Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COMMUNICATING NETH10RK RESOURCE hOCATORS TO CUSTOMER
PREMISES EQUIPMENT USING MODIFIED RING ACCESS
FIEhD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the use of modified ring access
to convey a network resource locator to a telephone and use
of the telephone to download resources which may include
applets, instruction files or content files from the
network resource identified by the locator.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Operating companies need a way to enable telephones to get
information on a periodic basis. Existing SRA access for
transmissions of such information involves the transmission
of data using FSK which is very slow and is not reliable
for large amounts of data. This method uses a short FSK
blast which instructs the phone to navigate to the web
using a high speed modem. The modem connection is a
reliable high speed connection which can be used to
download the large amount of data which is intended to be
downloaded.
The use of raw FSK data for the transfer of advertising
control files, for example, is too slow and unreliable.
Consequently, previous implementations of display based
marketing only allowed text information to be displayed on
the telephone.
Proprietary graphic standards could be developed to permit
graphic data to be transmitted but this would require
special tools to be distributed to the information
providers.
What would be desirable would be the use of Internet
standard technology to make the development of ads very
easy for the providers and to allow features such as
animation to be included in advertising content as animated
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GIFs or as applets. The present invention addresses
this need.
SUMMARY O~ THE INVENTION
In accordance with one aspect of the
invention, there is provided a method for
communicating a network resource locator to a
telephone, the method comprising: producing a modified
ring access message including a first network resource
locator identifying a first network resource;
transmitting a representation of said first network
resource locator to said telephone; and downloading
from said first network resource to said telephone an
applet including a second network resource locator
identifying a second network resource.
According to another aspect there is
provided an apparatus for communicating a network
resource locator to a telephone, the system
comprising: means for producing a modified ring access
message including a first network resource locator
identifying a first network resource; means for
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transmitting a representation of said first network
resource locator to said telephone; and means for
downloading from said first network resource to said
telephone an applet including a second network
resource locator identifying a second network
resource.
According to yet another aspect the
invention provides a system for communicating a
network resource locator to a telephone, the system
comprising: a modified ring access server for
producing a modified ring access message including a
first network resource locator identifying a first
network resource; and the first network resource
operable to provide to said telephone an applet
including a second network resource locator
identifying a second network resource.
According to still another aspect the
invention provides a telephone comprising: a central
office line interface for receiving a frequency shift
keypad (FSK) message including a network resource
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locator; a transceiver for establishing a connection
to a network resource in response to said network
resource in response to said network resource locator
in said FSK message; a processor in communication with
said central office line interface; and memory
accessible by said processor for storing codes
operable to direct said processor to perform the
functions of: a browser for downloading from said
network resource an applet including a second network
resource locator; an applet viewer for running said
applet; a public interface for communicating with said
applet to receive said second network resource locator
from said applet; a security manager for preventing
running applets from accessing said memory; and a
handler having access to said memory, said handle
being in communication with a second network resource
identified by said second network resource locator to
receive and store in said memory, a file from said
second network resource.
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In more general terms, far end party
equipment sends to a target telephone an onhook FSK
message which includes the target phone's
identification and a URL to navigate to. The target
5 telephone decodes the FSK message to extract the URL
and establishes a high speed modem connection to the
Internet using the data line. A built in browser in
the telephone is then instructed to navigate to the
URL and start an applet. The applet is responsible to
initiate the download process of a file from a second
network resource.
Effectively, this invention extends the
existing suppressed ring access technology to include
a URL navigation instruction to a Java capable
telephone. This instruction prompts the telephone to
initiate an ISP connection and navigate to the given
URL. The resource specified by the URL contains a
Java applet which is designed to run without any user
interaction and can be used to query and update
software in the target telephone to enhance or provide
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services, change configurations and/or provide display
based marketing. This invention is useful for
operating companies to manage Java capable screen
phones deployed in their territory.
With the use of the invention an ad or
advertising content file is developed as an HTML page
and can be tested on a PC using a standard web
browser. An instructions file is also developed to
instruct the phone as to what to do with the
information in the ad such as what HTML page is to be
used,
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when should the ad be displayed, and where to navigate when
the ad is selected.
The advertising content file is bundled in a zip file and
placed on a web server to be picked up by the phone.
The telephone is instructed to pick up the ad bundle
through the use of the instruction file. The telephone may
be instructed to navigate to a resource containing the
instruction file through a game, a service, a timer on the
telephone or through the use of SRA to force the telephone
to navigate to the applet when the phone is idle.
This invention allows high resolution pictures and
animation to be displayed on an idle telephone for
marketing purposes. The use of HTML and applets in a
browser enable the advertisement to incorporate any HTML
construct including text, high resolution pictures and
animation. The browser has no navigation tools or buttons
so that the advertisement is unobstructed. When the
advertisement is selected by the user, the browser
automatically navigates to a site associated with the
advertisement, where more information can be provided for
the user. The site could be in permanent storage on the
phone for quick access or could be on the Internet which
would require the phone to automatically connect to an ISP.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In drawings which illustrate embodiments of the invention,
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a system according to
a first embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 is a block diagram of a suppressed ring access
(SRA) server and a central office service unit
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according to the first embodiment of the
invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic representation of an SRA control
message and an SRC message transmitted by the SRA
server and the central office service unit
respectively;
Figure 4 is a schematic representation of a central office
and a telephone according to the first embodiment
of the invention;
Figure 5 is a block diagram of a central office line
interface in the telephone, according to the
first embodiment of the invention;
Figure 6 is a tree diagram of a directory structure of
file directories within the telephone;
Figure 7 is a schematic representation of storage areas in
the RAM shown in Figure 4;
Figure 8 is a schematic representation of program
architecture in a processor in the telephone,
according to the first embodiment of the
invention;
Figure 9 is a flowchart of an event parser thread run by
a system processor of the telephone;
Figure 10 is a flowchart of a main event handler thread run
by the system processor of the telephone;
Figure 11 is a flowchart of an event dispatcher run by the
system processor of the telephone;
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Figure 12 is a flowchart of the browser thread run by the
system processor of the telephone;
Figure 13 is a flowchart of a network driver run by the
system processor of the telephone;
Figure 14 is a flowchart of an applet thread run by the
system processor of the telephone;
Figure 15 is a flowchart of a public interface method by
the system processor of the telephone; and
Figure 16 is a flowchart of a handler thread run by the
system processor of the telephone.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FiQUre 1
Referring to Figure 1, a system for communicating a network
resource locator to a telephone and for downloading a file
to a telephone is shown generally at 10.
The system includes a network including a first network
node 12 which includes a modified ring access (SRA) server
16 and a central office service unit 18 and a second
network node 14 which includes a remotely configurable
telephone 20. The modified ring access server 16 is in
communication with the central office service unit 18 and
the central office service unit is in communication with
the telephone through a central office switch 22 in the
public switched telephone network.
In addition to providing conventional telephone features,
the telephone 20 receives FSK messages including a network
resource indicator, through modified ring access such as
suppressed ring access or single ring access initiated by
the SRA server 16 and central office service unit 18. The
telephone 20 also has transceiver hardware and software for
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establishing communications with an Internet service
provider 24, through the central office switch 22 to
establish communications with a first Java applet provider
25 which acts as a first network resource identified by a
second network resource indicator included in the FSK
message provided to the telephone by the central office
service unit 18. The SRA server thus directs the telephone
20 to the first network resource from which it can download
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) pages. Such HTML pages
may include applets which can be run at the telephone 20 to
direct the telephone to communicate with a first content
provider 26 which can provide files to re-configure the
telephone to change the functionality thereof to display
content such as advertising or to provide enhanced
telephone features.
Figure 2
SRA server
Referring to Figure 2, the SRA server 16 includes a
database shown generally at 28, a database manager 30, a
communications interface 32 and an administrator terminal
34. The database 28 is used to store a plurality of
records including telephone number records 36, customer
premises equipment identification (CPE ID) records 38 and
feature records 40.
The telephone number records 36 have telephone number
fields 42, and subscriber information fields 44 while
customer premises equipment records 38 have telephone
number fields 46 and CPE ID fields 48. The contents of the
telephone number fields 42 and 46 link telephone number
records and CPE ID records together when the telephone
number fields 42 and 46 have the same contents.
The feature records 40 have respective URL fields 50 for
storing a network resource locator which in this embodiment
is a uniform resource locator identifying a network
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resource on the world-wide web at which an HTML page
including a download applet is available. In this
embodiment, the URL fields are loaded with respective UR.Ls
identifying respective HTML pages 356 at the applet
provider 25. The download applet is rumble by the
telephone 20 to provide the telephone with the
functionality required to download a feature applet from
the same network resource or a different network resource.
The database manager 30 receives commands from the
administrator terminal 34 to create and amend telephone
number records 36 and CPE ID records 38 in the database 28.
A separate telephone number record is associated with each
telephone and therefore in this embodiment, telephone
number record 36 is associated with telephone 20 shown in
Figure 1. A CPE ID record is also associated with
telephone 20, and has a CPE ID field 48 identifying an
address of an equipment block within the telephone. This
facilitates a plurality of different equipment to be
connected to the same telephone line from the central
office switch (22), while allowing each different equipment
to be individually addressable.
In one scenario, the SRA server 16 is maintained by a
telephone company providing telephone services to
subscribers such as the user of telephone 20. The database
records are created such that separate telephone number
records are associated with respective corresponding
subscriber lines and separate equipment ID records 38 are
associated with respective corresponding equipment
connected to a given line, at the subscriber's premises.
In the event that a user requests a change in telephone
features, an administrator enters the change into the
administrator terminal 34 which directs the database
manager 30 to search the telephone number records and CPE
ID records to locate the user's telephone number and CPE ID
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for the telephone which is to be changed to include the new
telephone features. At the same time, the database manager
30 searches the feature records 40 to locate a record
containing a uniform resource locator (URL) defining an
address of a resource on the Internet at which an HTML page
including an applet which provides a URL identifying a
resource from which the telephone downloads a file using a
file transfer protocol (FTP), the file being executable by
the telephone to provide extended functionality thereto.
Figure 3
In response to the database search, the database manager
produces an SRA control message as shown at 31 in Figure 3,
including a message identifier 33 identifying the type of
loop carrier in the connecting path to the subscriber
location, a telephone number of a subscriber line 35, a CPE
ID 37 identifying equipment on the subscriber line to which
the SRA control message is addressed, and a URL 39 copied
from the uniform resource locator field 50 of the feature
record 40. Referring back to Figure 2, this SRA control
message is provided to the communication interface 32 which
transmits it to the central office service unit 18. The
SRA server thus acts as a modified ring access server, or
means for producing a modified ring access message
including a first network resource locator identifying a
first network resource. In this embodiment, the first
network resource is an HTML page at the first Java applet
provider 25.
Central Office Service Uni
Still referring to Figure 2, in this embodiment, the
Central Office service unit 18 includes a telemetry network
access computer 60, an SRA communications interface 62 and
a central office interface 64 including an FSK transmitter
65. The SRA communications interface 62 is connected to
the communications interface 32 of the SRA server 16 by a
public packet switched network link 66 and provides
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messages received from the SRA server 16 to the telemetry
network access computer 60. The FSK transmitter 65 in the
central office interface 64 is controlled by the telemetry
network access computer 60 and is connected to the central
office (not shown in Figure 2) by at least one trunk 68
having a suppressed ring access class of service.
In general, the telemetry network access computer 60
receives SRA messages from the SRA server 16 and produces
on the trunk 68 suppressed ringing connection (SRC)
messages in an FSK format, as shown generally at 70 in
Figure 3. Thus, the central office service unit produces
a modified ring access connection message in an FSK format,
including the first network resource locator in response to
the modified ring access message. The FSK transmitter acts
as means for representing the modified ring access
connection message by an FSK message.
Referring back to Figure 3, SRC messages have a format
which includes a message type field 72, a total length
field 74, a CPE ID field 76, a parameter type field 78, a
parameter length field 80, and a parameter data field 82.
The message type field identifies the message as a
suppressed ring connection message. Predefined codes are
used to identify predefined message types. The total
length field 74 is used to hold a value representing the
total length of the SRC message. The CPE ID field 76 is
loaded with the contents of the CPE ID field 37 of the SRA
control message from the SRA server. The parameter type
field 78 is used to identify the type of data stored in the
parameter data field 82 and, in this embodiment, the
parameter type field stores a predefined code representing
that the contents of the parameter data field 82 relate to
URL data. The parameter length field 80 is used to
identify the length of the parameter data field 82. The
parameter data field 82 is, in this embodiment, used to
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store the uniform resource locator from the URL field 39 of
the SRA control message from the SRA server.
Fiaure 4
Central office Switch
Referring to Figure 4, the central office switch 22
includes a program driven digital switch including a
switching network 45, a program controlled processor 47 a
trunk unit 57 and a plurality of subscriber interfaces,
only two of which are shown at 59 and 61.
The trunk unit 57 senses activation by the central office
service unit and signals the program controlled processor
47, to indicate such activation. The program controlled
processor then controls the switching network 45 to provide
voice path connections for communicating suppressed ring
access messages from the central office service unit 18 to
subscriber locations such as the telephone 20 served by the
central office switch 22. Communication between each
subscriber location and the switching network 45 occurs via
the subscriber interfaces, each of which includes a line
unit 49, a digital loop carrier 51 at the switch location,
a transmission path 52, a digital loop carrier 54 at a
remote location and a subscriber line 56, 58. Thus, the
central of f ice service unit and central of f ice act as means
for transmitting the modified ring access message to the
subscriber telephone 20.
Generally, the trunk 68 has a class of service which
identifies to the central office switch 22 that the
connections being requested by the central office service
unit 18 are to be made with ringing suppressed, ie., with
no ringing signal transmitted or with a burst of ringing
signal transmitted of sufficient length to activate the
digital loop carriers 51 and 54 but of insufficient length
to be present for any significant time after connection is
completed. Accordingly, the central office service unit 18
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can establish connections through the central office switch
22 to the subscriber locations, and such connections are
accompanied by no or little (ie., short) ringing. These
connections facilitate the transmission of suppressed ring
access messages in an FSK format to the telephone. In
other words, the central office service unit places a call
through the central office on a trunk line having a special
class of service. The central office detects that a call
is being made on the special trunk line and activates the
digital loop carriers for the line to which the call is
being made, to enable communication between the central
office service unit and the telephone, without activation
(suppressed ringing) or with minium activation (single
ring) of ring tone generation circuitry (not shown) in the
central office. Thus, a communication link is established
between the central office service unit 18 and the
telephone to permit the FSK suppressed ring access message
to be transmitted from the central office service unit to
the telephone. Thus, the central office switch is operable
to establish a connection to the subscriber telephone in
response to the modified access connection message and acts
as means for communicating the modified ring access
connection message to the subscriber telephone. The
modified access connection message is transmitted as an FSK
message to the subscriber telephone and thus, the central
office acts as means for transmitting the FSK message to
the subscriber telephone.
To this point, therefore, there has been described a method
and system for communicating a network resource locator to
a subscriber telephone, involving producing a modified ring
access message including a first network resource locator
identifying a first network resource and transmitting said
modified ring access message to said subscriber telephone.
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Telephone
Referring to Figure 4, the telephone acts as a remotely
configurable subscriber telephone and is shown generally at
20 and includes a system microprocessor 90, a telephony
microcontroller 92, and a central office line interface 94
in communication with both the system microprocessor 90 and
the telephony microcontroller 92. The system
microprocessor is connected to a keyboard interface 96 and
a keyboard 98, for receiving user input for commanding the
system microprocessor 90 to effect certain functionality.
The system microprocessor is further connected to a display
interface 100 which is further connected to a display 102,
for displaying output to a user.
The telephony microcontroller 92 is in communication with
the system microprocessor 90 by a plurality of signal lines
104 and is further in communication with a handset
interface 105 for controlling signals to and from a
conventional handset 106 and a hands-free interface 107 for
providing conventional speakerphone functionality to the
telephone.
The telephony microcontroller 92 is further in
communication with a dial pad 108 of the conventional type,
for enabling a user to dial telephone numbers at the
telephone.
Figure 5
Referring to Figure 5, the central office line interface is
shown in greater detail at 94. The central office line
interface has first and second telephone line inputs 110
and 112 which are connected to the first and second
telephone lines 56 and 58 respectively. The first line
input 110 is connected to a line 1 modem terminal 114, a
two to four wire interface terminal 116 and an on-hook
extension in use detector 118. The modem terminal 114 is
connected to a line selector switch shown generally at 120
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having a selector terminal 122 and a line 2 modem terminal
124. The line selector switch 120 is controlled by a line
selector control circuit 126 to connect the selector
terminal to either the line 2 modem terminal 124 or the
line 1 modem terminal 114. The selector terminal 122 is
further connected to a modem hook switch 128 which is
controlled by a modem 130 in communication with the system
microprocessor 90, shown in Figure 4.
Referring back to Figure 5, the modem hook switch 128 is
connected to a data access arrangement 132 which isolates
the modem from the second telephone line and provides a DC
path for seizing the line. The data access arrangement 132
is in communication with the modem 130, to provide analog
signals to and from the modem 130, for communication to the
system microprocessor. Thus, the system microprocessor is
operable to use the modem and second telephone line to
communicate on the network and, more particularly, the
world-wide web 23.
The central office line interface further includes a line
hook switch 134 and a two wire to four wire hybrid circuit
136. The hook switch 134 is controlled by a line hook
switch control circuit 138 which opens and closes the hook
switch 134 thereby connecting and disconnecting the first
telephone line to and from the two to four wire hybrid
circuit 136.
The two to four wire hybrid circuit 136 has a transmit
input 140 and a receive output 142 and an off-hook detect
signal output 144. The transmit input 140 is connected to
a DTMF generator 146 and a transmit output of an audio
circuit 148. The DTMF generator is operable to provide
tones to the transmit input 140 to provide DTMF tones on
the first telephone line 56.
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The receive output 142 of the two to four wire hybrid
circuit 136 is connected to a receive input of the audio
circuit 148, and is further connected to an FSK receiver
150 and a caller alerting signal receiver 152.
The off-hook EIU detect output 144 of the two to four wire
hybrid circuit 136 is connected to an off-hook EIU detect
circuit 154 which provides a signal indicating whether or
not an extension is in use on the first telephone line, at
the same time that the hook switch 134 is closed.
The on-hook extension in use detector 118 monitors the
first telephone line 56 to provide a signal indicating
whether or not an extension is in use on the first
telephone line, when the hook switch 134 is in the open
position.
The line selector control circuit 126, the line hook switch
circuit 138 and the DTMF generator 146 are operable to
receive signals from the telephony microcontroller 92 shown
in Figure 4, to control the state of the line selector
switch 120, to control the state of the line hook switch
134 and to provide DTMF signals to the two to four wire
interface for transmission on the first telephone line,
respectively. The audio circuit 148 is in bi-directional
communication with the telephony microcontroller which
effectively provides an audio path, with audio signal
processing to the handset interface 105 or hands-free
interface 107 shown in Figure 4.
The FSK receiver 150, caller alerting signal receiver 152,
off-hook EIU detect circuit 154 and on-hook extension in
use detector 118 provide FSK, CAS, off-hook EIU and on-hook
EIU signals respectively to the telephony microcontroller.
Referring back to Figure 4, the system microprocessor 90 is
further in communication with FLASH memory 156 accessible
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by the system microprocessor for storing codes operable to
direct the processor to perform the functions of a browser,
an applet viewer, a public interface, a security manager
and a handler. The microprocessor is further in
communication with random access memory (RAM) 158.
FiQUre 6
Referring to Figure 6, the FLASH memory holds a directory
structure as shown generally at 161. The directory
structure includes a base directory having a hardware
abstraction layer file 163, an operating system file 165,
a system subdirectory 167, a data subdirectory 169, a Java
subdirectory 171 and a temporary subdirectory 173.
The hardware abstraction layer file 163 includes basic boot
commands for booting up the system processor and for
directing it to load the operating system file 165 into
RAM, where it is run by the processor.
The operating system file 165 contains operating system
commands for establishing basic operation of the system
microprocessor 90. The operating system commands include
a Board Support Package (BSP) and drivers which direct the
processor to interact with the central office line
interface 94, the telephony microcontroller 92, the
keyboard interface 96 and the display interface 100 shown
in Figure 4. In this embodiment, the operating system is
known as VX Works (tm) provided by Windriver of Alameda,
California. The operating system maintains a routing table
155 in the RAM 158 shown in Figure 4 for maintaining
details of connections established through the central
office line interface 94 on the second subscriber line 58
shown in Figure 4.
The operating system file further includes code
implementing a Java (tm) virtual machine and a graphics
layer known as RTX X-Windows server (tm) by Visicom of San
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Diego, California. The Java virtual machine includes core
Java packages including Java.lang, Java.io, Java.applet,
Java.net and Java.awt which in connection with the
operating system files create a Java run time environment
at the system microprocessor 90.
Still referring to Figure 6, the system subdirectory 167
includes an applications subdirectory 175 and an extensions
subdirectory 177. The applications subdirectory 175
includes a telephone subdirectory 179 containing files for
directing the system microprocessor 90 to cooperate with
the telephony microcontroller 92 to provide telephony
functionality. The applications subdirectory further
includes an event parser subdirectory 181 containing event
parser files, a main event handler subdirectory 183
containing main event handler files, a browser subdirectory
185 containing browser files, a public interface
subdirectory 187 containing public interface method files
189 and a handler subdirectory 191 containing handler
files.
The extensions subdirectory 177 includes an email
subdirectory 193 containing email files for providing email
functionality, a fax interface subdirectory 195 containing
fax files for providing fax functionality, a games
subdirectory 197 containing game files for providing game
functionality, a horoscope subdirectory 199 containing
horoscope files for communicating with horoscope content
providers, a sports subdirectory 201 containing sports
provider files for communicating with sports information
providers, a stocks subdirectory 203 containing stock
provider communication files for communicating with stock
information providers and a marketing subdirectory 205
containing marketing files for providing display
advertising on the display 102.
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The data subdirectory 169 includes a configuration data
subdirectory 207 containing configuration files including
a CPE ID file 210 and an event code lookup table file 208.
The CPE ID file 210 holds a CPE ID of the telephone, to
identify the telephone from other telephones which may be
connected to the same telephone line. The event code
lookup table file 208 contains an event code lookup table
having parameter type and URL event code f fields 211 and 213
respectively, for associating parameter types with URL
event codes.
The Java subdirectory 171 includes Java class files of the
type classes. jar.
The temporary subdirectory 173 is used to store applets,
HTML pages and files which may be downloaded over one of
the analog subscriber lines 56 and 58 shown in Figure 4.
Fiaure 7
Referring to Figure 7, the RAM 158 is used to maintain an
FSK receive buffer 200, a variable buffer 202, a main event
handler buffer 204, an event queue buffer 206 and a routing
table 155.
The FSK receive buffer 200 is of sufficient length to
receive FSK messages, in general. Such messages may
include caller ID information and the like and, more
particularly, such messages may include SRC messages sent
by the central office service unit 18 shown in Figure 1.
The variable buffer 202 and the main event handler buffer
204 hold variable and main event records respectively. The
variable records include a parameter type field 215 and a
data field 216 and the main event records include a
parameter type field 217 and a data field 209. The event
queue buffer 206 is a variable length buffer for storing
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various event queue records, each of which includes an
event code field 248 and a data field 250.
Fiaure 8
Referring briefly to Figure 4, the system microprocessor
90, FLASH memory 156, and RAM 158 together form a computer
architecture. Referring to Figure 8, this architecture is
shown generally at 162.
Fiaure 9
Referring to Figure 9, the event parser files in the event
parser directory establish an event parser thread as shown
generally at 220. The event parser thread includes a read
comm port instance 222 which directs the system
microprocessor 90 shown in Figure 4, to communicate with
the telephony microcontroller to read the FSK receiver 150
to determine whether or not an FSK message is being
received at the FSK receiver 150. If a message is not
being received, the event parser thread is blocked on the
read comm port instance 222. If the FSK receiver 150 is
receiving an FSK message, such message is passed to the
system microprocessor and stored in the FSK receive buffer
200. The system microprocessor, FSK receiver and event
parser files thus cooperate to act as a receiver, or means
for receiving the FSK message at a remotely configurable
subscriber telephone. In other words, the FSK receiver
acts as means for receiving an FSK message having a first
network resource locator, identifying the first resource
from the first telephone line and the system microprocessor
and event parser files act as means for receiving the first
network resource locator from the FSK receiver.
The event parser thread then includes a checksum instance
224 which directs the processor to read the contents of the
FSK receive buffer 200 to determine whether or not the
message was received properly. If the message was not
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received properly, it is ignored and the processor is
directed back to the read comm port instance 222.
If the message was received properly, the processor is
directed to a CPE ID match instance 226 in which the
contents of the CPE ID register 210 stored in the FLASH
memory 156 is compared against the contents of the CPE ID
field of the FSK message stored in the FSK receive buffer
200. If the CPE IDs do not match, the processor is
returned to the read comm port instance 222.
If the CPE IDs match, a no activity instance 228 directs
the processor to determine whether or not a user has
initiated any activity at the telephone within the last ten
minutes.
If the user has not made use of the telephone within the
last ten minutes an EIU instance 230 directs the system
microprocessor 90 to communicate with the telephony
microcontroller 92, causing it to determine whether or not
the EIU signal provided by either of the EIU detectors 118
and 154 shown in Figure 5, indicates that an extension is
in use. If so, then the processor is directed back to the
read comm port instance 222. If an extension is not in
use, then the processor is directed to a store parameter
type instance 232 which directs the processor to store the
contents of the parameter type field and the contents of
the data field, ie., the first network resource locator, in
the variable buffer 202. The system microprocessor 90 is
then directed to a copy instance 234 which directs it to
copy the contents of the variable buffer 202 to the main
event handler buffer 204. The processor is then returned
back to the read comm port instance 222 where it blocks
until a further FSK message is received.
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Figure 10
Main event handler thread
Referring to Figure 10, the main event handler files in the
main event handler subdirectory 183 establish a main event
handler thread as shown generally at 240. The main event
handler thread includes a buffer loaded instance 242 which
directs the system microprocessor 90 to determine whether
or not the main event handler buffer 204 shown in Figure 7
is full. If this buffer is not loaded then the processor
blocks on the buffer loaded instance 242.
If the main event handler buffer is loaded, the processor
is directed to a lookup table instance 244 which directs
the processor to find an event code record in the event
code lookup table 208 shown in Figure 6, having parameter
type field 211 contents corresponding to the contents of
the parameter type field in the main event handler buffer
204 shown in Figure 7.
On finding such an event code record, the system
microprocessor 90 is directed to a copy event code instance
246 which directs the processor to copy the contents of the
event code field 213 from the event code record into the
event queue buffer 206 shown in Figure 7 and also to copy
the contents of the data field 209 of the main event
handler buffer 204 shown in Figure 7 to the event queue
buffer 206 in association with the event code. Thus, the
processor stores, in the event queue buffer 206, a first
event record including an event code from the event code
lookup table 208 and data from the data field 250 of the
main event handler buffer 204 shown in Figure 7.
Fiaure 11
Referring to Figure 11, the event dispatcher files in the
main event handler subdirectory 183 shown in Figure 6
establish an event dispatcher thread as shown generally at
180 . The event dispatcher thread includes a first instance
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which directs the system processor to address the next
event code record in the event queue buffer 206 shown in
Figure 7. The system processor is then directed to
instance 184 which directs it to determine which threads
have registered for the event code record addressed at
instance 182. The registration of threads with event code
records is assumed to have been previously accomplished
according to conventional practices. After having
determined which threads have registered for the current
event code record, instance 186 directs the processor to
communicate the current event code record from the event
queue buffer 206 to the registered threads. In this
manner, data is passed from the event queue buffer 206 to
appropriate threads.
Ficrure 12
Referring to Figure 12, a browser thread 260 is implemented
by the browser files in the browser subdirectory 185 shown
in Figure 6. The browser thread includes a pend instance
262 which directs the processor to pend for receipt of a
URL event code record from the event dispatcher thread 180
shown in Figure 11.
On receipt of a URL event code record, a request instance
264 directs the system microprocessor 90 to request a
connection to a world-wide web resource specified by the
URL in the data field 250 of the event record. Such
connection is requested using classes in the Java net
package of the Java virtual machine.
Ficrure 13
Referring to Figure 13, if a connection is requested by an
application, the network driver 270 included within the
operating system file 165 shown in Figure 6 is run. The
network driver task includes a first instance 272 which
directs the system microprocessor 90 to pend awaiting a
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connection request from the browser thread shown in Figure
12 .
On receiving a connection request, instance 274 directs the
system microprocessor 90 to check the routing table 155
shown in Figure 7 to determine whether or not a network
connection has already been established. Referring to
Figure 13, if no such connection has been established,
instance 276 directs the system microprocessor 90 to
command the modem 130 to connect to the second subscriber
line 58 to place a telephone call over the public switched
telephone network to the Internet services provider 24
shown in Figure 1.
Referring back to Figure 13, establishment of a connection
with the Internet services provider involves a handshaking
instance 278.
On establishing a connection with the Internet services
provider, instance 280 directs the processor to negotiate
a point to point protocol (PPP) connection with the
Internet services provider and to store the details of the
PPP connection in the routing table 155. A network
connection is thus created.
Instance 282 then directs the system microprocessor 90 to
notify the requesting application of the connection to the
resource specified by the URL in the data field 250 of the
event record.
On completion of transmission of the details to the browser
thread, the system microprocessor 90 is directed back to
instance 272 where it pends on receipt of a further
connection request from the browser thread.
It should be noted that at instance 274, where the
processor is directed to determine whether or not a
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connection has already been established, if such a
connection has already been established, the processor is
directed directly to instance 282 where it notifies the
requesting application of such connection. The network
driver system processor and central office line interface
thus act as means for establishing communications between
the subscriber telephone and the first network resource.
Referring back to Figure 12, notification of the connection
established by the network driver task shown in Figure 13
is received at instance 290 in Figure 12.
Still referring to Figure 12, if no connection has been
made and no connection can be established, instance 292
directs the system microprocessor 90 to display an error
banner to indicate that the connection could not be
established. The processor is then returned back to the
pend instance 262.
If at instance 290, notification of a connection has been
established, instance 294 directs the processor to receive
and decode an HTML file from the resource specified by the
URL in the FSK message. The HTML file is received and
stored in the temporary directory 166 in the FLASH 156.
The system processor, central office line interface and
browser files thus act as means for downloading a file from
the first network resource in response to the first uniform
resource locator.
In addition, it will be appreciated that the event parser
files, the main event handler files and the event
dispatcher files cooperate with the system microprocessor
to act as means for extracting the first network resource
locator from the FSK message for presentation to the web
browser.
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Instance 295 then directs the processor to determine
whether or not the HTML file has been successfully decoded,
according to well known browser decoding criteria. In this
embodiment, the browser includes a security manager which
imposes restrictions on what hosts any applets within the
HTML file can communicate with. In particular in this
embodiment, applets are restricted from reading or writing
to the flash memory shown in Figure 6. Applets may only
open socket connections to the host that served them. They
are not permitted to open server sockets themselves, they
are not permitted to start other processes on the local
host and they are not permitted to have native methods.
Thus, the security manager acts as means for preventing
running applets from accessing the FLASH memory.
If the HTML file was not successfully decoded, the
processor is directed to the error banner instance 292. If
the HTML file was successfully decoded, instance 296
directs the processor to spawn threads on each applet, if
any, contained in the HTML file. After spawning such
threads, the processor is returned to the pend instance
262. The browser, system microprocessor and central office
line interface thus act as means for receiving the applet
from the first network resource in response to the first
uniform resource locator in the FSK message.
Figure 14
Referring to Figure 14, an applet thread, such as spawned
at instance 296 of the browser thread shown in Figure 12,
is shown generally at 310 in Figure 14. The applet thread
includes a first instance 312 which directs the system
microprocessor 90 to pass a pre-stored second uniform
resource locator (URL) contained within the applet to the
public interface method shown in Figure 15. Instance 314
then directs the processor to pend, awaiting a completion
notice from the public interface method shown in Figure 14.
The system microprocessor, browser files and central office
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line interface thus act as means for downloading from a
first network resource to the subscriber telephone or means
for providing a first applet including a second network
resource locator identifying a second network resource. In
addition, these components act as an applet viewer or means
for running the applet.
Figure 15
Referring to Figure 15, the public interface method is
shown generally at 320 and begins with instance 324 which
directs the system microprocessor 90 to receive the second
URL from the calling applet. Instance 326 then directs the
processor to create a download event code record in the
event queue buffer 206 shown in Figure 7. The download
event record includes a download event code, the second URL
received from the applet and a password. Instance 328 then
directs the processor to pend for receipt of a completion
notice from the handler thread shown in Figure 16. The
public interface files and system processor thus act as
means for communicating with the applet to receive the
second network resource locator from the applet.
Fiaure 16
Referring to Figure 16, the handler thread is shown
generally at 400 and includes at first instance 402 at
which it pends on receipt of a download event record from
the event dispatcher shown in Figure 11. (In the
description thus far, the download event record was entered
into the event queue by the public interface method.)
Upon receipt of a download event record, instance 404
compares the password from the download event record with
a predefined password, and if the password does not match,
instance 412 directs the processor to send a message to
the public interface to indicate that a download could not
occur.
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If at instance 404 the password is authenticated, instance
406 directs the processor to receive files using the file
transfer protocol, from the second network resource
identified by the second URL. The system processor,
central office line interface and handler files thus act as
means for downloading a content file or providing a content
file to the subscriber telephone from the second network
resource. More particularly, the system processor, central
office line interface and handler files act as means for
establishing communications between the telephone and the
second network resource and for downloading the file from
the second network resource in response to the second
uniform resource locator extracted from the applet.
At the resource specified by the second URL, files operable
to be downloaded are named and formatted into directories
of the same names as those in the FLASH memory 156 of the
telephone and are grouped into Java file packages named
after the corresponding directories. The Java file
packages are compressed according to the ZIP algorithm and
are stored at the resource as ZIP files named after the
corresponding file packages. The ZIP files are transmitted
to the system microprocessor 90 in the telephone, using the
file transfer protocol.
When the ZIP files are received at the system processor,
they are uncompressed or exploded and are stored as
decompressed files in the temporary subdirectory 173. The
system processor and handler files thus act as means for
decompressing the file from the second resource to produce
a plurality of decompressed files.
Instance 408 then directs the processor to verify and check
the files received by determining whether or not checksums
match and whether or not the uncompressed files have
acceptable package names. If the files do not have
acceptable package names, instance 410 directs the
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processor to remove the files from the temporary storage
directory and to proceed to instance 412 to notify the
public interface that the files are not acceptable. The
system processor and handler files thus act as means for
verifying the file has been received in accordance with
predefined criteria.
If the files are acceptable, instance 414 directs the
processor to move them from the temporary directory to the
appropriate directories in the file system, as determined
by the names and directory structures associated with the
files. After the files have been moved, instance 416
directs the processor to notify the public interface method
of completion and the processor is returned to the pend
instance 402. Thus, the system processor and handler files
act as means for extracting a name of the file or password
from the file and for comparing the name or password
against a name or predefined name or password defined by
the directory structure in the telephone and for storing
the file in the memory when the password matches the
predefined password. These components also act as means
for extracting a filename from the file from the second
network resource and means for loading the file into an
area of memory associated with the filename.
Referring back to Figure 15, when the notice of completion
from the handler thread is received at instance 328,
instance 330 directs the processor to notify the applet
thread shown in Figure 14, of completion and the public
interface method shown in Figure 15 is completed.
The applet thread shown in Figure 14 is thus notified of
completion at instance 314 and the applet thread is
completed.
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To this point, therefore, there has been disclosed a method
and apparatus for downloading a file to a subscriber
telephone.
OQeration
Referring to Figure l, the content provider 26 includes a
web server 350 and a database of compressed files 352
containing Java classes for implementing the Java
applications 161 in the subdirectory 175 applications shown
in Figure 6. The compressed files are compressed according
to the ZIP(tm) format and may include directories of files.
Thus, entire directories and files are zipped into a
compressed format and are stored as single files in the
database.
The first Java applet provider 25 includes a web server 354
and a plurality of Java applets 356 containing uniform
resource locators identifying the first content provider
and compressed files stored in the content provider
database files 352.
Referring to Figure 2, the feature records 40 have URL
fields 50 which identify the individual applets 356 at the
Java applet provider 25 shown in Figure 1. Thus, when a
user requests an additional feature such as email
capability, fax interface, screen saver, etc., the user
pays an administrator of the service, and the administrator
enters at the administrator terminal 34 shown in Figure 2,
a request for a change in service, the user's telephone
number, the CPE ID of the equipment to be changed and an
identification of the desired feature. In response, the
SRA server 16 dispatches an SRA message through the on
public packet switched network link 66, in the format shown
at 31 in Figure 3.
Referring back to Figure 1, the SRA message is received at
the central office service unit 18 which establishes a
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connection between it and the central office switch 22 over
the trunk 68 enjoying a special class of service to
establish a suppressed ring access connection to the user
telephone 20. When such connection has been made, the
central office service unit 18 sends a suppressed ring
connection message as shown generally at 70 in Figure 3, to
the telephone 20 as shown in Figure 1.
The telephone receives the SRC message 70 through the event
parser thread 220 shown in Figure 9 and the main event
handler thread 240 shown in Figure 10 which load the event
queue buffer 206 with a URL event code and the contents of
the parameter data field 82 which contains the URL of an
HTML file 356 containing a Java applet at the Java applet
provider 25 as shown in Figure 1. The HTML file includes
an applet with a first URL identifying a file on the first
content provider 26.
Referring to Figures 1 and 12, the browser thread 260
directs the system microprocessor 90 to establish a
connection with the Internet services provider 24 and the
network driver 270 shown in Figure 13 establishes a network
connection between the telephone 20 and the Java applet
provider 25 through the central office switch 22, the
Internet services provider 24 and the world-wide web 23.
The Java applet provider 25 transmits the HTML file
containing the applet back to the telephone 20 and such
HTML file is received in the temporary directory 173 shown
in Figure 6. The browser thread 260 then spawns applet
threads on each applet included in the HTML file received.
The applets provided by the Java applet provider 25 include
second uniform resource locators identifying compressed
files 352 at the content provider 26 and thus referring to
Figure 14, the applet calls the public interface method 320
shown in Figure 15 and passes to the public interface
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method, the second URL of the file in the content provider
26 shown in Figure 1.
The public interface method 320 then creates a download
event record in the event queue buffer 206 shown in Figure
7, indicating that a URL event has occurred and specifies
the second URL provided by the applet for use by the
handler thread 400 in Figure 16.
The handler thread 400 receives the URL event code from the
event dispatcher shown in Figure 11 and makes a connection
to the first content provider 26, which acts as a second
network resource. The file identified by the second URL is
transmitted back to the telephone 20 using the file
transfer protocol. Instance 408 verifies the file as being
an approved type for inclusion in the extensions
subdirectory 177 shown in Figure 6 and the file is copied
from the temporary subdirectory 173 into the appropriate
associated sub-directory within the extensions subdirectory
177. The classes contained within the file may then
interact within other classes within the system directory
167 and control system resources to effect the new
functionality requested by the user.
It will be appreciated that files for implementing certain
functions such as email, fax interface and the like, are
relatively large files including many kilobits of program
code. Thus, use of the suppressed ring access connection
to transmit to the telephone the location of an applet
identifying a further location, where such a relatively
large file is located, effectively enables a telephone to
be informed that a file is to be downloaded. The
subsequent downloading of the file using the applet and the
content provider is done using the modem for data transfer
rather than by simple FSK messaging which would take an
inordinately long time to transfer such large files. Thus,
the FSK messaging is merely used to initiate the download
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process and the actual download process takes place by high
speed data transmission using modems.
The use of the applet server, rather than directly
accessing the content provider, in conjunction with a level
of security which prevents applets from access to system
resources within the telephone ensures that system
resources are guarded from control by programs and applets
not authorized to access system resources.
Second embodiment
Referring to Figure 1, a system for distributing
advertising content and for displaying advertising content
on a telephone, according to a second embodiment of the
invention, includes the entire system as described in the
first embodiment with the exception that the first Java
applet provider and first content provider are replaced
with a second Java applet provider 360 having a web
interface 362 and a plurality of instruction files 364
containing Java applets and a second content provider shown
generally at 366 including a web interface 368 and a
plurality of advertising content or marketing files 370 in
an HTML format. In this embodiment, the applets 364
include uniform resource locators pointing to respective
advertising content files 370 at the second content
provider 366 and are contained within instruction files for
directing the system processor to display such advertising
content files on the display 102. Thus, the second content
provider acts as means for storing at a network resource an
advertising content file containing an advertisement.
Referring to Figure 2, one of the feature records 40 is
related to a marketing feature and, therefore, contains a
third URL identifying the second Java applet provider 360.
Thus, when an advertiser desires that an advertisement be
downloaded to a telephone, the advertiser makes a request
at the administrator terminal 34 and identifies a list of
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user telephones, by telephone number and CPE ID, if
available, which are to receive the advertisement. In
response, the SRA server 16 dispatches a plurality of SRA
messages on the public packet switched network link 66 in
the format shown at 31 in Figure 3 to respective recipient
telephones. In other words, the SRA server acts as a
modified ring access server for producing a modified ring
access message including a first network resource locator
identifying a first network resource from which an
instruction content file containing instructions for
downloading an advertising content file are available.
Referring back to Figure 1, one of the SRA messages
received at the central office service unit causes the
central office service unit to establish a connection
between it and the central office switch 22 over the trunk
68 and to establish a suppressed ring access connection to
the user telephone 20. When such connection has been made,
the central office service unit 18 sends a suppressed ring
connection message as shown generally at 70 in Figure 3, in
an FSK format to the telephone 20 as shown in Figure 1.
The telephone receives the SRC message 70 through the event
parser thread 220 shown in Figure 9 and the main event
handler thread 240 shown in Figure 10, which load the event
queue buffer 206 with the URL event code and the contents
of the parameter data field 82 which contains the third URL
which identifies an instruction file 364 containing a Java
applet at the Java applet provider 360 shown in Figure 1.
Thus, the FSK receiver event parser files, main event
handler files and system processor act as means for
receiving a network resource locator identifying a network
resource in an FSK message received at the telephone in a
modified ring access class of call. The instruction file
includes an applet and a fourth network resource network
resource locator, ie., a fourth URL identifying an
advertising content file 370 at the second content provider
366.
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Referring to Figures 1 and 12, the browser thread 260
directs the system microprocessor 90 to establish a
connection with the Internet services provider 24 and the
network driver 270 shown in Figure 13 establishes a network
connection between the telephone 20 and the Java applet
provider 360 through the central office switch, the
Internet services provider 24 and the world-wide web 23.
The Java applet provider 360 transmits the instruction file
containing the applet back to the telephone 20 and such
instruction file is received in the temporary directory
shown in Figure 6. The browser thread and system processor
thus act as means for receiving an applet containing a
network resource locator. These components and the
temporary directory act as means for storing the
instruction file in memory at the telephone. The browser
thread 260 then spawns applet threads on each applet
included in the instruction file received.
The applets provided by the Java applet provider 360
include uniform resource locators identifying compressed
advertising content files 370 at the second content
provider 366 and thus, referring to Figure 14, the applet
calls the public interface method 320 shown in Figure 15
and passes to the public interface method the URL of such
advertising content file 370 in the second provider 366
shown in Figure 1.
Referring to Figure 15, the public interface method 320
then creates a download event record in the event queue
buffer 206 shown in Figure 7, indicating that a URL event
has occurred and specifies the URL provided by the applet
for use by the handler thread 400 in Figure 16.
The handler thread 400 receives the URL event code from the
event dispatcher shown in Figure 11 and makes a connection
to the second content provider 366. The advertising
content file 370 identified by the second URL is then
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transmitted back to the telephone 20 using the file
transfer protocol. The handler thread and system
microprocessor thus act as means for running an applet at
the telephone to establish communications between the
telephone and a network resource and to download the
advertising content file to the telephone. Instance 408
verifies the downloaded advertising content file as being
an approved type for inclusion in the extensions
subdirectory 177 shown in Figure 6 and the file is copied
from the temporary subdirectory 173 into the marketing
subdirectory 205. The classes contained within the
advertising content file then interact within other classes
within the system directory 167 and control system
resources to display the contents of the advertising
content file on the display.
In this second embodiment, the system works generally as
described in connection with the first embodiment with the
exception that one of the advertising content files 370 is
received from the second content provider at instance 406
of the handler thread 400 of Figure 16 and is loaded into
the marketing directory shown in Figure 6. After the
advertising content file is loaded into the marketing
directory, the applet originally loaded from the second
Java applet provider or an applet already existing at the
telephone is operable to retrieve the file and display its
contents on the display 102.
The entire content of the advertising content file from the
content provider is displayed in a browser window occupying
substantially the entire display 102. Thus, marketing or
advertising content is automatically displayed on the
display. The browser has no navigation tools or buttons
and, therefore, the advertisement is displayed
unobstructed. The browser and system microprocessor thus
act as means for executing the advertising content file
within a browser having a browser window occupying
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substantially an entire display at the telephone such that
the advertisement is substantially unobstructed.
The advertising content file is written in HTML and may
include a plurality of links which the user can select
using an input device (not shown) and such links may be
used by the browser to connect to another resource on the
world-wide web or to connect to a resource within the
telephone itself. Such resource would be stored in a sub-
directory of the system subdirectory 167 shown in Figure 6.
Applets may be used within the marketing HTML file from the
second content provider to create animated marketing
advertisements or presentations which may be more appealing
to a user. In addition, high resolution pictures may be
included within the advertising content file as GIF files
or the like.
As HTML pages are for use on display screens of a
predefined aspect ratio, advertising for use on telephones
of the type described, can be simply and easily developed
using conventional HTML page development techniques. This
facilitates convenient creation of advertising content for
the telephone.
Alternatively, the application sub-directory 175 may
include applications which automatically cause advertising
content files locally stored in the marketing subdirectory
205 to be displayed for marketing purposes by creating, in
the event queue buffer 206, an event record including an
URL event code and a URL specifying a resource within the
FLASH memory 156. Or such applications may automatically
create in the event queue buffer an event record including
a URL event code and a URL specifying the second Java
applet provider 360 to initiate a connection to the second
Java applet provider and a subsequent download of an
advertising content file from the second provider 366.
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Such applications may include an instruction file operable
to be run by the system processor at a predefined time, for
example, to initiate the downloading of an advertising
content file. Thus, the system processor and FLASH memory
act as means for storing an instruction file at the
telephone, the instruction file indicating when the
advertising content file should be executed or means for
storing an instruction file at the telephone, the
instruction file including a network resource locator
indicating the network resource from which the advertising
content file is to be downloaded.
In the above manner, the display of advertising content
file can occur autonomously from within the telephone and
may initiate the display of advertising content files
stored within the directory structure or stored at an
external resource location. Thus, the event queue buffer
event dispatcher and system microprocessor act as means for
executing the advertising content file in response to a
predefined event at the telephone.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been
described and illustrated, such embodiments should be
considered illustrative of the invention only and not as
limiting the invention as construed in accordance with the
accompanying claims.
