Mobile information services

• US 7,761,799 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2005
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Friedman, Charles L., Pell, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore; William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Orr; Henry
• Application Number:
  US11/227,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20060025108A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• Field of Search: 455/566, 715/745, 715/708, 715/864
• US Class Current: 715/745
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions

Abstract

Mobile communications devices display contextually relevant information based on the presence, status, and identification of a user. Lens templates control how the information is displayed and can be customized and designed for specific usage profiles. The lenses that are used can be updated at any time to accommodate changes in a user'"'"'s presence. The granularity of the lenses and corresponding information can also vary to accommodate different needs and preferences. Lenses can also be specialized for different events or venues. The lenses allow a user to access contextually relevant information from a mobile communications device having limited display and/or browse capabilities without requiring a user to navigate through undesired information, wasting valuable resources in the process.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a graphical layout that accommodates presentation of information to be delivered to a mobile communications device, the method comprising:

a server system, comprising a computing processor, aggregating user preference data from tracked computer usage and tracked telephone usage from a plurality of users into one or more aggregate usage profiles;

the server system building a plurality of lenses that can be used to present information at one or more mobile communications devices, the information corresponding to one or more of the aggregate usage profiles, the plurality of lenses including at least;

a home mobile device template for a mobile user, said home mobile device template including a home icon graphically representing to a mobile user that the home mobile device template is being used and which corresponds to a home geographic region; and

a traveling mobile device template, wherein the traveling mobile device template is configured to include content customized to a current physical location detected by the server to be outside the home geographic region of said mobile user, said traveling mobile device template specifying a traveling graphical layout including a travel icon that graphically represents to the mobile user that the traveling device template is being used;

displaying at least one of the home mobile device template or the traveling mobile device template in a blended state with a template of at least one additional lens of the plurality of lenses in a single blended graphical layout at the mobile communications device, wherein the single blended graphical layout comprises a plurality of graphical display elements and wherein the graphical display elements corresponding to the template of the at least one additional lens are displayed with a first color or shading scheme in the single blended graphical layout which is different than a second color or shading scheme that is used to display the graphical display elements of either the traveling mobile device template or the home mobile device template that are also displayed in the single blended graphical layout.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the tracked computer usage includes data corresponding to the information that is accessed by a plurality of users with their computers.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the tracked telephone usage includes data corresponding to the information that is accessed by a plurality of users with their mobile communications devices.

4. One or more computer-readable storage media having stored computer-executable instructions for implementing the method recited in claim 1.

5. The one or more computer-readable storage media as recited in claim 4, further comprising:

selecting an appropriate one or more of the lenses to use for presenting information to a particular mobile communications device based upon at least a user designation associated with the mobile communications device.

6. The method recited in claim 1, wherein each of the home graphical layout and traveling graphical layout include a display of a name of the mobile user and a status of the mobile user on a mobile communications device.

7. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the home graphical layout includes a display of a weather report corresponding to the home geographic location and wherein the traveling graphical layout includes a display of a weather report corresponding to the new geographic location.

8. A server system comprising a processor and a computer readable storage media storing executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, implement the method recited in claim 1.

9. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the data corresponding to the information that is accessed by a plurality of users with their computers includes customization preferences of personalized web pages.

10. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the data corresponding to the information that is accessed by a plurality of users with their mobile communications devices includes:

types of information accessed,

a time in which the information is accessed, and

usage patterns for accessing the information.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an appropriate one or more of the lenses to use for presenting information to a particular mobile communications device based upon at least a user designation associated with the mobile communications device.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the user designation specifies the mobile user, and wherein use of the user designation further selects one of the usage profiles associated with the mobile user.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the user designation specifies an anonymous designation, and wherein use of the anonymous designation further selects one or more of the usage profiles associated with a plurality of users.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the mobile user is a new user, and wherein the user designation is the anonymous designation.