Patent Grant
8615546
This application is the National Stage of International Application No. PCT/IB2003/000426, International Filing Date, Feb. 10, 2003, which designated the United States of America, and which international application was published under PCT Article 21(2) as WO Publication No. WO 2004/071013 A1.
This invention relates to a method for identifying a pattern in a message and generating an action in a communication terminal, and relates to a communication terminal adapted to identify a pattern in a message and generating an action.
The number of transmissions of messages in a computer or telecommunication network has in the recent years increased significantly. The short message service (SMS) and more recently the multimedia message service (MMS) have become important tools for handling business and common daily routines. Similarly, use of e-mails has accelerated communication between parties as well as expanded the geographical potential of communication between parties separated by great distances.
Lately, communication terminals have evolved to perform, in addition to voice communication, generation and transmission of text messages such as SMS messages as well as MMS messages comprising a video, picture or audio sequence. Furthermore, the communication terminals have evolved to include personal office assistant features such as calendar, address book, or e-mail functions.
Due to the fact that the telecommunication message services and the e-mail services have increased, and that the number of applications to administrate, execute, edit and handle has evolved, the user is required specific knowledge as to how to use them all, especially in combination.
European patent publication no. EP 0 458 563 discloses a radio telephone apparatus which is capable of receiving alphanumeric text messages. The apparatus comprises an internal application capable of processing the text message in such a manner that a telephone number or telephone numbers can be picked out from the rest of the message. Further, the telephone number can be corrected, supplemented, and stored in a memory in the telephone apparatus. It is also possible to place a call to the telephone number picked out from the message.
This feature is well known today and used daily by all mobile phone users. However, it does not fulfil the demands of the great varieties of services that are possible within today's telecommunication networks.
International publication no. WO 01/22680 discloses a method of operating a mobile terminal, wherein it is determined whether a received text message includes text that represents a Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). The mobile terminal comprises launch control logic for identifying an URI in the text, and when the launch control logic identifies an URI, the URI is made selectable, and if the user selects it, an application associated with the URI is invoked. The application can be provided by an external service such as a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service, a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) or telnet scheme for interactive service via the TELNET Protocol.
These features are similar to the features disclosed in EP 0 458 563. However, the International application is generally directed to Internet-type (Wireless Application Protocol) communication instead of ordinary telephone calls.
Present technology provides a user with many features, but also requires the user to have or accumulate knowledge regarding all features of a communication terminal, and know-how to access or utilise these features. Since many users do not know all available applications in their communication terminal, these applications do not provide the user with sufficient added value to their communication.
An object of the present invention is to overcome the above described problems of the prior art in regards to administrating, executing, editing and handling of numerous of applications.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method for seamlessly associating applications to patterns in received messages in a communication terminal.
A particular advantage of the present invention is the provision of an action comprising calls to one or more applications associated with patterns in a received message.
A particular feature of the present invention relates to the provision to the identification of patterns in a message, which patterns associate with parameters for applications identified in the message.
The above objects, advantage and feature together with numerous other objects, advantages and features, which will become evident from below detailed description, are obtained according to a first aspect of the present invention by a method for identifying a pattern in a message and generating an action in a communication terminal comprising:
The term “first” and “second” should in this context entirely be construed as term for differentiating between two elements and not be construed as a timing consideration.
The present invention is based on the understanding that a communication terminal may be used to carry out a plurality of possible application calls. In a communication terminal, due to different limitations in the user interface, every active measure a user may take will decrease feasibility. This even more since communication terminals are usually operated by one hand. Further, as more applications, e.g. various facilitation programs, are used in communication terminals, the problem with complexity in using the equipment rises. This problem is solved by the present invention.
The method according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise enabling a user to select one of the one or more identified patterns in the message as the first pattern. This provides the user an option to indirectly control the generation of the creation of an action.
The method according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise generating further actions from the one or more patterns in the message; displaying the actions to a user; and enabling the user to select among the action and the further actions. This is especially advantageous, since the content of a message may associate to a plurality of possible applications or parameters therefore.
The method according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise identifying a second parameter for the second application in the pattern list. Any application identified through a recognisable pattern in the message may require a plurality of parameters, which following the identification of the application are sought among the patterns in the pattern list. Thus advantageously the parameters are automatically identified and included in the action.
The method according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise assigning a default value to the first and/or second parameter, and/or prompting a user of the communication terminal to assign a value to the first and/or second parameter. Since required parameters are not necessarily encompassed in the pattern list, the user must provide the needed information. This feature improves action generation, and further enables the user to control action generation.
The action according to the first aspect of the present invention may further comprise one or more application calls for internal applications and/or one or more application calls for external applications. The one or more internal applications may comprise a calendar application, a game application, a media player application, a web browser application, a phone book application, or any combination thereof. The one or more external applications may comprise a calendar application, a game application, a media player application, a phone book application, or any combination thereof.
The above objects, advantages and features together with numerous other objects, advantages and features, which will become evident from below detailed description, are obtained according to a second aspect of the present invention by a communication terminal adapted to identify a pattern in a message and generating an action comprising:
The action generator according to the second aspect of the present invention may further be adapted to identify a second parameter for said second application in the pattern list; and be adapted to assign a value to each of the first and/or second parameters. The identification of parameters eases generation of actions, and a user thereby experiences an intelligent communication terminal.
The action generator according to the second aspect of the present invention may further be adapted to assign a default value to the first and/or second parameter; and adapted to prompt a user of the communication terminal to assign a value to the first and/or second parameter. Patterns associated with applications may in specific instances require parameters in order to operate, which parameters are not immediately identifiable as patterns in the message. Hence user interaction is required in order to perform the associated application call, since the required parameters are not deducible from the message.
The action generator, according to the second aspect of the present invention, may be adapted to generate an action list of one or more actions each comprising an application call to an application associated with the one or more patterns in the pattern list. This is especially advantageous, since the contents of a message may associate to a plurality of possible actions.
The communication terminal according to the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise a user interface enabling a user to select the one or more of actions in the action list as the first application.
The communication terminal according to the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise a user interface enabling a user to select the one or more patterns in the pattern list as the first application. This gives the user an option to control the generation of an action, which may be advantageous in many situations.
The first and/or second application according to the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise a calendar application, a game application, a media player application, a web browser application and/or a phone book application, or any combination thereof. Obviously, the communication terminal may perform application calls to any type of application, that is, the list provided above may further comprise application calls to various facilitating applications such as editors, spreadsheets, presentation engines. Further, the communication terminal enables the combination of any of these applications in every possible way, that is, further enabling a combination of more than two applications.
The communication terminal according to the second aspect of the present invention may be a mobile or cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, a computer, or any combination thereof.
The communication terminal according to the second aspect of the present invention may further comprise a message handler adapted to handle short message services (SMS), multimedia message services (MMS), e-mail services, or any combination thereof.
These features will increase attractiveness of using the communication terminal. Further, features may be used without the end user knows them from the user manual. Another advantage is easier and more user-friendly handling of the communication terminal.
The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the appended drawings, wherein:
a and 8b show a flow chart of a method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
In the following description of the various embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which by way of illustration various embodiments are shown, in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The communication terminal 100 comprises a message handler 106, a parser 108, a pattern list 110, an action generator 112, one or more pattern tables 114 such as a static pattern table comprising predefined links between patterns and actions, activities and/or applications, and such as a dynamic pattern table comprising links between patterns and previously saved activities, e.g. a game, and/or links between new patterns identified and associated with actions, activities and/or applications.
The communication terminal further comprises a display 116 for presenting user interfaces and comprises one or more applications 118.
The message handler 106 is arranged to receive, send, store, and present messages to a user of the communication terminal 100. The message handler 106 is able to handle short message services (SMS), multimedia message services (MMS) and/or e-mail services. The messages are presented to the user through user interfaces (UI) such as will be described with reference to
The parser 108 is arranged to parse a message received or to be sent by the message handler 106. The parser 108 compares patterns in the message with patterns in the one or more pattern tables 114. Matching patterns from the message are stored in the pattern list 110, and the controller presents the matching patterns to the user of the communication terminal 100 by marking matching patterns in received message through a user interface presented on the display 116, or simply by presenting the pattern list 110 through a user interface on the display 116.
The action generator 112 analyses patterns in the pattern list 110 to identify an executable action by addressing one or more applications 118 and assigning any parameters required by said one or more applications 118. The user of the communication terminal 100 is able to make one or more selections on which pattern and/or action through a user interface presented on the display 116.
The controller 102 executes the action identified by the action generator 112.
For example, the received message is an SMS with the text ‘Hi Mate! Should we continue our chess game? What about 10:15 on 2003-03-17? BR N’. The selected pattern 502 is the word CHESS. The user selects the action 504 PLAY CHESS. When generating the executable action 500, the first parameter 506 is set to the date 2003-03-17, which is identified in the message, the second parameter 508 is set to the time 10:15, which also is identified in the message. The application 510 is set to be CALENDAR. The first activity 514 is set to the game application CHESS, and the parameter 520 associated to the game is set to RESUME OLD SESSION, since there was an ongoing game session. The second activity 516 is set to SMS because the game took place via Short Messaging Service over a telecommunication network such as a general packet radio services (GPRS). Therefore, the parameter 522 is set to GPRS. The third activity 518 is set to PHONEBOOK with parameter 524 set to NINA, since she was the sender of the message, and the user had an old ongoing game session with her. The executable action could then be denoted as:
CALENDAR(2003-03-17, 10:15, CHESS(RESUME_OLD_SESSION, SMS(GPRS, PHONEBOOK(NINA))))
A pattern may comprise a key word, key sound, key image, or any combination thereof. Key words to be identified may comprise names (words starting with a capitol letter), unique words or a unique constellation of symbols (i.e. words or symbol constellations a match in a communication terminal's word dictionary), all words beyond a predetermined length, words in a foreign language, or any combination thereof.
The matching patterns are stored by generating 706 a pattern list of identified patterns in the message. The method 700 further comprises displaying 708 identified patterns by marking them in the message, or displaying the generated pattern list. The method 700 further comprises selecting 710 a pattern from said pattern list, automatically or by means of a user, and performing a look up 712 on an action associated with said selected pattern.
Parameters for said selected action is checked during a first parameter check 714. As long as an action associated with a particular pattern requires a parameter, a parameter look-up loop 716 is continued. The pattern list is examined for further parameters during look-up 718, and during a second parameter check 720 the method 700 determines whether the selected action requires further parameters.
In case the second parameter check 720 returns a “Yes”, the identified pattern is applied as a parameter for the selected action during a first application step 722. Alternatively, in case the second parameter check 720 returns a “No”, a default parameter is applied for the selected action during a second application step 724 e.g. by setting a most likely parameter, or by prompting the user to set the parameter.
Finally, during a third parameter check 726 is performed so as to ensure that the required parameters have been set for the selected action.
The method 700 further comprises displaying 728 an executable action to the user, and executing 730 the executable action according to the associated parameter or parameters.
Elements of box 732 may be recursively repeated thereby possibly producing further actions.
a and 8b show a flow chart of a method for generating an executable action according to a second embodiment of the present invention and designated by its entirety by reference numeral 800. The method 800 comprises a start state 802, during which the method 800 for example initialises execution of program code. The method 800 further comprises parsing 804 a message to identify patterns in the message matching one or more predefined patterns associated with possible actions, applications and/or activities in a communication terminal.
The matched patterns are stored by generating 806 a pattern list. The method 800 further comprises selecting 808 a pattern from said pattern list, and looking up 810 on an action associated with said selected pattern. Whether the action requires any parameters is checked during a first parameter check 812. As long as an action associated with a particular pattern requires a parameter, a parameter look-up loop 814 is continued.
The parameter look-up loop 814 comprises, as described above with reference to
Parameters are set by performing the look up 816 for parameters in said pattern list, and identified parameters are applied during either the first or second application step 820 or 822, respectively. If a needed parameter is missing in said pattern list, the parameter is set by applying parameters in a default way 826, e.g. by setting a most likely parameter, or by prompting the user to set the parameter.
As described above with reference to
When all the required parameters associated with the first action have been identified and applied to the action, the method 800 continues to perform a further pattern check 828, during which the pattern list is examined to establish whether all the patterns in the pattern list have been associated with an action or with a parameter for an action. In case the further pattern check 828 returns a “Yes”, the method 800 selects the next non-associated pattern 830.
In case the further pattern check 828 returns a “No”, the method 800 ends at point “A” in
Hence the user of for example a communication terminal is then able to select a pattern upon the information about the associated executable action.
Naturally, there are many ways, in which the message can be analysed, and with which pattern it should start. A way of organizing this is to apply a priority scheme for automatically choosing between patterns to start with or to include in the action build-up.
There are also many alternatives as to how to associate patterns to each other, and many conflicts are possible. Therefore, it is advantageous to present a list of options to the user to choose from. This list contains different possible actions for a pattern and for combinations of patterns in a message. For example, the word CHESS could list the possibilities to play chess on the terminal, go to the web-site of the musical called Chess if it is stored as a favorite bookmark, and search the web for the word CHESS.
It is not necessary in all situations to ask the user before executing the action. Therefore, the execution is made based on an execution parameter which is pre-defined, defined in the received message or defined by the user, or any combination thereof.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB03/00426 | 2/10/2003 | WO | 00 | 3/11/2008 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2004/071013 | 8/19/2004 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 0 458 563 | Nov 1991 | EP |
| WO-0122680 | Mar 2001 | WO |
| WO 02089403 | Nov 2002 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060212510 A1 | Sep 2006 | US |
