System and Method for Providing Interactive Services Using a Mobile Device

• US 20110014899A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 01/20/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interactive Wireless Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Aldo G. Cugnini, Carlo Basile, Louis H. Libin
• Inventors: Cugnini, Aldo G., Basile, Carlo, Libin, Louis H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,238,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43637 involving a wireless protocol, e.g. Bluetooth, RF or wireless LAN [IEEE 802.11] arrangements for wireless networking or broadcasting of information in indoor or near-field type systems H04B10/114
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method of providing interactive services to a mobile device, comprising transmitting programming on-air to a first mobile device by a first facility in communication with a service provider and receiving by a second facility in communication with the service provider information based on the programming, wherein the first information comprises information relayed from the first device to the second facility after being processed by a second mobile device, is provided.

Claims

1. A method of providing interactive services to a mobile device, comprising:

transmitting programming on-air to a first mobile device by a first facility in communication with a service provider; and

receiving by a second facility in communication with the service provider first information based on the programming, wherein the first information comprises information relayed from the first device to the second facility after being processed by a second mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving is initiated when communication cost is favorable.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving is initiated when reception conditions are determined to be favorable.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving is responsive to a request transmitted by a facility selected from the group comprising the first facility and the second facility.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising aggregating programming viewing statistics by a processing node selected from the group comprising the first device, the second device, the second facility, a gateway manager and the service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises programming usage information compiled automatically by the first device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is selected from the group comprising interactive response information, program usage information, the first device user'"'"'s viewing preferences, the first device user'"'"'s device operational preferences, and the first device user'"'"'s demographic information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the usage information comprises at least a portion of the usage information that was stored by the second device at an earlier time.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the usage information is generated from third information that documents the viewing of the programming.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information is processed by a gateway manager to remove information identifying the user of the first device and the processed information is communicated to the service provider.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting by the second facility second information to the second device, wherein the second information comprises information to be processed by the second device and relayed from the second device to the first device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting third information comprising at least one update to the software of the first device by a facility selected from the group comprising transmitting the third information by the first facility and transmitting the third information by the second facility; and

wherein the at least one update is based on the pre-update software complement and pre-update usage information of the first device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving from the second device the usage information and software complement information prior to transmitting the update.

14. A system for providing interactive services to a mobile device, comprising:

means for transmitting programming on-air to a first mobile device by a first facility in communication with a service provider;

means for receiving by a second facility in communication with the service provider first information from a first mobile device using a first wireless connection; and

wherein the first information is information generated by the first device based on second information received from a second mobile device connected to the first device by a second wireless connection.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the second information comprises information generated by the second device based on the viewing of the programming.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second information is generated from third information documenting the viewing of the programming.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first facility and second facility are co-located.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first facility comprises at least two non-co-located transmission sites.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the first device comprises a TV receiver.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first device is affixable to a vehicle.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the second device comprises a cellular telephone.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the second connection comprises a short-range wireless connection.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the short-range wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth connection.

24. The system of claim 14, further comprising means for transmitting second information by the second facility to the second device using a third wireless connection, wherein the second device is connected to the first device by a fourth wireless connection.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the fourth wireless connection comprises a short-range wireless connection.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the short-range wireless connection comprises a Bluetooth connection.

27. A computer software product, comprising coded instructions for executing a computer process in a digital processor, which computer process manages providing interactive services to a mobile device, the computer process comprising:

managing transmitting programming on-air to a first mobile device by a first facility in communication with a service provider; and

managing receiving by a second facility in communication with the service provider first information based on the programming, wherein the first information comprises information relayed from the first device to the second facility after being processed by a second mobile device.