Geographical web browser, methods, apparatus and systems

• US 7,058,395 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2005
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Push Data LLC (Equitable IP Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Duncan Leo Macfarlane, Eric M. Dowling, Mark Nicholas Anastasi
• Inventors: Dowling, Eric Morgan, Anastasi, Mark Nicholas, MacFarlane, Duncan Leo
• Primary Examiner(s): CONTEE, JOY KIMBERLY
• Application Number:
  US11/262,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20060094443A1
• Time in Patent Office: 217 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.3, 455/422.1, 455/412.2, 455/414.2, 455/414.4, 455/456.3, 370/310, 707/10, 705/37, 705/14, 709/208, 709/226, 340/905
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A geographical web browser allows a user to navigate a network application such as the Word Wide Web by physically navigating in geographical coordinates. For example, a geographical web browser is implemented in a mobile unit such as a dashboard computer. The mobile unit includes one or more transducers such as antennas and is operative to receive locally broadcast signals or to operate a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. As the mobile unit navigates into different physical localities, different web pages are displayed by the geographical web browser. For example, a user desiring to buy a house can set the web browser to a real estate web page. Instead of clicking on a hyperlink to access web pages of properties in an area, the user drives into a first area and automatically receives web pages relating to homes in that area. When the mobile unit crosses town and enters a second area, a new set of web pages is downloaded relating to properties in the second area. The geographical web browser, methods, apparatus and systems disclosed herein enable improved road-navigation and traffic management, advertisement, and related services.

Claims

1. For use in a mobile data network environment comprising a packet switched data network, one or more network servers, a plurality of mobile units, and a plurality of wireless packet access stations coupled to the packet switched data network, wherein each wireless packet access station provides wireless access services, wherein a particular one of the mobile units comprises a processor, a memory, a user interface, and at least one wireless air interface comprising a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and a protocol stack adapted to process wireless packet data transactions using a wireless packet data network protocol, wherein a particular user operates the particular mobile unit, and the particular mobile unit is in communication with at least a particular wireless packet access station when the particular mobile unit is located in a coverage area of the particular wireless packet access station, a method comprising:

receiving a user interest indication associated with the particular user, wherein the user interest indication identifies one or more user preferences used to identify information that comports with the user interest indication;

receiving via the packet switched data network a location indication, wherein the location indication identifies at least an approximate geographical location of the particular mobile unit;

identifying an information item that comports with the user interest indication and is associated with the location identified in the location indication; and

causing information relating to the information item to be coupled via the packet switched data network to the particular wireless packet access station so that the particular wireless packet access station can wirelessly transmit the information relating to the information item via one or more unsolicited pushed messages using one or more packet headers addressed to the particular mobile unit without the need to continuously maintain an active user-interactive client-server application layer session between a network server of the one or more network servers and the particular mobile unit between a first time when the user interest indication is received and a second time when the particular mobile unit receives the one or more unsolicited pushed messages.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular wireless packet access station is a wireless local area network access station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular wireless packet access station is a cellular radio base station that supports packet data services.

4. For use in a mobile data network environment comprising a packet switched data network, one or more network servers, a plurality of mobile units including a particular mobile unit operated by a user, and a plurality of wireless packet access stations coupled to the packet switched data network, wherein each wireless packet access station provides wireless access services, wherein the particular mobile unit comprises a processor, a memory, a graphical user interface, and at least one wireless air interface comprising a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and a protocol stack adapted to process wireless packet data transactions using a wireless packet data network protocol, the particular mobile unit is configured to wirelessly receive pushed information, read an application-program identifying field contained within the pushed information to identify a particular application program resident on the particular mobile unit, and to present to the user via the graphical user interface a selectable indication, such that when the selectable indication is selected by a user selection, further content related to the particular application program will be downloaded to the particular mobile unit, and the particular mobile unit is in communication with at least a particular wireless packet access station of the plurality of wireless packet access stations when the particular mobile unit is located in a coverage area of the particular wireless packet access station, a method comprising:

causing a communication push message to be wirelessly transmitted to the particular mobile unit, wherein the communication push message includes the application-program identifying field that identifies the particular application program and contains information related to the further content available for downloading in response to the user selection, and the communication push message is not a server response message sent via a user-interactive client-server session and is not sent in response to a client request message coupled from the particular mobile unit substantially just prior to the communication push message being transmitted;

receiving a client-request packet wirelessly coupled from the particular mobile unit in response to the user selection, the client-request packet indicating a request to download the further content; and

sending the further content to the mobile unit in response to the client-request packet;

wherein the communication push message acts as a notification to allow the user to selectively download the further content only if the user is interested in receiving the further content.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the particular wireless packet access station is a wireless local area network access station.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the particular wireless packet access station is a cellular radio base station that supports packet data services.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a user interest indication associated with the user, wherein the user interest indication identifies one or more user preferences used to identify information of potential personal interest to the user.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving via the packet switched data network a location indication, wherein the location indication identifies at least an approximate geographical location of the particular mobile unit.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying an information item that comports with the user interest indication and is associated with the location identified in the location indication; and

causing information relating to the information item to be coupled via the packet switched data network to the particular wireless packet access station so that the particular wireless packet access station can wirelessly transmit the information relating to the information item via the communication push message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information item relates to an item that is selected as a member from the group consisting of a product and a service, and is associated with at least one supplier of the item which maintains a point of presence where the item is physically available in a prescribed vicinity of the location identified in the location indication.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the communication push message is transmitted via a packet switched data session that:

takes on an active state wherein the communication push message can be transmitted to the particular mobile unit via the packet switched data session;

is placed into an inactive state in which the communication push message cannot be transmitted to the particular mobile unit via the packet switched data session; and

resumes the active state wherein the communication push message can again be transmitted to the particular mobile unit via the packet switched data session.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the packet switched data session comprises a virtual session.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual session is a virtual communication session implemented at a session layer of communication.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the virtual session is resumed in response to a current need to send the communication push message.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving via the packet switched data network a location indication, wherein the location indication identifies at least an approximate geographical location of the particular mobile unit.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the location indication is generated using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver in the particular mobile unit and is coupled wirelessly from the particular mobile unit a plurality of times without user interaction to allow the position of the particular mobile unit to be tracked by at least one of the one or more network servers.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

wirelessly transmitting from the particular mobile unit the user interest indication;

wirelessly transmitting the location indication with different sets of GPS coordinates corresponding to the position of the particular mobile unit at different times of the plurality of times; and

receiving at the particular mobile unit the communication push message.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the communication push message is sent in response to the location indication one or more times when one or more location-qualified advertisements are identified in response to the one or more of the different sets of OPS coordinates.

19. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a user interest indication associated with the user, wherein the user interest indication identifies one or more user preferences used to determine one or more types of content the user desires to receive via the communication push message.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving via the packet switched data network information associated with a wireless communication interaction between the particular mobile unit and the particular wireless packet access station, and based upon the information associated with the wireless communication interaction, associating the location of the particular user with a geographical location associated with the particular wireless packet access station.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

causing a search to be performed over a plurality of sets of content to identify, if present, a resulting content that is categorized according to the user interest indication and is associated with a point of presence located in a vicinity of the particular wireless packet access station; and

causing information relating to the resulting content to be coupled via the packet switched data network to the particular wireless packet access station so that the particular wireless packet access station can wirelessly transmit the communication push message to the particular mobile unit to automatically notify the particular mobile unit about the resulting content.

22. For use in a mobile data network environment comprising a packet switched data network, one or more network servers, a plurality of mobile units to include a particular mobile unit operated by a user, and a plurality of wireless packet access stations coupled to the packet switched data network, wherein each wireless packet access station provides wireless access services, wherein the particular mobile unit comprises a processor, a memory, a graphical user interface, and at least one wireless air interface comprising a wireless transmitter, a wireless receiver, and a protocol stack adapted to process wireless packet data transactions using a wireless packet data network protocol, the particular mobile unit is configured to wirelessly receive pushed information, and to present to the user via the graphical user interface a selectable indication, such that when the selectable indication is selected by a user selection, a further content available for downloading will be downloaded to the particular mobile unit, and the particular mobile unit is in communication with at least a particular wireless packet access station of the plurality of wireless packet access stations when the particular mobile unit is located in a coverage area of the particular wireless packet access station, a method comprising:

identifying an information item that comports with a user interest indication;

causing a communication push message to be wirelessly transmitted to the particular mobile unit, wherein the communication push message contains information related to the further content in response to the user selection, wherein the information related to the further content relates to the information item that comports with the user interest indication, and the communication push message is not a server response message sent via a user-interactive client-server session and is not sent in response to a client request message coupled from the particular mobile unit substantially just prior to the communication push message being transmitted;

receiving a client-request packet wirelessly coupled from the particular mobile unit in response to the user selection, the request packet indicating a request to download the further content; and

sending the further content to the mobile unit in response to the client-request packet;

wherein the communication push message acts as a notification to allow the user to selectively download the further content only if the user is interested in receiving the further content.