System and method for providing subscriber-initiated information over a microbrowser

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system and a method for providing information to a communication device in response to a request for such service received from the communication device. The request may be in the form of a digits request trigger or short message service (SMS) origination message that is initiate from a wireless telephone. The digits request trigger and SMS origination request may be initiated when a user selects a menu option or it may be initiated using a microbrowser. The digits request trigger or SMS origination message is sent from the communication device to a wireless web information services gateway. The gateway retrieves the requested information from one or more sources. The gateway then forwards the retrieved information to the user via an SMS message or via a microbrowser message. The information may be formatted according to a preselected configuration that is stored in a user service information profile.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for providing information to users via communications devices associated with said users, said method comprising the steps of: 
 receiving a digits request trigger from said communication devices;    retrieving information corresponding to said digits request trigger; and    sending said retrieved information to said communication devices for display to said users.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said digits request trigger is initiated when said users select a menu option on said communication devices.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said digits request trigger is initiated by said users from a microbrowser on said communication devices.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said retrieving step further comprises the steps of: 
 identifying users associated with said digits request trigger;  
 correlating said digits request trigger with specific information requests for said users; and  
 retrieving said specific information.  
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said retrieved information is sent to said communications devices via a short message service message.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said retrieved information is sent to said communications devices via a microbrowser message.  
     
     
         7 . (Amended) A system for providing information to a wireless network subscriber in response to a digits request trigger that includes dialed digits or a feature code, the system comprising: 
 means for receiving said digits request trigger from said wireless network;    means for retrieving data corresponding to said digits request trigger; and    means for sending said retrieved data to a user who initiated said digits request trigger.    
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  further comprising: 
 means for correlating said digits request trigger to requested data.  
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein said correlating means accesses a user profile database to identify said requested information for a particular digits request trigger.  
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 7  wherein said sending means sends said retrieved data via a short message service message.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7  wherein said sending means sends said retrieved data via a microbrowser message.  
     
     
         12 . A method for providing information to a microbrowser on a wireless device, comprising: 
 receiving an information request trigger message from the wireless device, wherein the information request trigger message does not identify the source of the requested information;    identifying the source of the requested information;    obtaining the requested information;    formatting the requested information into a microbrowser message; and    sending the microbrowser message to the wireless device.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising: 
 entering a feature code on the wireless device;  
 creating the information request trigger message based upon the feature code;  
 displaying the requested information using the microbrowser on the wireless device.  
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising: 
 entering a string of digits on the wireless device;  
 creating the information request trigger message based upon the string of digits;  
 displaying the requested information using the microbrowser on the wireless device.  
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising: 
 referring to a user profile to identify the source of the requested information.  
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the user profile includes information linking feature codes or digit strings or both to one or more sources of the requested information.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the source of the requested information is selected from the group consisting of: 
 the Internet;  
 an intranet;  
 an extranets;  
 a World Wide Web (WWW) site; and  
 a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.  
 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising: 
 sending the requested information to a device other than the wireless device that sent the information request trigger message.