that accesses the table to determine the coupon location and uses the coupon location to download the content. The communication may be a web page request from a browser on the mobile device, and the application may be a coupon organizer external to the web browser. The communication may further include origination information, so that once the retrieval is complete, the mobile device once again displays the original web page and the user is given the perception that the download was accomplished within the browser.

Claims

1. A method for enabling seamless retrieval of a coupon with a mobile device comprising a processor and a memory, the method comprising:

receiving at a first external server comprising a processor and a memory a first communication from a web browser on the mobile device, wherein the communication specifies a user identification, a coupon identification, and an origination page address;

using, by a second external server comprising a processor and a memory, the coupon identification to locate coupon location information and storing the coupon location information and the origination page address with the user identification in a database table on the second external server;

in response to the first communication from the web browser, sending a second communication from the second external server to the mobile device, wherein the second communication includes a page that identifies a second application that is external to the web browser and causes the web browser to invoke and transfer control to the second application on the mobile device without passing the coupon location information or the origination page address to the second application; and

in response to being invoked, the second application retrieves the coupon location information and the originating page address from the database table, uses the coupon location information to download a coupon to the mobile device, and returns control to the web browser with the origination page address as a parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the database table has records that are indexed by the user identification.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second application is a coupon organizer application that organizes coupons by categories associated with the coupons.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first external server is also the second external server.

11. The method of claim 1 and wherein the web browser is incapable of downloading the coupon.

5. A system for enabling seamless retrieval of a coupon, the system comprising:

a content server comprising a processor and a memory;

a mobile device comprising a processor and a memory the mobile device having a web browser that displays content from the content server as a web page with an advertisement showing the coupon;

an ad server comprising a processor and a memory the ad server configured to receive a first communication from the content server in response to a second communication from the web browser, wherein the second communication specifies a user identification, a coupon identification, and an origination page address;

wherein the ad server is further configured to update a table to associate the coupon identification with coupon location information and store the coupon location information and the origination page address with the user identification in response to the first communication,

wherein in response to the second communication from the web browser, the content provider is configured to send a third communication to the mobile device, wherein the third communication includes a page that identifies a second application that is external to the web browser and causes the web browser to invoke and transfer control to the second application stored on the mobile device without passing the coupon location information or the origination page address to the web browser,

wherein in response to being invoked, the second application is configured to retrieve the coupon location information and the originating page address from the table, use the coupon location information to download a coupon to the mobile device, and return control to the web browser with the origination page address as a parameter.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the second application is a coupon organizer application that organized coupons by category.

12. The system of claim 5 and wherein the web browser is incapable of downloading the coupon.

7. A system for enabling seamless retrieval of a coupon, the system comprising:

a content server comprising a processor and a memory that stores the coupon;

an ad server comprising a processor and a memory;

a mobile device comprising a processor and a memory the mobile device configured to display content from the content server with advertising content from the ad server with a web browser, wherein the advertising content is associated with the coupon; and

a download server comprising a processor and a memory that receives a first communication from the ad server in response to a second communication from the web browser, wherein the second communication specifies a user identification, a coupon identification, and an origination page address;

wherein in response to the first communication, the download server is configured to store coupon location information for the coupon and the origination page address in a database table record associated with the user identification,

wherein in response to the second communication from the web browser, the ad server is configured to send a third communication to the mobile device, wherein the third communication includes a page that identifies a second application that is external to the web browser and causes the web browser to invoke and transfer control to the second application without passing the coupon location information or the origination page address to the web browser, and

wherein, in response to being invoked, the second application is configured to retrieve the coupon location information and the originating page address from the database table record, use the coupon location information to download the coupon to the mobile device, and return control to the web browser with the origination page address as a parameter.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second application causes the origination web page to be displayed upon completion of the download.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the advertising content is an image in a web page.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the advertising content is a clip concatenated with a multimedia clip.

13. The system of claim 7 and wherein the web browser is incapable of downloading the coupon.