Multimedia messaging method and system for transferring multimedia content
First Claim
1. A system for transferring multimedia content between mobile communication devices, the system comprising:
- a relay device configured to receive a digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred; and
a storage device communicably linked to the relay device and configured to store multimedia content previously transferred by the relay device, wherein the relay device is configured to;
determine whether the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the storage device based on the digest and, if the multimedia content to be transferred is not stored in the storage device, request and receive the multimedia content to be transferred.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for sending messages including multimedia content between mobile communication devices via relays. Synchronized local caches are maintained at the relays for storing and retrieving multimedia content originating with end-users, without the necessity of storing the multimedia content into the caches upon publication by a service provider. When a first mobile communication device wishes to send multimedia content to a second mobile communication device, the first mobile communication device initially transmits a digest of the multimedia content to a first relay, rather than the entire multimedia content, and the first relay searches a first local cache maintained by the first relay using the digest to determine whether the multimedia content is stored in the local cache. When the multimedia content is stored in the first local cache, the first relay sends to the second relay a reference to the multimedia content. By utilizing synchronized local caches and transmitting digests and references for multimedia content, redundant transfers of the entire multimedia content are eliminated.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A system for transferring multimedia content between mobile communication devices, the system comprising:
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a relay device configured to receive a digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred; and
a storage device communicably linked to the relay device and configured to store multimedia content previously transferred by the relay device, wherein the relay device is configured to;
determine whether the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the storage device based on the digest and, if the multimedia content to be transferred is not stored in the storage device, request and receive the multimedia content to be transferred. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for transferring multimedia content between mobile communication devices, the system comprising:
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a first relay device;
a first storage device communicably linked to the first relay device and configured to store multimedia content which was previously received by the first relay device;
a second relay device communicably linked to the first relay device; and
a second storage device communicably linked to the second relay device and configured to store multimedia content which was previously received by the second relay device, wherein the first and second storage devices are occasionally synchronized to store the same multimedia content with identical references, and the first relay device is configured to;
determine whether multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the second storage device and, if the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the second storage device, transmit to the second relay device a reference identifying the multimedia content to be transferred. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for transferring multimedia content between mobile communication devices, the system comprising:
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a first relay device configured to receive a digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred to a second mobile communication device from a first mobile communication device;
a first storage device communicably linked to the first relay device and configured to store multimedia content which was previously received by the first relay device;
a second relay device communicably linked to the first relay device; and
a second storage device communicably linked to the second relay device and configured to store multimedia content which was previously received by the second relay device, wherein the first and second storage devices are occasionally synchronized to store the same multimedia content with identical references, and the first relay device is configured to;
determine whether the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device is stored in the second storage device based on the digest and, if the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device is stored in the second storage device, transmit to the second relay device a reference identifying the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for transferring multimedia content between mobile communication devices, the method comprising:
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receiving a digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred;
determining based on the digest whether the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in a storage device; and
requesting and receiving the multimedia content to be transferred if it is determined that the multimedia content to be transferred is not stored in the storage device. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A method for transferring multimedia content, the method comprising:
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determining at a first relay device whether multimedia content to be transferred is stored in a second storage device communicably linked to a second relay device;
transmitting from the first relay device to the second relay device a reference identifying the multimedia content to be transferred if it is determined that the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the second storage device; and
transmitting from the first relay device to the second relay device the multimedia content to be transferred if it is determined that the multimedia content to be transferred is not stored in the second storage device. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for transferring multimedia content, the method comprising:
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receiving at a first relay device a digest from a first mobile communication device, the digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred to a second mobile communication device;
determining whether the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device is stored in a second storage device communicably linked to the second relay deve based on the digest; and
transmitting from the first relay device to the second relay device a reference identifying the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device if it is determined that the multimedia content to be transferred to the second mobile communication device is stored in the first storage device. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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52. A relay device of a communication system for transferring multimedia content, the relay device comprising:
a storage device configured to store multimedia content, wherein the relay device is configured to;
received a digest identifying multimedia content to be transferred by the relay, determine whether the multimedia content to be transferred is stored in the storage device based on the digest, and if the multimedia content to be transferred is not stored in the storage device, request and receive the multimedia content to be transferred. - View Dependent Claims (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
Specification