TITLE: MULTIMODAL CONTEST IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK
DEFINITIONS

Communication network: It includes, but is not limited to, internet, intranets, Wide Area Networks (WANs), Local Area Networks (LANs) and telecommunication network.

Telecommunication network: A subset of communication network includes, but is not limited to Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and transducer links such as those using Modulator-Demodulators (modems).

Mobile device: A portable device enabled to communicate with other devices for the transfer of signals. Examples of mobile device include, but are not limited to, voice phone, cordless phone, mobile phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), pager, notebook PC, ultra-mobile PC.

User: A person who is using communication network for communication.

Multimodal contest: A contest having multiple questions to be answered by user who plays the contest. The contest could be played in any of the voice, SMS, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and On Device Portal (ODP) modes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of managing quiz in a telecommunication network. In particular, the invention relates to providing multimodal quiz in the telecommunication network.

BACKGROUND

The improved capability of cell phone has allowed telecom operators to provide various features to their users. Multimedia messaging, broadband, wireless internet, roaming services, GPS, alerts, call management, dial-a-service, ringtones, wallpapers, animations, quizzes and games are some of the common features provided by telecom operators. Live news related to sports, movie, music and personalized live services like banking, stocks, astrology, dating, and booking tickets are also provide by telecom operators.

Various games and quizzes provided by the telecom operator allow users to play, quit, pause, and resume the game or quiz during a session of play. After initiating a session of the quiz, a user may not be able to continue the quiz till the end. So the user is provided with different options to proceed with the quiz depending upon the preference of the user.

When the user has not been able to play , the quiz to the satisfaction and wants to give it another try, the user may quit the quiz. When user has other work at current priority then user may pause the quiz and resume it at a later stage. This avoids the tedious task of answering the question again which user has already attempted in the earlier sessions.

The quiz provided by telecom operators could be played in any of the mode supported by the mobile device of the user. Some of the common modes for playing quiz could be voice, SMS, WAP, USSD and ODP. The quiz may be preferred in certain specific mode. For example, a quiz for identifying the images would be played on WAP mode while quiz for recognizing voice of a singer would be played on voice.

The existing features of the quiz provided by telecom operators are limited in several aspects. The content of the quiz is prepared specific to the mode because some of the quiz questions can only be played in a specific mode. This constraint on content of quiz unnecessarily restricts operators from including diverse questions from different fields. Further, users also have exposure to a limited set of question ' usually similar in nature which makes the quiz less interesting and monotonous.

In a scenario where user is playing the quiz in voice mode and then while playing the quiz the user moves to an area where silence is required (for example in a library or in a hospital) then user has to unwillingly quit or pause the game. The quiz providing operators do not allow user to play the quiz in a mode of their choice. Users are constrained to play the entire quiz over a single mode. This is an undue restriction to the users who have advanced mobile devices which can support multiple modes such as WAP, USSD, SMS, voice and ODP. This limitation does not allow the user to have an enhanced experience of different modes.

The above two scenarios demonstrate that features presently available quizzes limit the user experience of quiz content and continuity. Hence, there is a need for an additional feature in the quizzes provided by telecom operators which provide the users with more options and make their experience better.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment, a method for conducting a multimodal contest in a communication network is disclosed. The method is for receiving a request form a network user, verifying the status of the user, playing the contest with the user and providing the result to the user at the end of the contest.

In another embodiment of the invention, allowing the user to switch the mode of the multimodal contest during the contest. The user may switch the mode of the contest to a different by responding in that mode. The switching of mode is seamless and user may play a part of the contest in one mode and then later resume the remaining contest in a different mode.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, presenting the questions of the contest to the user in a preferred mode. The mode of the contest may be different than the preferred mode of the question. The user is prompted to switch to the preferred mode so that the question could be presented to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic depicting an exemplary communication environment in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic depicting an exemplary telecommunication environment in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating a method of conducting a multimodal contest in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustrating local contest system and centra! contest system according to an embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustrating voice application server and service application server according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustrating the detailed method of conducting a multimodal contest in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. Various aspects and features of example embodiments of the invention are described in more detail hereinafter.

A method and system for conducting the multimodal contest is disclosed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication environment according to an embodiment of the invention. The communication environment comprises user 102, base station 104, Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 106, SMS Gateway 110, USSD Gateway 112, WAP Gateway 114, Local Contest System (LCS) 116, Central Contest System (CCS) 118, Internet 120 and computer system 122. User 102 is a communication terminal used by a person who is participating in the multimodal contest. The communication terminal could be a mobile phone or a PDA.

User 102 is connected to MSC 106 via base station 104. The mode of .communication between user 102 and MSC 106 is through radio signals.. The connection between user 102 and central contest system 118 is provided by a communication service provider. A communication service provider provides switch 108 for voice switching, SMS gateway 110 for SMS communication, USSD gateway 112 for USSD communication and WAP gateway 114 for WAP based communication. Example of communication service provider could Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, BSNL and Spice. Any request arising from user 102 is communicated to central contest system 118 via MSC 106 of the communication service providers.

When a request is received via voice communication, the multi model contest is played by LCS 116. LCS 116 sends regular updates to CCS 118, so that if the mode is changed form voice to SMS, USSD or WAP, the contest can be played from CCS.

When user 102 communicates via WAP, the request is sent to MSC 106. It is than transferred via WAP Gateway 114 to internet 120 using HTTP. CCS 118 is also connected to internet 120 hence; user 102 can play the multi model contest over internet using WAP.

User 102 can also play the multi model contest in computer system 122 via internet 120. CCS 118 plays the contest and stores the information in the database. User 102 can quit the contest at any time and resume the same on his/her mobile phone and can play in a preferred mode.

FIG. 2 illustrates a telecommunication environment in accordance with ah embodiment of the invention. The telecommunication environment is a subset of communication environment shown in FIG. 1.

The telecommunication environment comprises user 102, telecommunication network 204, Local Contest Systeml (LCS1) and central contest system 118. User 102 is a communication terminal used by a person who is participating in the multimodal contest. The communication terminal could be a mobile phone or a PDA. Communication network 204 comprises Mobile Switching Center Gateway 1 (MSCG1), MSCG2 and MSCG3. When user 102 connects to CCS via telecommunication network 204 by making a voice call, the voice call is routed to LCS1 by MSCG1. Examples of MSCG1 could be (IIIIIIIIII). Weather the call will be routed by MSCG1, MSCG2 or MSCG3 depends on the location of user 102. Telecommunication network 204 can have multiple MSCGs depending on the size of the network. Corresponding to each MSCG there will be a LCS. Calls landing in MSCGs are routed to corresponding LCSs. For example, a call landing in MSCG1 will be routed to LCS1, a call landing in MSCG2 will be routed to LCS2, and a call landing in MSCG3 will be routed to LCS3.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrating the method of conducting the multimodal contest in accordance with an embodiment. At step 302, a request for playing the multimodal contest from user 102 is received. The request from user 102 comprises a user identifier and a contest identifier. The user identifier may be mobile number, location, name, and gender of user 102. The contest identifier may be pre-assigned identification code or pre-assigned identification name. Further, the request would also contain an identifier for the mode in which the multimodal contest has to be played. At step 304, the multimodal contest to user 102 is played in the specified mode. Once the mode of user is identified, the questions of the multimodal contest are sequentially provided to user 102. At step 306, the mode of the contest is switched based on the pre-specified conditions. The pre-specified conditions may be switching the mode to the mode of response when response is received in a mode different than the mode of question. The pre-specified conditions may also be switching the mode to the preferred mode of question when a question of the multimodal contest has a preferred mode. The pre-specified conditions may be switching the mode- to the preferred mode of a question when response is in a different mode than the preferred mode of the question. Various modes available to user 102 for playing the multimodal contest could be voice, SMS, USSD and WAP. User 102 may initiate the multimodal contest in any mode. Further, user 102 may respond to the question in any of the preferred mode.

Once the mode is switched, the multimodal contest is resumed at step 308. The multimodal contest is resumed from the stage where user 102 has last responded. Next question from the sequence of questions for the multimodal contest is played to user 102. The previous score of user 102 is obtained and continuously updated as user 102 plays the multimodal contest. At the end of the multimodal contest, user 102 is provided with the score.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustrating local contest system and central contest system according to an embodiment of the invention. Local Contest System 1 (LCS1) 206 comprises Local Service Access Point (LSAP) 402, local database 404 and voice box 406. Voice box 406 further comprises Voice Application Server (VAS) 408. LCS1 206 is functionally equivalent to LCS2 208 and LCS3 210 of FIG. 2. A voice call for playing the multimodal contest from user 102 routed via MSCG1 lands in LCS1. Similarly, voice calls routed via MSCG2 216 and MSCG3 218.land in LCS2 208 and LCS3 210 respectively.

LSAP 402 could be a user interface implemented in Java Server Pages (JSP). All in-coming voice calls to LCS1 206 are handled by LSAP 402. After receiving a call, LSAP 402 interprets the request made in the call. LSAP 402 obtains the user identifier and the contest identifier from user 102. Thereafter, LSAP 402 directs the call to voice box 406 and also sends the user identifier and contest identifier to voice box 406. After receiving the call, voice box 406 connects to VAS 408 and provides contest identifier. Based on the contest identifier VAS 408 retrieves questions of the multimodal contest from local database 404. Thereafter, VAS 408 sequentially plays the question to user 102 in voice mode, obtains response and updates the score of user 102.

Central Contest System (CCS) 118 comprises Central Service Access Point (CSAP) 410, central database 412 and service box 414. Service box 414 further comprises Service Application Server (SAS) 410. SMS, USSD, and WAP requests for playing multimodal contest lands in CSAP 410.

CSAP 410 could be a user interface implemented in JSP. After receiving the request, CSAP 410 interprets the request. CSAP 410 obtains the user identifier and the contest identifier from user 102. Thereafter, CSAP 410 directs the request to service box 414 and also sends the user identifier and contest identifier to service box 414. Service box 414 further comprises Service Application Server (SAS) 416. After receiving the call, service box 4414 connects to SAS 416 and provides contest .identifier. Based on the contest identifier SAS 416 retrieves questions of the multimodal contest from central database 412. Thereafter, SAS 416 sequentially plays the question to user 102 in the a mode based on the pre-specified conditions, obtains response and updates the score of user 102.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustrating voice application server 408 and service application server 416 according to an embodiment of the invention. Voice application server 408 comprises score module 502 and resuming module 504. Score module 502 and resuming module 504 are mutually interconnected and connected to voice application server 408. During the multimodal contest the score module 502 maintains the score of user 102. After receiving response from user 102 for the question, score module 502 compares the response with the stored answers for the multimodal contest. Resuming module 504 enables switching of modes based on the pre-specified conditions. When user 102 responds in a different mode than .the mode in which user 102 was provided the question, resuming module 504 gets activated. There is a content subscriber table maintained by resuming module 504. The content subscriber table for user 102 contains the multimodal contest identification, current mode of the multimodal contest and stage of user 102 in multimodal contest. Mode of the multimodal contest could be voice, SMS, WAP, or USSD. The stage of user 102 could be the number of questions answered or the level of the contest user 102 has reached. After presenting the question to user 102, switching module identifies the mode in which the response is given by user 102. In an embodiment of the invention, when the mode of response is not same as the mode of question, resuming module 504 updates the content subscriber table and activates the response mode for future questions of the multimodal contest. Activating the response mode may include activating an application on user 102 terminal associated with the response mode. For example when user 102 responds to a question using WAP while the question was presented to user via SMS, then resuming module 504 would detect this event and switch the mode to the WAP mode. Thereafter, the questions are provided to user in WAP mode until user 102 again switches mode of response.

In another embodiment of the invention the question to be presented to user 102 may have a preferred mode of presenting it. For example, a question related to identifying a personality from a photograph could only be played over WAP. In such a situation, resuming module 504 identifies the preferred mode of the question to be presented and presents the question in the preferred mode. When there is a conflict of mode, i.e. user 102 responds in a different mode and the preferred mode for the next question is different then the preferred mode overrides the former mode. For example, user 102 responds in SMS, so as per the pre-specified conditions the next question should be presented in SMS mode. Now, if the question to be presented next has a preferred mode of WAP then it will be presented in WAP and not in SMS to the user 102.

Once resuming module 504 determines the mode of the multimodal contest for the next question, the contest is played in the switched mode. The future questions are presented to user 102 in the switched mode by resuming module 504. Score module 502 interacts with resuming module 504 to obtain responses sent by user 102 and updates the score.

VAS 408 updates SAS 416 at predefined interval of times with the content subscriber table of user 102 via IP network. When user responds in the modes such as SMS, USSD, or WAP.the response lands in SAS 416. SAS 416 also receives user identifier and contest identifier and checks from the content subscriber table of user 102 for the mode of sending next question. SAS 416 comprises score module 506, and resuming module 508. Functions of these modules are similar to score module 502 and resuming module 504 of VAS 408 as described earlier. The . difference is that when the multimodal contest is played in voice mode, VAS 408 and its modules conduct the contest and update SAS 416. For other modes such as SMS, USSD, and WAP SAS 416 conducts the multimodal contest.

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustrating the detailed method of conducting a multimodal contest in accordance with the invention.

In an embodiment of the invention at step 602, CCS 118 receives a request from user 102 via communication network 104. The mode of request may be SMS, USSD, and WAP. The request comprises the user identifier and the contest identifier. The user identifier may contain details about the user such as name, mobile number, location etc. The contest identifier may be an alphabetical, numeric or alpha-numeric code assigned to different multimodal contests stored in the CCS 118. User 102 is informed about the content of the multimodal contest through . advertising in news papers, internet, television broadcasts, radio broadcasts etc. While requesting for the multimodal contest user 102 passes on contest identifier to CCS 118 along with the request.

At step 604, CSAP 410 receives the request for the multimodal contest for verifying the status of user 102. After identifying user 102 from user identifier, the request is forwarded to service box 414. Based on the contest identifier, service box 414 retrieves content subscriber table for user 102 corresponding to the contest identifier. The content subscriber table for user 102 may contain information of user 102 such as mobile number, contest identifier, score in the multimodal contest, stage, mode. The content subscriber table is stored in central database 412 and can be retrieved by service box 414 based on user identifier and contest identifier. Score in content subscriber table refers to the present score of user 102 in the multimodal contest. Stage in the content subscriber table refers to the level reached by user 102 in the contest

Once the verification of status is completed, at step 606 presenting questions of the multimodal contest to user 102 based on the status of user. When user 102 has requested for the first time for playing the multimodal contest, SAS 416 plays the questions of the contest from the beginning. When user 102 resumes an incomplete contest, played earlier, SAS 416 plays the question from the stage where user 102 quit during the last play. SAS 416 presents the questions to user 102 sequentially and receives response corresponding to each question. At step 608 response from user 102 is recieved. After each response the content subscriber table, stored in central database 412 is updated by score module 508 at step 610.

User 102 has freedom to respond to the questions of the multimodal contest in any of the modes such as SMS, USSD, or WAP as per the choice. When user 102 has received a question in one mode and responds in a different mode, at step 612, resuming module 508 switches the mode of the multimodal contest to the response mode (the mode in which response has been given). When service box 414 receives the response in a different mode, it prompts SAS 416 which in turn prompts switching module 510. After the prompt, resuming module 508 prepares the next question to be sent in the response mode. At step 614 a check if the contest has ended is performed by SAS 416. Thereafter, if it is not the end of the multimodal contest, resuming module 508 repeats the steps 606, 608, 610 and 612. The multimodal contest is resumed by resuming module 508 in the response. Resuming module 508 retrieves the remaining questions of the multimodal contest to be played to user 102 and plays them in the response mode. At step 616, when the multimodal contest ends, SAS 416 provides the score to user 102.

In another embodiment of the invention, there may be a preferred mode for presenting a question to user 102. For example, presenting a picture of a personality and asking user 102 to identify. Such question could only be presented in WAP. So there could be a switch of mode based on the preferred mode of the question.

Resuming module 508, switches the mode of the multimodal contest to the preferred mode when the question to be presented to user 102 has a preferred mode. SAS 416 and resuming module 508, both check that the question has a preferred mode. The questions stored in central database 412 also have a preferred mode identifier associated with them. The preferred mode identifier could be a code associated with the question to represent the preferred mode. For example, a question containing a picture to be identified may have preferred mode identifier as a text "WAP".

Once the preferred mode of question is identified, resuming module 508 switches the mode of the multimodal contest to the preferred mode. In a situation of conflict, wheri response mode and preferred mode are different, resuming module 508 changes the mode to the preferred mode. Thereafter, SAS 416 and resuming module 508 provide the questions of the multimodal contest to user 102 in preferred mode.

In an embodiment of the invention, user 102 may play the contest on voice. The voice call lands in LCSs via MSCs of telecommunication network 204 depending upon the location of user 102. Lets us assume that location of user 102 is such that the call lands in LCS1 206. LCS1 206 is similar to CCS 118 in functionality.

LSA 402, local database 404 and voice box 406 perform the same functions as their counterparts in CCS 118. All LCSs update the CCS 118 via IP network. The updating comprises updating content subscriber table in the central database 412 of CCS 118. The central database 412 is updated at regular intervals of time. When the mode of the multimodal contest is switched from voice to any other mode and vice versa, the role of CCS 118 and LCSs is interchanged.

We Claim:

1. A method for conducting a multimodal contest in a communication network, the
multimodal contest being played by a user of the communication network, the
method comprising:

a. receiving a request from the user to play the multimodal contest;

b. verifying status of the user;

c. playing the multimodal contest with the user in a first mode, playing based
on the status of the user;

d. switching the mode of playing the multimodal contest to a switched mode
based on pre-specified conditions; and

e. resuming the playing of the multimodal contest in the switched mode.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a user identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises a contest identifier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein verifying the status of the user further comprises:

a. identifying a stage of the user in the multimodal contest; and

b. identifying a score of the user in the multimodal contest.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the multimodal contest comprising:

a. retrieving a question of the multimodal contest, the question of the
multimodal contest is retrieved based on the request and the status of
the user;

b. presenting the question of the multimodal contest to the user;

c. receiving a response from the user, wherein the response corresponds
to the question;

d. updating the score based on the response; and

6. The method of claim 1, wherein playing the multimodal contest further comprises:

a. repeating the steps a to d of the method of claim 5 for each question of the multimodal contest; and

b. providing a result of the multimodal contest to the user in the first mode.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein switching the mode of playing the multimodal
contest to the switched mode based on the pre-specified conditions further
comprises:

a. verifying the status of the user; and

b. enabling the switched mode.

8. A system for conducting the multimodal contest in the communication network,
the multimodal contest being played by' the user of the communication network,
the system comprising:

a. a service access point for receiving the request from the user to play the
multimodal contest;

b. a service box for playing the multimodal contest with the user in the first
mode, playing based on the status of the user; and

c. the central database for storing the question of the multimodal contest.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the service box comprises an application server for verifying the status of the user.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the application server comprises:

a. a score module for storing the score of the user in the multimodal
contest;

b. a resuming module, the resuming module for:

i. switching the mode of playing the multimodal contest to a switched mode based on pre-specified conditions; and

ii. resuming module for resuming the playing of the multimodal contest in the switched mode.