Multi-party concurrence through short message service exchanges

• US 20040002350A1
• Filed: 06/26/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level Z LLC
• Original Assignee: Level Z LLC
• Inventors: Anvekar, Dinesh Kashinath, Gopinath, Bhaskarpillai
• Granted Patent: US 6,996,409 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

In a short message service (SMS) wireline/wireless message system, a separate SMS exchange server linked to a multi-party concurrence server implements a value-added service capability to achieve multi-party concurrence. The basic function of the multi-party concurrence operation is that of changing the contents of a data structure in the server based on the responses received from two or more members. The concurrence operation has many applications, such as, the transfer of money to an account only if two or more persons agree to the transaction.

Claims

1. A method for registering concurrence among multiple members comprising

sending a concurrence short message service (SMS) message to each participating one of the members at the request of a concurrence initiator,

sending, in reply to the concurrence SMS message, a SMS response from each participating member, and

processing each SMS response to arrive at a concurrence result.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the contents of a data structure are modified based on each SMS response received from each participating member.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the concurrence SMS message is a query having an alpha-numeric response value.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the processing includes evaluating each SMS response based on pre-defined criteria to yield a concurrence result.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 further including transferring funds from an account controlled by each participating member in correspondence to the concurrence result.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the concurrence SMS message is formulated to conduct an opinion poll among multiple participating ones of the members.

7. A method for processing a short message service (SMS) message comprising

embedding a value-added directive in a concurrence SMS message originated by a concurrence initiator, the directive relating to registering concurrence among multiple members, and

implementing a value-added service based upon the directive.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the directive includes telephone numbers or identifiers of the members, and the implementing includes sending the concurrence SMS message to each of the members.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further including recording a SMS reply message transmitted from each of the members.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 further including evaluating each SMS reply message to determine a concurrence result.

11. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein the concurrence SMS message includes multiple destinations corresponding to the multiple members and the implementing includes modifying the concurrence SMS message in accordance with the value-added service and then sending the modified concurrence SMS message to each of the destinations.

12. A method for registering concurrence among multiple members comprising

sending a concurrence short message service (SMS) message corresponding to a concurrence operation from a concurrence initiator to a SMS exchange,

processing the concurrence SMS message in the SMS exchange to generate a processed SMS message corresponding to the concurrence operation,

sending the processed SMS message to a multi-party concurrence server,

determining information about participating ones of the members from the processed SMS message to form a participating member SMS message,

sending the participating member SMS message to each participating member,

sending, in reply to the participating SMS message, a SMS response from each participating member to the multi-party concurrence server

determining the concurrence result based on each SMS response in the multi-party concurrence server, and

sending the concurrence result to the initiator from the multi-party concurrence server.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the concurrence SMS message is a query having an alpha-numeric response value.

14. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the processing includes evaluating each SMS response based on pre-defined criteria to yield a two-valued concurrence result.

15. The method as recited in claim 12 further including transferring funds from an account controlled by each participating member in correspondence to the concurrence result.

16. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the concurrence SMS message is formulated to conduct an opinion poll among multiple participating ones of the members.

17. A multi-party concurrence server for registering concurrence among multiple members comprising

means for sending a concurrence short message service (SMS) message to each participating one of the members at the request of a concurrence initiator,

means for detecting, in reply to the concurrence SMS message, a SMS response sent from each participating member, and

a processor for evaluating each SMS response from each participating member to arrive at a concurrence result.

18. A system for processing a short message service (SMS) message comprising

means for embedding a value-added directive in a concurrence SMS message originated by an initiator, the directive relating to registering concurrence among multiple members, and

means for implementing a value-added service based upon the directive..

19. A system for registering concurrence among multiple members in response to a concurrence short message service (SMS) message originated by a concurrence operation initiator, the concurrence SMS message containing information relating to multi-party concurrence operation, the system comprising

an SMS exchange for extracting the information from the concurrence SMS message and for processing the extracted information to generate a re-formatted concurrence SMS message corresponding to the multi-party concurrence operation,

a multi-party concurrence server, responsive to the SMS exchange, for transmitting the re-formatted concurrence SMS message to each of the members, for receiving a reply SMS message from each of the members, and for evaluating each reply SMS message to arrive at a concurrence result.

20. The system as recited in claim 19 further including means for transferring funds from an account controlled by each participating member in correspondence to the concurrence result.