MESSAGING DEVICE FOR DELIVERING MESSAGES TO RECIPIENTS BASED ON AVAILABILITY AND PREFERENCES OF RECIPIENTS

• US 20090271486A1
• Filed: 06/04/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: GORMLEY, GEORGIANA, LIGH, MING, GIARDINI, ANTHONY, GOULART, VALERIE, GOUGH, BRYAN, CHOW, PAULO S.T., CARNEY, PATRICK
• Granted Patent: US 8,166,119 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages

Abstract

A messaging device facilitates delivery of messages to recipients based on availability and preferences associated with recipients. In some embodiments, messages are composed by a user via a touchscreen display. Icons representing potential message recipients are displayed, and the user may deliver a message to a recipient by associating the message with the icon that represents the desired recipient. The facility uses availability information—which reflects recipients'"'"' availability and willingness to communicate—and system- and recipient-defined preferences to determine the best method(s) of delivery for a message and other features of message delivery. Recipients'"'"' availability and preferences may be displayed to users on an interface. Users may make decisions regarding delivery method, timing, and other details of message delivery based on the displayed availability and preference information.

Claims

1. A method of automatically selecting a delivery method for delivery of an electronic message to a recipient based on availability information associated with the recipient, the method comprising:

receiving a composition of an electronic message for delivery to a recipient;

retrieving availability information associated with the recipient, wherein the availability information is retrieved from at least one electronic device or service of the recipient;

analyzing the retrieved availability information to determine an availability of the recipient;

selecting a delivery method from a plurality of delivery methods for delivering the electronic message to the recipient, wherein the selection is made based at least in part on the determined availability of the recipient; and

transmitting the electronic message to the recipient via the selected delivery method.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the delivery method is selected at least in part based on an electronic device of the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the delivery method is selected at least in part based on an electronic service accessed by an electronic device of the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the delivery method from a plurality of delivery methods includes selecting a delivery method that allows the electronic message to be transmitted to the recipient in a most media-rich format based on the availability of the recipient.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising, when the most media-rich format based on the availability of the recipient is different from a format in which the electronic message was received:

converting the received electronic message to an alternate format based on the selected delivery method; and

transmitting the electronic message to the recipient in the alternate format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to a current activity in which the recipient is participating.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to a location of the recipient.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to the capabilities of at least one electronic device of the recipient.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to a sensor in at least one electronic device of the recipient.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to at least one service accessed by an electronic device of the recipient.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability information includes information related to a schedule of the recipient.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting at least one additional delivery method from the plurality of delivery methods for delivering the electronic message to the recipient, wherein the selection is made based at least in part on the determined availability of the recipient; and

transmitting the electronic message to the recipient via the selected at least one delivery method.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient is a group of individuals

14. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving delivery method preferences associated with the recipient;

analyzing the retrieved delivery method preferences; and

modifying the selected delivery method based at least in part on the analysis of the retrieved delivery method preferences.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the delivery method preferences have been automatically set based on potential sets of retrieved availability information.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the message delivery preferences have been manually set by the recipient.

17. A system of automatically selecting a delivery method for delivery of an electronic message to a recipient based on availability information associated with the recipient, the system comprising:

means for receiving a composition of an electronic message for delivery to a recipient;

means for retrieving availability information associated with the recipient, wherein the availability information is retrieved from at least one electronic device or service of the recipient;

means for analyzing the retrieved availability information to determine an availability of the recipient;

means for selecting a delivery method from a plurality of delivery methods for delivering the electronic message to the recipient, wherein the selection is made based at least in part on the determined availability of the recipient; and

means for transmitting the electronic message to the recipient via the selected delivery method.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the delivery method is selected at least in part based on an electronic device of the recipient.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the delivery method is selected at least in part based on an electronic service accessed by an electronic device of the recipient.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the availability information has been manually set by the recipient.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the availability information has been automatically set based on information associated with the recipient.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the availability information is selected from the set consisting of information related to a current activity in which the recipient is participating, a location of the recipient, the capabilities of at least one electronic device of the recipient, an output from a sensor in at least one electronic device of the recipient, an indication of at least one service accessed by an electronic device of the recipient, and a schedule of the recipient.

23. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

means for retrieving delivery method preferences associated with the recipient;

means for analyzing the retrieved delivery method preferences; and

means for modifying the selected delivery method based at least in part on the analysis of the retrieved delivery method preferences.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the delivery method preferences have been specified by the recipient.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the delivery method preferences apply regardless of the availability information associated with the recipient.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the delivery method preferences vary based on the availability information associated with the recipient.

27. The system of claim 24, wherein the delivery method preferences vary based on a network to which the recipient is connected.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the delivery method preferences vary based on costs associated with the network to which the recipient is connected.

29. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

means for converting the electronic message to an alternate format based on the determined availability of the recipient, wherein the converting occurs prior to transmitting the electronic message to the recipient.

30. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for selecting a second delivery method from the plurality of delivery methods for delivering the electronic message to the recipient, wherein the selection is made based at least in part on the determined availability of the recipient; and

means for transmitting the electronic message to the recipient via the selected second delivery method, wherein the electronic message is transmitted simultaneously to the recipient via the selected delivery method and the selected second delivery method.

31. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

means for selecting a second delivery method from the plurality of delivery methods for delivering the electronic message to the recipient, wherein the selection is made based at least in part on the determined availability of the recipient; and

means for transmitting the electronic message to the recipient via the selected second delivery method, wherein the electronic message is transmitted sequentially to the recipient via the selected delivery method and the selected second delivery method.

32. The system of claim 17, further comprising means for automatically recalling the electronic message from the recipient if the recipient has not opened the message by a given time.

33. A system for displaying availability of recipients via a messaging device with a touchscreen display, the system comprising:

a storage component for storing a plurality of recipients and one or more delivery methods associated with each of the plurality of recipients;

a retrieval component for accessing availability information associated with at least one of the plurality of recipients;

an analysis component coupled to the storage component and retrieval component for analyzing the availability information associated with the at least one recipient to determine an availability of the at least one recipient; and

a touchscreen display coupled to the analysis component for;

displaying a plurality of icons, each of the plurality of icons being associated with one of the plurality of recipients;

displaying an indication of the determined availability of the at least one recipient; and

receiving an indication of a recipient to which a message is to be delivered.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein displaying the indication of the determined availability includes displaying a graphic in association with the icon of the at least one recipient.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein displaying the indication of the determined availability includes displaying text in association with the icon of the at least one recipient.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein displaying the indication of the determined availability comprises modifying the displayed icon of the at least one recipient.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein displaying the indication of the determined availability includes displaying a combined availability that indicates an overall availability of the at least one recipient.

38. The system of claim 33, wherein the touchscreen display further displays one or more of the stored delivery methods associated with the at least one recipient.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the touchscreen display further displays a separate indication for each of the one or more displayed delivery methods associated with the at least one recipient, the separate indications displayed based on an availability of the at least one recipient via each of the delivery methods.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the displayed delivery methods vary based on the availability information associated with the at least one recipient.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the displayed delivery methods are displayed differently based on an availability of the at least one recipient via each of the displayed delivery methods.

42. The system of claim 38, wherein the touchscreen display further displays delivery time options associated with at least one of the displayed delivery methods.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the displayed delivery time options vary based on the availability information associated with the at least one recipient.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein the displayed delivery time options are displayed differently based on an availability of the at least one recipient via each of the displayed delivery time options.

45. The system of claim 33, wherein the recipient specifies the extent to which the indication of determined availability is displayable by the touchscreen display.