Method and apparatus for sharing wireless content
Contents
1. 50 55 60 65 12 8 An Embodiment in which Content Displayed at a Given Time is Transmitted The content corresponding to a URL may be changed during the time interval between the transmission of the URL address by mobile device 10 and the time at which the user of the destination device invokes the received URL at the desti nation device Consequently the content displayed on the destination device may differ from that originally displayed on mobile device 10 In many cases the user of mobile device 10 will want the destination device to display updated ver sions of the content corresponding to the transmitted URL However in certain instances the user of mobile device 10 may want the recipient to access the exact same content as that originally accessed by the user of mobile device 10 For these cases an option may be added to the list of options displayed on the user device and shown on FIG 3 5 having for example the title send URL with state at present time If the user selects this option then the application server may store the content corresponding to the URL at that time in a newly created deck or in an existing deck The application server may then transmit the URL corresponding to this deck to the destination device The destination device would then display this link The user of the destination device may receive the original content by selecting at any time the displayed link Thus the destination de2. receiving a command from a WAP and i mode enabled device or just i mode enabled device for transmission of content associated with a URL that is accessed by the device receiving a destination address for transmission ofthe URL or the content corresponding to the URL storing the content or modified version of the content for subsequent retrieval generating a message including the content or modified version of the content correspond ing to the URL and transmitting the message to the destination address
3. that have been previously accessed by the sending user Such URLs are stored in a history stack either on the WAP i mode enabled mobile device or on the application server Using the history stack the sending user may access a previously ac cessed URL by selecting the corresponding option from a menu displayed on the WAP i mode enabled mobile device Additionally the previously accessed URL can be passed as an argument to the bookmark application as described above Thus the embodiments discussed earlier may be modified to send a previously accessed URL or the content correspond ing to a previously accessed URL to destination devices Furthermore more than one URL in the history stack or content corresponding to more than one URL in the history stack may be transmitted by the user s selection ofa plurality of URLs from the URLs residing in the history stack Such modifications are within the scope of the disclosed invention 14 An Embodiment in Which the Application Server Resides in the User Device In an embodiment of the present invention the application server may reside in the WAP i mode enabled mobile device In such embodiments the application server running on the user device may perform the functionality of the application server described in the embodiments above Such modifica tions are within the scope of the present invention 15 Messaging in Connection with Transmission of Con tent Embodiments of the invention allo
4. Resource Locator URL similar to the way HTML files e g Web pages are referenced The user interface for WML is created using a deck of cards WML also includes methods for implementing access control for content The NTT DoCoMo i mode is another protocol that allows users real time access to information using handheld wireless devices including mobile phones pagers two way radios smartphones and other devices The NTT DoCoMo i mode i mode service is not based on WAP instead of WML i mode uses a simplified version of HTML called Compact HTML cHTML cHTML is actually a subset of HTML that is intended for devices with slower connection speeds like mobile devices In particular the resource intensive abili 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 ties of HTML e g rendering tables and frames have been left out of CHTML Thus cHTML allows i mode web pages to download more quickly to mobile devices running an i mode microbrowser 1 4 device Because i mode web sites are written using versions of HTML such sites can also be accessed and rendered by devices running ordinary Internet browsers This contrasts with the situation for WAP web sites which cannot be ren dered by devices running ordinary Internet browsers When a user of an i mode enabled device bookmarks a web page the title of the web page becomes the title of the bookmark Because i mode was originall
5. a may correspond to a deck that may be accessed by a selection of the user of mobile device 10 If the user selects the save bookmark option the URL that is currently accessed by mobile device 10 may be saved in the user s area for favorite URLs For example if the user is currently accessing the URL http test com test hdml Then the user s selecting the save bookmark option may result in the bookmark application on the home deck being called The currently accessed URL and TITLE of the URL can be passed as CGI script arguments or more generally in an invoking script call appended to the call to the bookmark application device home bookmark URL http test com test hdml amp TITLE Testing amp Option save As shown in the example above the CGI script argument may also include an indicator that the save bookmark option is used using the statement Option save additional options that are further described below may also be passed in the CGI script argument in a similar fashion The bookmark application running on the server may then receive the appended argument and store the corresponding URL in the storage area for the user s favorite URLs If the user selects the send bookmark option shown in FIG 3 a then the options shown in FIG 3 5 may be dis played on the WAP i mode enabled mobile device By select ing the send URL option the user may cause a URL accessed by the user of the WAP i mode enab
6. corresponding to content 51 Int Cl accessed by WAP i mode enabled mobile device is transmit G06F 15 16 2006 01 ted to an application server The WAP i mode enabled mobile 52 05 709 245 709 229 709 217 device further transmits a destination address for the content ary ISTE mbes A 455 445 370 338 to the application server The application server then trans 58 Field of Classification S h 2109 2 45 mits the URL corresponding to the content to the destination 98 168 0 b ai M 37 0 338 352 455 44 5 address The URL can then be used to render the correspond See application file for complete search history tng Content ab the destination address 56 References Cited In another embodiment a URL corresponding to content accessed by the WAP i mode enabled mobile device is trans U S PATENT DOCUMENTS mitted to an application server The WAP i mode enabled 5 061 738 A 10 1991 Solomon etal 523 100 mobile device further transmits a destination address for the 5 812 776 A 9 1998 Gifford sss 709 217 Content te the application server The application server then 58705 49 2 1999 Bobo fetches the content corresponding to the URL and transmits 5805 471 4 1999 King a al the content to the destination device 6 061 738 A 5 2000 Osaku etal 709 245 6 115 611 A 9 2000 Kimoto et al 42 Claims 3 Drawing Sheets 10 20 40 WAP IMODE ENABLED MOBILE DEVICE WIRELESS NETWORK MOBILE DEVI
7. other devices WAP supports most wireless net works including CDPD CDMA GSM PDC PHS TDMA FLEX ReFLEX iDEN TETRA DECT DataTAC and Mobitex WAP is supported by nearly all current operating systems e g PalmOS EPOC Windows CE FLEXOS OS 9 and JavaOS WAP devices having displays and access to the Internet run microbrowsers which are browsers having small file sizes that are able to operate under the low memory constraints of handheld devices and the low bandwidth constraints of most wireless networks supporting handheld devices The Wireless Markup Language WML which has been specially cre ated for small screens and navigation without a keyboard is the markup language for WAP WAP also supports WMLScript which is a simplified ver sion of JavaScript that minimizes demands on memory and the processor WML and WMLScript together constitute the Wireless Application Environment WAE In this docu ment a device employing a microbrowser and supporting WML and or WMLScript will be denoted using the term WAPenabled device WML is the analog in WAP of Hypertext Markup Lan guage HTML which is used to create and present content on the World Wide Web WWW or Web A WML file which is analogous to a Web page in HTML is structured as a deck of one or more cards A card corresponds to an atomic unit of displayable information in WML A WML file 1 a deck is referenced using a Uniform
8. the destination address is associated with the second tele communications device generating a message including an indication of the URL and transmitting the message to the destination address wherein the message can be used to access the content by the second telecommunications device 41 computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor the instructions which when executed initiate the transmission of content or information related to the content from a WAP i mode enabled device the instructions including receiving a command from a WAP i mode enabled device for transmission of a first URL that is accessed by the device wherein the URL corresponds to content accessed by the device receiving a destination address for transmission ofthe con tent or the first URL storing the content or revised version of the content for subsequent retrieval 20 18 generating a message including an indication of a second URL or pointer to the content and transmitting the message to the destination address to per mit a device associated with the destination address to access the stored content 42 A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor the instructions which when executed initiate the transmission of content or information related to the content from a WAP i mode enabled device the instructions including
9. the newly created or newly modified deck that is displayed on the des tination device may thus access the modified content The application server may also modify the content corre sponding to the original URL by translating or reformatting the content such that it can be correctly rendered on the destination device The application server may then cache such modified content The user of the destination device after selecting the URL corresponding to the newly created or newly modified deck that is displayed on the destination device may thus access the modified content The application server may determine the correct format or protocol for translation of the content based on its knowledge ofthe destination device For example the application server may determine based on previous transactions with the des tination device or through lookup in an appropriate database the characteristics of the destination device The application server may then translate the content into a form that can be rendered by the destination device and cache such formatted content 20 25 30 45 50 55 60 65 10 Alternatively the application server may form a connec tion with the destination device and determine the appropriate format for rendering of content on the destination device based on the properties ofthe connection with the destination device The application server may then translate the content into a form that can be rend
10. 0 the destination address is transmitted from the WAP i mode enabled device to the application server The destination address may for example be the number for another mobile phone an e mail address a facsimile number an instant messaging address an IP address or any other network address a phone number corresponding to Short Message Service In step 250 the application server may take further action in connection with the request to transmit the URL or the content corresponding to the URL to the destination address For example the application server may fetch and cache the content corresponding to the URL The application server may also modify the content by for example adding adver tising to the cached content or by translating the content corresponding to the URL into a form that can be rendered on the destination device In step 260 the application server transmits the URL a modified URL or the content corresponding to the URL to the destination device Embodiments of the invention allow the transmission of a URL or content corresponding to a URL without requiring any modification to enable the transmission functionality In particular embodiments of the invention unlike the Excite QuickCut service do not require the addition of a link in content that is desired to be transmitted to enable the trans mission functionality Thus any URL or content correspond ing to a URL may be transmitted in embodiments of th
11. CE 30 90 60 APPLICATION SERVER US 7 653 744 B2 Page2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 356 905 B1 3 2002 Gershman et al 707 10 6 594 347 B1 7 2003 Calder etal 379 88 01 6 661 784 B1 12 2003 Nykanen 370 338 6 711 156 B1 3 2004 Gourraud 370 352 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Unwired Planet Inc UPSDK Getting Started Guide version 3 1 for HDML Jan 19 1999 1 32 Redwood City CA USA Wireless Application Protocol Push Architectural Overview Version 08 Nov 1999 Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd 24 pp XP 002155620 Wireless Application Protocol Wireless Application Environment Overview Version 1 3 WAP 195 WAE Overview Verson 29 Mar 2000 Wireless Application Protocol Forum Ltd 23 pp XP 002155622 Leavitt Neal Will WAP Deliver the Wireless Internet Technology News pp 16 20 May 2000 XP000948629 cited by examiner U S Patent Jan 26 2010 Sheet 1 of 3 US 7 653 744 B2 FIG 1 10 20 MOBILE MOBILE DEVICE DEVICE i 0 WWW O WE o 60 DEVICE U S Patent Jan 26 2010 Sheet 2 of 3 US 7 653 744 B2 FIG 2 WAP TMODE ENABLED APPLICATION DESTINATION MOBILE DEVICE SERVER DEVICE FEATURE SET GUI 200 SELECT OPTION COMMAND ADDRESS ADDRESS APPLICATION SERVER ACTION APPLICATION SERVER TRANSMISSION FIG 3a 1v SAVE BOOKMARK 2v SEND BOOKMARK FIG 36 q SE
12. Interface script and thus allow a user to interact dynamically with a web server not shown Alternatively or additionally application server 30 may be capable of running servlets to which a user device may pass data using appropriate servlet script calls For the purposes of this document an invoking script call shall refer to either a CGI script call or a servlet script call that is used by a user device to pass data to appli cation server 30 Application server 30 may also run applica tions in connection with functionality relating to wireless network 40 of mobile devices attached to wireless network 40 For example application server 30 may run a bookmark application that allows the user of a WAP i mode enabled network device like WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 to store desired URLs as bookmarks that may be accessed at a later time Such a bookmark application can be controlled by the user of WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 through a graphical user interface GUI displayed on WAP mode enabled mobile device 10 Network 50 may be the Internet an Intranet or any other network capable of carrying network communications Device 60 is a device attached to network 50 that is capable of receiving and or transmitting communications through net work 50 For example if network 50 is the Internet device 60 may be a personal computer connected to the Internet Any device connected to either wireless network 40 or
13. ND URL b SEND URL CONTENT U S Patent Jan 26 2010 Sheet 3 of 3 US 7 653 744 B2 FIG 4 APPLICATION DESTINATION SERVER DEVICE CACHE PROCESS CONTENT CORRESPONDING TO URL 250 SEND POINTER TO CACHED PROCESSED CONTENT FIG 5 APPLICATION DESTINATION SERVER DEVICE 250 CACHE PROCESS CONTENT CORRESPONDING TO URL SEND CONTENT THAT WAS CACHED PROCESSED PROCESSOR INSTRUCTIONS US 7 653 744 B2 1 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHARING WIRELESS CONTENT CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority from U S Provisional Application Ser No 60 211 089 filed on Jun 12 2000 which is incorporated by reference herein BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of transmission of content and more particularly relates to the field of the trans mission of content from mobile devices to other devices through a network The increasing use of mobile devices connected to each other and other devices through networks has led to searches for solutions to problems associated with communication between these devices One type of common mobile device employs the Wireless Application Protocol WAP to allow the communication of information to and from the mobile device The WAP is a secure protocol that allows users real time access to information using handheld wireless devices including mobile phones pagers two way radios smart phones and
14. P i mode enabled device using pre existing features of WAP i mode enabled devices Furthermore embodiments of the invention allow the transmission of a URL or content corre sponding to a URL without requiring any modification to enable the transmission functionality In particular embodi ments of the invention do not require the addition of a link in content that is desired to be transmitted to enable the trans mission functionality Thus any URL or content correspond ing to a URL may be transmitted without any pre processing required to enable the transmission functionality The present invention has been described in terms of sev eral embodiments solely for the purpose of illustration Per sons skilled in the art will recognize from this description that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described but may be practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A method for transmitting content or information related to the content from a first WAP i mode enabled device to a second WAP i mode enabled device the method comprising receiving a command from a first WAP i mode enabled device for transmission ofa first URL that is accessed by the first device wherein the first device has received content associated by the first URL receiving a destination address for transmission of the first URL wherein the destination address is associate
15. RL should be saved as a bookmark If the user chooses to save the URL as a bookmark WAP mode enabled mobile device 10 composes a message con US 7 653 744 B2 7 taining the URL associated with application server 30 together with the URL to be saved appended as an argument WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 transmits the mes sage which is received by application server 30 The book mark application running on application server 30 then saves the URL transmitted as an argument in a list uniquely associated with WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 Additional information in connection with the saved URL can also be transmitted by the user and stored in the list uniquely associated with WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 in a similar manner The bookmark application itself may be a WAP and or i mode construct in that the source code for the bookmark application may be written using WML WMLScript and or cHTML In this case the options displayed on the GUI of WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 correspond to decks containing content that the user may access by selecting The bookmark application can be modified such that the options shown in FIG 3 a are displayed on mobile device 10 in response to an input by the user corresponding to a request for use of the bookmarking service In an implementation in which the bookmark application is a WAP and or i mode construct each option line displayed on mobile device 10 and shown in FIG 3
16. US007653744B2 a2 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 653 744 B2 Kanefsky et al 45 Date of Patent Jan 26 2010 54 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SHARING 6 170 014 B1 1 2001 Darago et al 709 229 WIRELESS CONTENT 6 185 535 2 2001 Hedin et al 704 270 6 334 056 B1 12 2001 Holmes etal 455 445 75 Inventors Steven T Kanefsky Redmond WA US Michael Kocheisen Menlo Park US David P Kormann Continued Morristown NJ US Bernard S FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS Renger New Providence NJ US GB 2341 759 3 2000 73 Assignee AT amp T Mobility II LLC Atlanta GA US OTHER PUBLICATIONS Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Marketing material http www planetit com techcenters docs mobile wireless expert PIT20000305S0005 1 Printed out on Dec U S C 154 b by 2160 days 7 2000 21 Appl No 09 801 635 Continued 22 Filed Mar 9 2001 Primary Examiner Tammy T Nguyen 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Woodcock Washburn LLP 65 Prior Publication Data US 2002 0026500 A1 Feb 28 2002 57 ABSTRACT Related U S Application Data Embodiments ofthe invention allow the convenient transmis 60 Provisional application No 60 211 089 filed on Jun sion of URLs or content corresponding to URT s from a WAP 12 2000 ies i mode enabled mobile device to any other device across a network In an embodiment a URL
17. and that supports WML WMLScript and or cHTML Mobile device 20 may be any device that is capable of wireless communication on network 40 including a device that implements WAP and or i mode Wireless network 40 is a network that is capable of carrying wireless communica tions over its nodes Application server 30 runs WAP and or i mode applica tions that enable at least some of the functionality of mobile devices 10 and 20 For example application server 30 may act as a gateway for mobile devices that are part of wireless network 40 in reaching services on another network e g network 50 In particular application server 30 may perform relaying services by communicating messages to and from devices attached to wireless network 40 through network 50 Application server 30 may further perform services in con nection with translation from communication protocols used in connection with wireless network 40 to translation proto cols used in connection with network 50 and vice versa For example if network 50 is the Internet application server 30 may be capable of translating communications received from wireless network 40 in WAP and or i mode into communica tions utilizing protocols associated with the World Wide Web e g Hypertext Transfer Protocol and vice versa Applica tion server 30 may be a web server or be capable of the functionality of a web server for example application server 30 may be capable of executing Common Gateway
18. corre sponding to the content Furthermore the user of mobile device 10 may wish to directly transmit content displayed on mobile device 10 whether or not the destination device is capable of rendering content corresponding to a URL In such cases content displayed on WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 may be sent to the destination device through the application server in a manner similarto that disclosed for the transmission of a URL The user of mobile device 10 may signal her desire to transmit content displayed on mobile device 10 by for example selecting the option send URL content shown on FIG 3 6 from the bookmark option list displayed on mobile device 10 Mobile device 10 may transmit the selected option e g by including the statement Option sendurlcontent in an invoking script call the URL corresponding to the dis played content and the destination address to the application server in the manner disclosed earlier In response the appli cation server may fetch the corresponding content and then transmit this content to the destination device for rendering The application server before transmitting the content to the destination device may also modify the content corre sponding to the received URL by translating or reformatting the content such that it can be correctly rendered on the destination device The user of the destination device may thus access modified content that can be correctly rendered on the
19. d with the second device generating a message including an indication ofthe second URL wherein the second URL corresponds to the con tent received by the first device and transmitting the message to the destination address wherein the message can be used to access the content by the second device associated with the destination address 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the first URL and the second URL are identical 3 The method ofclaim 1 wherein the command includes an invoking script call containing the first URL as an argument 4 The method ofclaim 1 wherein the indication is a pointer to the second URL and a file associated with the second URL includes a pointer to the first URL 5 The method of claim 4 wherein the file associated with the second URL contains advertising US 7 653 744 B2 15 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the indication is a pointer to the second URL 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the indication includes the second URL 8 The method of claim 1 wherein the first URL is cur rently accessed by the WAP i mode enabled device 9 The method of claim 1 wherein the content correspond ing to the first URL is cached 10 The method of claim 9 wherein a file corresponding to the second URL includes the cached content 11 The method of claim 9 wherein a file corresponding to the second URL includes a modified version of the cached content 12 The method of claim 11 wherein the modified version of
20. destination device The application server may determine the correct format or protocol for translation of the content based on its knowledge ofthe destination device For example the application server may determine the characteristics of the destination device based on previous transactions with the destination device or through lookup in an appropriate database The application server may then translate the content into a form that can be rendered by the destination device and cache such formatted content For example if the destination address is a computer US 7 653 744 B2 11 connected to the Internet and capable of rendering HTML then HTML content may be transmitted from the application server to the destination address However if the destination address is a telephone number corresponding to a facsimile device the content corresponding to the URL may be trans lated by the application server into a format appropriate for facsimile transmission and transmitted using the appropriate facsimile protocol If the destination address is an e mail address the bookmark application may send the content as a text attachment to an e mail message or may include the content as text in the body of the e mail Alternatively the application server may form a connec tion with the destination device and determine the appropriate format for rendering of content on the destination device based on the properties of the connection with the destina
21. ding to the URL transmitted from the WAP i mode enabled device to the application server 7 An Embodiment of the Invention in which a Gateway Distinct from the Application Server is Utilized In an embodiment of the invention the functionality asso ciated with translation between and among protocols is located in a gateway that is physically separate from the application server In this embodiment when mobile device 10 transmits a URL to the application server for transmission to a destination device the gateway translates the content associated with the URL into a format that can be rendered by the destination device The gateway may determine the cor rect format for the destination device from the destination address which is the network address of the destination device For example the gateway may determine that a des tination address is a facsimile machine if the destination address is given as a phone number Alternatively the gate way may access a database that contains tables of network addresses and device types By table lookup in this database the gateway may determine that a received destination address corresponds to a device capable of receiving docu ments or images coded using a predetermined format The gateway may then translate the content corresponding to the URL into a format supported by the destination device and transmit the translated content to the destination address an 5 20 25 35 40 45
22. e invention without any pre processing required to enable the transmission functionality However as part of the transmis sion ofa URL or content corresponding to a URL the URL or content corresponding to a URL may be modified e g to add advertising to the URL as described below Such modifica tion in embodiments of the present invention is performed as part of the process of transmission as opposed to a step needing to be performed before the transmission and is not required to enable the transmission i e it is an optional feature that allows for example the insertion of advertising in connection with the transmission Embodiments of the invention especially embodiments corresponding to variations in steps 250 and 260 are dis cussed in further detail below 3 The Bookmark Application and its Use in an Embodi ment of the Invention An enhanced bookmark application that runs on applica tion server 30 may be used in embodiments of the invention The enhanced bookmark application allows the transmission of URLs and or content corresponding to transmitted URLs in addition to the bookmarking of URLs Thus by modifying the bookmark application program running on the application server the functionality of mobile devices is greatly enhanced The bookmark application normally operates by display ing in response to a user request a GUI on WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 prompting the user to choose whether a displayed U
23. ent from a WAP i mode enabled device the method comprising receiving a first URL from a WAP i mode enabled device in a command including an invoking script call receiving a destination address for transmission of the first URL generating a message including a pointer to a second URL wherein the pointer second URL or both relate to data accessible via the first URL and transmitting the message to the destination address to per mit a device associated with the second address to access the data 21 The method of claim 20 wherein the first URL and the second URL are identical 22 The method of claim 20 wherein a file associated with the second URL contains a pointer to the first URL 23 The method of claim 20 wherein a file associated with the second URL contains advertising 24 The method of claim 20 wherein a file associated with the second URL contains a modified version of the content corresponding to the first URL 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 25 The method of claim 24 wherein the modified version of the content is in a format suitable for rendering on a destination device at the destination address 26 The method of claim 20 wherein the first URL is a previously accessed URL and is retrieved from a history stack prior to the receiving of the command 27 The method of claim 20 wherein the first URL is a previously accessed URL and is retrieved from a list of book marks prior to the
24. ered by the destination device and cache such formatted content Thus in this second embodiment the application server at step 250 of FIG 2 and FIG 4 may take additional action as described above For example the application server may cache the content corresponding to the original URL or may cache a modified version of the content corresponding to the original URL e g by adding advertising and or translating the content into an appropriate format for rendering on the destination device The application server may further create a new deck or web page that points to the cached content or may modify an existing one to point to the cached content The application server at step 260 of FIG 2 and FIG 4 may transmit the URL for the newly created or newly modi fied deck or web page to the destination address received in step 240 For example this URL may be displayedas a link on the destination device that the user can select and to which the user can be subsequently connected The content of the deck including any advertising can be displayed on the destina tion device 6 An Embodiment of the Invention in which Content is Transmitted Some destination addresses for example facsimile and or e mail addresses do not allow the direct retrieval of content based on a transmitted URL For such destination addresses content displayed at mobile device 10 may have to be trans mitted directly rather than indirectly using the URL
25. he method of claim 34 wherein the format into which the content is translated is selected based a connection with the destination device at the destination address 36 The method of claim 30 wherein the URL is a previ ously accessed URL and 1 retrieved from a history stack prior to the receiving of the command 37 he method of claim 30 wherein the URL is a previ ously accessed URL and is retrieved from a list of bookmarks prior to the receiving of the command 38 The method of claim 30 wherein the WAP i mode enabled device is a device that is WAP enabled but not i mode enabled 39 The method of claim 30 wherein the WAP i mode enabled device is a device that is i mode enabled but not WAP enabled 40 A computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions adapted to be executed by a processor the instructions which when executed initiate the transmission of content or information related to the content from a first WAP i mode enabled telecommunications device to a sec ond telecommunications device the instructions including receiving a command from a WAP i mode enabled device that a URL accessed by the device will be transmitted wherein the URL corresponds to content the first WAP i mode enabled telecommunications device wishes to share with the second telecommunications device US 7 653 744 B2 17 receiving a destination address for transmission ofthe URL to the second telecommunications device wherein
26. her user For example the user may select the send bookmark option from among the bookmark application options shown in FIG 3 a The GUI on the WAP i mode enabled device may then display options including an option for sending a URL and an option for sending content corresponding to a URL as shown in FIG 3 b The user may then specify whether the URL or whether content corresponding to the URL is to be sent by selecting from one of these options In step 220 a command corresponding to the user s selected option is transmitted from the WAP i mode enabled device to the application server For example assuming the user has selected in step 210 the option corresponding to the transmission of a URL or content corresponding to a URL to another user a command requesting the application server to transmit the URL to another user may be sent to the applica 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 tion server The command may also include information iden tifying the URL such as text containing the URL or a pointer to the URL In step 230 the user of the WAP i mode enabled device enters the network address of the user i e the destination address of a destination device corresponding to such user to whom the URL or content corresponding to the URL is to be sent The user may enter or select the destination address after being prompted to do so by the GUI displayed on the WAP i mode enabled device In step 24
27. ination device from a WAP i mode enabled mobile device FIG 5 shows a section of the flow diagram of an embodi ment of the present invention in which content or modified content corresponding to a URL is received by a destination device from a WAP i mode enabled mobile device FIG 6 shows a computer readable medium embodiment of the present invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the invention allow the transmission of content from a WAP i mode enabled mobile device to any 0 an 5 25 30 40 45 60 65 4 other device across a network In an embodiment a URL corresponding to content accessed by the WAP i mode en abled mobile device is transmitted to an application server The WAP i mode enabled mobile device further transmits a destination address to the application server The application server then transmits the URL corresponding to the content to the destination address The URL can then be used to render the corresponding content at the destination address In another embodiment the content corresponding to a URL may be transmitted instead of the URL 1 System and Components FIG 1 illustrates a system suitable for use with embodi ments of the present invention In FIG 1 WAP i mode en abled mobile device 10 mobile device 20 and application server 30 are connected to wireless network 40 WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 may be a mobile device that runs a microbrowser
28. led mobile device to be transmitted to a destination device By selecting the send URL content option the user may cause content corresponding to a URL accessed by the user of the WAP 1 mode enabled mobile device to be transmitted to a destina tion device Both of these options are described in greater detail below 4 An Embodiment of the Invention for Sending URLs In a first embodiment of the invention the user may send the currently accessed URL by selecting the send URL option The URL may be sent to the bookmark application in the same manner as that discussed above in connection with the save bookmark option with the exception that the book mark application may save the URL that was passed in a special location for further transmission The bookmark application may then cause mobile device 10 to display either 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 the user s list of stored addresses or may display an interface for manual entry of a network address The user may then select or enter the network address of the location to which she desires the URL be sent In response mobile device 10 may transmit the destination network address to the book mark application which may store the address together with the URL that was received earlier Subsequently the book mark application may transmit the URL to the network address received from the user By selecting the URL dis played on the destination de
29. network 50 US 7 653 744 B2 5 will have a network address that enables it to communicate with other devices connected to wireless network 40 and or network 50 For example the network address of mobile device 20 may be a wireless telephone number whereas the network address of device 60 may be an e mail address a URL an IP address or an instant messaging address if net work 50 is the Internet 2 Overview of Certain Embodiments of the Invention Embodiments of the invention allow the convenient trans mission of a URL or content corresponding to a URL from a WAP i mode enabled mobile device to any other device across a network In the embodiments discussed below a URL corresponding to content accessed by the WAP i mode enabled mobile device is transmitted to an application server The WAP i mode enabled mobile device further transmits destination address for the content to the application server Ina first embodiment the application server then transmits the URL corresponding to the content to the destination address The URL can then be used to render the correspond ing content at the destination address In second embodiment the application server fetches the content corresponding to the URL and stores it in a cache for subsequent retrieval The application server further creates a modified URL that effectively acts as a pointer to the data stored in the cache The application server then transmits the modified URL corre
30. re adapted to be executed by processor 610 In particular memory 620 can store instruc tions 640 corresponding to any method embodiments of the present invention Specifically memory 620 can store instructions 640 corresponding to the method embodiments of the present invention discussed in this disclosure 11 Applications Other Than the Bookmark Application may be Used in Embodiments An application other than the bookmark application may be used in embodiments of the invention Any application running on the application server that is capable of displaying user options as decks on mobile device 10 may be used for this purpose Modifications to such applications similar to the modifications disclosed above in the context of the bookmark application may be performed to enable the transmission of US 7 653 744 B2 13 URLs and corresponding content Such embodiments are within the scope of the present invention In one embodiment a URL that has been stored as a book mark and that had been previously accessed may be trans mitted to a destination device directly from a list of book marks without re accessing the bookmark The URL may be stored as a bookmark either on the WAP i mode enabled mobile device or on the application server To transmit a previously accessed bookmark that is saved in the bookmark list the user may select a corresponding option from a menu displayed on the WAP i mode enabled mobile device using the bookmark vie
31. receiving of the command 28 The method of claim 20 wherein the WAP i mode enabled device is a device that is WAP enabled but not i mode enabled 29 The method of claim 20 wherein the WAP i mode enabled device is a device that is i mode enabled but not WAP enabled 30 A method for transmitting content or information related to the content from a WAP i mode enabled device the method comprising receiving a command from a WAP i mode enabled device for transmission of content corresponding to a URL receiving a destination address for transmission ofthe con tent storing the content for subsequent retrieval generating a message including the content and transmitting the message to the destination address with out any required pre processing of the content or the URL to enable the transmission 31 The method of claim 30 wherein the content includes advertising inserted by an application server 32 The method of claim 30 wherein the content is trans lated into a format different from the format of the content rendered on the WAP i mode enabled device before inclu sion of the content into the message 33 The method of claim 32 wherein the format into which the content is translated can be properly rendered by a desti nation device at the destination address 34 The method of claim 33 wherein the format into which the content is translated is selected based on the destination device at the destination address 35 T
32. rresponding to a deck should not require modification ofthe deck to enable the functionality of transmitting the corresponding content Moreover there is a need for ensuring that the content accessed by the recipient is the same as that intended to be shared by the transmitter SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the invention allow the transmission of content from a WAP i mode enabled mobile device to any other device across a network In one embodiment an indi cation of a URL corresponding to content accessed by a WAP i mode enabled mobile device is received Addition ally a destination address is received from the WAP i mode enabled mobile device Subsequently an indication of the URL corresponding to the content is transmitted to the des tination address BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram of a system in accordance with the present invention FIG 2 shows a flow diagram of an embodiment of the present invention in which a URL or content corresponding to a URL is sent from a WAP i mode enabled mobile telephone FIG 3 a shows an example of a GUI on a WAP i mode enabled mobile device that displays the bookmarking func tionality options FIG 3 5 shows an example of a GUI on a WAP i mode enabled mobile device that displays further bookmarking functionality options FIG 4 shows a section of the flow diagram of an embodi ment of the present invention in which a modified URL 1 received by a dest
33. sponding to the newly created deck or web page to the destination device In a sub embodiment the application server may modify the content corresponding to the original URL received from the WAP i mode enabled device and cache the modified content In a third embodiment the application server fetches the content corresponding to the URL and stores it in a cache for subsequent retrieval The application server then transmits this content to the destination device In a sub embodiment the application server may modify the content corresponding to the URL received from the WAP i mode enabled device and cache the modified content FIG 2 shows a flow diagram for data flow and process execution in embodiments of the invention In step 200 code or content fora feature set corresponding to options displayed on the WAP i mode enabled device is transmitted from the application server to the WAP i mode enabled device For example a WAP and or i mode card containing options that can be selected by the user of the WAP i mode enabled device may be transmitted from the application server and displayed on the WAP i mode enabled device In step 210 the user of the WAP i mode enabled device may select one of the options that were transmitted from the application server and displayed on the WAP i mode enabled device in step 200 In particular the user may select an option corresponding to the transmission of a URL or content cor responding to a URL to anot
34. the cached content includes advertising 13 The method of claim 11 wherein the modified version ofthe cached content is in a format capable of being rendered on a destination device at the destination address 14 The method of claim 13 wherein the format for the modified version of the cached content is selected based on the destination device 15 The method of claim 1 wherein the first URL is a previously accessed URL and is retrieved from a history stack prior to the receiving of the command 16 The method of claim 1 wherein the first URL is a previously accessed URL and is retrieved from a list of book marks prior to the receiving of the command 17 The method of claim 1 wherein the WAP i mode en abled device is a device that is WAP enabled but not i mode enabled 18 The method of claim 1 wherein the WAP i mode en abled device is a device that is i mode enabled but not WAP enabled 19 A method for transmitting content from a WAP i mode enabled device the method comprising receiving a command from a WAP i mode enabled device for transmission of a first URL that is accessed by the device receiving a destination address for transmission of the first URL generating a message including an indication of a second URL a file associated with the second URL including a modified version ofthe content corresponding to the first URL and transmitting the message to the destination address 20 A method for transmitting cont
35. the modified URL for example to ensure that the destination device views con tent corresponding to the original URL together with adver tising inserted by the application server or to ensure that the US 7 653 744 B2 9 destination device is sent content in a format suitable for rendering on the destination device In a first sub embodiment once the destination address and the URL to be transmitted to the destination address are received the application server creates a new URL new deck or web page that contains a link pointing to the transmitted URL or modifies an existing URL existing deck or web page to contain a link to the transmitted URL Further the appli cation server may insert advertising into this deck for example the message this page was forwarded to you cour tesy of AT amp T Wireless Services may be inserted The appli cation server may then transmit the URL corresponding to this newly created or newly modified deck to the destina tion address The user ofthe destination device may select the URL of the new or modified deck to display the deck con taining the link to the transmitted URL The user of the destination device may then access the content corresponding to the URL sent by mobile device 10 as well as the inserted advertisements by selecting the displayed link Thus the first sub embodiment is a two step process because the user ofthe destination device needs to select a URL to a new or exis
36. the user may desire that the recipient view the same content that the user views at a given instant of time The Excite service on the Internet at www excite com has a WAP portal that allows WAP enabled devices to access US 7 653 744 B2 3 various content sources including general news business news sports news etc The Excite QuickCut feature allows users of WAP enabled devices to send messages including content in WML cards or decks to multiple e mail addresses However the Excite QuickCut feature requires modification of the WML card or deck to include a QuickCut link at the bottom ofthe WML card or deck Thus for the user to be able to send content corresponding to a URL using the Excite QuickCut feature the content corresponding to the content must have been modified to include the QuickCut feature Because this modification must be done for each and every URL for which the corresponding content is desired to be sent this method is cumbersome and inadequate Further more the Excite QuickCut feature does not allow the trans mission of the URL as opposed to the content corresponding to the URL or a modified URL Thus there is a need for a convenient method for sharing content displayed on a WAP i mode enabled device with other devices across a network Further this method should be independent of and separate from the content applications viewed on the WAP i mode enabled device i e the method for transmitting content co
37. ting deck in order to display the deck that contains another URL or link The user of the destination device then selects this link in order to access the content associated with the trans mitted URL In a second sub embodiment the application server after receiving the original URL or a pointer to the original URL from the WAP i mode enabled mobile device may fetch the content corresponding to the received URL from the network The application server may then cache the fetched content The application server may further create a new deck or web page or modify a pre existing deck or web page so that the newly created or newly modified deck includes or points to the cached content The application server may then transmit the URL corresponding to this newly created or newly modified deck to the destination address The user of the destination device may then access the content corresponding to theoriginal URL by selecting the displayed URL Thus the second sub embodiment is a one step process because the user of the destination device selects a single URL to a new or existing deck in order to access the content associated with the transmitted URL The application server may modify the cached content in the second sub embodiment for example by inserting adver tising into the content corresponding to the original URL and by caching such modified content The user ofthe destination device after selecting the URL corresponding to
38. tion device The application server may then translate the content into a form that can be rendered by the destination device and cache such formatted content In yet another alternative the application server may trans late the content into a plurality of different formats and trans mit the differently formatted versions to the destination device Then the destination device or the user of the desti nation device may choose from among the differently for matted versions a proper one for rendering on the destination device Inthis third embodiment at step 250 of FIG 2 or FIG 5 the application server fetches the content corresponding to the URL received from the WAP i mode enabled mobile device and creates a message containing the content in the body or as an attachment At this step the bookmark appli cation may optionally insert advertising into the message orin anattachment to the message The bookmark application may further translate the content corresponding to the received URL into a format that can be correctly rendered on the destination device and insert this translated content into the message or into the attachment for the message In step 260 of FIG 2 or FIG 5 the application server transmits the message containing the content or the modified content to the destination device The user of the destination device by accessing the received message will thus access the content or the modified content correspon
39. vice the user of the destination device may view the content corresponding to the transmitted URL Thus in this embodiment a URL corresponding to content thatis being accessed on WAP i mode enabled mobile device 10 is transmitted to either another WAP i mode enabled device or to a device that is connected to another network e g the Internet Accordingly as shown in step 220 of FIG 2 a command is received from the user device that the user wishes to transmit the currently accessed URL to another location For example in response to an input from the user mobile device 10 may transmit a command to an application server at a remote location in the network for transmitting the currently ac cessed URL Additionally the URL that the user wishes to transmit is received from the user device For example the user device may transmit the selected option e g using the statement Option sendurl and the currently accessed URL as CGI script arguments in a call or more generally in an invoking script call to the bookmark application running on the application server The bookmark application may parse the received CGI script arguments extract the URL and store the extracted URL in temporary storage for further transmission In step 230 the user is prompted for a destination address for transmission of the URL For example mobile device 10 may display the user s stored address book for selection of a target destination or may displa
40. vice will display con tent corresponding to that intended to be transmitted by the user of mobile device 10 that is the content of the URL transmitted by the user of mobile device 10 at the time that user transmitted the URL 9 Embodiments in which Indications of URLs are Trans mitted In the embodiments discussed above indications of URLs may be transmitted instead of actual URLs An indication of a URL may be the actual URL a pointer to the URL or any other way of indicating the URL without explicitly including the URL Thus instead of the transmission to the bookmark application of the actual URL corresponding to content dis played on mobile device 10 a pointer pointing to this URL can be transmitted by mobile device 10 in embodiments of the invention Further instead of the transmission to the destina tion device of an actual URL a pointer pointing toa URL can be transmitted by the bookmark application in embodiments of the invention Such embodiments are within the scope of the disclosed invention 10 Embodiments Stored in Computer readable Medium FIG 6 illustrates computer readable medium embodiment of the present invention In FIG 6 processor 610 is coupled to port 630 and memory 620 Port 630 may be any type of port used for input or output in particular any output of a process executed by processor 610 can be transmitted through port 630 Memory 620 is a computer readable medium that can store instructions 640 that a
41. w users of WAP 1 mode enabled devices to send a URL or content corresponding to a URL to various destination addresses After invoking the a 5 20 40 45 55 60 14 bookmark application by selecting the necessary links on the WAP i mode enabled device the user may be given a choice between the Save Bookmark option and the Send Bookmark option Ifthe user selected the Send Bookmark option the user is prompted for a destination addresses Before or after the user s selection of an option the user could also be prompted to enter a customized message e g using the keypad on the phone or to select from a list of canned messages e g from among messages including call me right away or thanks The message entered or selected by the user may be transmitted together with the URL or URL content and could be rendered by the destination device together with the transmitted URL or URL content In a similar fashion advertisements could be inserted into the overall message as discussed above 16 Conclusion As described above the various embodiments of the present invention describe a method and system for transmit ting URLs or content corresponding to URLs displayed on WAP i mode enabled mobile device to any other device con nected to a network Additional benefits accruing from embodiments of the invention include simply and efficiently implementing the sharing of content displayed on a WA
42. wing application The user may select the bookmark for transmission from the list of bookmarks dis played on the device and may also select an option for trans mission such as URL or send content corresponding to URL as described above The device may then pass the bookmarked URL and the selected option as arguments in an invoking script call to the application server as described above The URL or the content corresponding to the URL may then be transmitted by the application server to the destination device in the manner described above Further more more than one URL in the bookmark list or content corresponding to more than one URL in the bookmark list may be transmitted by the user s selection of a plurality of URLs from the URLs residing in the bookmark list Such modifications are within the scope of the disclosed invention 12 URLs or Content Corresponding to URLs May be Sent to More Than One User The embodiments described above may be modified to allow the transmission of URLs or content corresponding to URLs to more than one destination device Such modifica tions may be made by those skilled in the art in light of the disclosures herein and are within the scope of the embodi ments of the invention that were described 13 Sending URLs or Content Corresponding to URLs from History Stack In embodiments of the invention a URL or the URL s content may be transmitted to a destination device for URLs
43. y a GUI for the user s manual input of an address for transmission of the URL The user may either select a destination address for transmission of the URL from the address book or may manually type an address into the GUI of mobile device 10 for transmission Further the destination address for transmission of the URL is trans mitted to and received by the application server For example the destination address may be sent by mobile device 10 as a script argument in a call to the bookmark application The destination address may for example be the number for another mobile telephone an e mail address a facsimile number an instant messaging address an IP address or any other network address In step 260 the URL is transmitted from the application server to the destination address received in step 240 For example the URL may be displayed as a link on the destina tion device that the user can select and to which the user can besubsequently connected The user ofthe destination device may click on the displayed URL which may cause the des tination device to display the corresponding content 5 An Embodiment of the Invention in which Modified URLs are Transmitted In a second embodiment a modified URL may be trans mitted to the destination device by the application server instead ofthe original URL received by the application server from the WAP i mode enabled device i e the original URL The application server may send
44. y composing a message for manual entry of the URL the user will have had to access another URL i e the URL associated with composing e mail messages and will probably no longer see the dis played content for the URL she wanted to send Alternatively if a voice mail message were used to transmit the URL the user would have to dictate the URL into the voice mail mes sage Other media for transmitting the URL also require the user to manually insert the URL into a message Such manual insertion is inconvenient and difficult using a microbrowser WAP i mode enabled devices do not have any of copy and paste capability so several manual steps would be needed to transmit the URL or the URL content shown on the device Additionally even if the URL corresponding to content displayed on a WAP i mode enabled device is transmitted in this manner the recipient will only be able to access the most current content corresponding to the URL because the con tent may be changed by the entity controlling the Web site corresponding to the URL For example if the content corre sponding to the URL is updated or changed during the period beginning with the time that the URL is sent in a message by the user of the WAP i mode enabled device and ending with the time the recipient accesses the URL then the recipient will access content different from that originally intended to be transmitted by the user of the WAP i mode enabled device In many cases
45. y designed for use in Japan i mode enabled devices including the microbrowser for such devices display Japanese text although English text is also supported The i mode service uses S JIS character encoding GIF formatted images and half width kana char acters The microbrowsers usually have a title bar with icons at the top of a LCD screen The user can manipulate the icons to access various services A text screen below the title bar can display text messages and data The term WAP i mode enabled device will be used to denote a device that is WAP enabled and or i mode enabled From this point on the term deck will be used to denote a WAP deck and or an i mode web page The term card will be used to denote an atomic unit of displayable information in WAP and or i mode One deficiency of WAP i mode enabled devices is that they do not allow fora convenient way of sharing content with other devices on the network One known method for sharing content on a WAP i mode enabled device requires that the user transmit the URL corresponding to displayed content to another user within a message If an e mail message were used to transmit the URL the user would have to manually type the URL into the e mail message using the micro browser In addition to expending effort in having to manually enter the URL the user generally is not able to observe the content corresponding to the URL and manually enter the URL at the same time Also b
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