Client aware notification in a wireless portal server

#The present invention relates to the field of communication apparatus and methods. Embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus and methods for communicating using a portal server.

#A portal server provides means for users to access multiple sources of information and services via the Internet. More particularly, service providers deliver information to the client via “channels” that are accessed via the portal server. A typical portal server includes portal server software that is operable on one or more computing devices.

#Users contact the portal server using a client program (the requesting program associated with the user). Typically the client program is a web browser or other program operable on the client's computing device. The client program requests web pages (e.g., HTML pages or files) from the portal server. The portal server then provides the requested web pages, either from its own data storage or through access to resources of service providers.

#The operation and components of this invention can be best visualized by reference to the drawings.

#FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless portal server network in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer system in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

#Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention will be described in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention to these embodiments. On the contrary, the invention is intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, in the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention. At times, concepts disclosed in this discussion of embodiments of the present invention will be made more readily apparent in reference to the Figures.

#Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of procedures, logic blocks, processing, and other symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. In the present application, a procedure, logic block, process, or the like, is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps or instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, although not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic information capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these information as transactions, bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, fragments, pixels, or the like.

#It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such as “receiving,” “determining,” “sending,” “storing,” “indicating” or the like, refer to actions and processes of a computer system or similar electronic computing device. The computer system or similar electronic computing device manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.