Claims
- 1. A system for making a service available over a network in response to an advertisement conveyed to a user operating a handheld device, said system comprising:
means for advertising said service over said network by conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith, said photo emissive device for conveying said advertisement as a transmitted signal to said handheld device located within a coverage area associated with said transmitter; and means for providing said service over said network.
- 2. The system of claim 1 wherein said photo emissive device is an infrared emitter.
- 3. The system of claim 2 wherein said transmitted signal is a diffuse infrared signal.
- 4. The system of claim 3 wherein said transmitted signal has a wavelength in the range of substantially 850 nanometers to 1250 nanometers.
- 5. The system of claim 4 wherein a first link layer in said transmitter matches a second link layer in said handheld device.
- 6. The system of claim 5 wherein said second link layer is an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer.
- 7. The system of claim 6 wherein said advertisement is comprised of an XML element.
- 8. The system of claim 7 wherein said advertisement is encapsulated in an integrity element.
- 9. The system of claim 8 wherein said integrity element is an XML element.
- 10. The system of claim 1 wherein said service is provided to said handheld device in response to a preference expressed by a user of said handheld device.
- 11. The system of claim 10 wherein said preference is expressed using a plug-in running on said handheld device.
- 12. The system of claim 10 wherein said preference is stored in a service controller associated with said network, said service controller communicatively coupled to said system and said handheld device.
- 13. The system of claim 6 wherein said handheld device generates a reply in response to said advertisement.
- 14. The system of claim 13 wherein said reply is conveyed to said system using a point-of-presence (POP) associatively coupled to said network and said system.
- 15. The system of claim 14 wherein said system generates a response after receiving said reply, said response comprising at least a portion of said service associated with said advertisement.
- 16. A method for providing a service over a network in response to an advertisement, said method comprising:
generating said advertisement about said service at a service provider; and conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith and operatively coupled to said network, said transmitter further conveying said advertisement to a handheld device having a user associated therewith.
- 17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:
associating a first XML element with said advertisement.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein said conveying further comprises:
at said transmitter, generating a diffuse infrared signal having a wavelength in the range of substantially 850 nanometers to 1250 nanometers.
- 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:
encapsulating said advertisement in an integrity element.
- 20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:
associating a second XML element with said integrity element.
- 21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:
receiving a reply from said transmitter, said reply having originated at said handheld device in response to said user having expressed an interest in said advertisement.
- 22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:
generating a response to said reply, said response comprising at least a portion of said service.
- 23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:
communicating with a financial vendor over said network to obtain a payment for said at least a portion of said service.
- 24. A method utilizing executable code to provide a service over a network, said method comprising the steps of:
generating an advertisement associated with said service at a service provider; making said advertisement available to said network, said network for conveying said advertisement to a transmitter having a photo emissive device associated therewith; and receiving a reply over said network, said reply having been placed on said network by said transmitter after receiving said reply from a handheld device, said handheld device having generated said reply after displaying said advertisement to a user associated therewith.
- 25. The method of claim 24 further comprising:
interacting with said advertisement using a plug-in.
- 26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:
interacting with said advertisement if a user of said handheld device has expressed an interest in said advertisement prior to receiving it.
- 27. The method of claim 26 further comprising:
receiving said advertisement in a diffuse infrared signal compliant with an infrared-data-association (IrDA) link layer running on said handheld device.
- 28. A network for conveying an advertisement associated with a service offered by a service provider to a user operating a handheld device, said network comprising:
means for determining a destination for said advertisement, said destination having a photo emissive device capable of generating an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant diffuse infrared signal having a coverage area associated therewith; and means for conveying said advertisement to said destination over said network.
- 29. The network of claim 28 further comprising:
means for receiving a reply generated in response to said user having expressed an interest in said service.
- 30. The network of claim 29 further comprising:
means for delivering said reply to said service provider.
- 31. The network of claim 30 further comprising:
means for receiving a response from said service provider, said response comprising at least a portion of said service.
- 32. The network of claim 29 wherein said reply is received from said destination.
- 33. The network of claim 32 wherein said destination is a transmitter capable of receiving a reply from said handheld device operating within said coverage area and having an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant bidirectional communication interface and link layer associated therewith.
- 34. The network of claim 33 wherein said network executes a protocol selected from the group of protocols consisting of Jini and Corba.
- 35. The network of claim 33 further comprising:
means for passing financial information to a payment vendor, said payment vendor for debiting a client device account associated with said handheld device and for crediting a service provider account associated with said service provider.
- 36. The network of claim 29 wherein said reply is received from a point-of-presence (POP) communicatively associated with said handheld device operating within said coverage area.
- 37. A method for conveying an advertisement over a network from a service provider to a handheld device operating within a coverage area associated with a transmitter conveying an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compatible diffuse infrared signal, said method comprising:
receiving said advertisement from said service provider over said network; routing said advertisement to said transmitter over said network; receiving a reply from said transmitter, said reply having been generated at said handheld device; and conveying said reply to said service provider over said network.
- 38. The method of claim 37 further comprising:
generating said reply in response to a user of said handheld device having expressed an interest in said advertisement.
- 39. The method of claim 38 further comprising:
running an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant link layer compatible with said diffuse infrared signal on said handheld device.
- 40. The method of claim 39 wherein said diffuse infrared signal has a wavelength in the range of substantially 850 nanometers to 1250 nanometers.
- 41. The method of claim 40 further comprising:
associating an XML element with said advertisement.
- 42. The method of claim 41 further comprising:
encapsulating said advertisement in an integrity element prior to conveying it to said handheld device.
- 43. The method of claim 42 further comprising:
using a Jini network protocol for conveying said advertisement to said transmitter and said reply to said service provider.
- 44. The method of claim 42 further comprising the steps of:
conveying a debit request associated with said handheld device to a financial vendor over said network; and conveying a payment from said financial vendor to said service provider over said network.
- 45. A system for performing infrared data communication with a handheld device using an infrared-data-association (IrDA) compatible diffuse infrared singal, said system comprising:
means for generating an advertisement associated with a service, said service further being associated with a service provider;
means for converting said advertisement into an advertising signal; means for making said advertising signal available to a network; means for receiving said advertising signal at a transmitter over said network, said transmitter further having a photo emissive device associated therewith for producing a transmitted signal containing at least a portion of said advertising signal; means for transmitting said transmitted signal to a destination; means for receiving a reply from said destination; and means for conveying said reply to said service provider over said network.
- 46. The system of claim 45 wherein said network is an Internet protocol network.
- 47. The system of claim 45 wherein said transmitted signal is compatible with an infrared-data-association (IrDA) link layer, said transmitted signal further having a wavelength in the range of substantially 850 nanometers to 1250 nanometers.
- 48. The system of claim 47 wherein said destination is a handheld device having a bidirectional infrared-data-association (IrDA) compliant communication interface.
- 49. The system of claim 48 further comprising a plug-in for facilitating generation of said reply at said handheld device.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The instant application is a continuation-in-part of the following United States Patent Applications having:
[0002] (1) Ser. No.: 09/930,421, attorney docket number: 102078-139, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INFRARED DATA COMMUNICATION,”
[0003] (2) Ser. No.: 09/930,004, attorney docket number: 102078-140, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RELIABLE UNIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION IN A DATA NETWORK,”
[0004] (3) Ser. No.: 09/929,979, attorney docket number: 102078-141, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE CONTEXT OF A HANDHELD DEVICE,”
[0005] (4) Ser. No.: 09/929,995, attorney docket number: 102078-142, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING SERVICES IN A CONSTRAINED ENVIRONMENT,”
[0006] all having assignee in common with the instant application, all having a filing date of Aug. 15, 2001, all hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, and all claiming priority from provisional application serial number 60/225,349 filed Aug. 15, 2000 and entitled “InfoFlo: A Common Infrastructure for Pushing Context to a Mobile PDA,”.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
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60225349 |
Aug 2000 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (4)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
09930421 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10230564 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09930004 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10230564 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09929979 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10230564 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09929995 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10230564 |
Aug 2002 |
US |