System and method for conditional delivery of messages

• US 10,033,688 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2014
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc Eliot, Boerries, Marco, Higgins, Christopher Williams, O'Sullivan, Joseph James, Martinez, Ronald, Trout, Robert Carter
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David R
• Application Number:
  US14/449,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344386A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 709206, 709207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The disclosure describes systems and methods delivering communications associated with delivery conditions in which the occurrence of the delivery condition is determined by monitoring information received from a plurality of sources via multiple communication channels. The message delivery systems allow messages to be delivered to any “Who, What, When, Where” from any “Who, What, When, Where” upon the detection of an occurrence of one or more “Who, What, When, Where” delivery conditions. A message (which may be any data object including text-based messages, audio-based message such as voicemail or other audio such as music or video-based prerecorded messages) is delivered in accordance with delivery conditions based on any available data, including topical, spatial, temporal, and/or social data. Furthermore, because the systems coordinate delivery of messages via multiple communication channels and through multiple devices, the communication channel for delivery of a message may be dynamically determined based on the delivery conditions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a sender, at a computing device, a request to communicate a message from a real-world entity (RWE) to another RWE;

receiving, at the computing device, one or more delivery conditions associated with the request, wherein one delivery condition sets a predefined distance from a reference RWE;

identifying, via the computing device, the reference RWE based in part upon the one or more delivery conditions being associated with social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for the reference RWE;

retrieving, via the computing device, data associated with a plurality of RWEs within the predefined distance of the reference RWE, the data comprising social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for each of the plural RWEs; and

delivering, over a network, the message when a predefined number of the plural RWEs are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on relationships between the plural RWEs that are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein relationships are determined based on any one or more or the following data types:

social, RWE interaction, temporal, TO content, and user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on similarity of states between the plural RWEs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each RWE is one of a person, device, or location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition identifies two RWEs and a range of distances between the two RWEs and the method further comprises:

periodically determining, from the data, a current location of each of the two RWEs;

calculating at least one actual distance between the two RWEs based on their current locations; and

delivering the first message when the actual distance is within the range of distances.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition identifies two RWEs, a range of distances between the two RWEs and a temporal condition and the method further comprises:

periodically determining, from the data, a current location of each of the two RWEs and current time;

calculating at least one actual distance between the two RWEs based on their current locations; and

delivering the first message upon determination that the actual distance is within the range of distances and the temporal condition is met based on the current time.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition identifies a specified state of an RWE and the method further comprises:

periodically determining, from the data, a current state of the RWE; and

delivering the first message upon determination that the current state of the RWE matches the specified state identified by the delivery condition.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition is a temporal condition identifying a specified time relative to an event time and the method further comprises:

retrieving an information object (TO) identifying the event time;

monitoring a current time; and

delivering the first message upon determination that the current time is the specified time relative to the event time.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition identifies two first RWEs, a range of distances between the two first RWEs and a specified state of a second RWE and the method further comprises:

periodically determining, from the data, a current location of each of the two first RWEs;

calculating at least one actual distance between the two RWEs based on their current locations;

periodically determining, from the data, a current state of the second RWE; and

delivering the first message upon determination that the actual distance is within the range of distances and the current state matches the specified state.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the delivery condition identifies a specified state of an RWE and a temporal condition and the method further comprises:

periodically determining, from the data, a current state for each of the RWEs and a current time; and

delivering the first message upon determination that the current state of the RWE matches the specified state identified by the delivery condition and the temporal condition is met.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded with computer-executable instructions, that when executed by a processor associated with a computing device, perform a method comprising:

receiving from a sender a request to communicate a message from a real-world entity (RWE) to another RWE;

receiving one or more delivery conditions associated with the request, wherein one delivery condition sets a predefined distance from a reference RWE;

identifying the reference RWE based in part upon the one or more delivery conditions being associated with social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for the reference RWE;

retrieving data associated with a plurality of RWEs within the predefined distance of the reference RWE, the data comprising social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for each of the plural RWEs; and

delivering the message when a predefined number of the plural RWEs are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on relationships between the plural RWEs that are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 wherein relationships are determined based on any one or more or the following data types:

social, RWE interaction, temporal, TO content, and user.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on similarity of states between the plural RWEs.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein each RWE is one of a person, device, or location.

17. A system comprising:

at least one computing device comprising;

one or more processors for executing computer-executable instructions;

memory for storing computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising code for causing;

receiving from a sender a request to communicate a message from a real-world entity (RWE) to another RWE;

receiving one or more delivery conditions associated with the request, wherein one delivery condition sets a predefined distance from a reference RWE;

identifying the reference RWE based in part upon the one or more delivery conditions being associated with social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for the reference RWE;

retrieving data associated with a plurality of RWEs within the predefined distance of the reference RWE, the data comprising social data, spatial data, temporal data and logical data for each of the plural RWEs; and

delivering the message when a predefined number of the plural RWEs are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on relationships between the plural RWEs that are within the predefined distance of the reference RWE.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the predefined number of the plural RWEs is determined based on similarity of states between the plural RWEs.