Method and system for display data on a mobile terminal

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for acquiring, storing and displaying content on a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal is adapted to acquire content from content providing devices or sources such as the Internet, e-mail, or direct download from a PC to the mobile terminal for display. Content providing devices of the system are stand-alone devices which store content, such as location based advertising information, for downloading by a mobile terminal in close proximity to the content providing device. An application resident on the mobile terminal can provide scrolling player functionality to enable stored data content to be easily viewed.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for providing and displaying content on a mobile terminal with a display, the method comprising the steps of:
 acquiring a content data by a mobile terminal; 
 launching a player application adapted to fully occupy the whole of the area of the display to automatically display content data on the display in a scrolling mode in a single frame, the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display so that content data can be scrolled over substantially the whole area of the display in the single frame, and providing a graphical user interface of control features and displaying the graphical user interface concurrently with automatic display of content data, without obstructing the display of content data, to enable a user to interact with the graphical user interface whilst viewing the content data to control one or more visual parameters of the way the data content data will be displayed while the content data is being displayed; 
 choosingreceiving a user input indicating a user's choice of a visual parameter valuefor modification, made by use ofinteraction with the graphical user interface while the content data and graphical user interface are being concurrently displayed, and modifying a visual parameter value of the chosen visual parameter in response to the user input indicating the choice of visual parameter or in response to receiving a further user input; 
 formatting the content data acquired by the mobile terminal according to a predetermined parameter based on display limitations for the mobile terminal, and according to the visual parameter value of the chosen visual parameter by: 
 dividing the content data into a sequence of consecutive segments by identifying any portions of the content data that are capable of being displayed by the display, and dividing each displayable content portion into a sequence of one or more displayable segments based on the predetermined parameter and chosen visual parameter such that when each displayable segment is rendered in sequence by the player application the full content of the displayable portion is displayed sequentially in a viewing scrolling mode; and 
 identifying any portions of the content data that are not capable of being displayed rendered for display by the display and designating these portions of content in the sequence of consecutive segments as undisplayable segments; and 
 displaying the formatted content on the display by rendering in sequence a plurality of segments from the sequence of consecutive segments for concurrent display in sequence in a scrolling mode in the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display whereby the content is scrolled over substantially the whole display, 
 wherein a value of the one or more visual parameters parameter can be accessed chosen and a value of the chosen visual parameter modified during concurrent displaying of the content data using by interaction with the graphical user interface, without obstruction of the displayed content data by the graphical user interface, to enable the content data to be dynamically formatted and displayed according to the modified value of the chosen visual parameter. 
 
     
     
       2. A method as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the one or more visual parameters are any one or more of scrolling rate, scroll direction, font size, font type and colour mode. 
     
     
       3. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
 making content data available for download to a mobile terminal from one or more content providers as one or more content data streams; 
 storing on the mobile terminal content acquisition data for one or more of content data sources for use to acquire a content data stream; 
 displaying, via the player, a menu of selectable items associated with acquirable data streams; and 
 causing the mobile terminal to acquire, format and display the content data in a scrolling mode on selection of a menu item. 
 
     
     
       4. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , where the chosen visual parameter is a text font size, and, in response to modifying receiving a user input to indicate the choice of visual parameter and modify the value of the chosen visual parameter, any displayable content portion comprising text is dynamically formatted by re-dividing the displayable content portion into displayable segments, based on a number of characters in a displayable in a single line for the text font size value and spaces in the text, such that where words in the text have less characters than are displayable in a single line for the font size, a boundary of each displayable segment coincides with a space in the text. 
     
     
       5. A method as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the step of displaying the formatted content on the mobile terminal includes automatically scrolling the content segments on the display. 
     
     
       6. A method as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein scrolling the content segments includes the steps of:
 a. allocating position coordinates to one or more sequential content segments which can be simultaneously displayed, based on parameters for the display; 
 b. simultaneously displaying the one or more sequential content segments on the display according to the position coordinates; 
 c. incrementing position coordinates for the displayed segments such that a content segment displayed at an edge of the display will cease to be displayed, and allocating position coordinates to the next content segment in the sequence for display; and 
 d. repeating steps b and c for the remainder of the sequence. 
 
     
     
       7. A method as claimed in claim  1  6, wherein the position coordinates can be incremented to effect scrolling of content on the screen in an up, down, left or right direction. 
     
     
       8. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein a display on the display comprises an undisplayable content identifier for any undisplayable segment in the sequence. 
     
     
       9. A method as claimed in  claim 8 , wherein the identifier indicates a manner by which the undisplayable content can be obtained by the user. 
     
     
       10. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the parameter based on device display limitations is any one or more of a display screen dimension, display screen resolution, image display capability, display buffer size, and font types. 
     
     
       11. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , further comprising the step of automatically converting content data from a document format to a plain text or plain text and image format before formatting the content data for display on the mobile terminal. 
     
     
       12. A method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the formatting step further comprises a step of converting content data to a text, text and image, or image format in accordance with one or more specified parameters. 
     
     
       13. A method as claimed in  claim 12  wherein the display step further comprises converting any text to an a corresponding audio voice output such that as a word of the text is displayed an audio voice reproduction of the word is simultaneously output. 
     
     
       14. A method as claimed in  claim 12  wherein the formatting step further comprises converting audio voice data to corresponding text and formatting the text as displayable data segments such that as the audio voice data is output corresponding text is displayed. 
     
     
       15. A mobile terminal with a display having a resident computer application adapted to convert the mobile terminal into a graphic display player having a formatting component adapted to format content data according to a chosen visual parameter and a predetermined parameter based on display limitations for the mobile terminal, whereby the graphic display player fully occupies the whole of the area of the display to automatically displays display content data on the display in a scrolling mode in a single frame, the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display so that content data can be scrolled over substantially the whole area of the display in the single frame, and provides a graphical user interface of control features and displays the graphical user interface concurrently with automatic display of content data, without obstructing the display of content data, to enable a user to interact with the graphical user interface to control one or more visual parameters of the way the data content data will be displayed, to choose by receiving an input indicating a user's choice of a visual parameter value for modification, made by interaction with the graphical user interface while the content data is and graphical user interface are being concurrently displayed, and modifying a visual parameter value of the chosen visual parameter in response to the user input indicating a choice of the visual parameter or in response to receiving a further user input, and wherein the data is formatted by:
 dividing the content data into a sequence of consecutive segments by identifying any portions of the content data that are capable of being displayed by the display, and dividing each displayable content portion into a sequence of one or more displayable segments based on the predetermined parameter and chosen visual parameter value such that when each displayable segment is rendered in sequence by the graphic display player the full content of the displayable portion is displayed sequentially in a scrolling mode; and 
 identifying any portions of the content data that are not capable of being displayed rendered for display by the display and designating these portions of content in the sequence of consecutive segments as undisplayable segments, 
 wherein the formatted content is displayed by rendering in sequence a plurality of segments from the sequence of consecutive segments for concurrent display in sequence in a scrolling mode in the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display whereby the content is scrolled over substantially the whole display, and wherein a value of the one or more visual parameters parameter can be accessed chosen and a value of the chosen visual parameter modified during concurrent displaying of the content data using by interaction with the graphical user interface, without obstruction of the displayed content data by the graphical user interface, to enable the content data to be dynamically formatted and displayed according to the modified value of the chosen visual parameter. 
 
     
     
       16. A system for providing and displaying content on a display of a mobile terminal having a display, the system comprising:
 a content acquisition interface module implemented as a set of instructions stored in memory of the mobile terminal and executable by the mobile terminal adapted to enable the mobile terminal to acquire content data from one or more content providers; 
 a graphic display player application implemented as a set of instructions stored in memory of the mobile terminal and executable by the mobile terminal to control the mobile terminal to automatically display content data in a scrolling mode in a single frame, the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display so that content data can be scrolled over substantially the whole area of the display in the single frame and provide a graphical user interface of control features and, in a manner that occupies the whole area of the display, display the graphical user interface concurrently with automatic display of content, without obstructing the display of content data, to enable a user of the mobile terminal to interact with the graphical user interface using a user interface of the mobile terminal, to control one or more visual parameters of the way the content data will be displayed, to choose and receive an input indicating a user's choice of a visual parameter value for modification made by interaction with the graphical user interface while the content data is and graphical user interface are being concurrently displayed, and modifying a visual parameter value of the chosen visual parameter in response to the user input indicating the choice of visual parameter or in response to receiving a further user input, 
 the graphic display player having a formatting component adapted to format the acquired content data according to a predetermined parameter based on display limitations for the mobile terminal, and on the chosen modified visual parameter value 
 wherein the content formatting comprises dividing the content data into a sequence of consecutive segments such that any portion of content data that is capable of being displayed by the display is divided into one or more displayable segments based on the predetermined parameters and any portion of content data that is not capable of being displayed rendered for display is designated as an undisplayable segment in the sequence of consecutive segments, such that the displayable segments can be displayed by the display consecutively; and 
 a display component adapted to display the formatted content on the display, 
 wherein the formatted content is displayed by rendering in sequence a plurality of segments from the sequence of consecutive segments for concurrent display in sequence in a scrolling mode in the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display whereby the content is scrolled over substantially the whole display, and wherein display of the formatted content is changed during display in response to receiving the user accessing input indicating a choice of a visual parameter made by interaction with the graphical user interface, without obstruction of the displayed content data by the graphical user interface, and modifying a value of the one or more chosen visual parameters using the graphical user interface parameter. 
 
     
     
       17. A system as claimed in  claim 16 , further comprising one or more content providing devices each device adapted to communicate with the content acquisition interface of a mobile terminal located proximate the content providing device and enable acquisition of a content data stream by the mobile device. 
     
     
       18. A system as claimed in  claim 17 , wherein the content providing device signals to the mobile terminal to offer the content data in response to a discovery signal from the mobile terminal enabling the acquisition of the content data by the mobile terminal in response to a single user action. 
     
     
       19. A system as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the single user action is pressing one button. 
     
     
       20. A system as claimed in  claim 16  the system further comprising:
 one or more content providers. 
 
     
     
       21. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing medium carrying computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform a method for displaying content on a display of a mobile terminal, the method comprising the steps of enabling, by a content acquisition interface, a mobile terminal to acquire content data from one or more content providers;
 controlling automatically, by a graphic display player adapted to fully occupy the whole of the display area of the display, displaying content data in a scrolling mode in a single frame, the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display so that content data can be scrolled over substantially the whole area of the display in the single frame and providing a graphical user interface of control features and displaying the graphical user interface concurrently with automatic display of content, without obstructing the display of content data, to enable a user to interact with the graphical user interface whilst viewing the content data to control one or more visual parameters of the way the content data will be displayed while the data is being displayed, to receive an input indicating a user's choice of a visual parameter for modification made by interaction with the graphical user interface while the content data and graphical user interface are being concurrently displayed, and modifying a visual parameter value of the chosen visual parameter in response to the user input indicating the choice of visual parameter or in response to receiving a further user input, the graphic display player having a formatting component adapted to format the acquired content data according to a predetermined parameter based on display limitations for the mobile terminal, and on a chosen the modified visual parameter value wherein the content formatting comprises dividing the content data into a sequence of consecutive segments such that any portion of content data that is capable of being displayed by the display is divided into one or more displayable segments based on the predetermined parameters and any portion of content data stream that is not capable of being displayed rendered for display is designated as an undisplayable segment in the sequence of consecutive segments, such that the displayable segments can be displayed by the display consecutively; and 
 displaying, by a display component, the formatted content on the display by rendering in sequence a plurality of segments from the sequence of consecutive segments for concurrent display in sequence in a scrolling mode in the single frame occupying substantially the whole area of the display whereby the content is scrolled over substantially the whole display, 
 wherein a value of the one or more visual parameters parameter can be accessed chosen and a value of the chosen visual parameter modified during concurrent displaying of the content data using by interaction with the graphical user interface, without obstruction of the displayed content data by the graphical user interface, to enable the content data to be dynamically formatted and displayed according to the modified value of the chosen visual parameter. 
 
     
     
       22. A method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising a step of substituting an undisplayable segment during formatting with a segment including displayable text data comprising the undisplayable content identifier. 
     
     
       23. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein each displayable segment has a segment size based on the number of characters that can be displayed on one line across the display. 
     
     
       24. A method as claimed in claim 23 wherein the segment size is further based on a number of segments per line for each of a plurality of font size options. 
     
     
       25. A method as claimed in claim 23 further comprising the step of altering the segment size. 
     
     
       26. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the conversion step comprises converting content data from a document format to a pure text or text and image format. 
     
     
       27. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein for an image the conversion step comprises transforming the image to an image format displayable by the mobile terminal. 
     
     
       28. A method as claimed in claim 27 wherein transforming the image includes any one or more of: reducing the resolution of the image; scaling the image to the screen size; conversion of the image format; and cropping the image.