Managing Service User Discovery and Service Launch Object Placement on a Device

• US 20120278722A1
• Filed: 04/06/2012
• Published: 11/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G., Green, Jeffrey, Tellado, Jose
• Granted Patent: US 9,755,842 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/735
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses to manage service user discovery and service launch object placement on a device. A method comprising: obtaining information to assist in identifying a portion of a user interface of a wireless device, the wireless device communicatively coupled to a network system over a wireless access network; determining a differentiating attribute of the identified portion of the user interface; obtaining one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface; and sending configuration information to the wireless device over the wireless access network to assist the wireless device in placing the one or more service launch objects in the identified portion of the user interface.

Claims

1. A method performed by a network system, the method comprising:

obtaining information to assist in identifying a portion of a user interface of a wireless device, the wireless device communicatively coupled to the network system over a wireless access network;

determining a differentiating attribute of the identified portion of the user interface;

obtaining one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface; and

sending configuration information to the wireless device over the wireless access network, the configuration information at least configured to assist the wireless device in placing the one or more service launch objects in the identified portion of the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is a particular icon associated with one or more of a particular application program, a particular service, and a particular content item.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is a particular icon for launching a particular application program.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is a particular icon for launching a particular service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is a particular icon for launching a particular content item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is configured to launch a purchase offer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information to assist in identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining the information from an entity.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the entity is an operator of the wireless access network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information to assist in identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining the information from memory.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information to assist in identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining the information from the wireless device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information to assist in identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining the information from an entity associated with at least one of the one or more service launch objects.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining information to assist in identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining the information from a pre-determined configuration.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises a software build.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the software build comprises an update to a user interface software build.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is a particular icon configured to launch a particular software application, and wherein the configuration information is further configured to assist the wireless device in associating the particular icon with the particular software application.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified portion of the user interface is a partition of a screen of the wireless device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified portion of the user interface is a particular screen of a multi-screen user interface display.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified portion of the user interface comprises a plurality of partitions of a multi-screen user interface display.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified portion of the user interface comprises a plurality of partitions.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising classifying each of the plurality of partitions based on ease of discovery to a user of the wireless device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein classifying comprises one or more of prioritizing, ranking, ordering, sorting, and establishing tiers.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is associated with an entity comprising one or more of a user interface location manager, an original equipment manufacturer, a carrier, an access carrier, a service provider, and an object provider.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the differentiating attribute comprises determining a characteristic to assist a user in identifying the identified portion of the user interface.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the differentiating attribute comprises one or more of a border, a window, a color, a wallpaper, a background, a texture, a transparency, and a brightness.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a network state, and wherein obtaining the one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface comprises obtaining the one or more service launch objects based on the network state.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the network state comprises one or more of a network type, a network cost, a network service plan, a network latency, and a network quality-of-service level.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the network type is one or more of WiFi, cellular, home, and roaming.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more objects are obtained based on a device state.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the device state comprises one or more of a current usage measure, a past usage measure, a current device location, a past device location, a current user interaction state, a past user interaction state, a current device cognitive state, and a past device cognitive state.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more objects are obtained based on information about a user.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the information about the user comprises one or more of a user profile, a user preference, a current behavior, or a past behavior.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is further configured to assist the wireless device in preventing a user from modifying the identified portion of the user interface or a contents of the identified portion of the user interface.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is associated with a particular service or a particular application, and wherein the configuration information is further configured to assist the wireless device in one or more of:

enabling or launching the particular service or the particular application when a user selects the service launch object, and

providing additional management functions to the particular service or the particular application when the user selects the service launch object.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the additional management functions include one or more of providing service usage information, allowing service launch object modification, and providing service launch object notification messages.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein allowing service launch object modification comprises allowing modifications to one or more of service launch object placement, service launch object positioning, and service launch object classification.

36. The method of claim 1, further comprising classifying the one or more service launch objects, and wherein the configuration information is based on the classifying of the one or more service launch objects.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a view of the user interface of the wireless device to a network system manager.

38. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the portion of the user interface of the wireless device comprises obtaining identifying information from a service design center.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the differentiating attribute of the identified portion of the user interface comprises obtaining attribute information from a service design center.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface comprises selecting the one or more service launch objects based on a set of one or more rules.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more service launch objects is associated with a particular entity of a plurality of entities, and further comprising:

obtaining bids from one or more of the plurality of entities, including the particular entity; and

identifying the particular entity as a winning bidder.

42. A network system comprising:

means for obtaining information to assist in identifying a portion of a user interface of a wireless device, the wireless device communicatively coupled to the network system over a wireless access network;

means for determining a differentiating attribute of the identified portion of the user interface;

means for obtaining one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface; and

means for sending configuration information to the wireless device over the wireless access network, the configuration information at least configured to assist the wireless device in placing the one or more service launch objects in the identified portion of the user interface.

43. A network system comprising:

a communication interface for enabling the network system to communicate over a wireless access network with a wireless device; and

one or more network elements configured to;

obtain information to assist in identifying a portion of a user interface of the wireless device,

determine a differentiating attribute of the identified portion of the user interface,

obtain one or more service launch objects for placement in the identified portion of the user interface, and

send configuration information to the wireless device over the wireless access network, the configuration information at least configured to assist the wireless device in placing the one or more service launch objects in the identified portion of the user interface.