Method and system for providing custom background-downloads

• US 8,577,732 B1
• Filed: 11/16/2005
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Martin, Geoff S., Kindred, Jonathan R., Hunter, Kevin E., Landers, Brian R.
• Primary Examiner(s): STOPP, COURTNEY L
• Application Number:
  US11/280,576
• Time in Patent Office: 2,911 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.1, 705/27.1, 705/14.25
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A method and system of providing custom background-downloads, where content is selected for background downloading to a subscriber based on an analysis of the current time, the subscriber'"'"'s current location, and online transaction history records regarding a plurality of subscribers over time, each record indicating content that was a subject of the transaction. A custom content server may determine the subscriber'"'"'s current location and the current time, and the server may then select transaction history records reflecting transactions that occurred in the past at a similar location and time (possibly just records for transactions involving the subscriber currently at issue). The server may then select one or more pieces of available content based on their similarity to the content indicated by the selected transaction records. And the server may background-download the selected content to the subscriber. The invention can be used to provide custom-channel definitions or custom content-catalogs, for instance.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining transaction data indicative of online transactions in which a population of subscribers have engaged over time, wherein the transaction data indicates respectively for each of a plurality of transactions (i) which subscriber engaged in the transaction, (ii) when the transaction occurred, (iii) where the subscriber was located when engaging the transaction, and (iv) what content was a subject of the transaction;

a custom content server using the transaction data as a basis to select content to background-download to a given subscriber, in view of a current location of the given subscriber and in view of the current time, wherein using the transaction data as a basis to select content to background-download to a given subscriber in view of a current location of the given subscriber and in view of the current time comprises (a) determining the current location of the given subscriber, (b) determining the current time, (c) searching through the transaction data to find a set of one or more transaction records matching the determined location and time, (d) for each transaction record of the set, assigning a score respectively to each of a plurality of pieces of available content based on a comparison of the piece of available content to the content indicated by the transaction record, and (e) using the assigned scores as a basis to select one or more pieces of available content to background-download to the given subscriber; and

the custom content server background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein using the assigned scores as a basis to select one or more pieces of available content to background-download to the given subscriber comprises:

selecting the pieces of content having the top N assigned scores.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

excluding from the selected one or more pieces of available content any content that the transaction data indicates the given subscriber has already obtained.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the current location of the given subscriber comprises querying a location platform.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein searching through the transaction data to find the set of one or more transaction records comprises limiting the searching to transactions involving the given subscriber.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber comprises delivering the selected content to the given subscriber in response to a background-download request received from the given subscriber.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber comprises pushing the selected content to the given subscriber.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein pushing the selected content to the given subscriber comprises sending the selected to the given subscriber via Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messaging.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber comprises background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber as a custom-channel definition.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber comprises background-downloading the selected content to the given subscriber as a custom content-catalog.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction data comprises web browsing transaction data and online shopping transaction data, and wherein using the transaction data as a basis to select content to background-download to the given subscriber in view of the current location of the given subscriber and in view of the current time comprises:

using the web browsing transaction data and online shopping transaction data as a basis to select content to background-download to the given subscriber in view of the current location of the given subscriber and in view of the current time.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the web browsing transaction data from a gateway through which web browsing transactions occur, and receiving the online shopping transaction data from an online store server with which subscribers interact to engage in shopping transactions.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving location data from a location platform, and correlating the location data with the web browsing transaction data and the online shopping transaction data, to produce transaction records that indicate where subscribers were located when they engaged in various transactions,

wherein using the transaction data as a basis to select content to background-download to the given subscriber, in view of the current location of the given subscriber and in view of the current time, comprises using the produced transaction records as a basis to select content to background-download to the given subscriber, in view of the current location of the subscriber and in view of the current time.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

using an indication of storage space available at the subscriber as a basis for determining how much content to background-download to the subscriber.

15. A custom content server comprising:

a processor;

data storage;

transaction data in the data storage, the transaction data including records of a online transactions in which a plurality of subscribers have engaged over time, each transaction record indicating (i) a subscriber-ID, (ii) a transaction time, (iii) a subscriber location, and (iv) a content-description;

available-content data in the data storage, the available-content data designating pieces of content available for background-downloading to subscribers and providing a content-description for each piece of content; and

program logic in the data storage, the program logic being executable by the processor to (a) determine a current location of a given subscriber, (b) determine a current time, (c) select online transaction records that have transaction time and subscriber location similar to the determined time and the determined location, and (d) select one or more pieces of content from the available-content data based on a comparison of the selected piece(s) of content with the content-descriptions in the selected online transaction records.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a network communication interface, wherein the program logic is further executable to background-download the selected piece(s) of content to the given subscriber.