Generation and distribution of personalized multimedia natural phenomenological information

• US 20020069020A1
• Filed: 12/03/2001
• Published: 06/06/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Cyclone, Inc. (Garmin Limited)
• Original Assignee: Digital Cyclone, Inc. (Garmin Limited)
• Inventors: Resch, Peter, Meys, Anthony W., Burfeind, Craig, Kruhoeffer, Douglas P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,606 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Natural-phenomenological information is personalized to the unique requirements of a subscriber and distributed to the subscriber. Natural-phenomenological data is gathered from a variety of sources, such as current ground observations, forecast conditions, satellite images, and radar data. Personal preferences of the subscribers are also gathered and stored, such as activities of the subscriber, geographic locations of the activities, sensitivities of the subscriber to natural-phenomenological conditions, calendar information of the subscriber, and modes of delivery. The personal preferences of the subscriber are used as a filter to identify the natural-phenomenological data that is particularly useful to the subscriber, and the resulting information is delivered to the subscriber. The subscriber identifies the destination device that the information is delivered to. The invention is extensible to support new sources of natural-phenomenological information and new output devices. Electronic delivery of the personalized natural-phenomenological information can be through any number of a variety of output mediums, including pagers, text to voice synthesizers to create an audio stream for playback either via a telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA), a multimedia-enabled computer, email, computer display monitors, PDA, and a PCS phone.

Claims

1. A method for generating and distributing personalized natural-phenomenological information comprising:

receiving natural-phenomenological data from a source;

receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural-phenomenological data, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises information that describes at least one activity;

selecting a portion of the natural-phenomenological data based on the predetermined criteria; and

transmitting the portion to at least one destination device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving natural-phenomenological data occurs before receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural-phenomenological data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising before transmitting, receiving predetermined criteria identifying at least one destination device;

and wherein transmitting further comprises encoding the portion compliant to the destination device medium capabilities, features and functions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined criteria further comprises:

at least one sensitivity to natural phenomena;

a schedule of the at least one activity; and

at least one geographic location of the at least one activity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the portion is text data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

7. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions to cause a server computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving natural-phenomenological data from a source;

receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural-phenomenological data, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises information that describes at least one activity;

selecting a portion of the natural-phenomenological data based on the predetermined criteria; and

transmitting the portion to at least one destination device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving natural-phenomenological data occurs before receiving predetermined criteria for selecting natural-phenomenological data.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further comprising before transmitting, receiving predetermined criteria identifying at least one destination device;

and wherein transmitting further comprises encoding the portion compliant to the destination device medium and capabilities.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the predetermined criteria further comprises:

at least sensitivity to natural phenomena;

a schedule of activities; and

at least one geographic location associated with each of the at least one activity.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the portion is text data.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the destination device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

14. The computerized system of claim 13, further comprising a receiver of predetermined criteria of at least one destination device, communicatively coupled between the selector and the transmitter;

and wherein the transmitter encodes the portion compliant to the capabilities, features and functions of the destination device medium and transmits the encoded portion to the destination device.

15. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein the predetermined criteria further comprises at least one sensitivity to natural phenomena, a schedule of the at least one activity, and at least one geographic location of each of the at least one activity.

16. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein the portion is text data.

17. The computerized system of claim 13, wherein the destination device includes one or more devices selected from the group consisting of a telephone, a voicemail system, a pager, a multimedia-enabled computer, an email system, a computer display monitor, a personal digital assistant, and a personal communication system phone.

13. A computerized system for generating and distributing personalized natural-phenomenological information, comprising:

a receiver of natural-phenomenological data;

a receiver of predetermined criteria for selection of natural-phenomenological data, wherein the predetermined criteria comprises information that describes at least one activity;

a selector of a portion of the natural-phenomenological data based on the predetermined criteria, communicatively connected to the receiver of natural-phenomenological data and the receiver of predetermined criteria; and

at least one transmitter communicatively connected between the selector and at least one destination device.