1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to accessing data at mobile computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for using call establishment signaling to request data.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Mobile computing devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), often access data in wireless environments. For example, significant portions of the World Wide Web are accessible to mobile computing devices over wireless networks that are managed by Mobile Carrier Service Providers. Wireless networks may also enable mobile computing devices to access personal information, such as, for example, appointments, contact lists, and electronic messages, stored at servers associated with the wireless networks. Mobile computing devices often use these same wireless networks to establish voice connections to other devices.
Establishing a voice connection to another device is a relatively simple procedure. A user manipulates input controls (e.g. a real or virtual keypad) of the mobile computing device to select a telephone number. Input controls may be manipulated to select a sequence of individual numbers or to select a previously entered and saved telephone number from an address book. After the telephone number is selected, the user may “send” the telephone number by selecting an appropriate control (e.g. a send button). This causes a called device (e.g. another mobile computing device or standard telephone) associated with the dialed telephone number to indicate (e.g. by ringing) that establishment of a voice connection is being requested. If a user answers the called device (e.g. by taking the called device off hook or selecting a receive button), a voice connection is established between the mobile computing device and the called device.
Unfortunately, accessing data at mobile computing devices is often not so simple. Mobile computing devices typically access data in wireless environments using a request/receive model. That is, a mobile computing device sends a data request over a wireless network and the requested data is subsequently received back at the mobile computing device over the wireless network.
In some cases, a user of a mobile computing device may request access to personal information stored at a server. To configure such a request, a user may be required to navigate a series of menus to an inbox and then compose a specially formatted Short Message Service (“SMS”) message. Navigating a series of menus and composing a message using the often limited input capabilities of a mobile computing device is burdensome to a user. Such actions may consume a considerable amount of time and may require significantly more keypad selections than are required to dial a telephone number.
Some mobile computing devices are configured to access data from the Web using the Wireless Application Protocol (“WAP”). To access data from the Web, a user of a mobile computing device would, at a minimum, have to manipulate input controls to open a browser and navigate a series of Uniform Resource Locator (“URLs”) to reach data of interest. As each URL is selected, a new Web page may be displayed, taking some amount of time to load. Thus, browsing, similar to sending SMS requests, may consume a substantial amount of time and may require significantly more keypad selections than are required to dial a telephone number.
Therefore, what are desired are systems, methods, and computer program products, for causing a mobile computing device to request data in a more efficient manner.