ARCHITECTURE FOR USER- AND CONTEXT- SPECIFIC PREFETCHING AND CACHING OF INFORMATION ON PORTABLE DEVICES

• US 20080005695A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dumais, Susan T., Meek, Christopher A, Ozzie, Raymond E., Flake, Gary W., Huang, Xuedong D., Goodman, Joshua T., Hurst-Hiller, Oliver, Griffin, Trenholme J., Horvitz, Eric J., Gates, William H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

Content management architecture for a portable wireless device. Caching and fetching techniques are provided to improve content handling for portable devices such as cellular telephones and portable computers. A search component automatically performs searches as a background process, and potentially desired content is received and cached by a content storing component to be available in the future when and if needed, mitigating latency associated with slow download speeds, refresh rates, and other system and/or network impediments. Content from background search results can be trickled into the device as part of the background process so as not to burden system resources for other processes. As part of memory management, aged and/or low priority or low interest content can be selectively removed or archived to increase available cache or memory space, as well as to maintain relevant content within the device. A presentation component facilitates presentation of the pre-stored content.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system that facilitates content management in a portable wireless device, comprising:

a search component that performs an automated search as a background process;

a content storing component that stores content corresponding to the automated search for future access; and

a presentation component that presents a subset of the pre-stored content as a function of at least one of user state, user context, and a user preference.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless device is one of a cellular telephone and a portable computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the content is presented at least one of visually and audibly.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a trigger component that initiates presentation of the content based on data relevancy to the user state or context.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising an environment component that senses environment conditions in which the device is located.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a context component that includes a geolocation system for determining a geographic location of the device.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a filter component that filters content of the search results.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a tracking component that tracks and logs at least one of a system parameter, user interaction data, and an event.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a machine learning and reasoning component that employs statistical, decision-theoretic, or logical analysis to prognose or infer an action that a user desires to be automatically performed.

10. A computer-implemented method of managing content on a wireless device, comprising:

initiating a search for content as a background process based on search triggering data;

assessing resource capabilities of the device;

controlling download of the content based on the resource capabilities of the device;

storing the content in a device storage system; and

accessing the content from the storage system for display based on user information.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of storing the content in a cache memory.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of discarding the content from storage based on contextual or temporal information.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of assessing includes determining a burden of the background process on currently-running device processes.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of assessing includes determining wireless network connection bandwidth between the device and a network when downloading the content.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of preloading the device with merchant content and displaying the merchant content based on search results.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of presenting changes between the content and new content of a new search.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of scanning for local information that indicates intentions of a user.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of determining geolocation information of the device and formulating the search based on points of interest associated with the geolocation information.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising an act of filtering the search results based on at least one of user preferences and merchant information.

20. A computer-executable system for managing content in a portable wireless device, comprising:

computer-implemented means for monitoring data of the portable wireless device;

computer-implemented means for searching for content as a background process to other processes of the portable wireless device based on the data;

computer-implemented means for downloading the content to the portable wireless device;

computer-implemented means for caching portions of the content in the portable wireless device based on a likelihood of the content being presented; and

computer-implemented means for displaying the content to a user of the portable wireless device after the content is cached.