Apparatuses, methods and systems for information querying and serving on mobile devices based on ambient conditions

• US 7,958,081 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2007
• Issued: 06/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Upland Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: JagTag Incorporated (Upland Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fitzpatrick, Dudley, Snyder, Jason Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US11/864,745
• Publication Number:
  US 20080201305A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

The disclosure details the implementation of apparatuses, methods, and systems for information querying and serving on mobile devices based on ambient conditions. Such conditions may include weather, traffic, market prices, news and events, and/or the like. Information and/or advertisement providers may use a code triggered information server to serve context, demographic, and behavior targeted information to users via mobile devices. Users, in turn, trigger the provision of information by scanning or observing codes or information. The scans, together with geographic, temporal, and user-specific information, are obtained by the server that receives, processes, and records the message. Based on these messages and a user profile—which may include continuously updated user-specific behavior information, situational and ambient information, an accumulated history of scanned code messages, and integration with outside database information—the server selects information to serve to the users'"'"' mobile devices from an information base. In one embodiment, information may also be served to users based solely on the user profiles and ambient conditions, and without any initiating code scan. This is based on the accumulated history of scanned codes, which yields behavioral information about a user, including user space-time trajectories.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, comprising:

accumulating user content request trigger information via MMS from a mobile device requiring no ancillary software for providing the user content request trigger information;

accumulating user content request trigger situational metadata from the mobile device;

associating the user content request trigger information and user content request trigger situational metadata with a user profile;

generating user content request trends based on the accumulated user content request trigger information and the accumulated user content request trigger situational metadata;

updating the user profile with the associated information and trends in a database;

analyzing accumulated information and trends associated with the user profile;

querying an information database based on the analysis of the user profile;

receiving ambient conditions comprising non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions and feed-based ambient conditions;

selecting information based on the user profile and the received ambient conditions to include in a message; and

sending the message to the mobile device via MMS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information included in the message sent to the mobile device is selected based on a ranking.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating an Ad profile based on the user content request trigger information and user content request trigger situational metadata.

4. The method of claim 1, further, comprising:

determining information to include in a message based on the querying of the information database.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user content request trigger situational metadata includes geographic location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user content request trigger situational metadata includes a context of a scanned code.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user content request trigger situational metadata is continuously updated.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user content request trigger information is comprised of a code scanned by the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the code is a matrix code and the scanned by the mobile device comprises taking a picture of the matrix code with a mobile device camera.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an image of the scanned code at a server; and

wherein analyzing accumulated information and trends associated with the user profile comprises matching the code image to a code image database.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

performing an image enhancement on the image of the scanned code prior to matching the code image to a code image database.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions are measured by the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambient conditions comprise weather information.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambient conditions comprise news information.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a marketer rule database to extract a marketer rule; and

wherein the selecting information is further based on implementation of the marketer rule.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying a third party customer database to extract a customer record; and

wherein the selecting information is further based on the customer record.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the ambient conditions further comprise spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions include ambient light levels.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the feed-based ambient conditions include stock prices.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the message further includes instructions specifying a time and a location to display requested content on the mobile device.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a relevance rating from the mobile device in response to sending the message, the relevance rating reflective of a user specification of personal relevance for the selected information included in the message.

17. A processor-implemented method for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, comprising:

receiving at a server messages from a mobile device comprised of user identification, mobile device identification, a code image scanned by the mobile device, time of the scan, and user geographic location at the time of the scan, wherein the messages were sent to a short code address via MMS and wherein the mobile device requires no ancillary software for providing the messages;

associating the user identification with a user profile in a database;

generating message trends based on the received messages;

updating the user profile with the received messages and trends;

enhancing the code image scanned by the mobile device;

analyzing the accumulated messages and trends in the user profile;

receiving ambient conditions comprising non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions and feed-based ambient conditions;

determining proper information to serve to the user based on the received message, the user profile, and the received ambient conditions;

selecting the information to serve to the mobile device from a database;

incorporating the selected information into a reply message; and

sending the reply message to the mobile device via MMS.

18. An apparatus for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, comprising:

a memory;

a processor disposed in communication with said memory, and configured to issue a plurality of instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions are issuable to;

accumulate user content request trigger information via MMS from a mobile device requiring no ancillary software for providing the user content request trigger information;

accumulate user content request trigger situational metadata from the mobile device;

associate the user content request trigger information and user content request trigger situational metadata with a user profile;

generate user content request trends based on the accumulated user content request trigger information and the accumulated user content request trigger situational metadata;

update the user profile with the associated information and trends in a database;

analyze accumulated information and trends associated with the user profile;

query an information database based on the analysis of the user profile;

receive ambient conditions comprising non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions and feed-based ambient conditions;

select information based on the user profile and the received ambient conditions to include in a message; and

send the message to the mobile device via MMS.

19. A system for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, comprising:

means to accumulate user content request trigger information via MMS from a mobile device requiring no ancillary software for providing the user content request trigger information;

means to accumulate user content request trigger situational metadata from the mobile device;

means to associate the user content request trigger information and user content request trigger situational metadata with a user profile;

means to generate user content request trends based on the accumulated user content request trigger information and the accumulated user content request trigger situational metadata;

means to update the user profile with the associated information and trends in a database;

means to analyze accumulated information and trends associated with the user profile;

means to query an information database based on the analysis of the user profile;

means to receive ambient conditions comprising non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions and feed-based ambient conditions;

means to select information based on the user profile and the received ambient conditions to include in a message; and

means to send the message to the mobile device via MMS.

20. A processor-accessible medium for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, comprising:

processor readable instructions stored in the processor-accessible medium, wherein the processor readable instructions are issuable by the processor to;

accumulate user content request trigger information via MMS from a mobile device requiring no ancillary software for providing the user content request trigger information;

accumulate user content request trigger situational metadata from the mobile device;

associate the user content request trigger information and user content request trigger situational metadata with a user profile;

generate user content request trends based on the accumulated user content request trigger information and the accumulated user content request trigger situational metadata;

update the user profile with the associated information and trends in a database;

analyze accumulated information and trends associated with the user profile;

query an information database based on the analysis of the user profile;

receive ambient conditions comprising non-spatiotemporal sensor-based ambient conditions and feed-based ambient conditions;

select information based on the user profile and the received ambient conditions to include in a message; and

send the message to the mobile device via MMS.