GB2385159A

GB2385159A - Classification of access objects for content provision to a mobile

Info

Publication number: GB2385159A
Application number: GB0202865A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Reilly
Original assignee: 3GLab Ltd
Current assignee: Qualcomm Cambridge Ltd
Priority date: 2002-02-07
Filing date: 2002-02-07
Publication date: 2003-08-13
Anticipated expiration: 2022-02-07
Also published as: GB0206802D0; GB0202865D0; GB2385159B

Abstract

Content data provided to the mobile is classified and an access object may be created so that the content may be later accessed, where the access objects with similar classifications are associated together as a group. The access object may be the content or a hyperlink and may be stored by the pda in a hierarchical tree with like favourite bookmarks, and displayed in a pre-determined section of the mobile screen. The content may be wml web pages delivered via WAP, and organised into files and sub-menus such as news, sport.

Description

PROVIDING CONTENT TO A MOBILE TERMINAL This invention relates to the field of providing content to a mobile terminal and in particular to classifying and storing content data within a mobile terminal.

It is already possible to use a mobile handset for browsing remote content using wireless technology for the communications link. This content might be from the Internet, or may be specifically created for mobile telephone handsets, using, for example the Wireless Application Protocol, (WAP). The user typically initiates such a session by starting the browser in his terminal, and either entering an address for the content he wishes to access, or more conveniently, selecting a bookmark which provides a shortcut to the address, the bookmark having been entered and stored previously. The address may conveniently follow the well-established URL (Uniform Resource Locator) format.

Such browsing behaviour is distinct from the other mode of usage of the handset, namely local or non-connected use, such as managing the local address book content, or playing a local game. There are a number of drawbacks for the user in this means of accessing remote content in terms of usability, which include, amongst other factors, entering a URL is quite laborious and error-prone, especially on a small mobile handset which typically does not have a full-size QWERTY layout keyboard; where

bookmarks are used, they risk becoming out of date and they are also difficult to manage within a small screen user interface, requiring the user to create categories (if such a feature exists on the handset) and remember their meaning; and there is no effective non-intrusive means for the owner of remote content to present or push content to the user. This goal can be achieved only by persuading the user to visit/bookmark his site, or by sending the user a message containing the bookmark, which is generally considered intrusive and annoying.

This invention offers a solution to the usability problem, and presents a greatly improved means for the user to find relevant remote content when he needs it, and for the owner of remote content to present relevant services in a manner that is convenient, attractive and non-intrusive.

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a method of providing content to a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of: receiving data at the mobile terminal; classifying the content data in accordance with classification data comprised within the content data; storing the content data within the mobile terminal; creating an access object whereby the content data may be accessed; and associating the access object with further access objects having similar classification codes.

According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a content installation module for a mobile

terminal, the module, in use, classifying content data in accordance with classification data comprised within the content data, and creating an access object to access the content data, the access object being associated with further access objects having similar classification data. The access object may be the content data or a hyperlink to the content data. Preferably the access objects are stored in a hierarchical tree. The hierarchical tree may be extended if content data with a new classification code is received.

Computer software programs for implementing the first and second aspects of the present invention may be provided on computer readable data carriers.

The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following Figures in which: Figure 1 is a schematic depiction of a mobile terminal according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic depiction of the process whereby content is provided to the mobile terminal; and Figure 3 is a schematic depiction of the processes whereby data content is displayed on the display device 110 of the mobile terminal 100.

Figure 1 shows a mobile terminal 100 suitable for use with the present invention. The mobile terminal comprises a radio antenna 105, a display device 110 and a user input

device 120. The display device 110 displays a number of items, such as a viewable text or an image, that comprise or are associated with a hyperlink. Selecting the hyperlink using the user input device causes the mobile terminal to display a further item or items associated with the hyperlink, for example a menu of options or a data file. The item (or items) associated with the may be stored locally within the mobile terminal or on a remote data store 210, which is connected to the mobile terminal by wireless communications network 200. Both local and remote items are presented together to the user on the display device, although an indication may be given to the user as to whether an item is stored locally or remotely.

For example, the display device might show a menu having the options of'News','Sport','Entertainment', 'Business','Games'and'Horoscope'. Selecting the'News' menu may bring up a list of several headlines which are stored locally and have been downloaded from a content provider's data store 220 that is connected to the mobile terminal by wireless communications network 200.

Selection of one of these headlines will cause the mobile terminal to connect to the remote data store 220 to download the content (text, audio, video, etc) that is associated with the selected headline. A number of similar arrangements may be provided for the other menus, with some content being stored locally and some remotely. The menus may contain a number of submenus, for example the'News'menu could link to a number of headlines and/or

a number of submenus, for example'National News','Local News','International News','Political News', etc. For

example, if the user enters a birth date into a locally based application this can be supplied to a remote application that generates a horoscope for that birth date. The horoscope could be stored locally on the mobile terminal or a local hyperlink could reference the appropriate horoscope data stored on a remote data store.

The user interface (UI) for such a mobile terminal is conveniently created using a mark-up language (ML) that creates user screens locally using a UI engine 150 that can generate ML compliant data that is rendered by a browser 160 for display on the display device 110.

Typical mark-up languages used with mobile terminals are HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) or WML (Wireless Markup Language).

It will be clear from the above that it is necessary for the terminal to receive episodic updates of data content to be stored locally and hyperlinks, along with any associated content, to refer to remotely stored content.

These updates need to be received over the wireless communications network 200 and then installed within the mobile terminal such that the content is correctly stored within a menu-based hierarchy so that it can be accessed by a user.

Figure 2 shows a schematic depiction of the process whereby content is transmitted to the mobile terminal.

The content data is transmitted to the mobile terminal 100 over the wireless communications network 200. The

incoming content data is processed by a validation module 130 to ensure that transmission has taken place correctly (for example, the use of error checking and/or error correcting codes) and that the content is suitable for use with the mobile terminal (for example that the terminal has sufficient storage capacity to store the content, that the content type [e. g. video, audio, text, etc] is suitable for the particular mobile terminal, etc.).

The content data is then processed by the installation module 140 and an entry is made in a log file to assist in the subsequent management and deletion of the content data. Preferably, the content data includes one or more of the following characteristics: * A unique identifier to simplify the deletion, modification or overwriting of the content data.

A version number corresponding to the minimum version of the installation module (140) for which this content data will operate successfully.

* A content category, to allow the installer to place the content in the most suitable location within the menu structure and within a page. Nested or hierarchical categories allow the content to be referenced from multiple menus and submenus.

* A start date & time, before which the content will not be available to the user.

* An expiry date & time, after which the content will no longer be available to the user.

* A tag to indicate whether the user has the right to delete the content.

* A tag to indicate whether the user has the right to share the content with other mobile terminals.

* A data payload, which can consist of viewable content (text or images), animated graphics, other multimedia content such as audio and video, telephone numbers and descriptors, email addresses and descriptors, logical elements to manage local behaviour, such as JavaScript components, links to new installed pages, links to remote content, means to install pages into the user interface tree, etc.

'A Digital Rights Management (DRM) scheme may be used to protect the data payload from unauthorised copying, sharing, or excessive use.

An example of such content data is given below in Appendix A using XML (extended Mark-up Language), which has the potential for providing far greater functionality than the more conventionally used HTML. Preferably the installation module is implemented using XML so that functionality upgrades might easily be applied The nature and type of content that is provided to a user terminal may be controlled directly by the terminal user, or the user may register a number of interests and preferences with one or more content providers. Local content will generally be provided free of charge whilst the user may be charged to access some remote content, which may then be stored locally once it has been paid

for. Advertising may be used to subsidise the cost of content provision. Potential content and thus the nature of links to remotely stored content are virtually unlimited and may include, without restriction, news, sports, jokes, digital music (for example MP3 files) and music information, access to network operator and terminal manufacturer support services, games and on-line gaming, new, user billing and account details, directory services, m-commerce merchants, etc. The local content may be displayed so as to appear different to remote content i. e. through using different text fonts or colours, or through the insertion of an icon next to the links in question.

This communicates to the user that there may be a cost or transmission delay before the content can be accessed.

Figure 4 shows an example of how local content and remote content can be presented on a mobile terminal. Figure 4a shows a number of links, some of which are to local content (i. e. calendar data) and some of which are to remote data (i. e. a taxi service and a dating service).

Figure 4b shows the result of'focussing'on the dating service link (i. e. positioning a cursor or other selection device over the link without selecting it. Once the link is selected, remote content must be downloaded and Figure 4c shows a page that is displayed whilst the remote content is being acquired. Preferably this page is stored locally, but if it is stored remotely then it should be designed to download in as little time as possible. Figure 4d shows a page of remote contant that has been delivered to the mobile terminal.

Figure 3 shows a schematic depiction of the processes whereby data content is displayed on the display device 110 of the mobile terminal 100. The user selects a hyperlinked data item using the user input device 120 and the UI engine interprets this selection and identifies whether the data item referred to by the hyperlink is stored locally (i. e. within the mobile terminal or an associated storage device) or remotely (i. e. on a content server which is connected to the terminal by a wireless communications network).

If the data item is stored locally then the UI engine 150 sends a request to the content database system 170, which comprises a database API 172, a database engine 174 and a database 176, the database being stored on a storage device 178. The UI engine request is interpreted by the database API 172 and the interpreted request is passed on to the database engine 174. The database engine then queries the database 176 using the interpreted request and the database returns the raw content data associated with the original UI engine request to the database engine, which forwards the data to the database API. The database API then places the raw content data within an XML wrapper and sends it to the UI engine. Depending upon the nature of the content data and any user preferences, the UI engine may send the content data directly to the browser 160, where the content is rendered and displayed to the user. Alternatively the UI engine may apply one or more XSL (extended style language) style sheets to format the

content data (which may include encoding the data into another format that is more suitable for rendering by the browser, for example HTML or WML), before sending the data to the browser, where the formatted data is rendered and presented to the user in the desired format.

If the data item that is selected by the user choosing a hyperlink is stored remotely then the UI engine prompts the browser to send a request to the network location indicated by the selected hyperlink. The browser's request is sent via the protocol stack 182 that is required for successful communication over a wireless communications network. The protocol stack comprises the standard TCP/IP protocols which allow the mobile terminal to communicate with internet hosts and the transport and physical layer protocols, for example the third generation UMTS protocols, that enable the mobile terminal to access and communicate over a wireless communications network. The mobile terminal establishes a communications link between the radio interface 190 a network access server (NAS) 310 that routes the browser's request to the appropriate content server 330, via the internet 320.

The content server 320 will check that the mobile terminal that originated the request is allowed to access the requested content (e. g. a registered user of the server, sufficient credit in account to buy the content, etc.).

The content is then transmitted across the internet to the NAS, where it is then transmitted across a wireless communications link to the mobile terminal where it is

received at the radio interface. The data content packets will then pass through the protocol stack from which the content can be extracted and the content passed to the browser. Dependent upon the nature and format of the content, the browser may be able to render it (either directly or using additional functionality provided by 'plug-in'modules) for display on the display device or the content data may be forwarded to the UI engine in order to have an XSL style sheet applied in order to transform the content data into a format that can be rendered by the browser. It will be understood that the XML and XSL processing of data may be centralised, for example in the UI engine, the browser, or in a separate XML processing module 180, or distributed within more than one of the entities discussed above, with some processing being performed when data is sent by and/or received at the entity.

As is described above, the remote content will have a content tag, which may conveniently be incorporated into the page description as HTML tags, for example < categoryl > Sport < /categoryl > . In this case the installation module 140 will look for a Sport menu (or submenu) from which the content can be accessed. In addition the content might be accessed from additional menus for the most recently downloaded or most recently accessed content. If the tag is, for example, Football then the installation module may recognise that Football is a subset of Sport and store the content under the Sport menu if there is no Football submenu.

If there is no dedicated Sport menu then a link to the content may be added to a General or Miscellaneous menu so that the user may access the content. Alternatively the installation module may prompt the user to generate a Sport menu and then store the link for the new content within that menu. In a further alternative the remote content may be displayed in a random sequence.

Furthermore, tags may be inserted within the content, such as < category2 > Advert < /category2 > located at a point considered by the content layout designer as being suitable for the insertion of an advert.

Some content may include multiple tags, for example'Sport and Advertising'. On receipt of this content the installation module will attempt to insert the content into a Sport menu at the first point where a vacant Advertising tag exists. If no such Advertising tag is found, the installer may attempt to insert it at the bottom of the Sport page. If multiple Sport menus and submenus are found, the installer will place the content within the highest level of the menu hierarchy. New content can be installed within menus that have been created by previous installations and if the content is an update or a development of previously downloaded content then new content may be inserted into or used to overwrite the previously downloaded content.

Installed remote content may be deleted by the user

(unless the permission tag indicate he may not), by the expiration of the expiry time and date, or remotely by a command sent over the network using the content's unique identifier. Pages cannot be deleted or expired if they in turn have had newer content installed onto them, which has not yet been deleted or expired. Advantageously the user may have visibility of all content that has been installed onto his handset, for example by chronological order, as well as ability to remove some or all of the installed content simultaneously.

Content can be installed in one of two methods. The installation module may insert the received content into the pages already in the database, following a cut and paste model, whilst maintaining a log of insertions (the content and the recipient pages) to allow it to remove the content later.

Alternatively, the received content may be placed in a separate library, and a link to the content be inserted into the target page. In this latter case, the UI engine must dynamically follow the link in order to build the full page. An advantage of using this method is that page content can be varied, according to user preference, and is more able to present remote content in an optimally located way. For example, if a sports advert is received but no sports page exists yet, the installer will default to putting it in some general or miscellaneous page.

However, if a sports page is received and installed some time later, the installer may then move the link for the

sports advert to the more appropriate location.

As an alternative to putting received content into locations determined by tags placed in the page description HTML, in another embodiment content data may be placed in fixed slots which are pre-determined at the time of the terminal's configuration. An example of such a location would be a fixed slice of screen area, above the soft keys area and below the main applications pane. This area can be identified by associating it with a tag type for example < categoryl > ScreenSpace < /categoryl > . It will be understood that such a slot could be of any shape (including non-rectangular), and could be in any screen position. The nature of the slot (shape, size, transparency attributes) can be itself be controlled and changed by use of a suitable command channel. It will be understood that the arrangement can be extended to encompass multiple slots. Received content bearing such a tag type would always be located in that slot. Multiple items of received content that match that tag type might be displayed sequentially or randomly. Alternatively, the area visibly behind the main application pane can also be designated as a fixed slot. This location allows material to be displayed faintly but constantly in the central background of any or all pages, in the manner of a faint watermark on a piece of paper.

If a user selects content to be downloaded then it should be transmitted in response to the user's request, unless the user requests transmission to be deferred. However,

if a content or network provider is'pushing'content to the mobile terminal then it is preferable if this to occur in the background without inconveniencing the user, for example at night time or in accordance with typical usage patterns. This content pushing may be suspended if the user makes use of the mobile terminal.

Distribution of installed content may be unique to a specific handset (uniquely addressed), or the same content may be multicast or broadcast to many handsets, using known transmission techniques. Installed content may be conveniently carried within a multimedia message, such as the Multimedia Message System (MMS) with the remote content being carried in the MMS and using a unique MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) type, such as xvnd. 3glab-triglet. The EMS (Extended Messaging System) is also a suitable distribution medium.

The mobile terminal may not always be within network radio coverage (being out of service area, in a tunnel, etc). By including a certain amount of viewable local content, the user is protected to some extent from being out of coverage. For example, he can still read the news headlines, even if he cannot follow the link to access further details. In such a situation links that are inaccessible because, for example, the handset is out of network radio coverage are clearly indicated to the user in a visible fashion, for example include rendering the links in a different colour font or making it impossible to select the link.

This change can be performed by the UI engine, which receives an input signal from the radio subsection, indicating the status of the wireless data link, and uses this signal to modify the visible attributes of links before delivering the content to the local browser. This modification could be achieved by changing the stored database, for example to change the link text colour to grey of all remote links within all pages, or alternatively, the text colour of remote links can be modified'on the fly'prior to rendering. In either case, it is necessary to distinguish local content from remote content. This may be achieved by checking for http :// in the link (which is a pre-requisite for pointing to a nonlocal resource), having all local links use the Internet Protocol address 127.0. 0.1 (which by convention is used to identify local host) or by arranging that local links omit the hostname, e. g. /localdirectory/page. html.

It will be understood that the present invention is suitable for application with all manner of mobile terminals, and not just with simple mobile telephones. Even before mobile use of the internet and remotely stored data has become ubiquitous it is possible to purchase personal digital assistants (PDAs) that have mobile communications capabilities (for example the RIM BlackBerry, Nokia 9210 Communicator, Palm i705 etc. ) or mobile phones with functionality not previously found in such devices (for example the Nokia 5510 & 7650 or the Ericsson T65). In the future it is likely that mobile

devices will continue to be developed and for their functionality to widen, with less of a distinction between PDAs and mobile telephones. It should be appreciated that the present invention is applicable to all of these sorts of devices and also to laptop and portable computers that have a modem enabling mobile communications.

The present invention may be implemented over virtually any wireless communications network, for example second generation digital mobile telephone networks (i. e. GSM, DAMPS), so-called 2.5G networks (i. e. GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE) and third generation UMTS networks. Within buildings and campuses other technologies such as Bluetooth or wireless LANs (whether based on radio or optical systems) may be used.

Computer software for implementing the methods described above, the UI engine and/or the installation module may be provided on data carriers such as floppy disks, CD-ROMS, non-volatile memory cards, etc.

APPENDIX A < ? xml version="1. 0" ? > < triglet > < ID > 1234-83745-5554-qjy < /ID > < category > Sports < class > Advert < /class > < /category > < start > 2002-01-13 06: 30: 00 +0000 < /start > < expire > 2002-01-17 17: 30: 00 +0000 < /expire > < rights > < nodelete/ > < no~share/ > < /rights > < html > < body > < li > < a href="http : //www. tickets4sale2u. com/special/wim/" > Click for great Wimbledon ticket offer ! < /a > < /li > < /body > < /html > < /triglet >

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method of providing content to a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of: (a) receiving data at the mobile terminal; (b) classifying the content data in accordance with classification data comprised within the content data; (c) storing the content data within the mobile terminal; (d) creating an access object whereby the content data may be accessed ; and (e) associating the access object with further access objects having similar classification codes.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the access object created in step (d) comprises content data.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the access object created in step (d) comprises a hyperlink.
4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the created access object comprises a hyperlink associated with content data.
5. A method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein step (e) comprises creating a hierarchical tree to store the one or more access objects in.
6. A method according to claim 5, wherein step (e) further comprises extending the hierarchical tree when

<Desc/Clms Page number 20>

content data comprising a new classification code is received.
7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the access object is displayed on a display screen associated with the mobile terminal.
8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the access object is displayed within a pre-determined section of the display screen.
9. A method of providing content to a mobile terminal as described hereinbefore and with reference to Figures 1-3.
10. A content installation module for a mobile terminal, the module, in use, classifying content data in accordance with classification data comprised within the content data, and creating an access object to access the content data, the access object being associated with further access objects having similar classification data.
11. A content installation module according to claim 10, wherein the access object comprises content data.
12. A content installation module according to claim 10, wherein the access object comprises a hyperlink.
13. A content installation module according to claim 12, wherein the access object comprises a hyperlink associated with content data.

<Desc/Clms Page number 21>
14. A content installation module according to any of claims 10 to 13, wherein one or more access objects are stored in a hierarchical tree.
15. A content installation module according to claim 14, wherein, the hierarchical tree is extended when content data comprising a new classification code is received.
16. A content installation module according to any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the module displays the access object on a display screen associated with the mobile terminal.
17. A content installation module according to claim 16, wherein the access object is displayed within a predetermined section of the display screen.
18. A content installation module for a mobile terminal as described hereinbefore and with reference to Figures 1- 3.