WO2009083719A1 - Points of interest adjacent to the location of a mobile device - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method is provided for presenting points-of-interest (POI) content data on a mobile device. Software instructions are stored in the memory of the mobile device and are executed by the processor. The instructions enable the mobile device to display a list of POI categories for acceptance by a user. The category may be further divided into subcategories that are also displayed for user selection. The current position of the mobile device is requested from a location service provider or provided by the user. The current position and selected category and subcategory are formulated into a request for POI content data. The request is sent to selected POI content service providers whose service offerings include providing POI content data for the category/subcategory and current location. The POI content data received from the selected POI content service providers is displayed on the mobile device.

Description

POINTS OF INTEREST ADJACENT TO THE LOCATION OF A MOBILE DEVICE

Mobile communication devices are expensive to run, easy to lose, easily broken and commication may be spotty. Despite this, mobile communication has rapidly become a key means of communication for voice and data of all types for nearly 80% of the world's population. This is because mobile communication provides convenience, whether actual or perceived.

It is noteworthy that activities on mobile fall broadly into one of two categories: activity to save time, and activity to waste time. By far the strongest type of demand on mobile is the former, and clear evidence of this is in the global ubiquity of mobile voice communication for example. This traditional mobile activity has provided users with unparalleled convenience throughout the past 25-years and it is this same principal that is responsible for the overwhelming popularity of the medium.

A cell phone is a mobile communication device that operates within a physical area that is divided into cells. In order for cell service to work, the approximate location of a cell phone relative to a group of adjacent cells must be known. This attribute makes the cell phone suitable for receiving information relating a user's location to points-of-interest within a certain distance of the user. Other communication devices may be locatable by various means, including GPS and Bluetooth location schemes.

What would be useful is a system and method that advantageously uses the location capabilities of a mobile device to provide location-related content to the mobile device based on criteria entered by a user.

Figure 1 illustrates a flow of a graphical user interface from a user perspective according to an embodiment.

Figure 2 illustrates an overall request process according to an embodiment. Figure 3 illustrates a search flow of a search engine performing an automated search according to an embodiment.

Figure 4 illustrates the logical elements of an import service according to an embodiment hereof.

Figure 5 illustrates a flow of a user subscribe flow according to an embodiment.

Figure 6 illustrates a flow of a user subscribe flow according to an embodiment.

Figure 7 illustrates possible subscription states and their relationships according to an embodiment.

Figure 7 illustrates the logical elements of an import service according to an embodiment hereof.

Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of an architecture for hosting a content delivery service according to an embodiment.

In the description that follows, reference is made to "points-of-interest." As used in this description a point-of-interest may be a place, such as a restaurant, a park, a theater, a business address and a residential address, an event, such as an art exhibit or concert, or the location of another person. The event will also be associated with a location. Additionally, reference is made to a "postcode." For purposes of this disclosure, a "postcode" is a code used to identify a geographic region serviced by a postal authority. Thus, a postcode includes, but is not limited to, a zip code. Reference is also made to a "geocode." For the purposes of this disclosure, a "geocode" is a representational format of a geospatial coordinate measurement comprising at least a latitude and a longitude of a location. Reference is also made to a "location based service" or "LBS." For the purposes of this disclosure, a LBS is a service that returns location data, which may be in the form of a postcode or geocode, that is indicative of a current location of a wireless mobile device.

The description that follows makes use of tables to illustrate embodiments. The values set forth these tables are considered exemplary and not limiting.

In an embodiment, a content delivery system (CDS) provides context-relevant information to users of wireless mobile devices. In one implementation, a CDS operator provides a mobile application that is installed and operated on a cell phone. In an embodiment, the mobile application is installed on the cell phone via a download. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the mobile application may be downloaded to the cell phone through the following methods:

• Voice-call to shortcode

• SMS to shortcode

• Direct from WAP site

• Direct from Internet site

• From phone to phone via Bluetooth

• From phone to phone via SMS

Figure 1 illustrates a flow from a user perspective according to an embodiment. In an embodiment, the mobile application displays a graphical user interface (GUI) comprising a menu 100 of "categories" of points-of-interest (POIs). By way of illustration and not as a limitation, Figure 1 illustrates category A 102, category B 104, and category N 106. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a categories list may include bars, clubs, culture, film, social affinity groups of all kinds, hotels, health and fitness, pubs, and restaurants.

While the discussion that follows describes using a CDS to locate physical POIs, this descsription is illustrative only and not limiting. The CDS may be used to locate people who are users of the CDS. The functional elments of the CDS may also be applied to allow users of the CDS to meet other users that have common interests or needs.

The GUI is responsive to selection components of the cell phone. Thus, input components such as navigation keys, touch screens, and speech recognition systems normally assigned to navigate the cell phone features may be used to navigate the various lists and menus of the mobile application.

As illustrated in Figure 1, a user selected category N 108.

A category may be further divided into subcategories. If so, the selection by the user of a category will prompt the mobile application to display a list of subcategories 120. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, Figure 1 illustrates subcategory A 122, subcategory B 124, and subcategory N 126. The subcategories are also selectable by the user via the selection components. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the category "Food" may be further organized into subcategories Chinese, Italian, and Fast Food. As illustrated in Figure 1, the user selects subcategory N and requests a search 128. On selection of a category or subcategory to search, the^j user's location is known and together with the time and selection, the most relevant results to those criteria are returned from one or more databases. A list of results is displayed by the GUI of the application 130. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, Figure 1 illustrates result A 132, result B 134, and result N 126. The results are also selectable by the user via the selection components.

Upon selection of a result from the list, a "final" result is displayed. As illustrated in Figure 1, the user selects result N 138 and the selected result is displayed 140. In an embodiment, the mobile application provides the user the option to share the final result with another party via Bluetooth, SMS or an IR connection. In an embodiment, the shared result comprises a link prompting the recipient to download the mobile application. The user is also given the option of submitting a new request or of exiting the mobile application.

The mobile application provides the user the option to share the results of the manual search with another party via Bluetooth, SMS or an IR connection.

Figure 2 illustrates an overall request process according to an embodiment. As illustrated in Figure 2, the functions of a CDS are logically arranged according to whether the functions are to be performed by a mobile application running on a wireless mobile device, by a server application running on a server operated by (or for) a provider of an CDS, or by a database. While the functions of the server application and database are illustrated as to be logically distinct, it will be appreciated that some or all of these functions may be performed by a single physical device that comprises both the server application and the database logic.

A mobile application is loaded on a mobile device 200. A category is selected from a menu of POIs displayed by the mobile application 202. Optionally, a subcategory is selected from a menu of subcategories of the selected category 204. A request to search the category or subcategory is sent to a server application 210. In an embodiment, the server application runs on a server that is accessible to the wireless mobile device and that is operated by, or for, the operator of a CDS. The server application communicates with a database to access a location based service (LBS) 212. The LBS returns location data to the server application 214. In an embodiment, the location data may be a latitude and longitude or in the form of a postcode. As illustrated, the server application accesses a postcode server 216, which converts the postcode to a geocode and returnes the geocode to the server application 218. Alternatively, the geocode can be use directly without any need for a determination of postcode.

The server application communicates the geocode to the database. A search engine operated by the server application accesses a content database 220 or a content provider 222 using the request criteria and the geocode and/or the location information. In an embodiment, the request criteria comprise the selected category and, if selected, the subcategory, and a radius value indicative of a distance from the location of the wireless mobile device to search for POIs that are assigned to the selected category and, if appropriate, subcategory.

The server application receives data associated with "N" nearest POIs within the selected category and, if appropriate, subcategory 224. The number of listed POIs "N" is arbitrary. However, in an embodiment, "N" is set to three. The "N" POIs are displayed by the mobile application for selection by the user 226. Following the user selection, information relating to the selected POI is displayed 228. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the information relating to the selected comprises the name, address, telephone contact of the selected POI. Additionally, a map or illustrating a route to the selected POI may be displayed. The route map may be accompanied by text instructions detailing driving or walking directions to the POI. Further ancillary information, such as the availability of local transport, the location of an ATM, a rating of the selected POI, a general range of prices for goods and services offered by the POI, and a review of the POI may be provided. The user may call a POI directly from the mobile application or invite others to the meet at the POI via an "Invitation SMS." In yet another embodiment, a user may also be presented with the opportunity to make a reservation at a hotel, a restaurant, or a performance near the POI. As an added incentive, the user may be offered a "discount" off the regular price charged by the POI or by businesses near the POI. In order to manage traffic and number of requests without overburdening the server, and to allow for a maximum of users, a specific time may be set by the system operator for the duration of a search. Thus the server may receive a request and perform the requested search for a fixed period of time (e.g. 15 seconds) after which the results are returned to the user. In this way results are returned without an overly long search period. This timeout aspect is further discussed (below).

In an embodiment, the user elects to search manually. In this embodiment, the request further comprises location information provided by the user. If the user-provided location information does include a postcode, the request is sent to the server application 210 and the location information is forwarded to the database which then accesses a postcode server 216 (bypassing illustrated elments 212 and 214). If the user-provided location information includes a geocode, the request is sent to the server application 210 and the geocode and the request is forwarded to the database which then accesses either the content database 220 or the content provider 222 (bypassing illustrated elments 212, 214, 216, and 218).

In an embodiment, for both automated and manual searches, a determination is made whether the request for data is successful. If the data request is not successful, an error message is returned to the mobile application and displayed to the user. If the data request is successful, the user may then send the results to another person, exit the mobile application, or select a different result.

As illustrated in Figure 2, the server application obtains the location information of the wireless mobile device from which a request is sent. In an embodiment, the location information is obtained via a location based service that associates a telephone number with longitude and latitude data and a radius about the coordinates in which the cell phone assigned the telephone number is located. In this embodiment, the location of a cell phone does not require or utilize GPS technology. However, this is not meant as a limitation. Other means, including the use of GPS technology, may be used to determine the location of the cell phone.

In an embodiment, the search engine component of the server application makes a determination whether the search request has produced results data. If not, the geographic area encompassed by the search as determined by the radius data is enlarged and the search engine again processes the request. If results data is returned, the user is billed and presented with the results data.

In an embodiment, the search engine is also implemented with a "thread pool" limit. The thread pool limit determines the number of instances of the search engine to be instantiated in response to the receipt of requests from users and determines the number of content providers that can be searched simultaneously.

Once the search engine has received the search criteria and the postcode, the search engine performs the following tasks:

• A list of content providers is loaded and stored in cache.

• A list of content providers is retrieved from the content provider cache based on a match between the requested postcode and category. In this way, only service providers that provide the desired content within the desired geographic location are searched.

• In the event that there are no content providers available for the requested postcode and category, then additional content providers may be loaded into the search engine. Alternatively, national content providers may be searched. In yet another alternative, an error may be returned to the mobile application and displayed to the user.

• If a set of content providers meeting the search criteria has been identified, then each member of the set of content providers is called via an agreed protocol in order to retrieve a list of locations. In an embodiment, an order in which these content providers are used is determined by a rank (described below) associated with the content provider.

• When a set of points-of-interest has been returned for a set of content providers, the points-of-interest are ordered by the nearest to the location of the cell phone. For example, the top three distinct locations are displayed to the user of the wireless mobile device.

• In the event that the request has exceeded an arbitrary timeout value, then the request will be terminated, and results (POIs) retrieved to that point will be returned to the user or, in the event that no POI's have been received, an error message will be returned.

In an embodiment, the mobile application interacts with a server application running on a server operated by or for the operator of a CDS. The server application the search engine comprises a set of configuration values. The configuration values determine the behavior of the CDS and provide the search engine information necessary to communicate with the content providers.

Figure 3 illustrates a search flow of a search engine performing an automated search according to an embodiment. The search flow is illustrated from the point when the user has selected a category and an LBS lookup has been performed. In an embodiment, the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84) standard is used for GeoCode data which is in WGS84 Latitude and WGS84 Longitude. The latitude and longitude of the client's position can be determined from the location based service (using the WGS84 standard). However, this is not meant as a limitation. Other standards for determining location data may be used.

The search engine receives location data 300. A database is searched using the category (or subcategory) selected 302. As described below, the database may be a central database or a database operated by a content provider. The search engine retrieves POIs located within a specified area. A determination is made whether the results were returned or whether the number of results returned meets a preset number of results 304. If the number of results returned meets a preset number of results, a distance from the wireless device location to each POI is computed 308. The results are displayed to a user in order of increasing distance from the wireless device location 310.

If the search returns an insufficient number of locations, then a determination is made whether the search time has exceeded a present limit 312. If the search returns an insufficient number of locations and the search time has not been exceeded, the search radius is widened until preset number of results is returned 314. If the the present timeout period has been exceeded, the search is terminated 320 and the POIs retrieved are sent to the client. In an embodiment, the distance from a POI and a wireless mobile device is computed using an algorithm. By way of illustration, a kilometer is approximately 0.008999 degrees in latitude and 0.015299 degrees in longitude (the longitude is an average based on 1° longitude at 50° latitude = 71.70 kms, and 1° longitude at 60° latitude = 55.80 kms). To determine which locations are approximately within 1 km of the sthece (that is, north, south, east and west of the sthece, or within a 2 km² quadrant), then a location would only be valid if it met the following criteria:

• If the search location latitude is greater than or equal to the sthece location latitude then the search location must not exceed the sthece location latitude + 0.008999;

• If the search location latitude is less than or equal to the sthece location latitude then the search location latitude must be greater than or equal to the sthece location latitude - 0.008999.

• If the search location longitude is greater than or equal to the sthece location longitude then the search location must not exceed the sthece location longitude + 0.015299.

• If the search location longitude is less than or equal to the sthece location longitude then the search location longitude must be greater than or equal to the sthece location longitude -0.015299.

Using this model, longitudinal values can be positive or negative. In order to ensure position longitudinal values, adjustment factors may be applied. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, values within the UK may be adjusted by -1.3 degrees and multiplied by -1 in order to provide a positive longitude value.

If a suitable set of locations were identified then the direct distance between the sthece location and each valid location would be calculated. This list would then be sorted according to distance, and the top three results returned to the client.

The distance calculation may be performed using known techniques. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the determination may be made by applying Pythagoras Theorem. If distances involved are small and accuracy is not critical, this approach will produce good results. However, in large regions where the distances may be larger, determination of the distances between points may be more accurately determined using a formula that accounts for the curvature of the earth. One such formula is the Haversine formula. A manual search mechanism works differently from the automated search flow (see, Figure 3) in that the location to search against is entered as either a post code, town or city which is converted into geocodes before the search is performed.

The search engine may be configured to manage the behavior of the search engine. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, Table 1 illustrates the elements of a GUI configuration file of a search engine according to an embodiment.

TABLE 1

Maximum Number of Int >=1 The maximum number of

Concurrent Searches Per <=10 concurrent searches that are

Request performed for each client request. That is, the number of content providers that are processed at the same time.

The values set forth in Table 1 are considered exemplary and not limiting. The values established for the longitude offset, minimum and maximum latitude and minimum and maximum longitude are illustrative of a search engine configured for operation in the United Kingdom.

The search engine configuration information also identifies all the content providers that can be used by the search engine. Table 2 illustrates the content of a configuration file for a content provider known to the search engine according to an embodiment.

TABLE 2

The content provider is identified by a unique "ContentProviderld." A content provider is also identified as "national" or "local" using a Boolean operator. A national content provider provides information that is not grouped by postcodes or other location identifiers. If a content provider is identified as national, the search engine will disregard the postal area and category configuration information (each of which is described below).

The string sizes set forth in Table 2 are considered exemplary and not limiting.

In one embodiment, the proximity to the target always takes precedence over every other factor. However, where multiple content providers return the same location, the content providers are ranked in order of precedence and the data from the highest ranking content provider is used. The precedence thus determines when the content of one content provider is displayed over the content of another based on the results returned. The precedence may be determined based on financial considerations. For example, if content provider A signs a more lucrative license with the CDS operator than content provider B, the content of content provider A will be displayed more frequently than content provider B, thus offering A a greater opportunity to earn revenue.

Table 3 illustrates the content of a content provider ranking configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 3

The string size set forth in Table 3 is considered exemplary and not limiting. To further illustrate the content of Table 3, Table 4 illustrates the possible rank identifiers and the values assigned to them according to an embodiment.

TABLE 4

In another embodiment, a statistical model is used to select a content provider to return data in response to a request. In this embodiment, the performance of a service provider relative to an expected performance is monitored. The relative performances of all of the service providers able to provide a response to a request are then evaluated using an algorithm to select the actual provider. The information used by the algorithm is set forth in Tables 5-9 below.

Table 5 captures the details of licenses held by all content providers. It is assumed that a content provider will only have one license in any one period of time. >

TABLE 5

Table 6 stores the number of locations returned for a period of time and for a content provider.

TABLE 6

In this embodiment, the PeriodStart/PeriodEnd combination does not overlap any existing record in this table and is contiguous. The actual period duration (PeriodEnd -PeriodStart) is arbitrary. In an embodiment, the period duration is in multiples of whole days.

Table 7 stores the number of locations returned for a period of time and for a content provider.

TABLE 7

The following example illustrates the RequiredPercentageOfTotal value for a total revenue of $10,000 in the specified period of time 01/06/2008 - 31/05/2009 for a given set of content providers licensed for that period of time:

TABLE 8

The values set forth in Table 8 are considered exemplary and not limiting.

hi order to resolve which content provider returns locations to the client when the category and proximity are the same, the difference between the RequiredPercentageOfTotal and the ActualPercentageOfTotal is calculated. The content provider with the highest difference is chosen. In the highly unlikely event that more than one content provider had the same difference, the content provider would be selected randomly. Table 9 illustrates how content provider "C" is selected according to this algorithm:

TABLE 9

The information in Tables 5-9 can be calculated in real time (which would provide a very accurate way of determining the correct content provider). In another embodiment, the table information is pre-processed on a daily basis in order to limit impact on the system.

As previously described and as illustrated in Figure 2, the search engine may search a central database or a database operated by a content provider. The search engine is configured to perform these searches as described below.

The central database is populated with POI information provided by content providers. In order to fill the database, the data from a content provider is imported and transformed via a web service. In an embodiment, one web service serves all of the participating content providers. In another embodiment, a web service is provided per content provider. The location import schema allows content providers to supply locations to the operator of a CDS with a category of selected by the content provider. It is envisaged that this category would be translated with the corresponding CDS category before the location is transferred into the database. In an embodiment, verification of the address data is provided to ensure data integrity.

Figure 4 illustrates the logical elements of an import service according to an embodiment hereof. Data from a content provider is received at a website 400. The content provider data is mapped to the structure of the central database 410 and imported into the central database 430. Optionally, the address data for POIs provided by the content provider are verified before importation into the central database 420.

In an embodiment, standards by which content providers provide content data are established. A "patching application" receives content submissions from content providers. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the content submissions are obtained via FTP or a webservice. The patching application then transforms the data from the content provider and inserts it into the central database so that all the relevant relationships and tracking information are captured. This transformation utilizes a category mapping table and import logging table(s) for capturing import processing data.

Different content providers may identify categories using different terms. Table 10 illustrates the content of a category mapping configuration file according to an embodiment. This configuration file defines how the content provider maps categories to the system categories.

TABLE 10

The ContentProviderld and Categoryld field combination will be unique. The string size set forth in Table 10 is considered exemplary and not limiting. In an embodiment, the patching application ensures the following when transferring data into the database:

• There are no duplicate rows for the same POI (e.g., Restaurant) in the location table; and

• When there is more than one content provider with the same content, one copy of the content is stored in the Location table with many to many relationships with the ContentProviderLocation table. Thus, one restaurant can be found in more than one content provider. For example, restaurant A may be in theAA and Squaremeal. So, rather than the restaurant details twice, one copy of the content is stored and the content is mapped to multiple content providers.

The mobile application also organizes the different categories from the content providers into normalized categories. For example, if a content provider has categories for Indian / Chinese / Korean and the mobile application had one category (Asian cuisine) for all the categories, then the data is reclassified before being stored into the database.

Table 11 illustrates the fields of a central database:

TABLE 11

In an embodiment, a location table defines all the establishments that can be used by the search engine and ultimately returned to the client. In an embodiment, the table is configured such that every row in this table is unique for an entry with the same Company Name, AddressLinel and Postcode. However, this is not meant as a limitation. Other table structures may be used to provide location information for points of interest. Table 12 illustrates a location table according to an embodiment:

TABLE 12

The location search table defines all the information used by the search engine in order to provide content to the client. In an embodiment, only active locations that are associated with at least one active content provider are reflected in this table. In addition, the table may be optimized for quickly identifying suitable locations by the search engine. Table 13 illustrates a location search table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 13

A category is used to define a set of system categories that can be searched by the rules engine. Table 14 illustrates the content of a category configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 14

The string size set forth in Table 14 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

To further illustrate the content of Table 14, Table 15 illustrates the content of an exemplary category configuration file according to an embodiment:

TABLE 15

In an embodiment, a region table is used to categorize post areas. For example, LS, BD, WF all belong to West Yorkshire. So, if Yorkshire Post was only licensed to serve content in Yorkshire, if the user was in Lancashire, then they would not be served data from Yorkshire Post's content database. Table 16 illustrates the contents of a region table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 16

In an embodiment, a post area table defines all the post areas used within the system. This table is used by the search engine in order to retrieve locations for a specified post town. Table 17 illustrates the contents of a post area table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 17

To further illustrate the content of Table 17, Table 18 illustrates the content of an exemplary category post area table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 18

In an embodiment, a content provider table defines all the content providers that have contributed locations to the central database. Table 19 illustrates the contents of a content provider table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 19

The content provider is identified by a unique "ContentProviderld." A content provider is also identified as "national" or "local" using a Boolean operator. A national content provider provides information that is not grouped by postcodes or other location identifiers. If a content provider is identified as national, the search engine will disregard the postal area and category configuration information. A content provider category defines the set of categories that a content provider supports.

Table 20 illustrates a categories configuration file according to an embodiment for a content provider identified as national. The search engine will be able to distinguish regions based on the geocodes and will be able to define the boundaries of the various regions using a lookup table. This is dependent on how the regions are sectioned by the operator of the CDS.

TABLE 20

The ContentProviderld and Categoryld field combination will be unique.

A content provider postal area category defines the set of categories that are associated with a postal area for a specified content provider. For example, a content provider "YORKSHIRE PUBS AND RESTAURANTS" may have the categories PUBS for postal codes LS, BD, FIX, and RESTAURANTS for postal codes LS, HX, S75. Table 21 illustrates a postal area category configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 21

The ContentProviderld, PostalAreald and Categoryld field combination will be unique. As previously indicated, a content provider that is identified as "national" does not provide content grouped by postcode. Thus, this configuration file is ignored by the search engine in the event that the content provider is defined as national.

As previously noted, the rules engine is configured to search databases of content providers and a central data base. As to the former, in order for the search engine to acquire data with from the content provider, the search engine is configured to use protocols recognized by the content provider. For example, service providers may utilize a web service, a HTTP GET implementation, or a HTTP POST implementation. Additionally, the search engine is configured to pass the parameters required by the content provider's interface in order to pass data requests to the content provider. For example, a content provider will be provided with at least a postcode, possibly a category (the content provider may only support one category), and maybe security details (in order that the content provider can validate the user requesting the information). By way of illustration, a HTTP GET message might be structured as follows: http://www.contentprovider.co.uk?postcode=LS 11 +5QP&category= 1

The configuration files used to establish the communications between the search engine and the content provider are described below.

A protocol is used to define how the search engine communicates with the content provider in order to retrieve a list of locations. Table 12 illustrates a protocol configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 22

The string size set forth in Table 22 is considered exemplary and not limiting. To illustrate this further, Table 23 illustrates the content of an exemplary protocol configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 23

A parameter is used to define the parameters used when communicating with a content provider. Table 24 illustrates a parameter configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 24

The string size set forth in Table 24 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

To illustrate this further, Table 25 illustrates the content of an exemplary parameter configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 25

A content type defines how the protocol encodes the data that is sent to a content provider. Table 26 illustrates a protocol encoding configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 26

The string size set forth in Table 26 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

To illustrate this further, Table 27 illustrates the content of an exemplary protocol encoding configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 27

A content provider protocol defines the protocols that are implemented by a content provider. Table 28 illustrates a provider protocol configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 28

The ContentProviderld and Protocolld field combination will be unique.

The string size set forth in Table 28 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

A content provider protocol configuration defines the set of parameter names and values that need to be specified for a content provider and protocol. Table 29 illustrates a parameter configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 29

The string size set forth in Table 29 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

This configuration information is particularly useful when the content provider needs to be made aware of security details when using the specified protocol.

A content provider protocol parameter defines the content provider's representation of the parameters used by the search engine for a specified protocol. Table 20 illustrates a content provider parameter naming configuration file according to an embodiment.

TABLE 30

The ContentProviderProtocolId and Parameterld field combination will be unique.

The string size set forth in Table 30 is considered exemplary and not limiting.

In an embodiment, the data that is returned from a content provider comprises a defined structure. Table 31 illustrates a data structure according to an embodiment.

TABLE 31

In an embodiment, data that is returned from a content provider is in XML format.

The following is an exemplary response with multiple locations:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<locations>

<location>

<companyname>A Company Name</companyname>

<addresslinel>An Address Line l</addresslinel>

<addressline2>An Address Line 2</addressline2>

<postcode>A PostCode</postcode>

<telephonenumber> 1234 123456</telephonenumber>

<itunessty lestarrating>rating 1 </itunesstylestarrating>

<priceguide>priceguide 1 </priceguide>

<description>A brief description of the company</description>

</location>

<location>

<companyname> Another Company Name</companyname> <addresslinel>Another Address Line l</addresslinel>

<addressline2> Another Address Line 2</addressline2>

<postcode> Another PostCode</postcode>

<telephonenumber>7890 123456</telephonenumber>

<itunesstylestarrating> rating 2</itunesstylestarrating>

<priceguide>priceguide 4</priceguide>

<description>A brief description of another company</description>

</location>

</locations>

A response with no locations:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<locations>

</locations>

In another embodiment of the present invention, content providers store (cache) the data in a central database. In this embodiment, a search engine component of a client searches the central database and does not communicate directly with a content provider.

It is anticipated that various versions of the mobile application will be used. In an embodiment, a version table is used for distinguishing between the different versions of the mobile application. Table 32 illustrates the contents of a version table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 32

In an embodiment, a content provider version table is a list of content providers that can be searched against for each mobile application version. This configuration table thus defines which content providers' data will be used for a particular version of the mobile application. Table 33 illustrates the contents of a content provider version table according to an embodiment. TABLE 33

In an embodiment, a content provider location table defines all the content providers that are associated with locations. Since the location table is assumed to have unique establishments, this table allows the same location to be assigned to multiple content providers. Table 34 illustrates the contents of a content provider location table according to an embodiment.

TABLE 34

IsChargeable Boolean TRUE -The content provider charges for this location.

False - The location is provided free of charge.

The CDS provides context-relevant information to users of mobile devices. The CDS thus utilizes existing infrastructure of a mobile gateway service provider to provide the communication between a mobile device and the content delivery system using short code messaging.

Figure 5 illustrates a flow of a user subscribe flow according to an embodiment. A user desiring to subscribe to content delivery service sends a text message comprising a short code from a mobile device to the gateway service provider 500. The gateway service provider determines if the mobile number is valid 504. If the mobile is not valid, the gateway service provider returns an error message to the mobile device 508. If the mobile number is valid, the gateway service provider looks up the network of the user 512. The user is then subscribed to a location based service 516. The telephone number is associated with a unique reference number and added to a JAD file 520. The telephone number and the unique reference number are sent to the provider of the content delivery service 524. The unique reference number and telephone number are used for billing, audit and compliance or regulatory purposes. The mobile application is then sent by the provider of the content delivery service to the mobile device 528.

Figure 6 illustrates a flow of a user subscribe flow according to an embodiment. In an embodiment, a user desiring to subscribe to content delivery service sends a text message comprising a stop short code from a mobile device to the gateway service provider 600. The use of a text message, however, is exemplary and not limiting. For example, a voicecode could be used in place of a text message. The gateway service provider determines if the mobile number is valid 602. If the mobile is not valid, the gateway service provider returns an error message to the mobile device 604. The gateway service provider determines if the mobile number is subscribed to the content delivery service 606. If the -mobile is not valid, the gateway service provider returns an error message to the mobile device 608. If the mobile number is valid and the number is subscribed to the content delivery service, the mobile service unsubscribes the user from the location based server 616 and from recurring billing 620. An unsubscribe message is sent to the provider of the content delivery service 624.

In both of these flows illustrated in Figures 6 and 7, a text or audio shortcode is used to authenticate the user. By using the shortcode, the user is voluntarily opting into the content delivery service and accepting legal and commercial terms associated with the service. The network lookup service is a transparent service provided by the gateway service provider for detecting the networks each mobile phone request is from. This is so that the appropriate network providers can be contacted for LBS data and recurring billing.

In an embodiment, when a user switches from one wireless network to another wireless network, the change in network is detected. However, because the recurring billing information and LBS is associated with the previous operator, a message is returned to the user asking the user to text to a mobile application shortcode to subscribe and download the latest copy of the mobile application.

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the content delivery system obtains location based information from the gateway service provider via two interfaces, HTTP and XML/SOAP. HTTP/HTPPS has an advantage in that the packets are significantly smaller sized.

In an embodiment, a gateway service provider allows location requests to be made over HTTP to an LBS. The most common method of connecting to the gateway service provider's LBS is through the use of HTTP GET requests. The gateway service provider's LBS exposes an HTTP interface allowing applications with internet connectivity to locate a mobile handset. A request for a page using the structure shown below is used to locate a mobile handset using the Gateway service provider's LBS. The response given by the Gateway service provider's LBS can either be in plain text or XML format. The endpoints for these HTTP requests are Plain text http://lbs.serviceprovider.com/PlainLocate and https://lbs.serviceprovider.com/PlainLocate. Requests may be sent as a HTTP GET or POST using the parameters listed below. When HTTP/ 1.1 is enabled, if sending multiple packets, the TCP/IP connection is kept open between requests. Table 35 sets forth the parameters for requests according to an embodiment.

TABLE 35

The following example shows an HTTP request understood by the gateway service provider's LBS returning an XML formatted response: http://lbs.serviceprovider.com/Locate?user=myusername&pass=mypassword&msisdn=4477814

84950

If unset, timeout will be set to a default value. In an embodiment, the default value is 20 seconds. If a request is made synchronously, timeout will have a maximum value. In an embodiment, the maximum value is 20 seconds.

A response to a request comprises a status code indicating how the request has proceeded. If this status indicates an error, there will also be a plain text explanation. However, status codes are used for ease of parsing by applications. Table 36 illustrates an error code map according to an embodiment. TABLE 36

Status codes 0 and 2xx (where x is a digit) indicate that a user will be billed for the request. Status codes lxx indicate that the user will not be billed.

If the request is submitted to the PlainLocate endpoint (eg.http://lbs.serviceprovider.com/PlainLocate) the server will reply in plain text. The format is indicated by example: 1. Synchronous success

TABLE 37

2. Synchronous failure

TABLE 38

3. Synchronous Rejection TABLE 39

4. Asynchronous success TABLE 37

As formatted, everything after and including the # is a comment. As can be seen, if the status is 0, the request has been successful. If the status is of the form lxx (where x is a digit) the request has been rejected. If the status is of the form (2xx) the request has failed. Again, if the request is accepted, the reply will have HTTP status 200, if the request is rejected, the reply will have HTTP status 403, with text indicating the error. The Gateway service provider's LBS allows location requests to be made using SOAP over HTTP. A Web Services Definition Language (.wsdl) file describing the Location Gateway SOAP interface according to an embodiment is illustrated below:

<wsdl:definitions targetNamespace="http://I bs.wapmx.com/ext/soap" xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" xmlns:apachesoap="http://xml.apache.org/xml-soap" xmlns:impl="http://lbs.wapmx.com/ext/soap" xmlns:intf="http://lbs. wapmx.com/ext/soap" xmlns:soapenc="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" xmlns:tnsl="http://Ibs.wapmx.com/ext/soap/types" xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" xmlns:wsdlsoap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

- <wsdl:types>

- <schema targetNamespace="http://lbs.wapmx.com/ext/soap/types" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <import namespace="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" />

- <complexType name="requestType">

- <sequence>

<element name="msisdn" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

<element name="user" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

<element name="pass" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

<element maxθccurs="l" minOccurs="0" name="subaccount" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

<element maxθccurs="l" minOccurs="0" name="note" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

<element maxθccurs="l" minOccurs="0" name="validity" nillable="true" type="xsd:int" />

<element name="sync" type="xsd:boolean" />

</sequence>

</complexType>

- <complexType name="responseType">

- <sequence>

<element name="msisdn" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" /> <element name="time" nillable="true" type="xsd:dateTime" /> <element name="location" nillable="true" type="tnsl:locationType" /> <element name="error" nillable="true" type="tnsl:errorType" /> <element name="requestid" type="xsd:int" /> <element name="status" type="xsd:int" /> </sequence> </complexType>

- <complexType name="IocationType">

- <sequence>

<element name="longitude" type="xsd:double" /> <element name=" latitude" type="xsd:double" /> <element name="eastings" type="xsd:int" />

<element name="northings" type="xsd:int" />

<element maxθccurs="l" minOccurs="0" name="accuracy" nillable="true" type="xsd:int" />

<element name="landranger" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

</sequence>

</complexType>

- <complexType name="errorType">

- <sequence>

<element name=" message" nillable="true" type="xsd:string" />

</sequence>

</complexType>

</schema>

</wsdl:types>

- <wsdl:message name="locateRequest"> <wsdl:part name="in" type="tnsl:requestType" /> </wsdl :message>

- <wsdl:message name='iocateResponse"> <wsdl:part name="out" type="tnsl:responseType" /> </wsdl :message>

- <wsdl:portType name="lbsPort">

- <wsdl:operation name="locate" parameterθrder="in"> <wsdl:input message="intf:locateRequest" name='iocateRequest" /> <wsdl:output message="intf:locateResponse" name="locateResponse" /> </wsdl : operation>

</wsdl :portType>

- <wsdl:binding name="lbsSoap" type="intf:lbsPort"> <wsdlsoap:binding style="rpc" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http" />

- <wsdl operation name="locate"> <wsdlsoap: operation soapAction="" />

- <wsdl :inpuf name="locateRequest"> <wsdlsoap:body encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" namespace="http://lbs.wapmx.com/ext/soap" use="encoded" /> </wsdl:input>

- <wsdl:output name='iocateResponse"> <wsdlsoap:body encodingStyle="http://schemas.xni lsoap.org/soap/encoding/" namespace="http://lbs.wapmx.com/ext/soap" use="encoded" /> </wsdl:output>

</wsdl:operation> </wsdl:binding>

- <wsdl:service name='ibsService">

- <wsdl:port binding="intf:lbsSoap" name="lbsPort"> <wsdlsoap:address location="http://lbs.wapmx.com/rpcrouter" /> </wsdl:port> </wsdl:service> </wsdl :definitions> -End of XML-

In an embodiment, a content delivery system is provided in exchange for payment of fees. In one embodiment, a user pays for the service on a per use basis. In another embodiment, a user "subscribes" to the service. In this embodiment, a subscription describes a recurring charge applied to a single user, and is identified by the gateway with a single subscription Id generated by the gateway provider and a number of transaction Ids that relate to the individual charges that have been applied over the cthese of the subscription. A number of management operations can be applied to subscriptions; they can be unsubscribed, this means that the subscription is immediately and permanently ended. A request can also be made to conclude a subscription, which means that the subscription remains valid until the end of the current billing period, but after that time the subscription is automatically unsubscribed.

Subscriptions can be suspended, which means the subscription is deemed inactive, and should be unsubscribed after a defined period of time. Depending on the management options, the gateway may continue to attempt to bill the user in order to restore their subscription. This process will terminate once the user becomes unsubscribed. A user will be prevented from using a suspended service until the user has been successfully billed.

The mobile application may also manually restore the subscription, enabling the user to continue to use the service without being billed until the start of the next billingperiod. This may be used either automatically (to allow a number of billing failures before permanently unsubscribing the user) or manually (to respond to a customer services call).

A concluding subscription is a request to be terminated submitted by the user (perhaps via their online bill) or the client (via a customer services call). If the next billing period is reached, then the user will not be billed, and will be unsubscribed instead. If during the time a subscription is concluding, a restore request is created (perhaps via a customer services call) the user will re- enter the subscribed state, and will be billed again at the start of the next billing period. If the billing frequency of a subscription is set to an arbitrary value (for example, "Every Goal"), then no automatic charges will be applied to the customer. The calling application will be responsible for instigating all charges. A charge may be applied to an active subscription at any time, with the sole exception that a charge request will be rejected if a charge is already in progress. Possible subscription states and their relationships are illustrated in Figure 7. A client application issues a subscribe request 700. An attempt is made to subscribe the user 704. If the subscribe attempt fails the user is "not subscribed" 708. If the subscribe attempts succeeds, the use is "subscribed" 716. A "subscribed" user may be "suspended" 720. In an embodiment, suspension of a subscribed user occurs automatically if billing fails or is delayed. A suspended user will be subscribed if the issues with billing are resolved. A "suspended" user may be "unsubscribed" 722 if the issues giving rise to the suspension are not resolved before the end of the suspension period.

A subscribed user may be "concluding" at the request of a user 718. A concluding account may be restored to "subscribed" on request of the user. A concluding account may be "unsubscribed" 722 if the account is not restored before the end of the subscription period.

A "subscribed" user 716 may be "unsubscribed" 722 at the request of the user.

In a subscribe request, the calling application can choose to specify the recurring charge frequency and allow the gateway to process all the required charges automatically, or can manage the frequency of the charges itself by making explicit separate charge requests to the gateway as required, passing the subscriptionld as a request parameter. The 'subscriptionPeriodUnits' parameter indicates the required charge frequency required; if set to an arbitrary unknown value the gateway will not automatically charge the user. If the gateway manages the recurring charges, the instigating application is notified of all charges via the Notification API.

Table 38 illustrates parameters used to instigate a subscription for a user according to an embodiment:

TABLE 38

Values in the required column of Table 38 marked with "*" indicate that the details can be specified by the subscription product referred to by the given product Id. Alternatively they are specified on a per "subscribe request" basis where the account policy permits. In this instance all parameters are required.

Additional parameters specific to the provider type used can also be supplied. In the case of the 'mobile' provider type, the user's mobile number can be provided as illustrated in table 38A: TABLE 38A

If the user's mobile number is not provided as a request parameter it will be obtained through the user visiting the WAP payment pages. The gateway will indicate in its response that user input is required and provide a billing URL for the required page. Table 38B illustrates additional that parameters are returned in addition to the common response information:

TABLE 38B

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a subscribe request may expressed as follows:: https://cta.serviceprovider.com/api?username=myUser&password=myPass&action=subscribe&t ransactionMode=AutoConfirm&providerType=mobile&productGroup=groupl&productCat=cat egory 1 &productSubCat=subcategory 1 &productDescription=My+test+subscription&productNa me=Test+Product&amount= 1 OOOπcy=GBP&isAdult=either&subscriptionPeriod= 1 &subscriptio nPeriodUnits=Months&subscriptionDuration= 12

Table 39 illustrates the parameters of unsubscribe request according to an embodiment:

TABLE 39

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, an unsubscribe request may expressed as follows:: https://cta.serviceprovider.com/api?username=customer&password=mvpass&action=unsubscrib e&subscriptionld=7482048

Table 40 illustrates the parameters of a conclude request according to an embodiment:

TABLE 40

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a conclude request may expressed as follows:: https://cta.serviceprovider.com/api?username=myUser&password=myPass&action=concludeSu bscription&subscriptionld=7482048

Table 41 illustrates the parameters of a restore request according to an embodiment:

TABLE 41

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a restore request may expressed as follows: https://cta.serviceprovider.com/api?username=myUser&password=myPass&action=restoreSubsc ription&subscriptionld=7482048 hi an embodiment, communication with the gateway service provider's SMS Server is through the use of HTTP GET requests. The gateway service provider's SMS server exposes an HTTP interface allowing applications with internet connectivity to send SMS text messages. A request for a page using the structure shown below is all that is needed for a user to send an SMS through the gateway service provider's SMS Server. By way of illustration and not as a limitation, the endpoints for these HTTP requests are http://sms.serviceprovider.com/SMSSend for HTTP and https://sms.serviceprovider.com/SMSSend for HTTPS (SSL). hi an embodiment, messages are sent as either a HTTP GET or POST using the parameters listed below. One request is sent per message. When HTTP/1.1 is enabled and when sending multiple packets, the TCP/IP connection is kept open between requests. If sending message with a high transmission rate is required, then several persistent HTTP/ 1.1 connections may be used concurrently (perhaps 3 or 4). In another embodiment, pipelining requests (ala Mozilla) is supported. Pipeling is best suited for circumstances in which high message rates and large latency between customer and the gateway service provider are needed.

Several parameters are common to all message types and are to be included in the HTTP request regardless of the specific method being invoked. Details of these parameters are illustrated in Table 42:

TABLE 42

Parameters of Table 42 marked with "*" indicate that are optional.

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, an HTTP request may have the following structure: http://sms.serviceprovider.com/SMSSend?user=myusername&pass=mypassword&smsf rom=1234

&smsto=44778148446&... other parameters...

Along with these parameters, there are a variety of other parameters which are used for the message body, depending on the preference for the encoding/content of the message.

In an embodiment, the responses to GET requests utilize standard internet three digit reply codes: broadly speaking, 2Ox implies success, 4Ox implies bad request, and 5Ox implies server errors. When a message is successfully received by the gateway service provider's SMS server a HTTP success will be returned to the caller (200 code) and the HTTP body will contain one or more message identifiers. These identify messages, and will be used in delivery reports.

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a GET transacition may be appear as follows:

GET

/SMS Send?user=username&pass=password&smsfrom= 1234&smsto=44778148446&S msmsg=Hello HTTP/1.1 Host: sms.serviceprovider.com

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 13:00:20 GMT

Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.8.8 OpenSSL/0.9.6a Content-Type: text/plain Transfer-Encoding: chunked

9

21343457

0

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a multi-part GET transacition may be appear as follows:

GET

/SMS Send?user=username&pass=password&smsfrom= 1234&smsto=44778148446&1 ogo_type=PICTURE&smsmsg=Hello&img=89504e470d0ala0a0000000d49484452000 00048000000 lc0103000000f83c6be500000006504c5445000000ffffffa5d99fdd00 000001624b47440088051 d48000000d94944415478da358e318ac26010855fd6620bc bb5b7703b 1 bObc 1321 ec2c 1 c22207d80b586996bd86a0f59fi22365a08a282a596b2ed 16Ob4ala45OcO9a2794e4c9ce2flflbdl918fO39719fc828b45fl4OcO9cO72814f875 8e2ad09eb3058691b2fc87f27dd5b7e93a7454a755874fb4530b93636caeaee97ea74 54785250d9b6ec75178c5bd5ae2a7531a6b033fal9bfϊ3f6bl076Ωd3755eal2645f6 8ba059e6b7f25303a4647e6b728e76d3e2ff289df8cda84e7930e032f81b49399e7ef e40e6328e218ef0a912830739150dd8cf2a5a94e7a66128a3c005faab5918832aG20 000000049454e44ae426082 HTTP/1.1 Host: sms.serviceprovider.com

HTTP/1.1 200 OK

Date: Mon, 01 JuI 2002 17:01:38 GMT

Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.8.8 OpenSSL/0.9.6a

Content-Type: text/plain

Transfer-Encoding: chunked

Ib

22098253 22098254 22098255

0

Note that the numbers either side of the message ids are present as a result of the"chunked" transfer-encoding and will be stripped out by a browser or other transfer agent.

In the case of a forbidden operator (invalid username/password or attempting to send a reverse billing message where not allowed) the servlet will return an HTTPForbidden error (code 403) and the body will contain an error message. A transaction induced error of this type is illustrated as follows:

GET

/SMSSend?user=username&pass=incorrectpassword&smsfrom=1234&smsto=4477 8148446&smsmsg=Hello HTTP/1.1 Host: sms.serviceprovider.com

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:59:31 GMT

Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.8.8 OpenSSL/0.9.6a

Content-Type: text/plain

Transfer-Encoding: chunked

20 Forbidden Bad username/password 0

In the case of a bad request -eg parameters missing/invalid the servlet will return a Bad request error (code 400). A transaction induced error of this type is illustrated as follows:

GET

/SMS Send?user=username&pass=incorrectpassword&smsfrom= 1234&smsto=4477

8148446 HTTP/1.1

Host: sms.serviceprovider.com

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden

Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 12:59:31 GMT

Server: Apache/1.3.26 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.8.8 OpenSSL/0.9.6a

Content-Type: text/plain

Transfer-Encoding: chunked

21

Bad Request

Request type unknown

0

If there is a problem with the gateway service provider's server then a 500 Internal server error will be returned. The customer should wait a few seconds and reattempt to send their message.

In an embodiment, the HTTP request comprises the common parameters described above and the plain-text-specific parameters set forth in Table 42A:

TABLE 42A

Parameters of Table 42A marked with "*" indicate that are optional.

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, an HTTP message may have the following structure: http://sms.serviceprovider.com/SMSSend?user=myusername&pass=mypassword&smsfr om=1234&smsto=44778148446&smsmsg=Hello%20World

By way of illustration and not as a limitation, a flash message may have the following structure: http://sms.serviceprovider.com/SMS Send?user=myusername&pass=mypassword&smsto =44778148446&smsfrom=flash&smsmsg=Flashy%20Message&report=7&flash=l

This will send a message from the account of user (username), with password (mypassword), to recipient number 44778148446, with the originator of the message set to 1234 (this may not always be possible). The message, in this case Hello World must be suitably URL encoded (eg the %20 rather than a space).

Along with these parameters, there are a variety of other parameters which may be include in the message body, depending on the preference for the encoding/content of the message.

In an embodiment, the CDS uses GPS to obtain location information. In this embodiment, the wireless mobile device comprises a GPS location system. The mobile application interfaces with GPS location system to get location information. In an embodiment, the mobile application comprises detection logic to switch between LBS and GPS depending on availability. For example, in a building GPS may not work effectively, and LBS would be used. In an open space, GPS is would be used to provide more accurate location data.

In an embodiment, content providers are remunerated for providing content. In this embodiment, the results for each content provider need to be tracked and logged. In another embodiment, the CDS allows for differences between different content providers. For example, content provider A may have a revenue split of 50/50 whereas content provider B may have 70/30.

As described previously, Table 5 captures details all the licenses held by all content providers.

Table 5 captures the details of licenses held by all content providers. Table 43 captures the details of a license audit table that is captured from the license table:

TABLE 43

Table 44 illustrates an accounting period table that defines monetary and summary values for a specified period of time according to an embodiment:

TABLE 44

In an embodiment, Table 45 illustrates a Transaction Table and Table 46 illustrates a Transaction Log table. In this embodiment, the Transaction Table and the TransactionLog Table are maintained separately because, there could be three separate transaction logs in one transaction. For example, when a user is returned 3 results at the end of the search, it is one transaction with 3 transaction logs. This way, the transaction logs can be associated with a particular session.

TABLE 45

Transaction Table

TABLE 46

TransactionLog Table

In an embodiment, Table 47 illustrates a transaction table comprising detailed information regarding each stage of the location searching process. In order to track incomplete transactions, i.e. those transactions that failed due to a network failure, database failure, web server failure etc., a transaction record is created using the ClientRequest, StartedOn, and Status data and, then updated on completion of the transaction with the additional data. A transaction is only deemed successful if it has completed all the necessary steps in the allocated time and has returned at least one location to the client.

TABLE 47

In an embodiment, Table 48 illustrates a transaction item table comprising the locations that were supplied for each transaction. It is assumed that the Locationld is unique for the same Transactionld. For example, a suitable candidate key would be Transactionld, Locationld.

TABLE 48

I I NOTNULL. I

In an embodiment, the CDS provides error reporting at points of failure. Error reports are logged into a database. This allows an error to be easily isolated and where required provide customers (content providers) with reporting during outages.

Table 49 illustrates an errors sthece table comprising all the entities that can log an error according to an embodiment:

TABLE 49

Table 50 illustrates an errors table comprising all the errors that have occurred according to an embodiment: TABLE 50

Figure 8 illustrates a block diagram of an architecture for hosting a content delivery service according to an embodiment. As illustrated in Figure 8, redundant load balancers 804 and 808 route traffic depending on their load and availability. The two load balancers are illustrated as being located in primary and secondary data centers. Should one load balancer fail then traffic to the hosted environment will be routed through a secondary load balancer which is also hosted in a secondary data centre. Firewalls 812 located in the primary datacenter and firewall 816 located in the secondary datacenter utilize "heartbeat" monitoring. Should one firewall find a fault then the other will take over responsibilities seamlessly.

In the primary data center, production webservers 820 and 824 communicate with database servers 828 and 832 clustered using a Storage Area Network (SAN) 836 to serve and store data. There is also the option to add additional webservers should mobile application anticipate higher concurrent usage and unique visitors.

Web server 820 and 824 are assigned virtual IP addresses. The virtual IP addresses are hosted on load balancers 804 and 808, which route traffic to virtual IP's of webservers through firewall.

Database servers 828 and 832 utilize a a two node cluster and use the fastIO (Input / Output) of SAN 836 to maintain disk high performance while storing and serving the data back to the DB cluster. A two database server cluster means that one server will be live (master) while the other will be passive (slave) unless there is a fault whereby the slave will become the master until the original master returns to operational status.

In an embodiment, the primary data center and the secondary data center are located in separate physical locations. In this embodiment, the secondary data center is secured behind a load balancer and a firewall. The secondary test data center may be used for testing and for receiving the log data. In an embodiment, the the log data is sent to the secondary data center on a 15-30 second periodical basis and stored on testing/data recovery servers 840 and 844. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the structures and methods described herein may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the scope of this disclosure and that the examples and embodiments described herein are in all respects illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other embodiments using the concepts described herein are also possible. Further, any reference to claim elements in the singular, for example, using the articles "a," "an," or "the" is not to be construed as limiting the element to the singular. Moreover, a reference to a specific time, time interval, and instantiation of scripts or code segments is in all respects illustrative and not limiting.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A system for providing location-based information to a mobile device comprising: a datastore, wherein the datastore comprises information concerning points of interest and wherein each point of interest is associated with location information and identifying information and is a member of a category; a server, wherein the server is accessible to the mobile device via a first communication path and accessible to the datastore via a second communication path, and wherein the server comprises instructions for: receiving a request for information concerning a category of points of interest (POI) from the mobile device; in response to the request for POI content, determining a location of the mobile device at a time the request is received; using the location information, searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance from the location of the mobile device; and sending the identifying information of the list of members to the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein mobile device is a cellphone.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the points of interest are selected from the group consisting of a place, a restaurant, a park, a theater, a business address, a residential address, a location of an event, and a location of another person.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first communication path is provided via a wireless network and wherein the second communications path is provided via a wired network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second communications paths are provided via wireless networks.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein each point of interest is further associated with description information and wherein the server further comprises instructions for: receiving a user selection of one the listed members; and sending description information associated with the selected member.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the description information is selected from the group consisting of a location, a telephone number, an address, a distance from the location of the mobile device, a travel time from the location of the mobile device to the one of the listed members, a cuisine, a review, operating hours, a performance time, a price range, a service offering, and a menu offering.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction for searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance of the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category, wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a count of the candidate members; and if the count of candidate members is equal to the list length, then creating the list of members using the candidate members.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance from the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category, wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a count of the candidate members; and if the count of candidate members is greater than the list length then: grouping the candidate members according to an actual distance from the location of the mobile device starting with a most proximate candidate member; and creating the list of members by selecting the candidate members from the grouping of candidate members starting with the most proximate member.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising, prior to sending the identifying information of the list of members to the mobile device: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for first candidate members of the requested category, wherein first candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a first count of the first candidate members; if the first count of first candidate members is less than the list length then: using the location information, searching the datastore for second candidate members of the requested category, wherein second candidate members are members of the requested category that are within a second distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a total count comprising the first count of first candidate members plus a second count of second candidate members; if the total count of candidate members is equal to the list length, then creating the list of members using the first and second candidate members; if the total count of candidate members is greater than the list length, then: grouping the first and second candidate members according to an actual distance from the location of the mobile device starting with a most proximate candidate member; and creating the list of members by selecting the first and second candidate members from the grouping of candidate members starting with the most proximate member.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instruction for searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance from the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a search time limit; and searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category for a period not to exceed the search time limit and wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device.

12. A method for providing location-based information to a mobile device comprising: establishing a datastore comprising information about points of interest (POI); associating each point of interest with location information and identifying information, wherein each point of interest is a member of a category; receiving a request for information concerning a category of points of interest from the mobile device via first communications path; in response to the request for POI content, determining a location of the mobile device at time the request is received;using the location information, searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance from the location of the mobile device; and sending the identifying information of the list of members to the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein mobile device is a cellphone.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the points of interest are selected from the group consisting of a place, a restaurant, a park, a theater, a business address, a residential address, a location of an event, and a location of another person.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first communication path is provided via a wireless network and wherein the second communications path is provided via a wired network.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and second communications paths are provided via wireless networks.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein each point of interest is further associated with description information and the method further comprises: receiving a user selection of one the listed members; and sending description information associated with the selected member.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the description information is selected from the group consisting of a location, a telephone number, an address, a distance from the location of the mobile device, a travel time from the location of the mobile device to the one of the listed members, a cuisine, a review, operating hours, a performance time, a price range, a service offering, an a menu offering.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance of the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category, wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a count of the candidate members; and if the count of candidate members is equal to the list length, then creating the list of members using the candidate members.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the instruction for searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance of the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category, wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a count of the candidate members; and if the count of candidate members is greater than the list length then: grouping the candidate members according to an actual distance from the location of the mobile device starting with a most proximate candidate member; and creating the list of members by selecting the candidate members from the grouping of candidate members starting with the most proximate member.

21. The method of claim 12 further comprising, prior to sending the identifying information of the list of members to the mobile device: receiving a list length equal to a preset number of members; searching the datastore for first candidate members of the requested category, wherein first candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a first count of the first candidate members; if the first count of first candidate members is less than the list length then: using the location information, searching the datastore for second candidate members of the requested category, wherein second candidate members are members of the requested category that are within a second distance of the location of the mobile device; determining a total count comprising the first count of first candidate members plus a second count of second candidate members; if the total count of candidate members is equal to the list length, then creating the list of members using the first and second candidate members; if the total count of candidate members is greater than the list length, then: grouping the first and second candidate members according to an actual distance from the location of the mobile device starting with a most proximate candidate member; and creating the list of members by selecting the first and second candidate members from the grouping of candidate members starting with the most proximate member.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the instruction for searching the datastore and creating a list of members of the requested category that are within a first distance of the location of the mobile device comprises: receiving a search time limit; and searching the datastore for candidate members of the requested category for a period not to exceed the search time limit and wherein candidate members are members of the requested category that are within the first distance of the location of the mobile device.