Technique for handling URLs for different mobile devices that use different user interface platforms

• US 9,009,599 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2010
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Narla, Madan Mohan, Shake, Siva Babu
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): DUONG, HIEN LUONGVAN
• Application Number:
  US12/905,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,642 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

The examples provided teach techniques and devices used to route a request received from a mobile station via a URL link that is independent from the user interface platform used on the mobile device. This request is received at a web server which routes the request to an application server based on the URL link. The application identifies the user interface platform used by the mobile station and determines whether the application is supported by that user interface platform. If the application is not supported by the user interface platform, the application server reroutes the request to another application server having the application that is supported by the user interface platform and the application at the other server carries out the request and sends the response to the mobile station.

Claims

1. A method comprising steps of:

providing a first content page through a mobile communication network to one mobile station from amongst a plurality of mobile stations that use different user interface platforms, wherein;

the first content page contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) as a user selectable link to a second content page;

the URL is independent of a user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the URL is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

the second content page contains content independent of the user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

the independent content is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

receiving, at a first server through the mobile communication network, a request from the one mobile station, the request containing the identical URL and information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

obtaining, by the first server, the second content page based on the identical URL and the identifying information contained in the request by;

routing the request to one of a plurality of applications based on the information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station independently of the URL, wherein;

each user interface platform of the different user interface platforms is associated with an application of the plurality of applications;

the plurality of applications are executed on a second server; and

each application is configured to generate content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the user interface platform associated with the application;

receiving, by the first server from the second server, the second content page containing the identical content generated by the one application in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

sending, by the first server through the mobile communication network to the one mobile station, the second content page containing the identical content in the application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station for presentation to a user of the one mobile station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of routing the request comprises:

routing the request to a primary application of the plurality of applications, the primary application receiving the request based on information contained in the identical URL;

rerouting, by the primary application, the request to a secondary application of the plurality of applications, wherein;

the rerouting to the secondary application is based on the information identifying the user interface platform obtained by the primary application;

the primary application is configured to generate one or more content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in a format in accordance with a user interface platform different from the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

the secondary application is configured as the one application to provide one or more content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in the format in accordance with the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

receiving the second content page containing the identical content from the secondary application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the primary application is a WAP application and the secondary application is a type of application selected from the group consisting of a SMI application and a MW3 application.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request is routed to the primary application based upon a context root of the URL.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the server is a web server and the applications run on more than one application server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the URL is a deep linking URL.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station is contained in the header of the request.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying information contained in the header comprises information identifying the one mobile station'"'"'s make and model.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified user interface platform is one of a plurality of user interface platforms and the one mobile station is a mobile station of one of a plurality of types of mobile stations, the identified user interface platform being the only user interface platform used by the one mobile station.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a first application of the plurality of applications is configured to generate content pages in an application format compatible with wireless application protocol (WAP) applications; and

a second application of the plurality of applications is configured to generate content pages in an application format compatible with one of smart mobile interface (SMI) and mobile web 3.0 (MW3) applications.

11. A non-transitory machine readable medium having a program for execution by a processor of a computer, wherein the program configures the computer to implement functions comprising:

providing a first content page through a mobile communication network to one mobile station from amongst a plurality of mobile stations that use different user interface platforms, wherein;

the first content page contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) as a user selectable link to a second content page;

the URL is independent of a user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the URL is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

the second content page contains content independent of the user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

the independent content is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

receiving, at a first server through the mobile communication network, a request from the one mobile station, the request containing the identical URL and information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

obtaining, by the first server, the second content page based on the identical URL and the identifying information contained in the request by;

routing the request to one of a plurality of applications based on the information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station independently of the URL, wherein;

each user interface platform of the different user interface platforms is associated with an application of the plurality of applications;

the plurality of applications are executed on a second server; and

each application is configured to generate content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the user interface platform associated with the application;

receiving, by the first server from the second server, the second content page containing the identical content generated by the one application in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

sending, by the first server through the mobile communication network to the one mobile station, the second content page containing the identical content in the application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station for presentation to a user of the one mobile station.

12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein the function of routing the request comprises:

routing the request to a primary application of the plurality of applications, the primary application receiving the request based on information contained in the identical URL;

rerouting, by the primary application, the request to a secondary application of the plurality of applications, wherein;

the rerouting to the secondary application is based on the information identifying the user interface platform obtained by the primary application;

the primary application is configured to generate one or more content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in a format in accordance with a user interface platform different from the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

the secondary application is configured as the one application to provide one or more content pages, including the second content page containing the identical content, in the format in accordance with the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

receiving the second content page containing the identical content from the secondary application.

13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11 wherein the URL is a deep linking URL.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein information identifying the user interface platform of the one mobile station is contained in the header of the request.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 11, wherein:

a first application of the plurality of applications is configured to generate content pages in an application format compatible with wireless application protocol (WAP) applications; and

a second application of the plurality of applications is configured to generate content pages in an application format compatible with one of smart mobile interface (SMI) and mobile web 3.0 (MW3) applications.

16. A mobile station service provider system comprising:

a network;

at least one computer platform, each computer platform comprising a central processing unit and being coupled for communication via the network;

a primary application server implemented on the at least one computer platform, wherein the primary application server is configured to;

(i) receive a request for a content page from one mobile station from amongst a plurality of mobile stations that use different user interface platforms, wherein;

the request containing contains a Uniform Resource Locator (URL);

the URL is independent of a user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the URL is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

the content page contains content independent of the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the independent content is identical for each of the different user interface platforms; and

the request contains an identification of the user interface platform used by the one mobile station;

(ii) identify independently of the identical URL which one of a plurality of applications is needed to carry out the request from the one mobile station using the identification of the user interface platform; and

(iii) route the request to the identified application; and

a secondary application server implemented on the at least one computer platform, wherein the secondary application server is configured to;

(i) receive, by a secondary application on the secondary application server, the routed request for the content page from the primary application server, when the identified application is the secondary application;

(ii) obtain the content page containing the identical content based on the identical URL provided in the request; and

(iii) send the requested content page containing the identical content to the one mobile station in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the primary application server is further configured to:

receive, by a primary application on the primary application server, the routed request, when the identified application is the primary application;

obtain the content page containing the identical content based on the identical URL provided in the request; and

send the requested content page containing the identical content to the one mobile station in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station, the application format provided by the primary application being different from the application format provided by the secondary application.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the primary application server is configured to receive the request for the content page based on a context root of the URL.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the primary application server is configured to identify which one of the plurality of applications is needed to carry out the request based on information in the header of the URL.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the primary application is a WAP application and the secondary application is a type of application selected from the group consisting of a SMI application and a MW3 application.

21. The mobile station service provider system of claim 16, wherein the secondary server is configured to send the requested content page to the one mobile station in an application format compatible with one of wireless application protocol (WAP), smart mobile interface (SMI), and mobile web 3.0 (MW3) applications.

22. A system comprising:

a primary application configured to receive a request for a content page from one mobile station amongst a plurality of mobile stations that use different user interface platforms, wherein;

the request contains a uniform resource locator (URL) and an identification of the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the URL is independent of the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the URL is identical for each of the different user interface platforms;

the content page contains content independent of the user interface platform of the one mobile station;

the independent content is identical for each of the different user interface platforms; and

the primary application uses the identification of the user interface platform of the one mobile station independently of the identical URL to identify a correct one of a plurality of applications to process the request;

a secondary application configured to receive the identical URL request sent to the secondary application from the primary application upon determination by the primary application that the secondary application is the correct application to carry out the request, wherein the secondary application processes the request to obtain the content Page containing the identical content in an application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station; and

a web server comprising a data communication interface, a central processing unit, and a program storage, wherein the web server is configured for;

receiving the request for the content page from the mobile station and routing the request to the primary application; and

receiving the content page containing the identical content requested by the mobile station from the secondary application in the application format in accordance with processing capabilities of the identified user interface platform of the one mobile station and sending the content page containing the identical content requested to the mobile station in the application format received from the secondary application.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the primary application is a WAP application and the secondary application is a type of application selected from the group consisting of a SMI application and a MW3 application.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the web server routes the request for content to the primary application based on a context root in the URL.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the secondary application is configured to process the request to obtain the requested content in an application format compatible with one of wireless application protocol (WAP), smart mobile interface (SMI), and mobile web 3.0 (MW3) applications.