Pre-fetching of data in a mobile communications environment

• US 8,694,492 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2008
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Saros, Jakob, Arngren, Tommy, Krco, Srdjan
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Angelica
• Application Number:
  US13/127,182
• Publication Number:
  US 20110213800A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,982 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/722
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

The invention relates to techniques for controlling a pre-fetching of data in a mobile communications environment. More specifically the invention relates to controlling a pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a mobile terminal. A method embodiment of the invention is performed by a cache management server and comprises the steps of receiving a pre-fetching request for data items, wherein the pre-fetching request comprises a first user identification associated with the mobile terminal; obtaining, based on the first user identification, one or more second user identifications from a community database of a social network; selecting items for the pre-fetching based on the second user identifications; and providing the selected items in response to the pre-fetching request.

Claims

1. A method performed by a cache management server for controlling a pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a first mobile terminal, the method comprising:

receiving a pre-fetching request for data items to be provided by a mobile communications network to the first mobile terminal, for presentation of those data items to a user of the first mobile terminal, responsive to a geographical indication provided by the mobile communications network exceeding a detection threshold for a location granularity indicating entering of a retailer location by the first mobile terminal, wherein the pre-fetching request comprises a first user identification associated with the first mobile terminal;

obtaining at least one second user identification from a community database containing user profiles of users of a social network, based on one or more attributes from the user profile associated with each of said at least one second user identification matching one or more attributes from a user profile associated with the first user identification;

selecting items for the pre-fetching based on the obtained at least one second user identification and the entered retailer location;

retrieving data items corresponding to the selected items from a server associated with the entered retailer location; and

providing the retrieved data items in response to the pre-fetching request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cache comprises at least one of a cache in the first mobile terminal and a cache in an access network portion of the mobile communications network providing access for the first mobile terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the at least one second user identification comprises using a social network service function of the social network to search for the at least one second user identification among a plurality of user identifications forming the community of the social network, each user identification being related to one of the user profiles hosted in the community database.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the social network is separate from the mobile communications network.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising retrieving, from a user data repository containing item indications related to the at least one second user identification, one or more community-based item indications, wherein the selection of items for the pre-fetching is based on the retrieved community-related item indications.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising retrieving, from a user data repository containing data item indications related to the first user identification, one or more personal item indications, wherein the selection of items for the pre-fetching is based on the community-based item indications and the personal item indications.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the selection of items for the pre-fetching comprises selecting items based on matching community-based item indications with personal item indications.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising selecting the social network from multiple social networks based on the first user identification.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second user identifications are obtained based on one or more attributes from a user profile associated with the first user identification.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the attributes comprise a location of the first mobile terminal.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein items for the pre-fetching are selected based on item indications of a second user identification related to a user near to the location of the first mobile terminal.

12. A method performed by a user data repository for supporting pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a first mobile terminal, wherein the user data repository is associated with a second mobile terminal, the method comprising:

storing, triggered by an operation performed by the second mobile terminal, one or more item indications; and

providing, in response to a query from a cache management server, one or more of the stored item indications for pre-fetching into the cache associated with the first mobile terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the operation performed by the second mobile terminal relates to a shopping activity comprising at least one of purchasing a product item, receiving an offer for a product item and querying a product item.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the one or more item indications are stored in association with an indication of a location of the second mobile terminal.

15. A cache management server configured to control a pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a mobile terminal, comprising:

a reception circuit configured to receive a pre-fetching request for data items to be provided by a mobile communications network to the mobile terminal, for presentation of those data items to a user of the mobile terminal, responsive to a geographical indication provided by the mobile communications network exceeding a detection threshold for a location granularity indicating entering of a retailer location by the mobile terminal, wherein the pre-fetching request comprises a first user identification associated with the mobile terminal;

a query circuit configured to obtain at least one second user identification from a community database containing user profiles of users of a social network, based on one or more attributes from the user profile associated with each of said at least one second user identification matching one or more attributes from a user profile associated with the first user identification;

a selection circuit configured to select items for the pre-fetching based on the obtained at least one second user identification and the entered retailer location;

a retrieval circuit configured to retrieve data items corresponding to the selected items from a server associated with the entered retailer location; and

a provisioning circuit configured to provide the selected items in response to the pre-fetching request.

16. The cache management server according to claim 15, wherein the retrieval circuit is further configured to retrieve, from a user data repository containing item indications related to the at least one second user identification, one or more community-based item indications, and wherein the selection circuit is configured to select the items for the pre-fetching based on the retrieved community-related item indications.

17. The cache management server according to claim 16, wherein the retrieval circuit is further configured to retrieve, from a user data repository containing data item indications related to the first user identification, one or more personal item indications, and wherein the selection circuit is configured to select the items for the pre-fetching based on the community-based item indications and the personal item indications.

18. The cache management server according to claim 15, wherein the cache management server is configured to receive location indications related to at least one of the first and second user identifications and wherein the selection circuit is configured to select the items for the pre-fetching based on the received location indications.

19. The cache management server according to claim 15, wherein the query circuit is configured to use a social network service function of the social network to search for the at least one second user identification among a plurality of user identifications forming the community of the social network, each user identification being related to one of the user profiles hosted in the community database.

20. A user data repository that is coupled to and that is configured to support a cache management server configured to control a pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a first mobile terminal, wherein the user data repository is associated with a second mobile terminal and comprises:

a memory configured to store, triggered by an operation performed by the second mobile terminal, one or more item indications; and

a control circuit configured to provide, in response to a query from the cache management server, one or more of the stored item indications for pre-fetching into the cache associated with the first mobile terminal.

21. A cache management system comprising:

a cache management server configured to control a pre-fetching of data items into a cache associated with a mobile terminal, comprising;

a reception circuit configured to receive a pre-fetching request for data items to be provided by a mobile communications network to the mobile terminal, for presentation of those data items to a user of the mobile terminal, responsive to a geographical indication provided by the mobile communications network exceeding a detection threshold for a location granularity indicating entering of a retailer location by the mobile terminal, wherein the pre-fetching request comprises a first user identification associated with the mobile terminal;

a query circuit configured to obtain at least one second user identification from a community database containing user profiles of users of a social network, based on one or more attributes from the user profile associated with each of said at least one second user identification matching one or more attributes from a user profile associated with the first user identification;

a selection circuit configured to select items for the pre-fetching based on the obtained at least one second user identification and the entered retailer location;

a retrieval circuit configured to retrieve data items corresponding to the selected items from a server associated with the entered retailer location; and

a provisioning circuit configured to provide the selected items in response to the pre-fetching request; and

a user data repository that is coupled to and that is configured to support a cache management server, wherein the user data repository is associated with a second mobile terminal and comprises;

a memory configured to store, triggered by an operation performed by the second mobile terminal, one or more item indications; and

a control circuit configured to provide, in response to a query from the cache management server, one or more of the stored item indications for pre-fetching into the cache associated with the first mobile terminal.