Instant video-and voicemail messaging method and means

• US 20040014456A1
• Filed: 07/10/2003
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: S Aqua Semiconductor LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Suinno Oy
• Inventors: Väänänen, Mikko Kalervo
• Granted Patent: US 7,113,767 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/59 based on real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42382 Text-based messaging services in telephone networks such as PSTN/ISDN, e.g. User-to-User Signalling or Short Message Service for fixed networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53 Centralised arrangements for recording incoming messages , i.e. mailbox systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5315 where the non-audio components are still images or video still image mailbox systems H04N1/324, intermediate storage of video signals for videophones H04N7/147
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of instant messaging. More specifically the invention relates to a server centric method and unit for instant voice and video mail messaging. Even more particularly the invention relates to voicemail messaging with mobile terminals. The inventive methods and units under study allow faster voice messaging and enable similar, but not identical audio/video message “ping ball”. The sending of voicemail in accordance with the invention is instantaneous and involves no different telephone numbers for the sender to remember. The reception of messages is always instantaneous, provided the recipient is available, and only if not available, may the delivery of the messages be delayed.

Claims

1. A video- and/or voicemail messaging method, comprising at least one subscriber terminal and at least one server, characterised by the steps of,

choosing at least one message recipient or a group (110),

forming a communications connection to at least one server (120)

transferring at least one contact directory of at least one recipient to at least one server (130),

recording at least one voice/video message to at least one server via at least one established communications connection (140),

disconnecting the connection to at least one server (150),

at least one server relays the message to at least one recipient terminal via telephony network or the Internet (160).

2. A video- and/or voicemail massaging method, comprising at least one subscriber terminal ad at least one server, characterised by the steps of,

choosing at least one message recipient or a group (210),

forming a communications connection to at least one server (220)

transferring at least one contact directory of at least one recipient to at least one server (230),

recording at least one voice/video message to at least one server via at least one established communications connection (240),

disconnecting the connection to at least one sever (250),

transferring at least one said message and at least one said contact directory to a Store and Forward Server Network (SFSN) (260),

at least one server in the SFSN or the original server relays at least one message to at least one recipient terminal device through the Internet or the telephony network (270),

3. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, undelivered messages are stored at the SFSN (270) or the original server, and attempts to resend at least one message to at least one recipient are made, and/or attempts to resend to alternative contact directories of at least one recipient are made.

4. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, undelivered messages are stored at the SFSN (270) or the original server for a given time, after which they are deleted.

5. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, recipient contact directory may be a telephone number, ISDN number, URL-address, email, IP-address, and the recipient contact information is readily and transparently converted from one directory to the next in accordance with message delivery requirements.

6. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, charging and/or billing for the message delivery may be realised during, before, in between or after any of the phases (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270) and may be fixed price, cost per connection minute or cost per transmitted bit based.

7. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, during, before, in between or after any of the phases (110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 210, 220, 230, 240, 250, 260, 270) the sender and/or at least one recipient may reply, save and/or forward messages on the network, the said server and/or a subscriber terminal.

8. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, the communications connections used between at least one terminal and at least one server or in the SFSN are dial connections, data connections or packet switched connections, typically compliant with:

SS7-, GSM-, H323-, HTTP-, GSM-data, IP-RAN-, UMTS-, WAP-, Teldesic-, Inmarsat-, Iridium-, GPRS-, CDMA-data-, WCDMA-data-, HTTP-, H323-, SMS-, MMS-, USSD-, email-LAN-, TCP/IP-, UDP-, POTS-, NDC-, PDC-, imode-, Globalstar- and/or WLAN-connections.

9. A method as claimed in 1 and/or 2, characterised in that, at least one subscriber terminal and at least one server form a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

10. A video- and/or voicemail messaging server, comprising as least one media player and/or a DSP and at least one data storage means and communications connections in and out of the telephony network, SFSN and/or the Internet, characterised in that,

a recording is arranged to be made to the media player (520, 540) and/or DSP through an established communications connection from a subscriber terminal,

a capture of recipient contact information and/or other message attributes from the subscriber terminal is arranged on the server (500), and the contact information is arranged to be stored to the storage means,

at least one media player (520, 540) and/or DSP is arranged to store the recording to a data file,

at least one data file is arranged to be stored on the data storage means,

at least one data file, or at least one copy of the data file is arranged to be sent to another server in the SFSN and/or a connection is arranged to be formed to at least one recipient.

11. A video- and/or voicemail messaging server as claimed in claim 10, characterised in that, the said storage means is a database associated with a data management utility (530).

12. A video and/or voicemail messaging subscriber terminal, characterised in that,

the user is arranged with the possibility to select at least one recipient,

at least one communications connection is arranged to be formed to the server upon selection of at least one recipient,

the recipient contact information is arranged to be sent to the server,

the terminal is arranged to relay at least one video and/or audio signal to the server,

the communication connection is arranged to be disconnected upon a dedicated action or upon the fulfilment of dedicated criteria.

13. A video- and/or voicemail messaging subscriber terminal as claimed in claim 12, characterised in that, the subscriber terminal is a PC, PDA, mobile station and/or a Apple Macintosh computer with a communication connection compliant with at least one of the following:

SS7-, GSM-, H323-, HTTP, GSM-data, IP-RAN-, UMTS-, WAP-, Teldesic-, Inmarsat-, Iridium-, GPRS-, CDMA-data-, WCDMA-data-, HTTP-, H323-, SMS-, MMS-, USSD-, email-LAN-, TCP/IP-, UDP-, POTS-, PDC, NDC-, imode-, Globalstar- and/or WLAN-connections.