System and method for integrating multiple messaging systems

• US 20050210112A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Booth, Theodore R. III, Moon, Brian James, Clement, Jason Lee, Wieck, Kyoko Takeda
• Granted Patent: US 7,272,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4509 Unified messaging with single point of access to voicemail and other mail or messaging systems unified messaging in packet switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5141 Details of processing calls and other types of contacts in an unified manner unified messaging in packet-switching networks H04L51/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components

Abstract

A system and method for allowing a sender to use a generic message entry form for all messaging systems, including email, instant messaging, and the like. The user enters the recipient'"'"'s name and the message, and a dispatch server intelligently routes the message to the recipient using an appropriate messaging engine.

Claims

1. A communication system, comprising:

at least a sender computer;

means at the sender computer for invoking a message input file, the message input file not being constrained to be associated with any particular messaging engine, a user of the sender computer being enabled to enter at least a recipient'"'"'s identification and a message into the message input file; and

at least one dispatch server communicating with the sender computer and with a recipient computer associated with the recipient'"'"'s identification, the dispatch server executing logic including;

receiving the input file from the sender computer;

determining which messaging engine to use from a plurality of messaging engines available to the dispatch server; and

sending the message to the recipient computer using the messaging engine identified during the determining act.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the message input file is presented to a user of the sender computer as a visible form for typed data entry.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the message input file is made accessible to a user of the sender computer for audible data entry.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the sender computer is a light client having no messaging engines.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining act includes determining whether a messaging system has been specified in the message input file and if so, invoking a messaging engine associated with the messaging system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining act at least in part is based on recipient information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining act at least in part is based on message content.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining act includes using a default messaging engine at least in the absence of other messaging engine designation information.

9. A method for enabling a sender computer to send a message to a recipient computer using a message file and one of at least two messaging systems, comprising:

receiving user-entered messaging information in the file;

sending the file to a server computer having access to plural messaging systems;

at the server computer, determining which one of the messaging systems to use to deliver the message; and

sending at least portions of the user-entered messaging information to the recipient computer using the messaging system identified in the determining act.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the message file is presented to a user of the sender computer as a visible form for typed data entry.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the message file is made accessible to a user of the sender computer for audible data entry.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the sender computer is a light client having no messaging engines.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining act includes determining whether a messaging system has been specified in the message file and if so, invoking a messaging engine associated with the messaging system.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining act at least in part is based on recipient presence and/or preference information.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining act at least in part is based on message content.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining act includes using a default messaging engine at least in the absence of other messaging engine designation information.

17. A server computer accessible to at least one sender computer and at least one recipient computer over the Internet, comprising:

means for selecting one of plural messaging engines for invocation, in response to receiving a message from a sender computer not designating a message service; and

means for formatting the message from the sender computer as appropriate for use with the messaging engine selected by the means for selecting, for transmission thereof to the recipient computer using the messaging engine selected by the means for selecting.

18. The computer of claim 17, wherein the means for selecting includes means for determining whether a messaging system has been specified in the message and if so, invoking a messaging engine associated with the messaging system.

19. The computer of claim 17, wherein the means for specifying selects a messaging engine at least in part based on recipient presence information.

20. The computer of claim 17, wherein the means for specifying selects a messaging engine at least in part based on recipient preference information.

21. The computer of claim 17, wherein means for selecting selects a default messaging engine at least in the absence of other messaging engine designation information in the message from the sender computer.