Clearinghouse for messages between disparate networks

• US 20050259656A1
• Filed: 05/10/2005
• Published: 11/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, T. S., Dollar, Graeme R., Musil, Alex
• Granted Patent: US 7,626,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/392
• 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

Abstract

A system and method are directed towards managing interoperability between disparate IM networks. A clearinghouse server is provided that receives IM messages from disparate IM networks. The clearinghouse server examines the IM message to determine it is in a compatible protocol for a destination IM network. If the IM message is incompatible a translation service is used to translate the message into a compatible protocol. The translation service further determines if the destination IM network supports a feature employed by the received IM message. If the feature is supported or can be translated to a supported feature, the translation service will also perform the feature translation. Otherwise, the translation service may return an error message indicating that the received IM message includes an unsupported feature for the destination IM network. Upon satisfactory translation, the clearinghouse server forwards the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.

Claims

1. A method for use in managing a message between Instant Messaging (IM) networks, comprising:

receiving an IM message from a source IM network;

examining the received IM message to determine a destination IM network;

if a message protocol associated with the received IM message is substantially different from a message protocol associated with the destination IM network, translating the received IM message protocol to the message protocol associated with the destination IM network;

if a message feature associated with the received IM message is unsupported by the destination IM network, translating the unsupported message feature in the received IM message to a message feature supported by the destination IM network; and

forwarding the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

if the translation of the received IM message protocol is determined to be unsuccessful, providing an error message to towards a source device of the received IM message;

and

if the translation of the received IM message feature is determined to be unsuccessful, providing an error message to towards a source device of the received IM message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received IM message is received from a mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the message feature associated with the received IM message includes at least one of a text message, a display feature, an image, an audio feature, streaming content feature, a file transfer feature, a game feature, a web feature, or a chat feature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is implemented within a clearinghouse server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the clearinghouse server is configured to operate as at least one of a gateway, a firewall, a proxy, a router, or a switch.

7. A server that is configured for use in managing a message between Instant Messaging (IM) networks, comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and sending information to another computing device;

a processor in communication with the transceiver; and

a memory in communication with the processor and for use in storing data and machine instructions that cause the processor to perform a plurality of operations, including;

receiving an IM message from a source IM network;

examining the received IM message to determine a destination IM network;

if a message protocol associated with the IM message is substantially different from a message protocol associated with the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the received IM message protocol to the message protocol associated with the destination IM network; and

forwarding the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.

8. The server of claim 7, wherein enabling the translation of the received IM message further comprises employing a translation service.

9. The server of claim 7, wherein the machine instructions cause the processor to perform a plurality of additional operations, further including:

if a message feature associated with the received IM message is unsupported by the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the unsupported message feature in the received IM message to a message feature supported by the destination IM network.

10. The server of claim 7, wherein the IM message is at least one of received from a mobile device, or sent towards a mobile device.

11. The server of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to route another IM message between non-disparate IM networks.

12. The server of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to route another IM message between non-disparate IM networks, un-translated.

13. The server of claim 7, wherein the server is further configured to operate as a router for another IM network.

14. The server of claim 7, wherein examining the received IM message to determine a destination IM network further comprises examining a packet header associated with the received IM message.

15. A modulated data signal for managing a message between Instant Messaging (IM) networks, the modulated data signal comprising instructions that enable a computing device to perform the actions of:

sending, from a source device within a first IM network, to a clearinghouse server an IM message;

enabling examination of the received IM message, at the clearinghouse server, to determine a destination IM network;

if a message protocol associated with the IM message is substantially different from a message protocol associated with the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the received IM message protocol to the message protocol associated with the destination IM network;

if a message feature associated with the received IM message is unsupported by the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the unsupported message feature in the received IM message to a message feature supported by the destination IM network; and

forwarding, by the clearinghouse server, the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.

16. A system for managing an Instant Messaging (IM) message between IM networks, comprising:

a first client device that is configured to perform actions, including;

sending the IM message from a source IM network towards a second client device within a destination IM network; and

a clearinghouse server in communication with the source IM network and the destination IM network, and configured to perform actions, including;

receiving the IM message from the source IM network;

examining the received IM message to determine the destination IM network;

if a message protocol associated with the IM message is substantially different from a message protocol associated with the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the received IM message protocol to the message protocol associated with the destination IM network; and

forwarding the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein enabling a translation further comprises employing a translation server to perform the translation.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the source IM network and destination IM network employ disparate IM architectures.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the clearinghouse server is configured to perform actions, further comprising:

if a message feature associated with the received IM message is unsupported by the destination IM network, enabling a translation of the unsupported message feature in the received IM message to a message feature supported by the destination IM network

20. An apparatus of managing a message between disparate networks, comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and sending information to another computing device;

a means for receiving an IM message from a source IM network;

a means for examining the received IM message to determine a destination IM network;

a means for determining if a message protocol associated with the IM message is substantially different from a message protocol associated with the destination IM network, and if there is a substantial difference, employing a means for translating the received IM message protocol to the message protocol associated with the destination IM network; and

a means for forwarding the translated IM message towards the destination IM network.