COMBINING A MARKER WITH CONTEXTUAL INFORMATION TO DELIVER DOMAIN-SPECIFIC CONTENT

• US 20070147280A1
• Filed: 03/07/2007
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Knowtate Incorporated
• Inventors: D'Amico, Ken, Ashmore, Bradley
• Granted Patent: US 7,937,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/320
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A system and method provides content to a mobile device in response to a marker received from the device and an associated context. A mobile device user initiates delivery of content or another action by entering the marker into the mobile device. The mobile device transmits the marker to a mobile network support system having a context server for supplying a context for the marker. The support system forms a message including the marker and context, and sends it to a content server. The content server uses the context to map the marker to a domain, retrieves from a content database the content identified by the marker and domain, and sends the content to the mobile network support system or performs another action with the content. The mobile network support system then transmits the content back to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for providing content to a mobile device, comprising:

receiving from the mobile device data representative of a marker;

receiving from the mobile device data representative of a context for the marker;

analyzing the data representative of the context for the marker to determine a domain for the marker;

determining content responsive to the marker and the domain for the marker, wherein the marker maps to specific content for the domain; and

providing the determined content to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data representative of a context for the marker comprises:

providing the mobile device with a prompt for data describing the context;

receiving data describing the context generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt; and

generating the data representative of the context for the marker responsive to the data describing the context.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the prompt provides a menu of possible selections and wherein the data describing the context is a selection made from the menu.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the prompt comprises an open-ended query and wherein the data describing the context comprises an utterance spoken, or at least one keypress entered, by the user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data representative of a context for the marker comprises:

receiving data generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to an audible and/or visual prompt.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining content responsive to the marker and the domain for the marker comprises the step of:

accessing a content database holding content associated with a plurality of markers for a plurality of domains, wherein the database includes mappings describing specific content associated with specific markers for specific domains.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the analyzing step comprises:

establishing data representative of domain information describing possible domains for the marker;

establishing business logic describing relationships among the data representative of the context for the marker and the data representative of domain information;

analyzing the business logic, the data representative of the context for the marker, and the data representative of domain information to determine the domain for the marker.

8. A system for providing content to a mobile device, comprising:

a content database storing content for a plurality of markers, the content associated with one or more of a plurality of domains, and storing mappings describing specific content associated with specific markers for specific domains; and

a content server for receiving from the mobile device data representative of a marker and data representative of a context for the marker, for analyzing the data representative of the context for the marker to determine a domain for the marker, for accessing the content database to determine content associated with the marker and the domain, and for sending the determined content to the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a context server for providing the mobile device with a prompt for data describing the context, receiving data describing the context generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt, and generating the data representative of the context for the marker responsive to the data describing the context.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the prompt provides a menu of possible selections and wherein the data describing the context is a selection made from the menu.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the prompt comprises an open-ended query and wherein the data describing the context comprises an utterance spoken, or at least one keypress entered, by the user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the data representative of a context for the marker comprises data generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to an audible and/or visual prompt.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the content server comprises:

a domain database holding domain information describing possible domains for the marker; and

a domain mapping module in communication with the domain database and adapted to analyze business logic establishing relationships among the data representative of the context for the marker and the domain information to determine the domain for the marker.

14. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied therein for providing content to a mobile device, the computer-readable code comprising;

a module for receiving from the mobile device data representative of a marker and data representative of a context for the marker; and

a domain mapping module for analyzing the data representative of the context for the marker to determine a domain for the marker and for accessing a content database to determine content associated with the marker and the domain, wherein the marker maps to specific content for the domain; and

a module for providing the determined content to the mobile device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising:

a module for providing the mobile device with a prompt for data describing the context, receiving data describing the context generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt, and generating the data representative of the context for the marker responsive to the data describing the context.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the prompt provides a menu of possible selections and wherein the data describing the context is a selection made from the menu.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the prompt comprises an open-ended query and wherein the data describing the context comprises an utterance spoken, or at least one keypress entered, by the user of the mobile device responsive to the prompt.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the data representative of a context for the marker comprises data generated by a user of the mobile device responsive to an audible and/or visual prompt.