DEVICE SELECTION FOR BROADCAST MESSAGES

• US 20080101339A1
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Malueg, Michael D., Criddle, Linda, Milstein, David, Wang, Kuansan, Chu, Lon-Chan, Forbes, Scott C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,630,191 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and system for broadcasting a message to selected devices. More specifically, the method and system identifies appropriate VoIP devices of a recipient client suitable for a broadcast message and transmits the broadcast message to the identified appropriate VoIP devices over a digital communication channel. The appropriate VoIP devices are selected in accordance with various constraints of broadcasting such as recipient client'"'"'s preference, functionality and capability of the recipient VoIP device, broadcaster'"'"'s bandwidth, a set of broadcasting rules, or the like. In order to identify appropriate VoIP devices or a recipient client, the information relating to the recipient client and VoIP devices may be exchanged using the digital communication channel.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a device suitable for receiving a broadcast message over a digital communication channel, comprising:

identifying a recipient client for the broadcast message to be sent to;

obtaining device information relating to the recipient client;

identifying VoIP devices of the recipient client based on the obtained device information, the identified VoIP device being capable of receiving the broadcast message;

selecting an appropriate VoIP device from the identified VoIP devices; and

transmitting the broadcast message to the selected appropriate VoIP device over the digital communication channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an appropriate VoIP device includes determining whether the selected VoIP device is currently available for communication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein if the selected VoIP device is not currently available, a second VoIP device is selected from the identified VoIP devices for receiving the broadcast message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an appropriate VoIP device includes determining whether the selected VoIP device has capability of providing the broadcast message to the recipient client.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if no appropriate VoIP device is selected, transmitting the broadcast message to a default device, the default device being specified by the recipient client.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining recipient client information relating to selecting the appropriate VoIP device for the broadcast message; and

wherein the recipient client information includes profile information of the recipient client.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the recipient client information includes a set of rules configured by the recipient client.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining additional information relating to constraints for broadcasting the message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a network bandwidth.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a format of the broadcast message.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

if no device is identified as being capable of receiving the broadcast message, formatting another broadcast message which is suitable for a preferred device of the recipient client, the preferred device being specified in profile information of the recipient client; and

transmitting the second broadcast message to the preferred device.

12. A method for transmitting a broadcast message to an appropriate VoIP device over a communication channel connection, wherein the appropriate VoIP device is capable of providing the broadcast message to a user, comprising:

receiving a broadcast message from an authorized party for forwarding the broadcast message to a group of designated recipient parties;

identifying appropriate VoIP devices which have functionality necessary to receive and process the broadcast message; and

for each designated recipient party;

obtaining contextual information which includes device information of the designated recipient party;

transmitting the broadcast message to a device of the designated recipient, the device being matched with one of the identified appropriate VoIP devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the appropriate VoIP devices are identified based on a set of rules specified by the authorized party.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

before transmitting the broadcast message, establishing a digital communication channel with the device which has been matched with one of the identified appropriate VoIP devices.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable components for selecting a device desirable for communicating a message, comprising:

a message component for formulating a broadcast message in a desired format;

a device selection component for identifying capable devices within which includes functionality and applications necessary to present the formulated broadcast message to a recipient party and for selecting an appropriate device from the identified capable devices;

a communication component for obtaining contextual information and transmitting the formulated broadcast message to the appropriate device; and

wherein the obtained contextual information includes constraint information relevant to selecting the appropriate device.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the device selection component assigns a preference score to each identified capable device based on the constraint information relevant to selecting the appropriate device and the appropriate device has the highest preference score.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the communication component transmits the broadcast message to the identified capable devices in the order of preference scores of the identified capable devices.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the obtained contextual information indicates a desirable number of capable devices for the broadcast message.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein if the number of the identified capable devices are fewer than the desirable number of capable devices, the desired format for formulating the broadcast message is downgraded so that the desirable number of capable devices can be identified.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the message component reformulates the broadcast message in the downgraded desired format.