Methods, apparatus and computer program products for dispatching and prioritizing communication of generic-recipient messages to recipients

• US 20050198183A1
• Filed: 02/23/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Zilliacus, Martin, Koli, Ari
• Granted Patent: US 9,848,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/527 Centralised call answering arrangements not requiring operator intervention
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components

Abstract

Devices, methods and computer program products are provided for dispatching messages to recipients and for prioritizing the dispatch of generic-recipient messages. The device and methods are generally automatic and, thus, require minimal manual intervention by system administrators. Further, the devices and methods are capable of supporting both local and remote message dispatching so as to optimize the system and achieve a lowest cost alternative. In addition, the devices and methods of the present invention dispatch messages over various communication means, such as short-range wireless, Internet, cellular networks and the like.

Claims

1. A method for determining one or more recipients of a generic-recipient message and for dispatch of the message within a digital communication network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub;

determining predefined attributes of the message;

determining one or more recipients for the message based upon the predefined attributes; and

dispatching the message to one or more recipients.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub further comprises receiving a generic-recipient message, chosen from the group of messages consisting of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, electronic mail (email) message and voice message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub further comprises receiving a message at a wireless network hub.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining predefined attributes of the message further comprises determining predefined attributes chosen from the group of attributes consisting of type of message, sender of the message, subject of the message and content of the message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining one or more recipients for the message based upon the predefined attributes further comprises the step of correlating the predefined attributes of the message with stored information related to potential recipients.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises the step of assigning recipient Radio Frequency (RF) identifiers to the message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises the step of displaying the message on a display.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises transmitting the message to one or more recipients via a communication medium chosen from the group of communication medium consisting of short-range wireless communication, Internet communication, SMS communication, and MMS communication.

8. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of displaying the message on a display further comprises displaying the message on a display associated with a radio frequency (RF) identifier.

10. A method for prioritizing a generic-recipient message at a network hub, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub;

determining predefined attributes of the message;

determining whether the message has priority based on the predefined attributes; and

prioritizing the message if a determination is made that the message has priority.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the message has priority based on the predefined attributes further comprises determining whether the message has display priority based on the predefined attributes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of prioritizing the message if a determination is made that the message has priority further comprises prioritizing the display of the message if a determination is made that the message has display priority.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of prioritizing the display of the message if a determination is made that the message has display priority further comprises the step of displaying the message in a prominent position on a display associated with the hub.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the message has priority based on the predefined attributes further comprises determining whether the message has dispatch priority based on the predefined attributes.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of prioritizing the message if a determination is made that the message has priority further comprises prioritizing the dispatch of the message if a determination is made that the message has dispatch priority.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of prioritizing the dispatch of the message if a determination is made that the message has dispatch priority further comprises the step of prioritizing the communication medium used to dispatch the message if a determination is made that the message has communication medium dispatch priority.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of prioritizing the dispatch of the message if a determination is made that the message has dispatch priority further comprises the step of prioritizing the time of dispatch of the message if a determination is made that the message has time dispatch priority.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub further comprises receiving a generic-recipient message, chosen from the group of messages consisting of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, electronic mail (email) message and voice message.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub further comprises receiving a generic-recipient message at a wireless network hub.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining predefined attributes of the group-addresses message further comprises determining predefined attributes chosen from the group of attributes consisting of type of message, sender of the message, subject of the message and content of the message.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether the message has priority based on the predefined attributes further comprises the step of correlating the predefined attributes of the message with stored information related to message priority.

22. A network hub device for determining one or more recipients for a generic-recipient message, the device comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory unit in communication with the processing unit, the memory unit stores information related to one or more potential recipients;

a message reception application executed by the processing unit, the message reception application receives a generic-recipient message from one or more communication networks; and

a message recipient determination and dispatch application executed by the processing unit, the message recipient determination and dispatch application determines predefined attributes of the generic-recipient message and compares the predefined attributes to the information related to the one or more potential recipients to determine one or more recipients.

23. The network hub device of claim 22, further comprising a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver for dispatching the messages to one or more determined recipients via lower power RF.

24. The network hub device of claim 22, further comprising a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) application for dispatching the message to one or more determined recipients via a digital cellular network.

25. The network hub device of claim 22, further comprising a communication network application for dispatching the message to one or more determined recipients via a communication network.

26. The network hub device of claim 25, wherein the communication network is chosen from the group consisting of the Internet, a Short Message Service (SMS) network, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) network and a telephony network.

27. The network hub device of claim 22, further comprising a display associated with the network hub that displays a message associated with a message identifier.

28. The network hub device of claim 27, wherein the message identifier is further defined as a Radio Frequency (RF) identifier.

35. The network hub device of claim 27, wherein the message priority application determines predefined attributes of the received generic-recipient messages, the predefined attributes chosen from the group consisting of a sender of the message, a type of the message, a subject of the message and the content of the message.

29. A network hub device for prioritizing generic-recipient messages, the hub comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory unit in communication with the processing unit, the memory unit stores priority information;

a message reception application executed by the processing unit, the message reception application receives generic-recipient messages from one or more communication networks; and

a message priority application executed by the processing unit, the message priority application determines predefined attributes of received generic-recipient messages and compares the predefined attributes to the priority information to determine if the received message requires prioritization.

30. The network hub device of claim 29, wherein the memory unit stores display priority information and the message priority application is further defined as a message display priority application that determines predefined attributes of received generic-recipient messages and compares the predefined attributes to the display priority information to determine if the received messages require display prioritization.

31. The network hub device of claim 30, further comprising a display associated with the network device that displays message identifiers to one or more recipients.

32. The network hub device of claim 30, wherein the message display priority application further provides for display prioritization to be chosen from the group consisting of displaying prioritized messages first in a list of messages, displaying prioritized messages in a new viewable window and displaying prioritized messages in a highlighted form.

33. The network hub device of claim 29, wherein the memory unit stores dispatch priority information and the message priority application is further defined as a message dispatch priority application that determines predefined attributes of received generic-recipient messages and compares the predefined attributes to the dispatch priority information to determine if the received messages require dispatch prioritization.

34. The network hub device of claim 33, wherein the message dispatch priority application further provides for dispatch prioritization to be chosen from the group consisting of prioritizing the time at which messages will be dispatched, prioritizing the communication medium used to dispatch messages and prioritizing the recipients of the dispatched messages.

36. A computer program product for automatically determining one or more recipients of a generic-recipient message and dispatching the message to the one or more recipients within a digital communication network, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:

first instructions for storing information related to potential message recipients;

second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message; and

third instructions for determining one or more recipients of the generic-recipient message by comparing the predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message to the stored information related to potential message recipients.

37. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the computer-readable program instructions further comprise fourth instructions for dispatching the message to the one or more determined recipients.

38. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message further comprises second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message, chosen from the group of messages consisting of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, electronic mail (email) message and voice message.

39. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message further comprises second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a wireless network hub.

40. The computer program product of claim 36, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message further comprises second instructions for determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message chosen from the group of attributes consisting of type of message, sender of the message, subject of the message and content of the message.

41. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the fourth instruction for dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises assigning recipient Radio Frequency (RF) identifiers to the message.

42. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the fourth instructions for dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises displaying the message on a display associated with the network hub.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the fourth instructions for displaying the message on a display associated with the network hub further comprises fourth instructions for displaying the message, which is associated with a Radio Frequency (RF) identifier, on a display associated with the network hub.

44. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein the step of dispatching the message to one or more recipients further comprises transmitting the message to one or more recipients via a communication medium chosen from the group of communication medium consisting of short-range wireless communication, Internet communication, SMS communication, and MMS communication.

45. A computer program product for prioritizing generic-recipient messages at a network hub, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program instructions embodied in the medium, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:

first instructions for storing information related to message priority;

second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message; and

third instructions for determining whether the generic-recipient message has priority by comparing the predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message to the stored information related to message priority.

46. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the first instructions for storing information related to message priority further comprises first instructions for storing information related to message display priority and the third instructions for determining whether the generic-recipient message has priority further comprises third instructions for determining whether the generic-recipient message has display priority by comparing the predefined attributes associated with the generic-recipient message to the stored information related to message display priority.

47. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the first instructions for storing information related to message priority further comprises first instructions for storing information related to message dispatch priority and the third instructions for determining whether the message has priority further comprises third instructions for determining whether the message has dispatch priority by comparing the predefined attributes associated with the messages to the stored information related to message dispatch priority.

48. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the message further comprises second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message, chosen from the group of messages consisting of a Short Message Service (SMS) message, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, electronic mail (email) message and voice message.

49. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the message further comprises second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a wireless network hub.

50. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein the second instructions for receiving a generic-recipient message at a network hub and determining predefined attributes associated with the message further comprises second instructions for determining predefined attributes associated with the message chosen from the group of attributes consisting of type of message, sender of the message, subject of the message and content of the message.