Methods and apparatus of context-data acquisition and ranking

• US 8,509,827 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2010
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Buckyball Mobile, Inc.
• Inventors: Karmarkar, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): HERRERA, DIEGO D
• Application Number:
  US12/855,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20100323730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 426/576, 426/443, 426/92, 424/456, 514/17, 514/18, 514/19
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• 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 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging

Abstract

Disclosed are a system, method, and article of manufacture of a context-data acquisition and ranking. A context-data type is determined from a query. At least one context-data source that provides the context-data type is identified. A request for a context data of the context-data type is generated from the at least one context data source. A received context data from the at least one context data source according a specified parameter may be ranked. The received context data may be provided to the device that generated a short message. The received context data may be provided to a recipient mobile device. The received context data may be associated with a component of a short message generated by a device that generated the query. The received context data may be appended to the short message.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a short message from a mobile device with a server;

algorithmically determining a context-data type, wherein the context-data type is determined by a meaning of a term of the short message, and wherein the context-data type provides information about an environment of the mobile device;

identifying at least one context-data source that provides the context-data type;

algorithmically ranking the at least one context data source according a specified parameter, wherein the specified parameter comprises a pecuniary cost to acquire the context data from the at least one context data source; and

generating a request for a context data of the context-data type from the at least one context data source.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the request for the context data of the context-data type to the at least one context data source further comprises:

providing the request for the context data of the context-data type to a plurality of context-data sources.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the received context data in a database available to a recipient mobile device,

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

forwarding a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of a database server to the receiving mobile device,

11. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

appending metadata instructions to query the database for the received context data in the short message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified parameter comprises a state of the receiving mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified parameter comprises a state of an available communication network.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified parameter comprises a cost value of the context data as provided by the context-data source.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the context-data type provides information about a context of the device that generated the short message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile device that generated the short message comprises a smart phone.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising a computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions adapted to perform the method of claim 1.

2. The method of claim further comprising:

providing the received context data to the device that generated a short message.

3. The method of claim further comprising:

providing the received context data to a recipient mobile device,

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the received context data to the recipient mobile device further comprises:

associating the received context data with a component of a short message generated by a device that generated the query.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein providing the received context data to the mobile device further comprises:

appending the received context data to the short message.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

forwarding the short message and the received context data to the recipient mobile device.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein providing the received context data to the mobile device further comprises:

encoding the received context data into the short message with a markup language.

18. A computerized-apparatus comprising:

at least one memory having program instructions, and

at least one processor configured to execute the program instructions to perform the operations of;

receiving a short message from a mobile device;

algorithmically determining a context-data type, wherein the context-data type is determined by a meaning of a term of the short message, and wherein the context-data type provides information about an environment of the mobile device;

identifying at least one context-data source that provides the context-data type;

algorithmically ranking the at least one context data source according a specified parameter, wherein the specified parameter comprises a pecuniary cost to acquire the context data from the at least one context data source; and

generating a request for a context data of the context-data type to the at least one context data source.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the program instructions to perform the operation of rendering a context data from the at least one context-data source for communication through a communication network to a mobile device.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the program instructions to perform the operation of appending the context data from the at least one context-data source to a short message generated by the mobile device.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the program instructions to perform the operation of selecting the context-data. from a list of context-data elements weighted according to at least one metric.

22. A method comprising:

collecting a set of context-data. from at least one context-data provider with at least one server, wherein the context-data. is related to a meaning of a short message content;

algorithmically selecting a relevant context data according to a metric, wherein the metric comprises a monetary cost of the context-data, and wherein the context-data is obtained by a physical sensor;

linking the relevant context data to the short message; and

formatting the relevant context data and the short message according to a communication protocol.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the communication protocol comprises a cellular network short message protocol.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the communication protocol comprises an internet communication protocol.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one context-data provider is allowed to provide a cost of the context-data.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the context data is related to a physical context of the device that generated the short message.