WO2001019073A2

WO2001019073A2 - Search engine which determines a search criterion from the telephone numbers of an inquiry device

Info

Publication number: WO2001019073A2
Application number: PCT/EP2000/008720
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wolfgang Berger
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 1999-09-08
Filing date: 2000-09-06
Publication date: 2001-03-15
Also published as: WO2001019073A3; JP2003509758A; KR20010080954A

Abstract

With a search engine (4) for selecting data (EI) from at least one data memory (5, 6, 7), comprising receiving means (12) for receiving inquiry information (AI) containing at least one search criterion (SCI) from an inquire device (1) connected to the search engine (4) over a telephone network (PSTN) and including selection means (9) for selecting data (EI) that correspond to at least the one search criterion (SC1) of the received inquiry information (AI) from at least the one data memory (5, 6, 7) and including transmitting means (12) for transmitting selected data (EI) to the inquire device (1), determining means (13) are provided which are arranged for determining a search criterion (SC2) from telephone connection information (CI), which telephone connection information (CI) forms inquiry information (AI) and can be received by the receiving means (12) when there is a call from the inquire device (1) to the search engine (4) over the telephone network (PSTN), while the telephone connection information (CI) features the geographical area of the inquire device (1).

Description

Search engine which determines a search criterion from the telephone numbers of an inquiry device

The invention relates to a search engine as defined in the pre-characterizing part of claim 1 , a service system as defined in the pre-characterizirtg part of claim 6 and a method of determining a search criterion as defined in the pre-characterizing part of claim 10.

Such a search engine as defined in the pre-characterizing part of claim 1 , such a service system as defined in the pre-characterizing part of claim 6 and a method of selecting data are known from the document JP-A-10 257 402. The known search engine includes a data memory in which transmitter data of various geographical areas (for example, Austria: Vienna, Germany: Berlin) are stored, which transmitter data make the installation procedure of a television set or a video recorder easier. In the data memory are stored as transmitter data, the channel, the frequency and for each television station a program slot number customary for a geographical area.

JP-A-10 257 402 further discloses a television set which forms an inquiry system and calls the search engine via a telephone network to extract and store transmitter data for the geographical area in which the television set is located. For this purpose, the television set first asks the search engine for what geographical areas transmitter data are stored in the data memory and renders received data featuring geographical areas visible to a user as an area list. The user may then select from the area list shown the geographical area in which the television set is located. The selected geographical area forms a search criterion which the television set sends to the search engine as inquiry information via the telephone network.

The search engine includes receiving means for receiving inquiry information and selection means for selecting the transmitter data stored in the data memory, which transmitter data correspond to the search criterion of the geographical area in which the television set is located. Transmitter data selected from the data memory by the selection means are then transmitted by transmitter means of the search engine to the television set over the telephone network and stored in the television set.

JP-A- 10257402 further discloses a service system which processes inquiry information received from the television set over the telephone network and transmits processed inquiry data to the search engine over a data network. Furthermore, the service system processes selected transmitter data received from the search engine over the data network and sends them to the television set over the telephone network as transmitter data processed according to a telephone standard. With the known search engine, with the known service system and with the known method of data selection it has proved to be disadvantageous that a user must lay down at least one search criterion to obtain data that correspond to the search criterion and are of interest to the user, which data are selected by a search engine from at least one data memory. It is an object of the invention to provide a search engine, a service system and a method of determining a search criterion to select the data that are of interest to the user from a large amount of data in an extremely simple manner. This object is achieved with a search engine by the measures of the characterizing part of claim 1, with a service system by the measures of the characterizing part of claim 6 and with a method of determining a search criterion by the measures of the characterizing part of claim 10.

This achieves that a search criterion is determined from telephone connection information. Telephone connection information is co-transmitted with a call from the inquiry device to a search engine over a telephone network or with a call from the inquiry to a service system device over a telephone network and can be received by the search engine or the service system. Since telephone connection information contains information about the geographical area in which the inquiry device is located, a search criterion can be determined from the telephone connection information, by which criterion the data that have a connection with the geographical area from which the user calls with his/her inquiry device can be selected from a large number of data. This is particularly advantageous at times when the keying-in of one or more search criteria with an inquiry device (for example, mobile telephone, fax machine) is more likely to be complicated and when the selected data that can be represented by the inquiry device is more likely to be limited by the display system (for example display, printer) of the inquiry system. According to the measures of claim 2, claim 7 and claim 11 , the advantage is offered that from the area code of a telephone number a town or a district can be determined as a geographical area of the inquiry device and, as the case may be, additionally from the country code of a telephone number, the country in which the inquiry device is located can be determined as a geographical area. As a result, a search criterion can be determined by which data of interest to a user (for example restaurants, events) especially data of the town or district or the country in which the user is located can be selected.

According to the measures as claimed in claim 3 and claim 8, an inquiry device can be assigned identification information during a long log-on procedure with a search engine or a service system, which identification information can be stored in storage means together with a search criterion determined during the log-on procedure from the telephone number or other telephone connection information of the inquiry device. This offers the advantage that inquiry information of the inquiry device needs to contain only the identification information and, even when all telephone connection information is absent during the transmission of the inquiry information, a search criterion featuring the geographical area of the inquiry information can be determined.

According to the measures as claimed in claim 4 the advantage is offered that the search engine is also arranged for searching for data which correspond at least to the determined search criterion in data memories connected via a data network (for example, Internet).

In accordance with the measures as claimed in claim 5, claim 9 and claim 12, the advantage is offered that also for an inquiry device (for example, mobile telephone) whose telephone number does not allow any conclusions about the geographical area in which the inquiry device is located, a search criterion featuring the geographical area can be determined from the telephone connection information.

The invention will be further described with reference to three examples of embodiment shown in the Figures to which, however, the invention is not restricted.

Fig. 1 shows a videophone and a search engine in the form of a block diagram, in which inquiry information can be sent to the search engine by the videophone via the telephone network and the search engine is connected to information data memories via the Internet.

Fig. 2 shows a first data table stored in a third information data memory shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 shows a first determining table stored in determining storage_. means of the search engine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 shows a fax machine and a service system in the form of a block diagram, in which the fax machine can send inquiry information to the service system over a telephone network and the service system is connected to information data memories and a search engine over the Internet. Fig. 5 shows a second data table which is stored in a fifth information data memory shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 shows a second determining table stored in determining storage means of the service system shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 shows a mobile telephone and a service system in the form of a block diagram, in which inquiry information can be delivered by the mobile telephone via a radio link, a transmitter mast and a mobile telephone network to the service system and in which the service system is connected via a local data network of the city of Berlin to information servers of multi-storey car parks and information servers of garages. Fig. 8 shows a third data table stored in a sixth information data memory as shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 shows a third determining table stored in determining storage means of the service system shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 1 shows as a first example of embodiment of the invention a videophone 1 which forms an inquiry device for inquiring information and which is located in the geographical area of the city of Salzburg in the country of Austria. The videophone 1 has a keypad 2 for keying-in telephone numbers and search criteria SC. The videophone 1 further has a display 3 to display received result information El that corresponds to a search criterion SC that has been keyed in. A user of the videophone 1 may key-in as a search criterion SC, for example, the concept of "SOCCER" with the keypad 2 in order to achieve that the videophone 1 shows a list of results of the latest soccer matches received as result information El and displayed by the display 3.

The videophone 1 is arranged for delivering inquiry information Al containing at least one search criterion SC to a search engine 4, to receive from the search engine 4 result information El corresponding to the at least one search criterion SC and display it on the display 3. The search engine 4 is located in the geographical area of the city of Vienna in Austria and the videophone 1 is arranged for extracting result information El from the search engine 4 to set up a telephone connection to the search engine 4 via a telephone network PSTN.

The symbolically shown telephone network PSTN includes then all the arrangements necessary for setting up a telephone connection such as, for example, switching facilities, telephone cable links and an arrangement for establishing a telephone connection protocol that corresponds to the telephone standard of the country of Austria. When a telephone connection is being set up and with a telephone connection that has been set up, telephone connection information corresponding to the telephone connection protocol is transmitted which may include a so-termed caller-ID CI. A caller-ID CI contains the telephone numbers and code numbers of an inquiry device, while the code number may contain a country code of a country and an area code of a city or of a district, which will be further discussed hereinafter.

The search engine 4 is arranged for selecting data that correspond to one or more search criteria of inquiry information Al from data stored in at least one information data memory and for delivering selected data to the respective inquiry device. For this purpose, the search engine 4 is connected to a first information data memory 5 and a second information data memory 6 via a data network NET. The data network NET is here formed by the Internet and the information data memories 5 and 6 are computer servers connected to the Internet, which have each a hard drive as storage means for storing data.

The search engine 4 has a third information data memory 7 which also includes a hard disk for storing data. The information data memory 7 can store data which were selected by the search engine 4 from the information data memory 5 or 6 and correspond to certain search criteria which are often delivered as inquiry information Al to the search engine 4 by users of inquiry devices.

In the third information data memory 7 is stored a first data table 8 shown in Fig. 2. A first column of the first data table 8 shows a first search criterion SCI and a second column of the first data table 8 shows a second search criterion SC2. Data shown in a row of the data table 8 and corresponding to the first search criterion SCI and the second search criterion SC2 are shown as result information El in a third column of the respective row of the data table 8. For example, the concept of "DOCTOR" contains as a first search criterion SCI the concept of "DR. FRITZ, ADDRESS, ..." in the fourth row of the data table 8 and the concept of "VIENNA" as a second search criterion SC2 contains the concept of "DR. SAND, ADDRESS ..." in the fifth row of the data table 8 as result information El.

The search engine 4 includes selection means 9 used for selecting from the first search criterion SCI and the second search criterion SC2 of first data table 8 respective data from data stored in the first information data memory 5, or in the second information data memory 6. In consequence, result information El contained in the first data table 8 are periodically updated. For updating the result information El stored in the first data table 8, the selection means 9 include a selection stage 10 and data network interface means 11. The selection stage 10 having a once-daily selection procedure is arranged for reading from the third information data memory 7 the concepts of the first and second search criteria SCI and SC2 contained in each row of the first data table 8 and delivering these criteria as search information SI to the data network interface means 11. IP addresses and URL addresses of information data memories 5 and 6 connected to the Internet, which have stored the data corresponding to the search criteria SCI and SC2, are also stored in the third information data memory 7. The selection stage 10 can further deliver the URL address or the IP address of the first information data memory 5 and the second information data memory 6 contained in search information SI to the data network interface means 11 to feature the information data memory in which corresponding topical data are to be searched for according to the search criteria SCI and SC2.

The data network interface means 11 are arranged for establishing a TCP/IP protocol with the information data memories 5 and 6 featured in the search information SI delivered to the data network interface means 11. Subsequently, search information SI containing the first and second search criteria SCI and SC2 is delivered to the information data memories 5 and 6 and received by these information data memories 5 and 6 as topical data corresponding to the first and second search criteria SCI and SC2. Topical data received as result information El by the data network interface means 11 can be delivered to the selection stage 10 and stored in the third column of the respective row of the first data table 8 in the third information data memory 7 by the selection stage 10.

As a result of the above-described selection procedure of the selection means 9, daily updated data of search criteria SCI and SC2 contained in the first data table 8 are stored in the third information data memory 7 as result information El. The result information El stored in the third information data memory 7 can be retrieved without any noticeable time delay by a user of an inquiry device connected to the telephone network PSTN - such as, for example, the videophone 1. For this purpose, the search engine 4 includes telephone network interface means 12, which form receiving means and transmitter means.

The telephone network interface means 12 are arranged for receiving inquiry information Al containing at least a first search criterion SCI from an inquiry device connected to the search engine 4 via the telephone network PSTN. A first search criterion SCI contained in received inquiry information Al can be delivered to the selection stage 10 by the telephone network interface means 12.

The selection stage 10 of the selection means 9 is arranged for selecting result information El stored as data in the first data table 8 in the third information data memory 7, which result information El corresponds to the search criterion or search criteria SC delivered to the selection stage 10. Result information El selected by the selection stage 10 can be delivered to the telephone network interface means 12.

The telephone network interface means 12 are arranged for transmitting selected result information El or selected data corresponding to this result information El respectively, to the inquiry device that sent the inquiry information Al to the search engine 10.

The search engine 4 now includes determining means 13 which are arranged for determining a second search criterion SC2 from the caller-ID CI of the telephone connection information, which here also forms inquiry information Al and which can be received by the telephone network interface means 12 if there is a call from the inquiry to the search engine 4 device via the telephone network PSTN. Advantageously, the determining means 13 make use of the fact that the country code and the area code of the caller-ID CI feature the geographical area in which the inquiry device is located. The telephone network interface means 12 are arranged for evaluating inquiry information Al delivered to the telephone network interface means 12 by an inquiry device, and for delivering the first search criterion SCI contained in the inquiry information Al to the selection stage 10 and for delivering the caller-ID CI contained in the telephone connection information to the determining means 13. For the evaluation of the caller-ID delivered to the determining means 13, the determining means 13 include a determining stage 14 and determining storage means 15.

Fig. 3 shows a first determining table 16 whose data are stored in the determining storage means 15. In a first column of the first determining table 16 are stored as country information LI the country codes of the country of Austria and of the country of Germany and of other countries. In a second column of the determining table 16 are stored as area information FI area codes for the city of Graz, of the district of Mδdling and further cities or districts of Austria and the area codes of the cities of Berlin, Frankfurt and further cities or districts of Germany as well as area codes of further cities or districts of further countries. In a third column of the first determining table 16 are shown designations of the towns or districts - thus the names of the towns or districts - whose country codes are shown in the first column and whose area codes are shown in the second column of the respective row.

A caller-ID CI of an inquiry device delivered to the determining means 13 by the telephone network interface means 12 can be applied to the determining stage 14. The determining stage 14 is for this purpose arranged for determining the country code and the area code of the inquiry device from the caller-ID CI. The determining stage 14 is further arranged, by evaluating the first determining table 16, for determining the name of the town as a second search criterion SC2, whose country information LI corresponds to the determined country code and its area information FI to the determined area code.

The second search criterion SC2 determined by the determining stage 14 can be delivered to the selection stage 10 by the determining stage 14. Subsequently, result information El contained in the first data table 8 can be determined by the selection stage 10, which result information corresponds, on the one hand, to the first search criterion SCI keyed in by the user and, on the other hand, also to the second search criterion SC2 automatically determined from telephone connection information by the determining means 13.

This provides the advantage that a user of one of the search criteria for further limiting result information El of interest to the user no longer needs to use a keypad, which is extremely advantageous, especially for inquiry devices that have a keypad with only a few keys and only a small display. An additional limitation of result information El of interest to the user by the second search criterion SC2 featuring the geographical area of the inquiry device is particularly advantageous in, in essence, only regionally valid or interesting result information El. This may be, for example, information about the program of the cinemas of a town or information about free parking lots of multi-storey car parks of a town. In the following are further explained the mode of operation and the advantages of the search engine 4 with reference to an example of application of the first example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1. According to the example of application it is assumed that a user of the videophone 1, which is located in the city of Salzburg, would like to make an inquiry at 23,00 hours which pharmacy in Salzburg is on night duty and is therefore open at that time. For this purpose, the user activates a selection mode of the videophone 1 by means of the keys of the keypad 2, after which a limited number of search criteria appear on the display, which correspond to the first search criteria SCI contained in the first data table 8. The user then selects the term "PHARMACY" as a search criterion and activates a search mode of the videophone 1 by the keypad 2. There may be observed that the search criteria SCI of the search engine 4 can be transmitted as data and stored in the videophone 1 if the videophone 1 has set up a telephone connection for the first time. From this first-time set up of a telephone connection from the videophone 1 to the search engine 4 onwards, the search criteria SCI for the selection mode activated in the videophone 1 are available. Search criteria SCI may also be stored in the videophone 1 in a different manner, however.

In the search mode activated in the videophone 1, the videophone 1 automatically dials the telephone number of the search engine 4 stored in the videophone 1, after which a telephone connection to the search engine 4 is set up via the telephone network PSTN and the telephone connection protocol is processed by the switching systems of the telephone network PSTN. Once a telephone connection to the search engine 4 has been set up, the videophone 1 sends data of inquiry information Al to the search engine 4, which contain the term "PHARMACY" as a first search criterion SCI. Additionally, when the telephone connection protocol is being processed, the caller-ID of the videophone 1 is sent to the search engine 4 which contains the country code "0043" for the country of Austria and the area code "0662" for the city of Salzburg in addition to the telephone number of the videophone 1.

The telephone network interface means 12 receive the inquiry information Al delivered by the videophone 1 and deliver the term "PHARMACY" as a first search criterion SCI to the selection stage 10. The telephone network interface means 12 further determine the caller-ID of the videophone 1 on the basis of the telephone connection information and deliver this caller-ID to the determining stage 14.

The determining stage 14 then determines, based on the first determining table 16, that the videophone 1 is located in the geographical area of the city of Salzburg of the country of Austria and gives the term "SALZBURG" as a second search criterion SC2 to the selection stage 10. The selection stage 10 then establishes from the first data table 8 that there are two pharmacies in Salzburg - that is, the St. Paulus pharmacy and the HL. Hilde pharmacy -and the determining stage 14 determines on account of a term "N" in the result information El of the St. Paulus pharmacy that the St. Paulus pharmacy is open that night. The determining stage 14 then delivers the result information El contained in the seventh row of the data table 8 about the St. Paulus pharmacy, its address and further information about the St. Paulus pharmacy to the telephone network interface means 12, which delivers this result information El to the videophone 1 via the telephone network PSTN. The result information El of the St. Paulus pharmacy is then displayed to the user by means of the display 3 of the videophone 1.

Since the second search criterion SC2 is automatically determined from the caller-ID, the advantage is obtained that on the relatively small display of the videophone 1 only that information of the pharmacy is shown that is probably of much interest to the user. Displaying information about pharmacies of other towns or even other countries was thus advantageously avoided.

Furthermore, the advantage is obtained that the videophone 1 can always be used in another city of another country for sending inquiry information Al to the search engine 4, even if a user moves house. According to the invention, the search engine 4 will then determine, based on telephone connection information, in what geographical area the videophone 1 is located, and will deliver result information El limited to this geographical area as an answer to inquiry information Al to the videophone 1.

There may be observed that the search engine 4 cannot deliver search information SI to the information data memories 5 and 6, or to further information data memories until inquiry information Al has been received. Since the search operation in information data memories may take some time, it is possible for saving telephone expenses to have the inquiry device end the call to the search engine 4 after sending the inquiry information Al to the search engine 4, and to have the search engine 4 call the inquiry device after receiving result information El from an information data memory and transmit to it the determined result information El.

A Fig. 4 shows as a second example of embodiment of the invention a fax machine 17, a service system 18, a first information data memory 19, a fifth information data memory 20 and a search engine 21 in the form of a block diagram. The fax machine 17 forms an inquiry device and is connected to the service system 18 over the telephone network PSTN for sending inquiry information Al and receiving result information El, as was explained with reference to the first example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1.

The service system 18 is connected over the data network NET to the fourth information data memory 19, the fifth information data memory 20 and the search engine 21, which data network NET is formed by the Internet, which was explained with reference to the first example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1. In the fifth information data memory 20 is stored a second data table 22 shown in Fig. 5. In a first column of the second data table 22 are stored first search criteria SCI , in a second column of the second data table 22 are stored second search criteria SC2 and in a third column of the second data table 22 is stored associated result information El.

The service system 18 can deliver search information SI containing one or more search criteria SC to the search engine 21 which, in response, selects from the data stored in the fourth information data memory 19 and in the fifth information data memory 20 those data that correspond to the search criteria SC delivered to the search engine 21. Data selected by the search engine 21 can be delivered to the service system 21 as result information El. Such a search engine 21 is known, for example, by the name of "YAHOO".

The fax machine 17 is to be registered with the service system 18 prior to delivering inquiry information Al to the service system 18, so as to make a settlement possible of the services rendered by the service system 18. For this purpose, the fax machine and the service system 18 work through a registration procedure. When the registration procedure is executed, a user of the fax machine 17 fills out an application form in which, in addition to other data, also the user's bank account number and the telephone number of the fax machine 17 are given at certain positions on the application form. The user then faxes the application form with the fax machine 17 to the service system 18, after which the fax data FD containing the application information of the application form are received by the service system 18.

The service system 18 includes telephone network interface means 23, data network interface means 24 and determining means 25. The telephone network interface means 23 have a fax modem for receiving fax data FD containing registration information. The telephone network interface means 23 are arranged, by means of a character recognition program, for determining the bank account number of the user of the fax machine 17 and telephone number of the fax machine 17 stated at a certain position on the application form. Account number information KNI corresponding to the bank account number and telephone number information TNI corresponding to the telephone number can be fed to the determining stage 26 of the determining means 25. The telephone number information TNI here forms telephone connection information which can be received by the receiving means of the telephone interface means 23 when the registration procedure is executed when the fax machine 17 calls the service system 18 over the telephone network. When the registration procedure is executed the determining stage 26 is arranged for issuing new identification information KI = "1206" for the fax machine 17 as a new inquiry device. This identification information KI = "1206" is written by the determining stage 26 into the first column and sixth row of a second determining table 27, which is stored in determining storage means 28 of the determining means 25 and shown in a Fig. 6. Furthermore, this identification information KI = "1206", which from now on serves as an identification of the fax machine 17 as an inquiry device, is delivered by the determining stage 26 to the fax machine 17 over the telephone interface mans 23 and stored in the fax machine 17 when the registration procedure is executed. Each inquiry information signal Al transmitted by the fax machine 17 to the service system 18 contains, in addition to one or more search criteria, also the stored identification information KI = "1206" to identify the fax machine 17 as an inquiry device.

The determining stage 26 is now provided for evaluating the telephone number information TNI of the fax machine 17 delivered to the stage and for determining the country code and the area code. The first determining table 16 shown in Fig. 3 is for this purpose stored in the determining storage means 28, from which table the determining stage 26 determines - as was explained with reference to the first example of embodiment of the invention - in what geographical area the fax machine 17 is located. The determining stage 26 then determines that the fax machine 17 is located in the city of Vienna of the country of Austria and writes the name "VIENNA" in the sixth row and third column of the second detection table 27 as a second search criterion SC2 for the identification information KI = "1206" of the fax machine 17.

Since the second search criterion SC2 featuring the geographical area of the fax machine 17 is automatically determined from the telephone number information TNI when the registration procedure is executed, the advantage is obtained that with each subsequent delivery of inquiry information Al by the fax machine 17 to the service system 18, result information El limited to the geographical area of the fax machine 17 is determined and delivered by the service system 18 to the fax machine 17 and printed out by the fax machine 17. In the following, the mode of operation and the advantages of the service system 18 are further explained with reference to an example of application of the second example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4. According to the example of application it is assumed that the user of the fax machine 17 located in the city of Vienna would like to receive topical information about events in the city of Vienna. For this purpose, the user actuates a key of the fax machine 17 to select in a selection mode of the fax machine 17 the indication "EVENTS" as a first search criterion SCI and subsequently activates a search mode of the fax machine 17. Then the fax machine 17 calls the service system 18, after which the fax machine 17 delivers inquiry information Al to the service system 18 over the telephone network PSTN. The inquiry information Al contains both the indication "EVENTS" as a first search criterion SCI and the identification information KI = "1206" to identify the fax machine 17 as an inquiry device.

The inquiry information Al is received by the telephone network interface means 23 and the first search criterion SCI is delivered to the data network interface means 24 and the identification information KI to the detection stage 26. The detection stage 26 determines on the basis of the identification information KI and the second detection table 27 stored in the detection storage means 28 on the one hand the account number information

KNI "993 323 188" for settling the cost of determining the desired result information El and, on the other hand, the name "VIENNA" as a second search criterion SC2. The determined second search criterion is then delivered to the data network interface means 24 by the determining stage 26.

The data network interface means 24 are provided for delivering search information SI containing the first search criterion SCI and the second search criterion SC2 to the search engine 21 when the second search criterion SC2 is received. The search engine 21 determines from the data contained in the second data table 22 and stored in the fifth information data memory 20 that both a concert of the opera singer Domingo and the Vienna City Marathon are planned as events in Vienna. Respective result information El is delivered by the search engine 21 to the telephone network interface means 23 via the data network interface means 24. The telephone network interface means 23 then fax the result information El as fax data FD via the fax modem of the telephone network interface means 23 to the fax machine 17, which prints out the determined result information El.

In consequence, the advantage is obtained that although the user has keyed-in only the first search criterion SCI with the fax machine 17, only such result information El was determined by the service system 18 that is very likely of interest to the user. If the service system 18 did not determine the second search criterion SC2 featuring the geographical area of the fax machine 17 and did not deliver it to the search engine 21, a multitude of pages with events in other areas and countries would probably be printed out by the fax machine 17, which would not be cost efficient.

There may be observed that with one key of the fax machine 17 an inquiry mode for inquiring supraregional information can be activated when this is of interest to the user in a particular case. In response to this, information in the inquiry information Al delivered by the fax machine 17 is sent to the service station 18 that the second criterion SC2 must not be used for limiting the selected data to the geographical area of the fax machine 17. There may be observed that the telephone number of the fax machine 17 can also be determined from the caller-ID of the fax machine 17 when the registration procedure is executed, as this was explained with reference to the first example of embodiment of the invention. In this case it is not necessary for the user to write the telephone number of the fax machine 17 on the application form. Fig. 7 shows as a third example of embodiment of the invention in the form of a block diagram a mobile telephone 29, a transmitter mast 30, a service system 31 , a first multi-storey car park information server 32 and a second multi-storey car park information server 33. The mobile telephone 29 forms an inquiry device and is connected to the service system 31 via a radio path FS, the transmitter mast 30 and a mobile telephone network MTN for delivering inquiry information Al and for receiving result information El as this was explained with reference to the first example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1.

The symbolically shown mobile telephone network MTN here implies all the arrangements necessary for setting up a radio link in accordance with the GSM standard, such as, for example, switching systems which are also known as Mobile Switch Centers MSC and which are arranged for establishing a telephone connection protocol that corresponds to the GSM standard. When a telephone connection is set up, or when a telephone connection has been set up via the mobile telephone network MTN, telephone connection information corresponding to the telephone connection protocol is transmitted, which contains a so-called Mobile Country Code MCC and a Local Area Code LAC as transmitter mast identification information SKI. A Mobile Country Code MCC indicates the country in which the transmitter mast is erected and by which the call from the mobile telephone 29 is transferred through the mobile telephone network MTN. The mobile country code of the country of Austria is, for example, MCC = "232". Up to 20 transmitter masts of a geographical region of a country are respectively assigned to a Local Area Code LAC featuring the geographical region.

Since mobile telephones corresponding to the GSM standard have only a small radio coverage area via the radio path FS, the transmitter mast identification information SKI transmitted as telephone connection information contains information about the geographical area in which the respective mobile telephone is located. This information is not transmitted from the mobile telephone network MTN to a telephone called by the mobile telephone 29, it is true, but is available to the operating company of the mobile telephone network MTN. The service system 31 is operated by the operating company of the mobile telephone network MTN and, according to the invention, is arranged for determining a second search criterion SC2 from the information about the geographical area in which the respective mobile telephone is located, which will be discussed hereinafter.

The service system 31 is located in the city of Berlin in Germany and is connected via a local data network NET of the city of Berlin to the first car park information server 32 of a multi-storey car park of the city of Berlin and to the second car park information server 33 of another multi-storey car park of the city of Berlin and to further car park information servers of further multi-storey car parks and garage information servers of garages of the city of Berlin which are not shown. The car park information servers 32 and 33 transmit every 15 minutes updated car park information PI about free parking spaces in the respective multi-storey car park, and the garage information servers transmit once daily updated opening information OI about day and night service of the respective garages to the service system 31 , by which the parking information PI and opening information OI is stored as result information El.

The service system 31 includes telephone network interface means 34 and selection means 35 with a selection stage 36 and data network interface means 37, whose mode of operation in essence corresponds to the mode of operation of the means and stages shown in Fig. 1. In a sixth information data memory 38 are stored data contained in a third data table 39 represented in Fig. 8. In a first column of the third data table 39 is entered the indication "PARKING GARAGE" for multi-storey car parks and the indication "GARAGE" for repair workshops as a first search criterion SC 1. In a second column of the third data table 39 are shown addresses of geographical areas of the Local Area Regions of the mobile telephone network MTN located in the city of Berlin as a second search criterion SC2. A third column of the third data table 39 shows as result information El addresses of multistorey car parks, parking fee information and the parking information PI, transmitted by the car park information servers 32 and 33 to the service system 31. The third column of the third data table 39 further shows addresses of car repair workshops and the opening information OI, transmitted by the garage information servers to the service system 31 , as result information El.

The service system 31 includes telephone network interface means 34 and selection means 35 with a selection stage 36 and data network interface means 37, whose mode of operation in essence corresponds to the mode of operation of the respective means and stage shown in Fig. 1. In a sixth information data memory 38 are stored data contained in a data table 39 represented in Fig. 8. A first column of the third data table 39 shows the indication 'PARKING GARAGE" for multi-storey car parks and the indication "WORKSHOP" for repair workshops/garages as a first search criterion SC 1. A second column of the third data table 39 shows addresses of geographical areas of the Local Area Regions in Berlin of the mobile telephone network MTN as a second search criterion SC2. A third column of the third data table 39 contains as result information El addresses of multistorey car parks, parking fee information and the parking information PI transmitted by the car park information servers 32 and 33 to the service system 31. The third column of the third data table 39 further contains as result information El addresses of garages and the opening information OI transmitted from the garage information servers to the service system 31.

The service system 31 now includes determining means 40 which contain a determining stage 41 and determining storage means 42. Data of a third determining table 43, which is shown in Fig. 9, are stored in the determining storage means 42. In a first column of the third determining table 43 is contained the transmitter mast identification information SKI comprising the Mobile Country Code MCC and the Local Area Code LAC of transmitter masts of the city of Berlin and in a second column of the third determining table 43 are contained the addresses of geographical areas of the Local Area Regions of the Mobile Telephone Network MTN in the city of Berlin as the second search criterion SC2.

In the following are further explained with reference to an example of application of the third example of embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 7 the mode of operation and the advantages of the service system 31. In accordance with the example of embodiment it is assumed that the user of the mobile telephone 29, who is driving through the city of Berlin, tries to find a multi-storey car park with free parking spaces to park his car. For this purpose, the user actuates a key of the mobile telephone 29 to select in a selection mode of the mobile telephone 29 the indication "PARKING GARAGE" as a first search criterion SCI and subsequently activates a search mode of the mobile telephone 29. Then, the mobile telephone 29 calls the service system 31 , after which the mobile telephone 29 transmits inquiry information Al to the service system 31 via the radio path FS, the transmitter mast 30 and the mobile telephone network MTN. The inquiry information Al includes both the indication "PARKING GARAGE" as a first search criterion SCI and the transmitter mast identification information SKI = "12235", which was inserted into the telephone connection protocol by a mobile switch center MSC of the mobile telephone network MTN to identify the transmitter mast 30 as telephone connection information.

The inquiry information Al is received by the telephone network interface means 34 and the first search criterion SCI is delivered to the selection stage 36 and the transmitter mast code information SKI to the determining stage 41. The determining stage 41 determines on account of the transmitter mast identification information SKI = "12235" and the third determining table 43 stored in the determining storage means 42 that the user is located with his car in the area 2 of the city of Berlin and sends a respective second search criterion SC2 to the selection stage 36. The selection stage 36 then selects from the data stored in the third data table

39 the result information El contained in the fourth row of the third data table 39, which result information corresponds both to the first search criterion SCI delivered to the selection stage 36 and the second search criterion SC2 delivered to the selection stage 36. The multi- storey car park having the address C is located in the area 2 of the city of Berlin and the user receives, via the selected result information El, information about the address of the multistorey car park in his neighborhood and the number of free parking spaces in this multistorey car park. The result information El selected by the selection stage 36 is then transmitted by the selection stage 36 over the telephone network interface means 34, the mobile telephone network MTN, the transmitter mast 30 and the radio path FS to the mobile telephone 29 and displayed to the user on the display of the mobile telephone 29.

This offers the advantage that the user of the mobile telephone 29 very simply and in a very short period of time receives topical information about multi-storey car parks in his neighborhood and the number of free parking spaces of these car parks, without having to key-in the address of his respective location with the keys of the mobile telephone 29.

There may be observed that with an inquiry device such as the videophone 1 , the fax machine 17 or the mobile telephone 29, also inquiry information Al containing any search criteria SC, which information is not restricted to the search criteria SCI contained in the data tables, can be delivered to the search engine 4 or the service systems 18 or 31 to search for data corresponding to these search criteria SC. Data corresponding to the search criteria SC cannot only be searched for in data stored in computer servers featured by an IP address or URL address stored in the search engine or the service system, but in any data stored in computer servers connected to the Internet.

There may be observed that the method of working with a service system or also a search engine and charging costs for services rendered described with reference to the second example of embodiment of the invention, is extremely advantageous.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A search engine (4) for selecting data (El) from at least one data memory (5, 6, 7), comprising receiving means (12) for receiving inquiry information (Al) containing at least one search criterion (SCI) from an inquire device (1) connected to the search engine (4) over a telephone network (PSTN) and including selection means (9) for selecting data (El) corresponding to at least the one search criterion (SCI) of the received inquiry information (Al) from at least the one data memory (5, 6, 7) and including transmitter means (12) for transmitting selected data (El) to the inquire device (1), characterized in that determining means (13) are provided which are arranged for determining a search criterion (SC2) from telephone connection information (CI) which forms inquiry information (Al) and which can be received by the receiving means (12) when there is a call by the inquire device (1) to the search engine (4) over the telephone network (PSTN), while the telephone connection information (CI) features the geographical area of the inquire device (1).

2. A search engine (4) as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the receiving means (12) are arranged for receiving telephone connection information (CI) containing the telephone number of the inquire device (1), while the telephone number contains an area code (FI) and, as the case may be, a country code (LI).

3. A search engine (4) as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that identification information storage means (28) are provided which are arranged for storing at least identification information (KI) assigned to an inquire device (17) and a search criterion (SC2) determined from telephone connection information (TNI) of the inquire device (17).

4. A search engine (4) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the search engine (4) is connected to at least one data memory (5, 6) via a data network (NET) and in that the selection means (9) are arranged for selecting data (El) corresponding to at least the determined search criterion (SC2) from at least the one data memory (5, 6) connected to the data network (NET).

5. A search engine (4) as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the receiving means (34) are arranged for receiving telephone connection information containing transmitter mast identification information (SKI), while the transmitter mast identification information (SKI) features the geographical area of a transmitter mast (30) via which a call from a mobile inquire device (29) is transmitted in a mobile telephone network (MTN).

6. A service system ( 18; 31 ) for processing inquiry information (Al) of an inquire device (17; 29) and for transferring processed inquiry information(SI) to a search engine (21) comprising receiving means (23; 34) for receiving inquiry information (Al) which contains at least one search criterion (SCI) from an inquire device (17; 31) connected to the service system (18; 31) over a telephone network (PSTN; MTN) and including processing means (24; 35) for processing received inquiry information (Al) and delivering processed inquiry information (SI) and including transmitter means (24; 37) for transmitting the processed inquiry information (SI) over a data network (NET) to a search engine (21) which is arranged for searching at least the data (El) corresponding to the one search criterion (SCI, SC2) in at least one data memory (19, 20; 32, 33), characterized in that determining means (25; 40) are provided which are arranged for determining a search criterion (SC2) from telephone connection information (TNI; SKI) which search criterion forms inquiry information (Al) and which can be received by the receiving means (23; 34) when there is a call from the inquire device (17; 29) to the service system (18; 31) over the telephone network (PSTN; MTN), while the telephone connection information (TNI; SKI) features the geographical area of the inquire device (17; 29) and in that the transmitter means (24; 37) are arranged for transmitting processed inquiry information (SI) to the search engine (21) which inquiry information contains the determined search criterion (SC2).

7. A service system (18; 31) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the receiver means (25; 40) are arranged for receiving telephone connection information containing the telephone number (TNI) of the inquire device (17), while the telephone number information (TNI) contains an area code (FI) and, as the case may be, a country code

(LI).

8. A service system (18) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that identification information storage means (25) are provided which are arranged for storing at least identification information (KI) assigned to an inquire device (17) and a search criterion (SC2) determined from telephone connection information (TNI) of the inquire device (17).

9. A service system (31) as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the receiver means (34) are arranged for receiving telephone connection information containing transmitter mast identification information (SKI), while the transmitter mast identification information (SKI) features the geographical area of the transmitter mast (30) via which a call is transmitted from a mobile inquire device (29) to the service system (31) in a mobile telephone network (MTN).

10. A method of determining a search criterion (SC2) for selecting data (El) corresponding to the search criterion (SC2), in which the method includes the following steps: receiving inquiry information (Al) containing at least one search criterion (SCI) from an inquire device (1; 17; 29) over a telephone network (PSTN; MTN), determining the search criterion (SCI) from received inquiry information (Al), characterized in that a search criterion (SC2) is determined from telephone connection information (CI; TNI; SKI) which forms inquiry information (Al) and which is received via the telephone network (PSTN: MTN) when there is a call from the inquire device (1 ; 17; 31), while the telephone connection information (CI; TNI; SKI) features the geographical area of the inquire device (1; 17; 31).

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the telephone connection information (CI; TNI; SKI) contains the telephone number of the inquire device (1; 17; 29), while the telephone number contains an area code (FI) and, as the case may be, a country code (LI).

12. A method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the telephone connection information contains transmitter mast identification information (SKI) which features the geographical area of the transmitter mast (30) via which a call from a mobile inquire device (29) is transmitted for transmitting inquiry information (Al) over a mobile telephone network (MTN).