Patent Publication Number: US-2010124939-A1

Title: Method and system for graphical scaling and contextual delivery to mobile devices

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/116,231, filed Nov. 19, 2008, the contents of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the fields of computer systems and data processing, wireless telecommunications, and in particular to scaling graphical constructs and selecting the proper scaling page based on display requirements. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Hand-held computer devices and in particular mobile phones are becoming more capable, handling more diverse forms of multimedia data all the time. Applications built on these new capabilities are also exploding in number and functionality. These myriad devices, however, all have different screen sizes, orientations (often different orientation on the same device), and color spaces, making it difficult to deliver content to the device in a manner devoid of defects to provide a display that is also pleasing to the eye. 
     In Mariott, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,433,546) a system is disclosed which allows a server to store different sizes of photographic images so that the image corresponding to the proper screen parameters is delivered. While this invention utilizes screen capability information transmitted to the server in the request, it does not specifically handle the on-the-fly scaling of graphical data such as greeting cards, in which the graphical elements of the card and text must be scaled effectively to match the screen size. 
     In Wu, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,478) and Challa (U.S. Pat. No. 7,436,412) graphic scaling systems of various types are presented but these algorithms do not represent the full challenge of delivering scaled content over a low bandwidth communications channel with selectivity to match the display&#39;s characteristics. 
     In Hawley, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,418,696) a system is disclosed where the target device receives statements directing it to render a business form so that it matches the display&#39;s requirements, but this strategy burdens an already complex target device processor and is not generic to graphical display for which it may not have a template. 
     None of the above examples of prior art allow for the transfer of contextual, personal, or location data to the server to render unique displays to individual users. 
     SUMMARY OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     Advantages of One or More Embodiments of the Present Invention 
     The various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages: 
     the ability to render message content to match the display characteristics of a recipient device; 
     provide a system allowing a sender of a message to generate content for the message without regard to the display characteristics of a recipient device; 
     provide a system for sending of personalized messages such as greeting cards, post cards and the like; 
     generate message content based on message templates from a server; and 
     generate message content based on a sender&#39;s location. 
     These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and abstract. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     In one aspect, the invention provides a method for communicating content to a recipient on a mobile telecommunications network. A server may provide a notification to at least one recipient device. The recipient device may acknowledge the notification by identifying one or more display characteristics of the recipient device. Message content of the message may be formatted at the server based on the display characteristics of the recipient device and then provided to the recipient device. 
     In one aspect, the invention provides a mobile telecommunications system comprising a server and a recipient application executable on a recipient mobile device. The server may be configured to notify the at least one recipient mobile device of a message. In response to a notification, the recipient application may indicate display parameters of the recipient mobile device, allowing the server to render a message to the display parameters of the recipient mobile device and provide the rendered message to the recipient mobile device. 
     In one aspect, the invention provides a method for delivering a personalized message or the like to a mobile communications device. A personalized message template selection may be received from a sender device as well as an indication of one or more recipient mobile devices. A personalized message may be created from the selected personalized message template. In response to a message notification, an indicated recipient device may indicate display parameters of the recipient device so that the personalized message may be rendered to the display parameters of the recipient device. 
     The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is substantially a schematic view of a system for providing messages to mobile devices; 
         FIG. 2  is substantially a flowchart of a method for providing messages to mobile devices; 
         FIG. 3  is substantially a flowchart of a method for generating and delivering message content; and 
         FIG. 4  substantially shows an example of generating and delivery a personalized message resembling a post card. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
     In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
     The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a method whereby a graphical page display may be rendered by pre-computation or on-the-fly to a variety of formats. The graphical page display may be comprised of many elements, including but not limited to graphics, photo images, text, clip art, etc. 
     A system in accordance with one embodiment of the invention is illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The system  10  includes a server  12  that provides telecommunication services between a sender device  14  and a recipient device  16 . The server  12  may be configured to provide content services to the recipient device  16 . The server  12  may be a core component of a telecommunications network and it will be understood that while only a single sender device  14  and a single recipient device  16  is shown, the server  12  may provide telecommunications services between many senders and recipients. The server  12  may be configured to provide telecommunications services using any known wireless protocol. 
     In one embodiment, the recipient device executes an application, e.g., a recipient application  17 , that allows the recipient device  16  to receive content laden messages. A method for providing messages to the recipient device  16  is illustrated in the flowchart  100  of  FIG. 2 . At step  101 , the server  12  notifies the recipient device  16  that a message has been addressed to the recipient device. The notification may indicate various aspects of the message, such as a title of the message, size of the message, types of content that the message includes (text, images, video, etc), or an indication of an application used to create the message. The recipient device may respond with an acknowledgement (step  102 ) that notifies the server that the message can be transmitted. The acknowledgement may be provided with recipient consent, i.e., the recipient agrees to receive the message and takes a user action, such as selection of a key on the device keypad (not shown), to indicate the agreement. Where the recipient device  16  provides a positive acknowledgement to the notification, the recipient application  17  may be configured to indicate one or more display characteristics of the recipient device  16 . The display characteristics may be specific display characteristics such as a screen size, orientation, resolution, color palette, etc as well as any specific user settings. Alternatively or in addition, the application may be configured to indicate a type of the recipient device. At step  103 , the server  12  receives the acknowledgement and processes the indication of the display characteristics. If the display characteristics have been indicated by device type, the server  12  can determine the actual display characteristics by reference to a local or remotely stored look up table that correlates device type with the default display characteristics of the respective device. The server  12  can then format the message content to a format that best fits the indicated display parameters of the recipient device (step  104 ). Once formatted, the formatted message is then transmitted to the recipient device (step  105 ). 
     In one embodiment, different stretching and scaling algorithms can be applied by the server  12  to any images, video, etc. based on the characteristics of the page to be rendered and the device to which the content will be provided. A page consisting of mostly text, for example, could be rendered differently than one consisting of graphical and image data. In addition, text may be rendered at different sizes, not just photographically scaled, which results in a loss of information. Known methods such as maintaining the aspect ratio of an image may also be employed. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the system  10  may also include a sender application  15  that executes on the sender device  14 . The sender application allows the sender to generate content for transmitting to one or more recipients via the server  12 . The content generated by the sender may be text or images from the sender device. 
     In another embodiment, content messages resembling personalized message cards, e.g., greeting cards, post cards, birthday cards, and the like may be generated using the sender application  15  in conjunction with the server  12 . A process for generating content is shown in the flowchart  200  of  FIG. 3 . At step  201 , the sender application  15  executes on the sender device  14  allowing the sender to request personalized message templates from the server  12  (step  202 ) via an internet, wireless protocol or other network connection. As part of this request, the sender application  15  may send the screen display characteristics of the sender device  14 . The server  12  utilizes the display information to select pre-computed renderings of thumbnail images and templates that allow display of multiple thumbnails on the sender device  14  (step  203 ) for selection. 
     The user may then configure a personalized message by selecting a greeting card or other template desired as well as any of the thumbnail image (step  204 ). At step  205 , the sender may add data to the personalized message. For example, text may be entered using the keypad of the sender device  14  or by selecting pre-configured text templates from a local memory of the sender device  14 . Photos, video or other graphic content may be selected from a camera memory or other image memory of the sender device  14 . This data can then be added into the graphic being generated after being scaled and properly positioned. The template and thumbnail selection and any additional data is then uploaded by the sender application  15  from the sender device  14  to the server  12  (step  206 ). The server  12  stores the data in its original format (step  207 ), and may precompute different scaling or color space modifications to the originals. When the personalized message is uploaded, the sender also indicates one or more recipients of the personalized message. A notification may be sent to the recipient(s) (step  208 ) by sending a greeting message, or a text equivalent which can be displayed on the recipient device to indicate the personalized message is available. When the recipient(s) acknowledges the receipt (step  209 ), the recipient application  17  on the recipient device(s)  16  may then transmit the screen requirements of the recipient&#39;s device to the server  12 , whereupon the server  12  renders the original images, text, and templates into a unique context (step  210 ). Rendering the message content may include selecting the optimal image of the indicated thumbnail, scaling any images provided by the sender, resizing text, etc. The rendered content is sent to the recipient device  16  (step  211 ) where it can be optimally displayed on the recipient&#39;s device  16  by the recipient application  17 . 
     In one embodiment, the sender application may also send location information regarding the sender device, e.g., from a GPS of the sender device  14 , to the server  12 . Using the location information, the server  12  may select location based content as appropriate templates and/or thumbnail images which may be suggested to the sender for generating the personalized message content, for example, where the personalized message from the sender is to resemble a postcard of the sender&#39;s travels. Other location specific content, such as text describing the location, can also be rendered into the display for the sender to approve, amend and/or configure. 
     A specific example will now be described with reference to  FIG. 4 . In this example, a sender with sender device  44  is holidaying in Paris. The sender wishes to send greeting messages resembling a post card and so sends a request  31  to the greeting message server  42  using the greeting card application  45  that is executing on the sender device  44 . The request  31  to the server  42  includes a card request that identifies the sender&#39;s location as well as the display characteristics of the sender device  44 . The message server  42  process the request  31  and determines from the request  31  that the sender is in Paris. The server  42  thus selects a number of location dependent thumbnail images  38 , e.g., pertaining to Paris, or France, or with French themes, renders them according to the display settings of the sender device  44  indicated in the request, and transmits the thumbnail images to the sender device  44  in the form of postcard templates  32 . The sender device application  45  displays the templates allowing the sender to select a template as well as to add content such as a photo  33  from the sender device memory. The sender may also add text for the postcard. In this example, the sender adds the text “Wish you were here—John”. The sender application  45  uploads the content  34 , including an indication of the selected thumbnail image (the full image may be retained at the server  42 ), the photo  33 , the added text and the identity of one or more recipients to the server  42 . The server  42  stores the data and sends a text notification  35  to the indicated recipient device  46  specifying “You have a new greeting card from Paris”. The recipient application  47  receives the text notification and displays it to the recipient. If the recipient chooses to positively acknowledge the text notification  35 , the recipient application  47  sends the display characteristics  36  of the recipient device  46  to the server  42 . The server  42  then retrieves the message content, renders it for the recipient device  46 , and transmits it to the recipient device  46 . Upon receipt of the rendered message content, the recipient application displays the postcard  37  on the display of the recipient device  46 . 
     While the sender application is described separately to the recipient application, in one embodiment, a single application may be provided that is configured to provide the functions of both the sender application and the recipient application. 
     The embodiments described herein allow for the transfer of contextual, personal, or location data to the server to render unique displays to individual users. It is worth noting, that in the various embodiments the user may not be requesting Internet published data, e.g., a web page, but may access data using wireless internet protocols in order to view data specifically rendered for an application. The content is not sent as internet data, e.g., in a web page format and is not typically configured for display using a generic web browser. The sender and recipient applications may be non-browser applications that display the received content. That is, the recipient application does not merely display data referenced by URL. Rather, the recipient application displays a multimedia message with content tailored to the particular display characteristics of the recipient device. In various embodiments of the invention, the content is not transmitted as web page data, but may be transmitted in other formats, such as in a multimedia message (MMS). 
     An advantage of the presently described embodiments includes that the content is delivered to an application resident on the recipient mobile device without user interaction or knowledge of the process. That is, the user (in particular the recipient) is not required to make selections about formatting of the content. The images and content scaling and rendering are executed at the server, which reduces the requirements on the limited processing abilities of either the sender or recipient devices. The resultant data is compressed and scaled and is delivered not to a generic browser but is interpreted by an application running on the mobile device in order to complete the display of the information. A further advantage is that the user is specifically insulated from the tasks performed to match the display to a particular device. The sender does not need to be concern themselves with choosing content for specific recipients and the recipients can safely accept content messages knowing that the content will be rendered accurately for their particular device. 
     Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.