Mobile device services acquisition

• US 8,130,738 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2006
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chan, Ming Sum, Lam, Lai Wa
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US11/598,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20070123297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,939 Days
• Field of Search: 370/341
• US Class Current: 370/341
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location

Abstract

Provided is a method for enabling a mobile device to subscribe and acquire services, including the steps of: detecting available services/connections or service/location tags which are selectable by the mobile device within the short-to-medium range from the mobile device; triggering the mobile device to connect to a corresponding service/connection provider and/or to issue related commands thereto based on the detected result; performing other actions required to be triggered to acquire services in the mobile device, so as to acquire services from the service/connection providers. The present invention also discloses an apparatus for enabling a mobile service to subscribe to and acquire services, and a mobile device capable of subscribing and acquiring services.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a mobile device to acquire a service, comprising:

detecting an availability within a medium range from the mobile device of a service connection access point;

connecting to a service provider of the available service connection access point and retrieving service information with regard to a plurality of selectable services available from the service provider;

filtering out a non-suitable service of the plurality of selectable services which is not suitable as a function of determining that an attribute of the non-suitable service cannot meet a minimum requirement according to a preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

calculating a weighted score value of at least one attribute of each of the filtered plurality of selectable services available from the service provider as a function of the preset user selection rule;

selecting a service from the filtered plurality of selectable services of the service provider having a service information attribute with a calculated weighted score value better than a calculated weighted score value of an attribute of a service currently in use by the mobile device as a function of the preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

determining whether or not an automatic selection of the selected service is enabled and qualified as a function of the preset user selection rule;

requiring user confirmation for subscribing to the selected service if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled but not qualified; and

switching over from the service currently in use and using the selected service if a user confirms using the service or if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled and qualified.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tracking the using of the selected service; and

if the tracked using of the selected service exceeds a threshold amount of the preset user selection rule, as a function of a preset user selection rule, alerting a user of the mobile device or automatically terminating the using of the selected service by the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute is at least one of a signal quality attribute, a bandwidth attribute and a cost attribute.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the requiring user confirmation for subscribing to the selected service comprises alerting the user of the availability of the service best matching the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values and prompting the user to select the service best matching.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of a mobile device by detecting a location tag within the medium range from the mobile device; and

wherein the non-suitable service is filtered out as a function of determining that the non-suitable service is not suitable for the determined location of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

updating a list of selectable service providers in the mobile device by registering the service information of the service provider of the detected available service connection access point into the list; and

wherein the selecting the service best matching the preset user selection rule of the filtered plurality and the current service as a function of the weighted score values comprises selecting a service of the list that best matches the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a mobile device that detects an availability within a medium range from the mobile device of a service connection access point to connect to a service provider of the available service connection access point and retrieve service information with regard to a plurality of selectable services available from the service provider;

the mobile device to further;

filter out a non-suitable service of the plurality of selectable services which is not suitable as a function of determining that an attribute of the non-suitable service cannot meet a minimum requirement according to a preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

calculate a weighted score value of at least one attribute of each of the filtered plurality of selectable services available from the service provider as a function of the preset user selection rule;

select a service from the filtered plurality of selectable services of the service provider having a service information attribute with a calculated weighted score value better than a calculated weighted score value of an attribute of a service currently in use by the mobile device as a function of the preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

determine whether or not an automatic selection of the selected service is enabled and qualified as a function of the preset user selection rule;

require confirmation by a user of the mobile device for subscribing to the selected service if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled but not qualified; and

switch over from the service currently in use and use the selected service if the user confirms using the service or if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled and qualified.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the mobile device is further to:

track the use of the selected service; and

if the tracked use exceeds a threshold amount of the preset user selection rule, as a function of a preset user selection rule, alert a user of the mobile device or automatically terminate the use of the selected service by the mobile device.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one attribute is at least one of a signal quality attribute, a bandwidth attribute and a cost attribute.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein

the mobile device requires the user confirmation for subscribing to the selected service by alerting the user of the availability of the service best matching the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values and prompting the user to select the service best matching.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the mobile device is to further determine a location of a mobile device;

and

wherein the non-suitable service is filtered out as a function of determining that the non-suitable service is not suitable for the determined location of the mobile device.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the mobile device further:

updates a list of selectable service providers in the mobile device by registering the service information of the service provider of the detected available service connection access point into the list; and

selects the service best matching the preset user selection rule of the filtered plurality and the current service as the function of the weighted score by selecting a service of the list that best matches the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values.

13. A computer program product for enabling a mobile device to acquire a service, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code configured to, when executed on a programmable mobile device, cause the mobile device to;

detect an availability within a medium range from the mobile device of a service connection access point to connect to a service provider of the available service connection access point and retrieve service information with regard to a plurality of selectable services available from the service provider;

filter out a non-suitable service of the plurality of selectable services which is not suitable as a function of determining that an attribute of the non-suitable service cannot meet a minimum requirement according to a preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

calculate a weighted score value of at least one attribute of each of the filtered plurality of selectable services available from the service provider as a function of the preset user selection rule;

select a service from the filtered plurality of selectable services of the service provider having a service information attribute with a calculated weighted score value better than a calculated weighted score value of an attribute of a service currently in use by the mobile device as a function of the preset user selection rule stored in the mobile device;

determine whether or not an automatic selection of the selected service is enabled and qualified as a function of the preset user selection rule;

require confirmation by a user of the mobile device for subscribing to the selected service if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled but not qualified; and

switch over from the service currently in use and use the selected service if the user confirms using the service or if it is determined that the automatic service selection is enabled and qualified.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the mobile device to:

track the use of the selected service; and

if the tracked use of the selected service exceeds a threshold amount of the preset user selection rule, as a function of a preset user selection rule, alert a user of the mobile device or automatically terminate the use of the selected service by the mobile device.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the mobile device to require the user confirmation for subscribing to the selected service by alerting the user of the availability of the service best matching the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values and prompting the user to select the service best matching.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the mobile device to determine a location of a mobile device;

and

filter out the non-suitable service as a function of determining that the non-suitable service is not suitable for the determined location of the mobile device.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the mobile device to:

update a list of selectable service providers in the mobile device by registering the service information of the service provider of the detected available service connection access point into the list; and

select the service best matching the preset user selection rule of the filtered plurality and the current service as the function of the weighted score by selecting a service of the list that best matches the preset user selection rule as the function of the weighted score values.