Interaction analysis and prioritization of mobile content

#This disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications and more particularly to improved mobile content presentation for mobile communication facilities based at least in part on weighting mobile content using prior interaction information related to the mobile content.

#Online search driven by Web-based search engines has proven to be one of the most significant uses of computer networks such as the Internet. Computer users can employ a variety of search tools to search for content using different user interfaces and search methods. In some circumstances, mobile device users can also access Internet search tools to search for content. However, users of many mobile devices such as cell phones encounter difficulties using search technologies intended for conventional online use. Difficulties include the inability to display appropriate content, difficulty entering queries and taking other suitable actions such as navigation in an environment adapted to full screen displays, full-sized keyboards, and high-speed network connections. Furthermore, Internet search engines are currently unable to optimally deliver search results for a mobile communication facility because these search engines are specifically designed for the Internet and not mobile uses. A need exists for improved search capabilities adapted for use with mobile communication devices.

#In one aspect, a method and system disclosed herein includes receiving interaction information relating to a mobile communication facility, weighting content based at least in part on the interaction information, and ordering the content for presentation on a mobile communication facility based at least in part on the weighting. Interaction information may be based on one selected from the group of transaction events, purchase history, user history, user characteristic, user device, geographic location, time, expertise, occupation, income bracket, home address, and the like. Interaction information may be associated with an authority of a mobile communication facility user. Mobile content may include, but is not limited to, downloadable content, sponsored links, a URL, an email address, an FTP address, a phone call, and webpage address, an advertisement, a sponsored content, an audio stream, a video, a graphic element, and the like. In embodiments, information that may be related to interaction information may be segmented (e.g. an age range, income range, etc.).

#The invention and the following detailed description of certain embodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the following figures:

#FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless platform.

#FIG. 2 illustrates a method for entering a search query, manipulating the query, and delivering search results.

#The methods and systems disclosed herein relate to the domain of mobile communication facilities and to the domain of searches for content.

#FIG. 1 represents a wireless search platform 100 for facilitating the access to and integration of multiple data sources and data types for presentation on a mobile communication facility 102. The wireless search platform 100 includes a plurality of computer applications, devices, components, facilities, and systems, as well as a plurality of data facilities, including various data sources. The foregoing may be centrally located or geographically dispersed, may be locally and/or remotely interconnected, and may consist of distinct components or be integrated into combined systems. In the illustrated embodiment, the wireless search platform 100 architecture facilitates the processing of user-initiated queries entered into a query entry system 120 of a mobile communication facility 102. The mobile communication facility 102 may transmit this query to or via a wireless communication facility 104 for further processing and/or routing to data sources and/or processing facilities, such as one or more servers, such as HTTP servers or other servers that are suitable for handling data that are transmitted over computer networks. In embodiments, the wireless communication facility 104 may be linked to a locator facility 110 that generates information about the location of the user (including geographic location, proximity to other locations, network location, or other location information). The locator facility 110 may enable linkage of other information, such as information about a user query, with information about the user's geographic location at the time the query was initiated.

#The wireless communication facility 104 may link directly to a wireless provider 108 such as a corporation or carrier providing the user's cellular phone service (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc) or other wireless communication service. The wireless provider 108 may, in turn, have a number of proprietary databases from which it can obtain information that may be relevant to a user, such as to operate appropriately in response to a query entered by a user. For example, the wireless provider 108 may have access to a database containing carrier business rules 130 describing the proper handling of user queries. The wireless provider 108 may have access to a database containing the mobile subscriber characteristics 112 (e.g., age, address, customer history, call volumes, call histories, patterns in call histories, etc.) that, in turn, are linked to the Internet and through which it can access additional servers 134 and data sources 138. The wireless provider 108 may also have access to a “content walled garden” database 132 containing information from the wireless provider's 108 business partners from which the wireless provider 108 derives additional advertising or profit sharing revenues, such as content relating to cell phone offers, content relating to other services provided by the wireless provider, premium content that is paid for by the user, or content suitable for a mobile communication facility (such as a ringtone). The wireless provider 108 may also link the user query with sponsor information residing in a sponsor database 128 or with another data facility 124.