Abstract:
A method, system and software enable location- and profile-based display material to be aggregated and distributed to a mobile wireless device, on which a wireless connection manager application is installed, while roaming on any wireless IP network. This involves the steps of: identifying the connected user; locating the currently connected network geographically; using user preferences and location to select at least one provider and to filter display material from each provider; using hotspot capacity limitation information to filter out any display material not matching delivery bandwidth requirements; aggregating the display materials to be updated on the mobile wireless device; and retrieving display material directly from the selected providers to ensure up-to-date display material.

Description:
[0001]    The present invention relates to the field of mobile wireless network connectivity in a roaming context. More specifically it relates to software connectivity components and content distribution systems allowing the distribution of digital content and advertising to connected users. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    In today&#39;s context of extensive worldwide wireless network connectivity, service providers need to be able to constantly find new revenue streams by enriching their offers with value added content following subscriber&#39;s habits and preferences. The huge amount of information and digital content (music, video, news . . . ) available today on the Internet needs to be organized and classified for targeted delivery offering a user the possibility of choosing his interests and creating a centralized profile to be used according to his location and connection capacity, whether travelling or at home. 
         [0003]    It is often not possible to access certain type of content (such as high quality movies) when connected to a wireless access point (Hotspot or Hotzone), as the access point does not provide enough bandwidth. 
         [0004]    In addition to customized content delivery, service providers need to monetize their subscriber base by offering targeted advertisement (profile and location based) to their business partners. In order to raise the value of an advertisement campaign, the service provider should now be able to distribute advertisements based on the users&#39; preferences, hence delivering the commercial message with a much greater impact. 
         [0005]    Moreover, the possibility to deliver location based advertising in conjunction with users&#39; preferences brings an additional value as the message is now related to the current location of the connected user (e.g. a restaurant promotion may be displayed when connecting to a wireless access point within a 2 km radius of the restaurant&#39;s location, knowing that the user is a gourmet according to his profile). 
         [0006]    Due to the large coverage of wireless local area networks (WLAN) owned by many different operators of various sizes, it is not possible today to aggregate in a centralised and efficient manner all this information and to offer a global service that takes advantage firstly of service providers&#39; large subscriber bases enriched with profile information, and secondly of a large aggregated wireless access network with in-depth knowledge of each access point&#39;s geographic location, type and network bandwidth capacity. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In order to offer service providers the capability to deliver value-added aggregated content together with targeted and location based advertising to their existing customers, the invention provides a wireless connection manager application, featuring dynamic advertisement banners and embedding an HTML content portal, and linked to a powerful back office content distribution/aggregation server. 
         [0008]    This invention uses connectivity information such as wireless access point geographic location, type and capacity together with the connected user&#39;s profile, in order to deliver selected digital content with targeted advertisement messages to the user, based on the information. 
         [0009]    This invention is targeted to service providers and virtual wireless operators, and offers to their subscribers the ability to access their preferred content whenever they connect to a wireless access point. 
         [0010]    The invention enables service providers to offer more aggregated value-added content to their subscribers, but also to benefit from a higher subscriber value when selling advertisement space to business partners due to the possibility of offering location-based and profile-based advertising campaigns. 
         [0011]    Hence the invention provides a method for wireless aggregated content distribution and targeted advertising with these features; it provides software for performing this method; and it provides a system that combines such software with a wireless ISP aggregator network. It should be appreciated that the invention is not dependent upon a particular protocol for communicating information between a mobile device and a wireless network; for example it would be applicable to both a wi-fi network (based on the IEEE 802.11 standard) or to a WiMAX network (based on the IEEE 802.16 standard). The invention is thus applicable to any mobile device that communicates using either a wi-fi or a WiMAX network. 
         [0012]    The invention also provides software for performing the method; this software may be supplied on a recording medium such as a CD, a memory card, or a memory stick, or may be downloaded from the internet. 
         [0013]    Details of the solutions are provided in the accompanying drawings and in the detailed description which follows; these are given by way of example only. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    For a clear understanding of the invention, drawings are provided to support the detailed description of the architecture, design and features. Included in the drawings are the following figures: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a network diagram illustrating the basic wireless session configuration (including a mobile wireless device, and a content distribution/aggregation server) showing the different domains with their main actors participating in the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a software block diagram showing the components of a wireless connection manager responsible for the implementation of the present invention as installed on a mobile wireless device of  FIG. 1 ; internal communications between the components as well as external communications are depicted by arrows; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a software block diagram showing the components of the content distribution/aggregation server of  FIG. 1  responsible for the implementation of the present invention; internal communications between the components as well as external communications with other key systems are depicted by arrows; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a software block diagram showing the components associated with the content distribution/aggregation server of  FIG. 1  responsible for the user profile management (customisation); and 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a software block diagram showing the components associated with the mobile wireless device of  FIG. 1  responsible for the update of a local hotspots list. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    In general, the invention features a system providing selected aggregated digital content delivery to a mobile wireless device while roaming on any wireless network using connection information in conjunction with user preferences. The invention also offers the possibility of displaying targeted advertisements (multimedia banners) to the user based on the geographic location of the mobile wireless device after each successful connection. It is applicable to any mobile device that communicates with the Internet using either a wi-fi or a WiMAX network, or any other such packet-switched network. With such networks, unlike GSM/3G mobile phone networks, the mobile device is registered only to the central system and only when the user logs in, and the system does not know the location of the mobile device. Part of the present invention is the coding of the geographical locations of the network hotspots, that is to say the Wi-fi or WiMAX points of connection. The description will first present the scenario of the invention and then the process implementing the invention that will help understand the invention. 
       Scenario 
       [0021]      FIG. 1  presents the different actors taking part in the basic session of a user while roaming onto a wireless network  100 , and explains the context of the invention by description of a typical scenario. 
         [0022]    A roaming user equipped with a mobile wireless device  110 , such as a lap-top computer or another portable or handheld device, is connected to the internet  500  through an access point  150  belonging to a visited wireless network  100 . This access point  150  may be referred to as a hotspot. A standard authentication session is established between the access point  150  and an AAA server  210  of a WISP (wireless internet service provider) aggregator  200  in order to grant internet access to the mobile wireless device  110 . (The AAA server  210  is a system that handles user requests for access to computer resources and provides an authentication, authorisation and accounting service.) 
         [0023]    During this user authentication session, the user sends his credentials to the AAA server  210  that will then maintain all session parameters in its local database. These parameters include:
       username   network identifier   hotspot unique identifier (network access server IP address)   session start time
 
and will be used by a content distribution/aggregation server  230  to identify and geographically locate the connected user. Once the mobile wireless device  110  has access to the internet  500 , it then sends a request to the content distribution/aggregation server  230  in order to update its digital content and corresponding advertisements banners. When the content distribution/aggregation server  230  receives this request identified by the username, it then checks the corresponding session parameters in the AAA server  210  local database and then performs the required tasks to build the answer to the request from the mobile wireless device  110 . Based on the user profile and connected hotspot (visited wireless network  100 ) location, the content distribution/aggregation server  230  builds a dynamic HTML page from a digital media library  310  of a selected content provider  300  to be passed onto the mobile wireless device  110  in the form of a URL for display together with contextual advertisement banners retrieved from an advertising server  410  of a selected advertising partner  400 .
       
 
         [0028]    Once the updated URL is received by the mobile wireless device  110 , it is then displayed together with updated advertisement banners. 
         [0029]    The present invention is offered by a WISP aggregator  200  and is installed on the roaming user&#39;s mobile wireless device  110 . With the software of the invention installed on the mobile wireless device  110 , the result is a dynamic graphical user interface update (content and advertisements) following the connection of the user to a wireless network  100 . This update takes into account the user&#39;s preferences recorded in his profile, the geographical location of the wireless hotspot (the access point  150 ) and so of the user, as well as any potential change or location-based adjustment from the digital media library  310  (e.g. new relevant movie, up-to-date news) and the advertisement from the advertising server  410  (e.g. time limited promotion, special city offer on cinema). 
         [0030]    The following section describes in detail how the invention operates on the mobile wireless device  110  as described in  FIG. 2 . 
       Process 
       [0031]      FIG. 2  presents an embodiment of the invention in a wireless connection manager  600  application (i.e. software); this application would be provided by the WISP aggregator  200  and installed on the mobile wireless device  110 . This drawing provides details of the internal components used for the invention, together with the data exchanged with external actors. 
         [0032]    The wireless connection manager  600  is responsible for the connection to the wireless network  100 , management of user credentials (username and password) and the local hotspots list  650  (part of the virtual network of the WISP aggregator  200 ) as well as updating the content of an embedded portal  630  and advertisement banners  620  upon each successful connection to any wireless network  100 . 
         [0033]    Upon each connection, a security &amp; connectivity manager  610  of the connection manager  600  establishes communication with the wireless network  100  access point  150 , ending in the AAA server  210  of the WISP aggregator  200  ensuring user authentication and authorisation for internet access. The AAA server  210  maintains all session parameters in its local database (username, network identifier, hotspot unique identifier, session start time . . . ). 
         [0034]    Once the wireless connection manager  600  can reach the content distribution/aggregation server  230  of the WISP aggregator  200 , the security and connectivity manager  610  requests an update of the embedded portal  630  and the advertisement banners  620  from the update manager  640 . The latter forwards the request to the content distribution/aggregation server  230  of the WISP aggregator  200  which immediately requests a user profile  221  from a user profiles server  220 . This request contains the username used for authentication provided as part of the update request coming from the update manager  640 . 
         [0035]    The content distribution/aggregation server  230  will then use this username in order to retrieve the corresponding session information from the AAA server  210  local database, and especially the hotspot unique identifier corresponding to the currently connected wireless network (this is only if the wireless network  100  is part of the WISP aggregator&#39;s virtual network). 
         [0036]    Referring also now to  FIG. 3 , a hotspots list  232  will then provide geo-codes (geographic position information) for each hotspot. Preferences retrieved from a corresponding user profile  221  together with hotspot geo-codes are then used to build a customized and aggregated dynamic HTML page that will be sent back to the update manager  640 , and then forwarded to the embedded portal  630  for display. 
         [0037]    When building the customized dynamic HTML page, the content distribution/aggregation server  230  communicates with the digital media library  310  of the selected content provider  300  to retrieve up-to-date matching content links. The content distribution/aggregation server  230  also communicates with the advertising server  410  of the selected advertising partner  400  to retrieve the corresponding advertisement banners  620  to be displayed in the wireless connection manager  600  according to user profile and geographic location. 
         [0038]    The construction of updated URLs on the content distribution/aggregation server  230  is now explained in detail with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0039]    When receiving the request from the update manager  640  of the wireless connection manager  600 , a dispatch manager  240  of the content distribution/aggregation server  230  retrieves the user profile  221  from the user profiles server  220  using the username sent as part of the request. It also retrieves the associated connection parameters from the AAA server  210 , in particular the hotspot unique identifier. 
         [0040]    The dispatch manager  240  will now try to match the hotspot unique identifier with the hotspots list  232  managed by a hotspots locator server  231 . The role of the hotspots locator server  231  is to maintain the hotspots list  232  by cleaning, enriching, geo-coding and constantly updating the data received from wireless network providers constituting the virtual wireless network of the WISP aggregator  200 . 
         [0041]    Two cases are now possible:
       Case 1, the hotspot unique identifier matches a hotspot in the hotspots list  232 .       
 
         [0043]    The dispatch manager  240  is now aware of the exact geographical location of the connected network  100  and can then use it when requesting the updated information from an advertisement manager  235  and a content manager  237 .
       Case 2, the hotspot unique identifier does not match any hotspot in the hotspots list  232 .       
 
         [0045]    The dispatch manager  240  will not use any geographical information when requesting the updated information from the advertisement manager  235  and the content manager  237 . 
         [0046]    The dispatch manager  240  now sends a request to the content manager  237 , which will immediately check for updated content (enriched with user preferences, e.g. financial only) in the digital media library  310  of the selected content provider  300 . The selection of the content provider  300  amongst a list of existing partners will be made by the content manager  237  according to the user preferences as recorded in its user profile  221  (e.g. News from CNN, News from AFP . . . ). The content manager  240  also takes into account the capacity of the actual connection (available bandwidth) as retrieved from the hotspots list  232  in order to remove some of the content that might not be able to be delivered (e.g. high quality video). 
         [0047]    Once all content components have been retrieved and validated against the user profile  221  and currently connected hotspot parameters (geo-codes &amp; connection capacity), the dynamic HTML page is built on the fly by the content manager  237  and stored locally. The new available HTML page is then referenced by a content URL  247  that is sent back to the dispatch manager  240  and then forwarded to the update manager  640  for display in the embedded portal  630 . Some of the content on this HTML page makes direct reference to URLs hosted directly by the digital media library  310  in order to optimize network traffic and storage resources as well as guarantee latest up-to-date information to the user. 
         [0048]    In parallel, the dispatch manager  240  sends a request to the advertising manager  235  that will immediately forward it to the selected advertising partners  400 . The selection of the advertising partner  400  is made by the advertising manager  235  based on the user profile (e.g. interest in cars &amp; cinema, preferred language . . . ) as well as the hotspot geographical location (e.g. Paris, France). 
         [0049]    Once all matching advertisement banners have been retrieved or identified and validated against the user profile  221  and currently connected hotspot parameters (geo-codes &amp; connection capacity) the URLs  245  of the new advertisements are sent back to the dispatch manager  240  and then forwarded to the update manager  640  which will force the advertisement banners  620  of the wireless connection manager  600  to refresh. Some of these URLs  245  are hosted directly by the advertising server  410  in order to optimize network traffic and storage resources as well as guarantee targeted up-to-date message delivery to the user. 
         [0050]    After each successful connection the update manager  640  will send session statistics information to the user profile server  220  for analysis and usage pattern generation. This information will also be used to enrich the hotspots list  232  with information such as network capacity, availability, etc. 
         [0051]      FIG. 4  shows how the user profile preferences are set. 
         [0052]    In order for a user  10  to setup and maintain his user profile  221 , the WISP aggregator  200  offers a profile customisation page  225  that will display a list of available content types from various content providers  300  (e.g. CNN, AFP, Yahoo, Google, You tube, Daily motion . . . ) and grouped by different categories (e.g. finance, news, cinema, cars . . . ). The list of available content is dynamically retrieved from the content distribution/aggregation server  230  in order to always be up-to-date. 
         [0053]    The user  10  accesses the profile customisation page  225  through the internet  500 . He then enters his credentials (username/password), which are checked by the AAA server  210 , and then sets his preferences. Once the user  10  has set his preferences, they are saved in the user profile server  220  as a user profile  221  record for further use. 
         [0054]      FIG. 5 , to which reference is now made, depicts the update process for the local hotspots list  650 , between the wireless connection manager  600  and the hotspots locator server  231  of the WISP aggregator  200 . Upon each successful connection (maximum once per 24 hrs) of the wireless connection manager  600  to a network allowing access to the hotspots locator server  231  of the WISP aggregator  200 , the security and connectivity manager  610  requests an update of the local hotspots list  650  from the update manager  640 . The update manager  640  then communicates with the hotspots locator server  231  of the WISP aggregator  200  using a secured communication protocol (HTTPS) in order to verify if any hotspot has been added, modified or deleted from the hotspots list  232  of the content distribution/aggregation server  230 . In the event that some changes have occurred since the last check, data is sent back from the hotspots locator server  231  to the update manager  640  over the internet  500 , using encryption in order to prevent the information from being intercepted. 
         [0055]    The hotspot changes are then received by the update manager  640  and then encrypted into the modified local hotspots list  650 . The update manager  640  then notifies the security and connectivity manager  610  that the local hotspots list  650  has been updated, so this can be taken into account for the next session.