Method and system for transmitting informational content data

STATE OF THE ART

The present invention relates to a method and a system for transmitting information content data to a plurality of terminals.

Information is increasingly provided multimedial as text, image, language, music, video, etc. through information providers. In the world-wide Internet (www world wide web), multimedial information is offered using the page description language HTML as interlinked multimedial documents. The individual pages or documents of the providers are normally transmitted point by point, ie, directly from the information provider, to the terminal, see, for example, the disclosures of the<patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="DE19730363A"><text>Patent applications DE-A-19 730 363</text></patcit> or <patcit id="pcit0002" dnum="WO9916226A"><text>WO-A-99/16226</text></patcit>. In order to arrive at interesting information, the user of a terminal, for example a computer or a mobile telephone, must establish the connection to the information provider and request the information desired by him. If, for example, a user who is based in the traffic area of ​​Munich is to receive traffic reports about the Munich area, he must query this information with the information provider by establishing a connection to the information provider via a telecommunications network. After the establishment of a transmission channel to the information provider and the user terminal, the desired information is then transmitted as information content data to the terminal, for example, a mobile telephone.

The establishment of the connection to the information provider is troublesome for the user of the terminal and costs him time. In addition, the connection setup and the transmission of the information content data are carried out at the request of the terminal user, ie often at times of day at which the transmission of the information content data is particularly costly.

A further disadvantage is that the terminal user is not interested in all information provided by the information providers, but only on the information that is relevant to him. In order to obtain the relevant information, the terminal user must perform a selection of the information provided by the information provider. This selection is also troublesome and time-consuming for the end user.

From the Recommendation GSM 03.41 version 7.1.0, a so-called CBS service (Cell Broadcast Service) is known, which allows a number of unauthorized general messages to be transmitted to all recipients within a particular region.

The <patcit id="pcit0003" dnum="EP0849923A1"><text>EP 0 849 923 A1</text></patcit> Describes a method and a system for providing telecommunication services to subscribers during low traffic volumes.

In the Recommendation GSM 02.03 version ETS 300 502 September 1994, telecommunication services are recommended which are to be supported by a GSM network in conjunction with other networks.

From the <patcit id="pcit0004" dnum="WO9916226A"><text>WO 99/16226</text></patcit> A method and apparatus for transmitting newsgroup information to a plurality of users is known.

The <patcit id="pcit0005" dnum="WO9916277A"><text>WO 99/16277</text></patcit> Deals with multicast in a mobile network.

The Recommendation GSM 04.12 version 7.0.0 describes how the Short Message Service Cell Broadcast (SMSCB) is supported by Multifunk Interface.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The method according to the invention for transferring information content data with the features of patent claim 1 as well as the system for transferring information content data with the features of patent claim 13 has the particular advantage that the terminal user receives the information relevant to him in a simple and convenient manner .

In addition, the information relevant to the end user can be transmitted to him particularly cost-effectively.

The idea underlying the present invention is to provide the end user with automatically relevant information via a central information forwarding station without the end user having to interrogate the information at information providers.

In the subclaims, advantageous further developments and improvements of the method according to the invention indicated in patent claim 1 and the information transmission system according to the invention indicated in patent claim 13 are found.

According to a preferred development, the transmitted information data block in the terminal is checked by means of an information description data block for its relevance to the terminal.

In a further preferred development, the information transmission data block recognized as relevant is stored in an intermediate memory of the terminal and can be called up there for the user.

In a further preferred development, the information description data block obtains information data values ​​with respect to the geographical validity space, the validity period, the data format, the coding type and the type and type of the transmitted information content data.

This offers the particular advantage that the information data blocks transmitted to the terminal users can be filtered according to different criteria.

In a further preferred development, the loading of the information content data and the information description data from the information providers is carried out by the central forwarding station as a function of a request signal which is sent from the central forwarding station to the information provider.

In a further preferred development, the information contents data and the information description data are automatically loaded by the information providers through the central forwarding station automatically at regular, adjustable time intervals.

In a further preferred development, the transmission of the information data blocks from the information forwarding station to the plurality of terminals is carried out automatically at regular, adjustable time intervals.

In a further preferred development, the information data blocks are simultaneously transmitted from the information forwarding station to a plurality of terminals via a distribution network.

In a further preferred embodiment, the information data blocks are transmitted encrypted from the information forwarding station to the terminals.

This has the advantage that third parties can not undesirably access the transmitted content data.

According to a further preferred development, the information description data blocks transmitted from the forwarding station to the terminals contain encryption description data which specify the type of encryption of the transmitted information data blocks.

This offers the advantage that the terminal user can request the appropriate decryption program at the information provider.

According to a further preferred development, the decryption data for decrypting the information data blocks are transmitted by the information provider to the terminal of the information provider upon request.

According to a further preferred development, the information content data and the information description data are loaded by the information provider through the central information forwarding station via a first transmission network, and the information data blocks are transmitted from the central information forwarding station to the terminals via a second transmission network.

According to a further preferred development, the information data blocks are transmitted via a radio network to a plurality of mobile terminals.

This offers the advantage that the terminals need not be networked with the central information relay station in a cost-intensive manner.

DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and are explained in more detail in the following description.

Show it:<dl id="dl0001"><dt>FIG</dt><dd>A schematic representation for explaining the transmission system according to the invention for transferring information content data to a plurality of terminals;</dd><dt>FIG</dt><dd>5 is a flow chart of the method according to the invention for transferring information content data to a plurality of terminals according to the invention;</dd><dt>FIG</dt><dd>12 is a flowchart of the reception operation of the transmitted data by a terminal according to the invention.</dd></dl>

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> 13 shows a schematic representation of the information transmission system according to the invention for transmitting information content data from information providers to terminals via a central information relay station.

In the case of the <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Two information provider stations 1, 2 are shown. The information provider stations are connected to a first transmission network 5 via connection lines 3, 4. A central information relay station 7 is connected to the first transmission network 5 via a connection line 6. The central information relay station 7 is connected to a second transmission network 9 via a connection line 8. A plurality of terminals 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 are connected to the second transmission network 9 via terminals 10, 11, 12, 13,

The two transmission networks 5, 9 can be any transmission networks for the transmission of data, the second transmission network 9 preferably being a radio network for the transmission of data to mobile terminals 15-19.

In a preferred embodiment, the first transmission network is a fixed network, for example the Internet.

In the information provider stations 1, 2, information is stored for the users of the terminals 15 - 19 in internal memory devices or databases. The first information provider can, for example, be a provider of traffic information data. The second information provider, for example, provides train schedules throughout Germany. The number of information providers and thus the number of information provider stations connected to the first transmission network 5 is arbitrarily high. The information data stored in the memory devices of the information providers are loaded into the internal memory of the information relay station by the central information relay station 7. FIG. The information is loaded into the internal memory of the central information relay station 7 either by a request signal sent via the transmission network 5 or at regular intervals by the information provider stations 1, The second transmission network 9 preferably allows the simultaneous transmission of information to a plurality of terminals 15-19, for example via broadcast channels. In a preferred embodiment, the second transmission network 9 is a cellular mobile radio network. In this preferred embodiment, the terminals 15-19 are mobile radio stations or mobile phones.

<figref idrefs="f0002">FIG</figref> 10 is a flow chart of the method according to the invention for transmitting information content data to a plurality of terminals 15-19.

In step S1, information content data and information description data are provided in a memory of at least one information provider station 1, 2.

In a step S2, the information content data, ie, for example, the traffic information data or the driving lane data, as well as information description data are loaded into a memory of the central information relay station 7. The information description data is provided by the information providers and indicates which information is involved.

For example, the information description data indicates that they are driving lanes of the summer schedule or the winter schedule of the German Federal Railroad.

At a step S3, information computation blocks 7 are generated by a calculating means of the central information relay station 7 based on the loaded information content data and information description data blocks based on the loaded information description data.

In a step S4, the respective information content data block and the associated information description data block are linked to one another by the computing device of the central information forwarding station 7 to form a transmission data block.

In a step S5, the linked transmission data block is transmitted from the information relay station 7 via the second transmission network 9 to the plurality of terminals 15-19.

The loading of the information content data and the information description data by the central information forwarding station 7 in step S2 is carried out in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention as a function of a request signal transmitted from the central forwarding station 7 to the information provider station via the first transmission network 5 2 is sent. Alternatively, the information content data are loaded and the information description data are loaded automatically at regular, adjustable time intervals by the information provider stations 1, 2 in step S 2.

The transfer data block transmitted in step S5 from the central information relay station 7 to the apparatuses 15-19 includes an information description data block. This information description data block has a plurality of information records specifying the geographic scope, the validity period, the data format, the encoding method of the data, and the type of the transmitted information content data. The transferred geographical area of ​​validity indicates in which geographic area the information transmitted is relevant or relevant. The data record which specifies the geographic validity space is hierarchically structured in a preferred embodiment, ie the transmitted information content data are, for example, declared as valid nationwide, city-wide or cell-wide. The geographical validity areas indicated in the information records may also overlap. It is also possible to specify several geographical validity areas for the transmitted information content data.

The information description data block indicates the type of the transmitted information content data, ie, whether it is traffic information, city information, etc., and the type of the transmitted information content data, ie whether it is text data, video data, sarach data or audio data Is used.

The <figref idrefs="f0002">FIG</figref> FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the reception of transmitted data blocks by the terminals 15-19.

In a step S6, the relevance or validity of the transmitted information or content data block is checked by the respective terminal 15-19 by means of the transmitted information description data block. For example, the terminal 15-19 checks whether the transmitted information is valid in time. If the terminal recognizes that the transmitted data block is valid, it is stored in a temporary memory of the terminal in a step S7.

In a step S8, the information content data blocks stored in the buffer memory are called by the terminal user for use. In an alternative embodiment, the transmitted data blocks trigger events in the terminals 15-19. For example, content data or documents are displayed daily at a particular time on a display of the terminal 15 -19 without the end user having to call the transmitted information content data block. The time and the type of document to be displayed is preferably adjustable by a terminal user's keyboard 15-19.

Intermediate data blocks are automatically deleted from the intermediate memories of the terminals 15-19 if they lose their temporal or local validity. If, for example, the terminal 15-19 is a mobile radiotelephone and the mobile radiotelephone moves from a first network cell to a second network cell, those information content data blocks which are only relevant to the first network cell are deleted.

The data blocks transmitted from the central forwarding station 7 to the terminals 15-19 via the second transmission network 9 are preferably transmitted in encrypted form. The transmitted information description data block thereby contains encryption description data which informs the terminal user of the type of encryption of the transmitted data blocks. The terminal user preferably receives a decryption program for decrypting the data blocks transmitted via the transmission network 9 from the corresponding information provider via a third transmission network.

If the terminal devices 15-19 are mobile radiotelephones, the decryption data of the decryption programs are transmitted from the information provider stations 1, 2, preferably as SMS-dependent device-dependent, ie, depending on the SIM card ID, to the terminal 15-19. The decryption data are preferably renewed at regular intervals.

In terms of encryption, the end user preferably sends his SIM card to the licensing service provider. From this he receives a key. This key together with the SIM card, which the decryption program has direct access to in the terminal, allows the decoding or decoding of the data offered by the service provider.

In a preferred development, the central forwarding station 7 continuously receives information about the current time as well as the regions in which the mobile terminals 15-19 are currently located.

In a further preferred embodiment, events associated with certain transmitted data blocks are processed by so-called plug-ins. The advantage of plug-ins is that they can be tailored exactly to the needs of the end user, saving storage space and charging time.

The method according to the invention and the system according to the invention for the transmission of information content data can be used in many ways. Interesting application examples are the provision of local information such as city guides, city maps, hotel guide, restaurant guide, traffic information, event calendar, sight seeing tours, timetables for buses and trains, cinema programs, etc.

By means of the transmitted data blocks, events can be triggered or triggered in the terminals. The information is displayed in the terminals 15-19 to the user of the terminal, or is also given him / her an acoustic signal. In this way, further applications are opened up, for example, updates, stock market infiltrators with up-to-date information, pop-up news in summer sales, weather warnings, traffic jam on the motorway, .

The central information relay station 7 can be connected to a plurality of different information providers via different transmission networks. By connecting to the Internet there are other possible applications, for example references in the guide to the web pages of different restaurants or references to taxi web pages with ordering facilities or references to pizza service services. If an event is linked to the data block transmitted via transmission network 9 to the terminals 15-19, an application such as an Internet browser can be activated in the terminal 15-19, for example. The browser then has access to the information content data stored in the buffer memory of the terminal 15-19.