GB2376539A - Methods of iterative categorisation for managed ubiquitous delivery of infor mation and transactions across differentiated channels - Google Patents

Abstract

With the continuing developments in content delivery of multi-media forms, to an increasing array of devices, across a series of discrete media channels, there is potential for duplication, confusion and information overload for users. Information confusion and congestion are also possible outcomes of discrete ownership of different content, media and transmission channels. To overcome these difficulties requires a new paradigm of co-operation between content, computing and communications through the development of shared standards and methods, particularly with regard to human-computer-content interfaces. This novel method demonstrates how to exploit cyclical categorisation to build information and group processes and structures to deliver effective content creation, delivery, user assimilation and interactivity, as well as communications and commerce transactions. Novel methods are described for achieving co-ordination between different media channels, improving overall usability, assimilation and experience with information and interaction. With such co-ordination new opportunities are opened up for interactive information and transaction services.

Description

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Methods of Iterative Categorisation for Managed Ubiquitous Delivery of Information and Transactions across Differentiated Media Channels Scope of the Invention The present invention relates to novel methods and processes for managing information delivery across diverse information channels by structuring content and communications. This makes interchange possible between individuals, groups, documents and devices. The method covers the communications, community and commerce enabled by structure and sharing, and addresses the management and coordination requirements, together with the infrastructure, features, facilities, devices, and knowledge to support same including but not limited to hardware, software, communications and content.

Copyright Notice Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark office patent file or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

Background Computer users face an explosion in the volume of data accessible to them as a result of Internet and other information delivery developments. At the same time there is an increase in the number of communications channels over which information is delivered. Digital content can be delivered across the Internet to the PC, to a Digital TV and other devices in the home including home entertainment and intelligent white goods products, to mobile devices via wireless networks, and in other ways. With simultaneous increases in the capacities of all these channels, and with the continuing drop in all the costs of transmission making consumer acceptance all the more likely, end-users face a potentially difficult situation of information interference. Too much disparate information across too many discrete channels will inevitably lead to information overload. To balance the developments with technology and content delivery, there need to be corresponding advances with person-computer-content interfaces, content navigation and co-ordinated content, transaction and interaction delivery. The novel methods proposed here address these issues. They impact prior art in a number of areas including searching for information, retrieval of information, content conversion, electronic publishing, communications, locality and networkcentric applications services. The novel method is relevant to each of these area.

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Searching There have been advances in recent years with databases of various types, dealing with structured data or searching large streams of unstructured text for keywords and phrases. Search engines of increasingly sophisticated types have been developed to bring some degree of order to the large volumes of raw data that now circulated around the Internet and World Wide Web. The art of parallel processing (Wolf et al,

i998, US Patent number 5, 765, i46) sought to ehmmate delays between an enquiry and delivery of the results, while the notion of multi-dimensional cubes have been applied to data ranges (Agrawal et al, 1998, US Patent 5,799, 300 of 1998). Despite this until the current invention the structuring of information at source, along dimensions of content, community and computing and communications, has not been applied, and certainly not for multiple, overlapping category and class items.

Likewise attempts to provide mathematical methods for determining degrees of similarity have met with only limited success when applied to human cognitive and social processes, e. g. Egger et al 1998 (US Patent 5,832, 494). An alternative paradigm is proposed here where the categorisation and grouping is done as a human cognitive and social processes at the outset of the information cycle, not as a post hoc interpretation of some of the features considered salient at any particular time.

Difficulties relating to the proliferation of uncoordinated information come from many Internet searches. The lack of structure across databases means search interactions often produce a multitude of more or less relevant links. It can be difficult to gain a"whole picture"perspective on events and activities. Instead we are presented fragments of what is going on. News bites rather than whole stories. And in such instances the sheer volume of data can hide the qualitative assessment and organisation of information.

Information retrieval Difficulties with information content and retrieval increase as the volume of information available increases, seemingly exponentially. With the Internet and Web anyone can be a publisher of information, and the disciplines and controls that were established over many years for dealing with paper-based information flows have been lost in the electronic world. Certain Enterprises have sought to manage their information resource in ways similar to how other resources of people, materials and equipment are managed. Some have even sought to develop information strategies to match the financial, marketing and product development strategies (Ross 1992). This novel approach is relevant to any organisation or enterprise attempting to manage its information resource more effectively.

Where method and discipline have been applied to electronic information flows the benefits have been real and significant, as an example of news agency automation shows (Ross and Ioannou 1996). By applying the lessons learned from 125 years of news agency production and applying them to the opportunities presented by the Internet and World Wide Web, it was possible to deliver structured information streams going to different channels including telecommunications and satellite networks, televisions and wireless applications, so that millions of users could exploit

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the content without the need for sophisticated search algorithms, or at the time expensive computer interfaces.

A computer spreadsheet is a good example where complex data can be represented in a series of tables or notebooks (Liaw et at, 1996, US Patent 5, 572,644 1996). Yet all such spreadsheets have a basic limitation which is data, although it can be combined in many different ways, follows logical rather than psychological processes. The same item cannot appear in two places at once. In contrast in psychological processes a single items can appear simultaneously in different places at the same time.

The have been many inventions exploiting the logical framework of non-overoverlapping or mutually exclusive categories, ranging from the storage of information in multi-dimensional structures in computer memory (Earle, 1995, US Patent 5,359, 724), through to high dimensional indexing in a multi-media database (Agrawal et al 1997, US Patent 5, 647,058). The latter looked at ways of extracting similarity features from an object in a database by assessing mathematically the similarity features between various elements.

For example Agrawal et al (1997 US Patent 5,647, 058) shows how multi-media records could be more effectively retrieved form a database by adding features to the index and then retrieving on the basis of a similarity index computed from those features. However there are potentially many different dimensions of similarity, and in the current novel method such similarity cues are the result of human social, cognitive, perceptual and electronic interaction, all of which were not addressed by Agrawal and his colleagues.

Any such logical approaches have little relevance to psychological processes of grouping and re-grouping items in categories and classes when there may be larger differences within a category or class than between categories or classes. Rather than extracting features to determine similarity the novel invention descried here uses psychological process of categorisation to follow a different route by imposing (not extracting) additional features or meaning onto items to group them as"similar". The limits of feature-extraction and similarity indexing are addressed by the present invention that takes a different starting point of the psychological not logical processes in content understanding, community activities and computing and communications processes.

Content conversion With the emergence of multiple electronic devices with differing information processing and display characteristics issues emerge relating to the nature and structure of the information flows to different devices. A typical response to the opportunity has been to propose automated or semi-automated re-formatting of documents according to the characteristics of the display device, but this has inherent limitations from the perspective of the current method.

There have been various attempts at establishing automated routings for translating documents for one format to another, normally for automated dispatch to different devices. For example attention has been paid to the customisation of web content for

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different devices, as two Patents Applications from IBM indicates (1999, GB 2 331 600 and 2000, GB 2 346 238) The former addresses the customisation of web pages based on requester type, to differentiate the capabilities of different display devices such as personal computers, Personal Digital Assistants, mobile phones and so on. And the second explores how XML tools can be applied to tailoring Web pages in other style formats such as SGML and HTML. In both instances only one part of a process cycle is addressed, divorced from the psychological processes of senders and receivers and so whilst relevant to the transformation of static Web pages they have little relevance to the current novel invention which deals with all phases of the human-content-computer cycle.

Another example of document conversion comes from Spyglass (1999), where conversion and compression takes place on the fly between devices and users on networks, once the conversion preferences of users, documents, and devices is a known factor. The alternative proposed here in this novel method is for having more inclusive documents with a variety of embedded formats for different devices, authored in at the source and creation of the document. This has not been given consideration by the protagonists of content re-formatting, despite this being a more straightforward process. With an effective document content structure the requirement for conversion disappears, and new and novel components can easily be introduced into pre-existing document content architectures by reference to existing elements and relationships. Another feature of structured document content architecture is that users can always request full details of the content even if the device they are using is not totally appropriate. Control is therefore retained by the user rather than being delegated to servers and computing algorithms and software in the infrastructure.

There are commercial examples of content re-formatters, for example Online Anywhere (www. onany. com) have developed server software to allow content publishers to extract and compress content for devices less sophisticated that a full personal computer. Likewise Avantgo (www. avantgo. com) provides tailored services for portable and light devices, but in neither case is the ability to tailor the content built into the document structure. One novel feature of the current method is the same iterative structure is used for content creation and navigation, as well as requiring the sharing of information structures between providers and receivers of information.

Electronic publishing Methods and systems for electronic publishing have largely restricted themselves to a two-dimensional nature of documents, for example, Time Base Pty (Patent WO 98/34179), where documents are decomposed into discrete elements, and version control is applied as elements change over time. Earlier elements co-exist with later elements so users can track changes. Again the human and cognitive processes of categorisation are absent, so although there is a proposal for intra-document tagging with SGML, HTML and XML tags, and inter-document tagging with Document Type Definitions (DTD) and Style Sheet Mechanisms (SSM), there is no process for the continual production of content streams delivered to shared cognitive and content categories.

The databases in question are hierarchical so cannot deal with overlapping categories, and the focus is on post creation content analysis of documents, not on their pre-

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classification, categorisation and structuring. There is no relationship between document creation and the end-user activities associated subsequently with a document and these two phases share no common elements. Again our novel method and process goes further.

With the developments and growth of the Web there are numerous inventions relating to the automated production of content for different audiences and devices. Again the elements are treated as two-dimensional flat structures, albeit with hypertext linking, and solutions focus inwards on computer processing, rather than on the psychological relationships between user, computer and content. Dimarco and Foster (1999 Patent WO 99/08205) address the opportunity for creating versions of multimedia documents for different audiences, with variations of both content and presentation through a process of adaptive generation from a"master"document. The master document contains information on the relevance of particular blocks and structures of text, and by combining this with a set of parameters generated for any particular audience a novel document can in theory be produced.

Again there is a disregard for the psychological and social processes of sharing information structures. Nor is there any consideration of the process of generating streams of information for distribution to pre-classified structures. Instead the computer system is solely able to generate customised versions of documents from a totally closed system. This limitation is overcome in the novel method and process described here.

Further in the Dimarco and Foster method there is no consideration and no scope for sending multiple versions of the same generic document to the same individual via discrete information channels, and co-ordinating the receipt of such to avoid unnecessary information duplication and redundancy whilst ensuring he recipient gets the information required in a timely manner. This neglect of the psychological processes in the end-to-end delivery cycle, with human input at both sender and receiver points, using an iterative structure for content structuring and navigation are limitations in the Dimarco and Foster model. In addition whilst the phase pf authoring of documents is addressed, their subsequent processing, packaging, dispatch, receipt, navigation and storage are all neglected elements of the end-to-end cycle. These are all features of the current novel invention. Finally the components in the Dimarco and Foster model are arranged in a hierarchy of predetermined relationships thereby excluding its relevance to the non-hierarchical categorisations described in the current method and process and structure Network-centric application services Important as individual characteristics such as browsing, navigation and information retrieval are in their own right, it is equally important how the various factors are combined in the delivery of services. Certain inventions have sought to provide innovations for more than one element of an information cycle. So for instance, Davies et al (1996 WO 96/23265) examine a method for accessing information using an agent-based access system using keywords combined with a profile of potential user interests. This is designed to overcome the abundance of information provision over the Internet where the lack of central monitoring and control hinders users

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getting the information they seek when and where they require it. Their so-called "JASPER"agents (Joint Access to Stored Pages with Easy Retrieval) stores metainformation to provide a pointer on or index to information when a retrieval request is made.

This places an emphasis on information retrieval rather than, as in the current novel method, the concept that relevant information is already there, available and accessible. With the differentiation between categorisations (the structure), populations of items within the category (the items), and movement around the structure (navigation and personalisation), there is no requirement for retrieval until and unless the user wants to go outside our paradigm and method and engage in userinstigated retrieval. If and when they do there are a variety of established methods for doing this, which are outside the scope and focus of this current novel method.

Another more holistic approach to human-content interaction can be found in Olsson (1999), where again the focus is on how to automatically or semi-automatically find and retrieve information for a user according to his preferences. In this case the information is identified through the exchange of so-called"relevance"agents.

Rather than undertake filtering and retrieval using content analysis of material, or on the basis of others recommendations of items of potential relevance, the method proposed by Olsson is to use a combination of methods. By relying on two agents a "collection"agent, and a"selection"agent, with the former placing documents in a central repository, from which the latter retrieves potential matches of documents and

user interests for presentation to the user."Interface"Agents are required to capture the different interests of a user, and since each user can have multiple"Interest" agents, each with a list of other interest agents the logistics of realisation can be seen to be excessively complex.

Such complexity is generated by attempts to do with computer calculations what users in the current method do naturally, which is to categorise and select information according to those categorisations. There is no need to postulate the existence of multiple agents, as they are not required if, as with the present method, human cognitive and social abilities are combined with computing capabilities in a more sympathetic manner. Agents are redundant in a situation where information is not retrieved from an amorphous mass, but is packaged and selected with human cognitive abilities playing a part at both sender and receiver points. The novel method proposed here requires only one process, the same process, at sender and receiver ends, and so according to Occam's Razor is a more likely explanation.

Agents also figure large in a system and method for co-ordination and control of information supply proposed by British Telecommunications (1998 European Patent EP 0 967 545 Al). Again the method uses a variety of agents in a distributed environment, with information being passed back and forth between agents to ensure the user gets the information they are searching for. Since each agent is seen to perform a particular task there is again a requirement for a multitude of agents, and again with such a multitude there is a requirement for a multitude of co-ordinating agents and processes. The very complexity of the process hides the requirement for a simple iterative method and process that handles all the different aspects of the information cycle. Logically if, as in the present proposed method, one single process can handle a multitude of different activities at both sender and receiver ends there is

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no need to postulate the existence of multiple interacting agents, By taking a broader view of the information cycle, including both information sender and information receiver, and by postulating processes shared by both and iteratively applied to different components of the information cycle the whole situation becomes easier to explain, predict, control and exploit.

Structure For some reason there has been an avoidance of consideration of"structure"within much Internet development, and this absence is concerning. Structure seems to have be equated with tradition and establishment whilst the Internet by its very design has developed in an anti-structure manner. Yet structure, by itself, is neutral, so the issue becomes whether any degree of such structure is useful. That structure exists at the heart of the World Wide Web is indisputable. It is only because there is general consensus about the rules of operation at the transport level and for information exchange that the Internet works. Without uniform rules of transfer and application it would be impossible to exchange information. Whether there is sufficient structure is a question that needs to be asked.

At issue therefore is whether some further element of structuring would be useful at the higher levels of activity, relating to information and applications as well as at the lower levels relating to transport, interconnection and inter-operability. In the present novel method, structure is at the heart of the method and process for higher as well as lower levels of activity. Whilst the method is not intended to cover the whole of Internet activity, it is relevant to processes relating to information, presentation, navigation, processing, interaction, and communications, transactions and storage.

Communications with persistent connectivity It is surprising that since the Internet is all about content and communications there are not more innovations about communications methods and processes. Content and Search algorithms are relatively well catered for in comparison. Novel methods relating to persistent connectivity are almost totally absent and the current method seeks to address this gap.

One Patent on Service Provision Systems for Communications Networks (British Telecom 1995 WO 95/30317 examines the potential for service provisioning across both fixed and mobile networks. By exploiting software agents in the different network domains they show how service provisioning and maintenance is enhanced with a series of distributed and relatively independent agents. Unfortunately the methods do not cover content, navigation and services (as distinct from service) provisioning. Nor do the methods cover persistent connectivity with one or more networks and so important aspects are ignored. Like much of the rest of the literature, the basic Internet model of"connect to a URL, extract the needed information and then drop the connection"is adopted.

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Locality in content retrieval and communication Locality has also been neglected in dealing with human-computer interaction although there have been attempts to overcome some of the shortcomings. One approach is to segment large databases, for targeted marketing and promotional activities amongst other things. For example Saxe 1997 (US Patent number 5,636, 346) establishes correspondence links between households on interactive cable networks, and the delivery of relevant and specific information to target households. By usmg a umque electronic address for each household a degree of privacy is preserved.

Patent WO/22495 (2000) uses sophisticated computing algorithms to determine whether or not specific information should be sent to specific locations as based on geography (or inferred geography) of the receiving device.

And Chomet (1987, US Patent 4,645, 873) establishes a method for linking databases with geography in a proposed national database with a plurality of databases each with local information, and with interrelationships between each of the databases, so individuals can select, to an extent, the information they consider relevant to them.

Sending e-mail information to specific groups of individuals is addressed by International Patent WO 00/20975 (2000).

Although these approaches go some way towards improving the situation, they still deal with the symptoms of the difficulty and not the underlying cause. This, in part, is the result of a lack of encompassing frameworks and methods for dealing with information, as distinct from data. Indeed, the profound nature of the weaknesses inherent in current structures can be revealed in even a brief consideration of the Internet data transmission methods. Information is transmitted through a variety of computers using Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, yet this is not geography specific and this leads to delays in packed transmission.

This anarchic approach to information, in contrast to the more structured routes followed by telecommunications links, was one of the design criteria to make the Internet infrastructure"disaster proof'. Those who designed the Internet could not have foreseen its popularity, and for there to be an evolution in functionality and usability there needs to be an evolution of some of the design features. Digital Island (2000, WO 00/38381) proposes ways of adding geographic cues to routing to make packet delivery more rapid and secure, but this is limited to transport of content. The database structures that relate to social groups and personal interests is an equally important area for evolution and the present invention is designed to support different types of individual and group interactions.

With the explosion of electronic communication there has been a fragmentation in naming conventions for electronic communication within an overall loose framework.

There are a multitude of addressing schemes with little or no correspondence between electronic location and physical location making delivery and retrieval of geographically and other locally focused segmented services difficult. Administration of such services is also becoming an increasingly high overhead.

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Problem The take up of Internet connections for PCs, and the parallel take up of mobile telephones in many countries has made information and communication more readily accessible to millions of users. Yet the lack of structure in the content and communications is creating difficulties. Further the emergence of more and more devices capable of connectivity and communications highlights the difficulties of information co-ordination and integration. Other than a few telephone-enabled personal digital assistants these two streams of development of Internet and Mobile telephony have remained largely separate. Until recently such developments had limited cross over because of technology limitations. The discrete technical channels followed separate development paths, but with the emergence and extension of the Internet Protocol (IP) standards and other developments these information channels are beginning to converge. With the developments in DSL methods for landline cables, cable services, always on G3 mobile telephony paradigms, Digital Audio Broadcasting and Radio Mesh technologies there could be an explosion in uncoordinated information and communication streams.

Recent advances have not only bought more information channels to the consumer, there are now greater degrees of overlap between previously separate media channels.

Conversations via the personal computer with voice over IP, the user of television as an interactive medium, delivery of content to new generation mobile phones means consumers all too easily suffer from uncoordinated delivery of duplicated and redundant information. Information interference will be a result, slowing the uptake of point product technology solutions. To date commercial boundaries and discrete solutions research and technology advances have hindered any emergence of more integrated and interactive solutions. There has also been a lack of common methods and processes covering the full information cycle including diverse devices. The methods proposed here address the limitations, and show how it is possible to deliver new more co-ordinated products and services across diverse information channels.

Worse than any sheer volume of information being delivered across the diverse channels is the potential for information duplication, with much the same content being viewed in different information mediums, leading to user frustrations and a loss of user productivity. Potential benefits of technology can just as easily become a handicap. The methods proposed here address these issues and problems to reduce and eliminate such duplication.

These negative scenarios for diverse and uncoordinated information streams are all the more likely when different organisations are responsible for different information mediums. This, in part, is an outcome of cross-media ownership regulations in a number of countries. Domination of several different media sectors has been viewed as socially dangerous and economically uncompetitive so ownership rules have prevented it. Each of the organisations representing discrete channels will be competing for market share of the more integrated solutions from their historically strong but diverse bases. Such competition could add to information chaos for the end-users, to whom the technology is supposed to bring benefit.

Ways have to be found for realising the benefits of integration and interaction, within a framework of discrete organisational units and interests. Open software solutions

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and internationally agreed standards can contribute to inter-operability but even here novel methods are needed to encompass the new information paradigms. The methods proposed here go some way towards realising the objectives of integration and interoperability. In time we expect the emergence of agreed international standards in these areas. In the meantime these proposals contribute, in part, to the emergence of acceptable and solutions.

Essential Features To change a situation of uncoordinated information delivery to one of managed information flows requires the establishment of a ubiquitous service, consisting of computers, content and communications. The convergence of these three towards ubiquitous services brings new opportunities. The methods described show how this can be achieved. Within an integrated environment profiles of user interests can be maintained alongside profiles of content providers and profiles of service delivery and networking providers, so information can be sent in managed streams down different media channels. The streams of information sent to different devices via the integrated computing environment can be co-ordinated to the extent necessary for user control and acceptance.

For any integrated and ubiquitous services to work there have to be accepted standards in a number of areas. This includes the area of Document Content Structures, as any service needs to know what information is suitable for what types of device. Emerging standards in the area of Document Content Structures need to be supplemented with additional information relating to media channel suitability. There may be different versions of the same material with different editorial styles for different media channels. This will be a challenge for content providers yet the potential benefits for users are considerable and should more than repay the effort at the content creation end. Users will benefit from being able to get the content, transactions and interactions they require, in the form they require them, to the devices they choose at any particular time to use.

This implies a universal-addressing schema shared by different network, access and service providers. This is an important feature of the methods proposed here. A universal addressing schema, depending on how it is implemented, offers user advantages in terms of greater security and privacy, easier delivery of localised content and services, elimination of the need for multiple sign-on to different services, and easier intragroup and intergroup communications.

In addition to structured content and structured addressing schemes there needs to be classification of material to aid easy retrieval of information relevant to the user circumstances. Document Category (or Classification) Structures become more important. Looking for a telephone or e-mail address from a mobile phone display will or should, have different characteristics to browsing a company report or virtual shopping mall database looking for contextual surroundings around information.

Distinguishing between these requires the insertion of meta-tags to much information relating to the source, nature and components of the information in addition to information content. Meta tagging takes on greater importance in an integrated, ubiquitous and interactive information world.

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A feature of this method for co-ordinating content and transaction delivery across different media channels is it leads to more direct delivery of information to end-users by eliminating unnecessary duplication and redundancy across different channels.

This method for ubiquitous delivery of information and transaction content across differentiated media channels in a managed and co-ordinated manner eliminates the need for users to provide or invent profiles and passwords every time they want to access a new service. These multiple identities, difficult to retain and remember, are replaced with a universal naming profile that provides better security, personal profiling and information co-ordination. This results from the paradigm change with ubiquitous and monitored persistent human-computer interaction replacing episodic personal computing and unstructured content interaction.

Another feature of this method for ubiquitous delivery of information and transaction content across differentiated media channels in a managed and co-ordinated manner is to enable the delivery of information to a variety of different media distribution channels. This provides the basis for comprehensive interactive services, and exploits Document Content Structures and Document Category Structures inherent in the proposed structured information spaces.

This method for ubiquitous delivery of information and transaction content across differentiated media channels in a managed and co-ordinated manner requires more structured addressing schemas for content delivery and communications. It also gives users greater degrees of control over information flows, allowing individuals to select the manner in which information is received and acted upon according to their individual needs not the characteristics or restrictions of any particular media channel.

This method for ubiquitous delivery of information and transaction content across differentiated media channels in a managed and co-ordinated ensures information is easier to assimilate and easier to act upon when delivered as a series of co-ordinated information channels. The channel selection and delivery can be appropriate to the nature of the information being sent, which for a user is far easier when compared with information sent as an undifferentiated and duplicated mass.

This method for ubiquitous delivery of information and transaction content across differentiated media channels in a managed and co-ordinated manner ensures EBusiness and E-Commerce is easier, more secure and more effective when transaction take place within a structured and co-ordinated information spaces, and when diverse media channels are used in a managed and co-ordinated fashion to deliver end-to-end control and information and transaction integrity.

A number of preferred embodiments of the present novel invention have been described in some detail herein and for those skilled in the art many modifications and variations will be apparent. It is my intent therefore to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims, and not by the specific details presented by way of example and illustration.

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Introduction to Drawings.

The present invention will become more fully understood, and the foregoing and other features and advantages of any preferred embodiment will become more readily apparent by describing by way of example only and with reference to the following drawings and descriptions, which are not limitative of the present invention, by which :- Figure 1 shows the basic method and process for establishing common shared information structures for content dissemination and navigation. This has the following steps, or modifications and variations thereof to achieve the same or similar ends :- 1. Creation of processes and structures for information content and information categories and classes 2. Sharing of the structures between individuals and groups wishing to interact and communicate 3. Creation of content of whatever sort, comprising some or all media types including but not limited to text, data, graphics, pictures, audio and video, according to the structures and rules previous created.

4. Switching and streaming contents, or selections of content to different devices according to the nature of the user requirements, the nature of the devices and combinations of the two.

5. Receiving over fixed, wireless, mobile and other networks as appropriate to the different devices the various streams of content 6. Navigation in a consistent manner across different devices uses techniques resulting from the prior structuring and classification of the information content.

7. Personalisation of some or all of the structures according to user and other preferences and settings 8. Evolution of the structures and sharing of the evolved structures to create a "feedback loop" for continuous improvement and evolution of the process.

Figure 2 shows the application of the method and process to the creation of structured documents, ready for delivery to diverse and disparate devices, whilst retaining the integrity of the originating document and proving for a common look and feel for navigation and access despite variations in the characteristics of the receiving device or devices.

Figure 3 illustrates how tailoring of content sources and streams and multicasting can occur over time through the iterative development of the structure at sender and receiver sites.

Figure 4 indicates how different information can be sent to different devices whilst retaining the overall integrity of the information across diverse devices. It has within the structure the implicit ability for a user to access any portion of the information from any device, which is not possible with document conversion approaches Figure 5 shows the evolution of the method to tackle situations where there are multiple devices, and where there is a requirement to provide co-ordination of information across and between the different devices. This requires the additional

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component of a co-ordination and tracking agent or device, shown here as a structured cube although other manifestations are equally possible. The steps of the process, or

variations and modifications thereof to achieve the same or similar ends are as follows :- 1. Creation of various structures 2. Sharing of the structures 3. Creation and packaging of content and communications 4. Switching and steaming the contents for delivery to different networks associated with the different devices, whatever these might be 5. Receipt of the streams of information to one or more devices, whether connected persistently or periodically to their respective underlying infrastructures.

6. Consistent navigation across the different devices using methods and techniques inherent in the structuring of information content and the creation of organised and shared information structures 7. Co-ordination of the information, activities and transactions, including communication of such to other devices as and when required 8. Evolution of the structure and sharing of same to provide for continuous improvement and evolution of the process and method.

Figure 6 shows the relationships between the different elements within the delivery of ubiquitous documents to end users via different delivery channels and mechanisms. It shows how the Document Content Structures and Document Category Structures, together with the user, service and content profiles, feed into ubiquity service servers.

The differentiated, and co-ordinated, information streams are then delivered via the appropriate media channels according to user preferences and choice.

Figure 7 shows a summary of the methods to track information content across devices and relate transaction to user profiles, billing and other administrative and service elements.

Examples A significant advantage of the realisation of the co-ordinated information streams described here is it eliminates the need for multiple sign-on to different services. It is easier to pay for goods and services, in a more trusted and secure manner via intermittent and persistent connections and ubiquitous and consistent interfaces, actions and transaction. This provides the opportunity for co-ordination services. The method eliminates some of the key issues and concerns many have with the relative insecurity of the Internet as it exists today. Because in this method the identity of users is known and monitored they are in effect "always on line"so information profiling and delivery and e-commerce transaction can take place easily and effectively. Users no longer have to invent a different identity and password for each new service or service element.

An example of a co-ordinated information stream is where a user gets want they consider important information, such as a stock price move or a sports result,

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delivered proactively to their mobile phone or other mobile device. When they get to an appropriate display medium, such as a digital television or personal computer they can be made aware they have already received certain information, for example by display in a different colour, or the item in the"pending"not"to be read"mail area.

Users can then choose whether or not to interact with a more rich media content version of the same material at their leisure.

Likewise as the home information technology inurastructure becomes more sophisticated a user may want to instruct a home device, such as a video-recorder or video set-top box, to record material, and do this via a mobile telephone or other mobile or other interactive device. This is possible if there are defined, and where possible open, standards across media-type channels. The current novel method provides this.

Another example is where a user wants to scan the headlines on a personal computer or digital television in the morning and select the stories to download to a mobile device such as a Digital Assistant and/or Electronic Book, to read, or be read to, whilst on the move.

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References and Related Material Ansell & Cherenson 2000 Conditional Delivery of Digitized Products Patent WO 00/22495 Agrawal et al 1997 Method for high Dimensionality Indexing in a Multi- Media Database US Patent 5,647, 058 Agrawal et al 1998 Method and System for Performing Range-Sum Queries on a Data Cube US Patent 5,799, 300 Agrawal et al 1998 Database System and Method Employing Data Cube Operator for Group-By Operations US Patent 5,832, 475 Bayer R 1998 Database and Management Process for n-dimensional data structure DE 19635429A Benayoun 1999 Navigation Method in 3D Computer-Generated Pictures by Hyper 3D Navigator 3D Image Manipulation WO 00/42495 British Telecom 1995 Service Provision Systems for Communications Networks (British Telecom 1995 WO 95/30317 British Telecom 1998 A System and Method for the co-ordination and control of information supply using a distributed multi-agent

platform, European Patent Application EP 0 967 545 Al) Cline & Lorensen 1999 3D Surfaces generated from a List of Cubic Elements US Patent 5,900, 880 Chirieleison et al 1998 Virtual Reality Warehouse System Complement WO 99/61967 Chomet M 1987 Transactional Telecommunications System US Patent 4,645, 873 Davies et al (1996) Methods and/or Systems for Accessing Information, British Telecommunications Patent Application WO 96/23265) Digital Island 2000 Method and System for Optimizing Routing of Data Packets Patent WO/00/38381 Earle 1995 Method and Apparatus for Storing and Retrieving Multi- Dimensional Data in Computer Memory US Patent 5,359, 724

<Desc/Clms Page number 16>

Egger et al 1996 Method and Apparatus for Indexing, Searching and Displaying Data US Patent 5,832, 494 Galumbeck et al Communications System having an Addressable Receiver US Patent 4,725, 886 Hitachu 1997 Method for Table Graphic Display and Processing JP 09-081114A Liaw et al 1996 System and Method for Multi-Dimensional Information Processing US Patent 5,572, 644 Monson 1995 Animated Map Display Method for Computer- Controlled Agricultural Product Application Equipment US Patent 5,751, 576 Olsson 1999 Information Routing, Ericsson Telecommunications Patent Application WO 99/36864 Philips 1997 Spatial Browsing Approach to Multimedia Information Retrieval WO 98/53391 Pooser & Pooser 1996 User Interface Navigational System and Method for Interactive Representation of Information Contained within a Database US Patent 5,812, 134 Ross 1979 Multiple Group Membership, Social Mobility and Intergroup Relations. An Investigation of Group Boundaries and Boundary Crossings. Ph. D. Thesis, University of Bristol, England.

Ross 1992"Information Technology-the Catalyst for Change" PA Consulting Group, Mercury Books, ISBN 1852510420 Ross & loannou 1996-21t Century Content Engines- In"Digital Newsrooms of the Future"-Seybold Report on Publishing Systems Vol. 25 Number 18, ISSN: 0736- 7260 June, 1996 Ross 1999 (a) A Multi-Dimensional Human Computer Interface Using Information Categorisation and Visualisation.

GB 9915892.5 Ross 1999 (b) A Method for Multi-dimensional Information Representation Processing and Interaction Using Categorisation Structures and Processes GB 991589.3

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Ross 1999 (c) A Method for Integrated Multi-Media Compound Document Structure, Creation, Representation, Processing and Interaction.

GB 9915894.1 Ross 1999 (d) Multi-dimensional Computer Supported Communications Using Database Linking and a Visual Language Interface GB 9915895.8 Saxe A. N. G. 1997 Method and System for Selectively targeting Advertisements and Programming US Patent 5,636, 346 Shaw et al 2000 Method and Apparatus for Delivering Electronic Advocacy Messages Patent WO 00/20975 Sony Corporation 1991 European Patent 0 489 576 A2 Spyglass (1999) Content Conversion of Electronic Documents GB Patent Application 2 344 197 Wolf et al (1998) Method of Performing a Parallel Relational Database Query in a Multiprocessor Environment US Patent 5,765, 146

Claims (1)

1. Claims Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by patent is:

   1. I claim a method and process for the creation of structured documents and categories that can be combined to form classes of content, event, activities and experience with senders and receivers of information sharing the structures for the exchange of content, communications, transactions and interactions, comprising none, some or all of the following steps, or variations or modifications of the sequence to achieve similar ends :- Creation of a structure, be this for documents, categories, classes or other domain or area of content, communication, interaction, transaction, perception, cognition or social behaviour Sharing of this structure with others through written or spoken communication or electronic means or some other method Creation of content containing tags to locate content within a structure or structures, not necessarily exclusively but allowing for multiple realisations, versions, variations, positions and overlaps Source, stream, multicast or in some other way deliver content to individual or group recipients, to single or multiple devices from servers, databases, across fixed and wireless networks or in some other manner Users accessing the categories, containing content that has been delivered whether or not this replaces or supplements or extends earlier content, for all categories and classes or for those categories and classes selected by one or more end-users * Users navigating the structure in a variety of ways under their control or automatically, with the navigation sharing attributes of the base method and process and its iterative application With personalisation, tailoring and temporal characteristics of the receiving structure under user control or shared between receivers and senders of information or communication With evolution of the structure by senders and receivers by reference to the existing structure and categories and classes to allow for modification, evolution and developments With evolved structures being shared with some or all other users for activity, communications, interaction or transactions or any combination thereof 2 The method and process of Claim 1 further comprising the step of the iterative application of the base method to form more sophisticated information and other structures and applied to a wider range of content, applications, interfaces and devices, including none, some or all but not limited to the following, each of which has the capability for multiple realisations within any and all structures as required :- Content within a document, structured according to the method and process

   <Desc/Clms Page number 19>

   * Documents, structured according to the method and process Categories of documents created by grouping of items along one or more dimensions of similarity 'Classes of category formed by grouping such items along one or more dimensions of similarity * Meta-structures formed by further iterations or variations of the method and process Events, historic, current or future Activities, historic, current or future . Experience, historic, current or planned Delivered to a computer, television, digital assistant, wireless device or other more or less intelligent device, including hardware software, networking and similar devices Transmitted across fixed or wireless or digital audio or satellite or other network including telecommunications, cable, wireless and other infrastructures, public or private or combinations thereof To an individual, or a group or a community or some wider audience or some combination of these groups including multiple memberships of any of the above 3 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of populating of the categories and classes of information with information from sources, or streams, or multicast to fill or supplement, complement or replace some or all of the information already contained within the categories and classes with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- w Retention of, or potential to re-establish, links to the original document, category or class event, experience or activity, if need be to reconstitute a facsimile or duplicate from remaining consistent parts 'Ability to appear in one or more than one category or class at one and the same time A retained knowledge of the relevance, links and associations between an items and other items derived from its location within and between one or more structures An ability to track variations of the document or other objects across variations, modifications, versions and across networks to different locations, people and devices 'An ability to display information appropriate or not to any particular receiving device or combination of receiving devices * An ability to track and communicate the position within the information structure to any other device also used by the same user to access the same information at the same or a different time 'An ability to navigate within, between, and across structures using a variety of devices including but not limited to controls, buttons, pointers, joysticks, mice, touch-sensitive screens, voice commands and other ways

   <Desc/Clms Page number 20>

   4 The method and process of Claim I comprising the further step of personalising the information structures of documents, categories and classes through none, some or all of the following ways Selecting certain document types as having higher relevance to one or more devices such that information appropriate to a device is displayed according to the device limitations unless overruled by specific user activity.

   . Selecting certain categories as being of higher relevance and attaching some mathematical or other tagging mechanism to indicate such interest, with this affecting the number and type of items filling a particular category.

   Selecting and prioritising certain classes as having higher relevance with regard to the information available from sources, streams or multicasts.

   Impacting the order that documents, categories and classes are received so user prioritisation is always possible in situations of resource or processing or other constraints or requirements.

   5 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of maintaining administrative and financial logs or records associated with user activities for information, security and billing purposes, with some or all of the following characteristics, where billing can include both billing and credit transactions :- * Billing by any form or combination of usage of hardware, software, networking, human or other resource Billing by volumes of information received or accessed Billing by volume of information excluded Billing by extent of filtering, or personalisation or similar modifications of the base method and process . Billing by source of information * Billing by timeliness of information Billing by the breadth or depth of the information accessed or any combination thereof Billing by any factors associated with information delivery and navigation including by not limited to click through rates, banner advertising, promotion and counter promotion, or any element or sequence on a value chain from information of a less deep or more deep variety, analysis, comparisons, evaluations, transactions and value of goods transacted or any combination or extension therein.

   6 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of transmission of information to individuals, groups or multiple groups using the features, facilities, cues and other attributes of the information structure, singularly, or in combination with each other or in combination with other devices.

   7 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of modifications and evolutions of the base method and process and its

   <Desc/Clms Page number 21>

   iterative application within the same domains of information and activity or different domains 8 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of providing a family of similar interfaces to a variety of different devices with the interfaces sharing common features of the base method and process such that the content-device interface has none, some or all of the following characteristics :- 'Devices use a common method for structuring, ordering and sequencing across devices 'Devices use a common method for navigation and access of different documents, categories classes and other features Any device is capable under user control of accessing any or all of the full feature set of the core document structures, albeit with limitations of speed, display or other limitations * Interactions and transactions from any and all devices can be tracked by a meta-structure, using further iterations of the base method and process which contains a full profile of all user activity and behaviours for administration, security and billing purposes, subject to user privacy and national and international security and other requirements.

   9 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of Information Providers using or providing interfaces and standards and reciprocal billing information and arrangements where these are required with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- Users and providers agree the basis of the billing mechanisms and the costs associated with information access and transactions Information providers assume the financial and other risks associated with transactions of any sort * Information Providers remain legally responsible for the information they provide for onward transmission to users and for any other aspects of the interactions or transactions arising from their content.

   10 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of users agreeing the billing and other administrative and financial arrangements associated with delivery of information to a variety of devices, with no consequential or other liabilities for the method and process and structure that is used to facilitate the information provision and transactions 11 The method and process of Claim I comprising the further step of various user profiles and activities and transactions forming, via the further iterative application of the base method and process, information superstructures with other individuals or groups for

   whatever purpose, including none, some or all but not limited to the following :- . Content or transaction delivery or fulfilment

   <Desc/Clms Page number 22>

   * Administrative, financial, legal, geographic or other requirement whether currently foreseen or not Creation or maintenance of physical, social or virtual groups or communities or any combination thereof 12 The method and process of Claim I comprising the further step of using an iteration of the base method to create structures, naming conventions, and identifiers for individuals, groups, communities and multiple groups memberships, with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- * Any individual or group to have a variety of identifiers indicating membership of physical, social or virtual groups, including multiple and overlapping memberships, with, when known, some or the totality of memberships maintained and delivered as unified or differentiated streams depending on user preference and activity Allocation of unique identifiers comprising prefix or suffix of both, whether random or not, to individuals, subgroups, groups or communities such that members of the same unit have an identical prefix or suffix or both * At the same time and in parallel allocation of locator tags or identifiers based on geography, which remain overt or covert depending on requirements, security and other factors, such that unique identifiers can also when required exhibit geographic and other cues, for security, location, physical deliveries and similar requirements The potential for senders or receivers or information, or both, to use physical cues, social cues, virtual cues or any combination thereof to direct content to more or less inclusive groups, subgroups or multiple groups or any combination thereof An ability to use combinations of the unique and locator identifiers to facilitate content delivery over network alternatives according to any requirements or combinations of requirements at any particular time including none, some or all of the following :- Least cost routing Direct route routing Aggregated routing for physical groupings Routing selected to maintain quality of service levels . Routing following prescribed geographical routes 'Random routing Multiple routing across the same and different networks to similar or diverse devices or both Any combination of the above or variations and modifications thereof to achieve similar ends 13 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of creating billboards, message groups or other display facilities for directing messages to any subgroup, group or overlapping or

   <Desc/Clms Page number 23>

   intersecting groups, be these physical, social, virtual or any combination thereof 14 The method and process of Claim I comprising the further step of having content relating to a locality as defined within the base method on a less or more inclusive scale according to user requirements, available for any members within that locality to use, or for any other individual or group requiring such information to also have access to locality specific information, with navigation within and between domains according to the base method and iterations thereof, including none, some or all but not limited to the following :- Skills, trades, professionals and similar groupings . Shops, outlets, warehouses and similar Restaurants, Cinemas, Theatres, Hotels, Leisure facilities and similar Jobs, permanent, temporary and interim Classified advertising of any or all products or services or combinations thereof . Places of interest Hobbies, interests and other physical, social or virtual groupings 15 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of using the locality, grouping and membership cues and tags for administration, billing, crediting, security and control to any individual or group of any single or combined goods, services, usage, utilisation or combinations thereof . Billed to individuals Billed to groupings of whatever type . Or to any combination of the two, or other variations thereof 16 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of using the base method and process and iterations thereof, embodied in methods, processes, procedures, business practices, value chains, hardware, software, networking, databases, storage and other similar devices, together with the structured and shared content, categories and classes, and the locator and other cues to track, respond to or anticipate user requirements when using a variety of devices to access information sources, streams, multicasts and other distribution methods so as to retain a user position and perspective with regard to the information presented and display across different devices with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- 'User position is retained across any and all devices that are active at any particular time in a tightly coupled or loosely coupled fashion or combinations thereof, according to user preferences and device capabilities Content delivery to or action on one device transmitted to other linked and active devices, as appropriate to their capabilities if need be

   <Desc/Clms Page number 24>

   Activity or reaction on one device transmitted to linked and active devices, and reflected in inactive devices the next time they are activated Traces, logs, actions and transactions within and across none, some of all devices are logged for administration, service, and billing * End to end activity is monitored to provide quality of service metrics, and to interface these into any or all administration, billing, crediting, and service quality penalty measures, debits or credits for users, information providers, third parties or any combination thereof 17 The method and process of Claim I and Claim 16 comprising the further step of allowing users single designations and sign on passwords to a variety of devices if they so choose, or to associate and if required integrate discrete identities on different networks for administrative and billing purposes.

   18 The method and process of Claim 1 and Claim 16 comprising the further step of establishing interfaces, standards, inter-working, interoperability or any combination thereof with the providers of networks, services, facilities, entertainment or work or leisure free or paid for managed services or similar infrastructures such that the end- to-end integrity and coherence and integration of users of the base method and process is maintained, or not as required 19 The method and process of Claim 1 and Claim 16 comprising the further step of providing co-ordination across a variety of different media distribution channels, networks, information providers and similar to provide a comprehensive series of services that work across diverse and discrete devices in a manner that provides a family resemblance in the interface, navigation and access techniques, with a low level of duplication and redundancy of content and a low level of duplication of user activity.

   20 A method and system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein information content or communications or transactions are structured, with the structures shared between information providers and information recipients and based on classification and categorisation on the basis of similarity with items able to appear in multiple classifications or categories at one and the same time.

   <Desc/Clms Page number 25>

   Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by patent is:

   1. I claim a method and process for the creation of structured documents and categories that can be combined to form classes of content, event, activities and experience with senders and receivers of information sharing the structures for the exchange of content, communications, transactions and interactions, comprising one, some or all of the following steps, or variations or modifications of the sequence to achieve similar ends :- Creation of a structure, be this for documents, categories, classes or other domain or area of content, communication, interaction, transaction, perception, cognition or social behaviour * Sharing of this structure with others through written or spoken communication or electronic means or some other method * Creation of content containing tags to locate content within a structure or structures, not necessarily exclusively but allowing for multiple realisations, versions, variations, positions and overlaps * Source, stream, multicast or in some other way deliver content to individual or group recipients, to single or multiple devices from servers, databases, across fixed and wireless networks or in some other manner * Users accessing the categories, containing content that has been delivered whether or not this replaces or supplements or extends earlier content, for all categories and classes or for those categories and classes selected by one or more end-users * Users navigating the structure in a variety of ways under their control or automatically, with the navigation sharing attributes of the base method and process and its iterative application With personalisation, tailoring and temporal characteristics of the receiving structure under user control or shared between receivers and senders of information or communication With evolution of the structure by senders and receivers by reference to the existing structure and categories and classes to allow for modification, evolution and developments With evolved structures being shared with some or all other users for activity, communications, interaction or transactions or any combination thereof 2 The method and process of Claim I further comprising the step of the iterative application of the base method to form more sophisticated information and other structures and applied to a wider range of content, applications, interfaces and devices, including none, some or all but not limited to the following, each of which has the capability for multiple realisations within any and all structures as required :- Content within a document, structured according to the method and process

   <Desc/Clms Page number 26>

   Documents, structured according to the method and process Categories of documents created by grouping of items along one or more dimensions of similarity Classes of category formed by grouping such items along one or more dimensions of similarity Meta-structures formed by further iterations or variations of the method and process . Events, historic, current or future

   * Activities, historic, current or future Experience, historic, current or planned Delivered to a computer, television, digital assistant, wireless device or other more or less intelligent device, including hardware software, networking and similar devices Transmitted across fixed or wireless or digital audio or satellite or other network including telecommunications, cable, wireless and other infrastructures, public or private or combinations thereof To an individual, or a group or a community or some wider audience or some combination of these groups including multiple memberships of any of the above 3 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of populating of the categories and classes of information with information from sources, or streams, or multicast to fill or supplement, complement or replace some or all of the information already contained within the categories and classes with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- Retention of, or potential to re-establish, links to the original document, category or class event, experience or activity, if need be to reconstitute a facsimile or duplicate from remaining consistent parts Ability to appear in one or more than one category or class at one and the same time 'A retained knowledge of the relevance, links and associations between an items and other items derived from its location within and between one or more structures An ability to track variations of the document or other objects across variations, modifications, versions and across networks to different locations, people and devices An ability to display information appropriate or not to any

   particular receiving device or combination of receiving devices e-CD--C An ability to track and communicate the position within the information structure to any other device also used by the same user to access the same information at the same or a different time An ability to navigate within, between, and across structures using a variety of devices including but not limited to controls, buttons, pointers, joysticks, mice, touch-sensitive screens, voice commands and other ways

   <Desc/Clms Page number 27>

   4 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of personalising the information structures of documents, categories and classes through none, some or all of the following ways 'Selecting certain document types as having higher relevance to one or more devices such that information appropriate to a device is displayed according to the device limitations unless overruled by specific user activity.

   * Selecting certain categories as being of higher relevance and attaching some mathematical or other tagging mechanism to indicate such interest, with this affecting the number and type of items filling a particular category.

   'Selecting and prioritising certain classes as having higher relevance with regard to the information available from sources, streams or multicasts.

   Impacting the order that documents, categories and classes are received so user prioritisation is always possible in situations of resource or processing or other constraints or requirements.

   5 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of maintaining administrative and financial logs or records associated with user activities for information, security and billing purposes, with some or all of the following characteristics, where billing can include both billing and credit transactions :- Billing by any form or combination of usage of hardware, software, networking, human or other resource . Billing by volumes of information received or accessed Billing by volume of information excluded Billing by extent of filtering, or personalisation or similar modifications of the base method and process . Billing by source of information Billing by timeliness of information Billing by the breadth or depth of the information accessed or any combination thereof Billing by any factors associated with information delivery and navigation including by not limited to click through rates, banner advertising, promotion and counter promotion, or any element or sequence on a value chain from information of a less deep or more deep variety, analysis, comparisons, evaluations, transactions and value of goods transacted or any combination or extension therein.

   6 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of transmission of information to individuals, groups or multiple groups using the features, facilities, cues and other attributes of the information structure, singularly, or in combination with each other or in combination with other devices.

   7 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of modifications and evolutions of the base method and process and its

   <Desc/Clms Page number 28>

   iterative application within the same domains of information and activity or different domains 8 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of providing a family of similar interfaces to a variety of different devices with the interfaces sharing common features of the base method and process such that the content-device interface has none, some or all of the following characteristics :- Devices use a common method for structuring, ordering and sequencing across devices Devices use a common method for navigation and access of different documents, categories classes and other features Any device is capable under user control of accessing any or all of the full feature set of the core document structures, albeit with limitations of speed, display or other limitations Interactions and transactions from any and all devices can be tracked by a meta-structure, using further iterations of the base method and process which contains a full profile of all user activity and behaviours for administration, security and billing purposes, subject to user privacy and national and international security and other requirements.

   9 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of Information Providers using or providing interfaces and standards and reciprocal billing information and arrangements where these are required with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- Users and providers agree the basis of the billing mechanisms and the costs associated with information access and transactions Information providers assume the financial and other risks associated with transactions of any sort Information Providers remain legally responsible for the information they provide for onward transmission to users and for any other aspects of the interactions or transactions arising from their content.

   10 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of users agreeing the billing and other administrative and financial arrangements associated with delivery of information to a variety of devices, with no consequential or other liabilities for the method and process and structure that is used to facilitate the information provision and transactions 11 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of various user profiles and activities and transactions forming, via the further iterative application of the base method and process, information superstructures with other individuals or groups for whatever purpose, including none, some or all but not limited to the following :- . Content or transaction delivery or fulfilment

   <Desc/Clms Page number 29>

   Administrative, financiaL legal, geographic or other requirement whether currently foreseen or not Creation or maintenance of physical social or virtual groups or communities or any combination thereof 12 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of using an iteration of the base method to create structures, naming conventions, and identifiers for individuals, groups, communities and multiple groups memberships, with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- Any individual or group to have a variety of identifiers indicating membership of physical, social or virtual groups, including multiple and overlapping memberships, with, when known, some or the totality of memberships maintained and delivered as unified or differentiated streams depending on user preference and activity * Allocation of unique identifiers comprising prefix or suffix of both, whether random or not, to individuals, subgroups, groups or communities such that members of the same unit have an identical prefix or suffix or both * At the same time and in parallel allocation of locator tags or identifiers based on geography, which remain overt or covert depending on requirements, security and other factors, such that unique identifiers can also when required exhibit geographic and other cues, for security, location, physical deliveries and similar requirements < * The potential for senders or receivers or information, or both, to use physical cues, social cues, virtual cues or any combination thereof to direct content to more or less inclusive groups, subgroups or multiple groups or any combination thereof An ability to use combinations of the unique and locator identifiers to facilitate content delivery over network alternatives according to any requirements or combinations of requirements at any particular time including none, some or all of the following :- . Least cost routing * Direct route routing

   . Aggregated routing for physical groupings * Routing selected to maintain quality of service levels * Routing following prescribed geographical routes - Random routing * Multiple routing across the same and different networks to similar or diverse devices or both Any combination of the above or variations and modifications thereof to achieve similar ends 13 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of creating billboards, message groups or other display facilities for directing messages to any subgroup, group or overlapping or

   <Desc/Clms Page number 30>

   intersecting groups, be these physical, social, virtual or any combination thereof 14 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of having content relating to a locality as defined within the base method on a less or more inclusive scale according to user requirements, available for any members within that locality to use, or for any other

   m-V, ±-I,-1,-, e access +i. divid] or eoup req=ng-ch.... ; o... ation to also ive access to locality specific information, with navigation within and between domains according to the base method and iterations thereof including none, some or all but not limited to the following :-

   * Skills, trades, professionals and similar groupings Shops, outlets, warehouses and similar Restaurants, Cinemas, Theatres, Hotels, Leisure facilities and similar Jobs, permanent, temporary and interim Classified advertising of any or all products or services or combinations thereof Places of interest . Hobbies, interests and other physical, social or virtual groupings 15 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of using the locality, grouping and membership cues and tags for administration, billing, crediting, security and control to any individual or group of any single or combined goods, services, usage, utilisation or combinations thereof Billed to individuals Billed to groupings of whatever type . Or to any combination of the two, or other variations thereof 16 The method and process of Claim 1 comprising the further step of using the base method and process and iterations thereof, embodied in methods, processes, procedures, business practices, value chains, hardware, software, networking, databases, storage and other similar devices, together with the structured and shared content, categories and classes, and the locator and other cues to track, respond to or anticipate user requirements when using a variety of devices to access information sources, streams, multicasts and other distribution methods so as to retain a user position and perspective with regard to the information presented and display across different devices with none, some or all of the following characteristics :- User position is retained across any and all devices that are active at any particular time in a tightly coupled or loosely coupled fashion or combinations thereof, according to user preferences and device capabilities Content delivery to or action on one device transmitted to other linked and active devices, as appropriate to their capabilities if need be

   <Desc/Clms Page number 31>

   Activity or reaction on one device transmitted to linked and active devices, and reflected in inactive devices the next time they are activated Traces, logs, actions and transactions within and across none, some of all devices are logged for administration, service, and billing End to end activity is monitored to provide quality of service metrics, and to interface these into any or all administration, billing, crediting, and service quality penalty measures, debits or credits for users, information providers, third parties or any combination thereof 17 The method and process of Claim 1 and Claim 16 comprising the further step of allowing users single designations and sign on passwords to a variety of devices if they so choose, or to associate and if required integrate discrete identities on different networks for administrative and billing purposes.

   18 The method and process of Claim 1 and Claim 16 comprising the further step of establishing interfaces, standards, inter-working, interoperability or any combination thereof with the providers of networks, services, facilities, entertainment or work or leisure free or paid for managed services or similar infrastructures such that the end- to-end integrity and coherence and integration of users of the base method and process is maintained, or not as required 19 The method and process of Claim 1 and Claim 16 comprising the further step of providing co-ordination across a variety of different media distribution channels, networks, information providers and similar to provide a comprehensive series of services that work across diverse and discrete devices in a manner that provides a family resemblance in the interface, navigation and access techniques, with a low level of duplication and redundancy of content and a low level of duplication of user activity.

   20 A method and system according to any one of the preceding claims wherein information content or communications or transactions are structured, with the structures shared between information providers and information recipients and based on classification and categorisation on the basis of similarity with items able to appear in multiple classifications or categories at one and the same time.