Distribution system for data items

• US 8,468,154 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Issued: 06/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Spinlet Corp.
• Original Assignee: Spinlet Corp.
• Inventors: Leino, Ville V, Leino, Sami S
• Primary Examiner(s): Jalil, Neveen Abel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Young, Kevin L
• Application Number:
  US11/705,153
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,318 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10
• US Class Current: 707/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Distribution system for data items where information on amounts of topics may be used to scope further actions on the information. Data items are created topically in various locations, provided with position-based annotation and made publicly available. Search on desired data items is scoped using views that show the amount of available data items for one or more sub-areas of a geographical area.

Claims

1. A method for providing and distributing information, the method comprising:

contracting in a plurality of mobile user terminals of a telecommunication system a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy of each respective mobile user terminal defining automatic accessibility of data items generated by adopting output information from an application running in the respective mobile user terminal to other ones of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting a same distribution policy;

generating in the mobile user terminal each data item by adopting the output information from an application running in the mobile user terminal;

marking, in each of said plurality of mobile user terminals, data items adopted from the application output automatically accessible to other ones of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy when the data item is created in a defined geographic area;

annotating, in each of said plurality of mobile user terminals, the data items with a geographical position information element;

generating, in each of said plurality of mobile user terminals, for data items an indexing record, an indexing record of a data item including the geographical position information element;

configuring, in the mobile user terminals, at least one transmission state, a transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which transmission one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed;

sending the indexing records of each of said plurality of mobile user terminals to an application node storing the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy only when the mobile user terminal is in a transmission state;

providing, in at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy, geographical position selection view based on the indexing records stored in the application node, the geographical position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast or brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items, whose display is filtered in accordance with setting in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea and

ii) follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determining the address of one of the plurality of mobile user terminals that contains a data item listed in the search results;

requesting the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

adding a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistributing the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item.

2. A method for providing and distributing information according to claim 1, further comprising:

connecting through a cellular network said plurality of mobile user terminals to said application node;

recording in the application node indexing records of data items of the plurality of mobile user terminals;

providing the recorded data items for searching to the plurality of mobile user terminals;

receiving from the at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals a request for a searched data item of one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

checking the availability of the requested data item from said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

initiating, in response to the requested data item not being available, a follow-up procedure for detecting an instance when the requested data item becomes available in said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

receiving a notification from said one of mobile user terminals in response to said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals registering with the cellular network;

retrieving the requested data item from one of said plurality of mobile user terminals in response to detecting the notification; and

providing the retrieved data item to said at least one of said mobile user terminal.

3. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 2, further comprising

recording data items of mobile user terminal, storing generated data items and transmitting the data items only at predefined transmission states;

storing received data items in a database accessible by the application node;

checking the availability of the data item first from a database; and

checking the availability of the data item stored in the mobile user terminal, in response to the data item not being available in the database.

4. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 2, further comprising

receiving from said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals information for determining at least one geographical position information element of a data item;

and

sending information on the data item, an indexing record of which includes the determined geographical position information element.

5. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 4, further comprising

defining a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in the indexing records of the data items;

and

sending information only on data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

6. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 5, wherein

the filter condition includes a requirement for at least one of the following information elements:

time of generation of the data item,

type of source of the data item,

size of the data item,

search term associated with the data item,

media type of the data item,

output device type definition associated with the data item,

capabilities of output device related to the data item reflecting to data item itself,

location of the data item,

location where the data item was created,

type of data item,

annotation of data item, and

private or public status of data item.

7. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 2, further comprising

storing values of one or more information elements in the indexing record of one or more data items parallelly or subsequently requested by said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals into a search profile.

8. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 2, further comprising

receiving a search profile comprising values of one or more information elements in the indexing record of one or more data items parallelly or subsequently requested by said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals.

9. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 7, further comprising

searching for data items fulfilling the search profile at defined intervals through the telecommunication system.

10. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing the indexing records of each of said plurality of mobile user terminals in an application node;

associating in the application node the data items with at least two additional data items;

determining a geographical position of said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

selecting at least one of the at least two additional data items to be output to said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals viewing the data item according to the geographical position of said at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals.

11. A method for providing and distributing information, the method comprising:

contracting in a mobile user terminal of a telecommunication system a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy defining automatic accessibility of data items generated by adopting output information from an application running in the mobile user terminal to a plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy;

generating in the mobile user terminal each data item by adopting output information from an application running in the mobile user terminal;

marking in the mobile user terminal each generated data item adopted from the application output automatically public, the public marking indicating that said plurality of other mobile user terminals may inherently access the generated data item according to the contracted distribution policy;

annotating, in the mobile user terminal, each data item with a geographical position information element;

generating, in the mobile user terminal, an indexing record for each data item including the geographical position information element;

configuring, in the mobile user terminal, at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed;

sending the indexing record for each data item to an application node also storing indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy only when the mobile user terminal is in a transmission state; and

providing, in the mobile user terminals, a geographical position selection view based on the indexing records stored in the application node, the geographical position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast or brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items, whose display is filtered in accordance with setting in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea and

ii)follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determining the address a mobile user terminal that contains a data item listed in the search results;

requesting the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

adding a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistributing the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item.

12. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 11, further comprising

storing the generated data items in the mobile user terminal;

configuring the mobile user terminal with at least one transmission state, a transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed; and

preventing transmission of the data items from the mobile user terminal during operational states that do not correspond with any of the transmission states.

13. The method for providing and distributing information according to 12, further comprising

allowing transmission of indexing records during operational states that do not correspond with any of the transmission states.

14. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 11, further comprising

storing generated data items in the mobile user terminal;

configuring the mobile user terminal with at least one indexing state, the indexing state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which generation of the indexing records for the data items is allowed; and

preventing generation of the indexing records during operational states that do not correspond with any of the indexing states.

15. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 14, further comprising

configuring an indexing state to correspond with an idle state of the mobile user terminal, the idle state of the mobile user terminal being an operational state during which the mobile user terminal is not sending or receiving user data through the telecommunication system.

16. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 11, further comprising

annotating each data item with a geographical position information element;

and

including the geographical position information elements in the indexing record.

17. method for providing and distributing information according to claim 11, further comprising

contracting the distribution policy for data items in form of an application program executed in the mobile user terminal.

18. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 17, further comprising

storing the generated data items in the mobile user terminal;

and

sending to an application node a notification when entering the telecommunication system.

19. The method for providing and distributing information according to claim 18, wherein

the contracting the distribution policy is in a mobile user terminal of a cellular network, and

the sending the notification to the application node is from the mobile user terminal in response to registering with the telecommunication system.

20. A method for providing and distributing information in a mobile user terminal of a telecommunication system, the method comprising:

contracting a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy defining automatic accessibility to data items comprising output information from applications running in a plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy, each of the data items having an associated indexing record comprising at least one geographical position information element of the respective one of said plurality of other mobile user terminals in which the data item, is generated and the time it is generated and having been marked automatically accessible when the data items were created in a defined geographic area, the indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals being stored in an application node;

configuring, in the plurality of other mobile user terminals, at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the plurality of other mobile user terminals during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the plurality of other mobile user terminals is allowed, the plurality of other mobile user terminals only sending indexing records to the application node when the plurality of mobile user terminals are in transmission state;

providing a selection view for selecting a number of coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast, brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items of said plurality of other mobile user terminals, whose display is filtered in accordance with settings in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, and

ii) follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determining the address of one of the plurality of other mobile user terminals that contains a data item listed in the search results;

requesting the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

adding a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistributing the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item; and

retrieving through the telecommunication system the data items selected through the selection view.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

sending, in response to a selection of a coordinate element, to the telecommunication system information for determining at least one geographical position information element that corresponds to the selected coordinate element;

and

receiving from the telecommunication system information on at least one data item, an indexing record of which includes the determined geographical position information element.

22. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

defining for information retrieval a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in indexing records of the data items;

and

providing in the selection view only data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising

including in the filter condition a requirement for at least one of the following information elements:

type of the data item, time of generation of the data item, type of source of the data item, size of the data item, search term associated with the data item, media type of the data item, output device type definition associated with the data item.

24. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

providing the selection view in form of a map comprising a number of map coordinate elements, and data items being shown as visual indications in place of the corresponding map coordinate elements.

25. The method according to claim 23, further comprising

providing before the selection view a further selection view for selecting a group of coordinate elements from a number of groups of coordinate elements.

26. The method according to claim 23, further comprising

defining for information retrieval a filter that includes at least one filter condition for at least one further information element included in indexing records of the data items;

providing before the selection view a further selection view for selecting at least one filter condition for the filter; and

providing in the selection view only data items, the indexing record of each of which comprises the at least one further information element that fulfils the at least one filter condition.

27. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

utilizing a data item in at least one of the following ways:

outputting the data item through a user equipment device of the mobile user terminal, initiating a communication session by activating a link included in the data item.

28. The method according to claim 20, further comprising

storing values of one or more information elements in indexing records of the selected data items into a search profile.

29. The method according to claim 28, further comprising

sending the search profile to an application node accessible through the telecommunication system.

30. The method according to claim 28, further comprising

sending a request for data items fulfilling the search profile at defined intervals through the telecommunication system.

31. A system comprising a plurality of mobile user terminals and a network node, wherein

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracts distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy of each respective mobile user terminal defining automatic accessibility of the data items generated by adopting output information from an application running in the respective mobile user terminal to other ones of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy;

each data item is generated in the mobile user terminals by adopting output information from an application running the mobile user terminals;

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals marks data items adopted from the application output automatically accessible to other ones of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy when the data items are created in a defined geographic area;

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals annotates the data items with a geographical position information element;

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals generates for data items an indexing record, an indexing record of a data item including the geographical position information element;

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals has at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminals during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed;

each of said plurality of mobile user terminals sends, only when in a transmission state, its indexing records at least to the application node storing the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy;

at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals outputs a selection view based on the indexing records stored in the network node, the geographical position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast or brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items, whose display is filtered in accordance with settings in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, and

ii) follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals stored in the network node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

i) determines the address of one of the plurality of mobile user terminals that contains a data item listed in the search results,

ii) requests the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available,

iii) adds a comment to a data item provided in response to the request, and

iv) redistributes the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item.

32. The system according to claim 31 wherein the network node is an application node comprising an interface unit, a memory and a processor module connected to the interface unit and the memory and configured with instructions to cause the application node to:

record indexing records of data items of the plurality of mobile user terminals applying the distribution policy for data items;

provide the recorded data items for searching to the plurality of mobile user terminals applying the distribution policy for data items;

receive from at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals a request for a searched data item of one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

check the availability of the requested data item from said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

initiate, in response to the data item not being available, a follow-up procedure for detecting an instance when the requested data item becomes available in said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals;

receive a notification from said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals in response to said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals registering to the communication system;

retrieve the requested data item from said one of said plurality of mobile user terminals in response to detecting the notification; and

provide the retrieved data item to said at least one mobile user terminal.

33. A mobile user terminal comprising an interface unit, a memory and a processor module connected to the interface unit and the memory, and configured with instructions to cause the mobile user terminal to:

contract a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy defining automatic accessibility of the data items generated by adopting output information from an application running in the mobile user terminal to a plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy;

generate data items by adopting output information from an application running in the mobile user terminal;

mark each data item automatically public, the public marking indicating that said plurality of other mobile user terminals may inherently access the data item according to the contracted distribution policy when the data item is created in a defined geographic area;

annotate each data item with a geographical position information element

generate an indexing record on each data item including the geographical position information element;

generate at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational sate of the mobile user terminal during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed;

provide the indexing record to an application node also storing indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy only when in a transmission state;

provide a geographical position selection view based on the indexing records stored in the application node, the geographical position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast or brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items, whose display is filtered in accordance with setting in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea and

ii)follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determine the address of a mobile user terminal that contains a data item listed in a search result produced in accordance with the search criteria;

request the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

add a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistribute the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item.

34. A computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer executable instruction, which when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:

contracting in each of a plurality of mobile user terminals of a telecommunication system a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy of each respective mobile user terminal defining automatic accessibility of data items generated by adopting output information from an application running in the respective mobile user terminal to a plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy;

generating in each of said plurality of mobile user terminals data items by adopting output information from an application running in the respective mobile user terminal;

marking in each of said plurality of mobile user terminals the data item adopted from the application output automatically public, the public marking indicating that other ones of said plurality of mobile user terminals may inherently access the data item according to the contracted distribution policy when the data item is created in a defined geographic area;

annotating the data item with a geographical position information element

generating an indexing record on the data item including the geographical position information element;

configuring, in the mobile user terminals, at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed;

providing the indexing record to an application node storing the indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy only when the mobile user terminals are in a transmission state;

providing, in at least one of said plurality of mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy, geographical position selection view based on the indexing records stored in the application node, the geographical position selection view comprising a number of separate coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast or brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items, whose display is filtered in accordance with setting in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea and

ii)follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determining the address of a mobile user terminal that contains a data item listed in a search result produced in accordance with the search criteria;

requesting the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

adding a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistributing the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item.

35. A mobile user terminal comprising an interface unit, a memory and a processor module connected to the interface unit and the memory and configured with instructions to

contract a distribution policy for data items, the distribution policy defining automatic accessibility to data items comprising output information from an application running in a plurality of other mobile user terminals contracting the same distribution policy, each of the data items having an indexing record comprising at least one geographical position information element of respective ones of said plurality of other mobile user terminals in which the data item is generated at the time it is generated and having been marked automatically accessible when the data items were created in a defined geographic area, the indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals being stored in an application node;

generate the data items by adopting the output information from an application running in the processor module;

configuring, in the mobile user terminal, at least one transmission state corresponding with an operational state of the mobile user terminal during which transmission of one or more of the data items from the mobile user terminal is allowed, the mobile user terminal only sending indexing records to the application node when the mobile user terminal is in a transmission state;

provide a selection view for selecting a number of coordinate elements, the first selection view being configured such that the first selection view comprises a group of coordinate elements dividing the geographic area into a mesh of subareas, the contrast, brightness or color of the coordinate elements on the map view varying according to the proportion of interesting data items of said plurality of other mobile user terminals, whose display is filtered in accordance with settings in a search profile that;

i) restricts an amount of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, and

ii) follows the availability of the interesting data items in each specific subarea, based on geographical position information elements of the indexing records of said plurality of other mobile user terminals stored in the application node, each coordinate element corresponding to at least one geographical position information element;

determine the address of one of a plurality of mobile user terminals that contains a data item listed in a search result;

requesting the data item from the mobile user terminal that contains the listed data item when it is determined the user terminal is available and periodically retrying the request when it is determined that the addressed mobile user terminal is not available;

adding a comment to a data item provided in response to the request; and

redistributing the commented data item to a group of users that have accessed the commented data item;

retrieve the selected data items.