Apparatuses, methods and systems for information querying and serving on mobile devices based on ambient conditions

Abstract

Systems and methods for information querying and serving on mobile devices based on ambient conditions. Conditions include weather, traffic, market prices, news and events, and the like. Information providers use a code triggered information server to serve context, demographic, and behavior-targeted information to users via mobile devices. Users obtain information by scanning or observing codes or information. The scans, together with geographic, temporal, and user-specific information, are obtained by the server that receives, processes, and records the message. Based on these messages and a user profile—which may include updated user-specific behavior information, situational and ambient information, an accumulated history of scanned code messages, and integration with outside database information—the server selects information to serve to the users' mobile devices from an information base. Information may also be served to users based solely on the user profiles and ambient conditions based on the accumulated history of scanned codes.

1 . A processor-implemented method for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, the method comprising:
 accumulating via a processor operating on a server interest activity information from a mobile device, wherein the interest activity information comprises user identifying information;   accumulating via the processor user situational information provided by the mobile device;   receiving via the processor first ambient condition information from the mobile device and second ambient condition information from a network feed;   updating via the processor a user profile associated with the user identifying information with the accumulated user activity information and the accumulated user situational information;   applying via the processor a first rule using the updated user profile to select information from an information database;   applying via the processor a second rule to the selected information using the first and second ambient information to identify information from the selected information for inclusion in a message;   generating via the processor the message using the identified information; and   sending via the processor the message to the mobile device.   
     
     
         2 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the interest activity information is selected from the group consisting of a scanned code, a selected internet link, and a selection made in a virtual world. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the scanned code is selected from group consisting of a barcode, a 2D matrix code, user-input code. RFID tags, an image, and a website link. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the scanned code is obtained from a location selected from the group consisting of a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a video, a computer screen, a billboard and a tag. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein mobile device comprises a camera and the interest activity information comprises an image of a code captured by the mobile device using the camera. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein accumulating via the processor interest activity information comprises matching by the processor the image of the code to a code image database. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first ambient conditions are selected from the group consisting of temperature data, a time of day, and a level of ambient light. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second ambient conditions are selected from the group consisting temperature data, weather data, UV level data, a pollen count, a humidity measurement, an air quality measurement, prices of commodities, prices of consumer goods, internet activities, sports scores, entertainment news, and security warnings. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second ambient conditions are retrieved from a plurality of sources. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user situational information comprises information selected from the group consisting of geographic location information, a geocode, a timestamp, and a identifier of the mobile device. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user profile comprises quasi-static and dynamic information. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the quasi-static information comprises a hardware ID, a user name, a user address, a user phone number, a user e-mail address, a user's age, a user's sex, a user's race, a user's marital status, ages and names of a user's children, a user's job title, a user's annual income, subjects of interest specified by a user, and user contact information. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the dynamic information comprises a time, a location, a scan code, a scan subject, a scan source, scan content, and a scan history. 
     
     
         39 . A server device for serving ambient condition sensitive information to a mobile device, the server device comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory device storing computer readable instructions that when executed by the processor causes the server device to perform operations comprising:
 accumulating interest activity information from a mobile device, wherein the interest activity information comprises user identifying information; 
 accumulating user situational information provided by the mobile device; 
 receiving first ambient condition information from the mobile device and second ambient condition information from a network feed; 
 updating a user profile associated with the user identifying information with the accumulated user activity information and the accumulated user situational information; 
 applying a first rule using the updated user profile to select information from an information database; 
 applying a second rule to the selected information using the first and second ambient information to identify information from the selected information for inclusion in a message; 
 generating the message using the identified information; and 
 sending the message to the mobile device. 
   
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the interest activity information is selected from the group consisting of a scanned code, a selected internet link, and a selection made in a virtual world. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 40 , wherein the scanned code is selected from group consisting of a barcode, a 2D matrix code, user-input code, RFID tags, an image, and a website link. 
     
     
         42 . The system of  claim 41 , wherein the scanned code is obtained from a location selected from the group consisting of a newspaper, a magazine, a book, a video, a computer screen, a billboard and a tag. 
     
     
         43 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein mobile device comprises a camera and the interest activity information comprises an image of a code captured by the mobile device using the camera. 
     
     
         44 . The system of  claim 43 , wherein the operation of accumulating via the processor interest activity information comprises an operation of matching by the processor the image of the code to a code image database. 
     
     
         45 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the first ambient conditions are selected from the group consisting of temperature data, a time of day, and a level of ambient light. 
     
     
         46 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the second ambient conditions are selected from the group consisting temperature data, weather data, UV level data, a pollen count, a humidity measurement, an air quality measurement, prices of commodities, prices of consumer goods, internet activities, sports scores, entertainment news, and security warnings. 
     
     
         47 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the second ambient conditions are retrieved from a plurality of sources. 
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 39 , wherein the context information further comprises information selected from the group consisting of geographic location information, a geocode, a timestamp, a user identifier, and a hardware identifier.