Communication System

Abstract

The object of the present invention is a communication system comprising: mobile stations (6) and a service centre (1) comprising a memory (3) wherein service profiles specified by users are stored. For flexible and resource-saving transmission of betting data, the service centre (1) is arranged, on the basis of the service profiles, to transmit such betting data to mobile stations (6) that has not previously been transmitted to said mobile stations.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to transmitting betting data over a wireless connection to be utilized by a user of a mobile station. In the present application, the concept mobile station should be taken broadly to cover all such wireless communication devices that provide their uses with the ability to communicate over a wireless communication, such as mobile telephones, PDA devices (Personal Data Assistant) and computers communicating over a wireless communication. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART [0002] Solutions are previously known wherein users are able to place bets via the Internet concerning given events, such as the results of sporting contests. When the event that is the object of the betting draws closer, the arranger of the betting prevents the setting of new bets regarding the event. The bets placed before this point in time participate in the betting. [0003] The most significant weakness of the above known solution is that, in practice, the us...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007] The invention utilizes accurate screening of the betting data to be transferred by means of a service profile defined by the user in such a manner that information is transmitted to the user only about the betting objects in which he is interested. In addition to this, information is maintained in a memory of the service centre about the betting data that was previously transmitted to the user's mobile station, and which consequently is stored in the memory of the mobile station. This avoids the repeated transmission of the same data.

[0008] Consequently, the most significant advantages of the invention are the ability to provide a user with an extremely user-friendly and flexible betting solution by means of which the user can easily be informed of all betting objects that the user is interested in, that the user is able to place bets even at a very late stage, for instance even as late as at the site of the match, and that the amounts of data to be transferred can be minimized, whereby unnecessary loading of the communication network and the communication costs incurred by the user are as low as possible.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the betting data contains permanent data and event data selected on the basis of the service profile. This being so, the permanent data includes such data whose need for updates from a betting occasion to another is small. In this case, the event data can be composed exclusively (or almost exclusively) of information that, in connection with an individual betting event, indicates, to the mobile station, the parts of the permanent data stored in the memory, which the mobile station should relay to the user for presenting the information associated with the betting event. This way the amount of data to be transferred in connection with the actual betting remains very small. This is an advantage for instance in connection with a large-scale sporting event, when betting data is to be transmitted to a very large number of users, since the amounts of data to be transmitted at a time over the communication network to the users are minimized.

Problems solved by technology

The most significant weakness of the above known solution is that, in practice, the user has to place his bet at quite an early stage.

For example, when setting the bet from home before leaving for the site of the match, the user has not necessarily yet reached the right ‘match feeling’, which does not make the betting particularly interesting from the point of view of the user.

However, in this case, the problem is the data transfer over the wireless connection.

This being so, the amount of data to be transferred at a time and, consequently, also the communication costs become significant.

At times, the same information has to be transmitted repeatedly to the same mobile station, which also increases the communication costs.

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