APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING ENHANCED MOBILE MESSAGING SERVICES

• US 20100115035A1
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Bassam, Masri, Malhar, Sahana, Paulson, Janell
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Various embodiments for providing enhanced mobile messaging services are described. In one or more embodiments, a mobile computing device may send messages of different types. The mobile computing device may allow a sender to compose a message independently of message type. The mobile computing device may automatically determine both a message type for the message and the transfer medium by which to send the message. The mobile computing device may consider factors including message contents, network availability and reliability, historical data, cost, sender preferences, recipient preferences, etc. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a mobile computing device to send and receive messages of different types, the mobile computing device comprising an intelligent message manager to determine available transfer media and available message types for sending a composed message and to automatically select a transfer medium from the available transfer media and a message type from the available message types, the mobile device to automatically format the composed message to the selected message type, and the mobile device to send a message to a recipient according to the selected medium and message type.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the different message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the intelligent message manager to select the transmission medium and message format according to one or more criteria, including at least one of:

a recipient preference, a message priority, a message type, message content, a cost, power availability and consumption, a sender specified criterion, speed of a transfer medium, message size, sender'"'"'s network, or historic knowledge of a best medium or message type based on the location of the mobile device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the intelligent message manager further to provide a unified composer messaging interface to enable a sender to compose messages independently of message type.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, the unified messaging interface to automatically format a composed message to at least one format selected by the intelligent message manager.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, the unified composer messaging interface to enable composition of a message comprising one or more media objects.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the messaging interface comprising an icon corresponding to a hardware button of the mobile computing device.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer medium is at least one of a wireless network, or a cellular network.

9. A method comprising:

receiving at least one component of a message from a sender;

determining automatically, based on one or more criteria, a message type and a transfer medium for the message;

formatting the message according to the message type; and

sending the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving a component including at least one of:

text, hypertext markup language (HTML), extensible markup language (XML), an audio file, an image, or a video file.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a message type according to the at least one received component.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining a transfer medium according to at least one of:

a recipient preference on message type, message type, message content, cost, power availability and consumption, speed of transfer medium, message size, sender'"'"'s network, or historic knowledge of a best medium or message type based on the location of sending.

13. The method of claim 9, the message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

displaying a unified composer interface to enable the sender to compose messages independently of message type.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving an alert that the sent message is not read/received within a time period;

selecting at least one of an alternate message type or an alternate transfer medium; and

resending the message according to the alternate message type and/or transfer medium.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving confirmation that the message was received successfully; and

storing the selected transfer medium and message type.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

prompting for approval from the sender of the selected message type and transfer medium;

sending the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium when the sender approves;

or

receiving an override including at least one of an alternate transfer medium or an alternate message type from the sender when the sender does not approve; and

sending the message according to the override.

18. A machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

receive at least one component of a message from a sender;

determine automatically, based on one or more criteria, a message type and a transfer medium for the message;

format the message according to the message type; and

send the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium.

19. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to receive a component including at least one of:

text, hypertext markup language (HTML), extensible markup language (XML), an audio file, an image, or a video file.

20. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to determine a message type according to the at least one received component.

21. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to determine a transfer medium according to at least one of:

a recipient preference on message type, message type, message content, cost, power availability and consumption, speed of transfer medium, message size, sender'"'"'s network, or historic knowledge of a best medium or message type based on the location of sending.

22. The medium of claim 18, the message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

23. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

display a unified composer interface to enable the sender to compose messages independently of message type.

24. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

receive an alert that the sent message is not read/received within a time period;

select at least one of an alternate message type or an alternate transfer medium; and

resend the message according to the alternate message type and/or transfer medium.

25. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

receive confirmation that the message was received successfully; and

store the selected transfer medium and message type.

26. The medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

prompt for approval from the sender of the selected message type and transfer medium;

send the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium when the sender approves;

or

receive an override comprising at least one of an alternate transfer medium or an alternate message type from the sender when the sender does not approve; and

send the message according to the override.