CN1299184C - Method and system for presenting information - Google Patents

Abstract

A presentation of a selected document, stored at a node of a network, is accomplished by means of a system essentially comprising a handheld device, a communication device for a presentation unit and a device that handles presentation requests. By operating the handheld device, a user is able to get a presentation unit specification from said communication device. This specification is then sent, together with an address to a selected document, to a device handling presentation requests. In this device the selected document is then converted to a format suitable for the presentation unit of said communcation device, where the converted document is presented. The system could be using WAP-technology for sending information from the handheld device to the device that handles presentation requests and for accessing information on the Internet. Further the system could, for example, be using Bluetooth or IrDA for the communication between the handheld device and said communication device. The system also makes it possible to achieve mobile printing and portable access to documents that cannot be presented on a small display.

Description

Method and system for displaying information

technical field

The present invention relates to a system and method for displaying electronically stored information on a display device over a network.

Background technique

Much information is available today through networks such as Intranets and the Internet. Even information that is only available to specific groups of users can be accessed through these networks by means of secure channels and different identification methods.

In order for the information to be displayed on a nearby display device, the user must have a computer with access to the network from which the information can be accessed and a display device connected to the computer. Therefore, people who travel frequently and need to access information stored, for example, on a company server must carry a computer with them in order to be able to access the desired information. In addition, they must carry a portable modem with them, or have access to a network connection.

Access to information may be accomplished by means of a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or similar device implementing, for example, the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). The user is then able to access the information displayed in a displayable format on the cell phone. However, if the information is a text file containing a large amount of text, such as a patent application, or a blueprint of a machine to be repaired, then this is not very suitable, and often it is simply impossible to display this information on a cell phone. Even if the phone could communicate using an ordinary Internet Protocol (IP) connection, the information would have to fit on the small size screen of the phone or PDA, so it would be difficult for the user to get an overview or even read such a document.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the invention is to enable a person to display information in an easy to read and overview form, even if the information is in a form not suitable for convenient reading on a small display.

Another object is to enhance the mobility of people who need to access the above-mentioned character information.

Yet another object is to enable access to documents stored electronically on remote sites.

In particular, according to one aspect of the present invention, a method for selecting and displaying information in the system is disclosed, including the steps of:

receiving, by the handheld device, specifications of the display device from the communication means of the display device via a short-range wireless connection;

sending the address of the file and the specification of the display device from the handheld device over the network to the device for processing the display request;

receiving the file address and the specification of the display device in the device for processing the display request;

retrieving the file corresponding to the file address in the device processing the display request;

converting the retrieved file into a format suitable for the display device in the device processing the display request;

sending the converted file from the device processing the display request to the communication device of the display device via a network;

receiving said converted file in a communication means of said display device; and

The converted file is transferred from the communication means of the display device to a display device connected to the communication means of the display device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a system for selecting and displaying information is disclosed, comprising:

A handheld device enabling display of information retrieved from an information provider on a screen of said handheld device, comprising:

The I/O interface is used for short-distance wireless communication with the communication device of the display device,

means for receiving a display device identity via said I/O interface for short-range communication,

means for sending a file address to a device processing a display request; a device processing a display request comprising:

means for receiving from the handheld device a file address relating to the file to be displayed;

means for receiving specifications for display devices;

means for retrieving a file corresponding to said file address;

means for converting the retrieved file into a format suitable for the display device according to the specification of the display device; and

means for sending said converted file to said display address;

Communication means for display devices, including:

I/O interface for short-distance wireless communication with handheld devices;

means for sending a display device identity via said I/O interface for short-range wireless communication; and

Means for receiving information to be displayed by a display device.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method for processing a device for displaying a request is provided, comprising the steps of:

Receiving refers to the file address of the file to be displayed;

Receive specifications for display devices;

retrieving the file corresponding to the file address;

converting the retrieved file to a format suitable for said display device; and

Send the converted file.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a device for processing a display request is provided, including:

means for receiving a file address relating to the file to be displayed;

means for receiving specifications for display devices;

means for retrieving a file corresponding to said file address;

means for converting the retrieved file into a format suitable for the display device according to the specification of the display device; and

means for sending said converted file to said display device.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method for a communication device of a display device is provided, the method includes the steps of:

receiving a request to display an identification of a device;

sending an identification of said communication device over a short-range connection;

receiving requests for specifications of display devices;

upon receipt of said request, send the requested specification; and

After sending the specification, a file is received for display by the display device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a communication device for a display device is provided, including:

I/O interface for short-distance wireless communication;

means for sending a display device identity through the I/O interface for short-range wireless communication;

means for receiving a request for specification of a display device via said I/O interface for short-range wireless communication;

means for transmitting specifications of said display device;

means for receiving information to be displayed by the display device; and

Means for causing said display device to display received information.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for a handheld device enabling display of information retrieved from an information provider on a display screen of said handheld Displaying information on a display device, the method includes the steps of:

Broadcast an identification request over a short-range wireless connection to identify nearby display devices;

receiving an identification of a display device from a communication device of the display device via the short-range wireless connection;

receiving a specification of a display device from the communication device via the short-range wireless connection; and

The address of the selected information file and the specification of the display device are sent to the device for processing the display request.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a handheld device enabling display on the screen of said handheld device information retrieved from an information provider for display on a display device separate from said handheld device information, the handheld device includes:

I/O interface for short distance communication;

means for receiving and displaying device identification via said I/O interface for short-distance communication;

means for selecting information available from an information provider for display on a display device; and

means for sending a request for information to be displayed on said display device.

The system according to the invention solves the above-mentioned problems. When a certain file is needed, the user of this system only needs to pick up his handheld device to make it display the page marking the file, select the desired file on the page to be displayed on the display device, and make it marked The communication means of a nearby display device, and then causing the file to be displayed on said display device. A file can be located on any node of the network as long as there is an address identifying the file. The address of the file is sent from the handheld device to the device that handles the display request, the specification of the display device or the communication means from the handheld device or from the display device to the device that handles the display request, which then sends the file in a format that the display device understands to display screen.

A system that allows substantially any type of file to be displayed on substantially any type of display device is even more advantageous. Furthermore, the system has this advantage without requiring any additional memory in the communication means of the handheld device or display device to store conversion tools for various file formats and display devices. This is accomplished by causing the requested file to be translated on the device processing the display request.

Another advantage of performing the transition on the device handling the display request is that such transition does not negatively affect the normal operation of neither the handheld device nor the communication device.

A further advantage of performing the conversion on the device handling the display request is that the file does not have to be sent to the handheld device, at least not before it is converted. This is accomplished by having the device handling the display request retrieve the requested file based on the file address received from the handheld, so the handheld need only pass the file address in order to make the file available to the device handling the display request. Thus, bandwidth can be saved on the communication path of the handheld device by having the device handling the display request retrieve the file.

Another advantage of performing the transformation on the device handling the display request, and thus locating the transformation device at this location, is that the process of adding a new transformation device or replacing an old one can be greatly simplified. One reason for this is that there are far more handheld or display devices than devices handling display requests, so it is easier for administrators to perform conversion upgrades on devices handling display requests. Another reason is that handheld devices are likely not always connected to the network. Therefore, the user will be required to personally perform an update of the conversion device if the device is located in a handheld device.

Another advantage of the system is that the handheld device can exchange data with nearby display devices and can identify them by means of short-range communication links. Therefore, the user does not need to worry about manually identifying the display device and typing out the data required to use the display device. As a result, the user does not need to search for parameters required to realize the display. These advantages can be achieved by means of a short range communication link established between the handheld device and the communication means of the display device. Short-range communication links can be implemented, for example, using Bluetooth, IrDA, Open Air, Home RF, Hiper Lan, IEEE 802.11, and the like.

In the context of the present invention, a display device represents electronically represented information that cannot be satisfactorily displayed on a small display of a handheld device. A display device may be, for example, a screen, a relatively large monitor, an e-book, an electronic photo frame, or a printer.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display device is a device that creates copies of electronic documents on or in highly removable media. If so, the display device may be, for example, a conventional printer or an electronically controllable display medium such as an e-book, electronic photo frame or the like.

In a preferred embodiment the display device is a printer. By displaying the information on a printable medium via a printer, the information can be displayed in high resolution and an overview of the information can be easily obtained. Another advantage of using a printer as a display device is that the format of the print file is well known and easy to use by basically everyone, and the print file is easy to annotate or mark up, which is still required for most contracts.

Information service providers are systems that allow access to browsable information on the network, such as electronically stored documents, e-mails, sketches, designs, etc. An information service provider may be, for example, an Internet portal or server used to serve a company's files to employees or others who are allowed to access them. A server for providing corporate file services may be, for example, a system such as a unified store-and-forward server.

A handheld device is a device capable of communicating over a network and displaying information found on network nodes at least in text form but preferably also in graphic form. Furthermore, its size is preferably such that the user can hold it in one hand while operating it with the other. A handheld device may be, for example, a cell phone, a PDA, or a small computer. In a preferred embodiment, the device is equipped with a browser for displaying and viewing information available on the Internet.

In the context of the present invention, a network is eg a communication network for telephony, a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), the Internet or an Intranet.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the search or selection of information is performed from the handheld device over the wireless telephone network and the network operator's site that provides the handheld device with access to an information service provider where the information service provider can directly access or Accessible via the web. In this embodiment, the handheld device is a cellular phone and the user can search for information as long as the phone can establish a connection with the phone operator's network. This embodiment has the advantage of making information available in almost any location, allowing users to search for files to display no matter where they are. Then, when the file is found, the user can move to a location where a short range communication link can be established between the phone and the communication means of the display device to display the file.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the search or selection of information is performed from the hand-held device via the short-range communication link and the communication means of the display device. In this embodiment, the communication device provides an access point to the Internet, an intranet, or another computer network, whereby an information service provider can be accessed. The handheld device of this embodiment may be, for example, a PDA or a small computer. An advantage of this embodiment is that the hand-held device does not require any other connection than a short-range communication link for searching or selecting information.

According to a preferred embodiment, the device for processing the display request is a module in the information service provider. By providing the device for processing display requests as a module of the information service provider, the device can share functions and interfaces with the information service. In addition, if the information service provider provides confidential information, the security of the displayed file can be easily guaranteed.

The system can use different paths to send the display file, which is the requested file converted into the appropriate format. It is possible to manufacture devices that support all paths or only one or some paths. Therefore, the paths from the device processing the display request to the display device described below can all be supported by one device.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the display file is sent from the device handling the display request to the communication means of the display device over at least a wireless network for cellular telephones, handheld devices and short range communication links. An advantage of this embodiment is that the display file can be sent to the display device even if the communication means of the display device lacks a network connection. Another advantage is that the path for sending the display file is already established during the selection of the file and the display device, so the user can be sure that there is a path available for sending the display file to the display device.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the display file is sent from the device processing the display request to the communication means of the display device via a network such as the Internet and/or an Intranet. The advantage of this embodiment is that the data rate transmitted is very high. Another advantage of this embodiment is that the user can use the handheld device to perform other tasks while waiting for the display.

In yet another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display file is sent by e-mail from the device processing the display request to the communication means of the display device. The advantage of this embodiment is that there is no problem in displaying the display file on a display device located behind a firewall, and that the transmitted data rate is high. According to one embodiment, the e-mail containing the display file is sent to a mail server for processing e-mail addressed to the display device. Then, either the mail server sends a notification about the newly received e-mail to the communication device, or the communication device frequently detects whether a new mail arrives in the mail server.

According to an aspect of the invention, the display of selected files stored at a network node is effected by means of a system essentially comprising a handheld device, communication means for displaying the device, and a device for processing display requests. By operating the hand-held device, the user can obtain the specification of the display device from said communication means. This specification is then sent along with the address of the selected file to the device that handles the display request. In this device, the selected file is then converted into a format suitable for a display device of said communication device, where the converted file is displayed. The system can use WAP-technology to send information from handheld devices to devices that process display requests and access information on the Internet. Additionally, the system may eg utilize Bluetooth or IrDA for communication between handheld devices or said communication means. The system also enables mobile printing and mobile access to documents that cannot be displayed on a small display.

In addition, the communication device of the display device can be configured to receive the simple information file stored in the handheld device and transmit the simple information file to the display device through short-distance communication. These files may be, for example, text files containing information such as WAP-pages, telephone number lists, address lists, etc. To initiate the sending of these information for display, the handheld device has a "display" or "print" command in one of its menus, and the handheld device may also be equipped with a key dedicated to this action.

Other applicable scopes of the present invention will become clearer through the following detailed description. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes will come within the spirit and scope of the invention to those skilled in the art from these detailed descriptions. and modify.

Description of drawings

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention of a communication device using a preferred display device;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention of a communication device using another preferred display device;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention using yet another preferred communication device of a display device;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a device for processing display requests according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 6 is a simplified diagram of a handheld device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 7a is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a communication means of a display device;

Figure 7b is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the communication means of the display device;

Figure 8 is a process flow diagram of a handheld device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a process flow diagram of a device for processing a display request according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

10a and b are process flow diagrams of the communication means of the display device in a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 11 is a flow chart of signals sent between different devices of the system according to one embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention in which an information service provider handles e-mail; and

Fig. 13 is a flow chart of the process of printing e-mail and e-mail attachments by means of the handheld device.

Detailed ways

In Fig. 1, a preferred embodiment of a document display system is shown. The system comprises at least one cellular telephone 100, at least one information service provider 200, and at least one communication device 300 of a display device, denoted by 300a and 300b in FIG. 1 .

Cellular telephone 100 is connected to network 10 (e.g., Internet, Intranet, Wide Area Network (WAN), Local Area Network (LAN)). Access to network 10 is accomplished by having station 12 have a gateway implementing, for example, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), or some other protocol for communicating information over a wireless telephone network. In addition, the cellular phone 100 is also equipped with an interface for short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth.

The information service provider 200 is connected either directly to the station 12 or to the network 10 . However, the information service provider 200 should be able to access the network 10 . Information service provider 200 may be an Internet portal or server that serves company files and provides access to files, e-mail, and/or other browsable information over the network in a format suitable for phone 100 . The print service device 210 is preferably built into the information service provider 200 but may also be located outside the information service provider 200 . Print service device 210 is a device that handles requests for files to be printed, preferably implemented as software code executing in an information service provider.

The communication devices 300a, b connect the printer 380 to the network 10 . The communication means may eg be implemented in a print server. It can be connected to a printer or as an external device 300a, internal device 300b or as an embedded device 300b. It has an interface for short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth. The primary tasks of the communication devices 300a,b are to ensure that print files sent to a communication device for printing are printed and to provide printer specifications to the cell phone. In another embodiment the communication device receives the file address from the cell phone, then the communication device sends the file address and printer specifications to the information service provider. The printer specification includes transmission routing data about the print file to be printed, the characteristics of the printer, which are described in further detail below.

The transmission route of the print file between the printer service device 210 and the communication means 300a, b can be of different types depending on the kind of communication means agreed for receiving the print file. One route is to send the print file directly to one of the communication devices 300a, b through the network 10 using the IP protocol. Protocols such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Internet Printing Protocol (IPP), etc. can be used for this purpose. Another route is to send the print file in mail, for example by means of SMTP or IMAP, to a mail address dedicated to the selected communication device 300a, b. The E-mail is then routed to the mail server 390, which provides the print file to the selected communication device 300a,b. Yet another route is to send the print file back to the cell phone 100, for example by means of IP and/or WAP protocols (e.g., as Wireless Session Protocol (WSP)), and send the print file to the selected communication via the interface for short-range communication 20. Apparatus 300a,b.

The different communication device implementations are shown in FIGS. 2 , 3 and 4 . The figures also illustrate in detail an embodiment of the invention, for example the network is depicted as the Internet 11 and the location of the printer is surrounded by a frame 50 which defines the vicinity of the printer. In this embodiment, the surrounding environment of the communication device 300 should be regarded as a company's LAN limited by offices or buildings, or an area where the short-distance communication 20 of the telephone 100 can be received by the communication device 300 . As shown in Figures 2 and 3, a corporate LAN connected to the Internet is typically connected thereto by a security system such as a firewall 52 in order to reduce the risk of unauthorized access to the LAN. In addition, three possible information service providers 200a-c are shown, generally referred to as 200, one provided by the operator at the station 12, one provided as an Internet portal 62, and one provided by the company's file service for employees. The company 60 offers. In these three drawings, the program for requesting file printing may be the same program, and only the data in the instructions implemented by the current communication device are different.

Fig. 2 shows a communication device implementation for receiving print documents as e-mail. E-mails are sent from one of the print service devices 210a-c (generally referred to as 210) to the e-mail server 390 via the Internet 11, the firewall 52, and finally the LAN. When a print file contained in e-mail is received at mail server 390, it is sent to communication device 300 to be printed. By using e-mail as the carrier of the print file, the possible problems of obtaining the print file through the firewall 52 can be avoided.

Figure 3 shows a communication device implementation for receiving print files directly from one of the print service devices 210a-c via the Internet, a firewall, and a network connection (which could be a LAN or a single Internet access point). In this embodiment, the address of the print file points to the communication device 300 .

FIG. 4 shows a communication device implementation for receiving a print file from one of the print service devices 210a - c via at least the wireless telephone network 14 , the telephone 100 and the short-range communication link 20 . In this embodiment, if using the print service facility 210a at the operator's location, the print file need not be sent over the Internet, but the Internet could be used if appropriate. Such communication device implementations are preferred if there is no network connection or if there are other reasons for not connecting the communication device to the network.

Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment of a print service device 210 is shown. The print service device 210 is provided with means 212 for receiving requests to print documents. The request includes a file address indicating the location of the file and printer specifications. Printer specifications include, for example, information on how to send print files to the printer, the make and model of the printer, etc., which are described in detail below. The request is passed from the means 212 for receiving the request to the control means 214 . The control means 214 then extract the file address from the request and pass it to the means 216 for retrieving the file.

The means 216 for retrieving the file then retrieves the file from a particular address within the memory 230 accessed by the information provider. The memory 230 may be the information service provider's memory or any memory connected thereto that is connectable and accessible through a network such as the Internet or an intranet. Control means 214 passes the retrieved file and a portion of the printer specification containing data for selecting the appropriate device driver 220 to file conversion means 218 .

The file conversion means 218 examines the retrieved file to find out the storage format of the file. The easiest way to detect this format is to read and interpret the file extension, e.g. ".txt" for a plain text file, ".doc" for a Microsoft ^(R) Word file, ".pdf" for an Acrobat ^(R) Reader file, ".GIF " for markup image files, ".ps" for postscript files, ".dwg" for AutoCad ^(R) files, and so on. However, just detecting a file's extension is an indeterminate way of knowing the format, since the extension might be wrong or another program might use the same extension. Therefore, in a preferred embodiment, a portion of the file content indicating the file format is also detected. After the file format is determined, the file conversion device 218 selects a corresponding application 224 to interpret the file. Application 224 may be a program dedicated to interpreting one or more formats, or it may be a full version of a program that can even generate files in the current format.

In addition, the file conversion means 218 selects the appropriate device driver 220 using the printer specification portion containing data to determine what device driver 220 to use to create the print file. This determination may be based on data defining the printer's manufacturer and model and/or the printer's Plug and Play (PnP) device ID.

The conversion means can now use the selected application 224 and the selected device driver 220 to convert the requested file into a printer file usable by the target printer.

The control means 214 also detects the route for sending the print file in the printer specification. For example, a specification may contain an e-mail address, an IP address of a communication device, or a return address to a cell phone.

The control device 214 provides routing information, such as an address, and a print file to the sending print file device 222 . The print file sending means 222 then sends the print file to the target printer via the requested route.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a cellular telephone 100 arranged for requesting and receiving specifications of a display device via a short range communication link 20 and sending file requests via a wireless telephone network. The cellular telephone is a WAP-enabled cellular telephone equipped with a user interface 110 comprising a touch screen or display and a keypad. The user interface is connected to an information browser device 112 which browses information on the network in response to events on the user interface 110 according to the WAP standard. The information browser is realized as a program processed by a central processing unit (CPU) 114 . Communication via the short-range communication link is provided by means of a short-range communication interface 116 connected to the CPU 114, which preferably implements Bluetooth. For communications over the wireless telephone network 14, the cellular telephone is provided with a conventional interface 118 for the cellular telephone.

Reference is now made to Figures 7a and 7b, which illustrate two embodiments of a communication device 300 according to the invention. Both embodiments of the communication device 300 are equipped with a central processing unit (CPU) 302 for processing the programs of the communication device 300 . They are also equipped with an interface 304 for communication via the short-range communication link 20 and an interface 306 for connecting a printer 380 . The communication device 300 according to FIG. 7a is arranged for receiving print files via the short-range communication link 20 according to the routing of FIG. 4 . The communication device 300 according to FIG. 7b is arranged to receive print files via the network 10 according to the routing of FIG. 2 or 3 . Accordingly, the communication device 300 of FIG. 7 b is also equipped with an additional interface 308 for communication via the network 10 . Both embodiments of the communication device 300 have a protocol for communicating through the interface of each communication device 300 .

The main purpose of the printer specification provided over the phone to the print service facility is to identify what formats the printer can print and which route to use for files that must be sent to the printer. For this purpose, the print file includes data concerning the manufacturer and model of the printer and the address to which the print file should be sent. A printer specification could be, for example, a text file like the one provided below:

<? xml version='1.0'standalone='yes'? >

<MobilePrint0.1>

<PrinterManufacturer></PrinterManufacturer>

<PrinterModel></PrinterModel>

<PrinterPnPID></PrinterPnPID>

<PrinterID></PrinterID>

<PrinterDeviceDriverURL></PrinterDeviceDriverURL>

<PrinterEmailAddress></PrinterEmailAddress>

<PrinterHostName></PrinterHostName>

<PrinterIPAddress></PrinterIPAddress>

<PrinterIPPURL></PrinterIPPURL>

<PrinterPDLs></PrinterPDLs>

<PrinterLocalName></PrinterLocalName>

<PrinterComment></PrinterComment>

</MobilePrint0.1>

In the specification above, for example data for the printer manufacturer would be placed between <PrinterManufacturer> and </PrinterManufacturer>.

Now imagine that a traveling service technician is touring the world servicing and repairing industrial robots. During the mission, he encountered a glitch in the robot that he didn't quite understand. So he needs a reference file for the robot. To get these files, he asks the printer with the printer server according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. He can also use his cell phone and order the phone to detect if there is a communication device in the vicinity providing service according to the invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 8 , when the service technician locates the communication device 300 , he uses his WAP-enabled cellular phone 100 to connect (step 510 ) to the carrier that provides the WAP gateway 12 to the Internet 10 . The WAP page is then displayed on the display screen of the phone 100 (step 512), whereby he can browse a web of linked WAP pages by selecting the link displayed on the display (step 514). Whenever a link is selected, the phone 100 detects whether the link is located on another WAP page (step 516). If the link points to another WAP page, the page is downloaded and displayed on the display (step 512), and the procedure is repeated (steps 512-516). Known WAP pages are also available by obtaining the address he has stored in the phone 100 and then selecting the address or simply by typing the address in the phone's 100 message browser.

In one of the ways mentioned above, the service technician gets an information page (step 512) that contains links to the files he needs to display. Now, he selects a file link (step 514), which is not a WAP page. Phone 100 detects whether the link points to a WAP page (step 516), and finds that it is not. Next, phone 100 displays a print/download dialog (step 518). If the service technician chooses to download, the file may be downloaded (step 522) to a nearby computer, for example, via a short-range communication link. However, if he chooses to print, the phone 100 will broadcast an identification request to all communication devices 300 within the reach of the phone 100 of the short-range communication 20 through the short-range communication interface (step 524). If there is no response to the request, an error message is displayed on the display screen (step 528) indicating that no compatible communication devices 300 are available. Then, the phone 100 returns to step 512 and displays the WAP page again. If one or more communication devices 300 respond to the request, those communication devices 300 are displayed on the display screen (step 530). The service technician can then select one of the displayed communication devices (step 530). When a communication device 300 is selected, the phone 100 sends a request to the selected communication device 300 to request printer specifications (step 534). The communication device 300 returns the printer specification (step 536 ), which was received at the phone 100 . Next, a print request including the file address given by the selected link and the printer specification are sent to the print service device 210 of the information service provider 200 via the wireless telephone network 14 (step 538).

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 9, the print service device 210 receives a print request (step 602). Device 210 identifies the different parts of the request (step 604), such as a file address and a printer specification, and uses the file address to retrieve the file to print (step 606). Next, the format of the retrieved file is identified as described above (step 608). When the file format is established, the print service device 210 uses this information in the request and the specification of the display device to find the appropriate application to interpret the file and the device driver, corresponding to the information in the printer specification, converts the file into a format suitable for the selected The print file of the printer (step 610). Next, the file is converted to a print file (step 612).

The print file is now ready to be sent to the selected communication device. However, before sending the print file, the print service device selects the sending method according to the address given in the printer specification (step 614). Afterwards, the print file is sent to the communication device via one of the above-mentioned routes (step 616).

Referring now to Figures 1 and 10a, if the communication device 300 is arranged to receive a print file through the interface of the telephone 100 and short-range communication 20 or directly through the Internet 10, then the communication device 300 receives the print file (step 702) and delivers it to the printer for printing (step 704).

Referring now to Figures 1 and 10b, if the communication device 300 is scheduled to receive print files via e-mail, the communication device may check the mail server 390 at predetermined intervals (step 712). If a new email appears (step 714), the communication device 300 retrieves the email (step 716) and then extracts the print file from the e-mail (step 718). When the print file is extracted, it is passed to the printer 380 for printing (step 720).

The service technician can now remove the file from the printer and start repairing the robot.

Referring to Figure 11, an example of communication between devices of the system and between a cell phone and a user is presented. The user starts the cell phone's WAP browser (event 902). Next, he makes the phone connect to the information service provider (event 904). The phone sends a connection request 906 to the information service provider. In response, the information service provider sends an authentication request 908 to the phone to authenticate the user. The user enters a PIN code into the phone (event 910), and the phone passes the user's PIN code and SIM code to the information service provider as an authentication message 912. When the information service provider has approved the user, it sends an initial WAP page 914 to the phone. The user can then select a link on the page displayed by the phone to browse the information service provider's information (event 916). During browsing, the phone requests a page according to the selected link, and the information provider responds to the request by sending the requested page; this is consistent with the 918 two-way communication. When the user selects a file link that is not a WAP page (event 920), the phone displays a print dialog (event 922). If the user chooses to initiate printing (event 924), the phone broadcasts a message 926 to all communication devices capable of functioning as a communication device of the present invention, by implementing a short-range communication interface such as Bluetooth. The communications device then responds to the request by sending a message 928 (containing identification information) to the phone. Then, if more than one device responds, the user is prompted to select one of the identified communication devices from the list. If only one device is identified, the user must select that device or abort the action. When a communication device is selected, the phone sends a printer specification request 932 to the selected communication device. The selected communication device responds by returning a printer specification 934 to the phone. The phone then sends a request 936 containing printer specifications and the address of the file to the information service provider involved in printing the file at the specified printer. The request is passed (938) to the information service provider's print service facility to convert the file into a printable format and send the converted file to the selected printer. When the file is converted and no errors occur, the printer service device sends the print file 940 to the communication device, for example, by e-mail. When the print file is sent, the information service provider gets a message 942 about the success of the conversion. If the conversion fails, the information service provider gets a message 942 about the conversion failure. The message is passed along 944 to the phone displayed to the user.

The present invention can also be used to facilitate receipt of e-mail on handheld devices. It is currently already possible to receive e-mail in a PDA or mobile phone via eg Short Message System (SMS), WAP, i-Mode etc. However, the resources of handheld devices are limited in terms of, for example, CPU performance, memory size, and display resolution and size. Therefore, it is difficult, if at all possible, to browse complex or large e-mail attachments in a handheld device with such limited resources.

FIG. 12 shows an information service provider 200 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The information service provider 200 of this embodiment arranges for managing e-mail accounts and e-mails sent to e-mail addresses of the e-mail accounts. The information service provider of this embodiment arranges for receiving e-mails, storing e-mails and attachments attached to e-mails, and displaying, upon request, the stored e-mails of the account to persons permitted to view the e-mails of the account. -mail.

After receiving the e-mail, the information service provider 200 stores the text of the e-mail in the e-mail storage device 232, and if there is an attachment, stores the attachment in the additional storage device 234, and it is also stored in the stored e-mail. The mail text registers a pointer for each attachment contained in the mail. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the attachment pointer is an address such as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). If the attachment pointer is a URL, it may have the following form:

http://www.abcd.com/? id=12345&key=12345.

When receiving a request to display an e-mail, the information service provider 200 transmits a display of the text of the requested e-mail to the handheld device 100, thereby requesting the display. The display of the sent text does not contain any attachments, but contains pointers to attachments belonging to the e-mail. The user can then, via the handheld device 100, obtain the attachment displayed on the nearby display device 380 using any of the techniques previously described herein.

In order to print the complete mail including attachments, the handheld device 100 includes a menu or display button which initiates the information display process mentioned above. In response to a print request for the entire mail currently viewed in the handheld device or accessed on the display of the handheld device 100 via a link or pointer, the handheld device 100 detects the content of the e-mail and sends the e-mail according to previously described embodiments of the present invention. The addresses of mail and its attachments are used for display. In another embodiment, the handheld device 100 forwards the complete email including the e-mail text and attachment pointers to the communication device 300 of the display device 380 . Next, the communication device 300 controls the display of e-mail and its attachments. If the e-mail is only plain text and the display device is the printer 380, then the communication device 300 does not need to use the printing service described above, because most printers can print the text without converting the file to other formats.

To ensure security, HTTPS or other secure channels can be used for attachment or e-mail transmission.

A flow diagram of one embodiment for printing e-mail and its attachments from a handheld device, such as a cell phone or PDA, is shown in FIG. 13 . The user accesses an information service provider that provides e-mail services to the user and downloads new e-mail texts to the phone (step 1002).

Next, the user can read the text of the e-mail and determine whether to print the text of the e-mail and possible attachments (step 1004). If the user does not want to initiate a print operation, the user returns to the phone's e-mail interface (step 1002) and can download the next e-mail. However, if the user wants to print, the user selects "send mail" in the menu or by pressing a key (step 1006).

Next, the user selects Bluetooth as the transfer method (step 1008). The phone broadcast request requires the identification of all Bluetooth-enabled devices within range of the Bluetooth signal. If no Bluetooth enabled device responds to the request, the phone returns to the e-mail interface (step 1002). If there is one or more devices responding to the request, the phone has to detect whether the responding device is a printer (step 1012). If none of the responding devices is a printer then the phone returns to the e-mail interface (step 1002). If one or more of the responding devices are printers, the user may select one and initiate the data transfer (step 1014).

The printer's communication means receives data containing the e-mail text and possibly a pointer to an attachment. The communication device then commands the printer to print the text of the e-mail (step 1016). In one embodiment of the invention, the phone enables the user to choose among multiple displays, such as displaying the e-mail text and all attachments, displaying only attachments, displaying only the e-mail text, displaying specific attachments, and the like.

Next, the communication device detects whether the received data contains any attachment pointers (step 1018). If no pointers are displayed, the print job is complete, but if the data contains pointers to one or more attachments, then the communication device downloads/requests these pointers in a printable format and instructs the printer to print them (step 1020). If the attachment pointer points to a printable attachment that does not need to be converted first, then the communications device downloads directly, but cannot print the attachment without converting the format, sends a request to the print service as described above, and instructs the print service to convert the attachment.

Claims (12)

1. A method for selecting and displaying information in a system, comprising the steps of: receiving, by the handheld device, specifications of the display device from the communication means of the display device via a short-range wireless connection; sending the address of the file and the specification of the display device from the handheld device over the network to the device for processing the display request; receiving the file address and the specification of the display device in the device for processing the display request; retrieving the file corresponding to the file address in the device processing the display request; converting the retrieved file into a format suitable for the display device in the device processing the display request; sending the converted file from the device processing the display request to the communication device of the display device via a network; receiving said converted file in a communication means of said display device; and The converted file is transferred from the communication means of the display device to a display device connected to the communication means of the display device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said communication means of said display device communicates said converted file to a display device connected to said communication means of said display device. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specification of the display device includes at least a display address to which a display file can be sent for display, and data indicating a format suitable for display at the display device. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said transforming step comprises the step of: read out the specification of said display device; and Determine the format in which the file is saved; Select a conversion method according to the content of the specification description of the display device and the format in which the file is saved; The file is converted using the selected conversion method. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said display address is an e-mail address, and said converted file is sent to said display device via an e-mail server. 6. A system for selecting and displaying information comprising: A handheld device enabling display of information retrieved from an information provider on a screen of said handheld device, comprising: The I/O interface is used for short-distance wireless communication with the communication device of the display device, The means for receiving and displaying device identification through the I/O interface for short-distance communication, means for receiving specifications of a display device via said I/O interface for short-range communication, means for sending the address of the file to the device processing the display request; Devices that handle display requests, including: means for receiving from the handheld device a file address relating to the file to be displayed; means for receiving specifications for display devices; means for retrieving a file corresponding to said file address; means for converting the retrieved file into a format suitable for the display device according to the specification of the display device; and means for sending said converted file to said display address; Communication means for display devices, including: I/O interface for short-distance wireless communication with handheld devices; means for sending a display device identity via said I/O interface for short-range wireless communication; and Means for receiving information to be displayed by a display device. 7. A system according to claim 6, wherein said handheld device further comprises means for sending the received specification of the display device to said device processing display requests; Wherein the communication means further includes means for sending the specifications of the display device via the I/O interface for short-distance communication. 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the specification of the display device includes at least a display address to which a display file can be sent for display, and data indicating a format suitable for display on the display device. 9. The system of claim 6, wherein said means for converting comprises: a plurality of switching devices; and means for selecting one of these conversion means according to the specification of said display device. 10. The system of claim 9, wherein said means for converting further comprises: means for determining the format of said file; and Means for interpreting the format of the file. 11. The system according to claim 6, wherein the communication means of said display device is provided with an I/O interface for communication through a network. 12. The system according to claim 11, further comprising an e-mail server, and said displayed address is an e-mail address.

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