METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CIRCULATING MESSAGES

• US 20100136948A1
• Filed: 11/30/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Modu Limited (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ron, Uri, Bychkov, Eyal, Engelstein, Tal
• Granted Patent: US 8,526,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2073 Multipoint, e.g. messaging, broadcast or group SMS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/724 Linked accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A method for circulating a message to a group of people, including sending a circulated message by a 1^st mobile communicator, and sequentially receiving the circulated message by an n^th mobile communicator and sending the circulated message to an (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N-1, wherein each one of the N mobile communicators has a distinct phone number. A system is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for circulating a message to a group of people, comprising:

sending a circulated message by a 1^st mobile communicator; and

sequentially receiving the circulated message by an n^th mobile communicator and sending the circulated message to an (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N-1, wherein each one of the N mobile communicators each has a distinct phone number.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending a status report about the circulated message from the N^th mobile communicator to the 1^st mobile communicator.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the circulated message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

4. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of N mobile communicators, each having a distinct phone number; and

circuitry in each of said plurality of mobile communicators, (i) for sending a circulated message by the 1^st mobile communicator, and (ii) for sequentially receiving the circulated message by the n^th mobile communicator and sending the circulated message to the (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N-1.

5. The communication system of claim 4 wherein said circuitry also sends a status report about the circulated message from the N^th mobile communicator to the 1^st mobile communicator.

6. The communication system of claim 4 wherein the circulated message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

7. A method of communication, comprising:

receiving a circulated message, by a destination mobile communicator, from a previous destination mobile communicator; and

sending the circulated message to a next destination mobile communicator, where the previous destination mobile communicator, the destination mobile communicator and the next destination mobile communicator are successive members of an ordered list of mobile communicators, if the destination mobile communicator is not the last member of the ordered list.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending a status report about the circulated message to the first member of the ordered list, if the destination mobile communicator is the last member of the ordered list.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising re-sending the circulated message to the next destination mobile communicator after a pre-defined amount of time has elapsed, if a positive submission report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising repeatedly re-sending the circulated message to the next destination mobile communicator after a pre-defined amount of time has elapsed, up to a designated maximum number of tries, if a positive submission report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising sending the circulated message to a different next destination mobile communicator, if a positive status report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center, wherein the different next destination mobile communicator is subsequent to the destination mobile computer in the ordered list of mobile communicators.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising repeatedly sending the circulated message to a different next destination mobile communicator, if a positive status report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center, wherein the different next destination mobile communicator is subsequent to the destination mobile computer in the ordered list of mobile communicators, until all possible different next destination mobile communicators have been tried.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein the circulated message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

14. The method of claim 7 wherein the ordered list is a pre-determined ordered list.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein the ordered list is embedded within the circulated message.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising removing the destination mobile communicator from the ordered list prior to said sending the circulated message to a next destination mobile communicator.

17. A destination mobile communicator, comprising:

a modem for sending and receiving messages;

a memory for storing a group of identifiers of mobile communicators, and an ordered list thereof; and

modem controller circuitry communicatively coupled with said modem and with said memory, for controlling said modem (i) to receive a circulated message from a previous destination mobile communicator, and (ii) to send the circulated message to a next destination mobile communicator, where the previous destination mobile communicator, the destination mobile communicator and the next destination mobile communicator are successive members of the ordered list of mobile communicators stored in said memory, if the destination mobile communicator is not the last member of the ordered list.

18. The mobile communicator of claim 17 wherein said modem controller circuitry also controls said modem to send a status report about the circulated message to the first member of the ordered list, if the destination mobile communicator is the last member of the ordered list.

19. The mobile communicator of claim 17 wherein the circulated message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

20. The mobile communicator of claim 17 wherein the ordered list is a pre-determined ordered list.

21. The mobile communicator of claim 17 wherein the ordered list is embedded within the circulated message.

22. The mobile communicator of claim 21 further comprising removing the destination mobile communicator from the ordered list prior to said sending the circulated message to a next destination mobile communicator.

23. A method of billing subscribers to a communication service, comprising:

identifying a message that was distributed to members of a pre-defined group of subscribers;

further identifying all transmissions of the distributed message from one member of the group to another member of the group, as the distributed message traversed all members of the group; and

allocating the total cost of the identified transmissions equally among the members of the group.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the distribution message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

25. A billing system for subscribers to a communication service, comprising:

an activity monitor (i) for identifying a message that was distributed to members of a pre-defined group of subscribers, and (ii) for further identifying all transmissions of the distributed message from one member of the group to another member of the group, as the distributed message traversed all members of the group; and

a billing manager, coupled with said activity monitor, for allocating the total cost of the identified transmissions equally among the members of the group.

26. The billing system of claim 25 wherein the distribution message is an SMS message, a MMS message, an e-mail message, or a voice message.

27. A method for circulating a message to a group of people, comprising:

sending a circulated message and a distribution list comprising identifiers for a plurality of mobile communicators, by a first mobile communicator; and

sequentially receiving the circulated message and a distribution list, by a next mobile communicator, and, if the received distribution list is non-empty, then (i) selecting one of the mobile communicators identified in the distribution list, (ii) modifying the distribution list by removing the identifier of the selected mobile communicator therefrom, and (iii) sending the circulated message and the modified distribution list to the selected mobile communicator.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said selecting one of the mobile communicators comprises randomly selecting one of the mobile communicators.

29. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile communicators; and

circuitry in each of said plurality of mobile communicators, (i) for sending a circulated message and a distribution list comprising identifiers for a plurality of mobile communicators, and (ii) for successively receiving the circulated message and a distribution list, by a next mobile communicator, and, if the received distribution list is non-empty, then (ii.a) selecting one of the mobile communicators identified in the distribution list, (ii.b) modifying the distribution list by removing the identifier of the selected mobile communicator therefrom, and (ii.c) sending the circulated message and the modified distribution list to the selected mobile communicator.

30. The communication system of claim 29 wherein said circuitry randomly selects one of the mobile communicators identified in the distribution list.

31. A method for creating a group of mobile communicators, comprising:

sending an invitation from an originator mobile communicator to a plurality of other mobile communicators;

receiving responses from the plurality of other mobile communicators, the responses indicating acceptance or non-acceptance of the invitation;

creating group information comprising (a) identifiers of group members, the group members comprising the mobile communicators from which responses indicating acceptance of the invitation were received, and (b) an ordered list of the group members for use in circulating messages among the group members; and

sending the group information to the group members.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the identifiers of group members comprise phone numbers of the group members.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the identifiers of group members comprise pointers to phone numbers of the group members.

34. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of mobile communicators; and

circuitry in each of said plurality of mobile communicators, (i) for sending an invitation from such mobile communicator to the other mobile communicators, (ii) for receiving responses from the other mobile communicators, the responses indicating acceptance or non-acceptance of the invitation, (iii) for creating group information comprising (a) identifiers of group members, the group members comprising the mobile communicators from which responses indicating acceptance of the invitation were received, and (b) an ordered list of the group members for use in circulating messages among the group members, and (iv) for sending the group information to the group members.

35. The communication system of claim 34 wherein the identifiers of group members comprise phone numbers of the group members.

36. The communication system of claim 34 wherein the identifiers of group members comprise pointers to phone numbers of the group members.