APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTIMEDIA MESSAGING BETWEEN DISPARATE MESSAGING PLATFORMS
First Claim
1. An apparatus for storing and forwarding messages, the apparatus comprising:
- a first network interface for interfacing with a first network;
a second network interface for interfacing with a second network;
means for receiving an incoming message and delivery information from said first network interface, said incoming message having a message content format of a first type;
a converter for converting said incoming message having a message content format of a first type to a message having a message content format of a second type in response to said incoming message and said delivery information, said converter using said delivery information for selecting said message content format of a second type for said message; and
means for presenting said message having said message content format of a second type to at least one recipient specified in said delivery information, said message content format of a second type including a format where said message is stored in a location in memory, said location in memory pointed to by location information, said means for presenting having a means for creating a web page for presenting said incoming message.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention is an apparatus and method for receiving a message having a first format and for converting the message from the first format to a second format that is compatible for reception by a messaging interface having a destination address corresponding to an intended recipient. In the preferred embodiment, a computer system is used to receive and send messages between messaging interfaces and networks which may be dissimilar from each other. A variety of network interfaces is used to communicate with the networks and which may optionally have a first interface and a second interface for interfacing to a first and second network, respectively. The messages may optionally be presented through a web page. A forwarding program or equivalent may be used to forward subscriber messages to or from remote locations served by a remote computer system, enabling a messaging user to use the remote computer system as a local access point. A browser interface may be optionally used to control messages presented by the computer system on a real-time basis using hyperlink commands. The computer system may also be used in conjunction with: a recipient notification program or equivalent device that determines when a recipient is logged on to a network and if so, provides any messages stored in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox to the recipient; a connection notification program or equivalent device that notifies the computer system that a recipient is logged on to a network so that the computer system can send messages stored in the recipient'"'"'s mailbox, if any; and an apparatus and method for sending and receiving a destination address including Internet addresses using a DTMF generator such as a standard telephone keypad.
-
Citations
99 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for storing and forwarding messages, the apparatus comprising:
-
a first network interface for interfacing with a first network;
a second network interface for interfacing with a second network;
means for receiving an incoming message and delivery information from said first network interface, said incoming message having a message content format of a first type;
a converter for converting said incoming message having a message content format of a first type to a message having a message content format of a second type in response to said incoming message and said delivery information, said converter using said delivery information for selecting said message content format of a second type for said message; and
means for presenting said message having said message content format of a second type to at least one recipient specified in said delivery information, said message content format of a second type including a format where said message is stored in a location in memory, said location in memory pointed to by location information, said means for presenting having a means for creating a web page for presenting said incoming message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 76, 77, 78, 79)
-
-
55. A system for receiving and sending messages, the system including at least a first messaging apparatus and a second messaging apparatus, each messaging apparatus comprising:
-
a converter for converting an incoming message having a first format to a processed message having a delivery format, said converter converting said incoming message to said delivery format according to a format specified by delivery information provided by a user;
a first network interface linked to said converter and a first network, said first network interface including a means for transporting a message between said converter and at least one messaging interface linked to said first network;
a second network interface linked to said converter and a second network, said second network interface for transporting a message between said converter and at least one messaging interface linked to said second network;
means for delivering said processed message through said first network or through said second network in response to said delivery information; and
wherein said first messaging apparatus is coupled to said second messaging apparatus through said first network. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
-
-
80. A method of operating a messaging system having at least a first messaging apparatus and a second messaging apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:
-
interfacing the first messaging apparatus with a first network;
interfacing the second messaging apparatus with said first network;
interfacing the first messaging apparatus with a second network;
interfacing the second messaging apparatus with a third network;
receiving an incoming message and delivery information from said first network, said incoming message and said delivery information received by said first messaging apparatus, said incoming message having a message content format of a first type;
routing said incoming message and said delivery information to the second messaging apparatus if said delivery information contains a delivery address corresponding to a recipient accessible via said third network, the second messaging apparatus converting said incoming message to a message having a delivery format in response to said delivery information;
converting said incoming message to a message having a delivery format, said step of converting using said delivery information to determine said delivery format, said step of converting performed by the first messaging apparatus if said delivery information contains a delivery address corresponding to a recipient accessible via said second network; and
presenting said message to said recipient using said delivery format. - View Dependent Claims (81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96)
-
-
97. A method of interpreting an Internet address generated by a DTMF signal generator having an alphanumeric keypad, comprising the steps of:
-
associating two successive selections of a “
1”
button on the keypad with a“
.”
symbol;
associating the successive selections of a “
1”
button and a “
2”
button on the keypad, respectively, with an“
@”
symbol; and
associating the successive selections of a “
1”
button and a “
3”
button on the keypad, respectively, with a “
.com”
symbol. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99)
-
Specification