Use of radio data service (RDS) information to automatically access a service provider

• US 20040203406A1
• Filed: 03/05/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Macnamara, Thomas, Harkin, James, Enright, Paul, Moran, Thomas Joseph, OʼConnor, Neil
• Granted Patent: US 7,340,249 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/66.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/34 using an out-of-band subcarrier signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/13 radio data system/radio broadcast data system [RDS/RBDS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/30 characterised by the use of a return channel, e.g. for collecting users' opinions, for returning broadcast space/time information or for requesting data
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/37 via a different channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/372 Programme
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/375 Commercial
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/63 for services of sales data processing systems or methods specially adapted for electronic commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/85 which are mobile communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/91 Mobile communication networks for accessing the Internet H04H60/85
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/006 in the downlink, i.e. towards the terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Wireless terminals such as mobile phones which provide cellular communications for example for telephony and short message service (SMS) are well known and more recently such terminals are also able to provide FM radio reception. RDS information received at such a terminal is used to access a service provider via any suitable medium e.g. email, fax, telephone, SMS message, etc. This enables the end user to access the service provider quickly and effectively for example, to purchase a copy of a record heard on the radio or to request information about a product advertised on the radio. Also, the service provider is able to deal with the user interaction effectively because the RDS information can be used to assess the user'"'"'s requirements for the transaction in advance. In a preferred example, the service provider comprises a contact center such as a call center and the RDS information is used to allocate an appropriate call center agent.

Claims

1. A method of automatically accessing a service provider on the basis of radio data service (RDS) information provided in a pre-specified template format and received from a radio frequency broadcast said method comprising the steps of:

(i) receiving said radio frequency broadcast using an RDS radio receiver and extracting said RDS information on the basis of said pre-specified template format;

(ii) creating a message on the basis of at least some of said RDS information;

(iii) sending said message to the service provider using either a pre-specified address or an address provided in the RDS information.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said service provider comprises a contact centre.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said message is sent to the service provider using a medium selected from:

email, telephone and short message service.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein said medium is provided using any of wireless application protocol (WAP), general packet radio service (GPRS) and third generation (3G) communications.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said RDS information comprises an identifier which identifies a radio station which provided the radio frequency broadcast.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said RDS information comprises an identifier associated with audio information provided by said radio frequency broadcast.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein said identifier is associated with any one of a piece of music, an artist, an enterprise, or an advertisement.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step (i) of receiving further comprises presenting at least some of said extracted RDS information to a user and receiving an associated user input and wherein said step (ii) of creating a message comprises creating the message such that it comprises information about the user input.

9. A method as claimed in claim 8 wherein said information about the user input comprises any of a request for contact, a request for information associated with the RDS information in the message, or a request to order goods associated with the RDS information.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said service provider comprises a contact centre and wherein said method further comprises the steps of, at the contact centre receiving said message, extracting said RDS information from the message and routing the message to one of a plurality of contact centre agents on the basis of said RDS information.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 wherein said RDS information extracted from the message comprises information about the origination of the RDS information and wherein that information is stored.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein said information about the origination of the RDS information comprises an identifier for a radio station which provided the radio frequency broadcast.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein said information about origination comprises time information.

15. A user terminal as claimed in claim 10 which is selected from:

a mobile telephone, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant and a lap-top computer.

14. A user terminal arranged to automatically access a service provider on the basis of radio data service (RDS) information provided in a pre-specified template format and received from a radio frequency broadcast said user terminal comprising:

(i) an RDS radio receiver arranged to receive said radio frequency broadcast and to extract said RDS information on the basis of said pre-specified template format;

(ii) a processor arranged to create a message on the basis of at least some of said RDS information;

(iii) an output arranged to send said message to the service provider using either a pre-specified address or an address provided in the RDS information.

16. A contact centre comprising at least one input arranged to receive messages comprising RDS information, a plurality of contact centre agents and a router arranged to route messages from the input to the contact centre agents and wherein said contact centre further comprises a processor arranged to extract RDS information from the messages and wherein said router is arranged to route said messages to the contact centre agents at least partly on the basis of the extracted RDS information.

17. A contact centre as claimed in claim 16 which further comprises a database and wherein said RDS information extracted from the message comprises information about the origination of the RDS information and this information is stored in the database.

18. A communications network comprising a contact centre as claimed in claim 16.

19. A computer program arranged to control a contact centre as claimed in claim 16 such that the following steps are performed:

(i) messages comprising RDS information are received;

(ii) RDS information is extracted from the received messages;

(iii) the messages are routed to the contact centre agents at least partly on the basis of the extracted RDS information.

20. A computer program as claimed in claim 19 which is stored on a computer readable medium.