WO2004008790A1

WO2004008790A1 - A method for content positioning in a mobile telephone network

Info

Publication number: WO2004008790A1
Application number: PCT/NO2003/000219
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lars Kristian Roland
Original assignee: Colibria As
Priority date: 2002-06-27
Filing date: 2003-06-27
Publication date: 2004-01-22
Also published as: AU2003281140A1; NO316957B1; NO20023129D0; NO20023129L

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method in a mobile telephone network having recording and positioning capabilities, wherein content recorded on a mobile device and subsequently submitted to a content platform is managed on a content platform and stored on a content database, positions of the mobile telephones are provided by means of a positioning centre, wherein establishing a link in the content platform between a content recorded and submitted to the content platform by one of the mobile telephones and the position of the mobile telephone at the time the content is being submitted.

Description

A method for content positioning in a mobile telephone network

Field of the invention

The present invention is related to mobile phone services, in particular to location services.

Background of the invention

In recent years, a lot of new services have been offered to mobile phone users as mobile telephony has evolved. However, only a minority of these services has succeeded in the market. A common feature of the successful services seems to be simplicity. Therefore, a service developer has to endeavour services being easy to access and to manage for a person having minimal technological knowledge and experience. In addition, it is important to utilize the possibilities already at present in the complex infrastructure of the mobile telephone networks in a more effective, and for the users, value added way.

As an example, mobile phone users do not like entering information via their mobile phones. This is both because of a limited keyboard and that they often are in a hurry and do not want to enter too much information.

The lack of manual input from the user has generally been a problem when making mobile Internet services. Service providers try to lead the user through menus or allow them to enter certain keywords to guide them through the service. Personalisation of the services is also common, since the service provider in some cases can store the mobile phone number of the user and link this identity to a profile. New ways of personalizing mobile phone services and helping the user not enter a lot of information to get to what they want is a key element in making mobile Internet services. Good services and bad services are most often identified on this one issue: how easy is it for a user to get to the information they want.

Using the mobile phone' s location to search for information has been done for some time. The location of the phone is most often found through the use of network elements called 'Positioning centres' or similar. These return the approximate coordinates of the mobile phone in the network. Service providers use this information to show things like where the closest cash machine is, where the McDonald's is etc. More advanced location services are uncommon, though these location-based services are expected to represent a large proportion of the mobile operators income in the years ahead.

Several mobile phones are now being launched with cameras and microphones to record content. This content can be sent to other users who have a similar phone or can be sent to a computer on the Internet via various available protocols. These can then be stored for later retrieval.

Such content that is recorded by a phone and stored in the network must be categorized in some form. The most common will be date categorization or manually entered categories, which are available on many web photo album services today.

Some examples of already existing related technologies/services are:

• Web based photo albums. These are web services that allow you to download pictures you have taken onto a web server. These pictures can be categorized, often into directories similar to a PC's hard disk. Some software can also show time-lines.

• Web based communities for sharing content. Same as above, but not a personal website. These pictures can be shared with other friends .

• Mobile phone based location services, like 'Find nearest cash point' . These services find the user's location and then find the nearest places that were asked for by the user, possibly giving route and map information .

• Friends Finder location services, allowing a user to see the location of their friend or groups of friends. The service often has restrictions on who (groups or individuals) can view your location, which area you will/will not show your location, names of areas etc.

• Multimedia Messaging (MMS) - a technology used to send multimedia messages between phones and between a phone and a server. Some MMS centres will probably in the future store messages for the user, creating simple photo album services.

• Instant Messaging - a technology used widely on the Internet to send messages between users on PCs.

• Personalisation technology - portal engines used on the Internet offer several ways of personalising the content shown to a user.

• Map and GIS related technology - technology within the mapping/routing/Geographic Information Services area represent many algorithms for showing places that are nearest to you or personalize the geographic information in other ways.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement that eliminates the drawbacks described above. The features defined in the claims enclosed characterize this method.

In particular, the present invention discloses a method in a mobile telephone network compatible with mobile telephones having recording and positioning capabilities, establishing a link in a content platform between a content recorded by a mobile telephone and the position of the mobile telephone at the time the content is being recorded.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 is an overview of the components in a preferred architecture implementing the present invention.

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

The present invention links content recorded by mobile phones and PDAs with the automatically acquired location of the mobile phone at the time of submission, allowing the content to be viewed by the submitter or a group of people in the location context where the content was recorded.

The content could be sound, pictures or video recorded by a mobile device, using a camera or microphone. This content is recorded by a user and then submitted to a server in the network (Community content platform - CCP) via a bearer such as MMS, WAP or other TCP/IP based protocols. After receiving the content from the mobile device, the CCP acquires the mobile device's location from a positioning centre in the network. The content is stored in the Community Content Database with a reference to the automatically acquired location. Once the content is stored in the database, it can be retrieved by the user who submitted the content or by other users, depending on restrictions on the content.

In the following, the components of a preferred architecture implementing the present invention will be described referring to figure 1.

Mobile device (Mobile phones, PDAs etc.)

Many new mobile devices contain recording mechanisms such as cameras, microphones or other ways to record and create content. These devices can store a limited set of content on its own memory, but many can also submit the content to a server in the network, for example using MMS.

Positioning centre

The devices in question connect to the mobile network via radio signals. Each device is connected logically to a nearby base station (antenna) , whether the phone is being used for a conversation or not. Upon receiving or making a call, the base station communicates with the mobile device using radio signals.

The base station can estimate where the mobile devices are located using a number of parameters:

• The base station's own location,

• The direction of the base station's antennas,

• The base station's maximum radius, • Timing advance (the base station can estimate how far away the mobile device is from the base station from the time the signal requires to travel back and forth) ,

• Triangulation between more than one base station.

Other forms of locating the user will be implemented as the technology develops. Currently, the phones can be located while they are turned on (with a call in progress or not) .

Community Content Platform (CCP)

The community content platform is a web server/application server with business logic controlling the interfaces and interaction. The interfaces are:

• SMS Interface,

• WAP Interface,

• Web interface,

• Other TCP based protocols.

CCP Database

The CCP database is used to store information about:

• Each registered user,

• Relationships between friends,

• Content downloaded by a user,

• Relations between content and the location where it recorded, • Access restrictions to content.

The content itself can also be stored inside the MMS server or in another server, and the CCP database will in this case have a reference to this content. It is not always practical to store the content in the same database as the other information, due to size restrictions or other considerations. The map data used in the invention may also be stored on other services.

As already indicated, the content could be sound, pictures or video recorded by a mobile device, using a camera or microphone. This content is recorded by a user and then submitted to the CCP server via a bearer such as MMS, WAP or other TCP/IP based protocols. After receiving the content from the mobile device, the CCP acquires the mobile device's location from a positioning centre in the network. The content is stored in the Community Content Database with a reference to the automatically acquired location.

A process utilizing the present invention may proceed as follows :

• The MS records content (picture, video or sound) ,

• The user submits the content to the Community Content Platform (CCP) ,

• The CCP locates the user by a query to the mobile network' s positioning centre,

• The CCP stores the content in the database with a reference to the automatically acquired location,

• The user who submits the content can at the time of submission or later through a user interface (MMS, WAP, PC etc.) specify in a more detailed manner to which area the content should be mapped. If the picture is taken in a park, the user can for example set that the content should be valid for the whole park (area) . If the picture is taken near the user's home, the content could be valid for the whole neighbourhood (vicinity to a point) .

• The user can also, at the time of submission or later, set access restrictions for the content, specifying who will be allowed to see the content. This can be done in terms of individuals or groups.

Once the content is stored in the database, it can be retrieved by the user who submitted the content or by other users, depending on restrictions on the content. There are several channels from which one can retrieve the content:

• PC connected to the Internet, for example using a standard web browser,

• Multimedia Messaging (MMS) phone or equivalent,

• WAP browser on a mobile device,

• Other TCP based protocols.

The content is shown to the user either as a deliberate search for the content or as a result of a search for something else, where the CCP estimates that the content may be of relevance. For example, the user could be searching for:

• Information about a friend, and get the friend' s latest picture, • The location of a friend or group, and get the friend' s picture closest to the friend' s current location,

• A group of people to whom the user belongs, and get pictures shared between these people.

• A tourist could be searching for pictures of the area they are in or are going to (pictures shared publicly in order to show the area)

The use of the present invention will now be illustrated in a few example scenarios.

Still picture submission using MMS

1. The user is in possession of an MMS phone. The phone is used to take a picture of a group of friends, having a drink in the centre of Oslo,

2. The MMS capability is used to submit the picture to the CCP' s MMS address,

3. CCP automatically acquires the phone's location,

4. CCP stores the content in the user' s content repository in its database with a reference to the location where this picture was taken.

Viewing a friend' s location

1. A user wants to find out where his friend John is. He sends a message via SMS ^ΛWHERE JOHN' to the CCP' s SMS number. The command could also be initiated via MMS, WAP etc. , 2. CCP queries the mobile station' s location centre and gets John' s location,

3. CCP searches John's pictures to see if any of them are close to the location he presently is. CCP finds the closest picture or a picture that has been especially selected by John to represent the area where John is in now. This picture may or may not be from the exact location,

4. CCP sends the location of John, attaching the picture, back to the user on the most relevant device (For example MMS or WAP) .

Viewing your pictures on a map

The below could be John viewing his own pictures or a friend of John viewing John's pictures, depending on the access restrictions set on the content.

1. John wants to see his own pictures. He chooses ^xMap view' and sees a map of an area with small thumbnail pictures where he has submitted pictures,

2. John selects a picture and views it on a larger scale.

Viewing public pictures on a map

1. A user selects an area, either by selecting the area on a map or by some other manner,

2. CCP displays a map of the area with thumbnails of shared, public photographs and other content recorded in the area that a number of users during a certain time period have left in the area as publicly accessible, The user can view individual images together forming the overall view of the area in which the user is interested.

Claims

P a t e n t c l a i m s

1. A method in a mobile telephone network having recording and positioning capabilities, wherein content recorded on a mobile device and subsequently submitted to a content platform is managed on a content platform and stored on a content database, positions of the mobile telephones are provided by means of a positioning centre, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n establishing a link in the content platform between a content recorded and submitted to the content platform by one of the mobile telephones and the position of the mobile telephone at the time the content is being submitted.

2. Method according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n transmitting the content recorded on the mobile device from the mobile telephone to the content platform immediately after the content has been recorded and automatically providing the position of the mobile telephone by transmitting a query to the positioning centre from the content platform when the content platform receives the content and storing the location information from the positioning centre, the content and some link between the two.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n making the content recorded by a mobile device and subsequently submitted to the content platform accessible for one or more users through a web interface or mobile device providing a map on which the content is placed at or close to the position to which the content is linked.

4 Method according to claim 1 or 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n making the content recorded by a mobile device and subsequently submitted to the content platform accessible for one or more users using a mobile device providing a map only showing the single content item submitted by a certain user nearest to a given location.

5. Method according to claim 3 or 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n specifying a mapping between the content and an element or an area of the map close to the position.

6. Method according to claim 3 - 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n setting access restrictions specifying the users being allowed to access.

7. Method according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the content platform is a web server/application server with business logic controlling interfaces and interaction between involved nodes, including the positioning centre, the content database and the mobile telephone.

8. Method according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the content database stores said link and said access restrictions in addition to information about each user and their relationships.

9. Method according to any of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the content is a picture, video and/or sound.

10. Method according to one of the claims 2 - 9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d i n that the transmission of the content from the mobile telephone to the content platform is carried through by means of an MMS message.