Patent ID: 7248852

Claim:
A system for locally providing information comprising: a portable device including a display and means for connecting to a local network, and a local information server connected to or arranged to establish said local network, the portable device and the local information server being capable of connecting to each other in the local network, wherein the local information server is arranged for periodically emitting signals in the local network indicating the existence of the local information server, the portable device is arranged to listen to the signals and when the signals are detected, to connect to the local information server in the local network, and to receive from the local information server address information of how to access available services, each of said available services including a user part and an information part with information of that service, the portable device is arranged, after having received the address information, to connect, via the local network, to a storage information server connected in a general service network using said address information and to obtain from the storage information server said information of the available services, the portable device is arranged to graphically show on its display symbols derived from said obtained information, each symbol being associated with an individual available service, and the portable device is arranged to obtain, after a user of the portable device has marked or indicated one of the symbols shown on the display, from the general service network, via the local network, the user part of the service, with which the symbol is associated, the user part comprising an executable program, and to store the user part in a memory of the portable device and to automatically install and start executing the executable program of the user part, wherein the portable device is arranged to continue, after detecting the signals emitted by a local information server and connecting thereto, to listen to the signals emitted by the local information server, and to automatically remove from the display, after a predetermined time period elapsed from a last time when the signals were detected, the symbols associated with the services available in the information previously obtained from the storage information server, and to automatically remove from the memory the user part stored therein.