Abstract:
A set of applications to facilitate mobile communications and use of the Internet are bundled to allow the wireless environment to tailored to the handle the load imposed by WEB surfing. The applications include a quick connection to the server, validation of user and user device, resumption of disconnected sessions, and snapshot quantized information delivery. In addition, fast service for likely requested location specific information, search narrowing before search, user behavior habit learning speed-up, consideration of Internet contractual issues, and a speedy search engine make searching more timely. Reliability of information pages is assured by authenticating the updates before they are placed in local storage. Applications to implement this include online authenticated snapshot update provisioning, Internet page conversion tools, tailored Internet page conversion tools, and Information Content Provider tools. The tools learn based on the activities of the user, moving often r tailored to the presentation device, snapshot creation tools requested data into local storage for faster delivery.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/186,529 filed Mar. 2, 2000, entitled: MOBILE VISUAL COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, and U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/167,503, entitled: MOBILE VISUAL COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, filed Nov. 24, 1999 and incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT N/A 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a support system for dial-up Internet communications and specifically to a system tailored for wireless dial-up access from mobile telephones and personal data organizers. 
     Three capabilities have become available to improve communication and data availability in recent history—the mobile telephone, the personal data assistant and the Internet. The mobile telephone has been expanding its influence and services. Such expanded services include incorporating pager functions, call waiting, caller ID and more recently a screen for a mobile telephone to allow visual communication either of text or graphics. The mobile telephone industry has developed a wireless application protocol (WAP) which supports integration of digital data and a wireless modem in a mobile telephone. 
     The personal data assistant (PDA) is becoming vital to the typical professional and useful to anyone. The PDA, while coming in various sizes, incorporates applications for addresses, schedules, to do lists, expenses and other personal services. Communication is typically through a small screen and either a touch pad or small keyboard. While common PDA&#39;s have black and white screens, trends are leading toward color screens. These two devices, the mobile phone and the PDA, seem to be moving toward an extended handheld unit which will keep personal applications close to the user and allow the user to connect to the world via a wireless connection. 
     The Internet provides a wide variety of data sources and capabilities. The Internet has emerged as a global communications medium enabling millions of people to share information and conduct business electronically. Its main communication route has been visual, although as the desktops, the current primary means of accessing the Internet, become multi sensory Internet communications will shift that way too. The Internet is now supplying music like CD&#39;s and delivering messages like an answering machine. The main assets of the Internet are the ability to access a wide variety of information and the power of the search engines to find such information. The main drawback of the Internet has been the need to be at a connected computer to use the Internet. Only now are wireless modems for portable computers coming into general availability, but these currently require more than the mobile telephone infrastructure to function reliably. Most of the Internet Web resources are formatted for personnel desktop or laptop computer access. The resolution of the monitor and/or liquid crystal display (LCD) ranges from 640×480 to 1600×1200 pixels. The personnel computer can be equipped with a large capacity hard disk drive and a sizeable random access memory (up to 614 Megabytes). The window of each html web page is widely opened and the memory size for a page is large (up to a few Megabytes). The Internet servers for desktop users typically assume that the connection to the desktop has a high bandwidth. The bandwidth requirements for the Internet have been pushing communications technology to provide ever more capable paths to the desktop. 
     Beginning efforts have been made to utilize extended mobile phones with visual screens to access the Internet. However, current wireless web surfing suffers from the slow wireless data rates, the possible intermittent nature of wireless connectivity, the long down-load time for graphic intensive pages, the cost of waiting for information to cross the Internet as the Internet becomes more congested, and from an inadequate graphical user interface. What is needed is a way to have a handheld mobile web browser appear to be operating at such a high data rate with such a quick response that it does not highlight the Internet traffic congestion. Fast updates of information, a user friendly graphical user interface and web pages tailored for the small screens must be available in handheld units. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The system needed to support mobile Internet access from handheld units centers around two foci, speed and special content. Both of these are served by placing the contents that the user desires as physically close to the user&#39;s server as possible. Speed is needed to adapt to the cost structure and low bandwidth of wireless communication and the limitations of the handheld unit screens. Special content is needed to present extensive information in readily interpreted formats that complement the speed services. Speed services can be located either in the handheld unit or in a custom server for mobile handheld net surfing. 
     One feature of the novel system is an ability, built into the handheld unit, to create search requests to retrieve precisely the information wanted from the network. Such search requests augment the wide ranging search facility already available and guide the user to precisely defining a need so that the number of hits for that request is limited. Another feature in the handheld unit is a quick connect service, a service that identifies the user and his authorization as the handheld unit is connecting and the server is providing the first connection. Another feature in the handheld unit is the ability to interpret tags that allow the handheld unit to download only changing data and maintain static data in the local memory. Current applications require that the entire screen be downloaded. 
     Speed also implies that the server, the main portal to the Internet has specialized capabilities. One of these capabilities is an ability to convert desktop formatted pages to mobile handheld screen format. This may be a straight conversion of one page to a number of screens or a tailored conversion approved by the information provider. Another capability is a means to access screens tailored for the handheld unit whether the screens are held at the server or on the Internet. Another server capability is communication services that will assure that each transmission is quantified to fill an entire screen in the handheld unit and that maintain a running status that can ride through a wireless service outage. Major improvement in speed comes about because the server is able to access an extensive database filled with information that has been selected based on the user&#39;s historical usage and projected needs. Such a database avoids the need to access the full Internet to send data to the handheld unit. The database is updated in real time as the page-based data is updated for the rest of the Internet. A search engine that can distinguish between searches that need to use the Internet and searches that can be centered on the database improves the speed of interaction. 
     The features that support special content for the handheld mobile user include capabilities to allow content providers to submit updates to their desktop web pages and have that update be formatted both for the desktop and for the handheld screen. The capabilities built into these utilities include the ability to tag dynamic fields, distinguishing them from the static fields in the pages, and reformat the pages to fit on the majority of handheld screens. Similarly, for those information providers who choose not to provide handheld screens on the Internet, but who provide pre-approval, fast custom conversion engines are supplied to allow the information to be accessed as screens with greater facility. Grouping of desirable information and holding that information in the most accessible storage media is a special content of special value to the user. The ability to convert the general desktop web page to a handheld format is provided, but its use is conditioned on the handheld user&#39;s explicit request for the conversion. The ability to apply artificial intelligence techniques to the update of information continues the improvement after a user initially subscribes. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is an illustrative example of a web page designed for a desktop; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system according to the invention to support mobile visual communications; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a handheld unit. 
     FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a handheld unit; 
     FIG. 5 is an illustration of how a speedy search can be organized on the handheld unit; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the handheld unit connecting to the server through a wireless network; 
     FIG. 7 is a diagram of the speedy connect application; 
     FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a special web server handling the handheld wireless unit; 
     FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of preloading the 20/80 RIDB; 
     FIG. 10 illustrates updating dynamic data from ICPs on the Internet; 
     FIG. 11 illustrates the update application updating the data stored in the database; 
     FIG. 12 illustrates how the search engine finds local data; 
     FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of the search engine logic; and 
     FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of the habit based learning logic. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As people have become increasingly dependent on e-mail services, remote access to corporate Intranets and Internet-based services, wireless telephones and handheld organizers that provide mobile access to these resources have become increasingly useful tools. However, the emphasis in today&#39;s mobile communication industry is shifting from audio interaction to visual interaction with manufacturers incorporating screens and modems into wireless telephones as an optional front end to those phones. The current low data rate for wireless communications will be improved up to 384 Kbps in a few years with the proposed 3G and Bluetooth technology, a global specification for wireless connectivity. These improvements are designed to operate in a noisy radio environment, to implement a fast acknowledgement and to use a frequency hopping scheme to make the link robust. However, even with these improvements the data rate will still limit applications such as web browsing and full motion video viewing. 
     The requirements for mobile web browsing include a high-data rate, quick response, avoiding Internet traffic congestion, instant access to information, user friendly GUI and web pages designed with maximum information content and less text. The invention is designed to utilize existing mobile phone wireless infrastructure and supply useful mobile applications such as e-mail, fax, rapid data retrieval and information searching capabilities. 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a web page  10  as provided to a desktop device. The web page  10  is characterized by extensive use of text, categories designed to suggest areas for exploration and some small dynamic areas  12  where data is regularly updated. Dynamic areas  12  can include headlines, stock market prices or specialized information whose dynamic nature is of interest to a specific user. For a mobile user such dynamic information could include inventory levels, turn around times or other particular information for his company. The desktop page is further characterized by the capability to extend beyond one screen of data. Scroll bars  14  allow viewing more data and provide the opportunity to scroll down or across in a spreadsheet fashion. These features are not optimum for a mobile user. The mobile user is in an unreliable communication environment where drop outs can occur at any time. Therefore, receiving the needed data on one screen increments is an important feature. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the system configuration according to the invention for supporting the mobile user in web based visual communication. A mobile user  20  has a small screen and can be connected to the network by dial up  21  over wireless communication links. The mobile user  20  is connected to a network that could be an extension of the one used by desktop user  18 . On the handheld unit  19 , a number of applications, illustrated by the speedy search application  22 , run and complement facilities at the server  24  location. The connection from the handheld unit  19  is made directly to an information service provider (ISP) server  24  which can distinguish the mobile user  20  from the desktop user  18 . The ISP server  24  provides specific capabilities for the mobile user and allows the mobile user  20  to access all services available to a desktop user  18 , such as e-mail service  26  via the Internet  25 . Specific to the mobile user however, are services such as the 80/20 Rule Internal Database (RIDB)  28  which speeds up searches. The database  28  is augmented by a search engine that has access to Internet mobile specific sites  30  and Internet desktop sites  32  which can be converted to a mobile format  34 . The search engine further provides Intranet or secure Internet  36  access to specific mobile Internet content provider (ICP) sites  38  that the user may wish to access and the ICP mobile sites  38 , which mirror ICP desktop sites  40 . Alternately, the search engine can access the information by providing efficient conversion  42  of the ICP&#39;s specific desktop information  44 . 
     The ISP server  24  uses a mapping server  46  to track the location of all local  28 , Intranet and secure Internet  36  specific data that has a dynamic component stored in the 20/80 RIDB  28 . The mapping server  46  manages the updating of available data. For information that is being stored locally, the mapping server  46  and RIDB  28  provide secure updating using an internal update template  48 . Alternatively, the mapping server  46  receives updates across the Internet or Intranet  50  from various update facilities  52  and  54 . 
     The block diagram of the handheld unit  19  used by mobile user  20  is shown in FIG.  3 . The unit  19  communicates using a radio frequency (RF) signal  60 , received by an antenna and RF receiver  62 , that is decoded into either voice or data and signals by decoder  64 . The signals from the decoder  64  are fed to the CPU  66  which also interfaces with external memory card  68 , flash memory  67 , display device  84  and interface card  80 . The handheld unit  19  retains its speaker  82 , display screen and input buttons (not shown) as usually present on a PDA or mobile phone. The handheld unit  19  has greater functionality than either a standard PDA or mobile phone. Once wireless communication is established, the received signals are decoded to determine whether they are audio signals, which are sent to the telephone functionality incorporated in the handheld unit, or digital which then are decoded utilizing the modem portion of the decoder  64 . Having extensive memory  68  in the handheld unit  19  allows applications to be placed close to the user for maximum responsiveness and speed. 
     The handheld unit is programmed to recognize and interpret HTML and XML formats, the display and command languages already standard for displaying Web pages. This capability facilitates the creation of screens that are a subset of Web pages. In addition, the WAP protocol can be retained for managing portions of the communications for the unit. FIG. 4 illustrates the functionality included in the handheld unit. Handheld unit  19  is centered on the display  92  with speaker  82 , memory  68  and modem  64 . These devices together allow the decoders for video  94 , graphics and text  96  and music  98  to present the decoded result to the appropriate input/output device for the user. The modem  64  further connects to the RF receiver  62  to receive the input over the air from one of any number of mobile servers  100  able to provide the data requested. 
     One application that is part of the facilities for mobile web surfing is the speedy search application, memory resident in the handheld unit as illustrated in FIG.  5 . The search service first presents to the user the types of information the user typically wishes to search for as well as the general alternative. The first menu  110  can be customized by the user so that, for instance, business  114  refers to the inventory for the user&#39;s business. Once the user has selected an input, in this example, map  112 , the next screen  120  further limits the search, offering targets known to be of interest to the user, such as Asian countries, although the option to enter a different location is offered. In the example, option Hong Kong  122  is selected, and a further narrowing of the search is conducted by presenting a menu  132  of features in the Hong Kong area pulled up from the memory in the handheld unit. At any point, the menus for a screen, such as screen  130  could be downloaded to the handheld unit from the server. Once the user has selected a particular area in the region already chosen, in the example festival walk  132 , then the search is submitted to the search engine resident on the server. Because the search is narrowed, the number of hits will be smaller and the specific information can be provided quickly. When the information is found at a location provided by an ICP providing mobile formats, it will be transmitted formatted for the screen of the handheld unit and will utilize symbols rather than words wherever possible. The search engine may further improve the operation of the speedy search application as will be detailed in the description of the search engine. 
     FIG. 6 illustrates the connectivity of the handheld unit  19  to the mobile web server  24  via wireless links  140  installed throughout the local reception area. This connection is facilitated by a quick handshake protocol executed by the handheld unit  19  and the server  24 , illustrated in FIG.  7 . The connection from the handheld unit  19  incorporates sufficient information, including the wireless telephone number and account codes, to allow the server  24  to recognize the caller  220 . Such recognition  220  includes authenticating the user and pre-authorizing the transactions the user has contracted for. Quick handshake next determines whether there was a recent call that was interrupted  222 , where an interruption is defined as not completing a normal sign-off protocol. If there was no interruption, then the user is welcomed  232  and the server awaits input from the user  228 . If the previous call was interrupted, the server determines whether a full screen had previously been sent  224 . If a full screen had not been sent, then the server repeats the previous transmission  230  and awaits the user&#39;s input  228 . If a full screen had been sent, then the server sends the next screen in sequence  226  or, if there is no next screen, welcomes the user and awaits the user&#39;s input  228 . By this mechanism, the quick handshake minimizes the obstacles presented by the wireless environment allowing the user to conduct his business with ease. After the connection is established, the mobile web server provides access to specialized capabilities, such as the mobile search engine  144  as well as full access to the Internet  146 . 
     The mobile web server  24  operation is illustrated in FIG.  8 . The server  24  that incorporates the search engine  144  and a 20/80 RIDB database  28  is connected to the mobile user  20  through the dial-up modem interface  150 . Data received from the Internet  156  by the server  24  is converted by a conversion engine  154  from the text page format to the screen based handheld unit format. Because the data in the Internet  156  is in many cases under various licensing agreements, the conversion engine  34  will only be invoked at the specific request of the mobile user  20 . Therefore, when the information requested by the module user  20  is found on the Internet  156  the server  24  will send a message to the mobile user  20  inquiring whether the user wishes to have the information converted. Only if the user module  20  explicitly requests a conversion of a specific page will the data from that page be converted  154  to the mobile format. 
     Integral to the operation of the mobile server is a local database  28  built based on the 20%/80% adage—that 80% of the information that is wanted is found in 20% of the sources. The 20/80 RIDB  28  is populated with information as the server is brought up and as mobile users subscribe to the service. FIG. 9 illustrates the flow chart for preloading the 20/80 RIDB  28 . As the server is being planned, the general information that will be a priority is determined and loaded in the database  240 . Selection of the information will be a local business decision based on experience and the targeted users. Before users are solicited, the geographical information types will be determined  242 . Examples of geographical information types are maps, weather, business sponsors, and transportation facilities. As users are enrolled in the service, they provide information on their target geographical preferences  244  (areas and information types) and their specific information needs  250 . The new requests are added to the database  252 . The system continues to monitor highly requested data and updates the 20/80 RIDB  254  as needed, as will be described later. 
     The fields of each screen of information stored in the 20/80 RIDB  44  are indexed and tagged according to common industry practice. The tags identify fields and the time the field was last updated. The objective of the tagging is to reduce the length of transmissions between the handheld unit and the server. Although the tagging logic can be located in either the server or the handheld unit, the sequence of operations where it is performed in the handheld unit will be detailed herein. The server identifies whether a handheld unit can process tags during connection and only expects tag selection communication with a handheld unit so provisioned. In response to a data request from a tag recognizing handheld unit, the server will transmit the tags for a screen rather than the entire screen. The handheld unit compares the tag and last updated time for each field with the same tags from the last time the handheld unit requested this screen. If a field has been undated since it was last requested, the handheld will rerequest that field. The handheld will build the screen from the new fields and the unchanged fields still in its memory. If the prior screen is no longer in memory, the entire screen will be requested. Because only data that is not available in the handheld is sent from the server, the screen is built faster and transmission time is less frequently the gating item. 
     Referring to FIG. 8, because mach of the data stored in the 20/80 RIDB  28  is dynamic, applications to allow update are provided to ICPs. The mapping server  46  protects the 20/80 RIDB  28  from accidental corruption. The mapping server  46  includes an index to all screen formatted data unique to the particular mobile server  24  and a mirror database  152  of all dynamic components of the 20/80 RIDB. Any information to be updated in the 20/80 RIDB  28  is first updated in the mirror database  152  and transferred to the full database  28 . An updating ICP logs into the mapping server via a Virtual Private Internet, a secure Internet, or an Intranet  162 , as shown in FIG.  8 . This log-in allows the ICP update access only to the update template for its own data. When the ICP completes the update, it signs off with a password to further validate the transaction. The update is then written into the mapping server memory  152 . At a later time, the data is transferred from the mapping server mirror memory  152  to the 20/80 RIDB  28 . 
     The ICP updates its desktop database  160 . It logs into the mapping server and the information and the notice of update  162  is sent to the mapping server  46  over the Internet or Intranet. After the mapping server  46  has verified the ICP, it extracts the changing information and updates the dynamic database  152 . This process frees the ICP from updating only a screen database while assuring that the information in the 20/80 RIDB is reliable and identical to the desktop database. 
     For ICP&#39;s not directly connected to the mapping server, an interface for updating is provided as shown in FIG.  12 . The ICPs  54  provide updates over a secure Internet  202  to the mapping server  46 . The mapping server  46  determines where the data is in the 20/80 RIDB  28  and meters  212  the changes into the database  28  so that response to mobile users is prioritized over information update. 
     For data that is sourced from the ISP server itself, an internal update template is utilized. This update does not utilize the mapping server, but passes data directly into the 20/80 RIDB  28  as shown in FIG.  12 . External ICPs  54  update using a provided update mapping window  210  before the information is passed through the network  36  to the mapping server  46 . 
     The 20/80 RIDB  28  is the fastest source to satisfy a request from a mobile user. However, all information cannot be stored in the 20/80 RIDB  28 . The Internet is known to have delays due to routers, bridges and its length, therefore each mobile server incorporates an Intranet connecting it to selected mobile ICP servers. The search engine  144  tracks where information can be found and selects the fastest route. If the information is known to be provided by a related ICP, the search engine  144  finds the route to those ICPs as shown in FIG.  13 . The site for an ICP can be on the same Intranet as the mobile server or on a secure Internet  36 . The information can be formatted in screens  38  for the mobile user, where the screens reflect the information  40  available to the desktop user. Alternately, the desktop information  44  can be the only information directly available, but an efficient conversion engine  42  will provide the information formatted for screens. The advantage of the efficient conversion engine  42  is that the ICP has authorized the conversion of the desktop information, so the user does not have to specifically request the conversion. 
     The search engine, optimized for wireless communication, is shown in FIG.  14 . The speed search application is the front end of the search engine. As the search engine becomes familiar with a user&#39;s pattern of searches, it will suggest the best way to formulate a search to get the desired information more quickly. Once a search request is received, the sequence of search is as shown in FIG.  14 . The search engine first looks in the 20/80 RIDB  28  for the desired information  264 . Because there is no network access needed to retrieve data from the 20/80 RIDB  28 , this is the quickest access. The next preferred information sources are the ICP mobile sites on the local Intranet  266 . After the local ICP mobile sites, the desktop sites provided with efficient conversion engines are the next preferred  268 . If the information has not been found in the locally connected sources, a search on the Internet is initiated  270 . The results of this search are further analyzed, with the responses from networked mobile servers  272  before the efficiently converted database  274  or the standard Internet information  276  after requested conversion. In each case, the search engine returns a screen to the user, or tells the user that the information cannot be found. As the search engine  28  learns which desktop Internet sites are frequently accessed, it will periodically access the site, convert the data and store it in the 20/80 RIDB. The user will still need to specifically ask for a conversion, but will not have to wait for the information to travel the Internet after making the specific request. 
     The coverage of the 20/80 RIDB  28  is extended based on an analysis of behavior habit logs (BHL) of each user as illustrated by FIG.  14 . On an ongoing basis, each URL accessed via the Internet is logged in the BHL database  300 . At predetermined intervals, based on user requirements and variables such as performance guarantees, the BHL database is analyzed for categories such as frequency of visits to a URL and time of access to a URL. For each category that exceeds a predetermined threshold level, responsive action, such as storing the dynamic component of the URL, is initiated  304 . For each category where the high usage is time dependent, a time-based fast storage is initiated. In addition to analyzing URL accesses to add data to the 20/80 RIDB, the accesses to the 20/80 RIDB are analyzed to find categories having significant changes from previous usage levels  306 . These categories become candidates for removal from the 20/80 RIDB. The BHL log analysis is stored as a summary by the user as a baseline for the next analysis  308 . 
     Having described preferred embodiments of the invention it will now become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating these concepts may be used. Accordingly, it is submitted that the invention should not be limited by the described embodiments but rather should only be limited by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.