WO2016137370A1

WO2016137370A1 - Information distribution

Info

Publication number: WO2016137370A1
Application number: PCT/SE2015/050213
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter ESLUND; Agne ERICSSON
Original assignee: Miiblet Interactive Group Ab
Priority date: 2015-02-26
Filing date: 2015-02-26
Publication date: 2016-09-01

Abstract

A method of providing important information to a user equipment, UE, user comprises providing a first, user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b) of a UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 50a-b; 56a-b) for non-mandatory use; providing a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) of said UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 0a-b; 56a-b) reserved for mandatory content;deciding, based on a rule, that said important information is mandatory information to be transmitted to said UE (14a); based on said decision, transmitting data representing said mandatory information, obtained from a mandatory content provider controlled information server remote from said UE (14a), to said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b); displaying said mandatory information to the user; detecting a user interaction with the UE (14a); determining whether said user interaction is related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) or the user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b); and, if said user interaction is related to the mandatory content controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b), transmitting data representing said user interaction to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder remote from said UE.

Description

INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method of providing important information to a user equipment, UE, user. The present invention also relates to a system and a UE implementing such a method. Background of the invention

US 2003/143974 discloses an emergency warning indication method for alerting a user of a mobile station of imminent dangerous weather. A short message service, SMS, message is transmitted to all users within the region expected to be affected by hazardous weather. Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of providing important information to a UE user. To this end, there is provided a method of providing important information to a user equipment, UE, user, the method comprising providing a first, user controlled partition of a UE touch screen display resource for non-mandatory use and a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition of said UE touch screen display resource reserved for mandatory content; deciding, based on a rule, that said important information is mandatory information to be transmitted to said UE; based on said decision, transmitting data representing said mandatory information, obtained from a mandatory content provider controlled information server remote from said UE, to said mandatory content provider controlled partition; displaying at least a portion of said mandatory information to the user;

detecting a user interaction with the UE; determining whether said user interaction is related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition or the user controlled partition; and if said user interaction is related to the mandatory content controlled partition, transmitting data representing said user interaction to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder remote from said UE. By reserving a partition of the UE display resource for mandatory content, safe delivery of important information to the user can be guaranteed as long as the UE is alive and well, and in the hands of the user. Throughout this disclosure, mandatory information/content is defined as information/content that the user cannot prevent the UE, if switched on and online, from receiving and displaying. By transmitting data representing the user's interaction with the mandatory content provider controlled partition to a recorder, safe delivery not only to the UE, but also to the user, can be verified. Preferably, the steps of said method are

consecutive in the order presented above.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises regularly sending an alive-and-well message from the UE to a mandatory content provider controlled UE monitoring entity, or UE monitor, remote from the UE, informing the UE monitor that the UE is switched on and operational. This adds an additional level of verification to the transmission of the mandatory information, since the mandatory content provider will know whether the UE is capable of receiving the mandatory information. After having transmitted mandatory information to a plurality of UEs, the mandatory content provider may be able to determine, for each UE, one of the following statuses: 1 ) UE unreachable; 2) UE is reachable and can be assumed to have received and displayed the information; and 3) user has interacted with, or read, the information. Optionally, the method may also comprise the UE automatically generating a confirmation of receipt, which would add a fourth status, 4) UE has confirmed receiving the information but no user interaction has yet been recorded, to the list above. The alive-and-well message may have any form suitable for informing the UE monitor whether the UE is operational, such as a numerical status, a status bit, or just an indication of the identity of the UE from which the alive-and-well message originates, thereby implicitly telling the UE monitor that the UE is capable of communicating. Preferably, the alive- and-well message is transmitted in a mandatory manner, i.e. the user cannot prevent the UE from transmitting it. The transmission of alive-and-well messages may be implemented in a background process, completely invisible to the user. If no alive-and-well message is received for a predetermined period of time, the UE monitor may automatically generate a service ticket, indicating that the UE may require service. Preferably, the alive-and-well message comprises an indication of the geographical position of the UE. Thereby, the UE may base any decision of whether important information is mandatory on the position of the UE. The regular transmission of alive-and- well messages may be configured to be periodic with a fixed or configurable periodicity. Thereby, the UE monitor will be able to know when to expect an alive-and-well message from the UE, and will hence also be capable of determining whether a received alive-and-well message has been delayed for some reason.

According to an embodiment, said UE is connected to a virtual private network, VPN, wherein said data representing said mandatory information, and said data representing said user interaction, are transmitted via said VPN. Thereby, any critical data related to mandatory information will be secure, which increases the reliability of the mandatory information as well as the user interaction data.

According to an embodiment, the method comprises, if said user interaction is related to the user controlled partition, transmitting no data representing said user interaction to said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder. Such a method safeguards the user's privacy when interacting with the user controlled partition. Also any data originating from usage other than interacting with the mandatory content provider controlled partition may be transmitted over a mandatory content provider controlled VPN, and routed to the internet by a mandatory content provider controlled router, without being recorded by the user interaction recorder. Such a method safeguards the user's privacy also when e.g.

browsing the internet. Data to/from the respective partitions may also, for example, be routed via completely separate respective communication channels or tunnels.

According to an embodiment, said data representing said mandatory information is pulled by said UE from said information server in response to a notification that mandatory information is available.

According to an embodiment, said notification that mandatory information is available is transmitted to the UE in response to an "alive-and- well" notification from the UE. According to an embodiment, said data representing said mandatory information is pushed to said UE from said information server.

According to an embodiment, said deciding, based on a rule, to transmit said mandatory information to said mandatory content provider controlled partition, is performed in a rules manager remote from said UE.

According to an embodiment, said user controlled partition of a UE touch screen display resource comprises a first area of a touch screen display, and said mandatory content provider controlled partition of said UE touch screen display resource comprises a second area of said touch screen display. In other words, the physical touch screen display as such may be divided into two or more areas, wherein one area is reserved for mandatory content, and one area may be controlled by the user, e.g. for displaying user controlled information and running user initiated applications.

According to an embodiment, said user controlled partition comprises a first screen, and said mandatory content provider controlled partition comprises a second screen. A screen may be an allocated resource associated with a physical or virtual display. Hence, a screen need not necessarily be output on a physical display device at all times. The UE may switch between a plurality of different screens to be displayed on the physical touch screen display. Each of the screens may take up the entire touch screen display area of the UE. A user may browse between screens, and create new, user controlled partition screens, but the mandatory screen(s) is/are always allocated, and may be automatically displayed on the touch screen display upon receiving said data representing said mandatory information. The screen partitioning may also comprise a combination of a division into mandatory/user controlled areas of a screen and a division into mandatory/user controlled screens. By way of example, one or several screens may be reserved for mandatory content, while one or several other screens may be divided into a respective user controlled area and a respective area reserved for mandatory content.

According to an embodiment, at least a portion of said mandatory content provider controlled partition is divided into a plurality of stakeholder areas, each area being reserved for mandatory information from a respective stakeholder, the method comprising associating said mandatory information with a stakeholder, and presenting said mandatory information in the respective stakeholder area of the mandatory content partition. Thereby, the user will have a structured overview of different types of information, such as traffic information and public warnings, from different stakeholders. Each stakeholder may also rest assured that its respective mandatory information will always have an allocated, reserved display resource area, which reduces the risk of the stakeholder's mandatory information being suppressed by mandatory information from other stakeholders.

According to an embodiment, said detecting, based on a rule, comprises determining, based on geographical position information provided by the UE, whether the UE is within a predetermined geographical area. Thereby, said mandatory information may be transmitted exclusively to UEs within a selected area which may be concerned by, or associated with, the information, e.g. in the event of a fire, gas leak, or other local event.

Mandatory information may also be transmitted to the UE when the UE enters or leaves said predetermined area, to provide the user with area specific mandatory information that may already have been communicated to any other UEs already present in that area.

According to an embodiment, said detecting, based on a rule, comprises determining whether the UE is associated with subscription information in a subscription database. Different UEs may subscribe to different information categories. Subscriptions may be associated with e.g. UE identity, and/or with the identity of a user associated with the UE. Even though different UEs or UE users may subscribe to different information, the information subscribed to may be mandatory based on e.g. user profiles. By way of example, the mandatory content provider controlled information server may distribute information from a hospital administration, to provide alarms in different categories to different personnel categories. In other words, information may be mandatory for all UEs (globally mandatory), or mandatory for a subset of UEs based on e.g. location or UE user profile.

According to an embodiment, said rule comprises determining, based on current time and/or date, whether said information is mandatory and to be transmitted to said mandatory content provider controlled partition. Such a rule allows e.g. scheduling a warning concerning a planned road closure. The level of importance of certain information may also vary with time; by way of example, being informed of a water outage may be less important to a household at a time when most people sleep.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises storing, by said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder, data representing said user interaction in a database. This allows for subsequent analysis, on individual and/or aggregate levels, of to which extent users have paid attention to the mandatory information.

According to an embodiment, said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder together with data identifying a piece of said mandatory information. Thereby, if having transmitted multiple pieces of mandatory information, the mandatory content provider may verify which pieces of information have received the user's attention.

According to an embodiment, said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder together with data identifying a stakeholder. Thereby, if having transmitted pieces of mandatory information from multiple stakeholders, the mandatory content provider may verify which stakeholder has managed to reach the user with its respective mandatory information.

The data representing said user interaction may represent an explicit or implicit read receipt. Such a read receipt may be generated in the background, without prompting the user to actively generate, or accept the generation of, a read receipt or a confirmation of receipt. However, as an alternative or complement, said data representing said user interaction may also comprise a user generated confirmation of receipt.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises locking the user controlled partition from further user interaction until the user has generated said confirmation of receipt.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises

transmitting a notification to the mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder indicating that the user no longer interacts with the mandatory content provider controlled partition. Thereby, the mandatory content provider may, based on session length, obtain an implicit indication whether the user has given the mandatory information sufficient attention. The notification may be generated based on, e.g., the user closing an information box in the mandatory content provider controlled partition; the user interacting with the user controlled partition; or the time-out of an inactivity timer that is re-started each time the user interacts with the mandatory content provider controlled partition.

According to an embodiment, said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder together with information uniquely identifying the UE. Said information uniquely identifying the UE may be based on e.g. a UE identity, a processor identity, or the identity, such as the international mobile subscriber identity, IMSI, of a subscriber identity module, SIM, card fixedly or removably incorporated into the UE. Even though it may be preferred that the unique UE identity be associated with a hardware identity, since a hardware identity is securer and more difficult to manipulate, also a software identity, such as a "soft SIM", may be suitable.

According to an embodiment, said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder together with information identifying the UE user. Thereby, it may be verified that the information has reached the correct user of the UE. The user may, by way of example, be identified via a log in procedure.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises providing, by a plurality of stakeholders, important and potentially mandatory information to the mandatory content provider controlled information server via a stakeholder interface. Such a method enables different stakeholders, such as fire departments, hospitals, traffic control authorities etc., to distribute important information via a single infrastructure.

According to an embodiment, the method further comprises collecting, by each of said stakeholders, data representing user interactions from said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder. Thereby, the stakeholders can verify to which extent different users and/or groups of users have received the mandatory information. Preferably, on a detailed level, the mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder grants each of said stakeholders access only to data representing user interactions related to mandatory information originating from the respective stakeholder.

According to another aspect of the invention, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved, or at least mitigated, by a system for providing important information to a UE user, the system comprising a mandatory content provider controlled information server configured to store and provide said important information; a rules manager configured to decide, based on a rule, whether said important information is mandatory information to be transmitted to a mandatory content provider controlled partition of a UE touch screen display; a transmitter configured to transmit data representing said mandatory information to said mandatory content provider controlled partition; a receiver configured to receive data representing a user interaction with the mandatory content provider controlled partition of a UE touch screen display; and a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder configured to store data representing said user interaction. The system may be configured to perform the method according to any of the embodiments described herein before.

According to an embodiment, the system comprises a mandatory content provider controlled UE monitor configured to generate an alert if it has not received an alive-and-well message from the UE for a predetermined period of time. The UE monitor may be implemented in the same hardware and/or software as the user interaction recorder.

According to an embodiment, the system further comprises a stakeholder interface configured to receive mandatory information from a plurality of separate stakeholders.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, parts or all of the above mentioned problems are solved, or at least mitigated, by a user equipment, UE, configured so as to define a first, user controlled partition of a UE touch screen display resource for non-mandatory use; and a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition of said UE touch screen display resource reserved for mandatory content, the UE being configured to perform the steps of receiving data representing mandatory information from a mandatory content provider controlled information server remote from said UE; displaying at least a portion of said mandatory information on said mandatory content provider controlled partition; detecting a user interaction with the UE; determining whether said user interaction is related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition or the user controlled partition; and if said user interaction is related to the mandatory content controlled partition, transmitting data representing said user interaction to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder remote from said UE. Such a UE is particularly well suited for participating with, or forming part of, a system as described herein before, following the method also described hereinbefore.

According to an embodiment, the UE is configured to regularly perform the step of sending an alive-and-well message from the UE to a mandatory content provider entity, remote from the UE, informing the mandatory content provider entity that the UE is switched on and operational.

According to an embodiment, said steps are implemented in a program locked from user tampering. This increases the reliability of mandatory information delivery, since correct functioning of the relevant parts of the UE is assured. By way of example, the program may form part of the kernel of an operating system, the access to which requires root or administrator privileges. It may also be implemented in hardware.

Brief description of the drawings

The above, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be better understood through the following illustrative and non-limiting detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention, with reference to the appended drawings, where the same reference numerals will be used for similar elements, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a system for providing important information to a UE user; Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating the functional blocks of a UE;

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a UE;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart schematically illustrating a first scenario of a method of providing important information to a UE user;

Fig. 5 is a flow chart schematically illustrating a second scenario of providing important information to a UE user; and

Fig. 6 is a flow chart schematically illustrating a third scenario of providing important information to a UE user. Detailed description of the exemplary embodiments

Fig. 1 illustrates an overview of an exemplary system 10 for providing important information to a user of a UE. The system 10 comprises a number of interconnected devices controlled by a mandatory content provider entity, such as a public authority or a company entrusted with transmitting important information. The system 10 comprises a UE 14a, such as a tablet computer, for displaying the information to the user. The UE 14a is wirelessly connected to a base station 16a, e.g. following any suitable 3GPP or IEEE 802.1 1 standard. A router 18 routes all traffic to/from the UE 14a. Additional UEs 14b-c may be connected to the system 10, either via the same base station 16a, or via other base station(s) 16b-c. The UEs 14a-c may communicate with the rest of the system 10 via one or several VPNs 12a-c.

A mandatory content provider controlled information server 20 contains potentially important information that may or may not be important to all or a subset of the UEs 14a-c. Such information may be, for example, weather conditions, traffic conditions, incidents and events, and information from companies and authorities. The information may be represented as text, images, video, executable code, or be of any other suitable format. Each piece of potentially important information may be associated with an information context, which may comprise a category or type of information, such as "public danger" or "traffic information"; a level of priority or importance of the information; the source of the information; information indicating how the relevance or applicability of the information varies based on geographical location; and/or information indicating how the relevance or applicability of the information varies based on time or date. The information server 20 may also contain subscription information, which may be represented by links associating identities of different UEs 14a-c with different types or sources of information. All information is stored in one or several databases, to which only the mandatory content provider has full access.

A rules manager 22 is configured to decide, based on a rule, whether and when a particular piece of information of the information server 20 is of such importance so as to be transmitted as mandatory information to a particular UE 14a of the plurality of UEs 14a-c. As is illustrated in Fig. 1 , the rules manager 22 may be located remote from the information server 20. Alternatively, it may be co-located with, and/or share the same hardware and/or software as, the information server 20. The rules manager 22 has access to the data of the information server 20, and may take its decisions based on the information as such, based on information context, and/or based on UE context. Decisions may, for example, be triggered by changes to the information or information context in the information server 20, by requests from a UE 14a-c, by a timer configured for regularly initiating decision-making, and/or by requests from a stakeholder interface 24.

The stakeholder interface 24 allows different stakeholders, or sources of information, to upload information and related context data to the information server 20, and to set rules in the rules manager 22. The stakeholder interface 24 may, by way of example, consist of limited, direct SQL write access to parts of the information server database, or of an API allowing a stakeholder-controlled software similar limited write access. It may also comprise a web based interface for receiving information from e.g. an operator manually uploading information and related context data and rules. Exemplary stakeholders may be public authorities such as road traffic authorities, fire departments, companies such as hospitals or electricity companies, etc. Each stakeholder may have a set of credentials associated with a stakeholder account, which allows limited write access to the information server 20 and rules manager 22, as well as limited read access to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder 26. The user interaction recorder 26 is configured to store data representing said user interaction in a manner described in more detail further below. Different stakeholders may be given access to different parts of the data stored therein.

The system 10 further comprises a mandatory content provider controlled UE monitor 28, which monitors that all UEs are alive and well, and are capable of communicating with the UE monitor 28. The UE monitor 28 is configured to receive and record regular "alive and well" messages from each of the UEs 14a-c. The reception of "alive and well" messages may be recorded in a database, which may be used for determining, after the transmission of mandatory information to a set of UEs 14a-c, which of the UEs 14a-c were capable of receiving the mandatory information. In the event that the UE monitor 28 does not receive any "alive and well" message from a UE 14a for a predetermined period of time, it generates an error indicating that the respective UE 14a is either malfunctioning or offline. The error may trigger an alert, which may be used for automatically opening a service case, or for e.g. triggering the automatic or manual contacting of any user registered to be in possession of the UE by e.g. phone or email. The "alive and well" messages may also contain additional information from the UEs 14a-c, such as error messages indicating any minor issues with UE function that are not of such severity so as to completely stop the respective UE 14a-c from operating, and/or position information indicating the present position of the UEs 14a-c.

Each UE 14a-c may communicate with the router 18, and/or with other components 20, 22, 26, 28 of the system, via a respective VPN 12a-c.

Preferably, the VPNs 12a-c are controlled by the mandatory content provider entity. Alternatively, the UEs 14a-c may share a single VPN 12a, or

communicate without any tunnelling or VPN encapsulation. Communication may take place over e.g. UDP/IP or any other suitable protocol.

Also the components 20, 22, 24, 26, 28 of the system may, for security and privacy reasons, form a mandatory content provider controlled physical or virtual private network 21 of their own. The stakeholder interface 24 may be accessed by stakeholders from the outside either via the router 18, or via a separate interface (not shown). Fig. 2 schematically illustrates components of an exemplary UE 14a. The UE 14a comprises a touch screen display 30, a wireless transceiver 32 incorporating a wireless transmitter 34 and a wireless receiver 36; a GPS receiver 37, and a processor 38 for controlling the touch screen display 30, the transmitter 34, the receiver 36, and the GPS receiver 37. The processor 38 performs executable instructions retrieved from a memory 40, which may be volatile or non-volatile. It may also retrieve executable instructions from e.g. the mandatory content provider entity via the receiver 36.

The executable instructions comprise an operating system, OS, which may be based on a Linux kernel such as Android, controlling the UE. The executable instructions configure the UE to define at least a first, user controlled partition of a UE touch screen display resource for non-mandatory use; and at least a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition of said UE touch screen display resource reserved for mandatory content. Executable instructions defining the division into partitions, controlling the mandatory content provider controlled partition(s), and managing the communication with other parts of the system 10, may be implemented in a portion of the memory 40 locked from any user tampering. By way of example, those instructions may be implemented in hardware, and/or may form part of the OS kernel, the access to which requires root or administrator privileges. Such privileges may be reserved for the mandatory content provider entity.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary division of the display resources of the UE 14a. The area of the physical touch screen display 30 is divided into a first, user controlled area 42 and a second, mandatory content provider controlled area 44. The user controlled area 42 is not imposed by any usage restrictions and may be used for displaying user selected or user controlled content, e.g. for web browsing, communicating, reading, etc. The mandatory content provider controlled area 44, on the other hand, is reserved for mandatory content provider controlled content. The mandatory content provider controlled area 44 may be divided into several subpartitions 46a-d, wherein one or several subpartitions 46a may be configured for generic use of the mandatory content provider, and each of the other subpartitions 46b-d may be associated with a respective stakeholder and reserved for mandatory information originating from that stakeholder.

Additional display resources may be virtual, and may be configured as so-called screens. A screen may simply be an allocated display resource associated with a physical or virtual display; it need not necessarily be output on a physical display device at all times. Each screen may take up the entire area of the touch screen display 30. The UE 14a of Fig. 3 defines and maintains a plurality of mandatory content provider controlled screens 48a-b, which are always allocated and entirely reserved for mandatory content. The UE 14a also defines a plurality of divided screens 50a-b, each of which defines a first, user controlled area 52 and a second, mandatory content provider controlled area 54. The UE 14a may also be configured to allow the user to create any suitable number of entirely user-controlled screens 56a-b. Each of the screens 48a-b, 50a-b and 56a-b may be redirected to, or output on, the physical touch screen display 30, so as to change which screen is to be displayed on the physical touch screen display 30.

A user may be allowed to browse or swap between screens 48a-b, 50a-b and 56a-b, but each screen 48a-b, 50a-b at least an area of which is reserved for mandatory content is always allocated, and may be displayed on the touch screen display 30 upon receiving any mandatory information destined for a mandatory content provided controlled area 54, 48a-b of that screen. Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a first scenario, wherein important information is notified to the user of the UE 14a.

In step 58, the UE 14a regularly sends an "alive-and-well" message to the UE monitor 28, informing the mandatory content provider entity that the UE 14a is switched on and operational, and and has not been tampered with, its mandatory content provider controlled partition(s) 44, 54, 48a-b being available for receiving and displaying mandatory information. The alive-and- well message also comprises the geographical coordinates of the UE 14a. The UE monitor 28 registers this information in its database, and informs the rules manager 22 of the UE's location.

In step 60, the rules manager 22 queries the information server 20 to obtain any information therein associated with the location reported by the UE 14a.

Based on the location of the UE 14a, the current time and date, and the information and associated context data in the information server 20, the rules manager 22 determines, in step 62, that a piece of information available in the information server 20, such as details regarding a planned electric power cut in that area within the next 24 hours, is of such importance to the user of the UE 14a so as to be mandatory information.

As an alternative scenario, if no information relevant to the UE 14a is found in the information server 20, or if information found is not determined as mandatory for the UE 14a by the rules engine 22, the process may return to step 58 and await the next time for transmitting a regular alive-and-well message. However, returning again to the examplary scenario where the information pertaining to the planned power cut has been determined as mandatory for the UE, in step 64, the rules manager 22 transmits data representing the mandatory information, together with an indication that the information is mandatory, to the UE 14a.

In step 66, the UE 14a displays at least a portion of the mandatory information in the mandatory content provider (MCP) controlled area 44 of the touch screen display. By way of example, the UE may display, in a

stakeholder subpartition 46b associated with the electric power company, the notification "Warning: power cut".

In step 68, the UE 14a detects a user interaction with the touch screen display 30.

In step 70, the UE 14a determines whether the user interaction is related to any information or application displayed on the mandatory content provider controlled area 44 of the touch screen display 30. By way of example, the user may have pressed the notification message on the screen to open an information window presenting more details of the mandatory information. The information window may open in e.g. the user controlled area 42, or on a separate, mandatory content provider controlled screen 48a, which the UE 14a may redirect to the physical touch screen display 30.

If the user interaction is not related to any information or application displayed on the mandatory content provider controlled portion 44 of the touch screen display, no user interaction data will be transmitted to the user interaction recorder, and the process will return to step 68. Alternatively, if the user interaction is related to any information or application displayed on the mandatory content provider controlled portion 44 of the touch screen display, the UE 14a transmits, in step 72, data representing the user interaction to the user interaction recorder 26. The data representing the user interaction may, by way of example, comprise an identification of the data which has been displayed (the message from the electric power company), and a confirmation that the user has opened the window displaying the more detailed

information. Alternatively, the user may have interacted with any information or application displayed on another subpartition 46a, 46c-d of the mandatory content provider controlled area 44. In such an alternative case, the UE 14a would transmit, in step 72, data representing such alternative user interaction to the user interaction recorder 26. Such alternative user interaction may be related to previously transmitted mandatory information.

In step 74, the user interaction recorder 26 stores information representing the user interaction in a database.

The general steps 68-74 may be iterated. By way of example, the UE 14a may transmit additional user interaction data to the user interaction recorder 26 when the detailed information window is closed, e.g. by means of pressing a close button displayed in the electric power company's subpartition 46b of the mandatory content provider controlled area 44. The UE 14a may also transmit user interaction data pertaining to previously received

mandatory information, displayed in other display areas reserved for mandatory content, to the user interaction recorder 26.

Prior to cutting the power, the electric power company may access the user interaction recorder 26 via the stakeholder interface 24, to retrieve any user interaction data associated with their information transmission. The user interaction data may be retrieved either in an aggregated form, to determine e.g. how many percent of the UEs within the relevant geographical area have displayed the detailed information, or in individual form to determine which UEs have displayed the information and which have not. Such information may assist the electric power company in determining if, and where, any auxiliary measures may be needed to inform the users concerned. The electric power company may also, via the stakeholder interface 24, be allowed to access part of the data of the UE monitor 28, to e.g. retrieve information as regards how many or which of the recipient UEs are alive and well, and can be assumed to at least have displayed the notification of step 66.

Any user interaction not related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition will generate no data transmission to the user interaction recorder 26. Any data generated by the UE 14a, and destined for remote hosts or services, may be routed to the internet 19 by the router 18 (Fig. 1 ). Thereby the user's privacy is safeguarded.

In the example above the entire set of mandatory information is, in response to the "alive and well" message, transmitted to the UE 14a in one single step. Alternatively, data representing only a piece of said mandatory information may be transmitted in a first step, resulting in e.g. a notification displayed on the mandatory content provider controlled area 44. In response to the user interacting with the notification, data representing the remaining mandatory information may be pulled from the information server 20 by the UE 14a. In other words, the entire sequence of steps 64-74 may be iterated. Also the entire scenario of steps 58-74 may be repeated indefinitely.

A second scenario is illustrated by the flow chart of Fig. 5. A

seismographic institute has detected that a severe earthquake may be imminent. A public authority decides that it is important that as many people as possible be alerted, and uploads the information to the information server 20. The information is categorized as "public danger" and given the highest priority. In step 76, the rules manager 22 decides, based on the context of the information, that the information is mandatory information to be transmitted to all UE users.

In step 78, the rules manager 22 transmits the mandatory information to all UEs 14a-c, including the exemplary UE 14a. The transmission includes an instruction to lock the respective user controlled areas 42 of the UEs 14a-c from user interaction until the mandatory information displayed in the mandatory content provider controlled area 44 has been actively confirmed by the user. Subsequent steps 80-86 are performed by each UE 14a-c, but are only described in detail for exemplary UE 14a.

In step 80, the UE 14a locks the user controlled area 42 of the touch screen display 30 from user interaction, and displays the mandatory information on the user controlled area 42 along with a confirmation button on the mandatory content provider controlled area 44. Thereby, no information or content not controlled by the mandatory content provider will draw the user's attention from the mandatory information. The UE may also emit a sound or flash the display in order to attract the user's attention.

In step 82, the UE 14a detects a user interaction with the touch screen display 30. As the user-controlled area 42 is locked, the UE will also thereby have implicitly determined that the user interaction is related to information or applications displayed on the mandatory content provider controlled area 44 of the touch screen display 30.

In step 84, the UE 14a transmits data representing the user interaction to the user interaction recorder 26. In particular, if the user has pressed the confirmation button generated in step 80, the UE 14a will transmit a read receipt, identifying the UE 14a and the mandatory information, to the user interaction recorder 26. It will also unlock the user controlled area 42 of the touch screen display 30.

In step 86, the user interaction recorder 26 stores information representing the user interaction in a database.

A third scenario is illustrated by the flow chart of Fig. 6. Several people have been injured in an accident, and the local hospital is in urgent need of blood. The hospital uploads a request for blood to the information server 20. A plurality of UE users are blood donors, and subscribe to blood requests from the local hospital. Subscription information for various subscriptions, such as the exemplary subscription to blood requests, may be stored in a subscription database on the information server 20. For each UE 14a-c, subscription information may comprise one or several user identities associated with the respective UE identity, and one or several subscriptions associated with each user identity and/or the UE identity.

In step 90, the rules manager 22 decides, based on the stakeholder identity, the type of information, information in the subscription database of the information server 20, and information in the UE monitor database, that the request is mandatory information to be transmitted to all UEs 14 which are associated with a user who subscribes to blood requests, and which have a last known position, according to the UE monitor 28, within 20 km of the hospital.

In step 92, the rules manager 22 transmits the mandatory information to all UEs 14 for which it has been decided by the rules manager 22 that the information is mandatory. The transmission includes an instruction to each UE 14 to open an application displaying a calendar shared between the hospital and the UEs. The application may be transmitted to the UEs 14 together with the mandatory information, or it may already be present on the UEs 14. The application displays to each user an invitation to either make an appointment in the shared calendar for donating blood at the hospital as soon as possible, or decline.

In step 94, the user's response, including any calendar appointmend made or accepted by the user, is detected and transmitted to the user interaction recorder 26 for storage in a database.

The hospital may, via the stakeholder interface 24, continuously poll the database of the user interaction recorder 26 for information regarding how many blood donors can be expected, and when they can be expected, in order to schedule resources needed for tapping donors, and plan treatment of accident victims. Retrieving also detailed information as regards the identity of who will show up allows e.g. associating donors with blood types stored the hospital's donor database, for even better planning.

When there are enough appointments to meet the demand for blood, the rules manager 22 may decide, either based on the recorded user interactions, or based on input from the hospital via the stakeholder interface 24, that the fact that the demand for blood is expected to be met is mandatory information for all UEs which received the request for blood, but which have not yet transmitted any response to it to the user interaction recorder. The invention has mainly been described above with reference to a few embodiments. However, as is readily appreciated by a person skilled in the art, other embodiments than the ones disclosed above are equally possible within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended patent claims.

For example, the information server 20, rules engine 22, stakeholder interface 24, user interaction recorder 26, and UE monitor 28 have been illustrated as separate entities interconnected in a network. Alternatively, they may be co-located in any suitable constellation, and may also be

implemented in the same hardware and/or software in any suitable

constellation. In fact, those services need not at all operate on any dedicated hardware; they may run on virtualized servers running on distributed hardware and/or software platforms, e.g. as cloud-based services.

Information which, in the decision step performed by e.g. the rules manager, is deemed non mandatory for a UE may anyway be communicated to the UE on a non-mandatory basis. The present application does not exclude the possibility of transmitting the same information as mandatory information to some UEs, and as non-mandatory information to others.

Claims

1 . A method of providing important information to a user equipment, UE, user, the method comprising

providing a first, user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b) of a UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 50a-b; 56a-b) for non-mandatory use; providing a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) of said UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 50a-b; 56a-b) reserved for mandatory content;

deciding, based on a rule, that said important information is mandatory information to be transmitted to said UE (14a-c);

based on said decision, transmitting data representing said mandatory information, obtained from a mandatory content provider controlled information server (20) remote from said UE (14a-c), to said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b);

displaying at least a portion said mandatory information to the user; detecting a user interaction with the UE (14a-c);

determining whether said user interaction is related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) or the user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b); and

if said user interaction is related to the mandatory content controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b), transmitting data representing said user interaction to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26) remote from said UE.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising regularly sending an alive and well message from the UE to a mandatory content provider controlled UE monitor (28), remote from the UE (14a-c), informing the UE monitor (28) that the UE (14a-c) is switched on and operational.

3. The method according to any of the previous claims, said UE (14a-c) being connected to a virtual private network, VPN (12a-c), wherein said data representing said mandatory information, and said data representing said user interaction, are transmitted via said VPN (12a-c).

4. The method according to any of the previous claims, comprising

if said user interaction is related to the user controlled partition (42; 52;

56a-b), transmitting no data representing said user interaction to said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26).

5. The method according to claim 4, comprising

based on said user interaction, transmitting and/or receiving data to/from the internet.

6. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said mandatory information is pulled by said UE (14a-c) from said information server (20) in response to a notification that mandatory information is available.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said notification that mandatory information is available is transmitted to the UE (14a-c) in response to an "alive and well" notification from the UE (14a-c).

8. The method according to any of the claims 1 -5, wherein said data representing said mandatory information is pushed to said UE (14a-c) from said information server (20).

9. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said deciding, based on a rule, to transmit said mandatory information to said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b), is performed in a rules manager (22) remote from said UE (14a-c).

10. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said user controlled partition of a UE touch screen display resource comprises a first area (42) of a touch screen display (30), and said mandatory content provider controlled partition of said UE touch screen display resource comprises a second area (44) of said touch screen display (30).

1 1 . The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said user controlled partition comprises a first screen (56a-b), and said mandatory content provider controlled partition comprises a second screen (48a-b).

12. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein at least a portion of said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) is divided into a plurality of stakeholder areas (46b-d), each area being reserved for mandatory information from a respective stakeholder, the method comprising associating said mandatory information with a

stakeholder, and presenting said mandatory information in the respective stakeholder area (46b-d) of the mandatory content partition.

13. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said detecting, based on a rule, comprises determining, based on geographical position information provided by the UE (14a-c), whether the UE (14a-c) is within a predetermined geographical area.

14. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said detecting, based on a rule, comprises determining whether the UE (14a-c) is associated with subscription information in a subscription database.

15. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said detecting, based on a rule, comprises determining, based on current time and/or date, whether said information is mandatory and to be transmitted to said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b).

16. The method according to any of the previous claims, further comprising said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26) storing data representing said user interaction in a database.

17. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder (26) together with data identifying a piece of said mandatory information.

18. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder (26) together with data identifying a stakeholder.

19. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said user interaction comprises a user generated confirmation of receipt.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising locking the user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b) from further user interaction until the user has generated said confirmation of receipt.

21 . The method according to any of the previous claims, further comprising transmitting a notification to the mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26) indicating that the user no longer interacts with the mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b).

22. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder (26) together with information uniquely identifying the UE (14a-c).

23. The method according to any of the previous claims, wherein said data representing said user interaction is transmitted to said user interaction recorder (26) together with information identifying the UE user.

24. The method according to any of the previous claims, further comprising a plurality of stakeholders providing important information to the mandatory content provider controlled information server (20) via a stakeholder interface (24).

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising each of said stakeholders collecting data representing user interactions from said mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26).

26. A system for providing important information to a UE user, the system comprising

a mandatory content provider controlled information server (20) configured to store and provide said important information;

a rules manager (22) configured to decide, based on a rule, whether said important information is mandatory information to be transmitted to a mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) of a UE touch screen display (30);

a transmitter configured to transmit data representing said mandatory information to said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b);

a receiver configured to receive data representing a user interaction with the mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b) of the UE touch screen display (30); and

a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26) configured to store data representing said user interaction.

27. The system according to claim 26, comprising a mandatory content provider controlled UE monitor configured to generate an alert if it has not received an alive and well message from the UE (14a-c) for a predetermined period of time.

28. The system according to any of claims 26-27, further comprising a stakeholder interface (24) configured to receive mandatory information from a plurality of separate stakeholders.

29. A user equipment, UE, configured so as to define

a first, user controlled partition (42; 52; 56a-b) of a UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 50a-b; 56a-b) for non-mandatory use; and

a second, mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a- b) of said UE touch screen display resource (30; 48a-b; 50a-b; 56a-b) reserved for mandatory content,

the UE (14a-c) being configured to perform the steps of

receiving data representing mandatory information from a mandatory content provider controlled information server (20) remote from said UE (14a- c);

displaying at least a portion of said mandatory information on said mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b);

detecting a user interaction with the UE (14a-c);

if said user interaction is related to the mandatory content provider controlled partition (44; 54; 48a-b), transmitting data representing said user interaction to a mandatory content provider controlled user interaction recorder (26) remote from said UE (14a-c).

30. The UE according to claim 29, the UE (14a-c) further being configured to regularly perform the step of sending an alive and well message from the UE (14a-c) to a mandatory content provider entity, remote from the UE (14a- c), informing the mandatory content provider entity that the UE (14a-c) is switched on and operational.

31 . The UE according to any of the claims 29-30, wherein said steps are implemented in a program locked from user tampering.