WO2002093289A2 - Mobile web utilizing services - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed to enable wireless device (100) to discover mobile web services by accessing UDDI registry (170) via wireless network (116) using manual and programmed instructions. User profiles stored in wireless device (100) provide shortcuts for online or offline queries. UDDI registry (170) may also be equipped with executable content to provide additional services for device (100). Alternately, server (140) is provided to execute additional programmed instructions to query UDDI registry (170) in response to commands from device (100). Server (140) can be used to cache files accessed from web sites (160), for selective forwarding to the wireless device (100).

Description

MOBILE WEB UTILIZING SERVICES

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application claims priority to U.S. Application Serial No. 10/078,353, filed

February 21, 2002, entitled, "Mobile Web Utilizing Services, " which is a continuation-in- part of U.S. Application 09/854,619, entitled "Mobile Web Services", filed May 15, 2001, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Field of the Invention:

The invention disclosed broadly relates to methods for providing Internet services and more particularly relates to improvements in mobile device accessing of Internet and other network services.

Background Art: Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) is a de facto standard for an

Internet-based registry. The UDDI registry enables users to discover services and businesses on the Internet. The UDDI standard takes advantage of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Domain Name System (DNS) protocol, and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) messaging protocol. The UDDI registry enables users to quickly, easily and dynamically find businesses and services on the Internet. The UDDI registry enables businesses to reach their customers and partners with information about their products and Web services. The UDDI registry also enables businesses to integrate into each other's systems and processes. Registering enables a business to publicly list basic information about its company and offerings. There is also the option to list a catalog of products, services and guidelines for engagement. Registered businesses and their catalogs of services and products are then accessible in searches by potential buyers. Details of the UDDI registry and its searching protocol can be found in the following online papers: UDDI Executive White Paper. September 6, 2000, http://www.uddi.org/pubs/UDDI_Executive_White_Paper.pdf

UDDI Technical White Paper. September 6, 2000, http://www.uddi.org/pubs/Iru_UDDI_Technical_White_Paper.pdf UDDI Programmer's API 1.0. UDDI Open Draft Specification 30 September 2000. by Toufic Boubez, et al., http://www.uddi.org/pubs/ProgrammersAPI-Vl-l.pdf

UDDI Data Structure Reference. UDDI Open Draft Specification 30 September 2000. by Toufic Boubez, et al., http://www.uddi.org/pubs/DataStructure-Vl.pdf

Mobile phones and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) are able to access the Internet using the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). As an example, the Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0 is a software product containing the components necessary to implement a WAP client on a wireless device. These components include a Wireless Markup Language (WML) Browser, WMLScript engine, Push Subsystem, and Wireless Protocol Stack. The Nokia WAP Client is a source-code product that can port and integrate into wireless devices such as mobile phones and wireless PDAs. Application programs stored in the wireless device interact with the WAP Client to implement a variety of communications applications. Details of the Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0 can be found in the online paper: Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0. Product Overview. Nokia Internet Communications, 2000, www.nokia. co /corporate/wap . Digital communications networks can be categorized in terms of their geographic coverage, their transmission media, their protocols, their transmission speeds, the types of equipment that they interconnect, and other criteria. An example of geographic coverage categories includes wide area networks (WANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), local area networks (LANs), and personal area networks (PANs). An example of transmission media categories includes fixed station wireline networks, mobile wireless networks, and hybrid combinations of fixed station wireline networks communicating through wireless access points with wireless networks. There are many digital wireless, wide area network architectures. Most of them are connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to provide access to wireline telephones and digital computers. A short list includes Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), IS-136 TDMA-based Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service (DAMPS), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), IS-95 CDMA-based cdmaOne System, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and broadband wireless systems such as W- CDMA, and Broadband GPRS. For more information on these digital wireless, wide area network architectures, see the book by Yi-Bing Lin, et al. entitled Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures. John Wiley & Sons, 2001.

Wide area networks can include communications satellite links that interconnect nation-wide digital networks located on different continents. Nation-wide digital networks typically include backbone networks, regional distribution hubs, and routers, which interconnect access subnetworks serving local routers, servers, and service providers. The Internet is a familiar example of a wide area network. For more information on the Internet as a wide area network, see the book by Daniel Minoli, et al. entitled Internet Architectures. John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

At the other end of the range for geographic coverage are short-range wireless systems. Short-range wireless systems have a typical range of one hundred meters or less. They often combine with systems wired to the Internet to provide communication over long distances. The category of short-range wireless systems include both a wireless personal area network ("PAN") and a wireless local area network ("LAN"). Both of these networks have the common feature of operating in unlicensed portions of the radio spectrum, usually either in the 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band or the 5 GHz Unlicensed- National Information Infrastructure ("U-NII") band. Wireless personal area networks use low cost, low power wireless devices that have a typical range often meters. The best- known example of wireless personal area network technology is the Bluetooth Standard, which operates in the 2.4 GHz ISM band. It provides a peak air link speed of one Mbps and a power consumption low enough for use in personal, portable electronics such as PDAs and mobile phones. Wireless local area networks generally operate at higher peak speeds of from 10 to 100 Mbps and have a longer range, which requires greater power consumption. Wireless local area networks are typically used as wireless links from portable laptop computers to a wired LAN, via an access point (AP). Examples of wireless local area network technology include the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard and the HIPERLAN Standard, which operates in the 5 GHz U-NII band. For more information on wireless LANs, see the book by Jim Geier entitled Wireless LANs. Macmillan Technical Publishing, 1999. An ad hoc network is a short range wireless system composed primarily of mobile wireless devices, which associate together for a relatively short time to carry out a common purpose. A temporary network such as this is called a "piconet" in the Bluetooth Standard, an "independent basic service set" ("IBSS") in the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard, a "subnet" in the HIPERLAN Standard, and generally a radio cell or a "micro-cell" in other wireless LAN technologies. Ad hoc networks have the common property of being an arbitrary collection of wireless devices, which are physically close enough to be able to communicate and which are exchanging information on a regular basis. The networks can be constructed quickly and without much planning. Members of the ad hoc network join and leave as they move into and out of the range of each other. Most ad hoc networks operate over unlicensed radio frequencies at speeds of from one to fifty-four Mbps using carrier sense protocols to share the radio spectrum. The distance over which they can communicate ranges from ten meters for Bluetooth piconets to over one hundred meters for wireless LAN micro-cells in an open environment. Ad hoc networks consist primarily of mobile wireless devices, but can also include one or more access points, which are stationary wireless devices operating as a stand-alone server or connected as gateways to other networks.

What is needed is the ability of a mobile phone or wireless PDA to discover Internet businesses and services by accessing the UDDI registry. It would be even more useful to facilitate the formation of a query to the UDDI registry for the wireless device user. It would be beneficial to maintain a personal profile of the user's Internet accessing preferences and to use that profile in formulating a detailed UDDI query of the UDDI registry from the user's abbreviated inputs to the wireless device. What is also needed is a generic facility to invoke required components in a user terminal and in a server to execute services for the end user. Incorporation of pre- and post-processing applications, along with search agents, would greatly increase the flexibility of mobile web services. Terminals with limited memory capacity would further require interaction protocols that would accommodate such devices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION: In accordance with the invention, a system and method is disclosed to enable a mobile phone or wireless PDA to discover Internet businesses and services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry. The method facilitates the formation of a query to the UDDI registry for the wireless device user. The method constructs a personal user profile of the user's UDDI searching strategies and Internet accessing preferences. The user profile can be used as a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry or for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated inputs to the wireless device. The method is embodied as programmed instructions which may be executed within the user's wireless device to query the UDDI registry. Alternately, method is embodied as programmed instructions which may be executed within a separate knowledge engine server to query the UDDI registry in response to commands from the user's wireless device. The server can be used to cache files accessed from web sites, for selective forwarding to the user's wireless device. Additional programmed instructions are acquired by the device and executed within the device to communicate with mobile web services that are made available through business-end servers. In one aspect of the invention, a terminal configured with advanced search functionality contacts a service provider that has stored history information of a users. A knowledge engine of the service provider performs pre-processing of queries sent by a terminal, or may provide back the pre-processed query to the terminal for enabling a direct request from the terminal to a preferred search engine or system. Post-processing capabilities for searches received from the knowledge engine may also be included in the terminal. The knowledge engine may further act as a search agent for the user and make queries on behalf of the terminal. When search results are received back to the knowledge engine or terminal, the search results may be filtered or prioritized and sorted based on user profile information available to the knowledge engine. Additional components may be added to the search to enable branding of the search functionality.

In another aspect of the invention, an invocation server may be implemented in a web services site to facilitate mobile web applications. Service logic can be set up in the server to serve as an intermediary between mobile web services and a server. Mobile web services are set up to be customized for each web services site, and can be securely downloaded by terminals by invoking the service get_access to the service logic in the site. The mobile web services may be partitioned and invoked separately as needed.

The sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing method begins by entering a search handle that will be associated with the user's search strategy. Then the query terms are entered by the user, which may be a business name, part of a business name, a service description, or other characterization. If the characterization is part of a business name, the wireless device then sends afind business XML inquiry using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to the UDDI registry. The wireless device then receives back from the UDDI registry, a businessList message that contains a list of business names satisfying the find_business query. The user can then select an item from the returned businessList message and drill-down in the selected business' entity data.

The wireless device then sends a find service XML inquiry using SOAP to the UDDI registry. The wireless device then receives back from the UDDI registry, a serviceList message that contains a list of names of services offered by the selected business. The user can then select an item from the returned serviceList message and drill-down in the selected service data.

The wireless device then sends a _get_serviceDetail_ XML inquiry using SOAP to the UDDI registry. The wireless device then receives back from the UDDI registry, a serviceDetail message that includes bindingTemplate data that contains the details of the selected service. Included in the bindingTemplate data is the accessPoint URL, which is the URL of the selected service on the web site of the selected business. The service details may be comprehensive or abbreviated, and may also be prioritized according to the needs of the user (or not prioritized at all).

The wireless device then displays the accessPoint URL to the user. The wireless device also stores the search handle in user profile with the selected accessPoint URL, to enable the user to access web pages from the web site of the selected business. This provides the user with a shortcut for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

The wireless device also stores the search handle in user profile with the UDDI registry search strategy. The stored search strategy includes the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected business Service data, the selected bindingTemplate data, and the selected accessPoint URL. This provides the user with a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device. The search handle may be associated with an icon on the user's screen. Thus, activation of the icon by the user would initiate the shortcut.

To replay a UDDI registry search strategy, the user merely enters a search handle into the wireless device and selects the replay option. The wireless device then accesses the UDDI registry search strategy from user profile corresponding to the search handle and loads the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data as each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user. If the data in the UDDI registry has been updated since the user's last query, the bindingTemplate data may contain additional or modified accessPoint URLs, of the selected service on the web site of the selected business.

The sequence of operational steps described above for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing method can also be carried out in a separate knowledge engine server. The server performs the above described method to query the UDDI registry in response to commands from the user's wireless device. The knowledge engine in the server begins by receiving user's query or search handle. If a search handle has been received, then the server replays a corresponding search strategy for the UDDI registry accessed from the user's profile and uses the query steps specified in the strategy instead of requesting further inputs from the user.

If, however, the knowledge engine server has received a new user query, the server then accesses the UDDI registry using the method described above to identify web sites. The server returns a list of web sites to the user and stores binding templates in the user's profile. The server then receives the user's selection of web sites to search and the server updates user profile with these preferences.

Whether the server begins by receiving the user's new query or the user's search handle, the server proceeds to search the identified web sites using the URLs contained in the stored binding templates. The server retrieves any documents resulting from the search of the specified web sites. The server applies a filter that is prescribed by the user and stored in the user's profile, to limit the returned documents to only those of particular interest to the user. The server sorts the documents in a list having an order established in accordance with user's profile. The server further stores the filtered documents and the sorted list in a cache for later use. The documents may subsequently be accessed selectively by the user. The server also returns the list of documents to user, and if the user is not logged on, the list will be returned to the user when he/she next logs on. It should be noted that the filter may be automatically created, based on the profile information or history information available on the interests of the user. Thus it would be possible, for example, for a server to determine interests of a user through earlier selections that were made. The server receives the user's selections from the list and it updates the user's profile with the user's preferences. The server then returns the selected documents to user. As was described above, the knowledge engine server associates the search handle with user's selections and with the user's search strategy, storing that association in user's profile. It is understood that the term "document" under the present invention relates not just to web page documents, but also to services such as streaming video, audio or other application-specific communication. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to just browsing after user discovery has taken place.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES: Figure 1 is a network diagram of the invention, showing an exemplary relationship between the user's Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-enabled portable wireless device, the WAP protocol gateway to the Internet, the knowledge engine server, the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, and a plurality of web sites;

Figure 1A through 1H show the user's wireless device in a progression of stages as it carries out the UDDI registry browsing method;

Figure II and 1J show the user's wireless device in a progression of stages as it carries out the method of replaying a UDDI registry search strategy as a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry;

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the wireless device 100, showing its various components and programs; Figure 2 A is a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing program;

Figure 2B is a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy; Figure 3 A is a network process flow diagram of the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out the UDDI registry browsing program of Figure 2A;

Figure 3B is a network process flow diagram of the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out the program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy;

Figure 4 is a functional block diagram of the knowledge engine server, showing the memory storing the application services software programs needed to perform the operations of the invention;

Figure 4A is a more detailed functional block diagram of the server, showing the knowledge engine;

Figure 4B is a network process flow diagram of the interaction of the wireless device, the knowledge engine server, and the UDDI registry when carrying out the UDDI registry browsing program in the server;

Figure 5 illustrates an embodiment of web services wherein a user's wireless device communicates to a mobile network which in turn is communicatively coupled to an Internet/internet network;

Figure 6A illustrates an example of advanced search and result processing;

Figure 6B illustrates another example of advanced search and result processing;

Figure 6C illustrates advanced search and result processing, wherein a terminal is not utilizing a UDDI system;

Figure 6D illustrates a process of invocation mobile web services;

Figure 7 illustrates yet another embodiment, wherein a terminal communicates through a mobile network to web service sites to access mobile web services;

Figure 8 A illustrates layered interaction of web services utilizing a description/discovery services layer and a web services layer; Figure 8B illustrates another layered interaction of web services utilizing a description discovery services layer, a web services layer, and a mobile web services layer.

DISCUSSION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT: The invention is applied to wireless telephones and wireless personal digital assistants

(PDAs) implementing the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) standard. Figure 1 is a network diagram of an embodiment of the invention, illustrating a relationship between the user's Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-enabled portable wireless device 100, a WAP protocol gateway 120, and the server 140. The user's WAP-enabled portable wireless device 100 can be a wireless mobile phone, pager, two-way radio, smartphone, personal communicator, or the like. The user's WAP-enabled portable wireless device 100 accesses a small file called a deck which is composed of several smaller pages called cards which are small enough to fit into the display area of the device's microbrowser 102. The small size of the microbrowser 102 and the small file sizes accommodate the low memory constraints of the portable wireless device 100 and the low-bandwidth constraints of a wireless network 116. The cards are written in the Wireless Markup Language (WML) which is specifically devised for small screens and one-hand navigation without a keyboard. The WML language is scaleable from two-line text displays on the microbrowser 102 of a cellular telephone, up through large LCD screens found on smart phones and personal communicators. The cards written in the WML language can include programs written in WMLScript, which is similar to JavaScript, but makes minimal demands on memory and CPU power of the device 100 because it does not contain many of the unnecessary functions found in other scripting languages.

The Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0 is a software product containing the components necessary to implement a WAP client on a wireless device. These components include a Wireless Markup Language (WML) Browser, WMLScript engine, Push Subsystem, and Wireless Protocol Stack. The Nokia WAP Client is a source-code product that can port and integrate into wireless devices such as mobile phones and wireless PDAs. Application programs stored in the wireless device interact with the WAP Client to implement a variety of communications applications. Details of the Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0 can be found in the online paper: Nokia WAP Client Version 2.0. Product Overview. Nokia Internet Communications, 2000, www.nokia.com/corporate/wap. It is also understood that the system and methods disclosed herein are applicable to other platforms as well, such as XHTML, and is not limited strictly to the WAP protocol. The user's WAP-enabled portable wireless device 100 communicates with the radio tower 114 and can exchange messages for distances up to several kilometers. The types of wireless networks 116 supported by the WAP standard include Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), GPRS, 3G-Broadband, and the like.

The overall process of communication between the user's WAP-enabled wireless device (the client) 100, through the WAP protocol gateway 120, to the server 140 resembles the way Web pages are served on the Internet using the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or World Wide Web protocol: [1] The user presses a key on the user's device 100 related to the Uniform Resource

Locator (URL) of the server 140.

[2] The user's device 100 sends the URL, via the radio tower 114 and the wireless network 116, to the gateway 120 using WAP protocols.

[3] The gateway 120 translates the WAP request into an HTTP request and sends it over the Internet 130 to the server 140, via Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) interfaces.

[4] The server 140 handles the request just like any other HTTP request received over the internet. The server 140 either returns a WML deck or a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) page back to the gateway 120 using standard server programs written, for example in Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs, Java servlets, or the like.

[5] The gateway 120 receives the response from the server 140 on behalf of the user's device 100. If the response is an HTML page, it gets transcoded into WML if necessary. Then the WML and WMLScript coding is encoded into a byte code that is then sent to the user's device 100. [6] The user's device 100 receives the response in the WML byte code and displays the first card in the deck on the microbrowser 102 to the user.

In Figure 1, the protocol gateway 120 includes a WAP protocol stack organized into five different layers (not shown). An application layer is the wireless application environment, which executes portable applications and services. A session layer is the wireless session protocol, which supplies methods for the organized exchange of content between client/server applications. A transaction layer is the wireless transaction protocol, which provides methods for performing reliable transactions. A security layer is the wireless transport layer security, which provides authentication, privacy, and secure connections between applications. The transport layer is the wireless datagram protocol, which shelters the upper layers from the unique requirements of the diverse wireless network protocols, such as CDPD, CDMA, GSM, etc. Additional information about the WAP standard and the WAP protocol stack can be found in the book by Charles Arehart, et al. entitled, "Professional WAP", published by Wrox Press Ltd., 2000 (ISBN 1-861004-04-1). In Figure 1, the user's portable wireless device 100 includes the microbrowser 102 displaying the Mobile Web Services menu, that enables the user to navigate through the cards being displayed and to select options that are programmed by the application programs 106. The user's device 100 also includes the WAP client program 108 which has been previously discussed. The Mobile Web Services menu displayed by the microbrowser 102 in Figure 1 is rendered by the WAP client program 108 under the control of the application programs 106, which are further illustrated in Figures 2, 2A, and 2B. The user can select the session type utilizing the Mobile Web Services menu, by either [A] a direct session with the UDDI registry or [B] an indirect session with the UDDI registry through a knowledge server 140. The direct session with the UDDI registry is further illustrated in the network process flow diagrams of Figures 3 A and 3B. The knowledge service adds value to UDDI searches with pre and post-processing, regardless of the device being used to access UDDI. The indirect session with the UDDI registry through the knowledge server 140 is further illustrated in the network process flow diagram of Figure 4B. Whichever session type is selected by the user, the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1 presents to the user the UDDI Registry Search Menu from which the user can select the following options:

[1] BROWSE UDDI REGISTRY FOR WEB SITE URLS

[2] DRILL-DOWN UDDI DATA FOR DETAILS [2A] BUSINESS ENTITY DATA [2B] BUSINESS SERVICE DATA [2C] BINDING TEMPLATE DATA [2D] T MODEL DATA

[3] INVOKE WEB SITE W/ CACHED UDDI DATA

[4] ENTER SEARCH HANDLE TO USE PROFILE FROM A PRIOR SEARCH

Option [1] of browsing the UDDI registry for web site URLs allows the user to explore and examine data organized by the UDDI registry in a hierarchy. The core information model used by the UDDI registries is defined in an XML schema. XML allows hierarchical relationships to be described for four types data: business information; service information, binding information; and information about specifications for services.

A first type of data is Business information, which is specified in the UDDI registry with the businessEntity XML element. The businessEntity XML element typically includes the name, general description, contacts, and categories of the business whose web site is on the Web. The businessEntity XML element serves as the top of the information hierarchy for all of the information about a business under the present embodiment.

A second type of data is Service information, which is specified in the UDDI registry with the businessService XML element. One or more businessService XML elements is contained in each businessEntity XML element. The businessService XML element includes one or more bindingTemplate XML elements, which are a third type of data. The businessService XML element is a descriptive container that is used to group a series of related Web services related to either a business process or category of services, such as purchasing services, shipping services, news services, and other high-level business processes. The businessService XML element information sets can each be further categorized in combinations of industry, product and service or geographic subjects.

The bindingTemplate XML element contains the detailed technical descriptions of Web services. As such, these structures provide the technical entry point URL for specific services and products offered by a business. Each bindingTemplate XML element structure has a single logical businessService XML element parent, which in turn has a single logical businessEntity XML element parent. An important piece of information in the bindingTemplate XML element is the accessPoint element. The accessPoint element is the URL of a specific service provided by the business. A single attribute is typically provided, and is identified in the present embodiment as URLType. The purpose of the URLType attribute is to facilitate searching for entry points associated with a particular type of service. An example might be a purchase order service that provides three entry points, one for HTTP, one for SMTP, and one for FAX ordering. In this example, a businessService XML element contains three bindingTemplate XML element entries, each with identical data with the exception of the accessPoint value and URLType value.

A fourth type of data in the UDDI registry is the tModel XML element, which is pointed to by a pointer in the bindingTemplate XML element. The tModel XML element specifies the protocols, interchange formats and interchange sequencing rules for accessing web pages from the business' server having the service information specified in the businessService XML element.

Option [1] of the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1, is: [1] BROWSE UDDI REGISTRY FOR WEB SITE URLS

Option [1] of browsing the UDDI registry for web site URLs involves starting with some broad information, performing a search, finding general result sets and then selecting more specific information for drill-down. The UDDI registry accommodates the browse pattern with the find xx API call. These calls form the search capabilities provided by the UDDI registry and are matched with return messages that return overview information to match the supplied search criteria. A typical browse sequence may involve finding whether a particular business has any information registered in the UDDI registry. This sequence would start with a call find_business, and may subsequently pass the first few characters of the businesses name. The UDDI registry would then return a businessList result. The businessList result is a list of overview information (keys, names and description) of the businessEntity information that matched the search results returned by the find_business query. Figure 1A through 1H illustrate the user's wireless device in a progression of stages as it carries out the UDDI registry browsing method. Figure 2 A illustrates a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing program. Figure 3 A illustrates a network process flow diagram, showing the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out the UDDI registry browsing program of Figure 2 A.

Option [2] of the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1, is: [2] DRILL-DOWN UDDI DATA FOR DETAILS

[2A] BUSINESS ENTITY DATA

[2B] BUSINESS SERVICE DATA

[2C] BINDING TEMPLATE DATA

[2D] TjMODEL DATA

After the user has identified a business he/she has been browsing for in Option [1], the user can drill-down into their businessService information. Here, the user may search for particular service types (e.g. purchasing, shipping, news and the like) using the find_service API call. Similarly, if the user knows the technical fingerprint (tModel signature) of a particular product and wants to see if the business he/she has chosen supports a compatible service interface, the user can use the find-binding API call.

Once the user has a key for one of the four main data types managed by the UDDI registry, he/she can use that key to access the full registered details for a specific data type (businessEntity, businessService, bindingTemplate, or tModel). The full registered information for any of these structures can be accessed by passing a relevant key type to one of the get _xx API calls to the UDDI registry. Continuing with the example on browsing, one of the data items returned by all of the find-xx return sets is key information. In the case of a business that the user is interested in, the businessKey value returned within the contents of a businessList structure can be passed as an argument to the UDDI registry to get businessDetail. The successful return of this message is a businessDetail message containing the full registered information for the entity whose key value was passed. This typically will be a full businessEntity structure. Since full businessEntity structures can contain a large quantity of information, it can be optionally cached in the cache 144 of the knowledge engine server 140 of Figure 1.

Option [3] of the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1, is:

[3] INVOKE WEB SITE W/ CACHED UDDI DATA

After the user has retrieved the businessEntity structure from the UDDI registry 170 of Figure 1, the user can access the accessPoint element of the bindingTemplate XML element in the businessEntity structure to obtain the URL of a specific service provided by the business. Option [3] invokes the business' web site 160 with the cached URL to access the desired web pages. Since the accessed web pages from the web site 160 can contain a large quantity of information, it can be optionally cached in the cache 144 of the knowledge engine server 140 of Figure 1. Typically, if bindingTemplate is used to attempt contact services directly at the accessPoint and fails, the terminal may use the bindingTemplate 's unique ID to fetch a new bindingTemplate instance from the UDDI registry, assuming that the new instance contains up-to-date information on the service.

Option [4] of the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1, is: [4] ENTER SEARCH HANDLE TO USE PROFILE FROM A PRIOR SEARCH

Option [4] enables the user to replay a prior UDDI registry search strategy. The user typically enters a previously used search handle into the wireless device and selects the replay Option [4]. The wireless device then accesses the UDDI registry search strategy from the user's stored profile corresponding to the search handle and loads the business name query, the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data as each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user. If the data in the UDDI registry has been updated since the user's last query, the bindingTemplate data may contain additional or modified accessPoint URLs, of the selected service on the web site of the selected business. Figure II and 1J illustrate the user's wireless device in a progression of stages as it carries out the method of replaying a UDDI registry search strategy as a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry. Figure 2B discloses a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy. Figure 3B is a network process flow diagram of the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out the program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy.

The sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing method are shown in Figure 2A. The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1 A begins by entering a search handle that will be associated with the user's search strategy. The query terms are subsequently entered by the user, which may be a business name, part of a business name, a service description, or other characterization. If the characterization is part of a business name, the wireless device then sends afind business XML inquiry using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to the UDDI registry. The wireless device then receives back from the UDDI registry, a businessList message shown in the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure IB, that contains a list of business names satisfying the find business query. The user can then select an item from the returned businessList message and drill-down in the selected business' entity data. The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1C shows the wireless device then sending afind_service XML inquiry using SOAP to the UDDI registry. The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure ID shows the wireless device then receiving back from the UDDI registry, a serviceList message that contains a list of names of services offered by the selected business. The user can then select an item from the returned serviceList message and drill- down in the selected service data, as shown by the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure IE. The wireless device then sends a _get_serviceDetail_ XML inquiry using SOAP to the UDDI registry, as shown by the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure IE. The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure IF then shows the wireless device receiving back from the UDDI registry a serviceDetail message that includes bindingTemplate data that contains the details of the selected service. Included in the bindingTemplate data is the accessPoint URL, which is the URL of the selected service on the web site of the selected business.

The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1G shows the wireless device displaying the accessPoint URL to the user. The Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1H shows that the serviceDetail message can contain one or a plurality of URLs, depending on the number of matches made against the user's query in the search by the UDDI registry. The wireless device also stores the search handle in user profile with the selected accessPoint URL, to enable the user to access web pages from the web site of the selected business. This provides the user with a shortcut for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device. The wireless device also stores the search handle in user profile with the UDDI registry search strategy. The stored search strategy includes the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, the selected bindingTemplate data, and the selected accessPoint URL. This provides the user with a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

To replay a UDDI registry search strategy, the user enters a search handle into the wireless device and selects the replay option, as shown in the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure II. The wireless device then accesses the UDDI registry search strategy from user profile corresponding to the search handle and loads the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data as each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user. If the data in the UDDI registry has been updated since the user's last query, the bindingTemplate data may contain additional or modified accessPoint URLs, of the selected service on the web site of the selected business, as shown by the Mobile Web Services menu of Figure 1J. Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the wireless device 100, and illustrates its various components and programs. Figure 2 discloses the memory 202 connected by means of the bus 204 to the radio 206, the keypad 104, the central processor 210 and the display 212. The memory 202 contains program modules each consisting of a sequence of programmable instructions. The wireless devices UDDI registry browsing program 240 (see Figure 2 A) is stored in the memory 202. The wireless devices replay UDDI registry search strategy program 270 (see Figure 2B) is also stored in the memory 202. The indirect session thru server program 220 is also stored in the memory 202.

User data 222 is stored in the memory 202, which includes the user ID 230 and the user profile 232. The user profile 232 includes the user's name and email address, the user's search handles, the UDDI search strategies, the sorting and filtering specifications, selected URLS, selected document titles and binding templates which contain URLS. Also contained in the memory 202 of Figure 2 is the cache 224 wherein documents and lists returned from a website, can be stored. In addition, the WAP client program 108 is stored in the memory 202.

Figure 2a is a flow diagram disclosing the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's UDDI registry browsing program 240. The steps depicted in Figure 2A are as follows:

Step 250: WIRELESS DEVICE BROWSING UDDI REGISTRY ENTER SEARCH

HANDLE "_STOCKS_"

Step 252: ENTER QUERY TERMS "_WALL STREET_" + "_FINANC*_" IS

THIS A BUSINESS NAME? Y/N "_Y_" IS THIS A SERVICE NAME? Y/N "_N_"

Step 254: SEND "_find_business_" XML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL TO UDDI REGISTRY Step 256: SELECT ITEM FROM RETURNED businessList MESSAGE DRILL-

DOWN BUSINESS ENTITY DATA "_WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE_"

Step 258: SEND "_find_service_" XML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL TO UDDI REGISTRY Step 260: SELECT ITEM FROM RETURNED serviceList MESSAGE DRILL- DOWN BUSINESS SERVICE DATA "_TECH STOCK NEWS_" Step 262 : SEND _get_serviceDetail_ XML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL

TO UDDI REGISTRY

Step 264: SELECT ITEM OF RETURNED serviceDetail MESSAGE DISPLAY accessPoint URL FROM bindingTemplate DATA "COMPUTERS" IN RETURNED serviceDetail MESSAGE URL =

"_www.wsj .com\news\computers_"

Step 266: STORE SEARCH HANDLE "_STOCKS_" IN USER PROFILE WITH SELECTED URL = "_www.wsj.com\news\computers_"

Step 268: STORE SEARCH HANDLE "_STOCKS_" IN USER PROFILE WITH UDDI REGISTRY SEARCH STRATEGY: BUSINESS NAME QUERY "_WALL STREET_" + "_FINANC*_" businessEntity DATA SELECTED "_WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE_" businessService DATA SELECTED "_TECH STOCK NEWS_" bindingTemplate DATA

SELECTED "_COMPUTERS_" accessPoint URL SELECTED "_www.wsj .com\news\computers_"

Figure 2B shows a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the wireless device's program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy. Figure 2B includes the following steps:

Step 271: REPLAY UDDI REGISTRY SEARCH STRATEGY ENTER SEARCH HANDLE "_STOCKS_". Step 272: ACCESS UDDI REGISTRY SEARCH STRATEGY IN USER PROFILE

FOR SEARCH HANDLE "_STOCKS_", BUSINESS NAME QUERY "_WALL STREET_" + "_FINANC_", businessEntity DATA SELECTED "_WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE_", businessService DATA SELECTED " TECH STOCK NEWS ', bindingTemplate DATA SELECTED "_COMPUTERS_", accessPoint URL SELECTED

"_www. wsj .com\news\computers_".

Step 274: SEND Jind_business_ SML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL TO UDDI REGISTRY.

Step 276: SELECT ITEM FROM RETURNED businessList MESSAGE DRILL- DOWN BUSINESS ENTITY DATA "_WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE ". Step 278: SEND Jind_service_ XML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL TO UDDI REGISTRY.

Step 280: SELECT ITEM FROM RETURNED serviceList MESSAGE DRILL- DOWN BUSINESS SERVICE DATA "_TECH STOCK NEWS_".

Step 282: SEND _get_serviceDetail_ XML INQUIRY WITH SOAP PROTOCOL TO UDDI REGISTRY.

Step 284: SELECT ITEM OF RETURNED serviceDetail MESSAGE DISPLAY accesPoint URLs FROM bindingTemplate DATA "COMPUTERS" IN RETURNED serviceDetail MESSAGE, URL = "_www.wsj.com\news\computers_", URL = "_www.wsj .com\quotes\computers_", URL =

"_w w.wsj.com\graphs\computers_".

Figure 3 A discloses a network process flow diagram showing the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out the UDDI registry browsing program of Figure 2 A. The network process flow diagram in Figure 3 A consists of three columns labeled respectively, wireless device 100, server 140 and UDDI registry 170. The process flow diagram Figure 3A illustrates the interaction between steps carried in the wireless device 100 and steps carried out in the UDDI registry 170. The diagram of Figure 3 A begins with the wireless device 100 step 250 where a search handle is entered. Then, at step 252, query terms are entered. At step 254, the _find_business_ query is sent to the UDDI registry 170. In the UDDI registry column 170 in Figure 3 A, the UDDI registry conducts searches based on the Jind_business_ query and returns the businessList in step 255. The flow then returns to the wireless device 100 and passes to step 256 wherein an item of the businessList is selected which typically is a businessEntity. The businessEntity is then drilled down. The flow then passes to step 258 in which the _find_service_ query is sent to the UDDI registry. The flow then passes to the UDDI registry 170 where the _find service _ query is searched and the service list is returned in step 259. Then the flow passes to the wireless device 100 where an item of the serviceList is selected which is a businessService. The businessService is subsequently drilled down in step 260. The flow proceeds to step 262 in which the _get serviceDetail _ query is sent to the UDDI registry. Then the flow passes to the UDDI registry 170 where the _get_serviceDetail_ query is responded to and the binding template is returned in step 263. Then the flow passes back to the wireless device 100 where in step 264, the serviceDetail is selected from the bindingTemplate and the accessPoint URL is stored in step 264. Figure 3B illustrates a network process flow diagram of the interaction of the wireless device and the UDDI registry when carrying out a program to replay the UDDI registry search strategy. Figure 3B is divided into three columns, the wireless device column 100, the server 140 column, and the UDDI registry 170 column. Figure 3B starts with the wireless device entering the replay UDDI registry search strategy wherein the search handle is entered in step 271. Then the process flows to step 272 where the search strategy is accessed in the user profile which corresponds to the search handle which was input in step 271. Figure 3B then proceeds through the remainder of the processes in a similar manner as that disclosed in Figure 3A. Figure 3B discloses how the user is enabled to replay a prior UDDI registry search strategy. The user merely enters a previously used search handle into the wireless device and selects the replay option. The wireless device then accesses the UDDI registry search strategy from the user's stored profile corresponding to that search handle. This may be performed either at the wireless device 100 or, in the alternate embodiment in the server 140. The search strategy includes information such as the businessEntity data and businessService data and bindingTemplate data that was found during the course of an earlier search of the UDDI registry 170. This data contained in the UDDI registry search strategy (accessed from the stored profile) is then loaded as the data for each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user. In this way, the flow diagram of Figure 3B enables the user to automatically invoke a search strategy of the UDDI registry 170, that was used in the past. Figure 4 is a functional block diagram of the knowledge engine server, showing the memory storing the application services software programs needed to perform the operations of an embodiment of the invention. Figure 4 discloses the functional components of an exemplary knowledge engine server 140 arranged as an object model. The object model groups the object oriented software programs into components that perform the major functions and applications in knowledge engine server 140. The object model for memory 402 of knowledge engine server 140 employs a three-tier architecture that includes presentation tier 415, infrastructure objects partition 422, and business logic tier 414. The object model further divides business logic tier 414 into two partitions, application objects partition 422 and data objects partition 426. Presentation tier 415 retains the programs that manage the device interfaces to knowledge engine server 140. In Figure 4, presentation tier 415 includes network interface 420. A suitable implementation of presentation tier 415 may use Java servlets to interact with WAP protocol gateway 120 via the hypertext transfer protocol ("HTTP"). The Java servlets run within a request/response server that manages the exchange of messages between WAP protocol gateway 120 and knowledge engine server 140. A Java servlet is a Java program that runs within a Web server environment. A Java servlet takes a request as input, parses the data, performs logic operations, and issues a response back to WAP protocol gateway 120. The Java runtime platform pools the Java servlets to simultaneously service many requests. Network interface 420 accepts request messages from WAP protocol gateway 120 and passes the information in the request to visit object 428 for further processing. Visit object 428 passes the result of that processing to network interface 420 for transmission back to the WAP protocol gateway 120. Network interface 420 may also use network adapter 406 to exchange data with another user device.

Infrastructure objects partition 422 retains the programs that perform administrative and system functions on behalf of business logic tier 414. Infrastructure objects partition 422 includes operating system 425, and an object oriented software program component for database server interface 430, and system administrator interface 432.

Business logic tier 414 in Figure 4 includes multiple instances of visit object 428, 428', 428". A separate instance of visit object 428 exists for each network interface 420 session. Each visit object 428 is a stateful session bean that includes a persistent storage area from initiation through termination of the session, not just during a single interaction or method call. The persistent storage area retains information associated with the session.

When WAP protocol gateway 120 sends a query message to knowledge engine server 140, the message is sent to network interface 420 to invoke a method that creates visit object 428 and stores connection information as a state in visit object 428. Visit object 428 may, in turn, invoke a method in UDDI registry browsing application 440 to browse the UDDI registry 170. Application 440 sends queries to the UDDI registry, as discussed above.

When WAP protocol gateway 120 sends a search handle message to knowledge engine server 140, a message is sent to network interface 420 to invoke a method that creates visit object 428 and stores connection information as a state in visit object 428. Visit object 428 may, in turn, invoke a method in replay UDDI registry search strategy application 442 to replay a prior search strategy. The application 442 performs the replay method discussed above. Similar operations occur for applications 444, 446 and 448 in Figure 4.

Figure 4 A is a more detailed functional block diagram of the server, showing the knowledge engine 142. The knowledge engine 142 includes a program which is shown in Figure 4A as a sequence of steps 1 through 13.

KNOWLEDGE ENGINE 142

[I] RECEIVE USER'S QUERY OR SEARCH HANDLE

[2] IF SEARCH HANDLE RECEIVED, THEN REPLAY UDDI SEARCH

PROFILE & GOTO 6 [3] ACCESS UDDI REGISTRY WITH USER'S QUERY TO IDENTIFY WEB

SITES [4] RETURN LIST OF WEB SITES TO USER AND STORE BINDING

TEMPLATES IN PROFILE [5] RECEIVE USER'S SELECTION OF WEB SITES TO SEARCH & UPDATE

USER PROFILE [6] SEARCH THE IDENTIFIED WEB SITES USING URLS FROM BINDING

TEMPLATES [7] RETRIEVE DOCUMENTS RESULTING FROM SEARCH [8] SORT LIST OF DOCUMENTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH USER'S PROFILE [9] STORE DOCUMENTS AND LIST IN CACHE

[10] RETURN LIST OF DOCUMENTS TO USER WHENEVER USER IS LOGGED ON

[I I] RECEIVE USER'S SELECTIONS FROM LIST AND UPDATE USER'S PROFILE

[12] RETURN SELECTED DOCUMENTS TO USER

[13] ASSOCIATE SEARCH HANDLE WITH USER'S SELECTIONS IN USER'S PROFILE Also provided in server 140 is the user data 146 which includes the user ID profile 230 which is discussed above. Since a plurality of users may make use of the server 140, there are a plurality of user profiles shown in Figure 4A, one for the user ID 230' having user profile 232' and another for the user ID 230" having user profile 232". The server 140 of Figure 4 A also has a cache 144 which stores documents and lists which are obtained from the various websites 160 that have been interrogated by the user with the aid of the server 140.

Figure 4B is a flow diagram of the sequence of operational steps for the server 140 UDDI registry browsing program 170. Figure 4B has three columns, the first column labeled user's wireless device 100, the second column labeled server 140, and a third column labeled UDDI registry 170 and web sites 160. Figure 4B illustrates the interaction of the wireless device 100, the server 140, the UDDI registry 170 and the web sites 160, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Starting with the user's wireless device 100, Figure 4B shows sending a query to the server, in step 401. Prior to sending the request from wireless device 100, the user location included in wireless device 100, is sent in step 400. The query request is then transmitted in step 401 to server 140. At the server 140, the query is received from the user in step 402, and the process flows to step 403 where web sites are identified from the UDDI registry and the user's profile is updated. The process in step 403 for identification of the web sites from the UDDI registry is the process which has been discussed above in connection with Figures 2A and 3 A. The process then flows to step 410 in the UDDI registry 170, wherein the UDDI registry accesses the requested information in response to the queries sent from the server 140 to identify web sites. Step 410 then transfers the results of that search from the UDDI registry 170 back to the server 140. At the server 140, the process flows to step 404 wherein the server has taken the information identifying the web sites received from the UDDI registry 170, and formulates a request to retrieve documents which is sent to the web sites 160. The process then flows to step 411 where the web sites 160 receiving the request from the server 140, access their respective severs for the requested documents and then return the documents to the server 140. The server 140 then sorts the documents into a list in accord with the user's profile, sorting the list into the order requested by the user, and filtering out any documents which the user is not interested, in accordance with the user's profile. The process then flows to step 405 in which the documents are stored in the cache at the server, cache 144, and the list which has been sorted by the server 140, is returned to the user. The process then flows to step 406 at the user's wireless device 100 where the sorted list received from the server 140 is presented to the user and the user can select from that list those documents desired to be reviewed. In step 406, the user's request for documents is then sent back to the server 140. The process then flows to step 407 where the server 140 accesses its cache 144 to retrieve those documents selected by the user in step 406, and then the server 140 returns the selected documents to the user's wireless device 100. Step 407 then compiles the user's preferences in the user profile 230. The server 140 can also update the user's preferences in the user's profile in step 409. The process flows from step 407 to step 408 at the user's wireless device 100, where the user receives the selected documents.

Using another embodiment of the present invention, a generic facility may be used to invoke required components in the terminal and in the server to implement end services for the user. Under this embodiment, terminal-end software or components are not required to be resident in the user's terminal, and can automatically be retrieved from the server prior to service activation. By locating executable components on the server side, devices with limited memory capabilities or display sizes may still utilize web services and access runtime service installation and invocation. Numerous security protocols may also be incorporated to ensure that user information is protected throughout the access/execution user iterations.

Figure 5 discloses an embodiment of the web services, wherein a user's wireless device 500 communicates to mobile network 501, which in turn is communicatively coupled to an Internet/Intranet network 502. It should be noted that the system of Figure 5 parallels the systems disclosed in Figures 1, 2 and 4. Mobile network 501 is further coupled to service description & discovery service 506 and knowledge engine 505. Knowledge engine 505 can access information from customer profile 503 in order to tailor searches and requests, described in greater detail above. Knowledge Engine 505 can additionally serve to pre-process search queries, and post-process received data. Service description & discovery service 506 is further connected to web service server 507, which has web services 504 resident therein. Each web service has a defined protocol interface for utilizing that service. When the user device 500 uses the specified protocol, the device will initiate a web service session initiated from the Web Service Server 507 site. Description and discovery services (such as UDDI) may thus further be enhanced. Additionally, a search agent (see Figure 6B) may be made resident within the knowledge engine 505. The agent may be configured to conduct searches on behalf of the user, based on the information in the customer profile 503 (see also Figure 1 and accompanying text). The knowledge engine 505 can thus support agent functions and prepare and/or execute searches while the device 500 is not in active use. Figure 6A illustrates an example of advanced search and result processing under an embodiment of the invention. A user's device, or terminal 600, communicates through network 601 to knowledge engine server 602 and search engine server 603. The terminal 600, knowledge engine server 602 and search engine server 603 are provided with platforms 615, 621, and 622. Terminal 600 is provided with a plurality of software systems 604, 605, 606, that communicate through a search application programming interface (API) 610, as well as other API's 611 that may appear on the terminal 600. It is understood that the actual number of software systems in terminal 600 may vary in accordance with the capabilities of the terminal. Software system 606 is shown as having a search algorithm 607, as well as multiple application algorithms 608, 609. The algorithms are configurable to communicate through a variety of API's specified by the device or by the user. The algorithms in software system 606 may be duplicated, modified, increased or decreased in number in each software system (604, 605) residing in the terminal 600 and may be further altered to suit the user's needs. When a search request is initiated to the search API 601, search function 612 activates request pre-processing 614, which in turn establishes communication with search processor 616 in the knowledge engine server 602. Once a link is established with search processor 616, knowledge engine 617 processes the request to match a user/customer identity and profile, stored in customer profile database 618. Knowledge engine 617 utilizes user profiles and preferences, as well as user terminal capabilities, to modify the search request and match the search with the customer profile information. The modified request is then sent back to request pre-processing 614 and to search function 612. The modified search request is then transmitted to search engine (or UDDI operator site) 619, located in search engine server 603.

At this point, search engine 619 may further initiate modifications to the request in accordance with customer profile 620, which is also located in search engine server 603. Customer profile 620 contains additional information about a user from the search engine server side, and serves to complement pre-processing functions with post-processing capabilities. As search engine 619 provides back search results, the results may be tailored to match user profiles through transmission of the results between result post-processing 613, search processor 616, and knowledge engine 617. It is understood that the search API may alternately be set to function without pre- or post-processing functions in mobile terminals in which the service provider does not have knowledge engine functionality.

Another embodiment of advanced search and result processing is illustrated in Figure 6B. A user's device, or terminal 600, communicates through network 601 to knowledge engine server 602 and search engine server 603. The terminal 600, knowledge engine server 602 and search engine server 603 are provided with platforms 615, 621, and 622. Terminal 600 is provided with a plurality of software systems 604, 605, 606, that communicate through a search API 610, as well as other API's 611 that may appear on the terminal 600. Once again, it is understood that the actual number of software systems in terminal 600 may vary in accordance with the capabilities of the terminal. Software system 606 is shown as having search algorithm 607, as well as multiple application algorithms 608, 609. The algorithms are configurable to communicate through a variety of API's specified by the device or by the user. The algorithms in software system 606 may be duplicated, modified, increased or decreased in number in each of the other software systems (604, 605) residing in the terminal 600 and may be further altered to suit the user's needs. As the search is initiated through the search API 610, search function 612 is executed.

Search function 612 transmits a search request to search proxy 623, located in knowledge engine server 602. Search proxy 623 is configured to handle pre- and post-processing features. Search proxy 623 communicates with knowledge engine 624 to initiate request preprocessing functions. Knowledge engine 624 recalls information from customer profile 618 from which a search is processed in accordance with the profile (see Figure 6A). Once the search has been pre-processed, search proxy 623 forwards the search request to search engine 619, located in search engine server 603. Search engine 619 is communicatively coupled to customer profile 620, wherein additional customer information is collected with the request for post-processing. When search engine 619 returns the profiled search results to search proxy 623, a post-processing function is performed on the search results to establish a user- tailored search before transmitting it back to search function 612.

Search agent 625 may also be implemented in the knowledge engine server 602. Search agent 625 is communicatively coupled with the search proxy 623 and the customer profile 618. Search requests from search function 612 that are sent to search proxy 623, wherein the search function is transmitted to the search agent 625 and stored. Additional data, such as time of search execution, type of search, user profile data, or additional search preferences may be additionally transmitted to the search agent 625. Once the search agent

625 obtains the search request and related information, search agent 625 may provide supplementary search functions, as well as conducting off-line searches. Figure 6C illustrates another embodiment of the invention, where the user's terminal

600 is not utilizing a UDDI system. Instead, Browser 630 directly accesses WWW Server or WAP gateway 626, wherein WWW Server or WAP gateway 626 is communicatively coupled to knowledge engine 624 and/or search agent 625. WWW Server or WAP gateway

626 transmits requests to search engine 619, wherein search results are generated. The remaining function of the system in Figure 6C parallel those already described in Figures

6A-B. It is understood that the system configuration of the present invention may be spread among numerous servers, or may be condensed into a single server.

Figure 6D illustrates another embodiment of the invention, wherein the user terminal performs requests or invocations for mobile web services. The web services are temporarily downloaded to terminal 600, wherein server logic 642 in web service server 638 communicates with back office systems and business logic 648, located in remote server(s) 647. Figures 7, 8A-B illustrate further details of the mobile web service system. Requests are transmitted through invocation API 633, and may be subject to access restrictions in privacy control 636. Data stored in privacy profile database 634 would determine the access capabilities of a user. Once access is granted, invocation client 637 is activated to contact invocation server 644, shown in web service server 638. invocation Client 637 communicates to invocation server 644 typically through a web service interface (not shown). The web service interface can be a published API or protocol that has been requested by the mobile terminal. The API protocol is configured to support web services that match the query. Web service server 638 is loaded with numerous software systems (639-641), wherein service logic 642 resides. Service logic 642 accesses API's 643 and transmits them to invocation server 644.

Invocation client 637 is further enabled to provide device profile information to assist invocation server 644 in selecting suitable web services 645 for the mobile terminal 600. Invocation server 644 will typically access various web service protocols from logic storage 646, or may dynamically create new web services for a particular instance. Invocation server 644 may invoke service logic 642 locally in relation to the selected mobile web service, or may delay the invocation until the web service is accessed from terminal 600.

Figure 7 illustrates an embodiment of the invention, wherein terminal 700, with platform 708, communicates through mobile network 711 to web service sites 712. The mobile network 711 may also include a public cloud UDDI. Knowledge engine server 709, and customer profile 710 provides additional support to UDDI functionality as described above. In order to access mobile web services, terminal 700 searches first for a web service server (from web service sites 712) that supports the web service capabilities of terminal 700. Once an appropriate web service server has been located, the service logic in a server from the web service sites functions to serve as the intermediary between terminal 700 and back office systems and systems logic (see Figure 6D).

Once a mobile web service 702 is downloaded or stored in terminal 700, the mobile web service 702 has a limited number of API's to utilize (704-706). This means that the web services in the mobile terminal are executed in a limited "sandbox". The term "sandbox" refers to applications that are downloaded from a client or an enabled object access to operating system calls or to other resources. To compensate for this, mobile web services 702 access API's locally from the execution environment of terminal 700 (i.e., the sandbox). Enabled API's can automatically provide user data and profile information. The manner of providing API's, as well as the actual number of API's, may further be manipulated to serve the user's needs and minimize the complexities of data entry and transmission. The API's can thus create web services for mobile domains that are user- friendly. Once a user has entered information into a device, the information may be configured to an API to provide local or remote execution of applications that will utilize that information. The information may be locally stored in the device, or alternately stored remotely at a network storage site. Similarly, new information (e.g., "cookies") may be added to the information. Users may have the ability to review the information and choose to transmit or block information that is shared with other applications. For example, a personal API configuration can enable a mobile device to query for items like name, postal address, e-mail address or query for permission to utilize e-mail address in posting lists for new products. A mobile web service can query the API when the user is registering for the first time to a service. Privacy control features may then be used to prompt an end-user for permission to release such information. This enables an end user to be anonymous until registration, or until an m-commerce transaction is initiated. If registration to a specific web service is done, additional API may be provided to mobile web services to store the user registration ID to the mobile terminal, and enable a secure environment for the user. Furthermore, privacy controls may be used to enable automatic transmission to/from web services. Thus, web services in which the user is registered to may make an unsolicited "push" of mobile web services to the terminal when updated or new information becomes available.

As an example, terminal 700 could be initially engaged in a search to find organizations or companies that support the mobile web services of the terminal 700. The terminal may additionally include other search criteria, such as those illustrated in Figures 1- IH. The search may be done directly with UDDI or may utilize WAP or some other browser intermediate between terminal 700 and a portal capable of accessing a registry. When a web server site 712 has been found that supports the desired service, terminal 700 can initiate communication through an invocation client or browser (see Figure 6C-D) to the invocation web service in a server web service site 712. Once communication is established, terminal 700 can request mobile web services (e.g., "B2C e-Commerce Mobile Web Service") from the server invocation web service. Once the request has been received, the server invocation web service will transmit to terminal 700 the appropriate web server instance (i.e., mobile web service), and will simultaneously activate the server side logic 642. Once transmitted, the mobile web service may be automatically or manually activated. Once activated, the web service will communicate with the appropriate API's in the terminal, and will subsequently connect with the service logic in the web service server 638 in the web service site 712.

Communication from terminal 700 to the network may additionally include Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL is known in the art and may be defined as a transport level technology for authentication and data encryption between a server and a browser. SSL typically sends data over a "socket", which is a secure channel located at the connection layer existing in most TCP/IP applications. Sites can use the protocol to obtain and/or manage confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. The information is usually encrypted, and only the user's Web browser and the computer server at the other end running the web site have the key, and thus can understand what is being transmitted. Thus any unwanted outside parties would be prevented from understanding what the user was transmitting. The mobile web service 702 may be configured to access API's in the terminal 700 execution environment, (i.e., the "sandbox") to determine which user data is transmitted.

Thus for a UDDI invocation method, each individual advertised web service can be modeled in a binding Template structure. Invocation of a web service can be performed based on cached binding Template data (discussed above). Using a.fιnd_XX inquiry API, a UDDI compatible browser may display more or less detail as the user searches through information. The following example steps through one iteration of discovering a remote web service:

(1) Access UDDI business registry via web interface that uses the inquiry API to locate businessEntity information by or for the appropriate business that is advertising the web service;

(2) Drill-down for more detail about a businessService or request a full businessEntity structure (businessEntity structure typically contains all information regarding advertised web services); (3) Select a desired bindingTemplate - once the desired information is located, the get_XX call returns full information about the key UDDI structures and saves particular bindingTemplates for later use;

(4) Run program based on the knowledge of the specifications for the web service - this information may be obtained by using a tModel key information contained in the bindingTemplate for a service;

(5) The program invokes the web service using the cached bindingTemplate information (as appropriate) and implements the required interface conventions as defined in the specification referenced in the tModel information.

Figure 8A discloses exemplary layers involved during the use of mobile web services. Terminal 817 initiates a network connection or search 800. Knowledge engine 801 supplements search 800with information retrieved from customer profile 802, and a transmission is made to UDDI cloud 803 located in description/discovery services layer 808. Web services 804 communicate with service logic 805, which in turn communicates with back office systems 806. The resulting invoked web service 807 is transmitted back to terminal 817. Service delivery options include executable content (e.g., JAVA, WML Scripts, etc.) that are downloadable to terminal 817. This executable content contains the "front-end" logic that would communicate with the "back end" logic located in the web server or business logic. Mobile web services that have been discovered may be contacted by web service instance in the mobile terminal. This service instance may be either stored in the terminal semi-statically, or it may be dynamically loaded, as described below.

Figure 8B illustrates mobile web services with invocation capabilities. Figure 8B has the same basic structure as that shown in Figure 8A, except that additional functions and connections are established with mobile web services layer 816. Web services layer 809 is used to find web sites that support invocation web services 811 for terminal 817. The downloaded invocation service 810 enables stored mobile web services 813 that are transmitted from web services 804. Mobile web services 813 are associated with service logic 805 from web services 804 or can be associated with service logic from other remote sites (see Figure 6D). Service logic 815 in mobile web services layer 815 handles terminal- side processing, and may be enabled to link directly to back office systems 816.

During the discovery phase, sites can be matched that have the capability to support both invocation web services 811 and certain mobile web services 813. This means that a search 800 for such a request for include a logical AND combination of terms querying "invocation web service support" and "mobile web service [X]", wherein "X" would represent the supported invocation mobile web service for the invocation web service. Mobile web services layer 814 becomes active when mobile web service instance is received 814 and activated in terminal 817. The mobile web services layer 816 becomes active when mobile web service instance 814 is received and activated in mobile terminal 817. Upon activation, mobile web service instance 814 begins to communicate with server logic 805 in web services 804 to enable the services provided and supported by web service 804. With added privacy/security protocols, invocations of web services (and connections through API's) may be limited to web service instances authorized for a particular user or terminal. Terminal 817 may make a request for a supported mobile web service during or after making an initial search. A matching service instance located in web services 804 will be identified to terminal 817 software. Once the web service instance is activated, the appropriate server acknowledges the presence of terminal 817 for further communications under a mobile web service environment. Thus, as an example, terminal 817 may initiate a mobile terminal to search (e.g., UDDI registry) for all services that provide mCommerce _services and CD_reta.il and mobile_web_services. All of the addresses returned to terminal 817 will be identified as being online CD retailers, wherein each service provider infrastructure is enabled to provide mobile web service software to mobile terminal 817. Through a software module resident in terminal 817, a request can be made to web services 804 to retrieve and download mobile web service mCommerce. Mobile web service mCommerce is typically an executable application that will control and optimize user interfaces and terminal-side functions. The mobile web service will then establish terminal- server functionality for invoking further services. The executable content can now contact the server logic 815 to utilize mCommerce retail services. The executable application may be temporarily downloaded (e.g., JAVA applet), or may reside permanently in a terminal.

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34418 vl Additionally, the application may be sent statically, or may be dynamically generated to match requests made by various terminals. Once a server has prior knowledge of a terminal possessing mobile web services, the server may automatically push subsequent mobile web service instances to the terminal as needed. The system and methods described above allows businesses, for example, with

"eCommerce" sites to easily incorporating "mCommerce" capabilities by implementing the invocation server in the web services server.

The mobile web service (or web service instance) that is temporarily downloaded to the terminal coordinates with the service logic to communicate with the "eCommerce" site's back office systems and business logic. The service provide may also tailor searches to direct selected portions of the search results to "preferred" service sites.

The resulting invention is applicable to virtually all digital communications networks, including wide area networks (WANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), local area networks (LANs), and personal area networks (PANs). The resulting invention is applicable to fixed station wireline networks, mobile wireless networks, and hybrid combinations of fixed station wireline networks communicating through wireless access points with mobile wireless networks. In particular, the resulting invention is applicable to any mobile computing environment, including any wireless wide area network such as a cellular telephone network or any short range wireless system such as a wireless local area network or a wireless personal area network. Examples of wireless, wide area network architectures to which the invention applies include Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), IS- 136 TDMA-based Digital Advanced Mobile Phone Service (DAMPS), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), IS-95 CDMA-based cdmaOne System, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and broadband wireless systems such as W-CDMA, and Broadband GPRS. Examples of short-range wireless systems to which the invention applies include the

Bluetooth Standard, the IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN Standard the HIPERLAN Standard, the IEEE 802.15 Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) standard, the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) standard, the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) standard, the Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) standard, the Japanese 3rd Generation (3G) wireless standard, and the Multimedia Mobile Access Communication (MMAC) Systems standard of the Japanese Association of Radio Industries and Businesses. Although illustrative embodiments have been described herein in detail, it should be noted and understood that the descriptions and drawings have been provided for purposes of illustration only and that other variations both in form and detail can be made thereupon without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The terms and expressions have been used as terms of description and not terms of limitation. There is no limitation to use the terms or expressions to exclude any equivalents of features shown and described or portions thereof.

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Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A method to enable a wireless device to discover mobile web services comprising: accessing a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry via web interface, wherein UDDI registry contains downloadable executable content associated with a request transmitted from a wireless terminal; receiving said executable content to said wireless terminal; activating executable content in said wireless terminal, wherein said executable content implements a connection to a remote server to receive web services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein executable content is in the form of a JAVA applet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein executable content is in the form of a WML script.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said executable content implements a connection through a terminal application interface (API).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said connection is dynamically established with the API.

6. A method to enable a search agent to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: receiving a search agent handle that will be associated with a user's search profile; receiving query terms as at least part of a business name; sending afind_business XML inquiry to a search agent, wherein said search agent processes and forwards the findjbusiness XML inquiry to a UDDI registry; and receiving back from the search agent a businessList message that contains a list of business names satisfying the find_business query in accordance with user's search profile.

7. The method of claim 6, which further comprises:

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34418 vl processing an item from the returned businessList message in accordance with user's search profile; transmitting the selected business' entity data; sending afind_service XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back from the UDDI registry, a serviceList message that contains a list of names of services offered by the selected business.

8. The method of claim 7, which further comprises: selecting an item from the returned serviceList message; transmitting the selected service data; sending a _get_serviceDetαil_ XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back from the UDDI registry, a serviceDetail message that includes bindingTemplate data that contains the details of the selected service.

9. The method of claim 8, which further comprises: including in the bindingTemplate data an accessPoint URL, which is the URL of the selected service on the web site of the selected business.

10. The method of claim 9, which further comprises: transmitting the accessPoint URL to the user.

11. The method of claim 9, which further comprises: storing the user profile with the selected accessPoint URL.

12. The method of claim 9, which further comprises: said user profile including the business name query, the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data.

13. A system comprising: (a) a wireless device configured to communicate over a network;

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34418 vl (b) a memory device, communicatively coupled to the wireless device, wherein said memory device stores at least one user profile and at least one executable program; and

(c) a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory device, wherein said processor and memory function to activate said executable program to facilitate access to a network element.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said at least one executable program is a JAVA applet.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said at least one executable program is a WML script.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said network element is a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said network element is a server including a knowledge engine.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein said network element includes a user profile that further includes a search strategy.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said user profile includes at least one search strategy that is stored by using a search handle for a business name query.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said search handle for the business name query comprises a business entry data.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein said search handle for the business name query comprises a business service data.

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22. The system of claim 19, wherein said search handle for the business query comprises a binding template data.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said binding template data comprises an access point URL of the selected service.

24. The system of claims 13, wherein the wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

25. The system of claims 19, wherein the wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

26. A system for enabling a remote wireless device to access internet businesses or services comprising: (a) at least one memory device, communicatively coupled to a communications network; and

(b) at least one processor device, communicatively coupled to the at least one memory device, wherein said at least one processor device and said at least one memory device function to access files in accordance with at least one search handle transmitted from the remote wireless device to a network element.

27. The system according to claim 25, wherein the accessed files are readable or executable computer code stored in a web site.

28. The system according to claim 26, wherein the accessed files are cached for selective forwarding to the wireless device.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein said network element is accessed using a direct session.

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30. The system of claim 25, wherein said network element is accessed using an indirect session through a knowledge server.

31. The system according to claim 28, wherein said network element is a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry.

32. The system according to claim 25, wherein the at least one search handle is associated with a user's search strategy.

33. The system according to claim 25, wherein said wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

34. A wireless device, configured to discover mobile web services comprising: at least one Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) enabled web interface for transmitting to and from a UDDI registry; a storage medium, communicatively coupled to the UDDI-enabled web interface, wherein said storage medium stores at least one user profile and at least one executable content; a processor, communicatively coupled to the storage medium, wherein said processor activates executable content to implement a connection to a remote server to receive web services.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein executable content is in the form of a JAVA applet.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein executable content is in the form of a WML script.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein said executable content implements a connection through a terminal application interface (API).

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38. The method of claim 37, wherein said connection is dynamically established with the API.

39. A method to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: forming of a query to the UDDI registry for the wireless device user; constructing a personal user profile of the user's UDDI searching strategies; and providing a shortcut for queries to the UDDI registry, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated inputs to the wireless device.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the method is embodied as programmed instructions executed within the user's wireless device to query the UDDI registry.

41. The method of claim 39, wherein the method is embodied as programmed instructions executed within a separate knowledge engine server to query the UDDI registry in response to commands from the user's wireless device.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the server caches files accessed from web sites, for selective forwarding to the user's wireless device.

43. A method to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: entering a search handle that will be associated with the user's search strategy; entering query terms as at least part of a business name; sending a findjbusiness XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; and receiving back from the UDDI registry, a businessList message that contains a list of business names satisfying the findjbusiness query.

44. The method of claim 43, which further comprises: selecting an item from the returned businessList message;

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34418 vl drilling down in the selected business' entity data; sending afind_service XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back from the UDDI registry, a serviceList message that contains a list of names of services offered by the selected business.

45. The method of claim 44, which further comprises: selecting an item from the returned serviceList message; drilling down in the selected service data; sending a _get_serviceDetαil_ XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back from the UDDI registry, a serviceDetail message that includes bindingTemplate data that contains the details of the selected service.

46. The method of claim 45, which further comprises: including in the bindingTemplate data an accessPoint URL, which is the URL of the selected service on the web site of the selected business.

47. The method of claim 46, which further comprises: displaying the accessPoint URL to the user.

48. The method of claim 46, which further comprises: storing the search handle in a user profile with the selected accessPoint URL; providing the user with a shortcut for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

49. The method of claim 46, which further comprises: storing the search handle in a user profile with a UDDI registry search strategy; providing the user with a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

50. The method of claim 49, which further comprises:

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34418 vl said search strategy including the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, the selected bindingTemplate data, and the selected accessPoint URL.

51. The method of claim 49, which further comprises: replaying a UDDI registry search strategy by entering a search handle into the wireless device; automatically accessing the UDDI registry search strategy from user profile corresponding to the search handle; loading query values from said UDDI registry search strategy as each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user.

52. The method of claim 51, which further comprises: said query values including the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data.

53. A method to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: entering a search handle in a wireless device that will be associated with the user's search strategy; entering query terms in the wireless device as at least part of a business name; transmitting the search handle and query terms to a knowledge engine server; sending with the knowledge engine server afind_business XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; and receiving back at the knowledge engine server from the UDDI registry, a businessList message that contains a list of business names satisfying the find Jbusiness query.

54. The method of claim 53, which further comprises: selecting an item from the returned businessList message; drilling down in the selected business' entity data;

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34418 vl sending with the knowledge engine server afind_service XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back at the knowledge engine server from the UDDI registry, a serviceList message that contains a list of names of services offered by the selected business.

55. The method of claim 54, which further comprises: selecting an item from the returned serviceList message; drilling down in the selected service data; sending with the knowledge engine server a _get_serviceDetαil_ XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; receiving back at the knowledge engine server from the UDDI registry, a serviceDetail message that includes bindingTemplate data that contains the details of the selected service.

56. The method of claim 55, which further comprises: including in the bindingTemplate data an accessPoint URL, which is the URL of the selected service on the web site of the selected business.

57. The method of claim 56, which further comprises: displaying the accessPoint URL to the user.

58. The method of claim 56, which further comprises: storing with the knowledge engine server the search handle in a user profile with the selected accessPoint URL; providing the user with a shortcut for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

59. The method of claim 56, which further comprises: storing with the knowledge engine server the search handle in a user profile with a UDDI registry search strategy;

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34418 vl providing the user with a shortcut for online or offline queries to the UDDI registry, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

60. The method of claim 59, which further comprises: said search strategy including the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, the selected bindingTemplate data, and the selected accessPoint URL.

61. The method of claim 59, which further comprises: replaying a UDDI registry search strategy by entering a search handle into the wireless device; transmitting the search handle to the knowledge engine server; automatically accessing with the knowledge engine server the UDDI registry search strategy from user profile corresponding to the search handle; loading with the knowledge engine server query values from said UDDI registry search strategy as each respective operand that would have been otherwise entered by the user.

62. The method of claim 61, which further comprises: said query values including the business name query , the selected businessEntity data, the selected businessService data, and the selected bindingTemplate data.

63. A method to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: entering a search handle in a wireless device that will be associated with the user's search strategy; entering query terms in the wireless device as at least part of a business name; transmitting the search handle and query terms to a knowledge engine server; searching web sites using URLs contained in stored binding templates; retrieving documents resulting from the search of the web sites; and

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34418 vl applying a filter prescribed by the user and stored in the user's profile, to limit the returned documents to only those of particular interest to the user.

64. The method of claim 63, which further comprises: sorting the documents in a list having an order established in accordance with user's profile.

65. The method of claim 64, which further comprises: storing the filtered documents and the sorted list in a cache for later, selective accessing by the user.

66. The method of claim 65, which further comprises: receiving the user's selections from the list and updating the user's profile with the user's preferences.

67. The method of claim 66, which further comprises: associating the search handle with user's selections and with the user's search strategy; storing that association in user's profile.

68. The method of claim 67, which further comprises: providing the user with a shortcut for accessing pages from web sites, in response to the user's entry of abbreviated search handle to the wireless device.

69. A system to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, programmed to perform the steps of: entering a search handle in a wireless device that will be associated with the user's search strategy;

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34418 vl entering query terms in the wireless device as at least part of a business name; transmitting the search handle and query terms to a knowledge engine server; sending with the knowledge engine server a findjbusiness XML inquiry to the UDDI registry; and receiving back at the knowledge engine server from the UDDI registry a businessList message that contains a list of business names satisfying the findjyusiness query.

70. A system to enable a wireless device to discover Internet businesses or services by accessing the Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor, programmed to perform the steps of: forming a query to the UDDI registry for the wireless device user; constructing a personal user profile of the user's UDDI searching strategies; and providing a shortcut for queries to the UDDI registry in response to the user's entry of abbreviated inputs to the wireless device.

71. A system comprising: (a) a wireless device configured to communicate over a computer network;

(b) a memory device, communicatively coupled to the wireless device, wherein said memory device stores at least one executable user profile and at least one abbreviated input; and

(c) a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory device, wherein said processor and memory function to access a network element in accordance with the at least one executable user profile or at least one abbreviated input.

72. The system of claim 71, wherein said at least one executable user profile consists of an abbreviated user input to the wireless device.

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73. The system of claim 71, wherein said network element is a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry.

74. The system of claim 71, wherein said network element is a server including a knowledge engine.

75. The system of claim 71, wherein said network element includes a user profile that comprises a search strategy.

76. The system of claim 71, wherein said search strategy is stored by using a search handle for a business name query.

77. The system of claim 76, wherein said search handle for the business name query comprises a business entry data.

78. The system of claim 76, wherein said search handle for the business name query comprises a business service data.

79. The system of claim 76, wherein said search handle for the business query comprises a binding template data.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein said binding template data comprises an access point URL of the selected service.

81. The system of claims 72, wherein the wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

82. The system of claims 77, wherein the wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

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83. A system for enabling a remote wireless device to access internet businesses or services comprising:

(a) at least one memory device, communicatively coupled to a communications network; and

(b) at least one processor device, communicatively coupled to the at least one memory device, wherein said at least one processor device and said at least one memory device function to access files in accordance with at least one search handle transmitted from the remote wireless device to a network element.

84. The system according to claim 83, wherein the accessed files are readable or executable computer code stored in a web site.

85. The system according to claim 84, wherein the accessed files are cached for selective forwarding to the wireless device.

86. The system of claim 83, wherein said network element is accessed using a direct session.

87. The system of claim 83, wherein said network element is accessed using an indirect session through a knowledge server.

88. The system according to claim 86, wherein said network element is a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry.

89. The system according to claim 83, wherein the at least one search handle is associated with a user's search strategy.

90. The system according to claim 83, wherein said wireless device stores a search handle in a user profile with the search strategy of the network element.

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91. A system for enabling a wireless device to access Internet businesses or services via a Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) registry, comprising:

(a) means for entering and storing at least one user query and at least one search handle in a wireless device, wherein a particular one of the at least one user query is associated with a respective search handle;

(b) means for transmitting the at least one query and at least one search handle to a remote server, wherein said server communicates with the UDDI registry to respond to the at least one user query or the at least one search handle; and (c) means to receive the server response and interactively display the response on the wireless device.

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