Abstract: An agent based system utilizes a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)-based, Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled information gathering agent that relies on knowledge of a shopper's physical location to support a shopping task while shopping at a mall. Shoppers indicate their shopping goals to the system. Then, as shoppers stroll through a mall, the system informs them of the availability of items of interest to them available in the immediately surrounding stores, as well as any cheaper local alternatives.

Abstract: A system is disclosed that facilitates web-based information retrieval and display system. A wireless phone or similar hand-held wireless device with Internet Protocol capability is combined with other peripherals to provide a portable portal into the Internet. The wireless device prompts a user to input information of interest to the user. This information is transmitted a query to a service routine (running on a Web server). The service routine then queries the Web to find price, shipping and availability information from various Web suppliers. This information is then available for use by application programs such as wordprocessors, e-mail, accounting, graphical editors and other user tools. The system provides an innovative collaborative interface to many popular user applications that are useful in a mobile environment.

Abstract: A system is disclosed that facilitates web-based information retrieval and display system. A wireless phone or similar hand-held wireless device with Internet Protocol capability is combined with other peripherals to provide a portable portal into the Internet. The wireless device prompts a user to input information of interest to the user. This information is transmitted a query to a service routine (running on a Web server). The service routine then queries the Web to find price, shipping and availability information from various Web suppliers. This information is then available for use by various applications through an interface support framework.

Abstract: An agent based system utilizes a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)-based, Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled information gathering agent to create a customized offer information summary based on the location of a user and one or more items of interest. One or more items of interest are obtained from a user. The physical location of the user is determined. A query based on the items of interest and the physical location of the user is then created. A network of information is queried utilizing this query. A customized offer is received from a retailer-based agent in response to the query. The customized offer information associated with the items of interest and their locations relative to the physical location of the user is displayed.

Abstract: A system, method, and article of manufacture are provided for obtaining information on a mobile computing environment utilizing a distributed communication network. A pattern template is generated. This pattern template is stored on a thin client computer. A query is then created on the thin client computer based in part on user input. A network is queried for information utilizing a distributed communication network. A response is then received to the query from the distributed communication network. This response is processed utilizing an application tool on the thin client computer. The response is filtered by the application tool based on the pattern template. Information is then displayed to a user.