Method and apparatus for obtaining contextually relevant content

• US 10,812,937 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2009
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Mittal, Vineet, Koenig, Michal J., Rajan, Rajeev D., Gregory, Kevin T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sison, June Y
• Application Number:
  US12/607,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,010 Days
• Field of Search: 709203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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

A method of obtaining contextually relevant content by a wireless communications device is provided. The method may comprise obtaining, by a wireless communications device (WCD), a destination device identifying item, transmitting the destination device identifying item to a contextual content server, wherein the contextual content server determines one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item and a WCD location value, and receiving, from the contextual content server, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining contextually relevant content by a wireless communications device (WCD), the method comprising:

detecting, by the WCD, initiation of a connection between the WCD and a destination device over a first communication path to establish a voice call with the destination device;

obtaining, by the WCD, a destination device identifying item based on the detected initiation of the connection and the destination device;

transmitting, by the WCD, while establishing the voice call with the destination device, the destination device identifying item to a contextual content server over a second communication path different than the first communication path, wherein the contextual content server determines one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item while the WCD is establishing the voice call with the destination device; and

receiving, by the WCD, from the contextual content server over the second communication path while establishing the voice call with the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the contextual content server determines relevancy of the one or more contextually relevant content items with respect to at least one of:

a WCD location value, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, textual content parsed from the destination device identifying item, a business or business category associated with the destination device identifying item, information obtained from an advertisement server, information obtained from a recommendations server, information obtained from a location server, or information obtained from a mobile operator associated with the WCD.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the WCD location value include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, local events, local time, a local country specific exchange rate, a local country specific stock index trigger, one or more social networking site feed associated with a user of the WCD, one or more point of interest associated with the business category for the destination device identifying item within a predefined distance from the WCD location value, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest, one or more recommendations for other businesses, coupons or directions to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the location associated with the destination device identifying item include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, a business name, a business address, a business category, one or more points of interest associated with the business category within a predefined distance, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest associated with the business category, one or more businesses related to the business category, recommendations for the one or more businesses related to the business category, directions to at least one of the one or more businesses related to the business category, or directions from the WCD location value to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the business or business category destination device identifying item includes one or more contextually relevant content items determined through extracting an alpha-numeric representation from the business destination device identifying item and using the extracted alpha-numeric representation to determine a business category or at least one related business.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the advertisement server are based on at least one of:

a business associated with the destination device identifying item, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, or a location relationship between the WCD location value and the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the mobile operator associated with the WCD include at least one of:

one or more advertisements associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements from one or more content providers associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements associated with a business category for the destination device identifying item, or one or more advertisements associated with a user profile for a user associated with the WCD.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the contextual content server is associated with at least one of:

the mobile operator, the advertisement server, or the recommendations server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the destination device identifying item further includes at least one of:

receiving a user inputted phone number from a user interface associated with the WCD,

receiving a user inputted phone number from an address book associated with the WCD,

receiving a user inputted value from a plurality of mobile operator provided values, or

receiving the destination device identifying item from the incoming call.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein the WCD location information is obtained through at least one of:

receiving the WCD location value from a location sensor associated with the WCD, or

receiving the WCD location information from a user input, or

receiving the WCD location information from an area code of a phone number associated with the WCD, or

receiving the WCD location information from a location server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving further comprises:

receiving the at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items during one or more operational intervals associated with the WCD, wherein the one or more operational intervals include at least one of;

an interval prior to initiating a communication connection with the destination device identifying item, an interval prior to a communication connection being completed to the destination device identifying item, an interval during communications after the communication connection is established, or an interval after the communication connection is terminated.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the receiving during the interval prior to initiating a communication connection with the destination device identifying item further comprises:

displaying the one or more contextually relevant content items in response to a user input associated with an application displaying one or more non-contextually relevant content items.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the destination device identifying item further comprises transmitting the destination device identifying item using at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) protocol,

an enhanced messaging service (EMS) protocol,

a multimedia message service (MMS) protocol,

an Internet Protocol (IP) socket protocol,

a code division multiple access (CDMA)-based protocol, or

a global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based protocol.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the destination device identifying item further comprises transmitting the destination device identifying item as at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) communication data packet, or

a destination device phone number.

57. The method of claim 2, wherein the WCD location value corresponds to a physical location of the WCD based on global positioning system obtained data.

15. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

a first set of codes for causing a computer to detect, by a wireless communications device (WCD), initiation of a connection between the WCD and a destination device over a first communication path to establish a voice call with the destination device;

a second set of codes for causing the computer to obtain, by the WCD, a destination device identifying item based on the detected initiation of the connection and the destination device;

a third set of codes for causing the computer to transmit, by the WCD while establishing the voice call with the destination device, the destination device identifying item to a contextual content server over a second communication path different than the first communication path, wherein the contextual content server determines one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item while the WCD is establishing the voice call with the destination device; and

a fourth set of codes for causing the computer to receive, by the WCD, from the contextual content server over the second communication path while establishing the voice call with the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items.

16. A wireless communications device (WCD), comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory;

at least one processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured for;

detecting initiation of a connection between the WCD and a destination device over a first communication path to establish a voice call with the destination device;

obtaining a destination device identifying item based on the detected initiation of the connection and the destination device;

transmitting, via the transceiver and while establishing the voice call with the destination device, the destination device identifying item to a contextual content server over a second communication path different than the first communication path, wherein the contextual content server determines one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item while the WCD is establishing the voice call with the destination device; and

receiving from the contextual content server over the second communication path while establishing the voice call with the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items.

17. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the contextual content server determines relevancy of the one or more contextually relevant content items with respect to at least one of:

a WCD location value, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, textual content parsed from the destination device identifying item, a business or business category associated with the destination device identifying item, information obtained from an advertisement server, information obtained from a recommendations server, information obtained from a location server, or information obtained from a mobile operator associated with the WCD.

18. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the WCD location value include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, local events, local time, a local country specific exchange rate, a local country specific stock index trigger, one or more social networking site feed associated with a user of the WCD, one or more point of interest associated with the business category for the destination device identifying item within a predefined distance from the WCD location value, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest, one or more recommendations for other businesses, coupons or directions to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

19. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the location associated with the destination device identifying item include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, a business name, a business address, a business category, one or more points of interest associated with the business category within a predefined distance, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest associated with the business category, one or more businesses related to the business category, recommendations for the one or more businesses related to the business category, directions to at least one of the one or more businesses related to the business category, or directions from the WCD location value to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

20. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the business or business category destination device identifying item includes one or more contextually relevant content items determined through extracting an alpha-numeric representation from the business destination device identifying item and using the extracted alpha-numeric representation to determine a business category or at least one related business.

21. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the advertisement server are based on at least one of:

a business associated with the destination device identifying item, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, or a location relationship between the WCD location value and the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

22. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the mobile operator associated with the WCD include at least one of:

one or more advertisements associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements from one or more content providers associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements associated with a business category for the destination device identifying item, or one or more advertisements associated with a user profile for a user associated with the WCD.

23. The WCD of claim 17, wherein the contextual content server is associated with at least one of:

the mobile operator, the advertisement server, or the recommendations server.

24. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

receiving a user inputted phone number from a user interface associated with the WCD,

receiving a user inputted phone number from an address book associated with the WCD,

receiving a user inputted value from a plurality of mobile operator provided values, or

receiving the destination device identifying item from the incoming call.

25. The WCD of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

receiving the WCD location value from a location sensor associated with the WCD, or

receiving the WCD location information from a user input, or

receiving the WCD location information from an area code of a phone number associated with the WCD, or

receiving the WCD location information from a location server.

26. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

receiving the at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items during one or more operational intervals associated with the WCD, wherein the one or more operational intervals include at least one of;

an interval prior to initiating a communication connection with the destination device identifying item, an interval prior to a communication connection being completed to the destination device identifying item, an interval during communications after the communication connection is established, or an interval after the communication connection is terminated.

27. The WCD of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

displaying one or more non-contextually relevant content items; and

displaying the one or more contextually relevant content items in response to a user input associated with the displaying the one or more non-contextually relevant content items.

28. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for transmitting the destination device identifying item using at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) protocol,

an enhanced messaging service (EMS) protocol,

a multimedia message service (MMS) protocol,

an Internet Protocol (IP) socket protocol,

a code division multiple access (CDMA)-based protocol, or

a global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based protocol.

29. The WCD of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for transmitting the destination device identifying item as at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) communication data packet, or

a destination device phone number.

30. A method for providing contextually relevant content to a wireless communications device (WCD), the method comprising:

receiving over a second communication path, by a contextual content server, a destination device identifying item from the WCD, wherein the destination device identifying item is obtained by the WCD based on a detection of initiation of a connection with a destination device over a first communication path different than the second communication path and during establishing a voice call between the WCD and the destination device;

determining, during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item; and

transmitting, during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items to the WCD over the second communication path.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining relevancy of at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items with respect to at least one of;

a WCD location value, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, textual content parsed from the destination device identifying item, a business or business category associated with the destination device identifying item, information obtained from an advertisement server, information obtained from a recommendations server, information obtained from a location server, or information obtained from a mobile operator associated with the WCD.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the WCD location value include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, local events, local time, a local country specific exchange rate, a local country specific stock index trigger, one or more social networking site feed associated with a user of the WCD, one or more point of interest associated with the business category for the destination device identifying item within a predefined distance from the WCD location value, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest, one or more recommendations for other businesses, coupons or directions to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the location associated with the destination device identifying item include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, a business name, a business address, a business category, one or more points of interest associated with the business category within a predefined distance, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest associated with the business category, one or more businesses related to the business category, recommendations for the one or more businesses related to the business category, directions to at least one of the one or more businesses related to the business category, or directions from the WCD location value to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the business or business category destination device identifying item includes one or more contextually relevant content items determined through extracting an alpha-numeric representation from the business destination device identifying item and using the extracted alpha-numeric representation to determine a business category or at least one related business.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the advertisement server are based on at least one of:

a business associated with the destination device identifying item, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, or a location relationship between the WCD location value and the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the mobile operator associated with the WCD include at least one of:

one or more advertisements associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements from one or more content providers associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements associated with a business category for the destination device identifying item, or one or more advertisements associated with a user profile for a user associated with the WCD.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein the contextual content server is associated with at least one of:

the mobile operator, the advertisement server, or the recommendations server.

38. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

establishing a communication path between the WCD and a device associated with the destination device identifying item; and

wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items during one or more operational intervals associated with the WCD, wherein the one or more operational intervals include at least one of;

an interval prior to initiating a communication connection with the destination device identifying item, an interval prior to a communication connection being completed to the destination device identifying item, an interval during communications after the communication connection is established, or an interval after the communication connection is terminated.

39. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

receiving user profile information from the WCD, wherein the user profile information includes at least one of;

one or more user responses to previously transmitted contextually relevant content items, one or more reports of spam from previously transmitted contextually relevant content items, or a description of attributes associated with the model of the WCD;

storing at least a portion of the received user profile information and the destination device identifying item; and

generating one or more refined contextually relevant content items from processing stored user profile information and destination device identifying items for a plurality of users.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the one or more refined contextually relevant content items include at least one of:

one or more advertisements based on the attributes associated with the model of the WCD, or one or more advertisements for related businesses based on recommendation from the plurality of users.

41. The method of claim 30, wherein at least one of the receiving or the transmitting further comprises receiving or transmitting the destination device identifying item using at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) protocol,

an enhanced messaging service (EMS) protocol,

a multimedia message service (MMS) protocol,

an Internet Protocol (IP) socket protocol,

a code division multiple access (CDMA)-based protocol, or

a global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based protocol.

42. The method of claim 30, wherein at least one of the receiving or the transmitting further comprises receiving or transmitting the destination device identifying item as at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) communication data packet, or

a destination device phone number.

43. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

a first set of codes for causing a computer to receive, over a second communication path, by a contextual content server, a destination device identifying item from a wireless communications device (WCD), wherein the destination device identifying item is obtained by the WCD based on a detection of initiation of a connection with a destination device over a first communication path different than the second communication path and during establishing a voice call between the WCD and the destination device;

a second set of codes for causing the computer to determine, during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item; and

a third set of codes for causing the computer to transmit, during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items to the WCD over the second communication path.

44. A contextual content server, comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory;

at least one processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured for;

receiving over a second communication path, using the transceiver coupled to a receive antenna, a destination device identifying item from a wireless communications device (WCD), wherein the destination device identifying item is obtained by the WCD based on a detection of initiation of a connection with a destination device over a first communication path different than the second communication path and during establishing a voice call between the WCD and the destination device;

determining, during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, one or more contextually relevant content items by processing the received destination device identifying item; and

transmitting, using the transceiver and during the establishing the voice call between the WCD and the destination device, at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items to the WCD over the second communication path.

45. The contextual content server of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

determining relevancy of at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items with respect to at least one of;

a WCD location value, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, textual content parsed from the destination device identifying item, a business or business category associated with the destination device identifying item, information obtained from an advertisement server, information obtained from a recommendations server, information obtained from a location server, or information obtained from a mobile operator associated with the WCD.

46. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the WCD location value include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, local events, local time, a local country specific exchange rate, a local country specific stock index trigger, one or more social networking site feed associated with a user of the WCD, one or more point of interest associated with the business category for the destination device identifying item within a predefined distance from the WCD location value, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest, one or more recommendations for other businesses, coupons or directions to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

47. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the location associated with the destination device identifying item include at least one of:

weather information, local news feeds, a business name, a business address, a business category, one or more points of interest associated with the business category within a predefined distance, map information, map information for the at least one of the one or more points of interest associated with the business category, one or more businesses related to the business category, recommendations for the one or more businesses related to the business category, directions to at least one of the one or more businesses related to the business category, or directions from the WCD location value to the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

48. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the business or business category destination device identifying item includes one or more contextually relevant content items determined through extracting an alpha-numeric representation from the business destination device identifying item and using the extracted alpha-numeric representation to determine a business category or at least one related business.

49. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the advertisement server are based on at least one of:

a business associated with the destination device identifying item, a location associated with the destination device identifying item, or a location relationship between the WCD location value and the location associated with the destination device identifying item.

50. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the one or more contextually relevant content items determined with respect to the mobile operator associated with the WCD include at least one of:

one or more advertisements associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements from one or more content providers associated with the mobile operator, one or more advertisements associated with a business category for the destination device identifying item, or one or more advertisements associated with a user profile for a user associated with the WCD.

51. The contextual content server of claim 45, wherein the contextual content server is associated with at least one of:

the mobile operator, the advertisement server, or the recommendations server.

52. The contextual content server of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

establishing a communication path between the WCD and a device associated with the destination device identifying item; and

wherein the transmitting further comprises transmitting the at least one of the one or more contextually relevant content items during one or more operational intervals associated with the WCD, wherein the one or more operational intervals include at least one of;

an interval prior to initiating a communication connection with the destination device identifying item, an interval prior to a communication connection being completed to the destination device identifying item, an interval during communications after the communication connection is established, or an interval after the communication connection is terminated.

53. The contextual content server of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for:

receiving user profile information from the WCD, wherein the user profile information includes at least one of;

one or more user responses to previously transmitted contextually relevant content items, one or more reports of spam from previously transmitted contextually relevant content items, or a description of attributes associated with the model of the WCD;

storing, in the memory, at least a portion of the received user profile information and the destination device identifying item; and

generating one or more refined contextually relevant content items from processing stored user profile information and destination device identifying items for a plurality of users.

54. The contextual content server of claim 53, wherein the one or more refined contextually relevant content items include at least one of:

one or more advertisements based on the attributes associated with the model of the WCD, or one or more advertisements for related businesses based on recommendation from the plurality of users.

55. The contextual content server of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for receiving or transmitting the destination device identifying item using at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) protocol,

an enhanced messaging service (EMS) protocol,

a multimedia message service (MMS) protocol,

an Internet Protocol (IP) socket protocol,

a code division multiple access (CDMA)-based protocol, or

a global system for mobile communications (GSM)-based protocol.

56. The contextual content server of claim 44, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for receiving or transmitting the destination device identifying item as at least one of:

a short message service (SMS) communication data packet, or

a destination device phone number.