Apparatus for and a Method of Delivering a Message to a User
First Claim
1. Service agency apparatus for delivering a message to a user from any of plurality of service providers via any of a plurality of user devices, the apparatus providing a point of access for the service providers to deliver and receive messages to and from the user, the apparatus including a gateway for communicating with the service providers and an agent communication module for communicating with device agents operating on respective user devices, the gateway including a user authentication module for receiving and handling requests to authenticate the user, a user communication module for receiving and handling requests to communicate with the user, a payment module for receiving and handling requests for settling payment made by the user and a location module for receiving and handling requests to locate the user, wherein the user communication module can receive requests from service providers and from the other modules, and wherein the service providers are connectable to the modules by a network via respective application programming interfaces.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus for delivering a message to a user comprising means for communicating with service providers and means for communicating with device agents operating on respective user devices, wherein the service provider communicating means is configured to receive a request to communicate with a specified user and to selectively output a message for the user to said device agent communicating means and wherein the device agent communicating means is configured to maintain a list of connected device agents, to receive said message and to transmit said message to a selected device agent dependent upon a routing policy for said user.
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Citations
16 Claims
- 1. Service agency apparatus for delivering a message to a user from any of plurality of service providers via any of a plurality of user devices, the apparatus providing a point of access for the service providers to deliver and receive messages to and from the user, the apparatus including a gateway for communicating with the service providers and an agent communication module for communicating with device agents operating on respective user devices, the gateway including a user authentication module for receiving and handling requests to authenticate the user, a user communication module for receiving and handling requests to communicate with the user, a payment module for receiving and handling requests for settling payment made by the user and a location module for receiving and handling requests to locate the user, wherein the user communication module can receive requests from service providers and from the other modules, and wherein the service providers are connectable to the modules by a network via respective application programming interfaces.
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15. A system comprising:
- a message delivery apparatus to deliver a message to a user, the apparatus comprising;
means for communicating with service providers; and
means for communicating with device agents operating on respective user devices, wherein the service provider communicating means is configured to receive a request to communicate with a specified user and to selectively output a message for the user to said device agent communicating means and wherein the device agent communicating means is configured to maintain a list of connected device agents, to receive said message and to transmit said message to one or more selected device agent dependent upon a routing policy for said user;
at least one user apparatus for receiving a message, the apparatus comprising means for communicating with a message delivery apparatus, the communicating means being configured to maintain a connection with the message delivery apparatus and to receive a message from the message delivery apparatus; and
at least one service provider, said at least one service provider being configured to transmit a request to the message delivery apparatus, the user apparatus being configured to determine whether to send a message to the user, to deliver said message to a selected one of the at least user apparatus, to receive a response from the user apparatus and to deliver said response to the service provider. - View Dependent Claims (16)
- a message delivery apparatus to deliver a message to a user, the apparatus comprising;
Specification