Icafépre-ordering

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9256845-B2
Application number	US-35922809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2009
Priority date	Jan 23, 2009
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

Technology for pre-ordering (e.g., pre-fetching content) at a shared computing premise is described. The technology can enable a user to locate and reserve an available seat at a shared computing premise (e.g., an iCafé). A service can transmit to the user a list of nearby iCafés or available seats that is ranked or ordered based on various criteria. The selected iCafé may pre-fetch content. The iCafé may also provide the pre-fetched content on removable media so that the user does not need to view all the pre-fetched content only at the iCafé. The iCafé may provide a search and/or document notification service and perform searches, download documents, and check for changes to specified documents even when the user is not logged on or using a computer at the iCafé. After the documents are retrieved and stored, the iCafé may send a notification to the user.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method performed by a computing system having a processor and memory for improving the availability and usefulness of computing resources by identifying a computing device at a shared computing premise and modifying the identified computing device with personalized content, the method comprising:
receiving a first information from a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices at a first shared computing premise, wherein the first information received from the first computing device is indicative of availability of the first computing device of the plurality of computing devices at the first shared computing premise, wherein the first computing device at the first shared computing premise is associated with a next computing device of the plurality of computing devices at the first shared premise, wherein the first information includes at least an indication of available network bandwidth of at least the first computing device at the first shared computing premise, and wherein the availability of the first computing device at the first computing device is determined based on a present operation of the first computing device at the first computing premise;
receiving a second information from a second shared computing premise indicative of availability of a second computing device at the second shared computing premise wherein each computing device at the second shared computing premise is associated with a computing device and the second information includes at least an indication of available network bandwidth at the second shared computing premise;
receiving a request from a user to identify a shared computing premise;
computing by the processor a list of computing devices including the first and the second computing device-based on the first information and the second information;
transmitting the list to the user;
receiving, over a computer network, a request to reserve the first computing device and transmitting the reservation request to the first shared computing premise;
causing, in response to the transmitted reservation request, the first shared computing device to pre-fetch the personalized content; and
modifying the state of first computing device by applying the personalized content.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the request from the user via a mobile device communications protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the request from the user via an SMS protocol and transmitting the list to the user via the SMS protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the list is created by computing a first rank for the first computing device based on the received first information;
computing by the processor a second rank for the second computing device based on the received second information;
sorting the list based on at least the first and second rank; and
the first and the second ranks are computed based on a distance between a present geographic location of the user and a geographic location of each of the first and the second shared computing premises, respectively.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the list is created by computing a first rank for the first computing device based on the received first information;
computing by the processor a second rank for the second computing device based on the received second information;
sorting the list based on at least the first and second rank; and
the first and the second ranks are computed based on a waiting time for the first and the second computing device, respectively.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the list is created by computing a first rank for the first computing device based on the received first information;
computing by the processor a second rank for the second computing device based on the received second information;
sorting the list based on at least the first and second rank; and
the first and the second ranks are computed based on availability of previously fetched content at the first and the second shared computing premises, respectively.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the list is created by computing a first rank for the first computing device based on the received first information;
computing by the processor a second rank for the second computing device based on the received second information;
sorting the list based on at least the first and second rank; and
the first and the second ranks are computed based on a measure of quality of the first and the second computing device, respectively.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the measure of quality is based on one or more of a cost, a processor speed, a download speed, an operating system, and a subjective preference.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a first bid from the first shared computing premise and a second bid from the second shared computing premise,
wherein:
the list is created by computing a first rank for the first computing device based on the received first information;
computing by the processor a second rank for the second computing device based on the received second information;
sorting the list based on at least the first and second rank; and
the computed ranks are based at least partially on the received first and second bids.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an estimated time of arrival to the first shared computing premise.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the reservation request is received from the user via a mobile device communication protocol and transmitted to the first shared computing premise via a different data communications protocol.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the availability of the first computing device is determined automatically by the first shared computing premise.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the present operation of the first computing device includes observing an operating system status of the first computing device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the present operation of the first computing device includes observing whether a user has logged into the first computing device or used an input device within a specified period of time.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the present operation of the first computing device includes determining, based on input from a digital camera, whether the first computing device is occupied.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the personalized content comprises one or more of:
email messages;
websites identified as favorites of the user;
music;
videos;
photos; or
blogs.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving an identification of search criteria or documents of interest for the user;
wherein the personalized content is pre-fetched based on a search using the search criteria or based on the documents of interest.

18. A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, perform operations for improving the availability and usefulness of computing resources by identifying a computing device at a shared computing premise and modifying an operational state of the computing device, the operations comprising:
receiving a first information from a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices at a first shared computing premise, wherein the first information received from the first computing device is indicative of availability of the first computing device of the plurality of computing devices at the first shared computing premise, wherein the first computing device at the first shared computing

Assignees

• Toyama Kentaro
• Vargas Garrett
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Toyama Kentaro
• Vargas Garrett

Classifications

• G06Q30/0601

  Electronic shopping [e-shopping] · CPC title

• G06Q10/02 Primary

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G06Q10/028 Primary

  for seating or spaces in a venue · CPC title