System and method for providing requested information to thin clients

• US 8,301,503 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2002
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Incucomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Incucomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Volpi, John P., Bowers, Matthew N., Hartley, Kelly A., Roemerman, Steven H., Rubin, Jodi B.
• Primary Examiner(s): ADE, OGER GARCIA
• Application Number:
  US10/197,065
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,758 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0629 for generating comparisons

Abstract

A system for, and method of, providing requested information to a client. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a core information database that contains core information gleaned from the Internet and restructured according to a predetermined taxonomy and (2) a client communications interface, coupled to the core information database, that receives a request message from a client containing a request for some of the core information, derives a database query from the request message, causes the some of the core information to be retrieved from the core information database, formats the some of the core information into a response message according to display limitations of the client and transmits the response message to the client for display thereby.

Claims

1. A system for providing requested information to a thin client having display limitations and couplable to a bandwidth limited transport path, comprising:

a core information database including memory and configured to contain core information gleaned from an Internet and restructured according to a predetermined taxonomy; and

a client communications interface, operable with a processor and coupled to said core information database, configured to receive a request message from said thin client through said bandwidth limited transport path containing a request for some of said core information, derive a database query from said request message, cause said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database, dynamically format said some of said core information into a response message according to said display limitations of said thin client and transmit said response message to said thin client through said bandwidth limited transport path for display thereby, wherein said response message includes a request for a non-monetary rating of a value of said some of said core information therein from said thin client.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said thin client is selected from the group consisting of:

a wireless personal data assistant,

a cell telephone with display messaging capability,

a computer with limited communication bandwidth and display capability,

a supply chain system with limited communication bandwidth and display capability, and

a wired messaging terminal with limited communication bandwidth and display capability.

3. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said system forms a part of a product purchasing system, said core information regards a plurality of products available for purchase and said predetermined taxonomy calls for said core information to be organized by model, source, price and availability.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said core information database is further configured to allow said client communications interface to obtain comparisons between at least a portion of said core information in a given classification of said predetermined taxonomy with which said core information is associated.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said request message is a natural language text message.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a search engine that, if said request is for information outside of said core information database, is configured to cause a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said client communications interface is configured to cause said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database in accordance with a profile of said thin client.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a configuration database configured to contain said display limitations along with display limitations of other clients, wherein said display limitations include at least one of display size, color capabilities of said display, number of pixels of said display, number of rows and characters per row of said display, and formatting codes associated with said display.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said client communications interface is configured to obtain a client type from said thin client and is configured to employ said client type to determine said display limitations of said thin client.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said client communications interface is configured to subsequently prompt said thin client for refining request messages.

31. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said client communications interface is configured to receive said non-monetary rating of said value of said some of said core information from said thin client.

32. The system as recited in claim 1 further comprising a search engine that, if said non-monetary rating of said value of said some of said core information is low, is configured to cause a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database.

11. A method of providing requested information to a thin client having display limitations and couplable to a bandwidth limited transport path, comprising:

loading a core information database with core information gleaned from an Internet and restructured according to a predetermined taxonomy;

receiving a request message at a server from said thin client through said bandwidth limited transport path containing a request for some of said core information;

deriving a database query with said server from said request message;

causing said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database with said server;

dynamically formatting said some of said core information into a response message with said server according to display limitations of said thin client; and

transmitting said response message to said thin client through said bandwidth limited transport path for display thereby, wherein said response message includes a request for a non-monetary rating of a value of said some of said core information therein from said thin client.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said thin client is selected from the group consisting of:

a wireless personal data assistant,

a cell telephone with display messaging capability,

a computer with limited communication bandwidth and display capability,

a supply chain system with limited communication bandwidth and display capability, and

a wired messaging terminal with limited communication bandwidth and display capability.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said method is carried out to purchase products, said core information regards a plurality of products available for purchase and said predetermined taxonomy calls for said core information to be organized by model, source, price and availability.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said core information database is also configured to allow said database query to obtain comparisons between at least a portion of said core information in a given classification of said predetermined taxonomy with which said core information is associated.

15. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said request message is a natural language text message.

16. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising causing a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database if said request is for information outside of said core information database.

17. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said causing said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database is performed in accordance with a profile of said thin client.

18. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising loading a configuration database with said display limitations along with display limitations of other clients, wherein said display limitations include at least one of display size, color capabilities of said display, number of pixels of said display, number of rows and characters per row of said display, and formatting codes associated with said display.

19. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said formatting further comprises obtaining a client type from said thin client and employing said client type to determine said display limitations of said thin client.

20. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising subsequently prompting said thin client for refining request messages.

33. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising receiving said non-monetary rating of said value of said some of said core information from said thin client.

34. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising causing a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database if said non-monetary rating of said value of said some of said core information is low.

21. A system for providing requested information to a client having display limitations and couplable to a bandwidth limited transport path, comprising:

a core information database including memory and configured to contain core information gleaned from an Internet and restructured according to a predetermined taxonomy; and

a client communications interface, operable with a processor and coupled to said core information database, configured to receive a request message from a client through said bandwidth limited transport path containing a request for some of said core information, obtain a client type from said client, employ said client type to determine said display limitations of said client, derive a database query from said request message, cause said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database, format said some of said core information into a response message according to said display limitations of said client and transmit said response message to said client through said bandwidth limited transport path for display thereby without modifying a display configuration of said client, wherein said response message includes a request for a non-monetary rating of a value of said some of said core information therein from said client.

22. The system as recited in claim 21 wherein said system forms a part of a product purchasing system, said core information regards a plurality of products available for purchase and said predetermined taxonomy calls for said core information to be organized by model, source, price and availability.

23. The system as recited in claim 21 wherein said core information database is further configured to allow said client communications interface to obtain comparisons between at least a portion of said core information in a given classification of said predetermined taxonomy with which said core information is associated.

24. The system as recited in claim 21 further comprising a search engine that, if said request is for information outside of said core information database, is configured to cause a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database.

25. The system as recited in claim 21 further comprising a configuration database configured to contain said display limitations along with display limitations of other clients and a profile of said client.

26. A method of providing requested information to a client having display limitations and couplable to a bandwidth limited transport path, comprising:

loading a core information database with core information gleaned from an Internet and restructured according to a predetermined taxonomy;

receiving a request message at a server from a client through said bandwidth limited transport path containing a request for some of said core information;

obtaining a client type at said server from said client;

employing said client type to determine said display limitations of said client with said server;

deriving a database query with said server from said request message;

causing said some of said core information to be retrieved from said core information database with said server;

formatting said some of said core information into a response message with said server according to display limitations of said client; and

transmitting said response message to said client through said bandwidth limited transport path for display thereby without modifying a display configuration of said client, wherein said response message includes a request for a non-monetary rating of a value of said some of said core information therein from said client.

27. The method as recited in claim 26 wherein said method is carried out to purchase products, said core information regards a plurality of products available for purchase and said predetermined taxonomy calls for said core information to be organized by model, source, price and availability.

28. The method as recited in claim 26 wherein said core information database is further configured to allow said database query to obtain comparisons between at least a portion of said core information in a given classification of said predetermined taxonomy with which said core information is associated.

29. The method as recited in claim 26 further comprising causing a search of the Internet to be performed in an effort to obtain further core information for inclusion in said core information database if said request is for information outside of said core information database.

30. The method as recited in claim 26 further comprising loading a configuration database with said display limitations along with display limitations of other clients and a profile of said client.