Method for operating a cellular telecommunications network, and method for operating a personal cellular telecommunications device

Abstract

For use in a cellular telecommunications network including a plurality of individually addressable Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) providing bidirectional signal coverage over a predefined geographical area, capable of transmitting Point-To-MultiPoint (PTMP) messages over a Point-To-MultiPoint Service (TMPS) functionality, and capable of transmitting Point-To-Point (PTP) messages, streaming of a substantially continuous stream of mostly different content, at least some interactive display messages on at least one personal cellular telecommunications device prior to their automatic discarding irrespective of their having been displayed or not.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional application of prior application Ser. No. 09 / 980,114 filed Nov. 30, 2001, which in turn was the National Stage of International Application No. PCT / IL01 / 00037 having an international filing date of Jan. 14, 2001, which in turn claims priority on Israeli application No. 134,035 filed Jan. 13, 2000 and is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The invention relates to the operation of cellular telecommunications networks, and personal cellular telecommunications devices. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Global Networks for Mobile Communications (GSM) digital cellular telecommunications networks have now been deployed alongside wireline telecommunications networks in over a 100 countries. GSM supports a so-called Short Message Service (SMS) functionality in two flavors: point-to-point for sending a point-to-point message (SMS / PP) from a network operator to a single personal cellula...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is about streaming different content on personal cell phones for the benefit of subscribers. The content can include news, financial information, promotional offers, and the like. The messages are displayed on the phone's screen and can be interactive, meaning subscribers can activate a response mechanism to get more information. The display messages can replace the phone's idle screen or be displayed in a separate banner portion. The invention provides a platform for m-commerce applications and can be tailored to different age groups and lifestyles. It can also facilitate the transmitting of location-specific content and the deployment of additional BTSs for specific purposes."

Problems solved by technology

Both approaches severely limit the interactive cell broadcast service in terms of the rate at which SMS / CB messages can be transmitted as follows.

In the former, immediately displaying SMS / CB messages on a display screen annoyingly interrupts the operation of the device from the point of view of the subscriber who would therefore be inclined to disable the service.

And in the latter, storing SMS / CB messages requires considerable memory resources, and requiring a user to retrieve each SMS / CB message individually (and thereafter delete them individually) is time consuming and battery wasteful.

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