Abstract:
A system and method for providing periodically updated information to a mobile terminal wherein the mobile station is configured to receive via a wireless communications link a periodically updated stream of messages. Each message of the stream of messages includes a mobile internet protocol link. Data contained in the stream of messages is displayed at the mobile terminal outside of a mobile internet protocol browser. The mobile internet protocol link may be actuated in order to display information at the mobile terminal through the mobile internet protocol browser.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION(S)  
       [0001]    This application claims priority from and incorporates herein by reference the entire disclosure of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/322,373 filed Sep. 13, 2001. 
     
    
     
       TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0002]    The present invention relates to the transmission of information to a mobile terminal, and more particularly, a system and method for periodically transmitting information of user interest to a mobile terminal over a messaging infrastructure.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Many current mobile terminal devices such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, pagers, laptop computers, etc. are equipped with some type of browser enabling the mobile terminal to wirelessly access the Internet. Through these devices, the users may search for and access various information content stored upon servers connected to the Internet. In addition to providing web browsing capabilities, a number of mobile terminals have access to messaging based services that send information to the mobile terminal using e-mail or short message services (SMS). These messaging based services have a number of problems.  
           [0004]    Presently, when users desire to browse for various information content, they are required to open their browser and surf the Internet or access their e-mail or SMS message content to determine if any information has been transmitted to them. Many times it may be difficult for users to see actual value in opening a browser or a messaging service since they are unaware as to what type of information and services they may be able to access. Thus, the user may determine that there is no need to access the browser or message service because no desired information may, in fact, be available.  
           [0005]    The man machine interface (MMI) of the mobile terminal also may act as a deterrent for users accessing their browser or messaging service in order to search for or access various information content. A browser or messaging service is normally accessed through a menu or submenu of the MMI navigation system. Statistics have shown that for each required key press, a certain percentage of potential users are lost to accessing particular information content. The user simply does not wish to go to the effort. Thus, if an intensive menu navigation is required in order to search for particular information content, the user may give up or not begin their search due to the level of involvement required of them.  
           [0006]    Some solutions to these problems have involved messaging base information services that require a user to access an inbox or respond to a “New Message—Read Now?” prompt. In these situations, active user activity is required in order to access the information. Also, if the user does not access their mobile terminal for a certain period of time, the information may easily become out of date. Some systems, such as GSM, include the cell broadcast functionality which enables information to be sent to all terminals within a GSM network cell. The cell broadcast mechanism is ill-suited for targeting the particular information needs of a specific user and is limited in the amount of information that may be provided to the user.  
           [0007]    Therefore, a system and method capable of overcoming the above-described problems in order to easily present users of mobile terminals with various information content while minimizing the activity required on the part of the user to access the content is desired.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0008]    The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other problems with a method for providing periodically updated information to a mobile terminal. A previously established user profile designates information to be transmitted to the mobile terminal by a periodically updated stream of messages. The periodically updated stream of messages are received at the mobile terminal. Each message of the stream of messages includes a mobile internet protocol link. Data contained within the stream of messages is displayed at the mobile terminal, and the user can actuate a mobile internet protocol link associated with a message in order to access information related to the link. This information is displayed at the mobile terminal through a mobile internet protocol browser. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is an illustration of the operating environment of the system and method of the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 illustrates the message content transmitted to a subscriber;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 illustrates the manner in which various messages are sequentially presented to a subscriber on their mobile terminal;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 illustrates the manner in which the subscriber may access a message within the mobile terminal;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 illustrates the manner in which the user may access additional information by initiating, for example, a WAP session; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating the method by which mobile information services are provided to a mobile terminal. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0015]    Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIG. 1, there is illustrated the mobile information service (MIS) system of the present invention. While the present invention is described with respect to a system using the wireless application protocol (WAP), it should be realized that the system and method are equally applicable to any other wireless protocols (iMode, etc.) for enabling mobile access to a network such as the Internet. FIG. 1 illustrates a system including a number of WAP content databases  15  (web sites). The WAP content databases  15  include various information items which may be relevant to a particular mobile terminal  20 . The WAP content databases  15  provide the data to a mobile terminal  20  in a number of fashions. The user can activate their WAP browser  25  located within their associated mobile terminal  20  and directly access the WAP content  15  via a WAP server  30  through a network  35 , such as the Internet. The mobile terminal  20  includes an RF interface  26  enabling connection to the WAP server  30 .  
         [0016]    Alternatively, according to the present invention, messaging may be periodically provided to the mobile terminal. A mobile information service system server  40  includes a subscriber profile  45  associated with a subscriber&#39;s mobile terminal  20 . The mobile information service system server  40  contains a plurality of subscriber profiles  45  associated with each separate mobile terminal  20 . The subscriber profile  45  includes presence information  50  indicating whether or not a mobile terminal  20  is connected to the system and filter data  55  describing the particular information content in which the subscriber is interested. The mobile information service system server  40  continually transmits an updated stream of information items to the subscriber mobile terminal  20  through mobile messaging server (MMS)  95 .  
         [0017]    A content database  60 , associated with the mobile information service system server  40 , includes a number of information items  65  extracted from the WAP content databases  15 . Each information item  65 , as more fully illustrated in FIG. 2, includes a category  70  describing the category of the information item  65 . A list of categories includes, but is not limited to, international news, domestic news, sports, weather, film, and music. A headline  75  provides a short title relating to the subject matter of the information item  65 . A body  80  includes a short text description conveying information on the particular information item  65 . Finally, a link  85  provides a manner for activating a subscriber&#39;s web browser  25  and initiate a WAP session in order to access the data associated with the information item  65  stored at a particular WAP content database  15  via the WAP server  30 . The information items  65  are collected by the service provider at the content database  60  responsive to the filter data  55  stored within the subscriber profile  45 .  
         [0018]    The mobile information service system server  40  further includes a message generator  90  for placing the information items  65  in a proper message format for transmission to the mobile terminal  20  through the mobile messaging server  95 . The message generator  90  generates messages for transmission to the mobile terminal  20  at a predetermined interval. In one embodiment, the messages are implemented as an extension to the mobile messaging protocol by adding a special header part containing category, headline, body, length and other parameters. The presence of the header extension signals that the message should be rerouted to the MIS functionality  100  within the subscriber mobile terminal  20 .  
         [0019]    At the subscriber mobile terminal  20 , an incoming message from the mobile messaging server (NMS)  95  is identified as an MIS message by the MIS functionality  100  by identifying the header provided by the MMS  95 . The MIS functionality  100  can identify messages in a number of ways. An identification of some type of tab included in the incoming message may be used. The tag may comprise an extension of the SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) syntax of the incoming message. Alternatively, the incoming message may be tagged as a “ticker” (i.e., an information message to be displayed) by using a new message class. The new message class would identify text, audio, image and video parts of an incoming message. The local set of information items  65  stored in the subscriber terminal  20  within a memory  110  is updated with the new information items, and the stored information items are cyclically presented to the user by the MIS functionality  100 . The category  70  and headline  75  of each information item  65  are presented sequentially within an idle/standby mode of the subscriber mobile terminal  20  by the MIS functionality  100  without requiring any user interaction. A user can choose to view the body  80  of the message and selectively activate the link  85  to the original WAP content via the WAP server  30 .  
         [0020]    Referring now to FIGS. 3 through 5, wherein there is more fully illustrated examples of how various information items  65  are presented upon a display to the user of the subscriber mobile terminal  20  by the MIS functionality  100 . The display comprises part of the user interface  24 . In FIG. 3, there is illustrated the manner in which a number of information items are sequentially displayed. In the first instance, the display of the subscriber mobile terminal  20  shows the category “Sport” and the headline “NHL: Forsberg out”. After a period of three seconds (this may be any interval), the next information item is displayed having the category “Music” and the headline “Disco is back”. After another three second period, the information item having the category “Economy” and the title “Market in decline” is displayed. This process continues for each of the information items  65  stored within the memory  110  of the subscriber mobile terminal  20 . When the last information item  65  is displayed, the process returns to the first information item and repeats the entire list again. This information is displayed to the user during the standby/idle mode of the subscriber mobile terminal  20 . The user is able to receive an indication of the information being provided by just glancing at the display of the subscriber mobile terminal  20 . Thus, no particular input or active action is required by the user.  
         [0021]    Referring now to FIG. 4, there is illustrated a sequence of displays wherein the user is able to obtain more information on a particular information item  65  by actuating a predetermined key  22  on a user interface  24  (FIG. 1) of the subscriber mobile terminal  20 . In the first display, the information item  65  is displayed as the category “Sport” and the headline “NHL: Forsberg out”. By pressing the predetermined key  22  (FIG. 1), the user is able to display various categories  70  and their associated headlines  75 . By again pressing the predetermined key, the body  80  associated with a highlighted information item  65  is displayed. In this case, the body  80  provides information relating to Peter Forsberg. Referring now to FIG. 5, by again pressing the predetermined key  22 , the link  85  associated with the information item  65  is used to actuate a browser  25  and a WAP session to access the information content (a website) relating to the information item  65  through the WAP server  30 .  
         [0022]    Referring now to FIG. 6, there is illustrated a flow diagram describing the process wherein the mobile terminal is periodically provided information according to the system and method of the present invention. The user must first establish at step  140  a subscriber profile containing the various information the user wishes to have transmitted to them. Responsive to the established subscriber profile, information items are compiled at step  145  on each of the topics indicated in the subscriber profile. The compiled information items are transmitted at step  150  to the subscriber mobile terminal. The process of transmitting information items is repeated at step  155  on a periodic basis for each of the newly received information items compiled at step  145 . The received information items are identified at step  160  by the subscriber mobile terminal and sequentially displayed to the user at step  170 . Inquiry step  175  monitors for a user input with respect to a displayed item and if none is received, the next information item is retrieved at step  180  and presented to the user at step  170 . If an input is detected at step  175 , the body of text related to the displayed information item is displayed at step  180 . Inquiry step  190  monitors for additional input actuating the link associated with the displayed information. If none is detected, control passes back to step  180 , and a next information item category and headline are presented to the user at step  170 . If an input to actuate the link is received step  190 , the browser is opened at step  195  and a WAP session initiated to the link associated with the information item.  
         [0023]    Using the above-described system and method, a subscriber is provided information of interest without having to search for it via their browser. The information is available to the user at a glance since it is displayed within the standby/idle mode of the mobile terminal and does not require the user to enter any particular messaging application in order to obtain the information. The user upon seeing information of interest, may easily initiate a WAP session in order to access information associated with the information item.  
         [0024]    The previous description is of a preferred embodiment for implementing the invention, and the scope of the invention should not necessarily be limited by this description. The scope of the present invention is instead defined by the following claims.