MXPA97010240A - Method of recovery of information inalambr - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a subscriber of a mobile station who can access data from an information database and have it sent to a desired destination. A database associated with the information database maintains subscriber profiles. When the information database receives a data request, it uses an identifier of the mobile station to acquire the information of the subscriber's profile. Using that profile information, the requested data is sent to a destination designated in the profile in an S format

Description

WIRELESS INFORMATION RECOVERY METHOD FIELD OF INVENTION The present invention is directed to a method for the recovery of wireless information. More particularly, the invention is directed to a method for providing data from an information database in response to a request from a mobile station over a wireless network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known from the prior art that an information service provider can establish a database to which subscribers can access to obtain particular desired information. Such information may include news, weather conditions, traffic, etc. A configuration for providing such information to the subscriber is illustrated in FIGURE IA. In that configuration, a subscriber computer 100 is connected via the modem 101 to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) l and through that network to a database service provider 102. A subscriber in the computer 100 can generate queries or requests that are transmitted to the REF service provider: 26221 the database, which then provides a return response "to the subscriber, although this configuration may be helpful for a subscriber who has a computer and a connection to the PSTN, access to that information database or information service providers is otherwise somewhat limited.In today's world, the use of wireless communications continues to expand at an accelerated rate, and more and more people have cell phones which provide mobile communication in a wireless environment, still in expansion, however, currently there is no configuration in the wireless environment mbrico to facilitate access to a database of service provider information via a mobile station. It is known that with the enhanced functionality available to mobile stations, such as that prescribed by a protocol known as IS-136, message packets can be sent to a wireless communication device operating within the protocol. In particular, this type of messaging is known as Message Service Short (SMS). FIGURE IB illustrates a known wireless array for providing short messages in accordance with the IS-136 protocol. In that arrangement a mobile station 110 is in wireless communication with a base station 120. The base station is coupled to a mobile switching center (MSC) 130. A message center (MC) 140 is coupled to the MSC 130. The center of messages stores messages for mobile units and can use a personal identification number (PIN) that is associated with a given subscriber to correlate messages and subscribers. The message center then sends the message to the designated mobile station via the MSC 130 and the base station 120 in a format known as the Short Message Service (SMS) Format. This format is well known in the art and is described in, the IS-136 protocol. To date, it has not been explored how implementing the Short Message Service could increase a subscriber's ability to retrieve information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system and method for facilitating access to information databases from a mobile station. In one embodiment, a subscriber uses the mobile station to place a call via the wireless network and a PSTN for an information service provider. An identification of the mobile station is also sent, such as a call number ID to the information service provider. That provider can then use the call number ID to retrieve a user's personal identification number (PIN) or user identification number. The subscriber then, via the activation of keys on the numerical keypad of the mobile station, makes the selection of the particular pieces of information that he desires. Later, the information service provider of the database constructs a message containing the desired data and the appropriate user identification number or PIN and sends that message to a message center. The message center then sends the data of the information service provider according to the format of Short Message Services. As a consequence of this arrangement, a mobile station has the flexibility to request data from a database service provider and have the data sent directly to the mobile station using a messaging technique or message sending which is now available .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE A illustrates a known configuration for accessing information from a database service provider. FIGURE IB illustrates a known configuration for providing the short message service to mobile stations. FIGURE 2 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, the known configuration is used to provide formatted data SMS to a mobile station to increase the capacity of a mobile station to recover data from an information database. One embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGURE 2. The elements that are identical in the figures of the drawings contain identical numerical references. The present embodiment employs the same mobile station, base station, MSC and message center provided in the known array of FIGURE IB. However, in the present invention, the mobile station is communicated via the base station 120, MSC 130 and PSTN 1 with the information or database service provider 202. In this communication the mobile station can place a request of a type particular data, for example, news information, sports, weather conditions, traffic or any other data that may be of interest to the subscriber in the mobile station. As described above, the request can be processed in a known manner, ie the database service provider can provide the subscriber with requests for voice commands or menu options to select the desired data and the subscriber at the station mobile can make selections using voice responses or responses on the mobile station's keyboard. In addition to the request for information, the database service provider also receives an identification of the mobile station, namely the identification of the call number (CNI). The CNI can be sent from a database associating such information with the respective mobile stations. The database service provider then uses the CNI for the access information to identify whether the requested data should be transmitted. In particular, the service provider may have access to a table such as that shown in item 203 which constitutes a subscriber profile and correlates a subscriber's CNI with a personal identification number (PIN), which identifies the subscriber- and as a consequence it provides access to the message center of the subscriber, which will receive the requested data. The service provider then constructs a message that will be transmitted to the message center associated with the subscriber. This message can be constructed either during the course of a call with the mobile station or some time after the call was completed. The message includes the requested data as well as the PIN. Alternatively, the MIN (mobile identification number) can provide enough information to identify the subscriber. In this case the message could include the data and the MIN. The database service provider then transmits the data via the PSTN 1 to the designated message center 140. The message center stores the message, ie the requested data, in the memory associated with the mobile station identified by the PIN or MIN. The messages could be stored in a format that corresponds to the SMS format described in the IS-136 protocol. The message center can then transfer message packets to the designated mobile station according to the known short message service techniques. In the modality described, the information is sent directly to the mobile station that requests it. However, this need is not always the case. In effect, the information is sent to the destination defined by the profile of the subscriber associated with the CNI in table 203. Therefore,, it is possible that a given subscriber could have a user profile that designates its own mobile station as the intended recipient of the information described above. Alternatively, the CNI can be correlated with a PIN that designates that the information must finally be sent by fax to the end user at some designated place or that could be stored to be downloaded later by the end user. In a further modification to the modality described, it is possible that the Internet could be used as the basis of the information. In that configuration, a database service provider could be considered an information server that has access to the Internet and obtains information from the Internet as requested by the subscriber. Then the information server could create the appropriate message packets and send those to the message center based on the PIN associated with the caller ID number or CNI. In these circumstances, the information server may contain: a CNI database and PIN or MIN of subscribers; mark the program to connect to the message center; the program for connecting to the Internet to download the requested information such as news, weather conditions, sports, traffic, etc .; programs to format the information in messages of appropriate size to satisfy the protocol; and the ability to detect the CNI. Other information that can be stored in the user's profile can be related to the user's name, a wireline number, a CNI, an email address, a fax number, etc., and any of this user profile information it can be used to direct the data flow of the subscriber information server. In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the subscriber does not provide a request to a third party, but instead actually sends a request for information to the message center. In these circumstances, the message center acts as an "internal" information service provider. This can be particularly beneficial for a subscriber when circumstances arise where there may be long queries to send messages to the message center. In these circumstances, the message center could receive a call from the mobile station, could correlate the CNI with the PIN or MIN and receive a request for transmission of any messages that are pending. The message center could then be activated to respond to those activated requests to provide the stored messages to the mobile station.

Thus, in accordance with the present invention, a mobile station may have access to any of a variety of information service providers as long as those service providers can correlate a mobile station's call number identification with an identification of user PIN for a message center to which the mobile station can be coupled and as long as the service provider supports SMS messaging.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following:

Claims (12)

1. A method for providing data from an information database, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving a call from a mobile station over a wireless network; receive an identifier of the mobile station; use such an identifier to access a subscriber profile; receive a request for data during the call; and transmit, to a destination determined by the profile of the subscriber, data in SMS format corresponding to the requested data.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the transmission step includes the substeps of: attaching an identification number of the subscriber's profile to the requested data; transmit the requested data and the identification number to a message center; and send the data in SMS format from the message center to the destination.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the destination is the mobile station.

. A method for providing data from an information database, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving a data request, the request originates in a mobile station; receive an identifier of the mobile station; select a destination for data transfer based on the received identifier; transmit data with SMS format corresponding to the data requested to the selected destination.

5. The method in accordance with the claim 4, characterized in that the selected destination is the mobile station.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the selected destination is another mobile station.

7. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the step of receiving a request comprises the substeps of: receiving a call from the mobile station; present data selection options to the mobile station; and receive a selection in response to the presentation of the options.

8. A method for providing data in response to a request from a mobile station, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: in a first communication, receiving an identifier of the mobile station; have access to a subscriber profile using the identifier of the mobile station; generate a message that contains the requested data; transmit, in a second communication, the message to a destination determined by the profile of the subscriber.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the message comprises data with SMS format.

10. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the destination is the mobile station.

11. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the transmission step includes the substeps of: transmitting the generated message to a message center; and send the requested data from the message center to the destination.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the sub-step of sending, the requested data is in SMS format.