METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING AUDIO CONTENT SERVICE TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVICES

Background to the Invention

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing media content such as audio services to telecommunications devices and particularly to mobile telecommunication devices, the method and apparatus are adapted to enable Internet based media content to be provided to telecommunications devices.

It has been possible to access audio content from telephones. Telephone service providers have in the past allocated fixed numbers to a number of different types of audio content, such as weather information, sports information etc. A user wishing to access that audio content would dial the appropriate number and the content would be played back to him.

In recent years, the Internet has been a vast source of information to users, including audio data. Many types of media content are available on the Internet including audio, video (with or without associated audio), pictures, text and multimedia combinations of the above. These types of content can be created, stored and retrieved in a variety of ways on the Internet using some form of local computer to access the data. Normally, data is downloaded to the local computer. This can use delivery type known as streamed data in that the media represented by the data is read, heard or viewed while it is being delivered.

Because such a large amount of content is available via the Internet, using a simple device such as a telephone (fixed line or mobile) to access the content is not ideal. This is because there is such a large amount of content and the telephone is not particularly suited to selection of the content. Thus, the provision of specific direct dial numbers for audio content, with possible further selection using a digital number key pad once a user is connected has been the standard delivery method to date.

Recent mobile telephone handsets are Internet enabled. However, the rate of delivery of content over these is very slow and therefore the standard downloading or streaming of data is not well suited to such devices. In addition

to this, the number of different playback formats supported on mobile handsets is very limited in relation to the large number of playback formats available on e.g. a personal computer. At data rates currently available, a one minute audio file would take about ten minutes to download to a mobile device, if that mobile device had sufficient memory to store the whole file.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide some method to enable the users of current telephone devices to access audio, video and other media content on the Internet, and particularly to access audio content.

British patent number GB2381697 describes a scheme in which Internet based audio is made accessible via telephone. A limited number of audio clips are selected and are downloaded in their entirety to an interactive voice response unit. Audio on this unit can then be accessed via a direct dial number followed by a further selection once connected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus in which a telephone number is allocated to an item or stream of Internet based media content such as audio in response to a request from a user. The telephone number is provided to the user who is then able to call the number and receive the content. The content can be selected in response to a message from a user, the Internet can be searched to find the content, and the content then loaded to a unit into which the user may dial to receive the content.

The content may be cached from recent searches or there may be preloaded information relating to fixed addresses of commonly searched topics, which may also have related content cached, or which may then be used to load the content.

Preferred embodiments of the invention can be made available to phones which are only text and voice enabled, or to phones which are video enabled or enable other types of data such as multimedia data to be delivered to them.

Embodiments of the invention provide only the played back content to the user via his telephone and thus access is not limited by media type, coding scheme or file format.

Preferably, a user sends a text message, part of which identifies the content which he wishes to have played back. In response the user receives a text with a direct dial number to access the content requested in his original text message.

Preferably a requested item of content, for which a user is provided a direct dial number is deleted after a predetermined period of time and the number made available for other content.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention there is provided a method for providing selected media content from the Internet to a mobile communication device comprising the steps of: receiving a message from a mobile communication device, the message including data to identify the requested media content; extracting data from the message that identifies the requested media content; determining whether the requested media content is already loaded into the storage and playback device; loading the requested media content into the storage and playback device in dependence on the result of the determination; allocating a direct dial number to the loaded media content; sending the allocated direct dial number to the mobile communication device; receiving a call to the allocated direct dial number; and playing the media content over a communication link established by the received call.

Preferably the method includes the step of searching on the Internet for the requested media content.

Preferably the step of searching on the Internet produces at least one Internet address for the requested media content.

Preferably the method includes the step of transmitting a plurality of possible addresses for the requested media content to the user and receiving a selected one of a possible addresses for the requested media content from the user.

Alternatively the method includes the step of automatically selecting a first one of a plurality of Internet addresses as the location for the requested media content.

Preferably the steps of allocating a direct dial number to the loaded media content and sending the allocated number to a user are performed before all of the media content has been loaded.

Preferably the method includes the step of deleting the requested media content, playback and storage device after a predetermined period of time.

Preferably the method includes the step of determining whether an address of the requested media content is already available, and using the said address in the loading step.

Preferably, when the requested media content has already loaded in a storage and playback device the method includes the further step of reloading the said requested media content if it has been loaded in the storage and playback device for more than a predetermined period of time.

In another embodiment, the invention provides a system for providing selected media content from the Internet to a mobile communication device comprising: means for receiving a message from a mobile communication device, the message including data to identify requested media content; means for extracting data from the message that identifies the requested media content; means for determining whether the requested media content is already loaded into a storage and playback device; means for loading the requested media content to the storage and playback device in dependence in the result of the determination; means for allocating a direct dial number to the loaded media content; means for sending the allocated direct dial number to the mobile communication device; means for receiving a call to the allocated direct dial number; and means for causing the playback device to play the media content over a communication link established by the received call.

Preferably the system includes means for searching on the Internet for the requested media content.

Preferably the means for searching on the Internet produces at least one Internet address for the requested media content.

Preferably the system includes means for transmitting a plurality of possible addresses for the requested media content to the user and means for receiving the selected one of the possible addresses for the requested media content from the user.

Alternatively, the system includes means for automatically selecting the first one of a plurality of Internet addresses as the location of the requested media content.

Preferably the means for allocating a direct dial number to the loaded media content and the means for sending an allocated number to a user operate before all of the media content has been loaded.

Preferably the system includes means for deleting the requested media content from the playback and storage device after a predetermined period of time.

Preferably the system includes means to determine whether an address for this requested media content is already available and provides this address to the loading means.

Preferably, when the requested media content is already loaded in the storage and playback device, the loading means is configured to reload the said requested media content if it has been loaded in the storage and playback device for more than a predetermined period of time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 shows access to media content in an embodiment of the invention using a fixed line telephone;

Figure 2 shows access to media content in an embodiment of the invention using a mobile telephone; and

Figure 3 shows the structure of an Internet gateway used in the embodiments of figures 1 and 2.

A primary application of embodiments of the present invention at the time of writing is to access audio content. However, as telephones and other communication devices develop, video and other media comment may well become more commonly accessed.

At present, the quantity of audio material available on the Internet is growing at a fast rate, especially with the development of personal publishing and _. podcasting. Therefore selection of content has to be efficient.

In use, the effect of a preferred embodiment of the invention is to enable content derived from the Internet to be played to a user after the user has dialled an associated telephone number allocated to that content. There are a number of ways in which such a telephone number may be communicated to the user, for example by advertising, from third parties, or in response to a text interaction initiated by the user. It may also be allocated automatically in response to a service to which the user subscribes.

Once a user has the relevant number, he may then dial it from any telephone or terminal, fixed or mobile. Access is therefore possible from any telephone anywhere in the world. The content will then be played back to the user over the telephone. In the case of audio content, audio will be played over the telephone connection established by the dialled number.

In a preferred embodiment, a number allocated to audio content may permit further selection to take place interactively during a call to access other items of audio content.

An example of an embodiment of the invention is now described in which a user obtains a number to dial by means of an SMS text interaction. In this example, the user has a mobile telephone and wishes to hear news headlines from a particular radio programme broadcast earlier in the day. The user decides to specify his request by using the radio station name (Radio 4) of a desired material (headlines). In the first step, the user composes a simple text message then an indent "Radio 4 Headlines".

And he send this to a number associated with provision of an audio service. Preferably this number has a short code allocated to it such as 123.

The associated service uses a Telsis SMS Wizard (RTM) to receive the message. The SMS Wizard is a device which is capable of parsing and interpreting text. In this example, the text content is parsed and sent to a search

engine without change. The Wizard is, however, able to extract essential information from received text messages. For example, if the user had to send

Please can I hear this mornings headlines from Radio 4 then the SMS Wizard would reduce that to "Headlines Radio 4" or something similar and would then send the resulting wording to a search engine.

The search engine used by this service may run an application that incorporates existing search engine technology. However, it also provides parsing on returned HTML data in order to extract one or more desired URLs to send to a user.

When the search has been conducted, the search engine will return a list of candidate URLs. If there is more than one URL, then it is possible to provide the user with an interactive selection when he dials a subsequently allocated DDI number. Alternatively, a further text interaction with the user can be used to offer the choices to him. The SMS Wizard is uniquely suited to carry out such interactions, offering a menu by text, receiving in response a single number menu choice and using its memory of system state to interpret the user's requests accordingly.

Preferably a user will terminate any query he sends with a "?". This indicates that he wishes to be offered choices if they are available. If the system is configured to offer choices but he does not indicate that he wishes to see these, the system automatically selects the first item located.

Once a selection has been made as to which URL is required, automatically or by the user, the relevant URL is passed to a file handling module which retrieves the URL from the Internet as streamed content in a relevant format such as Realmedia in the case of audio content. The received content is converted to e.g. 8 bit Alaw PCM in a file handling unit 23 and then transferred as a series of files to an interactive content response unit. This interactive content response unit (ICR) is able to play the audio content.

The SMS Wizard then allocates a direct dial (DDI) number to the content which has been loaded onto the ICR unit. This is passed to the ICR which associates the number with the corresponding transferred files. This may be achieved by, for example, placing an indicator in the file names of the files transferred to the

ICR. Association and sequencing of a group of files belonging to one content item may then be achieved by, for example, choosing the file numbers to be consecutive. The file names and file numbers on the ICR are preferably under the control of a file handling unit.

Once the DDI number has been allocated, it is communicated to the user by text message along with brief details of the match obtained to his request for content. Preferably the message is not sent to the user until the start of the requested file is available to be played.

The user is then able to call the assigned DDI number. The ICR unit determines from the dialled number, which file or set of files to play and then plays the content (audio) to the caller over the telephone connection established by the call.

The system may be arranged such that the SMS Wizard will always search the Internet. Alternatively, commonly searched topics, e.g. news headlines, football scores, may have URLs of relevant Internet sites preloaded into the SMS Wizard. These can then be used in response to a request from a user, without any search of the Internet being necessary. Furthermore, it is also possible for the content of these sites to be preloaded into the ICR unit. These will have to. be regularly reloaded to accommodate any changes in the content. This would then avoid the need for content to be loaded in response to each request. Such preloaded content could be provided with a dedicated phone number, or could have numbers allocated to it dynamically upon requests from users for that content.

The system can also be adapted such that the ICR unit will keep a record of recent searches which are still stored in the ICR and may allocate the same or a different telephone number to a subsequent user when he requests the same or a similar item, if that item is still available in the ICR.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in figure 1. In this, a fixed line telephone 1 is coupled to a packet switched network (PSTN) 2. Connected to the PSTN 2 is an interactive content response unit 6 which can receive data from and return data to the PSTN 2. The ICR 6 is used to receive calls from the telephone 1 via the PSTN 2 addressed to numbers which have been associated with

particular items of content loaded onto the ICR from the Internet. It is then able to play these back to the telephone 1 over the PSTN 2.

The ICR 6 is coupled to an Internet gateway 4. This gateway will be discussed in more detail in relation to figure 3 below. However, the purpose of this is to receive enquiries from users, which can be searched on the Internet to provide content which is then provided back to the ICR 6. DDI numbers can then be associated with the content and communicated to a user.

In figure 2, a mobile telephone application is shown. In this, a mobile telephone 8 is connected to a mobile communications network. Calls made by the mobile 8 pass to a mobile switching centre on the network. This is able to identify text messages, and other calls. The mobile switching centre 7 directs text messages to an SMS router 3. This in turn directs text messages addressed to a media content service to an Internet gateway 4 which will be described in relation to figure 3 below.

The mobile switching centre 7 also directs calls to and receives data from an ICR 6. This also is coupled to the Internet gateway 4. The ICR communicates with the Internet gateway 4 to receive files selected in response to an enquiry sent via the SMS router 3. The files are loaded into the ICR 6. A DDI number is associated with particular items of content. This is communicated back to the user using an SMS message sent by the Internet gateway 4 via the SMS router 3. A user can then dial the DDI number allocated to a selected item of content and the content will be played back to the user via a telephone connection established via the MSC 7 to the ICR 6.

The Internet gateway 4 is now described in more detail in relation to figure 3. The gateway 4 includes an SMS Wizard 21 e.g. Telsis SMS Wizard (RTM). This is a unit capable of interpreting text messages using a set of applications to find rules to extract relevant information. In this case, it will be configured to identify items of media content included in an SMS message addressed to a media content service.

When a user sends an SMS message to a media content service to which he wishes to have access, it will be directed via the MSC 7 and SMS router 3 in

figure 2, to the SMS Wizard 21 of figure 3. This SMS Wizard identifies the media content for which the user is searching. It parses the SMS message to find this content and sends the parsed data to a search engine 22. This search engine is coupled to the Internet and uses the received data as a search term to identify appropriate addresses on the Internet which might contain the data selected by the user.

In return, the search engine receives from the Internet 5 a number of possible hits. It parses these to identify the appropriate URLs (addresses) contained in them. If further interaction is required with the user, various URLs are returned to SMS Wizard 21 which is able to compile a message to be directed to the user who made the original request. This is then sent via the SMS router 3 and MSC 7 of figure 2 to the user. The user is then able to select which of a number of URLs he in fact wishes to access and sends this data back via another text message to the SMS Wizard 21. The SMS Wizard supplies the selected URL to the search engine 22, which in turn supplies it to a file handling unit 23.

The file handling unit 23 then commences the downloading of the selected content from the Internet 5. It converts this to an appropriate format and sends the downloaded files to the ICR 6 of figure 2 which stores the downloaded files. The ICR 6, once it has commenced storing files and is in a position to commence playback to a user, then allocates a DDI number to the selected file and passes this back to the file handling unit 23. It is passed via the search engine 22 to the SMS Wizard 21. The SMS Wizard 21 compiles a text message which is sent to the user via the SMS router 3 of MSC 7, advising the user of the DDI number to call to access his selected content.

The user is then able to dial the number. The MSC 7 identifies the number as being directed to the ICR 6 and connects the user to the ICR 6. Once connected, the ICR 6 commences playback of the selected content, e.g. the audio content, and will continue until the content has been played back.

The DDI number associated with the content is preferably time dependent. Thus, it could remain allocated for e.g. 12 hours before the files with which it is associated are deleted and the number is released to be made available to other selected content.

The ICR 6 has been previously described in our British patent application no. 0023690.1. It enables seamless playback of concacenated content files and also cyclic file usage in order that streamed audio may be played to a caller continuously for as long a call remains in progress. However, it is not necessary for content to be streamed. It could be fully loaded onto the ICR before a user is permitted to access it.

Preferably content, whether fully downloaded to the ICR or streamed to the ICR is converted to suitable format and divided into conveniently sized chunks. These are transferred to the ICR and have a duration that avoids excessive latency before the first file can begin to be played to the user. By using an intermediate unit such as ICR, potentially a large amount of content will be copied while the user may decide only to receive a small amount. This can be addressed by arranging for only a small amount of content selected by a user to be loaded into the ICR before the DDl number is provided to the user. No further content is loaded until a call is received from the user to the DDI number. This, therefore, allows the content to be delivered to the ICR in a just-in-time manner. It also enables interactive options such a skip forward, pause or skip back to be implemented. Thus, the ICR can become an interface between a telephone network and a file stream, while inserting as little additional latency as possible.

Alternatively, the embodiments may handle only fully downloaded files and may only provide a DDI number to a user for his selected content when the entire file is available. In this situation, it is relatively straightforward to provide interactive options for skipping forward or back during playback.

Embodiments of this invention may be implemented at least in part in software using an appropriate computer program.