Generation and distribution of personalized multimedia natural phenomenological information

• US 7,720,606 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2001
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Cyclone, Inc. (Garmin Limited)
• Original Assignee: Digital Cyclone, Inc. (Garmin Limited)
• Inventors: Resch, Peter, Meys, Anthony W., Burfeind, Craig, Kruhoeffer, Douglas P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano; Edward R
• Application Number:
  US10/004,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20020069020A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,088 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701/200, 701/207, 702 1- 6, 702/15, 702/14, 702/127, 702/130, 702/138, 702/187, 702/188, 702/189, 731/701.7, 731/702.1, 731/702.4, 731/702.6, 731/702.7, 731/702.9, 731/701.6, 731/703.1, 733/84, 340/500, 340/540, 340/580, 340/584, 340/600, 340/601, 340/602, 340/626, 340/870.01, 340/870.07, 340/870.16, 340/870.17, 703/3, 703/6, 707/1, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 715/200, 715/201, 715/273, 715/277, 715/700
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Natural-phenomenological information is personalized to the unique requirements of a subscriber and distributed to the subscriber. Natural-phenomenological data is gathered from a variety of sources, such as current ground observations, forecast conditions, satellite images, and radar data. Personal preferences of the subscribers are also gathered and stored, such as activities of the subscriber, geographic locations of the activities, sensitivities of the subscriber to natural-phenomenological conditions, calendar information of the subscriber, and modes of delivery. The personal preferences of the subscriber are used as a filter to identify the natural-phenomenological data that is particularly useful to the subscriber, and the resulting information is delivered to the subscriber. The subscriber identifies the destination device that the information is delivered to. The invention is extensible to support new sources of natural-phenomenological information and new output devices. Electronic delivery of the personalized natural-phenomenological information can be through any number of a variety of output mediums, including pagers, text to voice synthesizers to create an audio stream for playback either via a telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a multimedia-enabled computer, email, computer display monitors, PDA, and a PCS phone.

Claims

1. A method for generating and distributing personalized natural phenomena information comprising:

receiving natural phenomena data from a source;

receiving a current geographic location of a wireless device from the wireless device;

receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural phenomena data from the wireless device, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises information that describes personal preference data of a subscriber employing the wireless device;

selecting a portion of the natural phenomena data based on the predetermined criteria and geographic location of the wireless device; and

transmitting the portion to the wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving natural phenomena data occurs before receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural phenomena data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising before transmitting, receiving predetermined criteria identifying the wireless device, and where transmitting further comprises encoding the portion compliant to the wireless device medium capabilities, features, and functions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria further describes at least one activity and the predetermined activity further comprises:

at least one sensitivity to natural phenomena;

a schedule of the at least one activity; and

at least one geographic location of the at least one activity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion further comprises multimedia data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

7. A computerized system for generating and distributing personalized natural phenomena information, comprising:

a receiver of natural phenomena data;

a receiver of a current geographic location of a wireless device and predetermined criteria for selection of natural phenomena data, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises personal preference data of a subscriber and both the current geographic location and predetermined criteria are received from the wireless device;

a selector of the portion of the natural phenomena data based on the predetermined criteria and the current geographic location of the wireless device, communicatively connected to the receiver of natural phenomena data and the receiver of current geographic location and predetermined criteria; and

at least one transmitter communicatively connected between the selector and at least one destination device, the transmitter operable to transmit the selected natural phenomena data to the wireless device.

8. The computerized system of claim 7, wherein the transmitter encodes the portion compliant to the capabilities, features, and functions of the wireless device medium and transmits the encoded portion to the destination device.

9. The computerized system of claim 7, wherein the predetermined criteria further describes at least one activity and the predetermined activity further comprises:

at least one sensitivity to natural phenomena;

a schedule of the plurality of activities; and

at least one geographic location associated with each of the plurality of activities.

10. The computerized system of claim 7, wherein the portion further comprises multimedia data.

11. The computerized system of claim 7, wherein the wireless device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

12. A weather system comprising:

a wireless device operable to transmit its current geographic location; and

a server including;

a receiver operable to receive natural phenomena data from a source and to receive the current geographic location of the wireless device from the wireless device;

a memory operable to store the received natural phenomena data; and

a processor operable to select a portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device for transmission to the wireless device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the wireless device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the server further includes a transmitter for transmitting the selected natural phenomena data to the wireless device.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the receiver is further operable to receive an activity schedule from the wireless device and the processor is operable to select the portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device and the activity schedule.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the receiver is further operable to receive a phenomena sensitivity from the wireless device and the processor is operable to select the portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device and the phenomena sensitivity.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is operable to dynamically select new portions of the natural phenomena data based on an updated current geographic location transmitted by the wireless device.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the receiver is operable to receive the current geographic location of the wireless device through the Internet.

19. A method for generating and distributing personalized natural phenomena information comprising:

receiving natural phenomena data from a source;

receiving a current geographic location of a wireless device from the wireless device;

selecting a portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device; and

delivering the selected portion to the wireless device.

20. The method of claim 19, further including receiving an activity schedule from the wireless device and selecting the portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device and the activity schedule.

21. The method of claim 19, further including receiving a phenomena sensitivity from the wireless device and selecting the portion of the natural phenomena data based on the geographic location of the wireless device and the phenomena sensitivity.