ITPN20100067A1 - PROCEDURE FOR SELECTIVE AND CUSTOMIZED DATA TRANSMISSION TO A MOBILE DEVICE AND CLIENT / SERVER SYSTEM THAT IMPLEMENTS THE PROCEDURE - Google Patents

Description

Description of the patent for an invention entitled:

"PROCEDURE FOR SELECTIVE TRANSMISSION E

PERSONALIZED DATA TO A MOBILE DEVICE AND CLIENT / SERVER SYSTEM THAT IMPLEMENTS THE PROCESS "

DESCRIPTION

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] The present invention relates to a method for the selective and personalized transmission of data to a mobile device; the present invention also includes the client / server system which carries out the above method, in which the Client is constituted by the mobile device.

BASIC TECHNIQUE OF THE INVENTION

[002] The technological evolution that has accompanied the development of mobile devices in recent years has made it possible to increase their processing and storage capacity, as well as their number of on-board peripherals, thus making them increasingly performing tools. As a result, mobile devices have had a rapid spread both in the business environment for greater productivity, and on a personal level for use in leisure time.

[003] The categories of mobile devices to which reference is made in this document include, for example, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), Smartphones, Tablet PCs, etc.

[004] Each mobile device belonging to one of these categories is characterized by a heterogeneity of hardware and software components, platforms and user interfaces, which can be considered as a small wireless computer. In particular, what unites every mobile device is the possibility of exploiting a rich assortment of wireless communication interfaces to still allow access to the Internet. The various wireless communication technologies that mobile devices can use complement each other. These include both broadband technologies with short range coverage, and medium or small band technologies with large range coverage.

[005] These latter technologies include those typical of mobile radio communication systems, for example, GSM, D-AMPS, GPRS, UMTS, 3G etc. which, as known, can also offer particular services. For example, the GSM mobile phone network offers a short message service, the Short Message Service (SMS). However, this SMS service is now also available on other networks, for example, the UMTS mobile phone network or a landline phone network.

[006] A technology for the presentation of information using a digital assistant has also recently been developed, in which information is provided to the user in the form of a voice and / or video message; patent application US 2009/044112 provides an example of this technology, currently used for the presentation of video / voice messages on personal computers by transmission over the network, both via modem and wi-fi.

[007] It would be desirable to be able to exploit the aforementioned information transmission and presentation technology by means of a digital assistant on small mobile devices, such as mobile phones or smartphones, adding to the possibility of receiving the message in text or voice form and / or video, the functionality of transmitting and providing the user in a selective and personalized manner with useful data and information based on the user's preferences and the self-learning capabilities of the client-server system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[008] The main task of the present invention is therefore to devise a method for the selective and personalized transmission of data from a server to a mobile device, as well as to provide a client / server system capable of implementing the aforementioned method, in which the Client consists of the mobile device.

[009] Within the scope of the aforementioned task, an object of the present invention is to allow a user to automatically receive on his mobile device, such as a smartphone, text, or voice and / or video messages, selected on the basis of the preferences previously set by the user.

[0010] Another object is to devise a method and a system equipped with self-learning capabilities in such a way as to allow automatic and continuous updating of the selection criteria of the data to be transmitted based on the choices made by the user .

[0011] Not least object is to devise a method for the selective and personalized transmission and display of data from a server to a mobile device, as well as to provide a client / server system capable of carrying out the aforementioned method, which achieve the task and the purposes indicated above at competitive costs and can be obtained with the usual and known plants, machinery and equipment.

[0012] The aforementioned aim, purposes and advantages, as well as others which will become clearer in the following description, are achieved by a method for the selective and personalized transmission and display of data from a server to a mobile device as defined in claim 1 and a client / server system as defined in claim 4.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0013] Further characteristics of the invention will be better illustrated in the description of a particular, but not exclusive, embodiment illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the attached drawing tables in which:

Figure 1 represents according to a block diagram the general architecture of a client / server system according to the present invention;

- figure 2 represents according to a block diagram a client / server system according to the present invention with voice presentation capability of the transmitted data;

Figure 3 is a graphic representation of a mobile device, or Client, of a system according to the present invention;

- figure 4 is a block diagram of a part of the process according to the present invention.

Figure 5 is a graphical representation which exemplifies the functionality of a mobile device, or Client, of a system according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] With reference to the aforementioned figures, the reference number 1 indicates a client / server system comprising a Client part consisting of a mobile device 2, such as a user's smartphone, and a server part 3 which works on JAVA platform and is able to select and transmit data and information, in the form of text or voice and / or video message, to the mobile device 2. The latter includes:

- a first Client module 4 for connection to a database residing locally in the mobile device 2, defined as “Locai DB Connector”;

- a second Client module 5 to access the various functions of the mobile device 2, including the display of menus, maps, echo, through the use of libraries of the operating system residing in the mobile device 2; the second Client module 5 is defined as “Telephone API Connector”;

- a third Client module 6 designed to manage the interaction and messaging between the mobile device 2 and the server 3 in the client / server direction, defined as "Message and Interaction Manager"; requests to server 3 are sent with http protocol and server 3 responds by generating a message in XML format. The third Client module 6 is able to analyze the XML message and translate it into a set of operations to be performed, a menu to be displayed or, more generally, into a telephone or software function.

[0015] Advantageously, a fourth Client module 7, defined as "Rendering On Board Engine", and a fifth Client module 8 defined as "Text-To-Speech (TTS) Connector", cooperating with each other and in connection with a TTS server (Text-To-Speech Server), indicated in Figure 2 with the reference number 9 and forming part of the server 3; the interaction between the fourth Client module 7, the fifth Client module 8 and the TTS 9 server allows to convert the data acquired by the TTS 9 server through TTS engines resident in the TTS server itself or remote, cumulatively indicated with the reference number 10, in voice message (TTS) by creating a wave file and generating a sequence of images that can be viewed on the mobile device 2, synchronized with the voice message, in order to provide the user with information in the form of voice images using an assistant digital. A detailed description of the architecture of the TTS system and of the process of transforming data into voice images using a digital assistant is provided by US patent application 2009/044112, which here is understood to be included in its entirety by reference.

[0016] The server part 3, defined hereinafter as server 3, manages the requests of a plurality of mobile devices 2 and selectively transmits data and information to each individual mobile device 2 based on the specific user profile defined through a statistical model, residing in the server 3, which is capable of associating the preferences and methods of use of the single mobile device 2 by the user to a group of categories which substantially represent the user's habits.

[0017] The server 3 provides for the acquisition and aggregation of the data and information to be transmitted to the single mobile device 2 through the connection to a plurality of remote Service providers 11, consisting of a plurality of servers external to the system, and to a its own database 18 which, for each mobile device 2, stores and categorizes the data already provided. Server 3 uses connectors based on different protocols to allow querying of Service providers 11 with different protocols.

[0018] Server 3 comprises:

- a first server module 12, defined as "Multi-Client Requests Manager", designed to manage incoming requests from mobile devices 2; each individual mobile device 2, and the profile associated with it, is identified through an authentication key provided by the server 3 upon registration by the user; the first server module 12 essentially interacts with the third Client module 6 of the mobile device 2 to interpret and manage the incoming request coming from the mobile device 2, transmitted by the third Client module 6 by means of the http protocol, and provide a response in the form of an XML message ;

- a second server module 13, defined as “Connection Types Manager”, to support the various types of connection with remote Service providers 11, such as the http \ s, file system, database, SOAP, TCPMP eco protocols;

- a third server module 14, called “Statistics! Profile Adapter ", whose task is to provide a statistical analysis model for the processing of user habits starting from a static structure that describes the interrelationships existing between all the remote Service providers 11 with which the server 3 is connected ; A static structure is therefore initially defined, based on a description in XML format, in which a series of "categories" are listed, grouped according to an affinity criterion between the services offered. Subsequently, a list of services is associated with each "category" to establish mutual interrelationships between said services; naturally the same service can be associated with different categories, such as the "weather" service can be associated with both the "TRAVEL" and the "EVENTS" category. By way of example, the following is an extract of the file for associating the services to the categories:

<? xmi version "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>

<! - Get Mappings from Categories to Services ->

<! -Categories and Services MUST be present in file Services. xml, otherwise they will be ignored

>

<categories>

<category name ^ 'political ”description =" <fl>>

<input>

<service name = <, l> news_politics "/>

<service name = <,,> news_economìes <,,> />

<service name = "news_chronicle <,> '/>

<service name = "ne ws_f o re ign" />

<service name = "news_culΐure <,,> />

</input>

<output>

<service name = "news_poìitics" />

<service name = <,,> news_economies' <1> />

<service name = "ne ws_ch ro n icle" />

<service name = "news_fo reign" />

<service name = "news_culture <,,> />

</output>

</category>

</category>

</categories>

- a fourth server module 15, called “Stateful Connectors”, which allows the server 3 to connect to the remote Service providers 11 to acquire the requested information and manage the responses; the "stateful" connection allows you to keep stored the data already provided to the user previously and uses the connection platform together with some status variables that represent the last state of the user. The fourth server module 15 receives the input variables from the mobile device 2, the status variables from the user database in communication with the server 3 and access to the connection to the Service providers 11 through the connection platform; the various acquired data are aggregated together in an organized manner so as to transmit to the mobile device 2 a series of actions to be performed or information to be displayed. The fourth server module 4 can be formed by several modules of the same type;

- a fifth server module 16 called "Html Parsing Automata" to translate the html format used by some Service providers 11 into a group of objects that can represent the query results and transmit them to mobile device 2 in the form of a written message or image vowel;

- a sixth server module 17 called “XML Parser” to convert and store documents in XML format into XML DOM (Document Object Model) objects that can be manipulated by a JavaScript application; as an example, it is possible to use the Dom4J library (www.dom4i.org) for converting XML documents and the XStream library (http://xstream.codehaus.org) to store objects in XML format.

[0019] The system operation procedure is as follows: after the user has received the authentication codes for their mobile device 2 following a request sent to server 3, the third server module 14 "Statistics! Profile Adapter "begins to define a static structure of user habits, consisting in the definition of" categories "and in the association to each category of the relevant services provided by external Service providers 11; at each subsequent request forwarded to server 3 by the user through a menu that can be viewed on mobile device 2, as exemplified in figure 3, server 3 proceeds to process the request through the first server module 12 "Multi-Client Requests Manager", which provides to authenticate the mobile device 2 and, if the authentication result is positive, to implement the search engines 19, 20, respectively connected to the external Service providers 11, through the second server module 13 and the fourth server module 15, and to the database 18 connected to the server 3, to acquire the requested data.

[0020] Once the data has been obtained, they are converted into text or voice image form, if a client / server system with TTS functionality is provided, and transmitted to the mobile device 2; at the same time, the data relating to the user's profile and preferences, the requests forwarded and the answers provided are processed by the third server module 14 and stored in the database 18 to represent user habits; in this way the system starts a self-learning or artificial intelligence process which, with the passage of time and the increasing amount of stored data, traces an increasingly precise and differentiated user profile according to the specific user. In this way, the system can automatically and selectively provide the user, depending on the profile stored, with information of interest to the user, as exemplified in Figure 5.

[0021] From the foregoing it is therefore evident how the present invention achieves the aims and advantages initially envisaged: a method and a client / server system for the selective and personalized transmission of data from a server to a mobile device has in fact been devised, able to memorize the different user profiles and to automatically transmit to the various mobile devices 2 information selected and customized according to the stored user profile.

[0022] The self-learning capabilities of the system are highlighted in particular, which allow automatic and continuous updating of the selection criteria of the data and information to be transmitted based on the choices made by the user.

[0023] Furthermore, if the client / server system according to the present invention has TTS capabilities, the user can automatically receive messages in the form of voice images by means of a digital assistant.

[0024] Of course, the present invention is susceptible of numerous applications, modifications or variations without thereby departing from the scope of protection as defined in claim 1.

[0025] Furthermore, the materials and equipment used for carrying out the present invention, as well as the shapes and dimensions of the individual components, may be the most suitable according to specific requirements.

Claims (8)

Description of the patent for an invention entitled: "PROCEDURE FOR SELECTIVE AND PERSONALIZED TRANSMISSION OF DATA TO A MOBILE DEVICE AND CLIENT / SERVER SYSTEM IMPLEMENTING THE PROCEDURE" CLAIMS 1. Process for the selective and personalized transmission of data to a mobile device (2) from a server (3) in connection with a plurality of external Service providers (11) and with its own database (18) characterized by the fact of understanding the following steps: - defining and associating said mobile device (2) with a static structure of the user profile by defining a plurality of categories of profiles and associating said plurality of categories with corresponding categories of services provided by said Service providers (11); - proceed with the authentication of said mobile device (2) at said server (3) and send from said mobile device (2) a request for data to said server (3); - if said authentication is positive, identify said mobile device (2) and the corresponding static structure of the user profile associated with said mobile device (2); - processing said request on the basis of said static structure and connecting said server (3) to said Service providers (11) and to said database (18) to acquire said data by means of first and second search engines (19, 20) included in said server (3) and respectively connected to said Service providers (11) and to said database (18); - converting the acquired data into text or voice image form and transmitting said data to said mobile device (2); - storing said request and said data in said database (18) to update said user profile. 2. Process as in claim 1, in which the data of each subsequent request and the data acquired from said Service providers (11) and transmitted in response to each subsequent request are stored in said database (18) and processed on the basis of statistical analysis to update and track said user profile with increasing precision. 3. Process as per claim 2, in which the acquisition from said Service providers (11) and the transmission of said data to said mobile device (2) takes place progressively automatically and selectively based on the user profile and the data stored in said database (18). 4. Client / server system capable of carrying out the process of claim 1, in which the Client is constituted by said mobile device (2). 5. Mobile device forming part of the system as per claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a Client module (6) capable of interacting with said server (3) to translate the messages coming from said server (3) into a set of operations or instructions to follow. 6. Server forming part of the system referred to in claim 4, characterized in that it comprises: - a first server module (12) able to manage the incoming requests coming from each single mobile device (2) of a plurality of mobile devices and to identify each single mobile device (2) and the profile associated with it through a key authentication provided by said server (3), said first server module (12) being able to interact with said Client module (6) of said mobile device (2) to interpret and manage the incoming request transmitted by said Client module (6) via http protocol and provide a response in the form of an XML message; - a second server module (13) capable of supporting a plurality of connection types with said Service providers (11). - a third server module (14) capable of providing a statistical analysis model for processing user profiles starting from a predefined static structure based on said Service providers (11) with which said server (3) is connected; - a fourth server module (15) to establish a "stateful" connection between said server (3) and said Service providers (11), acquire the requested data, aggregate and organize said data for transmission to said mobile device (2). 7. Server as per claim 6, comprising a fifth server module (16) adapted to translate the format of the data acquired by one or more of said Service providers (11) into a group of objects capable of representing said data and of transmitting said group of objects to said mobile device (2) in the form of a written message or a voice image. Server as in claim 7, comprising a sixth server module (17) for converting and storing documents in XML format into XML DOM objects that can be manipulated by a JavaScript application.