Personalized information communications

• US 8,015,245 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2006
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Costello, Jamie, Frayling, Anthony Francis, Milic-Frayling, Natasa
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Tae K
• Application Number:
  US11/409,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20070250591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,961 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/218, 709/313, 715/706, 715/745, 715/746, 345/473, 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier

Abstract

A personalized information communications system enables a source user to provide personalized information in a datastore for access and display by a communications device of a recipient user. An aggregation server records user settings of the source user in a datastore, and collects personalized information of the source user into the datastore based on the user settings. The user settings specify at least one element of personalized information specified by the source user. In response to request from the recipient user, the aggregation server accesses and provides the personalized information of the source user to the recipient user. In one implementation, the communications device periodically polls the aggregation server for updated information associated with the source user. Alternatively, the aggregation server pushes the information to the communications device. Accordingly, the recipient user gains access to the personalized information of the source user.

Claims

1. A method of communicating source user information to a mobile communications device, the method comprising:

recording, in a datastore of an aggregation server, personalized source user information including an uploaded photograph file provided by a source user, the photograph file comprising an image captured by a camera and to be accessed from the aggregation server by recipient users without active communication from the source user according to user settings specified by the source user, the user settings;

identifying the source user by at least one of name and telephone number,

identifying a location of the source user,

identifying each of the recipient users by at least one of name and telephone number,

referencing the source user information provided by the source user for receipt by the recipient users, and

specifying an effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users;

transmitting, through a web service of the aggregation server, a list of users for display on the mobile communications device of a particular recipient user, the list of users comprising identifiers for the source user and other users having accessible personalized information;

receiving, through the web service of the aggregation server, a request from the-particular recipient user via the mobile communications device in response to selection of an identifier for the source user from the list of users;

associating the particular recipient user with the source user for providing the particular recipient with the personalized source user information provided by the source user;

accessing, from the datastore of the aggregation server, the personalized source user information including the photograph file provided by the source user;

requesting, by the aggregation server, supplemental information from a remote web service based on the location identified in the user settings of the source user;

receiving, at the aggregation server, the supplemental information from the remote web service;

selecting, by the aggregation server, one or more effect images associated with the effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users, wherein;

each effect image has a non-zero transparency level in at least a portion of the effect image to expose a portion of the image of the photograph file for viewing when overlaying the image of the photograph file, and

the one or more effect images are selected based on the supplemental information received from the remote web service; and

transmitting, through the web service of the aggregation server, the personalized source user information for display of the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and for display of the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user for viewing on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user settings further provide a display definition specified by the source user and associated with the personalized source user information, the associated display definition specifying layout of the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user within a display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the associated display definition comprises a display template, the method further comprising:

transmitting, through the web service of the aggregation server, the display template to the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user for use in displaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user in accordance with the associated display definition.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving another request from the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user for updated personalized source user information associated with the source user;

accessing the requested updated personalized source user information from the datastore of the aggregation server;

transmitting the requested updated personalized source user information for display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the operation of receiving another request is delayed relative to a previous receiving operation by a time period enforced by a communications device of the source user.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing updated personalized source user information from the datastore of the aggregation server;

transmitting the updated personalized source user information for display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

recording the supplemental information received from the remote web service into the datastore with the personalized source information provided by the source user; and

transmitting the supplemental information for display with the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the supplemental information from the remote web service includes at least one of weather information associated with the location identified in the user settings of the source user or time zone information associated with the location identified in the user settings of the source user.

9. A computer-readable storage medium that does not consist of a signal, said computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions implementing the method of claim 1.

10. A method of communicating source user information via a mobile communications device of a particular recipient user, the method comprising:

receiving, through a web service of an aggregation server, a list of users for display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user, the list of users comprising identifiers for a source user and other users having accessible information;

requesting, through the web service of the aggregation server, personalized source user information provided by the source user in response to selection of an identifier for the source user from the list of users, the personalized source user information including an uploaded photograph file provided by the source user, the photograph file comprising an image captured by a camera and to be accessed from the aggregation server by recipient users without active communication from the source user according to user settings specified by the source user, the user settings;

identifying the source user by at least one of name and telephone number,

identifying a location of the source user,

identifying each of the recipient users by at least one of name and telephone number,

referencing the source user information provided by the source user for receipt by the recipient users, and

specifying an effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users;

receiving, at the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user from the aggregation server, the personalized source user information including the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and one or more effect images associated with the effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users, wherein;

each effect image has a non-zero transparency level in at least a portion of the effect image to expose a portion of the image of the photograph file for viewing when overlaying the image of the photograph file, and

the one or more effect images were selected by the aggregation server based on supplemental information retrieved from a remote web service and associated with the location identified in the user settings of the source user; and

displaying the personalized source information including the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user for viewing on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the requesting operation comprises:

periodically polling the web service of the aggregation server to obtain updated personalized source user information provided by the source user.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the requesting operation comprises:

requesting the web service of the aggregation server to transmit updated personalized source user information provided by the source user when available.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the user settings further provide a display definition specified by the source user and associated with the personalized source user information, the associated display definition specifying layout of the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user within a display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the associated display definition comprises a display template, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device of the recipient user from the aggregation server, the display template for use in displaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user in accordance with the associated display definition.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

modifying the associated display definition in accordance with display parameters specified by the particular recipient user for display on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device of the recipient user, the supplemental information retrieved by the aggregation server from the remote web service; and

displaying the supplemental information with image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device of the recipient user, the supplemental information retrieved by the aggregation server from the remote web service; and

displaying the supplemental information with image of the photograph file provided by the source user and the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user in accordance with the display definition.

18. A computer-readable storage medium that does not consist of a signal, said computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions implementing the method of claim 10.

19. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, at the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user from the aggregation server, a sequence of foreground images associated with an animated overlay selected by the source user, wherein;

each foreground image has a non-zero transparency level in at least a portion of the foreground image, and

each foreground image is associated with a current condition of the location of the source user;

storing the image of the photograph file as a background image;

storing each foreground image in the sequence of foreground images at the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user;

displaying the stored image of the photograph file as the background image on a display of the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user;

displaying a first foreground image from the stored sequence of foreground images with the photograph file, such that a portion of the image of the photograph file can be seen in the portion of the first foreground image that has the non-zero transparency level;

waiting a period of time;

refreshing the image of the photograph file on the display of the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user, responsive to the waiting operation; and

displaying a second foreground image from the stored sequence of foreground images with the image of the photograph file on the display of the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user, such that a portion of the image of the photograph file can be seen in the portion of the second foreground image that has the non-zero transparency level, responsive to the refreshing operation.

20. An aggregation server for communicating source user information to a mobile communications device, the aggregation server comprising:

a processor for executing computer-executable instructions; and

memory storing computer-executable instructions for;

recording, in a datastore, personalized source user information including an uploaded photograph file provided by a source user, the photograph file comprising an image captured by a camera and to be accessed from the aggregation server by recipient users without active communication from the source user according to user settings specified by the source user, the user settings;

identifying the source user by at least one of name and telephone number,

identifying a location of the source user,

identifying each of the recipient users by at least one of name and telephone number,

referencing the source user information provided by the source user for receipt by the recipient users, and

specifying an effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users;

transmitting, through a web service, a list of users for display on the mobile communications device of a particular recipient user, the list of users comprising identifiers for the source user and other users having accessible personalized information;

receiving, through the web service, a request from the particular recipient user via the mobile communications device in response to selection of an identifier for the source user from the list of users;

associating the particular recipient user with the source user for providing the particular recipient with the personalized source user information provided by the source user;

accessing the personalized source user information including the photograph file provided by the source user from the datastore;

requesting supplemental information from a remote web service based on the location identified in the user settings of the source user;

receiving the supplemental information from the remote web service;

selecting one or more effect images associated with the effect overlay selected by the source user for use when the photograph file is accessed by recipient users, wherein;

each effect image has a non-zero transparency level in at least a portion of the effect image to expose a portion of the image of the photograph file for viewing when overlaying the image of the photograph file, and

the one or more effect images are selected based on the supplemental information received from the remote web service; and

transmitting, through the web service, the personalized source user information for display of the image of the photograph file provided by the source user and for display of the one or more effect images overlaying the image of the photograph file provided by the source user for viewing on the mobile communications device of the particular recipient user.