DUPLICATE MMS CONTENT CHECKING

• US 20100153511A1
• Filed: 12/12/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Corporate Resources Group LLC (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Lin, Zhijian
• Granted Patent: US 8,495,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

A method includes receiving a content message from a content provider, wherein the content message includes at least one content item. The method further includes verifying the at least one content item included in the content message for duplication against a content history.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a content message from a content provider at a computing device, wherein the content message includes at least one content item; and

verifying a content item included in the content message for duplication against a content history by utilizing the computing device, where verifying the content item includes;

computing an item checksum for the content item;

querying the content history for the item checksum; and

determining whether the item checksum is a duplicate based on a result returned from the query.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising adding the item checksum to the content history if the item checksum is not found in the content history.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the item checksum is computed from the content item using an algorithm including at least one of CRC-32, SHA-1, SHA-2, SHA-256, MD-4, MD-5, and AES.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying the content provider of a duplicate if at least one content item is determined to be a duplicate.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one alert message based on the at least one content item included in the content message; and

sending the alert message to at least one subscriber device associated with the at least one alert template.

6. A method, comprising:

associating an alert template with a subscriber device;

matching by utilizing a computing device, at least one content item received from a content provider to the alert template;

generating by utilizing the computing device, an alert message for the alert template based on the at least one content item;

verifying by utilizing the computing device, the at least one content item included in the alert message for duplication against a content history; and

selectively delivering the alert message to the subscriber device based on the verification.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein verifying the at least one content item comprises:

calculating at least one item checksum;

querying a content history table for the at least one item checksum; and

determining whether the at least one item checksum is a duplicate based on a result returned from the query.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising adding the at least one item checksum to the content history table.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

calculating at least one item checksum;

computing a message checksum based on a plurality of the at least one item checksums;

querying a content history table for the message checksum; and

determining whether the alert message is a duplicate based on a result of the query.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising calculated the message checksum as a summation of a plurality of the at least one item checksums.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising adding the message checksum to the content history table.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein selectively delivering the alert message comprises delivering the alert message if none of the content items in the alert message are determined to be duplicate.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein selectively delivering the alert message comprises delivering the alert message if at least one of the content item in the alert message is determined not to be duplicate.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein selectively delivering the alert message comprises:

determining a category associated with the alert template from which the alert message is generated;

retrieving a rule for sending duplicate alert messages according to the category; and

determining whether to deliver the alert message based on the rule if the alert message is determined to be a duplicate.

15. A system, comprising:

a content provider connected to a communications network and configured to send content messages to a messaging engine; and

a messaging engine connected to the communications network and configured to;

receive a content message from a content provider, wherein the content message includes at least one content item; and

verify the at least one content item included in the content message for duplication against a content history;

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the messaging engine is further configured to inform the content provider if the content message includes a duplicate content item.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the messaging engine is further configured to discard the content message if the content message includes a duplicate content item.

18. The system of claim 15, further comprising a data store connected to the communications network and configured to maintain a content history database;

wherein the messaging engine is further configured to perform the following steps for each content item;

compute an item checksum for the content item;

query the content history database for the item checksum; and

determine whether the item checksum is a duplicate based on a result returned from the query.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the data store is further configured to add the item checksum to the content history database if the item checksum is not found in the content history.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the data store is further configured to maintain a plurality of alert templates, wherein each alert template comprises a definition of information to be included in an alert message and an alert trigger;

wherein the messaging engine is further configured to;

match the at least one content item to an alert template; and

generate an alert message for the alert template based on the at least one content item.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of subscriber devices communicatively coupled to the communications network,

wherein the data store is further configured to maintain a plurality of associations of alert template to subscriber device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the messaging engine is further configured to send the generated alert message to a subscriber device associated with the alert template.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the data store is further configured to maintain a category associated with each alert template, wherein the messaging engine is further configured to:

determining a category associated with the alert message; and

determining whether to deliver the alert message based on a rule for the category and whether the alert message is determined to be a duplicate.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the subscriber device is further configured to send a request to the messaging engine to subscribe to an alert template;

wherein the messaging engine is further configured to receive the request and add the subscriber device to the plurality of associated of alert template to subscriber device in the data store.