Method of enabling a user to interact with content received from a remote server

• US 9,639,860 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Critical Path Data Centre Limited
• Inventors: Bramley, Lei, Bulmer, Russell, Tiller, Andrew, Pepper, Neil, French, Graham, Day, Owen
• Primary Examiner(s): Chou, Alan S
• Application Number:
  US14/696,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20150242904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0246 Traffic
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72469 for operating the device by selecting functions from two or more displayed items, e.g. menus or icons
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages

Abstract

A user interacts with content received from a remote server; content (e.g. feeds from social networking sites, advertisements) is received over a wireless network at a mobile telephone, which then automatically displays a specific item of the content on the mobile telephone, without the user explicitly requesting the display of that specific item of content. In response to the user selecting or highlighting the displayed specific item of content, the mobile telephone lists multiple options that, if individually selected, each initiate an associated action that corresponds to a particular way of responding to or interacting with the specific item of content.

Claims

1. A device for enabling a user to interact with content received from a remote server, comprising:

a mobile device including a display, a cache memory, and a processor configurable to run one or more end-user applications;

a client content-engine application installed onto the mobile device receiving the content over a wireless network, the client content-engine application managing the download and storage of the content onto the cache memory of the mobile device, the client content-engine application then automatically providing a specific item of the stored content to at least one of said one or more end-user applications so that the at least one of said one or more end-user applications automatically displays the specific item of content on the display of mobile device, without the user explicitly requesting the display of that specific item of content, and wherein said specific item of the stored content is associated with said at least one of said one or more end-user applications and is selected by said client content-engine application for delivery based on parameters of said at least one of said one or more end-user applications;

wherein;

in response to the user selecting or highlighting the displayed specific item of content, listing on the mobile device multiple options that, if individually selected, each initiate an associated action that corresponds to a particular way of responding to or interacting with the specific item of content;

said client content-engine application exposes a generic API accessible to said one or more end-user applications;

if the user highlights or selects a specific item of content, then that item will change appearance and the listed multiple options will alter to include menu items for applicable actions; and

some or all of said content can have an expiry date after which it will not be displayed.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the content stored on the cache memory is dynamically updateable over the air.

3. The device of claim 1 in which the specific items of content are targeted for a user based on metadata in those specific items of content.

4. The device of claim 3 in which the metadata relates to one or more of:

advertising categories;

language of the user;

location of the user;

demographic of the user;

usage patterns of the user;

feeds subscribed to by the user.

5. The device of claim 1 in which the content is displayed in a photo-sharing or upload application.

6. The device of claim 1 in which each associated action is one of the following:

the display of a full-screen advertisement for a configurable time period, or until the user clicks;

the playing of an audio file;

the playing of a video file in full-screen mode;

the opening of a URL link in the phone'"'"'s browser;

the requesting of more information via email;

the sending of an email from a remote server to a pre-defined address;

the dialing of a phone number;

the sending of a pre-defined Web link to a friend via email from a remote server;

the subscribing to a feed;

the adding of a web site to the web sites used by the application that displays the content;

the navigation to a specific screen in the menu system of the mobile device;

the sending of an SMS or MMS message.

7. The device of claim 1 in which the actions stored on the mobile device can be added to with new actions with an over the air update process.

8. The device of claim 1 in which the content includes one or more items of advertisement content, and each specific item of advertisement content has metadata associated with each available action.

9. The device of claim 8 in which the metadata associated with each associated action includes one or more of:

a full screen advertisement file attachment;

an audio file attachment (with optional graphic to display while the advertisement is playing);

a video file attachment;

a phone number and message text for click-to-call;

URL links (for display in device browser, or for sending to a friend via SMS/email);

a pre-formatted SMS message and recipient phone number;

pre-defined message templates and email addresses to which a server should send pre-formatted or user-generated messages;

an associated subscription to a feed;

a default time interval after which a highlighted Banner advertisement will display a potential action;

menu text labels for each action item;

a specified order for the actions in the menu.

10. The device of claim 1 in which each specific item of content will have targeting metadata, which enables the content that is displayed to be targeted to a specific user.

11. The device of claim 1 including the step of recording when users view advertisements or initiate actions, and replicating this information to a remote server for analysis.

12. The device of claim 11 in which, for each action initiated, one or more of the following information is recorded:

type of action initiated;

date and time when the action was initiated;

Whether initiating an action was user-generated or involuntary;

Context.

13. A computer program product for enabling a user to interact with content received from a remote server, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied in the computer-readable non-transitory storage medium, said computer-readable program code configuring:

a mobile device including a display, a cache memory, and a processor configurable to run one or more end-user applications;

a client content-engine application installed onto the mobile device to receive the content over a wireless network, the client content-engine application managing the download and storage of the content onto the cache memory of the mobile device, the client content-engine application then automatically providing a specific item of the stored content to at least one of said one or more end-user applications so that the at least one of said one or more end-user applications automatically displays the specific item of content on the display of the mobile device, without the user explicitly requesting the display of that specific item of content, and wherein said specific item of the stored content is associated with said at least one of said one or more end-user applications and is selected by said client content-engine application for delivery based on parameters of said at least one of said one or more end-user applications;

wherein;

in response to the user selecting or highlighting the displayed specific item of content, lists on the mobile device multiple options that, if individually selected, each initiate an associated action that corresponds to a particular way of responding to or interacting with the specific item of content;

said client content-engine application exposes a generic API accessible to said one or more end-user applications;

if the user highlights or selects a specific item of content, then that item will change appearance and the listed multiple options will alter to include menu items for applicable actions; and

some or all of said content can have an expiry date after which it will not be displayed.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the content stored on the cache memory is dynamically updateable over the air.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the specific items of content are targeted for a user based on metadata in those specific items of content.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 in which the metadata relates to one or more of:

advertising categories;

language of the user;

location of the user;

demographic of the user;

usage patterns of the user;

feeds subscribed to by the user.

17. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the content is displayed in a photo-sharing or upload application.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 in which each associated action is one of the following:

the display of a full-screen advertisement for a configurable time period, or until the user clicks;

the playing of an audio file;

the playing of a video file in full-screen mode;

the opening of a URL link in the phone'"'"'s browser;

the requesting of more information via email;

the sending of an email from a remote server to a pre-defined address;

the dialing of a phone number;

the sending of a pre-defined Web link to a friend via email from a remote server;

the subscribing to a feed;

the adding of a web site to the web sites used by the application that displays the content;

the navigation to a specific screen in the menu system of the mobile device;

the sending of an SMS or MMS message.

19. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the associated actions stored on the mobile device can be added to with new actions with an over the air update process.

20. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the content includes one or more items of advertisement content, and each specific item of advertisement content has metadata associated with each available action.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 in which the metadata associated with each associated action includes one or more of:

a full screen advertisement file attachment;

an audio file attachment (with optional graphic to display while the advertisement is playing);

a video file attachment;

a phone number and message text for click-to-call;

URL links (for display in device browser, or for sending to a friend via SMS/email);

a pre-formatted SMS message and recipient phone number;

pre-defined message templates and email addresses to which a server should send pre-formatted or user-generated messages;

an associated subscription to a feed;

a default time interval after which a highlighted Banner advertisement will display a potential action;

menu text labels for each action item;

a specified order for the actions in the menu.

22. The computer program product of claim 13 in which each specific item of content will have targeting metadata, which enables the content that is displayed to be targeted to a specific user.

23. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein computer-readable program code configures the mobile device to record when users view advertisements or initiate actions, and replicates this information to a remote server for analysis.

24. The computer program product of claim 23 in which, for each action initiated, one or more of the following information is recorded:

type of action initiated;

date and time when the action was initiated;

Whether initiating an action was user-generated or involuntary;

Context.