Patent Grant
8016202
The present invention generally relates to a mobile device incorporating a printer. The invention more specifically relates to a mobile device such as a mobile telecommunications device, for example a mobile or cellular telephone that incorporates a printer which is able to print a wide variety of content on a print medium. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the present invention can be used by other types of portable or mobile devices, or even non-portable devices.
The following patents or patent applications filed by the applicant or assignee of the present invention are hereby incorporated by cross-reference:
The assignee has developed mobile or cellular telephones, Personal Data Assistants (PDAs) and other mobile telecommunication devices, with the ability to print hard copies of content, such as images or information stored or accessed by the device, (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,055, filed on Nov. 9, 1999). Likewise, the assignee has also designed digital cameras with the ability to print captured images with an in-built printer (see for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,750,901, filed on Jul. 10, 1998). As the prevalence of mobile telecommunications devices increases, the functionality of these devices is further enhanced by the ability to print hard copies.
As these devices are portable, they should be compact for user convenience. Accordingly, any printer incorporated into the device needs to maintain a small form factor. Also, the additional load on the battery should be relatively small. Furthermore, the consumables (such as ink, paper, etc.) should be relatively inexpensive and simple to replenish. It is these factors that strongly influence the commercial success or otherwise of products of this type.
The assignee of the present invention has also developed the Netpage system for enabling interaction with computer software using a printed interface and a proprietary stylus-shaped sensing device. As described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,165, filed on Nov. 25, 2000 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/778,056, filed on Feb. 17, 2004, a Netpage pen captures, identifies and decodes tags of coded data printed onto a surface such as a page. In a preferred Netpage implementation, each tag encodes a position and an identity of the document. By decoding at least one of the tags and transmitting the position (or a refined version of the position, representing a higher resolution position of the pen) and identity referred to by the decoded tag, a remote computer can determine an action to perform. Such actions can include, for example, causing information to be saved remotely for subsequent retrieval, downloading of a webpage for printing or display via a computer, bill payment or even the performance of handwriting recognition based on a series of locations of the Netpage pen relative to the surface.
When printing a Netpage, a printer in a mobile telecommunications device can print the Netpage tags simultaneously with visible user information. The association between the tags and information can already exist on a remote Netpage server, such as where the printer is printing a fully rendered page (including tags) provided by the Netpage server or another computer. Alternatively, the mobile telecommunications device can generate the tags (or source them remotely) and define an association between the tags and user information. The association is then recorded in the remote Netpage server.
A problem with these options is that they require the mobile telecommunications device to include Netpage tag printing capabilities. This requires an additional row of print nozzles in the printhead, and reduces the amounts of ink that can be stored for non-tag use. Whilst this is less of an issue with large, mains-powered printers, it can be an issue in small form-factor articles such as mobile telecommunications devices. Alternatively, the mobile telecommunications device can be configured to print on print media that is pre-printed with Netpage tags. That way the printer need only print the user information and record an association between the visible information and the pre-printed tags.
It is desirable to provide functional applications making use of the mobile telecommunications device. Such applications can include, for example, mobile printing applications, linking, capturing and/or printing generic or specific objects to a print medium, and many other applications providing functionality to the mobile telecommunications device and various uses of types of print media.
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for printing content on a print medium, the system comprising:
Other aspects are also disclosed
An example embodiment of the present invention should become apparent from the following description, which is given by way of example only, of a preferred but non-limiting embodiment, described in connection with the accompanying figures.
The following modes, given by way of example only, are described in order to provide a more precise understanding of the subject matter of a preferred embodiment or embodiments. In the figures, incorporated to illustrate features of an example embodiment, like reference numerals are used to identify like parts throughout the figures.
1.0 Printing Internet Based Content Product Architecture
An example of a M-Print print media is the size of a business card. In general, documents or web based materials that have been designed for display on a desktop monitor or to be printed on A4 or Letter paper and may not print well on such sized media. If the content is reduced for the business card media then the content may be too small for easy reading. If multiple pages of media are used to print a page then the user is required to assemble the pages in the correct order before the printout is meaningful. To have presentable, effective content on a business card sized media the content should be specifically authored for that sized media. Described herein is a general mechanism to allow the authors and providers of web applications and web sites to make explicit use of the new media size, such as a business card.
The term “Mobile Document” or M-Doc is herein used to refer to documents specifically authored to be printed via M-Print. The format of a “Mobile Document” (i.e print medium) may vary, it can be pre-rendered and in a format ready to be sent directly to the printer, or it can be in a higher level format that requires rendering before printing. On some mobile devices it is not be possible to render the “Mobile Document” on the device, thus the “Mobile Document” is rendered before being sent to the mobile device. In regard of other mobile devices, the “Mobile Document” can be sent in the high level format and rendered on the mobile device. In general, to be able to render on the device the “Mobile Document” format is provided in an encapsulated format that contains the data necessary to render the M-Doc. Thus, by providing the M-Doc in an encapsulated format, the M-Doc does not necessarily have to rely on a particular font or bitmap being available on the mobile device (i.e. mobile telecommunications device).
A common usage of a “Mobile Document” is for the author of a web page to summarise contents of the web-page in a “Mobile Document”, which will herein be referred to as a “Nugget”, and to provide a link on the page for users to print the nugget. When the web page is static HTML the content of the nugget can also be static. If the web page is dynamic HTML then it is likely the content of the nugget may also have to be dynamically created.
Current 2.5G mobile data networks have low bandwidth, high latency, and are expensive to transfer data over. The emerging 3G networks improve the bandwidth and latency but are still expensive to transfer data over. Mobile carriers tend to subsidise some of the data transfer mechanisms to encourage use, so it is possible to have a situation where it is significantly cheaper to send data via an MMS than it is to transfer it via a HTTP request over the same network. For this reason the proposed architecture supports multiple ways of delivering an M-Doc to a mobile device. The architecture is also designed to minimise the number of requests that need to be made from the device to retrieve a M-Doc and to also to minimise the amount of data that needs to be transferred to the device to transmit an M-Doc.
There are three messaging services in common use in the mobile networks at the moment: SMS (Short Message Service), EMS (Enhanced Message Service and MMS) (Multimedia Message Service). SMS is generally designed for sending text only messages up to 160 characters long. EMS is an enhanced version of SMS consisting of several SMS messages clustered together. This mechanism is used to deliver ring tones, etc to handsets. Both SMS and EMS are implemented using existing mechanisms in the GSM or CDMA networks and do not require IP based bearers such as GPRS. MMS provides the ability to send a mixture of multimedia formats such as images, sound and movies along with a definition of how to use these multimedia formats using the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, SMIL. MMS does not have any theoretical size limits. MMS is implemented on top of IP bearers and requires GPRS or one the 3G equivalents to be deployed. Since MMS uses IP bearers it is not able to self-transfer or “push” itself out to a handset, instead it uses SMS to alert the user to the fact that an MMS message is waiting in the network for the user to retrieve, so it requires a “push” and “pull” to retrieve the message, whereas SMS requires a single “push” and EMS is delivered by multiple “pushes”.
1.1 High Level Architecture
Referring to
A M-Doc Retriever 502 is a component responsible for fetching an M-Doc 500. The M-Doc 500 is then passed to the M-Doc Printing Service 503 and printed. The following sections explain each of these major components and their inputs and outputs in more detail.
1.1.1 Web/WAP Browser
The Web Browser 504 is a third party application available on the mobile device 100. It is used by the user to browse web pages. A web site that supports printing M-Docs 500 includes web pages that contain M-Doc Reference links. When the user clicks on a M-Doc Reference link, a M-Doc 500 reference is returned to the browser 504. The M-Doc reference 507 can be handled by the browser 504 in a number of ways dependent upon the operating system running on the mobile device 100.
It is also possible for the M-Doc Retriever 502 to be activated directly by passing the M-Doc Retriever 502 a web page reference. This triggers a Nugget Creation service 506 to generate a Nugget for the website which the web page reference is associated with. The ability to generate a meaningful Nugget for a website depends on the content of the website.
1.1.2 M-Doc Retriever
The M-Doc retriever 502 is activated by the arrival of M-Doc reference 507 to the device.
Referring to
The M-Doc Retriever 502 receives the M-Doc Reference 507 which is in the format of a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). The M-Doc Retriever 502 appends device specific information to URI and is dispatched via an HTTP request to the M-Doc Retrieval Service 512 running on the device. Device specific information that is appended to the URI is dependent upon how the system has been deployed and the capabilities of the device.
If a Mobile Device Capability Service 513 is deployed in the network 501 then the device specific information appended only requires identification the handset, via IMEI. If the Mobile Device Capability Service 513 is not deployed in the network 501 then the device 100 is required to append information relating to the printer 4, the formats of M-Doc's 500 the device 100 is capable of printing and the preferred delivery method. The printer information required is deployment specific. If the renderer is able to look up the printer characteristics based on the handset or a printer version number then only those need to be provided, but if not, then information relating the printers resolution and colour space parameters are required.
The M-Doc URI that is supplied by the application is used to retrieve the M-Doc 500. This URI contains information needed to retrieve or generate the M-Doc 500 from the application 514. If the format of the returned M-Doc 500 matches the format(s) the device 100 is capable of printing, then the document 500 is delivered to the device 100. If there is an unsuccessful match, the M-Doc 500 is rendered. This is performed by passing the document 500 to the rendering service 515 along with the printer information. The rendering service returns the document in a pre-rendered format which can be printed by a mobile device 100 containing a printer 4.
The way in which the M-Doc 500 is delivered back to the M-Doc retriever 502 can also vary. It may be returned in the reply to the original HTTP request or it may be sent via an MMS or e-mail. These later two cases are most likely to be used in an environment where the pricing policy of a carrier encourages MMS or email use over general web browsing. The preferred delivery method may be included in the retrieval request or it may be looked up via the Mobile Device Capability Service 513.
The Rendering Service 515 may also be used directly by application writers who want to provide pre-rendered M-Doc's within their application. In this case the Rendering Service 515 is accessed via SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) as a web service, providing the M-Doc 500 in its authored format and obtaining the pre-rendered print format document and a thumbnail image for use in a GUI 516 of the application 514 running on the device 100.
When an MMS 517 is sent to the mobile device 100, the MMS 517 is stored in the mobile network at a MMS Message Centre 518 and an SMS is sent to the device to alert the user an MMS 517 is waiting to be fetched. With a modification this notification mechanism can be used to deliver an M-Doc 500 to a phone 100. The SMS notification can contain both an M-Doc reference 507 and an MMS notification. The request to fetch the MMS from the Message Centre 518 can be enhanced with the M-Doc reference 509, allowing the Message Centre 518 to contact the M-Doc Retrieval Service 512 to retrieve the M-Doc 500 in the body of the MMS 517. This service is called an M-Doc MMS service.
Any email, MMS, Obex or web page may contain a direct M-Doc 500 rather than an M-Doc Reference 507. In this case the M-Doc 500 is passed directly onto the M-Doc Printing Service 503. Unless the sender of the message knows the capability of the handset receiving the M-Doc 500, the M-Doc 500 may not be able to be rendered appropriately, hence the M-Doc Reference 507 approach is preferred, but in some cases, such as a subscription, the sender may know the capabilities of the handset and hence be able to by-pass the M-Doc Retrieval process and deliver the M-Doc 500 directly.
1.1.3 M-Doc Printing Service
The M-Doc Printing Service 503 prints the document 500 to the printer 4 in the mobile device 100. M-Doc's 500 may have different document formats, but the M-Doc Retriever stage ensures that it retrieves an M-Doc 500 in a format that can be printed by the mobile device 100 without any further network interactions.
1.1.4 Nugget Production
A Nugget is the distillation of the content of a web page onto an M-Print sized printout. In general this not only involves reducing the web layout so that the content fits onto the M-Print printout. The process also involves selecting the key pieces of information on the web page and explicitly composing an M-Doc 500 that presents the information appropriately. Nugget support can be provided in two ways:
Providing nugget support as part of the design of web application 514 requires the author of the web interface to provide a link to a nugget on the web page. Depending on the nature of the web content the nugget could either be statically authored along with the page or it could be dynamically authored based on the dynamic content on the web page.
For web sites that do not support Nuggets as part of the interface, nuggets can be generated by a nugget generation service 519.
Referring to
The Nugget Creation Service 519 generates a nugget for the supplied web page in one of two ways:
The nugget generator for supported applications include knowledge of the structure of the web page and the main purpose of the web application, and thus be able to extract information from the key fields and present that in a nugget. For example:
Many people buy the daily newspapers to access a few small sections of the paper, eg. puzzles, crosswords or cartoons. Using M-Doc printing it is possible for a user to browse online to the content and then request a printout of the content of their choice. To avoid having to browse each day, a subscription service that “pushes” the user's desired sections out to them each day can be set up. The service could use: SMS, MMS or e-mail to “push” the M-Doc References out to the mobile device. The user can then print then content of the subscription when required.
Some of the sections of a newspaper that would suit this form of distribution are:
Web services such as “WhereIs” (www.whereis.com) provide both the ability to get a list of directions to go from one location to another and/or a map. Using a mobile device's browser 504 the user can enter the destination and their current location and then have the map and directions delivered as an M-Doc 500 to be printed.
This gives a more convenient presentation of the map and directions to refer to while driving. Also in many regions in the world it is illegal to look at a mobile phone while driving, but it is not illegal to consult a map or written directions.
Mobile devices 100 that support location services are able to supply their location automatically. In this case it is only necessary to specify the destination to receive a map and/or a set of directions to print.
As well as assisting navigation, location based services can be used to present of list of possible destinations. For example:
Corporate websites often promote a company's public image, this can be extended by providing the ability to print a “Company Business Card” that gives the general information about the company and its general contact details. As well as a general “Company Business Card”, individual departments could easily have their own business cards, eg. the Service Department contact details.
Web sites for companies normally have a page dedicated to how to find them, that is, directions on how to get to their buildings from major transport hubs. These sites could easily include M-Documents 500 showing maps of:
Discount coupons can be delivered by M-Documents 500. These can be delivered via the web as part of an advertisement, either directly with the advertisement containing a link to a M-Document 500 or a coupon could be delivered to the mobile device as a reward for clicking through an advertisement to the companies web site.
A company could “push” out via SMS, MMS or e-mail vouchers to members of their loyalty scheme or just to the general public as a promotion. Another variation on this scheme is the ability to deliver a voucher or coupon to a user who enters a competition or votes on-line. For example, using an SMS to vote on a reality TV show could result in an MMS being returned with a coupon for a prize, or voting from a web site could return an M-Doc 500 with an advertisement and the possibility of a prize.
1.2.5 On-Line Receipts
When performing on-line transactions from a mobile device 100 a receipt for the transaction can be returned via an M-Doc 500. This gives a printout that can be filed with a user's other receipts. The receipts can contain bar codes and/or be Netpage enabled to allow the transaction to be recalled on-line on demand. Some example on-line transactions this could be used for are:
For tickets that do not require magnetic stripes it is possible to deliver them over-the-air at the time of purchase. This could included: Public transport tickets; Theme park ride tickets; Theatre tickets; Cinema tickets.
1.2.7 Web CAM Print
While viewing a web cam on your mobile device, a user can select print and have an M-Document 500 of the image at that time sent to the users phone.
1.2.8 On-Line Gaming
On-line games can use Nuggets to provide additional information about the game. They can be used to provide: Cheat sheets; Maps; Character summaries; Brag cards, to demonstrate what level you have reached; Vouchers or Coupons as rewards for achievement.
2. Player Architecture
A Netpage Player 520 is a physical or virtual device capable of “playing” requests of various types. A play request 521 consists of three parts:
Typically play requests 521 arise in response to user actions. For example, the user clicks on a tagged surface with a Netpage pointer, or interacts with an application that is in contact with the Netpage system. Play requests 521 can be used to provide a simple feedback mechanism (such as a request to display a text string to the user), or may be used to cause more sophisticated interactions with physical devices (such as setting the thermostat temperature on a home air conditioning system).
Individual players 520 can be associated with a user 525 as shown in
It is likely that in many cases a single physical NetpagePlayer device 520 is shared between multiple users 525. For example, a hi-fi audio system in a family room may be configured as an audio player for multiple members of the family. For the sake of brevity, this section focuses on cases where physical players are exclusively used by a single user, however, it will be appreciated that this section may be applied to multiple users.
Central to the NetpagePlayer 520 concept is the notion of a PlayRequest 521 which are objects that represent a request to perform an operation on some device. This sections describes various details related to PlayRequests 521.
2.1 Structure of a PlayRequest
A PlayRequest (see
A play request 521 may either be fully or partially specified. A fully specified play request completely specifies all of the information (target, operation, and parameters) required to unambiguously deliver the request to the target 522 and to perform the desired operation 532. A partially specified play request provides some indication of the request 521 to be played, but does not provide enough information in order for the play request 521 to be successfully delivered and played without further processing.
A target 522 may either fully or partially specify the target 522 of a play request 521. A fully specified target completely identifies the physical player 520 on which the request 521 should be played. A partially specified target provides some indication of the desired target 522, but does not provide enough information in order for the play request 521 to be delivered without further processing. An operation 523 can also be fully or partially specified. A Value 524 consists of a physical type 525 and associated data 526. For example, the physical type 525 might be “image/jpeg” and the data 526 would be the binary image data.
2.2 Values and Types
A Value 524 represents an instance of some physical type 525. Each Value 524 has an associated physical type 525 and zero or more associated type categories. The physical type identifies the structure of the data element of the Value 524. A possible mechanism would be to use MIME types. For example, if the physical type 525 is image/jpeg then the data element would contain the binary data of an image in jpeg format.
Referring to
RequestRouters can take into account both the physical type 525 of a value 524 and the categories 527 to which it belongs when determining the most appropriate way to handle a request 521.
2.3 Sample PlayRequests
To better demonstrate the PlayRequest concept, this section provides a number of sample PlayRequests 521. A PlayRequest 521 can be viewed in tabular form as shown below by example in Table 1.
Firstly, the Request 1 shows a fully specified PlayRequest 521 for dialing a number on a specific mobile phone.
The target field 522 is fully specified and indicates that the request 521 is to be performed on the device 520 identified by the name/address “mobile-phone-xyz56474238”. Note that for simplicity, simple text strings to indicate the address of each physical target 522. The play request 521 contains an operation of “dial” which is understood by the mobile phone's NetpagePlayer 520. The request 521 also includes a phone number which is a required parameter 528 to the “dial” operation 523.
As shown below, Request 2 is only partially specified due to only containing a partially specified target 522. The target 522 specifies that the request 521 should be played on a mobile phone, but does not specify which mobile phone.
Request 3 shown below is also only partially specified. In this case, the target 522 has been completely left out. Although only being partially specified, the request 521 has a definite meaning: “dial the phone number 555 6754”. The device to be used to dial the number is still to be determined.
Request 4 is even less fully specified that Request 3. Request 4 simply contains the phone number “555 6754”. The operation to be performed with the number and the device to handle the request (the target) is still to be determined and the device to handle the request (the target) is still to be determined.
Request 5 contains a fully specified target 522, but does not specify an operation 523. Thus, the target of the request 521 is known, but what the target 522 is to do with the request (the operation) is still to be determined.
Request 6 can be used to send a simple text message to the user. The target 522 is not specified, so the request means display the following message on whichever player is the most appropriate at the current time.
2.4 Invocation of PlayRequests
Play requests 521 can arise in one of two ways:
These are discussed in the following sections.
2.4.1 Authored PlayRequests
PlayRequests 521 can be authored directly into a printed Netpage document.
For example, referring to
2.4.2 Application Invoked PlayRequests
Netpage Player instances can be deployed on various Player devices (platforms). Individual players support some subset of the full range of PlayRequests 521 supported by Netpage. Table 2 shows some examples of Netpage Player Devices.
Note that while some of the devices mentioned in Table 2 are also capable of recording/capturing objects (e.g. a digital camera of a mobile phone is capable of capturing images), access to such captured data is not accessible via the Netpage Player concept, but can be accessed via a Netpage Clipboard, which will be discussed in more detail.
2.6 Request Processing
This sections describes how PlayRequest objects 521 are processed throughout the Netpage system. The processing of requests includes two operations:
A play request 521 is routed from source to the eventual destination via one or more intermediary RequestRouters 536 as shown in
All PlayRequests 521 from (or on behalf of) a user 525 are initially handled by a RequestRouter 536 inside the Netpage Server 529. This router is called the UserRequestRouter 539 (see
The typical scenario is shown in
2.6.2 Request Transformation
Each RequestRouter 536 can optionally transform the PlayRequest 521 it receives before passing it on to a subsequent NetpagePlayer 520. The transformation typically produces a more fully specified version of the supplied PlayRequest 521, but may also produce a completely new PlayRequest 521 with no fields in common with the source PlayRequest 521.
2.6.3 Player Capabilities
Different players have different capabilities. That is, each player is capable of playing a different set of PlayRequests 521. The capabilities of a NetpagePlayer 520 are specified in a CapabilitySpecification 540. The capabilities 541 of each child player are taken into account by RequestRouters 536 when handling PlayRequests 521. The capabilities 541 of different players may overlap, potentially resulting in ambiguous PlayRequests 521. Such ambiguities are resolved by RequestRouters using methods described in further detail below.
The CapabilitySpecification 540 is not limited to simply specifying which operations 523 can be performed on which value types 524. It may also specify finer grained details. For a specific PlayRequest 521 the CapabilitySpecification 540 might specify that it can only handle a subset of possible values. For example, a player 520 that supports the playing of audio objects could place a limitation on the size of audio objects supported.
2.6.3.1 Capability and Request Propagation
As shown in
2.6.3.2 Capability Aggregation and Transformation
As a RequestRouter propagates player capabilities (541, 544, 545) to its parent RequestRouter 536, it may perform capability aggregation and transformation. Capability Aggregation is where the router 536 combines the capabilities of its children into a single capability specification 548. Capability Transformation is where the router 536 modifies the advertised capabilities of its children due to capabilities (or perhaps limitations) of the router itself.
2.6.4 Dynamic Capabilities
The capabilities advertised by a particular NetpagePlayer 520 can change over time. For example:
Such changes in capabilities are to be communicated to the player's parent RequestRouter 536, and potentially, but not always, to the parent's parent, and so on all the way to the UserRequestRouter 539.
At the same time, as dynamic capability changes are being propagated, requests 521 are being routed in the opposite direction (as shown in
Additionally, dynamic propagation of capability changes could potentially cause an undesirable level of network traffic, harming overall system performance.
2.6.5 Request Handling by the UserRequestRouter
As already discussed, all PlayRequests 521 presented to the NetpageServer 529 are handled by the UserRequestRouter 539. The purpose of the UserRequestRouter 539 is twofold: (i) To determine the most appropriate child NetpagePlayer (the target 522) to which the request 521 should be routed; and (ii) To determine any required transformations to the request 521 that are necessary in order for the selected target 521 to be able to handle the request 521.
In order to determine both of the above, the UserRequestRouter 539 takes into account the content of the PlayRequest 521 and the context within which it is handled. The context includes a large range of factors, including, but not limited to the following:
It is possible that multiple players registered with a user support the same PlayRequests 521. As a concrete example, consider the following scenario where a user has registered the following players. The user 525 has three registered players 520 all of which are capable of playing images:
Now consider the case where the UserRequestRouter 539 receives the following partially specified PlayRequest 521:
The request 521 could potentially be played on any of the devices 520 mentioned. As such, the request 521 is ambiguous.
PlayerProfiles 557 are one mechanism which can be used in order to allow the UserRequestRouter 539 to resolve such ambiguities. A PlayerProfile 557 provides a (typically restricted) view of the set of players 520 available for a particular user 525 and the set of PlayRequests 521 that can be played on those players 520. A user 525 may have multiple player profiles 525 indicating the various scenarios within which they use the Netpage system. At any point in time, one of these profiles 525 is set as the Current Profile 558 as shown in
For example, a user might have the following profiles:
A user can quickly change their current profile by a simple user action. For example, if in the office, the user could select the profile via a desktop GUI. Alternatively the user could use their Netpage pen/pointer to select a profile from a printed interface 559 such as that shown in
2.6.7 An Example Request Routing
Consider the interactive business card 530 shown in
The end result is that the act of clicking on a telephone number on the business card can have very different results depending on the context within which it is applied. In this example, both the current context within the Netpage Server 529 and the current context on the mobile phone were taken into account when processing the PlayRequest 521.
2.7 Communicating with Players
Various communication methods are used between a Netpage Server 529, intermediate gateways 570 and the Netpage client to enable the playing of PlayRequests 521 on the Player device 520. Environmental factors such as the following affect the selected communication mechanism:
This section describes categories of messaging mechanisms. Note that in a single play scenario a combination of messaging methods can be used.
2.7.1 RPC (Synchronous) Messaging
Referring to
2.7.2 Notification (Asynchronous) Messaging
Referring to
Depending on the underlying network infrastructure, a suitable protocol is used to push notifications to the Netpage Player, i.e. WAP push, SMS, etc.
2.7.3 Streaming
Referring to
Video and audio provide the most significant examples of types that are typically better suited to streaming. To enable the streaming Netpage Server would be involved in the player selection process and would then leave actual streaming up to the two parties. Otherwise the server is likely to be a bottleneck and a source of additional latency.
Player can perform read-ahead operations to buffer the data ahead of playing and avoid network delays and jitters which can affect the user's experience.
2.7.4 Interactive Messaging
Referring to
2.7.5 Hybrid Messaging
Referring to
When players 520 are instantiated on devices (for instance during user login on a desktop player or on-demand by the mobile user), the player 520 registers the mobile device 100 is available for play requests by initiating a player session 580 with the Netpage Server 529.
2.8 Player Deployment
2.8.1 Player Connectivity
Netpage Player 520 can be deployed on various devices with different network connectivity capabilities. Table 3 lists some examples of player network connectivity and transmission mechanisms. Note that a deployment environment may utilize a combination of connectivity types. Each connectivity type explains how one hop communicates to the next hop. For instance a player communicates with a wireless gateway on the path to the Netpage Server.
2.8.2 Player Deployment Configuration
Different combinations of player devices and connectivity types can be configured to provide a suitable Netpage Player and Server integration environment.
3. Object Association Design
3.1 Object Associations Overview
A Netpage object association allows content (objects 601) to be associated with locations 513 on Netpage documents 603 and printouts. Arbitrary content types can be supported, but common examples include pictures/photos, audio, and video.
An object 601 can either be associated 616 with a document during the authoring of the document (static association) or can be associated with a particular document printout at some arbitrary time after that printout has been created (dynamic association).
Additionally, an association 616 may either be an impression association or a field association. An impression association is a dynamic association that is associated with a particular {x,y} location 613 on an impression. A field association is associated with a particular field of a form (static association) or form instance (dynamic association).
3.2 Communicating Status to the User
At times the mechanisms described require communication of status information (often errors) to the user. The simplest way to achieve this is to make use of the Netpage Player infrastructure. Special operations (e.g. show-status-ok-message and show-status-error-message) can be designated for transmitting status information to the user. The player architecture would determine, for each message, the most appropriate device (or devices) on which to display the message and the way in which to display it. For example, it may be that in certain situations the pointer is the only available player, in which case an error status might be “played” by illuminating a red LED on the pointer or playing a short sound.
3.3 Impression Associations
An object 601 can be associated dynamically with a specific {x,y} location 613 on an impression. The associations 616 are stored inside the Netpage Server 529 and can then be viewed in a number of ways:
Referring to
Associated objects 601 can also be viewed by interacting with a virtual view of the impression from within a graphical software application 602. There are a number of possible mechanisms for displaying associated objects 601 in such an application 602. Each mechanism is responsible for:
An example mechanism is shown in
3.5 Methods for Creating Impression Associations
This section describes various alternative techniques that may be provided to allow users to dynamically associate content with a location on an impression. They include:
A Modal Association involves first placing the user/pen session in a mode in which the next pointer click is interpreted as the specification of an impression location to which a current clipboard object 601 should be associated.
An alternative approach requires steps 3 and 4 to be performed in the opposite order. That is, the “Attach Object” command is interpreted to mean associate the object with the impression location most recently touched by the user.
Modal association mechanisms can be implemented on top of the Netpage Clipboard 615 mechanism.
3.5.2 Tagged Stickers
A tagged sticker 620 is a physical adhesive sticker which is Netpage tag encoded 617. That is, it is a Netpage impression printed onto a physical sticker. Clicking on a tagged sticker causes an object to be associated with that sticker (impression). Tagged stickers 620 can be physically attached to any surface whether it be tagged or otherwise (eg. books, desks, walls, etc) and thus provide a very flexible mechanism for dynamically associating objects with locations.
Once an object 601 has been associated with a sticker 620, there are various ways in which the user can retrieve/play the object 601. Firstly, the object 601 can be interacted with using a physical Netpage Player device 520. Secondly, simply clicking on the sticker 620 with a Netpage pointer 533 would cause the object 601 to be played. This latter behaviour suggests that sticker associations would actually be implemented as field associations 618.
3.5.3 Reusable Stickers
As so far described, once an object 601 is associated with a sticker 620, that association 616 cannot be altered. A reusable sticker 621 allows for the object associated with a sticker to be changed, or erased. Such a sticker 621 is shown in
Both “Attach” 622 and “Clear” 623 are destructive operations in that they remove any association 616 that may have been in place before the operation took place. As such, it may be desirable to be able to protect against accidental invocation of such operations, especially in the sticker scenario in which the entire sticker is a clickable area.
One mechanism for doing that is shown in
An alternative for preventing accidental invocation of destructive operations is to limit the interactivity of the sticker to small areas within the sticker as shown in
3.5.4 Category Specific Stickers
So far we have described stickers which retrieve the object 601 most recently assigned to the Netpage Clipboard 615. The Netpage Clipboard 615 can store multiple objects 601 per user 625 with each object 601 falling into an object category or set of categories. As such, it is possible to have Category Specific Stickers 627 that retrieve current objects from the Netpage Clipboard 615 by category.
3.5.5 Swipe Based Mechanisms
The printed toolbar in
3.5.6 Swipe Based Stickers
A limitation of the stickers described earlier is that they do not actually create an association 616 between the object 601 and the underlying impression on which the sticker is applied. For example, consider the situation where a sticker has been applied to a tagged impression, and subsequently an object 601 is associated with the sticker. If the underlying impression is viewed within the Netpage Explorer application, then the sticker and associated object 601 is not be displayed since the Netpage Server 529 is not aware that the sticker has been applied to that impression.
The above problem can be solved by applying the swipe based approach to stickers. The user steps involved are:
The action of swiping across both the sticker 620 and the impression 600 creates a triple association between the impression 600, the sticker 620, and the object 601. Specifically, the Netpage server 529 is now aware of:
The above associations 616 allow the object 601 and sticker 620 to be displayed inside tools such as Netpage Explorer 602.
A variant of the swipe based sticker is shown in
In addition, the transparent region 628 may be transparent in the infrared spectrum in order for the Netpage pointer 533 to be able to see the Netpage tags on the underlying impression 600. This allows for the transparent region 628 to be non-transparent in the visible spectrum. As such, graphics can be printed over the transparent region 628. For example, a swipe based category specific sticker can be constructed which includes indicative graphics printed over the transparent region 628 as shown in
3.5.7 Impression Associations Object Model
A swipe based sticker is associated with an ImpressionAssociation on the underlying impression.
3.6 Field Associations
An object 601 can be dynamically associated with a particular field of a form instance 630. Such an associated object 601 is then delivered to the relevant application as part of a submission of the form instance 630. This can be used, for example, to dynamically attach images (e.g. photos) to a Netpage form 632 and to then have those images sent to the application when the user clicks on the “submit” form command.
The relationship between field associations 618 and impression associations 617 is shown in
3.6.1 A Sample Application
The following sections use the sample application to describe the remaining details of the field association mechanism.
3.6.2 Form Design for the Sample Application
In order to design a form 632 that supports a simple application, two forms are specified. The first form 643 is a standard application form. The second form 644 is a special form that include fields that share the same impression coordinates as elements from the first form, but are overlayed on top of the first form's fields.
The underlying (first) form 643 is shown in
The overlayed form 644 is shown in
The below pseudo code outlines the handling of the set command. The main principle to note is that the center of the target field provides the {x,y} location to which the retrieved object should be associated. This {x,y} location is also used to locate a form field with which the object is to be associated. This is achieved by determining the uppermost field on the page that intersects with {x,y} and that is also receptive to object associations. In the case of the example, the uppermost field on the page that intersects {x,y} is the target field itself, but it being a submit field, is not receptive to object associations. The next uppermost field that intersects {x,y} is the ObjectReceiver field on the underlying form. The end result is that the object is associated with a field on the underlying application form rather than the overlayed sys:object-associator form.
3.6.3 Field Associations and Form Submissions
Netpage forms 632 generally have one or more form submission buttons 642. Clicking on such a button 642 with a pointer 533 causes the Netpage server 529 to perform handwriting recognition of the digital ink (if any) assigned to the form 632, and to bundle the result into a form submission which is then posted to the application associated with the form 632. The handwriting recognition largely involves converting handwriting fields (such as textual combs, and check boxes) into their digital equivalents (for example digital ink in textual combs is converted to text).
Associated objects 601 can optionally be submitted as part of such form submissions. The requirement to transfer an associated object 601 (or otherwise) as part of the form submission is specified in the form definition for that form.
3.7 Static Associations (Embedded Objects)
Objects 601 can be associated with a document at document creation time. As with dynamic associations, such associations can either be impression associations 617 or field associations 618. Static associations are specified in the Interface Description for the document. Static associations are represented as PlayRequests 521.
4. Netpage Clipboard
The Netpage Clipboard 615 is a system supplied, per user object repository to which the user can push an object 601. The object 601 thus pushed is considered to be the user's “current object” which may then be accessed by applications, in particular by the UserRequestRouter, but in general by any application that is acting on behalf of the user.
4.1 Representation of Clipboard Objects
Clipboard objects are stored as Netpage Player PlayRequest objects 521. A PlayRequest 521 corresponds to a request to perform an action. It consists of three parts:
A Value represents an instance of some physical type and consists of a type specification and data. The type specification has a physical type and zero or more associated type categories. The physical type identifies the structure of the data element of the Value. This document does not specify a particular representation for physical types. A possible mechanism would be to use MIME types. For example, if the physical type is image/jpeg then the data element would contain the binary data of an image in jpeg format.
A shorthand form of specifying PlayRequests will now be used in this section. As an example, instead of using the tabular form this section will use the following syntax for PlayRequests that only have a single item:
4.2 Mechanisms for Pushing Values to the Clipboard
In general, a user performs an explicit user action in order to push a value to the clipboard. Such actions may take various forms as described in the following sections. Once a value is in the clipboard any application can access the value. For example the value can be dynamically associated with a form field on a printed impression.
4.2.1 Push Via Printed Netpage Form
Values can be pushed to the clipboard by interacting with a printed Netpage form such as that shown in
Values 524 can be pushed to the clipboard 615 by Netpage aware devices that are capable of capturing and/or storing typed objects. Table 5 provides some example devices and scenarios in which they might push values to the Netpage clipboard 615.
4.2.3 Implicit Push
To improve usability, it may be possible for certain devices to support implicit (or auto) push which is where certain user interactions with a device cause a value to be automatically pushed to the Netpage clipboard 615. As an example, the user may configure their digital camera so that taking a photo causes the photo to be pushed to the Netpage clipboard 615.
4.3 Netpage Clipboard Interface
In order for a device or application to push a value to the Netpage clipboard 615 or retrieve the current object 601, the device or application first retrieves a reference to a NetpageClipboard object for that user from the Netpage server 629. The following listing shows the NetpageClipboard interface in its most basic form. The interface allows the current clipboard value to be set, fetched and cleared.
The sections that follow discuss alternatives for various aspects of the Netpage clipboard interface.
4.3.1 Multiple Values Per User
The Netpage clipboard 615 is able to support multiple current values each of which belong to a different category. For example, the clipboard 615 can hold a current audio and current video at the same time. PlayRequest values can specify one or more categories to which that value belongs. Note that an object category is generally independent of the specific physical type of the value being added to the clipboard. For example, setObject( ) might be called with a value that has a category of “photo”, and a physical type of image/jpeg.
This listing shows a NetpageClipboard interface that supports multiple current values.
Such a clipboard would still support the current object concept which would return the most recently added object. To that end, the clipboard interface in the listing has two fetchObject( ) methods. The first takes no parameters and returns the most recently added object. The second takes an ObjectCategory as a parameter and returns the most recently added object which belongs to the specified object category.
More generally the clipboard could reuse the general capability matching mechanism required by RequestRouters in the Netpage Player architecture. This would provide the clipboard with a very powerful interface for retrieving PlayRequests.
4.3.2 Multiple Representations of Values
As with clipboards in standard desktop environments, it may be desirable to allow the Netpage clipboard to support multiple representations of values, each of which would have a different MIME type. For example, a text object could be stored as both a text/plain and a text/rtf document.
4.3.3 Using Values from the Netpage Clipboard
Once a user places a value in the clipboard, the value can be accessed by applications in response to actions by the user. The basic clipboard interaction model is shown in
The model presented in
One way in which an operation can be invoked by a user is for the user to interact with a printed Netpage form 660 which contains a set of PlayRequests which specify operations.
4.4 Placing Operations and Targets in the Clipboard
As clipboard entries are actually stored as PlayRequests 521 it is also possible to push operations and targets to the clipboard 615.
4.4.1 Adding Operations to the Clipboard
4.4.2 Allowing Both Value First and Operation First Models
It is possible to simultaneously support both the value first and operation first models as shown in
The following examples show the two models in action. In each case, the user's steps are shown numbered and the contents of the clipboard 615 are shown after each step. In the first case, the user uses the value first model by first pushing a phone number to the clipboard 615, and then selecting the operation 523 to be applied to that object:
At this point, an observer of the clipboard 615 (likely the UserRequestHandler) determines that the PlayRequest 521 as shown below can be produced by combining the operation 523 and value 524 PlayRequests 521. The resultant PlayRequest 521 can then be routed by the UserRequestHandler. Typically the UserRequestHandler “plays” a phone-number by sending the request to a device capable of dialing the phone number.
The second case uses the operation first model:
At this point, the clipboard 615 determines that the PlayRequest 521 can be produced by combining the operation 523 and value 524 PlayRequests 521.
4.4.3 Ambiguous Usage
One problem associated with this mechanism of pushing values 524 or operations 523 to the clipboard 615 is a value 529 or operation 523 can remain in the clipboard 615 indefinitely. As such, it is easy for a user 525 to forget that an object 601 is in the clipboard 615 and for unexpected results to emerge. This is particularly the case if we simultaneously allow both the value first and operation first models. As an example, suppose the user performs the following actions:
Using the state machine indicated by
There are a number of approaches to addressing these usability concerns:
4.4.5 Clipboard Timeouts
While a single-use clipboard model improves the useability of the Netpage clipboard 615, there are still problematic scenarios which result from allowing both value first and operation first models to coexist. Consider the following steps:
In the above, it is not clear whether the user 525 has indicated that they would like to apply the “play” command to the phone number, or whether they had forgotten that they had pushed the “play” operation an hour ago and were actually attempting to simply push a phone number to the clipboard 615.
In order to address the ambiguity, the concept of clipboard timeouts can be introduced, as shown in
4.4.6 Multi Value Operations
The clipboard 615 concept can be extended to support operations that require more than one parameter 524. The basic approach is to allow multiple values 524 to be pushed to the clipboard 615. The clipboard 615 can then combine the values 524 with a pushed operation 523 to create a PlayRequest 521 with multiple parameters.
4.4.7 Adding Targets to the Clipboard
Consider the command sheet already shown in
Selection of the printer can be achieved by selecting the printer from a list of printers printed on a Netpage card 700 as shown in
The following steps provide an example in which the user pushes a target to the clipboard.
At this point, a PlayRequest 521 can be constructed that combines all the elements from the clipboard 515 as shown in
Once the full PlayRequest 521 is determined, it is performed and, depending on the clipboard model being used, the clipboard 615 would either be cleared of all contents (the single-use model), or left as is in readiness for future related requests 521 (the multi-use model). In the latter case, the subsequent act of pushing another photo (say of the family cat) to the clipboard 615 would leave the clipboard 615 in the following state:
At this point, the clipboard contents indicate that the user wishes to print the newly selected photo on the color inkjet printer at home. This approach allows the user to request the printout of a number of photos on a particular printer, without having to specify the target 522 or the operation 523 each time, by simply clicking on each required photo.
Even in the multi-use case, if the user is inactive for some configurable period of time, then a clipboard timeout causes the clipboard 615 to be cleared.
4.4.8 Pushing More Fully Specified PlayRequests
As the clipboard 615 supports the pushing of PlayRequests 521, the application author is not limited to pushing values 524, operations 523, and targets 522. It is also possible to push PlayRequests 521 that are more fully specified. For example, consider the printed command sheet 710 shown in
At this point, a PlayRequest 521 can be constructed that combines all the elements from the clipboard 615 as shown in
4.4.9 Communicating Status to the User
At times the mechanisms described may require communication of status information (often errors) to the user. One method is to make use of the Netpage Player infrastructure. Special operations (eg. show-status-ok-message and show-status-error-message) can be designated for transmitting status information to the user. The player architecture would determine, for each message, the appropriate device (or devices) on which to display the message and the way in which to display it. For example, it may be that in certain situations the pointer 533 is the only available player in which case an error status might be “played” by illuminating a red LED on the pointer 533 or playing a short sound.
5. Downloadable Content Billing
5.1 Overview
There is already an existing market place for purchasing and downloading products to mobile devices. Products such as: ringtones (monophone, polyphonic and real tone); wallpapers; games and other applications; music; music videos; films and TV. The printing capabilities of M-Print can add further to this list of products.
The traditional methods for purchasing and downloading such products are based around web browsing and SMS to initiate the download and EMS or MMS to deliver the product to the phone 100, see
Netpage and M-Print technologies have the ability to simplify the user experience in accessing and purchasing these products, while also being able to utilise the existing infrastructure for the billing and delivery of the products.
Using a Netpage pen or pointer 533 the user 525 can click on a printed advertisement 715 in a magazine, newspaper, direct mail, on a product's packaging or possibly on a product itself. This can automatically deliver some content to the user's preferred Netpage Player 520 for that content. Most likely the Netpage Player 520 is the user's mobile phone 100, as is shown in
M-Print devices can provide a Netpage scan operation, and this can also be used to initiate a product download or purchase as above. The card that is scanned could have been printed on a M-Print printer 4 or it could be provided along with another product, e.g. a card in a breakfast cereal box.
Combining the abilities of M-Print and Netpage can lead to a powerful suite of new product promotion and sales tools. For example, a user can use a Netpage pointer 533 in a mobile phone 100 to click on the latest ringtone advertisement in their favourite magazine. This results in purchasing the ringtone, charging it to their mobile phone account, download and install it on their phone 100. It can also print on their phone a promotional card that allows a one time download of the same ringtone for them to give a friend. When their friend scans the card they receive the same ringtone downloaded and installed on their phone. Depending on the promotion running at the time the friend may receive the ringtone for free or at a discounted rate.
5.2 Downloading Content
It has already been noted that the mobile computing environment already has some well established mechanisms for satisfying on-line product purchases. Below are three possible ways Netpage player requests can be integrated into the existing mechanisms to provide the user with a simpler user experience. In each of the cases the request to purchase or preview the product is instigated via a Netpage stroke, click or scan The differences arise in how the Netpage application 733 procures the product and delivers it to the user.
5.3 Netpage as Middle Man
This approach allows the user to benefit from the Netpage Player Architecture, which allows the user to customize the way they want the product to be routed after they have received it from the vendor. It also allows for the Netpage Player to provide extended handling of products on the mobile device. For example, the player may prompt the user if they wish to back up their existing ringtone before installing a new ringtone or it may guide the user through installing the ringtone as a custom ringtone for a particular phone number or set of phone numbers.
5.4 Netpage as a Sales Agent
5.6 Hybrid Approach
The play request 521 is routed as a Netpage player request and when it reaches a player 745 deployed within the mobile network, acting a mobile device proxy, it is split into a product delivery and a print job. The product is sent out via an EMS/MMS message at step 746 and delivered to the mobile device 100 in the same way as a traditionally purchased product at step 747. The print job in the form of an M-Doc reference 507 is delivered to the phone 100 via one of the mechanisms initiating a print job on the mobile device 100.
5.7 Billing for Downloaded Content
The ability to bill or charge for services and products is at the heart of all businesses. To be able to bill you need to be able to:
When accessing a service or purchasing a product over a mobile network the user is typically charged for both the data or call traffic involved in making the transaction and also for the product or service purchased. For example, if a ringtone was purchased via Netpage, there is a charge for the ringtone and also a charge the data traffic used to download the content to the mobile device. It is possible for a 3rd party vendor to enter into a commercial relationship with the carrier whereby the carrier waives or reduces the data transfer costs, in return for a payment from the vendor. Mobile carriers play a central role in billing. They own the private networks used by mobile devices to connect to both the public telephone and data networks and it is at their discretion that a mobile device has access to any services. They already have a billing relationship with each of their customers and hence are able to identify them and bill them. Over time the billing options offered by carriers have evolved from the simple post-pay phone bill to include pre-paid, post-paid and plan-based billing, where customers are committed to paying a certain amount per period for which they can access a range of services. Carriers also have the ability to adjust or waive billing based on a user's activity over a billing period, for example, if you send more than certain number of SMSs in a day then all SMSs is to be charged at a different rate.
For pre-paid accounts the account balance is checked before the transaction is commenced to ensure it has sufficient credit to pay for the service. Not all services can predict the total cost before they are delivered and in those cases it is up to the individual carriers to decide whether those services are to be made available to pre-paid customers or not.
Mobile carriers recognise the value of their ability to identify and bill customers and make it available to third parties on a commercial basis. They do not make it freely available. The ability to integrate into a carrier's billing system is typically offered in a number of different ways, of which some are:
To bill for products or services attained via Netpage interactions it is necessary to identify where in the sequence of events it makes sense to generate billing records and which party in the transaction is responsible for maintaining and acting on those billing records. To make these services available to users with pre-paid mobile accounts it may be necessary to be able to predict ahead of time the total cost of the transaction.
If we consider the SMS-based content download scenario,
The first SMS is a standard SMS that the user may be billed for, it may be billed differently given that it is destined for a vendor who has a business relationship with the carrier. The second SMS/MMS is not billed to the sender, as would normally happen, but it is billed to the receiver, via an agreement between the vendor and mobile carrier. In both of these cases the mobile carrier generates and manages the billing records. The purchase cost for the content is also billed to the receiver and the vendor is responsible for generating the billing record. In most cases this billing record is forwarded onto the mobile carrier, typically once a day via a batch transfer. The carrier accumulates these records and includes them on the user's phone bill as a service for the vendor. The carrier then makes a periodic payment of funds collected on the vendor's behalf to the vendor. This alleviates the need for the vendor to establish a billing relationship with each of its customers and also allows the mobile carrier to derive more revenue from its existing billing relationship with the customer.
For the vendor to be able to generate billing records that a mobile carrier can incorporate into a customer's bill the mobile carrier needs to provide the vendor with a “customer id” or “billing id” per transaction that the carrier can use to link a billing record with a customer. The provision of customer id and the ability to generate billing records needs to be done in a secure way to reduce the possibility of fraud. To ensure the required security is maintained each vendor enters into a contractual relationship with each mobile carrier before the “customer id” data is shared with them.
In situations where a vendor cannot or does not want to work with a mobile carrier they need to implement their own means of identifying and billing their customers. Identifying a user of a mobile device without the assistance of the mobile carrier in a uniform way across all mobile devices is non-trivial.
Introducing Netpage and M-Print technologies provide a number of new billing opportunities for all parties involved. If we consider the case where Netpage acts a middle man, there are two billing opportunities:
The Netpage application fetching the content from the vendor generates a billing record for the customer. As for the SMS case above, it is possible to arrange with a mobile vendor to accept these billing records and to bill on the application's behalf To do this the data traffic associated with the hyperlink activation is to be tagged with a “customer id” to be associated with the billing record.
The mobile carrier tracks the data traffic used to send the click event and deliver the play request. By default that traffic would be billed in the same way as all other data traffic to and from the device. In a situation were the Netpage application is billing via the carrier it may be possible to strike a deal with the mobile carrier where by they waive the data traffic costs in return for a payment per transaction.
In the case of Netpage acting as a Sales Agent, the Netpage system is not involved in delivering the product but only in making the sale. In this case there are four billing opportunities:
The mobile carrier tracks and generate billing records for the data traffic and the delivery of the content. As in the SMS case the delivery message is charged to the receiver rather than the sender, via an agreement with the carrier.
In this case the billing record for the content purchase generated by the ringtone vendor and would be handled in same way as for the SMS case above. It would be possible to have an agreement with the carrier whereby the cost of the data traffic and the delivery message are waived in return for a payment from the vendor.
In most cases the Netpage application would be managed by the vendor as an alternative interface to their existing business and as such it does not need to bill for its forwarding services. If it is run by a different business then it generates a billing record for the forwarding service. This may be delivered either to the user or to the vendor who has agreed to pay for forwarded requests.
The billing options for the hybrid approach are essentially the same as for when Netpage is a middle man but the number of deliveries, and hence billable events, to the mobile device is increased. In this case the bill for delivering the M-Doc may be changed to the vendor rather than the customer since it is an unsolicited promotion. Each of these billable events could be filtered by the mobile carrier based on later billing records that enter the system. For example, the cost of delivering the M-Doc may be waived or credited back, if the offer on the printout is taken up by another user.
5.8 Digital Rights Management
Closely related to billing is ensuring that the product or service is only used for the purpose(s) it was purchased for, eg. a ringtone purchased for one phone, can not be installed on more than one phone, or a music file that is downloaded as a sample can only be played X times before being purchased.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes are being adopted by mobile device manufactures and mobile carriers. Where content is being delivered via the existing mobile mechanisms DRM is automatically triggered. The Netpage Player on a mobile device is implemented to hook into the DRM mechanisms on the mobile device. It prevents a user by-passing DRM restrictions on downloaded content.
5.9 Identifying the User
Mobile carriers identify the user of a mobile device when the device negotiates access to the network, either at boot time or when it comes within range of a base station. For GSM and CDMA networks a user's identity is determined by matching the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) with a user's records held by the carrier. The IMSI is not sent during negotiation but rather an identity derived from it called a Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identifier (TMSI) is sent. Access to the IMSI can be protected by a PIN and most phones can be set up to prompt the user for a PIN when it is turned on. This is used to gain access to protected data, such as the IMSI. During the connection time negotiations the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is also transmitted. This is not used to determine who the user is, but it is used to filter out mobile devices that are blocked from the network, e.g. stolen mobiles can be blocked based on their IMEI.
When a mobile network allows a user on a GSM network, they assign the user a SIM card and then activate the SIM card. For a non-pre-paid SIM card the user needs to present sufficient identification information that the carrier is satisfied they know who the person is, that they are able to pay their bill, and where to send the bill. For a pre-paid account the carrier does not need such information, but some countries do require carriers to collect user identity information even for pre-paid accounts. Once the user has an activated SIM card it can be used from any handset and the correct account is billed for usage. Users are encouraged to protect their SIM cards with a PIN, so that it cannot be used until a PIN is supplied. However this is not enforced by the carriers, as it is a user choice.
The Netpage system, includes the concept of a Netpage user, each of whom has a Netpage account. Some Netpage applications require knowledge of the user. To be able to access those applications via a Netpage pointer or scanner built into a mobile device, a link between the mobile device and a Netpage user is established. To do this there is a configuration and activation step, similar to a SIM card activation where the Netpage sub-systems on the mobile device are configured and a mapping is setup between the user identity for the mobile device and a Netpage user. If the Netpage account is being established for the first time then, as with a mobile carrier, the user identifies themselves so that the Netpage network operator is able to bill the user for any Netpage related costs incurred.
There are times where a mobile user's identity cannot be determined via a mobile carrier: possibly a company does not want to or cannot get the information from a carrier; the mobile device may be connecting to the network without a carrier being involved; or the carrier may not have the information required, eg. anonymous pre-paid accounts. In these situations the functionality available to the user can be reduced to functionality that does not require knowledge of the user's identity or additional Netpage specific information can be used to establish the user's identity to the satisfaction of the Netpage system.
Netpage-specific user identity information is stored on the device during the Netpage registration/activation process. To give the same level of user identity portability as a SIM card the information can be stored on the SIM card, if it is present. If that is not possible, due to a mobile carrier denying access to it or it not being present, it can be stored in a secure store within the device and if that is not possible, on the normal file system of the device. If the identity information is stored on the SIM card, it can automatically move with the user's carrier identity when they swap SIM cards.
6. Use Cases
6.1 M-Print Blanks
The M-Print printer 4 is able to print on special M-Print blanks that are specially designed to provide optimal print quality in a M-Print printer 4. The blanks are purchased by a user in packs and loaded one-by-one into the printer when a print is being made.
To ensure valid blanks are loaded into the printer 4, a mechanism for validating the supplied blanks and rejecting imitations can be supplied. This can be done by reading an ID from the blank during printing and validating that ID either locally or via a network service.
The blanks are pre-tagged. For Netpage to be able to correctly register a printout an ImpressionID is determined from the pre-tagged blank when the printout is printed. This implies the M-Print printer is able to read the ImpressionID from the blank.
Both cases can use the ID encoded on the blank. The proposed scheme for validating the ID involves reading a second number from the blank called the signature. The signature and ID can then be validated as a pair.
The proposed mechanism for this is to consult a network based service that securely stores the ID and signature pairs that have been manufactured.
Both the ID and the signature are readable by the printer 4 and in the Netpage case by a Netpage pointer 533. The M-Print printer 4 does not contain a Netpage pointer 533, but it includes a bar code reader. This means the ID and the signature are provided on the back of the blank as a linear bar code, most likely in IR ink, for the printer 4 and on the front of the blank encoded in the Netpage tag encoding for the Netpage pointer 533.
In some circumstances, validation of the ID may not be possible in real time before the printout completes. Thus, users are informed if non-genuine blanks are being loaded into the printer and warn the user that loaded non-genuine blanks may decrease the lifetime of the printer's printhead.
While complete validation of the ID may not be possible before printing, coding on the blank can be detected that indicates the orientation of the blank and also the start of the timing codes that allow the printer 4 to detect the speed at which the blank is moving through the printer 4. If these can not be detected the blank may be rejected before printing commences.
6.1.1 Loading a Card
Referring to
If the user inserts the paper upside down at option 752, the user is prompted to re-insert the blank the other way. If the loaded paper is uncoded or incorrectly coded, the user is prompted to insert a genuine M-Print blank.
6.1.2 Validate an ID
Referring to
Once the ID and signature have been validated it is passed at step 762 onto a Netpage microserver 761 for processing as the ImpressionID of the printout. The user is alerted that the last print was done on an invalid blank and continuing to use such blanks shortens the life of the printer 4.
6.2 Printing
Common to all the use cases present below is printing. From a users perspective, printing normally has two stages, a third may be added if an error occurs or the blank is invalid:
The user view of loading the blank and reporting an invalid blank are covered above. The user's view of printing is both: a progress dialog that allows the user to view the progress of the print and cancel the print; and being able to see the blank move through the printer and emerge from the device.
Cancelling the print stops the printer using any more ink, but the ID and signature from the blank may still be read for validation.
6.2.1 Print
If the user wants to cancel the print job the user presses cancel on the print progress bar which results in the print job stopping and the blank being ejected. If an error occurs such as a paper jam, an error message may be provided to alert the user. The user may then dismiss the dialog of the error message and progress dialogs are removed. If a blank fails validation, the user is alerted of the failure.
6.3 Uploading and Downloading Data
Moving data on and off mobile devices via the wireless network reliably presents a number of challenges:
Referring to
The network based component of this service provides a carrier integration point. A carrier may choose to host this service and bill the traffic for it differently to encourage usage of the M-Print and Netpage services. It also provides a single point of modification to take advantage of new features in the carrier networks, eg. a new data push model not based on SMS.
The device based component of this service provides a simple interface to the device based M-Print and Netpage services, while providing the ability to exploit all the features of a mobile device 100 to access network based services. This may include taking advantage of WLAN connectivity where possible.
The download sequence shown in
6.4 Netpage Pointer/Scanner
In the printing scenario a blank's ID is read during printing. This ID is used to both facilitate validation of the blank as a valid M-Print blank and also as an Impression ID for Netpage. The Impression ID is used by the Netpage server 529 to associate the M-Print printout with the document that was printed onto the blank.
An M-Print blank has the ID encoded on the back of the blank in a way that is readable by the paper feed mechanism. If the blank has been pre-tagged with Netpage tags then the ID is also embedded in the Netpage tags. To initiate a Netpage interaction the first step is for the user to perform an action that retrieves the ID and supplies it to a Netpage server. The ID can be retrieved by:
The first two of these actions use Netpage specific devices to read the Netpage tags. The pen 533 provides a stream of digital ink along with the ID and the pointer provides a position on the printout along with the ID. The last uses a scanning mechanism to read the ID from the back of the printout. It can be the same scanner as is used in the M-Print printer paper feed mechanism or it can be a dedicated scanner that the printout is feed into or passed over, similar to a bar code reader. This mechanism only provides the ID, it does not provide any positional information, but Netpage applications can be authored to support a “scan” of the printout as well as a click or a stroke on the printout.
6.4.1 Activate a Netpage Application Via a Scan
The user passes an existing M-Print printout back through their M-Print printer to activate the associated Netpage application.
The printout is drawn through the printer and a Netpage application is launched. If there is no Netpage application for the printout, the user is told the printout has no associated application. If the printout fails validation, the user is alerted of the failure.
The effect the user sees as a result of a Netpage application being launched varies depending on the application, some examples are:
7. Applications
7.1 Photo Printing
Photo printing is a major application for M-Print. In its simplest form, photo printing can be done completely locally, without any dependence on network services or interactions. Printing a photo can interact with a photo archives If a photo is printed then it is likely the user may wish to access or print the photo again. When a photo is printed it can be pushed out to the photo archive making it available for on-line retrieval or access. Netpage functionality offers a convenient and natural way of interacting with a printed photo. A Netpage enabled photo can act as a permission token, giving the holder of the printout permission to retrieve and reprint the photo from the archives Photo archiving from mobile devices is an independent application from photo printing. Users typically take more photos that they wish to keep in an archive than they wish to print.
7.1.1 Local Photo Printing
Referring to
Other options include:
Referring to
When the photo is pushed to the archive the user is given the opportunity to specify what access permission's should be applied to the photo at step 801 in the archive 800. In this scenario it is kept to public or private 802 for simplicity, but it could easily be a more complex selection from various ACLs (Access Control Lists) maintained by the user.
Optionally, default settings may be applied for archiving the images where the user may not be prompted if the default settings indicate whether all photos should be public or private.
This sequence diagram shows the most likely case, where uploading the photo to the archive occurs after printing has finished. This is the most likely case, since power demands of printing require the network connectivity section of the phone to be powered down, or at least avoided.
Some devices may be able to support both, in which case the upload could occur during the print. The photo archive is accessible from both a browser on a mobile device 100 or a desktop browser. The user is able to print a photo from the archive to either a desktop printer or the printer in their mobile device.
7.1.3 Printing Archives a Netpage Enabled Photo
In this use case the user interactions are the same as for “Printing a Photo Archives the Photo”, but in the background, the document, the printout, and the impression ID are registered with the Netpage infrastructure. The printout can be interacted with via a Netpage pointer 533 immediately on the device it was printed on, but it is not be active for other pointers or pens until it has been successfully uploaded to the network based Netpage services.
Referring to
The need to move the photo and the Netpage document associations out into the network to enable general Netpage interactive on the printed photo, gives the pushing of the photo to the photo archive more importance. In this case the push to the archive includes a flag indicating the photo should be moved to the off device archive as soon as possible. The registering of a printout with the Netpage services can not complete until the blank has been validated since the ID is used as the Netpage impression ID.
In this case the photo reference rather than the photo is lodged with the Netpage microserver. The printout can be interacted with via a Netpage pointer on the same device after the ID and signature have been validated, but other pointers and pens can only interact with the document after it has been successfully uploaded to the Netpage network server.
8. Player Use Cases
8.1 Business Card Application
This section covers the Netpage Player PlayRequests 521 used in the interactive Netpage Business Card and describes the behaviour of the Player Agents 537 handling such objects and commands.
8.1.1 Phone Number
Referring to
The mobile phone icon 813 is configured with a more fully specified PlayRequest 809 than the phone number fields 817, 818. The PlayRequest 809 specifies an operation (“dial”) that should be performed when that field is selected. The operation overrides the default handling of phone-number values that might otherwise be performed in the absence of an explicit operation. Note that the target of the request is still left unspecified. This gives the routing system the freedom to determine the most appropriate device with which to make the call. This is especially appropriate for a business card 810 which might be handed out to hundreds of users who each typically have their own phone. Placing a specific target in the PlayRequest would have been possible, although inappropriate in this case. The landline telephone icon 813 is configured similarly to the mobile phone icon, but with a different value for the phone number.
8.1.2 Fax Number
Referring to
8.1.3 Web Address
Referring to
8.1.4 SMS and MMS Fields
Referring to
8.1.5 Email Address
Referring to
8.1.6 Street Address
Referring to
Referring to
8.2 Scanning Support
Referring to
The printed business card 820 can be authored to invoke a PlayRequest 851 in response to a scan event. Typically, such a PlayRequest 851 provides information pertaining to the entire content of the printout. In the case of the business card, the document can be authored to invoke a PlayRequest 851 that contains a text/directory object 852 that specifies most of the details from the card. Such a PlayRequest 851 would typically be routed to a Contacts Application (such as vCard Agent) which would then modify its database to include the details from the business card.
8.2.1 M-Print Photo Cards Including Scan Support
8.3 Printout Interactivity on the Mobile Device GUI
When a scan of an M-Print printout is performed on a mobile device 100 the action taken can vary. One possible action is to display the printout on the mobile device's GUI with the hyperlinks and form fields active so that a user can navigate between them and fill them in or activate them, in the same way a Netpage user can on a printout using a Netpage pen or pointer.
If the mobile device has a touch screen and a stylus then it is possible to support all the interactions that a user with a Netpage pen could have with the printout. If the mobile device doesn't support a touch screen and stylus then it is possible to tab through the hyperlinks and submit fields on the form and activate them in the same way that a user with Netpage pointer and a printout could.
Below is a use case illustrating the sequence of events for a user to activate a hyperlink by scanning the printout.
8.3.1 Scan a Business Card and Send an MMS to the Person
The upper portion of the sequence diagram in
9.0 Mobile Telecommunications Device Overview
Whilst the main embodiment includes both Netpage and printing functionality, only one or the other of these features is provided in other embodiments.
One such embodiment is shown in
The mobile telecommunications device can use any of a variety of known operating systems, such as Symbian (with UIQ and Series 60 GUIs), Windows Mobile, PalmOS, and Linux.
In the preferred embodiment (described in more detail below), the print media is pre-printed with tags, and the printer module 4 prints visible information onto the page 6 in registration with the tags. In other embodiments, Netpage tags are printed by the printer module onto the page 6 along with the other information. The tags can be printed using either the same visible ink as used to print visible information, or using an infrared or other substantially invisible ink.
The information printed by the printer module 4 can include user data stored in the mobile phone 1 (including 10 phonebook and appointment data) or text and images received via the telecommunications network or from another device via a communication mechanism such as Bluetooth™ or infrared transmission. If the mobile phone 1 includes a camera, the printer module 4 can be configured to print the captured images. In the preferred form, the mobile phone module 2 provides at least basic editing capabilities to enable cropping, filtering or addition of text or other image data to the captured image before printing. The configuration and operation of the printer module 4 is described in more detail below in the context of various types of mobile telecommunication device that incorporate a printhead.
A more detailed architectural view of the mobile phone 1 of
The Netpage tag sensor module 8 includes a monolithically integrated Netpage image sensor and processor 12 that captures image data and receives a signal from a contact switch 14. The contact switch 14 is connected to a nib (not shown) to determine when the nib is pressed into contact with a surface. The sensor and processor 12 also outputs a signal to control illumination of an infrared LED 16 in response to the stylus being pressed against the surface. The image sensor and processor 12 outputs processed tag information to a Netpage pointer driver 18 that interfaces with the phone operating system 20 running on the mobile telecommunications device's processor (not shown).
Output to be printed is sent by the phone operating system 20 to a printer driver 22, which passes it on to a MoPEC chip 24. The MoPEC chip processes the output to generate dot data for supply to the printhead 26, as described in more detail below. The MoPEC chip 24 also receives a signal from a media sensor 28 indicating when the media is in position to be printed, and outputs a control signal to a media transport 30.
The printhead 26 is disposed within a replaceable cartridge 32, which also includes ink 34 for supply to the printhead.
9.1 Mobile Telecommunications Device Module
Operation of, and communication between, the mobile phone module 2 components is controlled by a mobile phone controller 36. The components include:
The mobile phone controller 36 implements the baseband functions of mobile voice and data communications protocols such as GSM, GSM modem for data, GPRS and CDMA, as well as higher-level messaging protocols such as SMS and MMS. The one or more local-area radio transceivers 56 enable wireless communication with peripherals such as headsets and Netpage pens, and hosts such as personal computers. The mobile phone controller 36 also implements the baseband functions of local-area voice and data communications protocols such as IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, and Bluetooth™.
The mobile phone module 2 may also include sensors and/or motors (not shown) for electronically adjusting zoom, focus, aperture and exposure in relation to the digital camera. Similarly, as shown in
Whilst the printhead cartridge in the preferred form includes the ink supply 34, the ink reservoirs can be housed in a separate cartridge in alternative embodiments.
In an alternative embodiment, shown in
The Netpage sensor module can be incorporated in the form of a Netpage pointer, which is a simplified Netpage pen suitable mostly for activating hyperlinks. It preferably incorporates a non-marking stylus in place of the pen's marking nib (described in detail later in the specification); it uses a surface contact sensor in place of the pen's continuous force sensor; and it preferably operates at a lower position sampling rate, making it unsuitable for capturing drawings and hand-writing. A Netpage pointer is less expensive to implement than a Netpage pen, and tag image processing and tag decoding can potentially be performed by software without hardware support, depending on sampling rate.
The various aspects of the invention can be embodied in any of a number of mobile telecommunications device types. Several different devices are described here, but in the interests of brevity, the detailed description will concentrate on the mobile telecommunications device embodiment.
9.2 Mobile Device
One preferred embodiment is the non-Netpage enabled ‘candy bar’ mobile telecommunications device in the form of a mobile phone shown in
In further embodiments, the device can have two body sections that rotate or slide relative to each other. Typically, the aim of these mechanical relationships between first and second body sections is to protect the display from scratches and/or the keypad from accidental activation. Photo printing is considered one of the most compelling uses of the mobile Memjet printer. A preferred embodiment of the invention therefore includes a camera, with its attendant processing power and memory capacity.
The elements of the mobile telecommunications device are best shown in
The front moulding 104 mounts to the emphasis to enclose the various components, and includes numerical interface buttons 136 positioned in vertical rows on each side of the display 138. A multi-directional control pad 142 and other control buttons 284 enable menu navigation and other control inputs. A daughterboard 280 is mounted to the chassis moulding 102 and includes a directional switch 286 for the multi directional control pad 142. The mobile telecommunications device includes a cartridge access cover 132 that protects the interior of the mobile telecommunications device from dust and other foreign objects when a print cartridge 148 is not inserted in the cradle 124.
An optional camera module 110 is also mounted to the chassis moulding 102, to enable image capture through a hole 112 in the rear cover moulding 106. The camera module 110 includes a lens assembly and a CCD image sensor for capturing images. A lens cover 268 in the hole 112 protects the lens of the camera module 110. The rear cover moulding 106 also includes an inlet slot 228 and an outlet slot 150 through which print media passes.
The chassis moulding 102 supports a data/recharge connector 114, which enables a proprietary data cable to be plugged into the mobile telecommunications device for uploading and downloading data such as address book information, photographs, messages, and any type of information that might be sent or received by the mobile telecommunications device. The data/recharge connector 114 is configured to engage a corresponding interface in a desktop stand (not shown), which holds the mobile telecommunications device in a generally upright position whilst data is being sent or received by the mobile telecommunications device. The data/recharge connector also includes contacts that enable recharging of the battery 108 via the desktop stand. A separate recharge socket 116 in the data/recharge connector 114 is configured to receive a complimentary recharge plug for enabling recharging of the battery when the desktop stand is not in use.
A microphone 170 is mounted to the chassis moulding 102 for converting sound, such as a user's voice, into an electronic signal to be sampled by the mobile telecommunications device's analog to digital conversion circuitry. This conversion is well known to those skilled in the art and so is not described in more detail here. A SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) holder 118 is formed in the chassis moulding 102, to receive a SIM card 120. The chassis moulding is also configured to support a print cartridge cradle 124 and a drive mechanism 126, which receive a replaceable print cartridge 148. These features are described in more detail below. Another moulding in the chassis moulding 102 supports an aerial (not shown) for sending and receiving RF signals to and from a mobile telecommunications network.
A main printed circuit board (PCB) 130 is supported by the chassis moulding 102, and includes a number of momentary pushbuttons 132. The various integrated and discrete components that support the communications and processing (including printing processing) functions are mounted to the main PCB, but for clarity are not shown in the diagram.
A conductive elastomeric overlay 134 is positioned on the main PCB 130 beneath the keys 136 on the front 40 moulding 104. The elastomer incorporates a carbon impregnated pill on a flexible profile. When one of the keys 136 is pressed, it pushes the carbon pill to a 2-wire open circuit pattern 132 on the PCB surface. This provides a low impedance closed circuit. Alternatively, a small dome is formed on the overlay corresponding to each key 132.
Polyester film is screen printed with carbon paint and used in a similar manner to the carbon pills. Thin adhesive film with beryllium copper domes can also be used. A loudspeaker 144 is installed adjacent apertures 272 in the front moulding 104 to enable a user to hear sound such as voice communication and other audible signals.
A color display 138 is also mounted to the main PCB 130, to enable visual feedback to a user of the mobile telecommunications device. A transparent lens moulding 146 protects the display 138. In one form, the transparent lens is touch-sensitive (or is omitted and the display 138 is touch sensitive), enabling a user to interact with icons and input text displayed on the display 138, with a finger or stylus.
A vibration assembly 274 is also mounted to the chassis moulding 102, and includes a motor that drives an eccentrically mounted weight to cause vibration. The vibration is transmitted to the chassis 102 and provides tactile feedback to a user, which is useful in noisy environments where ringtones are not audible.
10. Print Media Printing
A Netpage printer normally prints the tags which make up the surface coding on demand, i.e. at the same time as it prints graphic page content. As an alternative, in a Netpage printer not capable of printing tags such as the preferred embodiment, pre-tagged but otherwise blank Netpages can be used. The printer, instead of being capable of tag printing, typically incorporates a Netpage tag sensor. The printer senses the tags and hence the region ID of a blank either prior to, during, or after the printing of the graphic page content onto the blank. It communicates the region ID to the Netpage server, and the server associates the page content and the region ID in the usual way.
A particular Netpage surface coding scheme allocates a minimum number of bits to the representation of spatial coordinates within a surface region. If a particular media size is significantly smaller than the maximum size representable in the minimum number of bits, then the Netpage code space may be inefficiently utilised. It can therefore be of interest to allocate different sub-areas of a region to a collection of blanks. Although this makes the associations maintained by the Netpage server more complex, and makes subsequent routing of interactions more complex, it leads to more efficient code space utilisation. In the limit case the surface coding may utilise a single region with a single coordinate space, i.e. without explicit region IDs.
If regions are sub-divided in this way, then the Netpage printer uses the tag sensor to determine not only the region ID but also the surface coding location of a known physical position on the print medium, i.e. relative to two edges of the medium. From the surface coding location and its corresponding physical position on the medium, and the known (or determined) size of the medium, it then determines the spatial extent of the medium in the region's coordinate space, and communicates both the region ID and the spatial extent to the server. The server associates the page content with the specified sub-area of the region.
A number of mechanisms can be used to read tag data from a blank. A conventional Netpage tag sensor incorporating a two-dimensional image sensor can be used to capture an image of the tagged surface of the blank at any convenient point in the printer's paper path. As an alternative, a linear image sensor can be used to capture successive line images of the tagged surface of the blank during transport. The line images can be used to create a two-dimensional image which is processed in the usual way. As a further alternative, region ID data and other salient data can be encoded linearly on the blank, and a simple photodetector and ADC can be used to acquire samples of the linear encoding during transport.
One important advantage of using a two-dimensional image sensor is that tag sensing can occur before motorised transport of the print medium commences. For example, if the print medium is manually inserted by the user, then tag sensing can occur during insertion. This has the further advantage that if the tag data is validated by the device, then the print medium can be rejected and possibly ejected before printing commences. For example, the print medium may have been pre-printed with advertising or other graphic content on the reverse side from the intended printing side. The device can use the tag data to detect incorrect media insertion, i.e. upside-down or back-to-front. The device can also prevent accidental overprinting of an already-printed medium. And it can detect the attempted use of an invalid print medium and refuse printing, eg. to protect print quality. The device can also derive print medium characteristics from the tag data, to allow it to perform optimal print preparation.
If a linear image sensor is used, or if a photodetector is used, then image sensing must occur during motorised transport of the print medium to ensure accurate imaging. Unless there are at least two points of contact between the transport mechanism and the print medium in the printing path, separated by a minimum distance equal to the tag data acquisition distance, tag data cannot be extracted before printing commences, and the validation advantages discussed above do not obtain. In the case of a linear image sensor, the tag data acquisition distance equals the diameter of the normal tag imaging field of view. In the case of a photodetector, the tag data acquisition distance is as long as the required linear encoding.
If the tag sensor is operable during the entire printing phase at a sufficiently high sampling rate, then it can also be used to perform accurate motion sensing, with the motion data being used to provide a line synchronisation signal to the print engine. This can be used to eliminate the effects of jitter in the transport mechanism.
Referring to
In one form, the encoded data is printed in IR ink so that it is invisible and does not encroach on the space available for printing visible images.
In a basic form, the M-Print cards 226 are only encoded with a data track and clocking (as a separate clock track or a self-clocking data track). However, in the more sophisticated embodiment shown in the figures, the cards 226 have a pre-printed Netpage tag pattern 438 covering the majority of the back-side. The front side may also have a pre-printed tag pattern. It is preferred in these embodiments that the data track encodes first information that is at least indicative of second information encoded in the tags. Most preferably, the first information is simply the document identity that is encoded in each of the tags.
The clock track 434 allows the MoPEC 326 (see
The data track 436 provides the Netpage identifier and optionally associated digital signatures which allows MoPEC 326 to reject fraudulent or un-authorised media 226, and to report the Netpage identifier of the front-side Netpage tag pattern to a Netpage server. It should be noted that a fragment of a digital signature can also be considered a digital signature in its own right.
As an alternative, the optical encoders can sense the direction of media movement by configuring them to be ‘quadrature encoders’. A quadrature encoder contains a pair of optical encoders spatially positioned to read the clock track 90 degrees out of phase. Its in-phase and quadrature outputs allow the MoPEC 326 to identify not just the motion of the clock track 434 but also the direction of the motion. A quadrature encoder is generally not required, since the media transport direction is known a priori because the printer controller also controls the transport motor. However, the use of a quadrature encoder can help decouple a bi-directional motion sensing mechanism from the motion control mechanism.
The data decoder 450 uses the clock 446 recovered by the DPLL 444 to sample the signal from the data track optical encoder 442. It may either sample the continuous signal from the data track optical encoder 442, or it may actually 5 trigger the LED of the data track optical encoder 442 for the duration of the sample period, thereby reducing the total power consumption of the LED. The DPLL 444 may be a PLL, or it may simply measure and filter the period between successive clock pulses.
The line sync generator 456 consists of a numerically-controlled oscillator which generates line sync pulses 476 at a rate which is a multiple of the rate of the clock 446 recovered from the clock track 434.
As shown in
Optionally, the printer can rely on the media coding itself to obtain longitudinal registration. For example, it may rely on acquisition of a pilot sequence on the data track 436 to obtain registration. In this case, as shown in
As shown in
While the momentum of the card is sufficient to carry the trailing edge past the printhead, it is not enough to fling it out of the exit slot 150 (
10.1 M-Print Flip Printing
One can allow a previously printed m-print Netpage card to be re-inserted into the printing mechanism “flipped-over”, so that the side not previously printed on (i.e. the back of the card) is now facing towards the print head. The printer would detect such an insertion and would automatically print additional information on to the back of the card. The additional information would typically, but not necessarily, be application and context specific. That is:
This allows applications to print information onto the back side of the card which is specific to the original printout on the front side of the card. There are many potential uses for such a mechanism. For the sake of discussion, one such case is described below.
10.1.1 Camera Use-Case
The time duration between the user taking the original photo and inserting the flipped-over card could be arbitrarily long. As such, the mechanism can act as a “what is this photo that I just found?” facility. Another advantage is that it removes the need to have text obscuring parts of the photo in order to provide date/time information.
11. General Netpage Overview
Netpage interactivity can be used to provide printed user interfaces to various phone functions and applications, such as enabling particular operational modes of the mobile telecommunications device or interacting with a calculator application, as well as providing general “keypad”, “keyboard” and “tablet” input to the mobile telecommunications device. Such interfaces can be pre-printed and bundled with a phone, purchased separately (as a way of customizing phone operation, similar to ringtones and themes) or printed on demand where the phone incorporates a printer.
A printed Netpage business card provides a good example of how a variety of functions can be usefully combined in a single interface, including:
Any of these functions can be made single-use only. A business card may be printed by the mobile telecommunications device user for presentation to someone else, or may be printed from a Web page relating to a business for the mobile telecommunications device user's own use. It may also be pre-printed.
As described below, the primary benefit of incorporating a Netpage pointer or pen in another device is synergy. A Netpage pointer or pen incorporated in a mobile phone, smartphone or telecommunications-enabled PDA, for example, allows the device to act as both a Netpage pointer and as a relay between the pointer and the mobile phone network and hence a Netpage server. When the pointer is used to interact with a page, the target application of the interaction can display information on the phone display and initiate further interaction with the user via the phone touchscreen. The pointer is most usefully configured so that its “nib” is in a corner of the phone body, allowing the user to easily manipulate the phone to designate a tagged surface. The phone can incorporate a marking nib and optionally a continuous force sensor to provide full Netpage pen functionality.
An exemplary Netpage interaction will now be described to show how a sensing device in the form of a Netpage enabled mobile device interacts with the coded data on a print medium in the form of a card. Whilst in the preferred form the print medium is a card generated by the mobile device or another mobile device, it can also be a commercially pre-printed card that is purchased or otherwise provided as part of a commercial transaction. The print medium can also be a page of a book, magazine, newspaper or brochure, for example. The print medium can be provided with coded data in a variety of formats, the coded data encoding a range of information, preferably, at least some of the information being indicative of the print media identifier. The information can be indicative of a two-dimensional coordinate grid, and the format can be a two-dimensional pattern.
For example, the print medium can be provided with first coded data in a first format and second coded data in a second format, the first coded data encoding first information and the second coded data encoding second information, with at least some of the first information being indicative of the print media identifier, the first format being a linear pattern, and with at least some of the second information being indicative of the print media identifier and of a two-dimensional coordinate grid, the second format being a two-dimensional pattern. In a particular example form, the information is further indicative of at least part of a digital signature associated with the print media identifier, the sensor module determining, by reading at least some of the coded data, at least part of the digital signature, and the printer module can then print, if the digital signature is authentic, content on the print media.
The mobile device senses a tag using an area image sensor and detects tag data. The mobile device uses the sensed data tag to generate interaction data, which is sent via a mobile telecommunications network to a document server. The document server uses the ID to access the document description, and interpret the interaction. In appropriate circumstances, the document server sends a corresponding message to an application server, which can then perform a corresponding action.
Typically Netpage pen and Netpage-enabled mobile device users register with a registration server, which associates the user with an identifier stored in the respective Netpage pen or Netpage enabled mobile device. By providing the sensing device identifier as part of the interaction data, this allows users to be identified, allowing transactions or the like to be performed. Netpage documents are generated by having an ID server generate an ID which is transferred to the document server. The document server determines a document description and then records an association between the document description and the ID, to allow subsequent retrieval of the document description using the ID. The ID is then used to generate the tag data, as will be described in more detail below, before the document is printed by a suitable printer, using the page description and the tag map.
Each tag is represented by a pattern which contains two kinds of elements. The first kind of element is a target. Targets allow a tag to be located in an image of a coded surface, and allow the perspective distortion of the tag to be inferred. The second kind of element is a macrodot. Each macrodot encodes the value of a bit by its presence or absence. The pattern is represented on the coded surface in such a way as to allow it to be acquired by an optical imaging system, and in particular by an optical system with a narrowband response in the near-infrared. The pattern is typically printed onto the surface using a narrowband near-infrared ink.
In the preferred embodiment, the region typically corresponds to the entire surface of an M-Print card, and the region ID corresponds to the unique M-Print card ID. For clarity in the following discussion we refer to items and IDs, with the understanding that the ID corresponds to the region ID. The surface coding is designed so that an acquisition field of view large enough to guarantee acquisition of an entire tag is large enough to guarantee acquisition of the ID of the region containing the tag. Acquisition of the tag itself guarantees acquisition of the tag's two-dimensional position within the region, as well as other tag-specific data. The surface coding therefore allows a sensing device to acquire a region ID and a tag position during a purely local interaction with a coded surface, e.g. during a “click” or tap on a coded surface with a pen.
Optional embodiments of the present invention may also be said to broadly consist in the parts, elements and features referred to or indicated herein, individually or collectively, in any or all combinations of two or more of the parts, elements or features, and wherein specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which the invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth.
Although a preferred embodiment has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.
12. Further Example Applications—Lifestyle Services
12.1 Membership Subscription Services
A push application can be defined as any digital content that is sent to a consumer as a result of a subscription. Push application content can be broadly categorized as belonging to several different groups, including: News and mass media, including current affairs news, breaking news and sports news; Global and regional economic, market and industry information; and Specialized niche market information.
Most digital content that is sent to subscribers is in the form of email newsletters. An increasing number of mobile operators, including Japanese DoCoMo and European operators Vodafone and O2, provide news and business information subscription information in the form of text alerts. Many push application services are fee-based, whereby users pay a monthly or annual subscription fee.
Some push services are provided on a complimentary basis to consumers, often because push content providers find it profitable to sell email newsletter advertising space to other businesses. For consumers, this can become a disadvantage: relevant digital content is accompanied by significant advertising content. In recent years, the sale of email address lists, an increase in spam, and overflowing email inboxes has also made many lists far less attractive.
Consumers want push application services to provide quality rather than quantity: Current, concise information; In a timely and efficient manner; Relevant to their information requirements. It is envisaged that the delivery of digital content from personalized push applications can be based on individual user-defined preferences. Consumers will be able to subscribe to digital content services that should provide them with the ability to:
Consumers will increasingly be afforded the opportunity to exercise more control over the type of digital content they receive. For example, a consumer may seek information on ‘movies’ from the ‘1950s’ that starred ‘Gene Kelly’. When the consumer has received sufficient relevant information, they may choose to change their preferences or unsubscribe from the service. As push application service providers implement new delivery systems in order to provide consumers with their preferred digital content, they are also using additional digital communications channels, such as SMS and MMS. Trends in consumers' digital content requirements mean that more and more businesses are choosing to send SMS messages to consumers that contain only the specific information that the consumer has requested.
Printing provides a familiar way of sharing subscription information, whether this includes breaking news or niche data. Push subscriptions can be designed to integrate with print applications, such as calendars. Daily appointments diaries or task lists can be combined with daily subscription content, including photographic art, impressionist or other art, daily quotes, jokes, cartoons or thoughts.
Interactive paper allows subscribers to interact with printed content to generate additional on-screen and printable content. Subscribers can follow printed links, and share paper copies of reports and material with friends and colleagues.
Referring to
Referring to
The printed subscription may a permission token readable using the sensor module to at least one of: retrieve information associated with the subscription from the archive; verify payment of the subscription; initiate payment of the subscription; and gain access to a resource. Printing the subscription may cause information associated with the subscription to be archived. Information associated with the subscription may include one or more of: the subscription; a visual description of the subscription; an image of the subscription; an interactive description of the subscription; contents of the subscription; delivery of the subject of the subscription; renewal of the subscription; and subscription details. The subscription may be for at least one of: magazines; books; medical items; wine; goods; and newspapers. The subscription may include at least one of: a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details.
12.2 Greetings and Gift Cards
Greetings cards can be segmented according to occasion, for example:
The UK greetings card industry is worth over US$2.17 billion annually, according to Mintel, making it the most successful such industry in the world. Market reports puts the average number of cards sent at 55 per person per year, more than one a week. In the United States, 90% of households buy greeting cards, purchasing an average 35 cards a year. Approximately 7 billion greeting cards are purchased annually, generating more than US$7.5 billion in retail sales. According to a recent study for the US Greeting Card Association, 64% of Americans still prefer traditional methods of personal communication, such as sending and receiving paper and ink greetings cards. Although people rely on a variety of ways to stay connected, when it comes to a special touch, items such as greetings cards are valued and tangible in a way that purely digital content is not. In 2003, the Greeting Card Association of Canada reported that electronic greetings cards, or e-cards, have had only a nominal effect, capturing only around 1 or 2 percent of the market.
Jupiter Research states that paid e-cards represent around 0.7% of the US market with 20% annual growth. Statistics for usage of free e-cards appear unavailable, while some providers—like BlueMountain.com—use an annual subscription model, rather than pay per card. E-card site users skew heavily female, and toward relatively high income and education levels that reflect high-speed Internet access and a degree of comfort with sending and receiving online cards. Growth rates and demographics for e-cards are viewed favourably, and the market may develop, with publishers like Hallmark able to rapidly introduce new themes, as well as enabling personalised greetings cards' with consumer input.
12.2.1 Personalization Software
Software to customize, or personalize, greetings cards may be pre-installed, installed directly over the air, or installed from another device such as a computer. Templates can be designed using a computer, downloaded, or sent via MMS. To design a greeting card a user may be required to:
Card designers and manufacturers should benefit from shorter time to market, and a better match between supply and demand. Consumers will be able to design and print greetings and gift cards on demand. Design and personalisation software can be purchased and installed on the mobile phone. Personalisation can create a ‘designer’ look by adding photographs, special effects and personalized language and prose at a low cost. Mobile phone users may send e-cards for a recipient to print at their convenience. The medium is better suited to spontaneous events and experiences rather than the main annual events. Design templates could take advantage of this, being targeted to the ‘congratulations on your achievement’, ‘cheer up’, or ‘get well soon’ experiences where immediacy is an advantage.
12.2.3 Interactivity Opportunities
Interactivity may assist in generating demand for value added services by facilitating responses by card recipients, including ‘thank you’ cards and MMS messages. Referring to
The printed greeting card may be a permission token readable using the sensor module to retrieve information associated with the greeting card, the information including at least one of: a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details. Printing the greeting card may cause information associated with the greeting card to be archived. Information associated with the greeting card may include one or more of: the greeting card; a visual description of the greeting card; an image of the greeting card; an interactive description of the greeting card; contents of the greeting card; and greeting card details. The greeting card may include at least one of: a message; a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details printed on the print medium. The greeting card may be printed periodically by the mobile communications device.
12.3 Education
A wide range of institutions and trainers can provide digital educational content:
Developments in distance learning and web-based delivery methods mean that classrooms are evolving beyond the traditional learning environment, and institutions are spreading beyond their campuses. CNN have reported that “although brick and mortar institutions still dominate the educational landscape, a new form of schooling—called online or e-learning—has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years” Eduventures, predict that the US online distance learning market will grow by more than 38% in 2004, taking US$5.1 billion in revenue”. In higher education, CNN report that “90 percent of four-year public schools and more than half of four-year private schools offer some form of online education, according to the United States Distance Learning Association”. Primary and secondary institutions also offer online content. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2004) define the different types of ‘online learning’ or ‘e-learning’ as:
Educational institutions, businesses and students alike could use printed content for:
The internet is an important channel for the dissemination and distribution of digital education content, including: Flashcards; Tutorials; Quizzes, games and tests; Presentations; Video and audio; and Reference sources. Digital educational content can be obtained in two ways: Downloaded from the internet, or Electronically sent to a person from an educational institution or business. Browser-enabled mobile phones provide users with the ability to receive educational content on their handsets and download content from the web.
12.3.1 Print Opportunities
The initial paper size is likely to be well suited for the printing of flash cards, exercise and tests in, for example, learning a language. The format can also suit the dissemination of scheduling information, examination results and other administrative materials.
12.3.2 Interactivity Opportunities
A user can click a question to download a printable answer or explanation, or view the response on-screen.
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
The printed educational material may be a permission token readable using the sensor module to at least one of: retrieve information associated with the educational material from the archive; and gain access to a resource. Printing the educational material may cause information associated with the educational material to be archived. Information associated with the educational material may include one or more of: the educational material; a visual description of the educational material; an image of the educational material; an interactive description of the educational material; contents of the educational material; and educational material details. The educational material may be at least one of: classroom material; lecture notes; a test; test results; instructions; a lesson plan; a tutorial; and homework. The educational material may be printed periodically.
12.4 Trading Cards
Collecting product or collectable trading cards began as a by-product of product advertising. Trading cards are divided into two broad categories: Sports and Collectables. In the United States alone there are an estimated 60 million sports fans, of which 3 million are sports collectors. Sports' collecting is the most actively traded item on the internet. Over US$5 billion in sports items is traded annually and trading cards are the top performer. Collectable trading cards are an integral part of many products' merchandising, positioned alongside toys, comics, movies and television. Collectable trading cards include products such as Pokemon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Teenage Ninja Turtles, Twilight Zone and Harry Potter. Trading cards are distributed through newsagents, supermarkets, toy stores, department stores, mail order catalogues, over the web and through trading card clubs.
The collector's main objective is to collect a complete set of cards. A complete set may include between 150 and 250 cards. A small percentage of trading cards are sold as boxed sets; however, most are sold as individual packets of cards that include between say 5 and 7 cards. Individual packets of cards typically include regular cards and perhaps a ‘chaser card’; chaser cards are harder to find and are therefore more valuable. Collectors unavoidably end up with duplicate cards because, even though individual packets do not contain duplicates, there may be duplication between packets. Some collectors trade their duplicate or unwanted cards over the web, through exchanges or auction sites such as EBay. Over the past several years, this new secondary market has become an important part of increasing the traditional sales of trading cards. To extend revenue from boxed trading card sets, manufacturers and games producers have released trading card games. The main advantage is that new cards are periodically released to add new players or features. These are purchased as individual packets.
The existing trading card sales and distribution network has created the following problems for consumers:
Most distribution problems are due to counterfeit and delivery issues. Mobile phone printing will eliminate many of these issues. The delivery system is simplified because the consumer is able to print authentic cards immediately after purchase, delivered directly to a handset. Mobile phone printing of trading cards makes the purchasing process more dynamic and instantaneous for consumers. Manufacturers and resellers benefit from reduced print costs and shipping costs. Manufacturers can better match supply and demand, and reduce time-to-market lifecycles. The randomness of packet distribution and chaser cards can be replicated in online systems. A user could receive an unseen, set number of cards per transaction, including both regular and chaser cards. As with current distribution methods, consumers can be expected to trade their surplus cards in pursuit of those they seek. New market opportunities for trading cards may arise as the mobile phone printing and distribution method will make smaller scale, niche markets more cost effective.
It is envisaged that mail order and web purchases will function differently using mobile phone printing. To purchase over the web or over the air:
To purchase by mail order:
The purchased trading cards are automatically debited to the consumer's mobile phone credit card or bank account, depending on stored payment details. After purchase, the consumer receives the cards on their mobile phone as an MMS message.
12.4.2 Interactivity Opportunities
Interactivity can help to eliminate the issue of card counterfeiting by providing a simple method of authenticating a valid trading card. Clicking a card could enable a simple database check to ensure that a card is genuine.
Referring to
Referring to
The printed trading card may be a permission token readable using the sensor module to retrieve information associated with the trading card, the information including at least one of: trading card authenticity; a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details. Printing the trading card may cause information associated with the trading card to be archived. Information associated with the trading card may include one or more of: the trading card; a visual description of the trading card; an image of the trading card; an interactive description of the trading card; contents of the trading card; and trading card details. The trading card may include at least one of: a message; an image; a photograph; a personality; a sportsperson; a sports personality; a television personality; an actor; a movie star; a cartoon character; a celebrity; a musician; a rock star; a product; a quotation; a cartoon strip; a graphic design; and a character printed on the print medium. The trading card may be printed periodically by the mobile communications device.
12.5 Health and Beauty
Printing from print-enabled mobile phones provides consumers with a range of print opportunities.
12.5.1 Mobile Health
Health and fitness concerns are high on the agenda in most developed economies. In the US, the weight control products and services market is worth US$15.2 billion in 2004, and are estimated to grow 6.7% annually to 2008. Health and fitness systems are focused on a combination of planning and journaling a user's calorie intake and exercise program. Consumers can use these systems online or offline from their mobile phone handsets. Operators such as Vodafone predict that a new wave of technology will see more mobile phones being used to monitor vital body signals such as heart rate, stress levels and blood pressure. This is likely to be integrated with applications to utilise the data, and increase the usage of such facilities. Current medical trials already include the use of mobile phones by UK hospitals to record information from diabetic patients, enabling rapid analysis and advice.
12.5.2 Online Health & Fitness Services
Websites either offer online calculators for free, pay-per-use or periodic site membership. Most applications require that a consumer enters their information online and then receives the results online. The different types of online calculators include: Calories burned; BMI (Body Mass Index); Food calories and nutritional values; A combination of the above factors.
12.5.3 Offline Health & Fitness Services
Offline health and fitness applications are available for mobile devices, including Fitness Coach, and Weight-By-Date. Fitness Coach for Nokia 5140 is a fitness planner and journal that tracks fitness progress as the user progresses though a fitness program and records data such a heart rate. The user can then save this information, wirelessly transfer it to a PC, or send it to a coach or trainer for assessment.
Weight-By-Date Mobile is a PDA software solution for measuring the results of diet and exercise. Features include: Journals for exercise and calories burned; Exercise plans; Track body measurement changes; Track nutritional intake; Create recipes; Record weight loss; View and print colourful progress charts; Calculate body fat percentage.
12.5.4 Beauty
The beauty industry is generally divided into four categories (The Economist, 2003): Skincare: Goldman Sachs estimates that this has a global value of US$24 billion; Haircare: US$18 billion; Cosmetics: US$38 billion; Perfume: US$15 billion. The sector is growing at up to 7% a year; more than twice the rate of the developed world's GDP. L'Oreal, the sector's market leader, has recorded annual compound profit growth of 14% for the past 13 years. Growth in this sector is being driven by increased discretionary incomes among ageing populations in the West, and by the growing incomes of people in developing countries. China, Russia and South Korea have become important markets. In India, the sales of anti-aging products are growing by 40% a year.
12.5.5 Offline Beauty Services
Virtual makeover software programs are one of the most popular offline beauty applications. Virtual makeovers allow consumers to try out new hairstyles, make up and accessories using their own photographs, in order to experiment with their overall appearance. Cosmopolitan's Virtual Makeover is a popular PC application that has sold over one million copies. The program allows the user to experiment with a large variety of hairstyles, makeup and accessories; and to then print, save and email their favourites. A common issue experienced by users of virtual makeovers is getting a photo of themselves into digital format. Accessing online services from browsers on camera phones, or emailing photographs from camera phones, can help to resolve this problem.
12.5.6 Online Beauty Services
Tens of thousands of websites offer beauty advice and instructions. Beauty advice can range from ‘how to put on makeup’ to ‘how make your own facial mask from common kitchen products’. Many beauty advice websites are related to a beauty product or brand such as L'Oreal, or a magazine such as Cosmopolitan. The L'Oreal Beauty Club (Australia) is a free subscription newsletter. Consumers can sign up for the newsletter at the L'Oreal website, registering their details and answering questions about L'Oreal products. The newsletter: Informs readers of new L'Oreal products; Informs readers of makeup, beauty and hairstyling techniques and trends; Advertises special offers and provides coupons; Offers competitions to win L'Oreal products.
12.5.7 Print Opportunities
Mobile phone health and beauty content services can consist of preloaded or downloaded software applications; online informational content; and subscription based content. Printed health and fitness results can act as an incentive for many consumers, offering a visual reminder of successes (and failures) to keep on-target and help track performance. Camera phones are ideal for obtaining digital images for virtual makeover applications. Printing ‘virtual makeover’ looks means that different looks can be compared—not necessarily possible on handset screens. Makeover looks can be taken to the hairdresser or beautician to have the makeover performed. They can also be taken to a store to assist in selecting the right products to buy.
12.5.8 Interactivity Opportunities
Interactivity should encourage the use of new value added interactive services:
Referring to
Referring to
The printed health report may be a permission token readable using the sensor module to at least one of: retrieve information associated with the health report from the archive; initiate payment for the health report; transmit the health report to a health professional; obtain a copy of the health report; and gain access to a resource. Printing the health report may cause information associated with the health report to be archived. Information associated with the health report may include one or more of: the health report; a visual description of the health report; an image of the health report; an interactive description of the health report; contents of the health report; and health report details. The health report may include at least one of: medical information; fitness information; cosmetic information; allergy information; genetic information; drug information; medicinal information; medicine information; and mental information. The health report may include at least one of: weight; height; body mass index (BMI); age; blood type; gender; a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details.
12.6 Dating Services
Online dating services have become an accepted part of single life for people of all ages, backgrounds and interests. In May 2003, more than 45 million people accessed online dating sites in the US. In the UK, 3.5 million people are accessing online dating services a month. In the US, spending on personals and dating has enjoyed steady growth since early 2001. In 2003, it was the largest paid content category with consumers spending US$449.5 million, ahead of Business/Investment and Entertainment/Lifestyles spending. As with book buying and auctioning used toys, the web has reduced the costs of engaging with romantic prospects and provided a new channel to exchange personal information, including: Pictures; Text, including email and chat or instant messaging; Video clips. The success of online dating services reflects the significance of the internet in many people's daily lives. It especially appeals to time-poor, young, urban professionals who want to meet new people outside of their social circle.
Furthermore, growth in online dating is underpinned by social factors such as a growing acceptance of being single, delayed marriage, having children later in life, rising divorce rates and increasing acceptance of the medium. Match.com has been a global leader in online dating services for the past few years, with a global membership and 27 localised dating sites in 18 local languages. Match.com members can see and read about their most likely matches, based upon criteria that they can specify, and can elect to contact or reply to messages from members, as they prefer. The Personals division of Yahoo is a major player in the online dating services market. In December 2003, Yahoo Personals was the second most popular such site with 4.1 million visitors, up 28% from December 2002. Together with smaller, and special interest sites such as “GothicMatch.com”, the sector generated more than $400 million in 2004. Most of the large dating websites, including Yahoo and Match.com, allow users to browse member profiles and post a profile for free. Paid subscription membership is required to contact other members. Instant Messaging capabilities, together with audio and video, transform static profiles and email into actual real time conversations and experiences.
12.6.1 Mobile Dating Services
A growing number of dating services offer SMS communication services. Lavalife Mobile is a service where users can search profiles and exchange text messages from mobile phones either via SMS or WAP. Users register by sending an SMS to Lavalife, and they can then create a profile online via a computer, SMS or a 2.5G service. Depending on the user's location, the service costs around US$0.50 per message sent or received. Online dating service providers believe that mobile technologies, such as location-based applications, camera phones and the use of video, will drive future growth. MMS messaging and video clips are expected to become a mainstream part of mobile phone dating services.
12.6.2 Print Opportunities
The initial paper size provides a handy wallet- or purse-sized photograph or photo/text combination. Printing from print-enabled mobile phones provides opportunities for printing photos, profiles and information about an online friend. Printing of membership cards, invitations and tickets for offline events, date cards and reminders. Printing special emails or IM sessions for sentimental value. Printing of coupons and offers from the dating service and related partners.
12.6.3 Interactivity Opportunities
The initial paper size provides an interactive wallet- or purse-sized photograph or photo/text combination. Printing from print-enabled mobile phones provides opportunities to interact with data and easily use a variety of communications modes.
Referring to
Referring to
The printed dating information may be a permission token readable using the sensor module to at least one of: retrieve information associated with the dating information from the archive; retrieve personal information about a date; retrieve personal information about a potential date; accept a date; reject a date; initiate payment for the dating information; transmit the dating information to a dating services professional; obtain a copy of the dating information; and gain access to a resource. Printing the dating information may cause information associated with the dating information to be archived. Information associated with the dating information may include one or more of: the dating information; a visual description of the dating information; an image of the dating information; an interactive description of the dating information; contents of the dating information; and dating information details. The dating information may include at least one of: personal interests; musical interests; sporting interests; political interests; movie interests; leisure interests; professional interests; food preferences; personality preferences; physical appearance preferences; and sexual preferences. The dating information may include at least one of: weight; height; body mass index (BMI); age; eye color; hair color; ethnicity; gender; a name; an address; a telephone number; a facsimile number; an e-mail address; a web address; a photograph; and contact details.
The present application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/228,477 filed on Sep. 19, 2005, the content of which is hereby incorporated by cross-reference:
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