System and method for filtering content on a mobile device based on contextual tagging

Abstract

A system and method of contextually filtering content presented to a user on a mobile device based on contextual tagging. The user controls how content will be filtered by the mobile device by creating contextual tags and associating or tagging content with the contextual tags. The contextual tag includes a contextual behavior that is either satisfied or not based on the current context of the mobile device. During operation, content accessible to the mobile device is searched to determine which contextual tags are met based on the current context of the mobile device. Content tagged with contextual tags whose behavior is currently met based on the current context of the mobile device are filtered and presented to the user. This allows the automatic presentation of a more manageable subgroup of content to the user on the mobile device based on the current context of the mobile device.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of filtering content, comprising the steps of:
 determining a current context of a mobile device; 
 determining if a behavior of a contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and 
 determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the behavior is satisfied. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising presenting the content on the mobile device if the behavior is satisfied. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising not presenting the content on the mobile device if the behavior is not satisfied. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contextual tag is a composite contextual tag;
 wherein if a  the determining if the behavior is satisfied comprises determining if multiple behaviors of the composite contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and 
 wherein the determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device comprises determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the multiple behaviors are satisfied. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining a the current context of a the mobile device comprises receiving information from at least one context sensor associated with the mobile device. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining if a static condition of a simple tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied; and 
 based on the determining if the static condition is satisfied, determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining if a the behavior is satisfied by the current context comprises determining if a the behavior of a the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context based on an initial context of the contextual tag. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the contextual tag is a location-based contextual tag wherein the initial context is an initial location of the mobile device when the contextual tag was created and the current context is a current location of the mobile device. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an explicit request to create the contextual tag prior to the determining if a the behavior is satisfied. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising implicitly creating the contextual tag and associating the contextual tag with the content in response to a user requesting access to the content. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the contextual tag is a location-based contextual tag and the current context is a current location of the mobile device,
 wherein the determining if a the behavior is satisfied by the current context comprises determining if a the behavior of a the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current location based on an initial location of the mobile device when the contextual tag was implicitly created. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving an override context from a user and replacing the current context with the override context;
 wherein the determining if a the behavior is satisfied comprises determining if a the behavior of a the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the override context. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a request to review one or more initial contexts from a plurality of the contextual tags associated with the content accessible by the mobile device; 
 presenting the one or more initial contexts on the mobile device; and 
 receiving a selection for the one or more initial contexts on the mobile device; and 
 presenting content on the mobile device tagged with initial contexts that match the selected one or more initial contexts. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contextual tag is expressed as a contextual tag object and wherein the behavior is expressed as a behavior object inherited by the contextual tag object. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the contextual tag is associated with the content persistently in the mobile device. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining if a the behavior is satisfied comprises evaluating whether a logical expression associated with the contextual tag based on the current context is satisfied. 
     
     
       17. A mobile device, comprising:
 a control system, comprising a microprocessor that operates to: 
 determine a current context of a the mobile device; 
 determine if a behavior of a contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and 
 determine if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the behavior is satisfied. 
 
     
     
       18. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is further adapted to present the content on the mobile device if the behavior is satisfied. 
     
     
       19. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is further adapted to not present the content on the mobile device if the behavior is not satisfied. 
     
     
       20. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is adapted to determine a the current context of a the mobile device by receiving information from at least one context sensor associated with the mobile device. 
     
     
       21. The mobile device of  claim 20 , wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one sensor comprised from the group consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock. 
     
     
       22. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is adapted to determine if a behavior is satisfied by the current context by determining if a the behavior of a the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context based on an initial context of the contextual tag. 
     
     
       23. The mobile device of  claim 17 , wherein the control system is further adapted to receive an override context from a user and replace the current context with the override context;
 wherein the control system determines if a behavior is satisfied by determining if a the behavior of a the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the override context. 
 
     
     
       24. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodied in an article of manufacture and storing software adapted to execute on a microprocessor to:
 determine a current context of a mobile device; 
 determine if a behavior of a contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and 
 determine if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the behavior is satisfied. 
 
     
     
       25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the software is further adapted to not present the content on the mobile device if the behavior is not satisfied. 
     
     
       26. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is a combination of two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock.  
     
     
       27. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is a plurality of context sensors comprising two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock.  
     
     
       28. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one light meter.  
     
     
       29. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one microphone.  
     
     
       30. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one WiFi access point.  
     
     
       31. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one 3G receiver.  
     
     
       32. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one clock.  
     
     
       33. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is adapted to determine the current context of the mobile device by receiving information from at least two context sensors associated with the mobile device, and wherein the at least two context sensors include a GPS sensor and a WiFi access point.  
     
     
       34. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is adapted to determine the current context of the mobile device using near field communications. 
     
     
       35. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is location.  
     
     
       36. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the contextual tag is associated with the content persistently stored in the mobile device.  
     
     
       37. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the content is received from a remote source.  
     
     
       38. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the content is streaming content received from a remote source.  
     
     
       39. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the current context is based on sensing at least one of the group consisting of: internal conditions of the mobile device, environmental conditions of the mobile device, and the noise level of the environmental conditions through a microphone.  
     
     
       40. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system further operates to:
 repeatedly scan the content to associate the content with contextual tags.    
     
     
       41. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system further operates to:
 automatically and dynamically contextually filter content based on the current context of the mobile device.    
     
     
       42. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:
 a touch screen for inputting information into the mobile device.    
     
     
       43. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the contextual tag is assigned with built-in behaviors.  
     
     
       44. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the contextual tag is assigned with created behaviors.  
     
     
       45. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system further operates to:
 implicitly tag content when it is being played back on the mobile device.    
     
     
       46. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system further operates to:
 store the contextual tag and its associated behavior in a tag table.    
     
     
       47. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system further operates to determine if the behavior is satisfied by comparing an initial context to the current context.  
     
     
       48. The mobile device of claim 47, wherein the initial context is sensed with at least one context sensor.  
     
     
       49. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system operates to determine if the behavior of the contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context based on an initial context of the contextual tag.  
     
     
       50. The mobile device of claim 49, wherein the contextual tag is a location-based contextual tag, and further wherein the initial context is an initial location of the mobile device when the contextual tag was created and the current context is a current location of the mobile device.  
     
     
       51. The mobile device of claim 23, wherein the override context includes contextual data that was used in one of the group consisting of: the past and the recent past.  
     
     
       52. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the mobile device is a wireless device.  
     
     
       53. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is adapted to perform multimedia functionality selected from the group consisting of: searching, organizing, browsing, previewing, rendering, sharing, transferring, and a combination of any of these multimedia functions.  
     
     
       54. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is adapted to receive the content from a wired network.  
     
     
       55. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is adapted to receive the content from a wireless network.  
     
     
       56. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is further adapted to create contextual tags when there is no network connection.  
     
     
       57. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the contextual tag is a composite contextual tag, and further wherein the control system:
 determines if the behavior is satisfied by determining if multiple behaviors of the composite contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and   determines if the content is to be presented on the mobile device by determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the multiple behaviors are satisfied.    
     
     
       58. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the control system is further adapted to:
 for content that has no associated contextual tag, present the content.    
     
     
       59. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is a time of day.  
     
     
       60. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is a day of the week.  
     
     
       61. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is a date.  
     
     
       62. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is velocity.  
     
     
       63. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is acceleration.  
     
     
       64. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is direction of travel. 
     
     
       65. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is weather.  
     
     
       66. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is an amount of sunlight.  
     
     
       67. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is proximity to other users.  
     
     
       68. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the behavior is states of applications running on the mobile device.  
     
     
       69. A mobile device, comprising:
 a control system having at least one microprocessor, wherein the control system operates to:
 determine a current context of the mobile device; 
 determine if multiple behaviors of a composite contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device are satisfied by the current context; and 
 determine if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the multiple behaviors are satisfied.  
   
     
     
       70. The mobile device of claim 69, wherein the control system is adapted to determine the current context of the mobile device by receiving information from a plurality of context sensors associated with the mobile device.  
     
     
       71. The mobile device of claim 70, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise two or more of a group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, a WiFi access point, a microphone, a light meter, and a clock.  
     
     
       72. The mobile device of claim 70, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise a context sensor that is a combination of two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock.  
     
     
       73. The mobile device of claim 69, wherein the multiple behaviors comprise two or more of the group consisting of: location, time of day, day of the week, date, velocity, acceleration, direction of travel, weather, amount of sunlight, proximity to other users, and states of applications running on the mobile device. 
     
     
       74. The mobile device of claim 69, wherein the control system operates to determine if the multiple behaviors of the composite contextual tag associated with the content accessible to the mobile device are satisfied by the current context based on an initial context of the composite contextual tag, and wherein the composite contextual tag is a location-based contextual tag, the initial context is an initial location of the mobile device when the composite contextual tag was created, and the current context is a current location of the mobile device.  
     
     
       75. The mobile device of claim 69, wherein the composite contextual tag is a location-based contextual tag and the current context is a current location of the mobile device.  
     
     
       76. A computer program product, the computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and including instructions configured to cause a microprocessor to carry out of the steps of:
 determining a current context of a mobile device;   determining if a behavior of a contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and   determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the behavior is satisfied.    
     
     
       77. The computer program product of claim 76, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the microprocessor to further carry out the step of determining the current context of the mobile device by receiving information from at least one context sensor associated with the mobile device.  
     
     
       78. The computer program product of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor comprises at least one GPS sensor. 
     
     
       79. The computer program product of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor comprises a context sensor that is a combination of two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock.  
     
     
       80. The mobile device of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one light meter.  
     
     
       81. The mobile device of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one microphone.  
     
     
       82. The mobile device of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one WiFi access point.  
     
     
       83. The mobile device of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one 3G receiver.  
     
     
       84. The mobile device of claim 77, wherein the at least one context sensor is at least one clock.  
     
     
       85. The computer program product of claim 76, wherein the behavior comprises one or more of a group consisting of: location, time of day, day of the week, date, velocity, acceleration, direction of travel, weather, amount of sunlight, proximity to other users, and states of applications running on the mobile device.  
     
     
       86. A computer program product, the computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and including instructions configured to cause a microprocessor to carry out of the steps of:
 determining a current context of a mobile device;   determining if multiple behaviors of a composite contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and   determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the multiple behaviors are satisfied.    
     
     
       87. The computer program product of claim 86, wherein the instructions are configured to cause the microprocessor to further carry out the step of determining the current context of the mobile device by receiving information from a plurality of context sensors associated with the mobile device.  
     
     
       88. The computer program product of claim 87, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, a WiFi access point, a microphone, a light meter, and a clock. 
     
     
       89. The computer program product of claim 87, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise a context sensor that is a combination of two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock.  
     
     
       90. The computer program product of claim 86, wherein the multiple behaviors comprise two or more of the group consisting of: location, time of day, day of the week, date, velocity, acceleration, direction of travel, weather, amount of sunlight, proximity to other users, and states of applications running on the mobile device.  
     
     
       91. A method of filtering content, comprising the steps of:
 determining a current context of a mobile device;   determining if multiple behaviors of a composite contextual tag associated with content accessible to the mobile device is satisfied by the current context; and   determining if the content is to be presented on the mobile device based on the determining if the multiple behaviors are satisfied.    
     
     
       92. The method of claim 91, wherein the determining the current context of the mobile device comprises receiving information from a plurality of context sensors associated with the mobile device.  
     
     
       93. The method of claim 92, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, a WiFi access point, a microphone, a light meter, and a clock.  
     
     
       94. The method of claim 92, wherein the plurality of context sensors comprise a context sensor that is a combination of two or more of the group of sensors consisting of: a GPS sensor, a light meter, a microphone, a WiFi access point, a 3G receiver, and a clock. 
     
     
       95. The mobile device of claim 75, wherein the multiple behaviors comprise two or more of the group consisting of: location, time of day, day of the week, date, velocity, acceleration, direction of travel, weather, amount of sunlight, proximity to other users, and states of applications running on the mobile device.  
     
     
       96. The mobile device of claim 75, wherein at least one behavior of the composite contextual tag is location-based.