Patent Application
20070078731
Embodiments of this invention relate to mobile services, and more particularly to the downloading of content files to a mobile device.
In the past consumer markets have concentrated on mobile services which utilize only small sized files. For example, mobile consumers have generally focused their energy on downloading ring tones, background images, screen savers and/or Java games, which occupy only small sized files, to their mobile devices. Current trends, however, are making the use of multimedia services increasingly popular in wired and wireless domains, and are, therefore, driving the need for large file downloading capabilities. In response, the capabilities of mobile phones have been developed rapidly in order to answer the needs of demanding consumers. For example, mobile devices have been equipped with high quality colored displays, processors with increased powers, and memory having an increased storage capacity. Today's applications together with consumer's consumption habits have caused remarkable growth in the number and size of transferred files in communications networks.
The Nokia Media Charger is one example of a client-server solution that enables a mobile device user to receive these large content files, such as videos, music and TV programs, for off-line consumption. Using the Media Charger, a user can select the multimedia content file he or she would like to receive, and the content files can then be delivered to the user's mobile device, for example, overnight (i.e., off-peak times) over existing cellular networks (e.g., General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data for GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) Evolution (EDGE) or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)). The content is then stored in the device memory (e.g., on the device's multimedia memory card (MMC)) for later consumption.
Examples of multimedia content that can be transmitted to a user's mobile device may include: cartoons, short films, documentaries, music videos, concert footage, weekly video charts, songs and even complete albums. One exemplary use of the Media Charger is the TV Episode Service. Using this service a mobile device user can subscribe to a particular television station and show in order to have every episode of that show automatically delivered to the user's mobile device. For example, the show may be delivered daily (or weekly) to the user's mobile device overnight the evening before the same show is aired on television.
There are many different ways that a user can be billed for the content files he or she receives. For example, the user may have an endless subscription that remains valid until the user cancels it, wherein the user is billed for the same amount on a regular basis (e.g., monthly). Alternatively, the user may be billed each time he or she receives a new content file.
In some instances the user may use a Pre-Paid System for receiving content files from a content server. Under a Pre-Paid System a user may pay upfront for a certain number of content files of the same size (e.g., 10 episodes of the same show). Alternatively, the user may purchase a certain amount of content, for example, a certain number of Megabytes of data. This enables the user to receive different types of content files (e.g., TV episodes, music files, etc.), rather than being limited to a certain number of the same type of content file. Under this system, once the user has paid, he or she will have an available credit balance for any future content files he or she wishes to receive. The user's account information (which is accessible by, for example, a Media Charger Server and/or a separate Billing System) will include the user's available credit balance. Each time the user receives a content file his or her credit will be debited, until the user no longer has any available credit.
A problem may arise, however, where a user has some available credit, but it is not enough for a particular content file he or she would like to have transmitted to his or her mobile device. For example, where a particular music video is 10 Megabytes of data, but the user only has enough available credit for 8 Megabytes. Currently what happens is that the user will begin receiving the content file, and if the user runs out of available credit in the middle of downloading the multimedia content, the user will receive a message stating that his or her credit has run out and that the downloaded content (i.e., the portion of the content file that has been downloaded up to that point) will be deleted from the mobile device, since the download was not complete. The ultimate result is that user has used up all of his or her credit, yet has nothing to show for it, since the content file selected for download was never completely downloaded.
Generally described, various exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a solution to at least the problem discussed above by providing a method, system, server and computer program product for providing one or more content files to a mobile terminal, wherein the credit balance of a user associated with the mobile terminal is consulted prior to commencing the transmission of the content files. Where it is determined that the user's credit balance is insufficient to cover the content file requested, at least part of the content file may be modified so as to downscale it, or reduce its size, prior to transmission. If it is determined that the content file cannot be sufficiently modified to compensate for the user's credit deficit, a message may be sent notifying the user that he or she does not have sufficient credit for the content file requested. The content file may further be partitioned either prior to or after modification. In one exemplary embodiment, content selection points may further be inserted into one or more of the partitioned content parts. These content selection points enable the user to view, listen to, or otherwise check, a portion of the content file before committing to download (or otherwise consume), and, therefore, pay for, the entire content file. A mobile terminal capable of receiving one or more content files including these content selection points and of presenting these content selection points to the user for selection is also provided.
According to one exemplary aspect of the present invention a method of providing one or more content files to a user terminal is provided. In one exemplary embodiment, the method includes: (1) receiving a request for a content file from a user associated with the user terminal; (2) determining whether a credit balance associated with the user is sufficient for the content file requested; (3) modifying at least part of the content file where it is determined that the credit balance is not sufficient; and (4) transmitting at least part of the content file to the user terminal.
In exemplary embodiments the method may further include, upon a determination that the credit balance is insufficient, determining whether the content file can be sufficiently modified so that the size of the modified content file is equal to or less than the size of the credit balance and, where it is determined that the content file cannot be sufficiently modified, transmitting a message to the user indicating that the user has an insufficient credit balance for the content file requested.
In one exemplary embodiment the method may further include partitioning the content file into a plurality of content parts. Exemplary embodiments may further include inserting a content selection point into at least one group of content parts prior to transmission of the group of content parts, wherein the content selection point allows the user to specify whether he or she wishes to receive one or more additional groups of content parts.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a server capable of providing one or more content files to a user terminal is provided. In one exemplary embodiment the server comprises a processor and a memory module in communication with the processor. The memory module may store an application that is executable by the processor and is capable, upon execution, of receiving a request for a content file from a user associated with the user terminal, determining whether a credit balance associated with the user is sufficient for the content file requested, modifying at least part of the content file where it is determined that the credit balance is not sufficient, and transmitting at least part of the content file to the user terminal.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a system for providing a mobile terminal with one or more content files is provided. In one exemplary embodiment, the system may include a user terminal and a server, wherein the user terminal is capable of transmitting a request by a user for a content file, and the server is in communication with the user terminal for receiving the request. The server may be capable of determining whether a credit balance associated with the user is sufficient for the content file requested, modifying at least part of the content file where it is determined that the credit balance is not sufficient, and transmitting at least part of the content file to the user terminal.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a computer program product for providing a content file to a user terminal is provided. In one exemplary embodiment, the computer program product includes at least one computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein. These computer-readable program code portions may include: (1) a first executable portion for receiving a request for a content file from a user associated with the user terminal; (2) a second executable portion for determining whether a credit balance associated with the user is sufficient for the content file requested; (3) a third executable portion for modifying at least part of the content file where it is determined that the credit balance is not sufficient; and (4) a fourth executable portion for transmitting at least part of the content file to the user terminal. According to yet another aspect of the present invention a user terminal capable of receiving one or more content files is provided. In one exemplary embodiment the user terminal includes means for: (1) transmitting a request for a content file comprising one or more parts; (2) receiving, in response to the request, at least one part of the content file requested, said part including a content selection point enabling a user associated with the user terminal to specify whether the user wishes to receive one or more additional parts of the content file requested; (3) presenting the content selection point to the user and enabling the user to specify whether the user wishes to receive one or more additional parts; and (4) transmitting a request for one or more additional parts of the content file requested in response to the user specifying that the user wishes to receive one or more additional parts. The user terminal may further include means for storing the one or more content parts of the content file received.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
The present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the inventions are shown. Indeed, these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Overview:
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a method, server, system and computer program product for providing one or more content files (e.g., cartoons, short films, documentaries, music videos, concert footage, audio files, video files, movies, games, etc.) to a mobile terminal, such as a cellular telephone, personal digital assistance (PDA), laptop computer, mobile communication device, audio/video player, digital camera, digital camcorder, portable TV, game device, or the like, wherein the user associated with the mobile terminal is using a Pre-Paid System to purchase the content files.
As stated above, a problem may arise where a user using a Pre-Paid System has some available credit, but it is not enough for a particular content file he or she would like to have transmitted to his or her mobile terminal. Currently what happens is that if the user runs out of available credit in the middle of downloading the multimedia content, the user will receive a message stating that his or her credit has run out and that the portion of the content downloaded thus far will be deleted from the mobile device, since the download was not complete. The ultimate result is that user has used up all of his or her credit, yet has nothing to show for it, since the content file selected for download was never completely downloaded.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention solve at least this problem by providing a method of providing one or more content files to a mobile terminal wherein the method includes first checking to see whether or not the user has sufficient available credit to download the selected content file. Where the user does not have sufficient credit, the method further includes modifying all or part of the selected content file in order to downscale it, or reduce its size, thus reducing the credit required to purchase the particular content file requested by the user. Many methods can be used to reduce the size of the content file depending on the type of content and how drastic the downscaling needs to be. These methods are discussed in more detail below.
If the content file cannot be modified sufficiently to make up for the credit deficit (i.e., the amount of additional credit that is needed to download the content file requested), the user will be notified that he or she does not have sufficient credit and that the user should purchase more credit if he/she wishes to continue purchasing content files using the Pre-Paid System. This occurs before download commences, so that the user does not lose any of his or her then available credit.
In addition, exemplary embodiments of the present invention involve partitioning the content file into a plurality of content parts (for example, where the content file would naturally be split, e.g., between scenes in a movie, or arbitrarily at points selected by a service provider) either prior to or after at least part of the content file is modified. By partitioning the content file prior to modification, each content part may be modified differently. In other words, each content part can be downscaled or reduced in size to a varying degree.
In other exemplary embodiments, content selection points may be inserted into the various content parts. The selection points can then be presented to the user in order to allow the user to select between downloading further content and stopping the downloading of the content. This enables the user to review a portion of the content file and then determine whether or not he or she wishes to continue receiving the content file (thereby using up his or her available credit), rather than having to wait until the entire content is downloaded or transmitted before making that determination. By allowing the user to stop purchasing, for example a movie that he or she is not enjoying, this enables the user to conserve his or her available credit, rather than waste it on something the user does not want.
Overall System and Mobile Station:
Referring to
As shown in
The MSC 16 can be coupled to a data network, such as a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and/or a wide area network (WAN). The MSC can be directly coupled to the data network. In one typical embodiment, however, the MSC is coupled to a Packet Control Function (PCF) 18, and the PCF is coupled to a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) 19, which is in turn coupled to a WAN, such as the Internet 20. In turn, devices such as processing elements (e.g., personal computers, server computers or the like) can be coupled to the mobile station 10 via the Internet. For example, the processing elements can include a content provider server 22, a billing system 24 and/or a media charger server 26, discussed below. As will be appreciated, the processing elements can comprise any of a number of processing devices, systems or the like capable of operating in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
The BS 14 can also be coupled to a signaling GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) support node (SGSN) 30. As known to those skilled in the art, the SGSN is typically capable of performing functions similar to the MSC 16 for packet switched services. The SGSN, like the MSC, can be coupled to a data network, such as the Internet 20. The SGSN can be directly coupled to the data network. In a more typical embodiment, however, the SGSN is coupled to a packet-switched core network, such as a GPRS core network 32. The packet-switched core network is then coupled to another GTW, such as a GTW GPRS support node (GGSN) 34, and the GGSN is coupled to the Internet.
Although not every element of every possible network is shown and described herein, it should be appreciated that the mobile station 10 may be coupled to one or more of any of a number of different networks. In this regard, mobile network(s) can be capable of supporting communication in accordance with any one or more of a number of first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G and/or third-generation (3G) mobile communication protocols or the like. More particularly, one or more mobile stations may be coupled to one or more networks capable of supporting communication in accordance with 2G wireless communication protocols IS-136 (TDMA), GSM, and IS-95 (CDMA). Also, for example, one or more of the network(s) can be capable of supporting communication in accordance with 2.5G wireless communication protocols GPRS, Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), or the like. In addition, for example, one or more of the network(s) can be capable of supporting communication in accordance with 3G wireless communication protocols such as Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS) network employing Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) radio access technology. Some narrow-band AMPS (NAMPS), as well as TACS, network(s) may also benefit from embodiments of the present invention, as should dual or higher mode mobile stations (e.g., digital/analog or TDMA/CDMA/analog phones).
One or more mobile stations 10 (as well as one or more processing elements, although not shown as such in
Although not shown in
Referring now to
In addition to the memory 42, the processor 40 can also be connected to at least one interface or other means for displaying, transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like. In this regard, the interface(s) can include at least one communication interface 44 or other means for transmitting and/or receiving data, content or the like, as well as at least one user interface that can include a display 46 and/or a user input interface 48. The user input interface, in turn, can comprise any of a number of devices allowing the entity to receive data from a user, such as a keypad, a touch display, a joystick or other input device.
Reference is now made to
The mobile station includes various means for performing one or more functions in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention, including those more particularly shown and described herein. It should be understood, however, that one or more of the entities may include alternative means for performing one or more like functions, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. More particularly, for example, as shown in
It is understood that the processing device 208, such as a processor, controller or other computing device, includes the circuitry required for implementing the video, audio, and logic functions of the mobile station and is capable of executing application programs for implementing the functionality discussed herein. For example, the processing device may be comprised of various means including a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, and various analog to digital converters, digital to analog converters, and other support circuits. The control and signal processing functions of the mobile device are allocated between these devices according to their respective capabilities. The processing device 208 thus also includes the functionality to convolutionally encode and interleave message and data prior to modulation and transmission. The processing device can additionally include an internal voice coder (VC) 208A, and may include an internal data modem (DM) 208B. Further, the processing device 208 may include the functionality to operate one or more software applications, which may be stored in memory. For example, the controller may be capable of operating a connectivity program, such as a conventional Web browser. The connectivity program may then allow the mobile station to transmit and receive Web content, such as according to HTTP and/or the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), for example.
The mobile station may also comprise means such as a user interface including, for example, a conventional earphone or speaker 210, a ringer 212, a microphone 214, a display 216, all of which are coupled to the controller 208. The user input interface, which allows the mobile device to receive data, can comprise any of a number of devices allowing the mobile device to receive data, such as a keypad 218, a touch display (not shown), a microphone 214, or other input device. In embodiments including a keypad, the keypad can include the conventional numeric (0-9) and related keys (#, *), and other keys used for operating the mobile station and may include a full set of alphanumeric keys or set of keys that may be activated to provide a full set of alphanumeric keys. Although not shown, the mobile station may include a battery, such as a vibrating battery pack, for powering the various circuits that are required to operate the mobile station, as well as optionally providing mechanical vibration as a detectable output.
The mobile station can also include means, such as memory including, for example, a subscriber identity module (SIM) 220, a removable user identity module (R-UIM) (not shown), or the like, which typically stores information elements related to a mobile subscriber. In addition to the SIM, the mobile device can include other memory. In this regard, the mobile station can include volatile memory 222, as well as other non-volatile memory 224, which can be embedded and/or may be removable. For example, the other non-volatile memory may be embedded or removable multimedia memory cards (MMCs), Memory Sticks as manufactured by Sony Corporation, EEPROM, flash memory, hard disk, or the like. The memory can store any of a number of pieces or amount of information and data used by the mobile device to implement the functions of the mobile station. For example, the memory can store an identifier, such as an international mobile equipment identification (IMEI) code, international mobile subscriber identification (IMSI) code, mobile device integrated services digital network (MSISDN) code, or the like, capable of uniquely identifying the mobile device. The memory can also store content. The memory may, for example, store computer program code for an application and other computer programs. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the memory may store computer program code for enabling the mobile station to receive at least part of a content file requested, wherein the part received includes a content selection point that enables the user of the mobile station to designate whether he or she wishes to receive additional parts of the content file. The computer program code may further enable the mobile station to present the received part and content selection point to the user and to request additional parts of the content file where the user indicates his or her desire to do so.
It should be understood that while the mobile station was illustrated and described as comprising a mobile telephone, mobile telephones are merely illustrative of one type of mobile station that would benefit from the present invention and, therefore, should not be taken to limit the scope of the present invention. While several embodiments of the mobile station are illustrated and described for purposes of example, other types of mobile stations, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, tablets, and other types of electronic systems including both mobile, wireless devices and fixed, wireline devices, can readily employ embodiments of the present invention.
Modifying Content Files Based on User's Available Credit:
As discussed above, exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system, server and computer program product for providing one or more content files to a mobile terminal, wherein a credit balance of a user associated with the mobile terminal is checked before the transmission of the content file begins. By checking the user's credit balance before beginning transmission of the content file, one can avoid the situation where a user runs out of credit in the middle of downloading, or otherwise consuming, a requested content file and ends up using all of his or her available credit yet ultimately receiving nothing. According to exemplary embodiments, where the user does not have sufficient credit for a particular content file selected (e.g., a TV show or music video), at least part of the content file can be modified in order to reduce the size of the content file to at least the size of the user's available credit.
Upon receipt of the request for a content file, the media charger server 26, or any other network entity capable of functioning according to embodiments of the present invention, will first determine whether the user has sufficient credit for the content file selected (Step 402). In one embodiment, this involves determining the size of the content file and of the user's credit balance and then determining whether the size of the content file exceeds that of the user's credit balance. In one exemplary embodiment, the content file may be stored directly on the media charger server 26. They media charger server 26 may further store the user's account information, including the user's credit balance. In exemplary embodiments where both are stored on the media charger server 26, there would be no need for the media charger server 26 to access other network entities when making the determinations involved in Step 402. Alternatively, the content file may be stored on the content provider's server 22, and/or the user's account information may be stored on the billing system 24. In either of these exemplary embodiments, the media charger server 26 would be required to access either or both of the content provider's server 22 and the billing system 24 in order to determine whether the user has sufficient credit for the content file selected.
Where it is determined that the user does have sufficient credit for the content file selected, the content file selected is transmitted to the mobile terminal in Step 403. Alternatively, where it is determined that the user does not have sufficient credit, in one exemplary embodiment, a credit deficit is then calculated (Step 404). The credit deficit is the amount of additional credit that would be required for the content file selected. For example, where the content file selected is 10 Megabytes of data, and the user has available credit for only 8 Megabytes, the credit deficit is 2 Megabytes. Based on the calculation of Step 404, in one exemplary embodiment, in Step 405 it is determined whether the credit deficit is too big to account for by modifying the content file selected. In other words, does the user have so little credit that it would be impossible, or at least undesirable, to attempt to modify the content file to fit within the user's available credit? The determination of whether the credit deficit is too big may be based upon various factors. For example, a predetermined deficit may be defined so that if the actual credit deficit exceeds the predetermined deficit, the credit deficit is considered too big. Alternatively, a predetermined percentage may be defined so that if the percentage of the content file that is represented by the credit deficit (20% in the above example) exceeds the predetermined percentage, the credit deficit is considered too big. Where the credit deficit is determined to be too big, in Step 406 a message may be sent to the user indicating that he or she does not have sufficient credit for the content file selected and instructing the user to purchase more credit if he or she wants to continue receiving additional content files.
Where it is determined in Step 405 that the credit deficit is not too big to account for through modification of the content file or in embodiments that do not initially determine whether or not the credit deficit is too big, the method may proceed in one of at least two ways.
The first step of
As an example, consider the scenario described above wherein the content file selected comprises 10 Megabytes of data, while the user's available credit is only for 8 Megabytes. The downscale ratio (R) in this scenario would be 0.8 (8/10). The overall size of the content file selected must therefore be downscaled, or reduced, by a factor of 0.8. In order to accomplish this, any combination of the above described methods may be used.
Once at least part of the content file has been modified, the method may again follow one of at least two paths illustrated in
Alternatively, as shown in Step 411 of
The content selection points provide a user with the opportunity to preview a portion of a content file selected prior to deciding whether to either continue receiving content parts of the content file selected or stop receiving content parts. In general, this is beneficial because it allows the user to preview a portion of a content file selected before committing to purchase the entire content file. As an example, where a user selects to receive a particular TV show, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the TV show may be partitioned into a plurality of content parts (e.g., one part corresponding to each scene of the TV show). The content parts may then be grouped into one or more groups, each including one or more content parts. Each group, for example, may include all of the scenes of the TV show that take place in between commercial breaks. A content selection point may then be inserted into at least one of the groups of content parts. One or more groups of content parts may then be transmitted to the user for review. If at least one of the groups transmitted includes a content selection point, the user will have the opportunity to view the content parts of the groups transmitted (e.g., the first one or more scenes of the show) and decide whether it is worth purchasing the entire content file, or show. Although described above with the content selection points being transmitted along with the content parts, the content selection points may alternatively be transmitted without the remainder of the respective content parts to permit the user to view the content selection points and make a decision as to purchasing the content file without ever transmitting the remainder of the content parts.
If, after reviewing the group of content parts containing the content selection point, the user selects to receive additional content parts (the determination is made in Step 414), the process returns to Step 413 where one or more groups of content parts are again transmitted to the mobile terminal. If however, the user does not select to receive additional content parts, the process ends at Step 415. Where the latest group of content parts sent to the mobile terminal is the last group, the group will not contain a content selection point, and the process will similarly end (Step 415), since the user would not have been given the opportunity to select to receive additional content parts. The user's credit will have been used only on the content parts that have been downloaded.
Returning now to
In general,
Referring now to
In step 419, it is determined whether the user has selected to receive additional content parts. As described above, the content selection point previously inserted (Step 417) into the group of content parts transmitted in Step 418 enable the user to view a portion of the content file and then designate whether he or she wishes to receive additional portions of the content file. If the user has not selected to receive additional content parts, the process ends at Step 420. Where the user has selected to receive additional content parts, the process proceeds to Step 421 where the credit balance remaining after the transmission of the first group of content parts is determined. For example, continuing with the example discussed above, where the user originally had credit for 8 Megabytes of data, and 2 Megabytes of data were transmitted in Step 418, the credit remaining is for 6 Megabytes of data.
In Step 422 the size of the content remaining after the first group is transmitted is determined. In the example above, where the content file selected was 10 Megabytes, and 2 Megabytes were transmitted in the first group, the size of the content remaining after the first group is transmitted is 8 Megabytes.
Next, a downscale ratio (R) equal to the ratio of the remaining available credit to the size of the remaining content is calculated (Step 423). In the above example, the downscale ratio would be 0.75 (credit remaining=6/size of content remaining=8). The calculated downscale ratio is then used, in Step 424, to modify the remaining content parts using any of the methods discussed above. In Step 425, one or more groups of modified content parts are transmitted to the mobile terminal. It is then again determined whether the user has selected to receive additional groups of content parts (Step 426). The process ends where the user has not so selected (Step 427), which would be the case where the latest group transmitted is the last group and, therefore, does not include a content selection point. Alternatively, where the user does select to receive additional content parts, the process loops back to Step 425 where one or more groups of content parts are again transmitted.
Referring now to
A potential problem arises in this scenario where alternative content parts are of a different size (as shown in
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention solve this potential problem in several ways. The first is to initially use the largest possible content file when calculating the downscale ratio. In other words, where there are alternative content parts of varying size, select the largest of the alternative parts when determining the size of the overall content file (e.g., use 4.2 rather than 4.1). Using this method, the user is guaranteed to have sufficient credit to receive the entire content file selected, yet the quality of the content file will not be unnecessarily jeopardized.
Another technique of exemplary embodiments of the present invention to deal with this problem is to recalculate the downscale ratio at least after each portion of the content file that includes an alternative content part has been transmitted (e.g., after the second portion of the content file in
Another aspect of exemplary embodiments of the present invention shown in
In other exemplary embodiments of the invention, the user's credit information may be stored in the user terminal. The credit information may then be sent together with a request for a content download to a service provider/server. After the content has been consumed, the service provider/server may then update the user's credit information in the user terminal. Alternatively, after requesting the content from the service provider/server, the user terminal may receive information on the amount of credit needed for the content download requested. The user terminal may then make the comparison, define a downscale ratio and transmit the results back to the service provider/server. The service provider/server can then use this information for modifying and transmitting the requested content to the user terminal.
In further exemplary embodiments, if the user device has two displays, for example one smaller display on the front cover of the device and a larger display on the inside of the cover (i.e., a clamshell form factor), or one black and white display and one color display, the requested content may be divided for the two displays of the device. One or more of the displays may further be external to the user device, yet available for use by the user. In these exemplary embodiments, the content/service provider/server may modify one or more parts of the content for one display and another one or more parts of the content for the other display. For the modification and delivery of such content, therefore, the content/service provider/server needs to know what kind of device the user has (i.e., how many displays are available and what are the capabilities of those displays). The above described method is useful, for example, when the first part of the content is modified for a small or black and white display, and after the user decides to receive additional content parts, the new parts of the content are modified for a large or color display. Additionally, if the content/service provider/server transmits messages to the user terminal, the messages may have two parts: (1) an alert message for a small or black and white display for alerting the user of various things; and (2) the actual content modified for the large or color display.
In yet further exemplary embodiments, a media charger server may provide specific content files and messages only in a specific broadcasting cell. These specific content files and messages may be, for example, a personalized video greeting tied to a specific location and stored in the media charger server from a first user to a second user, a communication cell specific announcement for alert, a customized content file tied to a specific location from a content service provider to a user, etc.
This service may also cover a list of available cells that every cellular-based terminal (e.g., GSM, GPRS, WCDMA, CDMA, WLAN, Bluetooth) gets. This is basically the base feature of every cell network. This means that the terminal calculates what are the near cells in the hood and receives the signal strength at all times. Based on the signals, the terminal can automatically choose which cell to use. Further, exemplary embodiments of this invention can use the data collected by the terminal by creating so-called “second tier” cells to a so-called dynamic list. In other words, if the terminal hasn't actually visited in the cell, but has passed near it and has been able to measure the strength of the signal, that cell is added to the dynamic list. Now, media charger services or servers available in those “second tier” cells are polled (i.e., a request for service is sent) based on the dynamic list. This enables the user terminal to cover a wider service area of localized content files and messages accessing only the automatically selected cells.
Conclusion:
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present invention described above may be embodied as a system, method, mobile terminal device or other apparatus, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storage medium. More particularly, the present invention may take the form of web-implemented computer software. Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.
The present invention is described above with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatuses (i.e., systems) and computer program products according to an embodiment of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create a means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks, although other means for implementing the functions including various combinations of hardware, firmware and software as described herein may also be employed.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including computer-readable instructions for implementing the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.
Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations support combinations of means for performing the specified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. It will also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
