WO2002051194A1

WO2002051194A1 - Position based information retrieval system

Info

Publication number: WO2002051194A1
Application number: PCT/SE2001/002917
Authority: WO
Inventors: Stefan Willehadson; Rikard Johansson
Original assignee: Cellpoint System Ab
Priority date: 2000-12-21
Filing date: 2001-12-21
Publication date: 2002-06-27
Also published as: AU2002217706A1; WO2002051194A9

Abstract

The present invention relates to an information distribution system, for exchanging information with a mobile station primarily based on the position of said mobile station, the system comprising: an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station, means to generate an Information Request Process (IRP), a processing arrangement to process said IRP comprising means for analyzing incoming requests and adapting the request to an information provider type request, means to retrieve information and produce a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from. The system further comprises means for handling temporary users in the system, said means for handling said temporary users in the system, said means for handling said temporary users at least comprising a portion (450) for handling said temporary user in communication with said temporary users original system and accessing information in said original system or a portion (460) for allowing said temporary user to obtain a temporary user account for accessing information in the system.

Description

TITLE

POSITION BASED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an information distribution system, for exchanging information with a mobile station primarily based on the position of said mobile station, the system comprising: an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station, means to generate an Information Request Process (IRP), a processing arrangement to process said RP comprising means for analyzing incoming requests and adapting the request to an information provider type request, and means to retrieve information and produce a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The fast growing market for positioning applications for positioning mobile terminals, such as cellular phones, GPS-devices, etc., has resulted in a great demand for services that provide position-related information. However, there are different types of commimication, positioning, and information provider systems.

EP 853 287 relates to a method for transmission of information to the user, in which a search terminal is used for sending an information query, which is received and processed. Further, in the method, information is searched for, and the retrieved information is transmitted to the search terminal. The information is received and displayed to the user by the search terminal. A system for transmitting information to a user comprises a search terminal for sending an information query, means for receiving and processing of the information query, means for retrieving information, means for transmitting the information to the search terminal, and means for receiving the information and presenting it to the user on the search terminal, The information retrieval is arranged to be conducted at least partly on the basis of the location and/or travel route of the user

US 5,978,687 relates a method for call establishment in a cellular radio system including a mobile^" services switching center and a private branch exchange connected thereto, and a visitor location register for storing subscriber data on subscribers located within the service area of the mobile services switching center. To optimize call establishment, when the private branch exchange receives a connection establishment request from a subscriber located within its service area, the private branch exchange checks whether the private branch exchange is the home private branch exchange of the subscriber that sent the connection establishment request. If the private branch exchange is the home private branch exchange of the subscriber, the private branch exchange performs independently authentication, activation of ciphering procedures and assignment of a temporary subscriber identity and only thereafter sends a connection establishment request to the mobile services switching center. If the first call-related message sent by the private branch exchange to the mobile services switching center is a connection establishment request instead of a service request, the mobile services switching center initiates connection establishment without an interrogation to the visitor location register.

US 6,085,081 relates to a method for allocating a user identification (ID) in a mobile communication network for a connection between a communication terminal and the mobile communication network. The user identification is a temporary user identification (TID). The method comprises at least the following steps: examining if the mobile station has a user ID, if the mobile station has no user ID, the mobile communication network allocates a TID for the connection, and the mobile communication network transmits the TID to the mobile station.

According to EP 851 696 a mobile station subscriber can access data from an informational database and have it forwarded to a desired destination. A database associated with the informational database maintains subscriber profiles. When the informational database receives a data request, it uses a mobile station identifier to acquire subscriber profile information. Using that profile information, the requested data is forwarded to a destination designated in the profile in a SMS format.

SUMMARY

Thus, there is a need for a system which can receive requires from different types of mobile stations in different types of communications network, which can obtain position information from different systems and providers and retrieve information from different databases and infomiation providers and supply structured information to a client.

Therefore the initially mentioned system further comprises means for handling temporary users in the system, said means for handling said temporary users at least comprising a portion for handling said temporary user in communication with said temporary users original system and accessing information in said original system or a portion for allowing said temporary user to obtain a temporary user account for accessing information in the system.

The system is flexible and can accept inputs from several sources; thus, the requests can originate from one or several of Internet, a wireless Applications Protocol or a Short Messages Service (SMS) Gateway.

In most preferred embodiment an Information Request Broker is arranged to supervise said Information Request Process and if the process is terminated unexpected, said request broker generates an error response to a requesting client. In same fashion, a Content Handling Arrangement is provided comprising a number of layers. Thus, a first layer is arranged to analyze incoming requests and call an appropriate module in a second layer in order to retrieve information and when said information has been retrieved from said second layer a response is built that matches the characteristics of the terminal where the request originated. Moreover, a third Layer is arranged, which contains a number of adapters for retrieving information from internal or external data sources. References to the information together with a geo-coded data are stored in databases. Moreover, the second layer is arranged to conduct spatial searches for the requested information and, hence, the second layer contains a Spatial Search in which searches for the N nearest of a certain category of information is carried out. The IRP is mainly arranged to analyse a request and calls an appropriate module in said second layer.

hi one embodiment, the stored data comprises one or several of hotels, stores, restaurants, concert halls, including open hours, pricing, contact information, events, event schedule, time, weather of a location, forecast, points of interest, regions, street intersections and advertising locations.

In one preferred embodiment, the system comprises a language handler for translation of phrases and synonyms between phrases, and a context and an identifier identifies a phrase.

To deliver correct format, a response to said request is matched to the terminal where the request originated from and a terminal type corresponding answer is returned.

In one embodiment, the system is provided with a scheduler, which handles operations that are to be executed in future and also handles repetitive operations. Thus, an automatic updating of the stored information is provided.

The system can be adapted to different users; therefore, the system comprises a Personal Profile handling arrangement, which contains information about users of the system. The information contains one or several of MSISDN of the user, a current location of a user and a corresponding timestamp, name and nickname of the user, a list of the friends and the corresponding attributes such as last position of a friend, nickname, MSISDN and a Boolean value describing if the friend can position the user and the group membership, a list of the Finder groups, an email address of the user, a preferred language, a list of the stored positions, a search radius, max hits, and a list of interests.

To adapt the information to geographical location, the system is connected to a Geo Coding arrangement, which can handle data which is not geo-coded and during the information transaction, it provide the information with geocode. The system may comprises statistic collecting in order to obtain knowledge about the usage of the system.

In an information distribution system, the invention also refers to a method for exchanging information with a mobile station primarily based on the position of said mobile station. The method comprises the steps of providing means for handling temporary users in the system, said means for handling said temporary users at least comprising a portion for handling said temporary user in communication with said temporary users original system and accessing information in said original system and/or a portion for allowing said temporary user to obtain a temporary user account for accessing information in the system.

The invention also relates to a method of facilitating sale of information exchange with a mobile station in an information distribution system primarily based on the position of said mobile station (MS). The system comprises: an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station. The method comprises the steps of: authentication control of the user said MS, receiving a service related request from said user, generating an Information Request Process (IRP) by said processing arrangement, processing said IRP, analyzing incoming requests and initiating an Adapter in order to retrieve information, adapting the request to an information provider type request, retrieving information from said information provide, producing a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from, transferring said reply to said MS through said interface arrangement, registering and charging said user for said information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be further described in a non-limiting way with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram over the system according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating layers in one section of the system according to the invention,

Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a part of the system according to the invention, and

Fig. 4 is a schematic overall view of the system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The system according to the present invention is adapted for handling large amounts of information that can be presented in different ways. Basically the system is a request/response system that creates responses based upon the incoming request. A normal question is of the type "Where is the nearest place of type X?" whose matching response is a list of the restaurants sorted by the distance from the requesting terminal.

The actual content used by the system can either be stored locally in the content database or externally at one or more content providers. Upon a request information is fetched either from the local database or from an external content (information) provider. Information from several sources can be combined in order to fulfill the response to a request. It is the content handling core of the system that makes this flexible handling of information possible.

The main schematic architecture of the invention is illustrated in fig. 1. In order to make the system flexible, the architecture must allow requests from different types of sources without the need to handle and store information in a way that is dependent from the way requests are made and the way information is to be presented. The system 100 handles this situation by using two main blocks, the Information Request Broker 110 (IRB) and the Content Handling Core 120 (CHC), which together provide a flexible system.

The system receives a number of incoming requests. The incoming requests for information may originate from several sources and are directed to the IRB 110. The sources may be one or several of Internet 111, a wireless Applications Protocol 112 or a Short Messages Service (SMS) Gatewayl 13 connected to the IRB through for example HTTP Servers 114, 115 and an SMS client 116. Upon an incoming request, the IRB creates one or several Information Request Processes, IRPs 131, which will execute in an Information Request Space 130, IRS.

Preferably, IRB exports a simple API, which when called by a client spawns an Information Request Process that will exists in the IRS. When the process has finished its task and generated a response it can be terminated. The IRB may, depending on the load of the IRS, choose to not spawn an IRP and instead generate an appropriate error response to the requesting client.

The Information Request Broker supervises the Information Request Process(es) and if the process is teπninated unexpected, the broker can generate an error response to the requesting client. By doing this, the client always receives some type of response, at least as long as the Information Request Broker resides.

The CHC 120 is in the illustrated embodiment divided into three layers 121-123 and it also contains a Spatial Search Engine 124 in which searches for the N nearest of a certain category of information can be carried out. The three layers are Template Layer 121, Adapter Layer 122 and the Content Layer 123. Preferably, but not exclusively, the layers are for architectural reasons, and also for code maintenance reasons, strictly hierarchical. This means that no intra- layer calls are allowed to take place. It also means that it is not allowed to bypass a layer. With reference to figs. 1 and 2, the function of the layers is:

Template Layer 121 analyses incoming requests and calls the appropriate module in the Adapter Layer 122 in order to retrieve information. When information has been retrieved from the Adapter Layer a response will be built that matches the capabilities of the terminal where the request originated. For example, a WAP phone request to the system will create a response containing WML. An SMS request will create a simple text response, and so on. Content Layer 123 contains two kinds of adapters, External Content Adapters 124 and Content Database Adapters 125. The Content Database Adapters 125 communicate with a Content Database 127. An External Content Adapter 124 is used for fetching information from external providers 126, i.e. information that is not stored locally in a local memory arrangement. References to the information together with geo-coded data (se below) are stored in a Spatial Search Engine 128 but the actual information can be stored in an external database. This kind of adapters encapsulates an external protocol used for retrieving the information and exports a simple API to modules in the Adapter Layer 122. The Content Database Adapter is used in the same way as an External Content Adapter but the actual information is stored in the local Content Database.

Adapter Layer 122 makes spatial searches for the requested information. Information that is stored locally in the Content Database 125, is accessed via Content Database Adapters 125 in the Content Layer 121 and information that are stored externally are fetched via the External Content Adapter.

The Content Handling Core also contains a Spatial Search Engine 129 that can make efficient searches for information based on category and spatial data. Performance is linear in memory space and O(nlogn) performance time.

The Information Request Process analyses the request and calls the appropriate module in the Template Layer of the Content Handling Core.

The Content database stores and organizes all data used by the application. This includes, for example content, categories, events, user, language and more. Content holds information about all searchable items in the system. The Content can be of many different types; the basic common denominator is that they consist of location information. All types do not have to be explicitly presented to the end user, but are rather used by application to perform tasks. Different type of contents store different type of data. Example of different types of content is (see also fig. 2):

Hotels, stores, restaurants, concert halls, including open hours, pricing, contact information

Events, including Event schedule, time

Weather of the location, including forecast

Points of interest

Regions Street intersections Advertising locations Etc.

The categories are connected in a hierarchical structure and are used both for navigation and categorization of content. There are a few category types; a single category can have one or more types, for example:

Menu: used for navigation and is presented in user interface.

Content: categorizes connected content. Content can have many categorizations

Content of the above first type (Stores, hotels etc) are usually connected to one or more categories of both type Menu and Content, because this type of content is usually browsed by its category. However, weather content, for example, belongs to a category that cannot be browsed.

User data can include stored positions, e.g., "my list" (bookmarks), finder application data (friends, groups).

The Language handles translation of phrases and synonyms between phrases. A context and an identifier can identify a phrase. Thus, the same phrase can exists in different contexts and have different translation between languages in each context. Phrases can have one or more synonyms in each language. "Accommodation", for example, can have the synonym "Hotels" in English.

The Template Layer module 121 analyses the request and calls one or more modules in the Adapter Layer 122 in order to retrieve information. The modules in the Adapter Layer 122 direct one or more requests to External Content Providers 126 and/or to the internal Content Database 125 via modules in the Content Layer. The Adapter Layer also makes spatial searches for the requested information and also initiates searches in the Content Database via the Content Layer. When the called modules in the Adapter Layer return the requested information, the Template Layer modules builds a response matching the terminal where the request originated from. For example, a WAP phone request to the system will create a response containing WML. An SMS request will create a simple text response.

Tables 1-3 describe the exemplary contents of each layer. Each box in each layer is provided with a reference sign including the layer number and box number (indicated in the parenthesis), beginning from 1 and from left to right in fig. 2.

Table 1

Templates A template is used for handling incoming requests in detail and is supposed to generate an (121) appropriate response depending on the type of the querying request (terminal, protocol, actual query). When a request originates from a WAP phone, the response should be a WML page. Requests originating from a SMS should result in a response that is a simple text string containing less than 160 (standard setup) characters. A template, in general, uses one or more templates in order to fulfill the request.

Channel The channel template handles the concept of chat channels, where it is possible to post messages

(1211) in certain channels/groups.

Content The content template handles searches for the 'n' nearest of a certain category, such as the 5

(1212) nearest hotels.

Content data The content data template generates detailed information about a specific content, like address,

(1213) phone number etc.

Error handler An IPR calls the error handler template when an exception occurs in the template (or underlying

(1214) layer) in order to generate a readable message, like "The service is unavailable, try again later".

Find The find template generates a list of the different kind of search variants, like search for the

(1215) nearest object, find the nearest object matching a certain text string etc.

Friends The friends template implements the user interaction for the Finder. It can generate all the

(1216) different kind of menus needed in the finder, like group menus, friend menus etc.

Menu The menu template generates menus. It can display adverts (both textual and images) as the first

(1217) entry of a certain menu. The Advert adapter is used in order to retrieve a certain advertising.

Setting The setting template generates menus for the different kinds of settings available and also takes (1218) care of changes made by the user. A change in the setting normally affects the user profile. SMS The SMS template is always used upon incoming requests originating from a sms. The template (1219) can handle basic Finder functionality and also simple searches for the nearest specified object (like the nearest hotel).

Table 2

Table 3

The system may also be provided with a Scheduler 150, which handles operations that are to be executed in the future and can also handle jobs that are repetitive. An example is fetching weather data twice a day.

Additionally, the system can be arranged with a Personal Profile handling arrangement 140. The Content Handling Core 120 uses Personal Profiles 140 to fulfill its tasks. The Personal Profile contains information about the users of the system such as the current position of the user, MSISDN etc. Personal Profiles are stored persistently in the Personal Profile Database 141 and the user can be allowed to change parts of a profile. For example, the Personal Profile may contain the following information about the user:

The MSISDN of the user. This is the unique key for the personal profile. The current location of a user and a corresponding timestamp. If the location is older than M minutes, it will be updated upon an incoming request. M is a configurable parameter of the system.

Name and nickname of the user.

A list of the friends and the corresponding attributes such as last position of a friend, nickname, MSISDN and a Boolean value describing if the friend can position the user and the group membership.

A list of the Finder groups.

Email address of the user.

Preferred language.

A list of the stored positions. A stored position can be used whenever the user would like to move to another position and make content search relative to that position.

Search radius. This parameter is used whenever a search for the nearest object of some category is performed.

Max hits. This parameter is used whenever a search is performed and the result is to be displayed, then as a maximum "Max hits" hits are to be found in the response.

A list of interests. This parameter can be used for generating advertisements that may be of interest for the user.

A critical part of the system is the quality of the content stored in the Content Database. If the content is of no interest to the end users, they simply won't use the offered services. On the other hand, if the content is of interest to the users, they will use it and hopefully frequently. In order to achieve this goal, it is very important that the content is geo-coded accurately, i.e. it can provide geographical information to the users.

Thus, the system can be connected to a Geo Coding arrangement 300, schematically illustrated in fig. 3, which can handle data which is not geo-coded and during the information transaction, it "geocodes" the information, e.g., based on the address, postal code etc., of the content. This process will lead to a categorization of the content and a spatial location containing latitude and longitude. The Geo Coder arrangement 300 comprises a Geo Coder Engine 310, which uses a Geo Code Database 320 in order to complete its task. The Geo Code Database contains the base for performing geo-coding, such as the layout and position of streets, their name, postal code etc.

The Geo Coder Engine 310 can be provided with two front-ends, one for third party provisioning 330 where content can be entered, added or deleted by a third party. The other front-end 340 is aimed for importing larger amounts of data that are to be geo-coded automatically and stored in the Content Database 127, for example Yellow Pages, or the like.

Fig. 4 is a schematic overall view of the system 100 according to the invention. Briefly, the system relies on having one or more High Availability databases as the core for storing information and Personal Profiles. It is possible to have one or more Hosts 100a... lOOx and they are identical in their configuration, e.g. they will all access the same Content Database 127, Personal Profiles 140 and Mobile Location System 142. Each Host contains the Information Request Broker 110, the Information Request Space 130, the Content Handling Core 120 and the support for Personal Profiles as well as the Mobile Location System (MLS) client 143. The method used for load sharing and redundancy between the Hosts is very simple and in a communications network 420, e.g. Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN) etc., is achieved by using, for example a Round Robin DNS, RRDNS 410. The clients dynamically look up which Host to use in the RRDNS 410 prior to a request. Accessing the Hosts in this way will create an even load on every host and it will also make the system robust since, upon a Host failure, the remaining hosts can still serve the client.

The system comprises an Operation and Maintenance Host (OMH) 430, which contains the interface for doing manual control of the system. It also serves as the point where all notifications, alarms and similar are sent from the Hosts and databases. The Operation and Maintenance Host exports a SNMP interface for alarms and a HTTP/XML interface for control. OMH may include Fault management, which covers handling of alarm list, includes resend, ceasing etc, possibility to set alarm levels, Performance management, functions for reading counters/statistics from the system, supports live, batch mode reading of counters/statistics, and Configuration management, which supports read/set configuration parameters for the application. However, a temporary operator can allow a subscriber to have a temporary account for accessing the information in the temporary network. This is achieved through SBR 460. The SBR 460 allows a guest user to obtain a temporary account and access the information needed. Preferably, the profile of the guest user is copied from the host network. The temporary operator may charge the host operator for the used services.

To facilitate the changes of the information when a user is traveling a language module (LM) 470 can be connected to the system. The LM checks incoming requests and determines the language and if the language is not agree with the local or database language, both the request and the database are translated.

The system is provided with a Scheduler Host 440, which contains the scheduler used for performing timer-based tasks in the system. The scheduler can handle tasks in several ways, e.g. executing retries of a task that fails, reschedule a task and similar. An example of a task is daily fetch of weather forecasts that are stored in the Content Database. Normally the Operation and Maintenance Host and the Scheduler Host are co-located in the same hardware, e.g. the same host.

The system may use statistics in order to obtain knowledge about the usage of the system, e.g. which content that seems to be interesting for the users. Content hit counters can be used for colleting data about which contents that really are of interest for the users. The counters can be anonymous, e.g. knowledge about which users that visited a certain page or selected certain content are not stored. Moreover, user usage counters can be arranged in order to acquire knowledge about what content a certain user often uses. This information can later be used.

One problem that can arise is when a mobile station is in another network than the "home" network. To be able to access needed information in a host network the system is provided with two possibilities, a Position Based Roaming (PBR) and/or System Base Roaming (SBR).

In PBR, via a connection to the mobile location system 143, when the subscriber (mobile station) is in another network, e.g. during a journey abroad, it is possible that the temporary host network, under an agreement with the main operator, allows the subscriber to access the information in the content database of the main (home) operator, i.e. the temporary operator accesses the home operator network and retrieves required information. Thus, an arrangement 450 for handling temporary visitors can be arranged. The positioning is done by the temporary operator or a position broker and supplied to the home operator. The position is obtained through the MLS 143 connected to an external position provider arrangement 460. Accordingly, when the user initiates a request, the temporary host, which can have the same or a similar system according to the invention, transmits the request to the home operator, which handles the request, prepares and returns a reply as described above. In this case all settings (profile) of the user are preserved in the home operator database.

In case of SBR, when a request is received from a mobile station, which is temporarily in another network, the temporary host network can (preferably, under an agreement with the main operator) provide the subscriber with a temporary account 460. Thus, the subscriber will be able to access same or similar information from the temporary operator, hi this case, if the language of the temporary operator differs from the subscribers language, a language module 470 can be used to translate and form the request and retrieved information, as described above.

It is also possible to access the system directly by a temporary operator, which does not use a system according to the invention. Thus, a convert or 480 can be used to convert the information exchange between the temporary operator and the original operator.

The invention is not limited to the shown embodiments; it can be varied in a number of ways without departing from the scope of the appended claims, and the arrangement and the method can be implemented in various ways depending on the application, functional units, needs and requirements etc.

Claims

. An information distribution system, for exchanging information with a mobile station (rimarily based on the position of said mobile station, the system comprising: an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station, means to generate an Information Request Process (IRP), a processing arrangement to process said IRP comprising means for analyzing incoming requests and adapting the request to an information provider type request, means to retrieve information and produce a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from, ;haracterized in hat said system further comprises means for handling temporary users in the system, said neans for handling said temporary users at least comprising a portion (450) for handling said emporary user in communication with said temporary users original system and accessing nformation in said original system and/or a portion for allowing said temporary user to obtain i temporary user account (460) for accessing information in the system.

_. The system of claim 1, iharacterised in hat the requests originate from one or several of Internet (111), a wireless Applications

'rotocol (112) or a Short Messages Service (SMS) Gateway (113).

!. The system of claim 1,

Λiaracterised in hat an Information Request Broker is arranged to supervise said Information Request Process md if the process is terminated unexpected, said request broker generates an error response to a equesting client. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat a Content Handling Arrangement (120) is provided comprising a number of layers (121-

.23).

>. The system of claim 4, characterised in hat a first layer (121) is arranged to analyze incoming requests and call an appropriate module n a second layer (122) in order to retrieve information.

5. The system of claim 5, characterised in hat when said information has been retrieved from said second layer a response is built that natches the characteristics of the terminal where the request originated.

I The system of claim 4, characterised in hat a third Layer (123) is arranged that contains a number of adapters for retrieving information xom internal or external data sources.

i. The system of claim 7, characterised in hat references to the information together with a geo-coded data are stored in databases.

). The system of claim 4, characterised in hat the second layer (122) conducts spatial searches for the requested information.

10. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat said second layer contains a Spatial Search Engine (124) in which searches for the N learest of a certain category of information is carried out.

1. The system of claim 1, Characterised in hat said IRP analyses a request and calls an appropriate module in said second layer.

2. The system of claim 1, ϊharacterised in hat said stored data comprises one or several of hotels, stores, restaurants, concert halls, ncluding open hours, pricing, contact information, events, event schedule, time, weather of a ocation, forecast, points of interest, regions, street intersections and advertising locations.

3. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat it comprises a language handler for translation of phrases and synonyms between phrases.

.4. The system of claim 13, characterised in hat a context and an identifier identifies a phrase.

.5. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat a response to said request is matched to the terminal where the request originated from and

L terminal type corresponding answer is returned.

.6. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat the system is provided with a scheduler (150), which handles operations that are to be executed in future and also handles repetitive operations.

7. The system of claim 1, ;haracterised in hat the system comprises a Personal Profile handling arrangement (140), which contains nformation about users of the system.

8. The system of claim 17, haracterised in hat said information contains one or several of MSISDN of the user, a current location of a iser and a corresponding timestamp, name and nickname of the user, a list of the friends and he corresponding attributes such as last position of a friend, nickname, MSISDN and a Boolean alue describing if the friend can position the user and the group membership, a list of the ^rinder groups, an email address of the user, a preferred language, a list of the stored positions, a earch radius, max hits, and a list of interests.

9. The system of claim 1, tfiaracterised in hat the system is connected to a Geo Coding arrangement (300), which can handle data which s not geo-coded and during the information transaction, it geocodes the information.

.0. The system of claim 1, characterised in hat the system uses statistics in order to obtain knowledge about the usage of the system.

51. In an information distribution system, a method for exchanging information with a mobile itation primarily based on the position of said mobile station, the method comprising: providing an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, providing an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, providing an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, providing an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station, generating an Information Request Process (IRP) by said processing arrangement, processing said IRP, analyzing incoming requests and initiating an Adapter in order to retrieve information, adapting the request to an information provider type request, retrieving information from said information provider, producing a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from, transferring said reply to said MS through said interface arrangement, providing means for handling temporary users in the system, said means for handling said temporary users at least comprising a portion for handling said temporary user in communication with said temporary users original system and accessing information in said original system and/or a portion for allowing said temporary user to obtain a temporary user account (460) for accessing information in the system.

52. A method of facilitating sale of information exchange with a mobile station in an nformation distribution system primarily based on the position of said mobile station (MS), the ystem comprising: an interface arrangement for interfacing said mobile station into the system, an arrangement for processing an inquiry from said mobile station, an arrangement for retrieving information from a data base, an arrangement for transferring said information in a structured form to said mobile station, vherein the method comprises the steps of: authentication control of the user said MS, receiving a service related request from said user, generating an Information Request Process (IRP) by said processing arrangement, processing said IRP, analyzing incoming requests and initiating an Adapter in order to retrieve information, adapting the request to an information provider type request, retrieving information from said information provide producing a replay to said request that matches capabilities of the MS where the request originated from, transferring said reply to said MS through said interface arrangement, registering and charging said user for said information.