DE102004003593B4 - Method for transmitting user-specific data based on the WAP or HTML protocol - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for personalizing URL information originating from a terminal and addressed to a service provider, comprising a filtering system and a database storing user-specific information in relation to tokens, comprising - a step of; / or user-specific features of the user and / or terminal from which the URL information is received, a step in which the URL information is analyzed by the terminal from the filter system to the occurrence of tokens, then to these with the user and / or device specific information stored in the database in relation to the tokens to then send the URL information to the service provider

Description

The present invention describes a method and apparatus that allows mobile network operators to provide customer information to third parties in the context of electronic services through WAP or HTML.

Field of the invention:

WAP is the mobile-specific equivalent to the HTML-based web with the typical requirements and conditions of mobile (such as low memory space on the terminal, high latencies on air route, small screen sizes, etc.) adapted protocols (WTLS, WTP, ...) and Description languages (WML, XHTML, ...).

WAP applications are now widely used. Virtually every mobile operator has its own WAP portal (eg T-Mobile, Vodafone, ePlus).

Meanwhile, many independent WAP banking / brokerage applications (wap.comdirect.de,), Personal Information Services (yourwap.com), Information Services (wap.handelsblatt.com, wap.yahoo.com,) are also known ,

These applications all have in common that personalization requires vendor-specific registration, that is, the user has to move through endless forms in order to specifically enter their personal information for each vendor. Should he be asked to do so via WAP, the likelihood for the use due to the ergonomic restriction associated with the mobile phone (small displays, telephone keypad, mobile phone-related comparatively long waiting times) is very low, which in turn is equal to a non-winning customer. The DE 101 16 640 A1 . US 6,360,254 B1 . WO 2003/030474 A2 . WO 99/07 125A1 . DE 60 2004 007 306 T2 disclose technologies that fall within the scope of the invention.

The object of the invention is to provide a method and a device which bring about a simplification of the personalized use of WAP services.

This object is achieved by the inventions having the features of the independent claims. Advantageous developments of the inventions are characterized in the subclaims.

In essence, the mobile network operator, who has access to personal information through his hardware system, may - u. Upon prior approval by the customer, this information may be automatically provided to the service provider. At the same time this is an authentication of the customer. Overall, this results in a significant increase in service quality for the benefit of the service provider, the network operator and the customer. The systems of the mobile network operator automatically replace the user-specific inputs on the basis of defined tokens, so that the user only has to send the confirmation.

URLs (Universal Resource Locators) are defined in RFC 1738 and are used for Web and WAP applications to reference documents and services on the Internet. By means of WTP or http request, the document (or the service) specified by means of URL is requested.

Web / WAP-based documents and services are usually based on a large number of linked by hyperlink / jump addresses of documents. These hyperlinks refer to - defined by URL - other documents.

The technical content of this invention is to define the description of replacement tokens which are components of URLs used by service providers in the context of WAP / Web services.

By appropriate systems, a mobile network operator side replacement of these replacement tokens by appropriate information, for. B. personal information or z. B. Charging information performed.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method for personalizing URL information originating from a terminal and directed to a service provider.

Here, the method refers to the URLs that are issued as part of http / WTP requests as part of a document request from a service provider from a terminal.

A filter system that has access to a database in which user-specific information is stored in relation to tokens performs a series of steps.

In a first step, the identity of the terminal and the user to which the URL information is sent or received is determined. This can be done by the ID of the SIM card or by a login password and in combination.

After this has taken place, in a further step, the URL information originating from the terminal is analyzed by a filter system for the occurrence of tokens. These tokens are then replaced with the user-specific information stored in the database in relation to the tokens, in order then to forward the changed URL information to the service provider. The tokens are preferably defined uniformly throughout the network in order to maintain a consistent concept. So the tokens can stand for names, account information, location information or location information.

In a further embodiment, if necessary, a necessary reinsurance against the service user is used as part of the WAP / web session, whereby it is ensured to the end user that, for example, the information provided by the z. B. Mobile operators may be passed to third parties or that the cost of the service may be accepted and, for example, the mobile phone bill may be added.

After transmitting the information, a provider-side decryption of this personal information is preferably performed for the purpose of providing personalized services and applications.

In the preferred embodiment, the method is implemented by a transparent proxy or gateway.

This will allow a number of advantages. On the one hand, there is an increase in service quality. A major advantage is the much more ergonomic and efficient ways to design WAP applications by providing personal information of, e.g. B. Mobile network operators the service providers (after any necessary reinsurance at the customer) are provided.

The service provider gets better quality data (if only because the user does not have to enter it). Furthermore, the service provider is significantly relieved in its technical expenses for the realization of services. The service provider saves in the development of applications significant expenses in the personalization of services, especially in the connection to mobile service providers (for example, for the use of location services) and in the development / connection z. B. mobile payment method.

The service provider is significantly relieved in its processes, such as CRM or billing, and can focus on its core competency, namely content provisioning.

Furthermore, the service provider is authenticated by the customer. Also, the billing of services to the customer is billable.

A mobile network operator may, based on this invention, develop new business models, for example the sale of customer data, possibly even further, e.g. B. between master data and dynamic data (current location, current preferences, current consent to reimbursement for services with possibly mentioned upper limit) could be distinguished.

In the following the invention will be explained in more detail by means of exemplary embodiments, which are shown schematically in the figure. In detail shows:

1 the sequence of the method according to the invention, wherein a mobile telephone user ( 1 ) a mobile phone with WAP session ( 2 ) and the mobile network operator with WAP gateway ( 3 ) establishes a connection to backend systems of the mobile network operator as an incident / diarrhea gate and the service provider ( 4 ) receives the data.

In the context of the invention numerous modifications and developments of the described embodiments can be realized.

Internet applications are supported i. d. R. on WAP (mobile phones) or HTML (PDA, notebooks, etc.). An essential aspect of the invention is the use of replacement tokens that are part of URLs. Replacement tokens (for example, & a, & l, etc., as in the examples below) are placeholders for personal or location-based information and are used, for example. B. mobile radio network provider side replaced by the respective personal information.

The "&" symbol introduces the replacement tokens as an example in the following examples. Instead of "&" another meaningfully chosen symbol could be used.

Possibly. necessary confirmations on the part of the mobile phone user are not listed in the examples.

Example 1:

• - Wap.kinobremen.de/&n.wml (with & n as a wildcard for the name of the mobile user) would be replaced by the mobile network operator by:
• - Wap.kinobremen.de/michael_hasemann.wml

Example 2:

• - Wap.kinos.de/&n&l.wml (with & n as a placeholder for the name of the mobile user and & l the current whereabouts) would be replaced by the mobile network operator by:
• - Wap.kinos.de/michael_hasemann_56_2445N_8_23432O.wml (with 56.2445N.8.23432O the approximate latitude and longitude of the current residence of the user Michael Hasemann)

Example 3:

• - Wap.kinotickets.de/verschicken_an&a.wml (with & a as placeholder for the user's address) would be replaced by:
• - Wap.kinotickets.de/verschicken_anMichael.Hasemann.Heidkam p.20.27321.Emtinghausen.wml

Example 4:

• - Wap.kinotickets.de/ticket1238934534kaufen&c30.wml (with & c30 as a placeholder for paying 30 euros) would be replaced by:
• - Wap.kinotickets.de/ticket1238934534kaufen45634895.wml (with 45634895 the transaction number for the payment of the mobile phone bill).

Example 5:

• - Wap.clever-tank.de/&l.wml (with 56.2445N.8.23432O the approximate latitude and longitude of the current whereabouts) would be replaced with:
• - Wap.clever-tank.de/56_2445N_8_23432O.wml.

This example in particular shows how simple it is to realize applications based on the invention presented here. The current clever-fueling implementation requires for the purpose of localization the extra reference of the location information from the mobile operator. For this purpose, an extra infrastructure (applications, servers, lines) from clever tanks is required, which is not necessary in the present invention. It is also to be expected that the response times will be significantly lower due to the significantly lower infrastructure.

The replacement process for the replacement token shown in the examples expediently takes place within the jurisdiction of the mobile network operator, since there are also the necessary personal data.

As a suitable technical body is the mobilnetzproviderseitige WAP gateway, as this i. d. R. is preset on the mobile phones of its customers and represents the gateway for the customers.

From a technical point of view, this point is suitable because in the WAP gateway anyway a conversion of the transmission protocols used takes place (especially from WTP to HTTP) and at this point the proposed replacement process can be done with relatively little effort.

• A. Der Benutzer initiiert eine WAP-Sitzung durch Aufruf einer URL, z. B. wap.clever-tanken.de/&l.wml durch direkte Eingabe der URL, Auswahl eines Lesezeichens/Bookmarks oder bspw. durch Auswahl eines Hyperlinks auf der einer aktuellen WAP-Seite (also durch „Navigieren” auf der WAP-Seite).
• B. Die gewählte URL wird an das WAP-Gateway übertragen. Dort wird das Replacement-Token „&l” nach Identifikation des Benutzers und Lokalisierung in den jeweiligen Backendsystemen des Mobilfunknetzbetreibers durch den aktuellen Aufenthaltsort ersetzt: Wap.clever-tanken.de/56_2445N_8_23432O.wml
• C. Sollte es für B notwendig sein, eine Erlaubnis des Benutzers einzuholen, so wird zunächst das Ergebnis des Ersetzungsprozesses für den Benutzer zwischengespeichert. Dann wird dem Benutzer als Ergebnis eine WAP-Seite zurückgeschickt, in der dargestellt wird, welche personenbezogenen Informationen vom Serviceprovider gewünscht und vom Mobilfunknetzbetreiber bereitgestellt werden könnten.
• D. Der Benutzer wird aufgefordert einzuwilligen.
• E. Der Benutzer kann hierzu einwilligen, oder er verneint die Übertragung der Informationen.
• F. Im Falle der Einwilligung wird die URL mit den ersetzten Replacement-Tokens (siehe Schritt B) an den Serviceprovider weitergeleitet. Falls keine Einwilligung gegeben worden ist, wird die ursprüngliche URL mit den nicht ersetzten Replacement-Tokens an den Serviceprovider weitergeleitet.
• G. Weitere Schritte können darin liegen, dass der Serviceprovider und der Benutzer in eine personalisierte Interaktion treten.

For WAP this looks like the 1 is apparent, as follows:

• A. The user initiates a WAP session by invoking a URL, e.g. Eg wap.clever-tank.de/&l.wml by direct entry of the URL, selection of a bookmark / bookmark or eg by selecting a hyperlink on the current WAP page (ie by "navigating" on the WAP page) ,
• B. The selected URL is transmitted to the WAP gateway. There, the replacement token "&l" is replaced by the current location after identification of the user and localization in the respective backend systems of the mobile network operator: Wap.clever-tank.de/56_2445N_8_23432O.wml
• C. Should it be necessary for B to obtain a user's permission, then the result of the replacement process is first cached for the user. Then, as a result, the user will be returned to a WAP page, which will display what personal information may be desired by the service provider and provided by the mobile network operator.
• D. The user is requested to comply.
• E. The user may agree or deny the transfer of the information.
• F. If approved, the URL will be forwarded to the service provider with the replaced replacement tokens (see step B). If no consent has been given, the original URL will be forwarded to the service provider with the non-replaced replacement tokens.
• G. Other steps may be for the service provider and the user to enter into a personalized interaction.

For HTML-based traffic (ie when using PDAs, notebooks) a proxy would take on the role of the gateway in the previous representation. If this is not designed to be transparent, however, as a rule, configurations would have to be made in the mobile terminals (PDAs, notebooks).

In principle, the use of this method also makes sense for Internet service providers.

Claims (18)

A method for personalizing URL information originating from a terminal and directed to a service provider, comprising a filtering system and a database in which user-specific information is stored in relation to tokens A step in which device and / or user-specific features of the user and / or terminal from which the URL information is received are detected, - A step in which the URL information is analyzed by the terminal from the filter system on the occurrence of tokens, and then to replace them with the stored in the database in relation to the token user and / or device-specific information, then to send the URL information to the service provider Method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the terminal is a mobile terminal. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the token stands for name, account information, location information and / or location information. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that WTP / WTLS or http / https is the transmission protocol. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the filter before the replacement process sends a request to the user to retrieve an acknowledgment and / or to obtain an authorization. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that an encryption of the replaced token takes place, which can be decrypted by the terminal and / or service provider. Method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the filter system is a proxy, in particular a transparent or a gateway. Apparatus for modifying URL information originating from a terminal and directed to a service provider, By means arranged to access a database in which user-specific information is stored in relation to tokens, By means adapted to determine device and / or user-specific features of the user and / or terminal from which the URL information is received, By means adapted to perform on-line filtering of the URL information, the URL information being analyzed by the terminal by the filtering system for the occurrence of tokens in order to compare them with those in the database the token deposited replace user-specific information and then send the URL information to the service provider. Device according to the preceding device claim, characterized in that it is the terminal to a mobile terminal. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized in that the token for name, account information, location information and / or location information is available. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized in that the means are arranged so that WTP / WTLS or http / https is the transmission protocol. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized in that means are provided which are set up so that a request is sent to the user before a replacement procedure in order to retrieve an acknowledgment and / or to obtain an authorization. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized in that means are provided which perform an encryption of the replaced tokens that can be decrypted by the terminal and / or by the service provider. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized in that a proxy, in particular a transparent or a gateway, is extended with the means. Device according to one or more of the preceding device claims, characterized characterized in that personalization of the URL information occurs. Software for a gateway and / or a proxy system, characterized in that a method according to one or more of the preceding method claims is implemented when the software is executed on the gateway and / or the proxy system. Data carrier for a computer, characterized by the storage of software according to the preceding software claim and the implementation of a method according to one or more of the preceding method claims, when the software stored thereon is executed on the computer A computer system characterized by means adapted to perform a method according to one or more of the preceding method claims.

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