CONTENT DELIVERY SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20100317370A1
• Filed: 06/15/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alpine Electronics Incorporated (Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Lo, Eddy, Feng, Kyte
• Granted Patent: US 8,655,383 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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

This invention relates to an apparatus and method to provide event notifications to a user. More specifically, this invention is related to a content delivery system which provides event notifications to the user according to the user'"'"'s current location and the content in the user'"'"'s electronic device. Since the content, such as play count, number of songs, etc., may indicate the user'"'"'s preference about some specific artists, this invention is particularly related to an intelligent content delivery system adapted to provide event notification to the user according to the user'"'"'s preference. The content delivery system includes an event searching unit, a playback information retrieving unit and an information processing unit which is configured to determine whether to provide and display at least a portion of said first content information by analyzing a plurality of factors and managing said first content and second content information. The factors include but not limited to, whether the event location is within a predetermined distance from the current location, future event occurrence, and event ticket availability.

Claims

1. A content delivery system comprises:

a first content retrieving unit to retrieve first content information from at least one communication interface;

a second content retrieving unit to retrieve second content information from at least one electronic device;

a user interface configured to display at least a portion of said first content information;

a position and distance measuring unit to detect a current position of a user and provide distance information between the user'"'"'s current position and at least one location of the first content; and

an information processing unit configured to determine whether to provide and display at least a portion of said first content information to the user by managing said first content and second content information and analyzing at least the distance information provided by the position and distance measuring unit.

2. The content delivery system of claim 1, wherein the first content information comprises event information which is transmitted from at least one content provider to said communication interface, and the second content information comprises playback information including artist names, number of songs belonged to each artist, play count of each song, retrieved from said electronic device.

3. The content delivery system of claim 2, wherein the information processing unit matches said event information and playback information and if there is at least one matching information found, the information processing unit further analyzes a plurality of factors including future event occurrence, event ticket availability and the distance information provided by the position and distance measuring unit, and if at least one factor indicates negative, the matching information is not provided and displayed to the user.

4. The content delivery system of claim 1, wherein content delivery system further comprises a new city detecting unit communicatively coupled with the position and distance measuring device and at least one map information memory to detect whether the user is entering into a new city, and the first content retrieving unit is triggered if the user is approaching or entering the new city.

5. The content delivery system in claim 2, wherein the user is allowed to select at least one artist from said playback information to retrieve the artist'"'"'s event information.

6. The content delivery system of claim 3, wherein said information processing unit divides the artists in the playback information into different tiers according to at least a portion of the playback information indicating the user'"'"'s preference and assigns a searching distance in each tier.

7. The content delivery system of claim 6, wherein said information processing unit assigns a longest searching distance to search for event information of the artists in tier one, and the searching distance is descending in each tier therefrom.

8. A method of delivering content to a user comprises the steps of:

Retrieving first content information from at least one communication interface;

Retrieving second content information from at least one electronic device;

Detecting a current position of the user and determining a distance between the user'"'"'s current position and a destination;

Determining whether to deliver and display at least a portion of the first content information to the user; and

Displaying at least a portion of said first content information to the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of retrieving for first content information from at least one communication interface includes the step of transmitting said first content information from at least one content provider to said communication interface via wireless communication.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first content information comprises event information transmitted from at least one content provider to said communication interface, and the second content information comprises playback information including artist names, number of songs belonged to each artist, play count of each song, retrieved from said electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether to deliver and display at least a portion of the first content to the user comprises the step of matching said first and second content information, and if there is at least one matching information found, then further analyzing a plurality of factors including future event occurrence, event ticket availability and whether the event location within a predetermined distance from the user'"'"'s current location, and if at least one factor indicates negative, said matching information is not provided to the user.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprises a step of selecting at least one artist from said playback information to retrieve the artist'"'"'s event information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of determining whether to display at least a portion of the first content information to the user further includes the step of dividing the artists in the playback information into different tiers according to at least a portion of said playback information indicating the user'"'"'s preference, and assigning different a searching distance in each tier.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a longest searching distance to search for event information of the artists in tier one, and the searching distance is descending in each tier therefrom.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of detecting a current position of the user and determining a distance between the user'"'"'s current position and a destination comprises a step of detecting whether the user is approaching or entering a new city.

16. A multifunctional electronic device comprises:

a display unit;

at least one information retrieving unit;

an information processing unit;

a user position detecting device; and

a playback device,

wherein a first information retrieving unit retrieves event information from a communication interface through a communication network, a second information retrieving unit retrieves playback information from said playback device, and the information processing unit is adapted to determine whether to provide and display at least a portion of said event information by managing said event and playback information.

17. The multifunctional electronic device of claim 16, wherein the information processing unit matches said event information and playback information and if there is at least one matching information found, the information processing unit further analyzes the factors including future event occurrence, event ticket availability and whether the event location within a predetermined distance from the user'"'"'s current location, and if at least one factor indicates negative, the matching information is not provided and displayed to the user.

18. The multifunctional electronic device of claim 16, wherein the user is allowed to select at least one artist from said playback information to retrieve the artist'"'"'s event information.

19. The multifunctional electronic device of claim 16, wherein said information processing unit divides the artists into different tiers according to at least a portion of the playback information indicating the user'"'"'s preference and defines a searching distance in each tier.

20. The multifunctional electronic device of claim 16, wherein said information processing unit assigns a longest searching distance to search for event information of the artists in tier one, and the searching distance is descending in each tier therefrom.