WO2013173846A1

WO2013173846A1 - Methods for increasing information in wireless broadcast messaging

Info

Publication number: WO2013173846A1
Application number: PCT/US2013/041916
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hisham Kassab
Original assignee: Mobilaps, Llc
Priority date: 2012-05-18
Filing date: 2013-05-20
Publication date: 2013-11-21

Abstract

Methods and systems that can increase information communicated in a character- limited message and enhance geotargeting of the message. Various methods and approaches for re-encoding a message using a native encoding alphabet are disclosed that when implemented increase information in the message; and for including information related to a geotargeted area in the message that when implemented enhance geotargeting. In the case of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), the invention can provide one or more of the following advantages: a) enhance the public response by increasing their understanding of the emergency based on longer alert messages and auxiliary information such as visual cues, and b) increase the value of WEA to the public by enhancing the geotargeting of WEA messages.

Description

METHODS FOR INCREASING INFORMATION IN WIRELESS BROADCAST MESSAGING

APPLICANT

MobiLaps, LLC

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[01] This patent application claims priority to and benefit of the filing date of

U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61/688.623. filed May 18, 2012, and entitled "METHOD FOR ENHANCING THE GRANULARITY OF CMAS GEO-TARGETING," and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 61 /688.838. filed May 23, 2012, and entitled "METHOD FOR EMBEDDING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION INTO A CMAS ALERT MESSAGE," the entire contents of both of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[02] None

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[03] The invention generally relates to the field of wireless communication, and more specifically to methods and systems that would facilitate delivery of wireless broadcast messages to a wireless device.

BACKGROUND

[04] Wireless communication refers to the ability to transfer information between two or more points that are not connected by an electrical conductor. Wireless communication is playing an increasingly important role in all aspects of a person's life. Examples of wireless communication include cellular telephones, wireless computer networking, two-way radios and cordless telephones.

[05] In wireless communication, a base station often plays an important role.

[06] For example, in the case of cellular networks, the base station communicates with a mobile or hand-held telephone (also referred to as a cellular telephone). The signals from one or more mobile telephones in an area are received at a nearby base station, which then connects the call to the land-line network, which may involve carrier, microwave radio, and/or switching facilities.

[07] In the case of a cordless telephone or portable telephone, the handset cord is replaced with a radio link. The handset communicates with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line, wherein the range is limited usually to the same building or some short distance from the base station. The base station attaches to the telephone network the same way a corded telephone does.

[08] In the case of wireless computer networking, a base station is a radio receiver/transmitter that serves as the hub of the local wireless network, and may also be the gateway between a wired network and the wireless network. A base station in a WiFi wireless computer network is often referred to as an Access Point.

[09] In the case of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Mobile Stations (MS) can communicate in direct-mode operation (DMO) or using trunked-mode operation (TMO) using switching and management infrastructure (SwMI) composed of TETRA base stations (TBS).

[10] In the case of professional two-way radio systems, a base station is used to maintain contact with a dispatch fleet of hand-held or mobile radios, and/or to activate one-way paging receivers. The base station is one end of a communications link. The other end is a movable vehicle-mounted radio or walkie-talkie. Examples of base station uses in two-way radio include the dispatch of tow trucks and taxicabs.

[11] An end device is said to be tethered to a base station if it has a communication link with the base station. An end device is said to be covered by a base station if the end device can receive a discernable wireless signal from the base station.

[12] It may be desired to transmit a message to multiple or all end devices covered by a base-station simultaneously. The term "wireless multicasting" will henceforth be used to refer to transmitting a message to multiple end devices covered by a base-station simultaneously. The term "wireless broadcasting" will henceforth be used to refer to transmitting a message to all end devices covered by a base station simultaneously. The message in a wireless multicasting or a wireless broadcasting may contain at least one of several types of content. Examples of types of content include but are not limited to the following: text, audio, and video.

[13] For example, in case of an emergency, it may be desired to transmit a message containing a warning to all end devices covered by a base-station. In the United States, there is a public warning system known as the Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS). CMAS is also known as Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). The term "WEA" will henceforth be used to refer to the said public warning system. The development and the operation of WEA has been a collaborative effort between the United States federal government and commercial mobile service providers (CMSPs). CMSPs include but are not limited to commercial cellular service providers. WEA disseminates emergency alerts to mobile devices such as cell phones and pagers. Unlike subscription-based text messaging alert services, WEA enables alert messages to be sent to any cell phone covered by (within range of) a particular base-station; and utilizes wireless broadcasting technology to limit the impact of alert message delivery on network congestion during times of emergency.

SUMMARY

[14] The limitations of the art are alleviated to a great extent by the methods for increasing information and geotargeting accuracy in wireless broadcast messaging.

[15] The following presents a simplified summary of the present invention to provide a basic understanding of some of its aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is not intended to identify key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

[16] The present invention includes various systems and methods for increasing information in a transmitted message beyond what it is allowed by native encoding schemes. Re-encoding techniques are employed to achieve the increase in information.

[17] The present invention includes various systems and methods for enhancing geotargeting of transmitted messages. Additional information is placed in the message to enable to an end device or a recipient to determine whether they are located in a geotargeted area for the message.

[18] The methods and systems disclosed can be used in various transmission environments, such as wireless transmissions and non-wireless transmissions. The methods and systems disclosed can be used in various transmission modes, such as point-to-point, multicast, and broadcast communications. Other variations and embodiments are described in more detail below, and the invention is not intended to be limited in any way by this brief summary.

[19] Some implementations are directed to a method for increasing information in a message beyond a limit of a native encoding of the message that is to be decoded by one or more end devices. The method comprises receiving the message with first data to be encoded in a native encoding representation; determining second data to include in the message; re-encoding the message into a second encoding representation that encodes the first data and the second data; wherein second encoding representation uses characters from the native encoding representation.

[20] Another aspect is directed to a method of enhancing geotargeting of a transmitted message using limited information. The method comprises determining enhanced geotargeting data that is configured to enhance geotargeting of the transmitted message; and transmitting the enhanced geotargeting data to one or more end devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[21] The foregoing features, as well as other features, will become apparent with reference to the description and figures below, in which like numerals represent elements and in which:

[22] FIG. 1 is a prior art schematic diagram of a cellular network illustrating examples of wireless broadcasting; [23] FIG. 2 illustrates several examples of how geotargeted areas may be defined;

[24] FIG. 3 illustrates a high-level end-to-end architecture of an example of a system for wireless broadcasting;

[25] FIG. 4 shows a high-level architecture of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system;

[26] FIG. 5 shows a system for increasing information in a message via re-encoding and reverse re-encoding;

[27] FIG. 6 is a prior art table showing the character set employed in GSM 03.38 encoding;

[28] FIG. 7 shows certain characters in the GSM 03.38 character set that are unlikely to be used in WEA alert messages;

[29] FIG. 8 shows aspects of two examples of re-encoding schemes for WEA alert messages;

[30] FIG. 9A shows an example of the enhancement of geotargeting based on measurements of a received signal from a single base station;

[31] FIG. 9A shows an example of the enhancement of geotargeting based on measurements of a received signal from multiple base stations;

[32] FIG. 10A illustrates the concept of sectorization in cellular networks;

[33] FIG. 10B illustrates the use of sector-based broadcasting to enhance geotargeting; [34] FIG. 10C illustrates the use of sector-based broadcasting in combination with measurements of a received signal to enhance geotargeting;

[35] FIG. 1 1 illustrate the concept of enhancing geotargeting via polygon circularization; and

[36] FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary computer system which may be used in some implementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[37] Applicant has recognized and appreciated that the efficiency and effectiveness of wireless alert systems may be significantly improved by methods and apparatuses for increasing information and enhancing geotargeting for wireless broadcasting and wireless multicasting messages.

[38] In some cases, the amount of information natively contained in a wireless broadcasting message or a wireless multicasting message may be limited. The limit on the amount of information may be quantified by a certain metric. For example, in WEA, the length of the alert message is limited to ninety characters. The native encoding scheme for a WEA alert message is in many cases the GSM 03.38 character encoding scheme. FIG. 6 illustrates the GSM 03.38 character set. When the GSM 03.38 character encoding is used, a WEA alert message may natively contain any of the characters shown in FIG. 6. Digitally, each character may be represented by seven 0-1 bits. For example, the character "p" 601 is represented by 1 1 10000 in the GSM 03.38 character encoding scheme.

[39] It may be desired to increase the information in a wireless broadcasting message or a wireless multicasting message, beyond what is permitted by a native encoding scheme. For example in the case of a WEA alert message, it may be desired to have more than ninety text characters. It may also be desired for a WEA alert message to include at least one of several types of information, other than the text of the alert message. Examples of such types of information include but are not limited to: information used for message authentication; information about source of the message (e.g., local emergency manager, federal government, etc.); information about the urgency of the alert; information about the geographic scope of the related event e.g., county, city, state, national etc.; and information to support more precise geographic delivery of the WEA alert message.

[40] It may be desired to deliver a message to recipients in a particular geographic area defined by one or more boundaries. For example, in WEA it is desired for the warning message to be received only by citizens in the geographic areas impacted by the emergency. The term "geotargeted area" will refer to the geographic area, defined by one or more boundaries, in which it is desired to deliver the message to recipients. FIG 2 illustrates several examples of geotargeted areas. 201 and 202 are geotargeted areas defined by a single boundary. 203 and 204 represent a geotargeted area defined by two boundaries. 205 is a geotargeted area defined by two boundaries, wherein a second boundary is used to represent an area excluded within a larger area defined by a first boundary.

[41] The terms "geotarget" and "geotargeting" will henceforth be used to refer to the attempted effort to deliver a message to recipients in a geotargeted area. The term "delivery area" will refer to the geographic area resulting from geotargeting. In other words, it is a geographic area, wherein any recipient located in the said geographic area, will receive the message.

[42] In some implementations, it may be desired to make the geotargeted area and the delivery area as similar to each other as possible, so that a message is delivered to the intended recipients while limiting the number of unintended recipients who also receive the message.

[43] The term "coverage area" of a base station refers to the geographic area wherein an end device is covered by the said base station. FIG. 1 illustrates several base stations along with their coverage areas. For example, base station 101 has coverage area 102. The coverage areas in FIG. 1 are hexagonal for illustration purposes. In reality, the coverage area of a base station is almost certainly not hexagonal, and may overlap with the coverage area of another base station.

[44] It is possible that the geotargeted area overlaps with the coverage areas of multiple base stations. In this case, multiple base stations may need to broadcast or multicast the message. For example, geotargeted area 103 overlaps with the coverage area 108 of base station 105 and coverage area 107 of base station 106. In this example, the delivery area for a broadcast message with geotargeted area 103 will be the union of coverage area 108 and coverage area 107. In this example, any recipient outside the geotargeted area 103 but inside the union of 107 and 108 will still receive a message transmitted using simple wireless broadcasting.

[45] It is also possible that the geotargeted area is wholly contained within the coverage area of a single base station. For example in FIG. 1 , the geotargeted area 104 is wholly contained with the coverage area 1 10, in which case a simple broadcasting of the message by the base station 109 may result in its receipt by recipients outside the geotargeted area.

[46] In some implementations, it may desired for the delivery area to encompass the geotargeted area while approximating the geotarged area as closely as possible.

[47] FIG. 3 illustrates a high-level architecture providing an overview of a possible end-to-end implementation for wireless broadcasting. The message may be created in a Message Origination System 301 , which then transmits the message to a Messaging Gateway 302. The Messaging Gateway interfaces with both 301 and a Message Processing System 303. 302 may be needed if 301 and 303 use different communication protocols. 302 may transmit the message to 303 using the appropriate communication protocol. 303 may process the message in preparation for delivering it to the base station 34. 303 may subsequently transmit the processed message to 304. 304 may subsequently broadcast the message, wherein any end device 305 covered by 304 receives the broadcast message. An end device 305 may then deliver or render the message to a recipient 306. An end device 305 may also determine that the message is not intended for a recipient 306 , and may therefore not deliver or render a message to a recipient 306 . For example, the message may indicate that it is intended a specific group of recipients, and the end device 305 may recognize that a recipient 306 does not belong in the said group, in which case the end device

305 may not deliver or render a message to the recipient 306. A recipient 306 may be at least one of several types. Examples of such types include but are not limited to: a person (e.g., a user of cellular telephone), a software application, a firmware application, and a hardware module.

It is important to note that the implementation depicted in FIG. 3 is just one possibility. There other possible architectures for implementing wireless broadcasting. For example, in FIG. 3 the recipient 306 is depicted as a separate entity from the end device 305. In an alternative implementation, the recipient

306 may be a component within the end device 305. Similarly in an alternative implementation, 301 , 302, and 303 may be combined into a single entity that allows the creation of the message and transmitting it directly to a base station 304, for the latter to broadcast it. In an alternative implementation, there may be other system components between 301 and 304, for the purpose of performing additional functions. For example, FIG. 4 depicts a high-level end-to-end architecture for WEA. The alert message may be created at an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) 401 using an alert origination system. The alert message may then be transmitted to an Alert Aggregator 402. Alert Aggregator 402 may be configured to receive alert messages from any of multiple EOC sources. Alert Aggregator 402 may deliver the alert message to the Alert Gateway 403. Alert Gateway 403 may perform several functions including but not limited to: validating (e.g., authentication and non-repudiation) the received alert message, maintaining a log of alert messages received from Alert Aggregator 402, interfacing with multiple CMSPs and multiple CMSP Gateways 404 per CMSP, and delivering the alert message to CMSP Gateways 404. (FIG. 4 depicts a single instance of a CMSP Gateway 404). 404 performs several functions including but not limited to authenticating interactions with the Alert Gateway 403, and mapping the alert area of the WEA alert message into the associated set of base stations 406. Though FIG. 4 depicts a single instance of a base station 406, it should be appreciated that any number of base stations, and/or other components depicted in FIG. 4, may be used, as implementations are not limited to a particular number of components in the high-level architecture for WEA. In some implementations, CMSP Gateway 404 may deliver the alert message to a set of base stations corresponding to the geotargeted area via the CMSP's infrastructure 405. A base station 406 may broadcast the alert message, which in turn is received by a mobile device 407. In some implementations, the mobile device 407 may render the alert message to its user using at least one of several methods. Examples of such methods include but are not limited to: a text alert message on the mobile device's homescreen, a unique audio attention signal, and vibration cadence.

[49] Applicant has recognized and appreciated that the effectiveness and efficiency of wireless alert systems, such as WEA systems, may be significantly improved by using such methods and apparatuses for increasing information in and enhancing geotargeting for wireless broadcasting and wireless multicasting messages.

[50] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of some possible implementations. It should be appreciated, however, that implementations are not limited to these specific details. In other instances, structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to facilitate a more high-level description of different possible implementations .

Some implementations are directed to methods and apparatuses for increasing information, beyond what is permitted by a native encoding scheme, in and enhancing geotargeting of a transmitted message.

Some different possible implementations are now described with reference to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a system according to some implementations. The system includes a Message Origination System 501 , wherein a message may be created. The Message Origination System 501 may then transmit the message to a Messaging Gateway 502. The Messaging Gateway 502 interfaces with both the Message Origination System 501 and a Message Processing System 503. The Messaging Gateway 502 may transmit the message to a Message Processing System 503 using the appropriate communication protocol. The Message Processing System 503 may process the message in preparation for delivering it to base station 54. The Message Processing System 503 may subsequently transmit the processed message to base station 504. Base station 504 may broadcast the message, wherein any end device covered by base station 504 may receive the broadcast message. An end device 505 may selectively deliver or render the message to a recipient 505. It is important to note that the implementation depicted in FIG. 5 is just one possibility. There other possible architectures. For example, in FIG. 5 the recipient 506 is depicted as a separate entity from the end device 505. In an alternative implementation, the recipient 506 may be a component within the end device 505. Similarly in an alternative implementation, 501 , 502, and 503 may be combined into a single entity that allows the creation of the message and transmitting it directly to a base station 504, for the latter to broadcast it. In an alternative implementation, there may be other system components between 501 and 504, for the purpose of performing additional functions.

Increasing Information in a Message

[53] According to some implementations, a message may be re-encoded, illustrated schematically by 507, at one or more points by the Message Origination System 501 , the Messaging Gateway 502, the Message Processing System 503, the base station 504, and/or other suitable component(s) between the Message Origination System 501 and the base station 504, in one or more steps. Regardless of the exact component(s) that perform the re-encoding 507, the re- encoding 507 may be performed using at least one of several methods of processing. Examples of methods of processing include but are not limited to: software module, firmware module, and a hardware module. In some implementations, the re-encoding 507 may repurpose a native encoding scheme. For example, in the case of a text message, the message after re-encoding may consist of characters belonging to a native encoding's character set. Though, it should be appreciated that implementations are not limited to repurposing native encoding schemes, and that re-encoding 507 may utilize suitable non-native schemes or may utilize a combination of native and non-native schemes.

[54] A message may be reverse re-encoded, as illustrated schematically by 508, at one or more points by the end device 505, the recipient 506, and/or other suitable component(s) between the end device 505 and the recipient 506, in one or more steps. Regardless of the exact component(s) that perform the reverse re-encoding, the reverse re-encoding 508 may be performed using at least one of several methods of processing. Examples of methods of processing include but are not limited to: software module, firmware module, and a hardware module.

[55] In some implementations, the re-encoding 507 may re-encode a message to include additional data without exceeding the maximum size of the original message. As such, Applicant has recognized and appreciated that more information may be communicated within a predefined size-limit constraint of a message, by re-encoding the message with additional data and reverse re- encoding the message to extract the additional data. In some implementations, the additional data may be characters from a native character set that is used in the native encoding scheme of the message. In some implementations, the additional data may be a different type of data than characters in a native character set used in the native encoding, but may be represented by one or more characters from the native character set. Regardless of the exact nature of the additional data, the re-encoding 507 may use known characteristics about the content of the message to include the additional data.

For example, in the case of WEA, certain characters in the GSM 03.38 character set may be specified as not to be used in an alert message. For example, FIG. 7 illustrates highlighted characters such as Δ (701 ) and Φ (702) that may not be used in alert messages. A re-encoding scheme for WEA alert messages may use this characteristic to include additional data that is not in the GSM 03.38 character set. As a non-limiting example, the additional data may include visual cues in the alert message, though it should be appreciated that implementations are not limited to a particular type of additional data. For illustrative purposes, if the additional data comprises visual cues, and if there are seven visual symbols corresponding to seven different event types, as shown in FIG. 8A, then each visual symbol may be assigned to an unused character in the GSM 03.38 character set. For example, the visual symbol for tornado may be assigned to the unused character "∑". If the alert message is "Tornado approaching! Seek shelter!", an emergency manager may want to add the visual cue corresponding to a tornado image 801 . The visual cues may be pre-stored on the mobile device, or may be stored on any suitable data store local to or remote from the mobile device. The alert origination system may replace the first occurrence of a space character in the alert message with the symbol "∑". The WEA native message will therefore be "Tornadolapproaching! Seek shelter!" Upon receiving the WEA message the WEA application on the mobile device may be designed to recognize the existence of the symbol "∑", lookup the corresponding image from its local storage, or from any suitable data store, and present the image/visual cue along with the message "Tornado approaching! Seek shelter!". This example assumes that there will be at least one space character in the alert message. If the alert message is a single-word message, then the location of the space may be considered to occur immediately after that word, before that word, or at any other suitable predetermined location. The example also assumes that the one word may not be ninety characters long.

[57] Yet another example of re-encoding WEA alert messages illustrates including additional data that comprises characters from a native character set of the message, by increasing the maximum number of characters in a WEA alert message beyond the native limit of ninety characters. This example assumes 94 usable characters, as shown in FIG. 7. The example further assumes the following simplistic character encoding scheme: First, 32 of the 94 usable characters will be encoded using 6-bit codes. Second, the leftmost bit in each 6- bit code will be 0, to indicate it is a 6-bit code. Third, the remaining 62 usable characters will be encoded using 7-bit codes. Fourth, the leftmost bit in each 7-bit code will be 1 , to indicate it is a 7-bit code. Fifth, recognizing that most characters in a WEA Text are English alphabet letters, 26 of the 32 6-bit codes will be assigned to lowercase letters, with the remaining 6 assigned to the first 6 uppercase letters (i.e., A, B, C, D, E, and F).

[58] FIG. 8B illustrates an example of the message "Hello World!" being re-encoded and compares the performance of the new character set with the GSM 03.38 character set. FIG. 8B shows the encoding of each character in the "Hello World!" message using the GSM 03.38 character system and the re-encoding's character system. With the re-encoding, the message will contain the following string of bits:

100001000010000101 100101 1001 1 1001 10101010001001 1 1001000100101 100 001 1 101 1 10000. When these bits are received by the end device, they may be natively decoded to "Βό,ΥΠ^~'_ΠΑρ", per the GSM 03.38 encoding scheme. However, once reverse re-encoding is implemented, the message "Hello World!" may be extracted from "Βό,ΥΠ^~'_ΠΑρ". "Hello World!" has more characters than "Βό,ΥΠ^~'_ΠΑρ". This implies that the proposed re-encoding scheme may increase the length of an alert message to more than ninety characters.

[59] Regardless of whether the additional data included in the re-encoded message can be directly represented using native encoding, the re-encoding may be performed by any suitable technique that results in a re-encoded representation that may be expressed using a native encoding. As non-limiting examples, re- encoding may comprise one or more of a lookup table, an input/output function, appending or insertion, or any suitable transformation that results in a re- encoded representation that may be expressed using a native encoding. Likewise, reverse re-encoding may be performed by any suitable technique that reverse re-encodes a natively decoded representation into a decoded representation of a message. As non-limiting examples, reverse re-encoding may comprise one or more of a lookup table, an input/output function, appending or insertion, or any suitable transformation that reverse re-encodes a native decoding into a decoded representation of a message.

[60] Although some possible implementations of re-encoding and reverse re-encoding have been presented above, it should be appreciated that implementations are not limited to a particular re-encoding or reverse re-encoding strategy. Any suitable re-encoding strategy may be used that re-encodes and reverse re- encodes a native encoding scheme to provide a transformed and/or increased information set. As a non-limiting example, in some scenarios, the frequency of occurrence of characters in messages may not be equal across all characters. In such scenarios, the re-encoding scheme may be designed to assign shorter bit representations to characters with higher frequencies of occurrence. As such, the average number of bits per character may be reduced. In some implementations, established techniques from the field of Information Theory may be used to identify bit representations of characters that result in improved communication efficiency, as measured by a metric related to the maximum length of a re- encoded message. In the case of WEA alert messages, for example, the maximum length may be increased even further if one limits the text of the alert to contain either all uppercase or all lowercase letters. Additionally, one may predict that words such as "warning", "alert", "tornado", "weather", etc. may have a high probability of occurring and create short-hand codes for those words such that the entire word (as opposed to each character in it) can be encoded using two or three bits.

[61] Regardless of the specific re-encoding and reverse re-encoding strategy used, it should be appreciated that methods for transforming and/or increasing the information in a message are applicable to point-to-point, multicast, and broadcast communications, in wireless and non-wireless transmission media.

Enhancing Geo-Targeting

[62] According to some implementations, information related to the geotargeted area of a transmitted message may be included at one or more points by the Message Origination System 501 , the Messaging Gateway 502, the Message Processing System 503, the base station 504, and/or other suitable component(s) between the Message Origination System 501 and the base station 504 in FIG. 5, in one or more steps. Regardless of the exact component(s) that perform the inclusion, the inclusion may be performed using at least one of several methods of processing. Examples of methods of processing include but are not limited to: software module, firmware module, and a hardware module. The included information may be related to the description of the geotargeted area, wherein the amount of the included information is sufficiently small that it can be contained in the transmitted message, while allowing other content to be contained in the transmitted message. For example, a geotargeted area in the shape of a polygon may be described via enumeration of the coordinates of the polygon. However, including the said coordinates in the transmitted message may take up too much space in the message. For example, in WEA alert messages native messages are limited to ninety characters, which does not provide enough space for the coordinates of a typical polygon.

[63] The information may be used at one or more points by the end device 505, the recipient 506, and/or other suitable component(s) between the end device 505 and the recipient 506, in one or more steps to determine whether the recipient 506 is in a geotargeted area. Regardless of the exact component(s) that perform the determination, the determination may be performed using at least one of several methods of processing. Examples of methods of processing include but are not limited to: software module, firmware module, and a hardware module.

[64] One example of approximating a geotargeted area using reduced information is to use some of the techniques in wireless triangulation methods in reverse. Wireless triangulation is a technique used by a cellular network to approximate the location of a mobile device based characteristics related to the mobile device's wireless signal as measured at three or more base stations. The said signal characteristics include but are not limited to the signal strength and timing measurements. It is assumed without loss of generality that a geotargeted area is contained entirely within a base station coverage area as shown in FIG.9A. The assumption simplifies the description without invalidating the extension of its conclusions to more complex cases. When a wireless message is broadcast, the base-station can embed a lower and upper bound on the signal measurement in the transmitted message, as measured by the end device. It can be appreciated that the additional information is minimal, and may be included in the transmitted message. The end device then compares the received signal measurement of to the lower and upper bounds. If the signal measurement is in that range, the end device may present the message to a recipient. The resulting delivery area is 901 instead of the entire coverage area 908 of base station 906. A more sophisticated version of the technique may have a neighboring base station 907, with coverage area overlapping with coverage area of base station 909, broadcasting an auxiliary message, also with lower and upper bounds on a signal measurement, but with an indicator indicating the auxiliary nature of the message. The indicator will indicate to end devices in the coverage area of base station 907 to ignore the transmitted message, unless they also receive a transmitted message from base station 909. If an end device receives the messages from base station 907 and base station 909, then the received signal measurements from both messages may be used to enhance geotargeting. In 9B, end devices in the coverage area of 909 use the lower and upper bound values from base stations 907 and 909. If the coverage area of base station 909 is a subset of the coverage area of base station 907, then the the delivery area 905 will be reduced to the overlap of the respective hexagonal donuts, corresponding to areas defined by lower and upper bound values.

Another approach to enhancing geotargeting is shown in FIG. 1 1 . The transmitted message may contain a geographic approximation of the geotargeted area. One smart approximation method is to circularize the polygon as illustrated in FIG 1 1 , since the circle is defined by its center's coordinates and a radius, which requires fewer bytes than the full set of coordinates for the polygon. The "byte" cost may be reduced further if the (X,Y) coordinates for the center were expressed in miles relative to a known landmark, such as the location of the base station, and radius was also expressed in miles. This will result in a less accurate circular approximation of the polygon, but may be be a reasonable tradeoff in terms of the amount of additional information included in a transmitted message. This approach may then rely on the end device to use its GPS coordinates to determine whether or not it should display or render the message. The delivery area in the example in FIG. 1 1 is 1 102.

[66] It can be appreciated that the information related to the geotargeted area may be included in the transmitted message or may be included in a second message independent of the transmitted message.

[67] Enhanced geotargeting in wireless broadcasting may be also achieved via sector-based broadcasting. Cellular sectorization is a cost-effective technique for minimizing interference and increasing the overall capacity of a CMSP's wireless network. Instead of a single omni-directional antenna per base station, sectorization has multiple directional antennas at a base-station, each serving a different sector in the cell. The "trisector" example shown in FIG. 10A has three sectors served by 3 separate antennas, at 120 ° intervals. In FIG. 10B, the geotargeted area is completely contained in a sector 1005. In this example, the base station may enhance geotargeting by broadcasting the message using the antenna associated with sector 1005. In that case, the delivery area is also 1005. If received signal information is used in combination with sector-based broadcasting, as shown in FIG. 10C, then in this example, the delivery area is enhanced further to 1007.

[68] It can be appreciated that the methods described for enhancing geotargeting are applicable to point-to-point, multicast, and broadcast wireless communications.

[69] FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example computer system 1200. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the Message Originating System 301 , the Messaging Gateway 302, the Message Processing System 303, the base station 304, the end device 305 and/or the recipient 306 could be an example of the system 1200 described here, as could a computer system used by any of the users who access resources of the system in FIG. 3. The system 1200 includes a processor 1201 , a memory 1202, a storage device 1203, and an input/output device 1204. Each of the components 1201 , 1202, 1203, and 1204 can be interconnected, for example, using a system bus 1205. The processor 1201 is capable of processing instructions for execution within the system 1200. In some implementations, the processor 1201 is a single-threaded processor. In some implementations, the processor 1201 is a multi-threaded processor. In some implementations, the processor 1201 is a quantum computer. The processor 1201 is capable of processing instructions stored in the memory 1202 or on the storage device 1203. The processor 1201 may execute operations such as re-encoding 507 and/or reverse re-encoding 508 (FIG. 5).

[70] The memory 1202 stores information within the system 1200. In some implementations, the memory 1202 is a computer-readable medium. In some implementations, the memory 1202 is a volatile memory unit. In some implementations, the memory 1202 is a non-volatile memory unit.

[71] The storage device 1203 is capable of providing mass storage for the system 1200. In some implementations, the storage device 1203 is a computer-readable medium. In various different implementations, the storage device 1203 can include, for example, a hard disk device, an optical disk device, a solid-date drive, a flash drive, magnetic tape, or some other large capacity storage device. In some implementations, the storage device 1203 may be a cloud storage device, e.g., a logical storage device including multiple physical storage devices distributed on a network and accessed using a network. The input/output device 1204 provides input/output operations for the system 1200. In some implementations, the input/output device 1204 can include one or more of a network interface devices, e.g., an Ethernet card, a serial communication device, e.g., an RS-232 port, and/or a wireless interface device, e.g., an 802.1 1 card, a 3G wireless modem, a 4G wireless modem, or a carrier pigeon interface. A network interface device allows the system 1200 to communicate, for example, transmit and receive data such as messages. In some implementations, the input/output device can include driver devices configured to receive input data and send output data to other input/output devices, e.g., keyboard, printer and display devices. In some implementations, mobile computing devices, mobile communication devices, and other devices can be used.

[72] A computer system 1200 (e.g., the Message Origination System 301 , the Messaging Gateway 302, the Message Processing System 303, the base station 304, the end-device 305 and/or the recipient 306 forming a portion of the system shown in FIG. 3) can be realized by instructions that upon execution cause one or more processing devices to carry out the processes and functions described above, for example, sending and receiving messages and re-encoding and reverse re-encoding the messages (e.g., FIG. 5). Such instructions can comprise, for example, interpreted instructions such as script instructions, or executable code, or other instructions stored in a computer readable medium. A computer system 1200 can be distributively implemented over a network, such as a server farm, or a set of widely distributed servers or can be implemented in a single virtual device that includes multiple distributed devices that operate in coordination with one another. For example, one of the devices can control the other devices, or the devices may operate under a set of coordinated rules or protocols, or the devices may be coordinated in another fashion. The coordinated operation of the multiple distributed devices presents the appearance of operating as a single device.

[73] Although an example processing system has been described in FIG. 12, implementations of the subject matter and the functional operations described above can be implemented in other types of digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Implementations of the subject matter described in this specification, such as software for re-encoding and reverse re-encoding (e.g., FIG. 5), can be implemented as one or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a tangible program carrier, for example a computer-readable medium, for execution by, or to control the operation of, a processing system. The computer readable medium can be a machine readable storage device, a machine readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting a machine readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or more of them.

[74] The term "system" may encompass all apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. A processing system can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them.

[75] A computer program (also known as a program, software, software application, script, executable logic, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative or procedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

[76] Computer readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile or volatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks or magnetic tapes; magneto optical disks; and CD- ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry. Sometimes a server (e.g., forming a portion of a communications facility 100) is a general purpose computer, and sometimes it is a custom-tailored special purpose electronic device, and sometimes it is a combination of these things.

[77] Implementations can include a back end component, e.g., a data server, or a middleware component, e.g., an application server, or a front end component, e.g., a client computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the subject matter described is this specification, or any combination of one or more such back end, middleware, or front end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples of communication networks include a local area network ("LAN") and a wide area network ("WAN"), e.g., the Internet.

[78] Certain features that are described above in the context of separate implementations can also be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, features that are described in the context of a single implementation can be implemented in multiple implementations separately or in any sub-combinations. [79] The order in which operations are performed as described above can be altered. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. The separation of system components in the implementations described above should not be understood as requiring such separation.

[80] What has been described above includes examples of some possible implementations. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies, but one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations are possible. Accordingly, the invention is intended to embrace all such alterations, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, to the extent that the term "includes" is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as "comprising" is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

Claims

1 . A method for increasing information in a message beyond a limit of a native encoding of the message that is to be decoded by one or more end devices, the method comprising:

receiving the message with first data to be encoded in a native encoding representation;

determining second data to include in the message;

re-encoding the message into a second encoding representation that encodes the first data and the second data; and

wherein second representation uses characters from the native encoding representation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein a character length of the second encoding

representation does not exceed a character length of the native encoding representation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein an amount of information encoded in the second encoding representation is greater than an amount of information encoded in the native encoding representation.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second data comprises symbols that are not from a native character set of the native encoding representation.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the message via wireless broadcasting.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the message comprises a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) message.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second data comprises geotargeting information to be used by an end device or a recipient for enhanced geotargeting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second data indicates a geotargeted area.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second data indicating the geotargeted area indicates an approximation of the geotargeting area.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the second data indicates partial information regarding the geotargeted area that, when combined with other data received by the end device or the recipient, indicates more information regarding the geotargeted area.

1 1 . A system for increasing information in a message beyond a limit of a native encoding of the message that is to be decoded by one or more wireless devices, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a computer-readable storage device operatively coupled to the at least one processor and including instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving the message with first data encoded in a native encoding representation;

determining second data to include in the message; and

re-encoding the message into a second encoding representation that encodes the first data and the second data.

12. The system of claim 1 1 , wherein a character length of the second encoding representation does not exceed a character length of the native encoding representation.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein an amount of information encoded in the second encoding representation is greater than an amount of information encoded in the native encoding representation.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the second data comprises symbols that are not from a native character set of the native encoding representation.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising transmitting the message via wireless broadcasting.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the message comprises a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) message.

17. The system of claim 1 1 , wherein the second data comprises geotargeting

information to be used by an end device or a recipient for enhanced

geotargeting.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the second data indicates a geotargeted area.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the second data indicating the geotargeted area indicates an approximation of the geotargeting area.

20. A computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving the message with first data encoded in a native encoding

representation;

determining second data to include in the message; and

21 . A method of enhancing geotargeting of a transmitted message using limited information, the method comprising:

determining enhanced geotargeting data that is configured to enhance geotargeting of the transmitted message; and

transmitting the enhanced geotargeting data to one or more end devices.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein determining the enhanced geotargeting data comprises:

determining an approximation of a geographic region; and

determining representative data for the approximation of the geographic region.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the approximation of the geographic region comprises a circular shape.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the representative data for the approximation comprises data for a center point and data for a radius of the circular shape.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the data for the center point comprises a

distance in miles relative to a fixed geographic landmark.

26. The method of claim 21 , wherein transmitting the enhanced geotargeting data to one or more end devices occurs as a separate transmission from the transmitted message.