System and Method for Multimedia Messaging

• US 20130252647A1
• Filed: 05/17/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rege, Nabha, Ward, Melynda, Zavelvon, Tracy
• Granted Patent: US 8,595,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content. The message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members. The method includes determining a group profile associated with the group address. The group profile includes a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members. The profile includes a network address associated with a multimedia data format. The group profile is defined by a sender of the message. The method includes sending the message including the multimedia content to a device associated with the network address. The multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message; and

sending the message including the multimedia content to a device associated with the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sender of the message is not one of the plurality of group members.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is received from a device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members, wherein the second group member is not subscribed to the service provider, and wherein the group member is not subscribed to the service provider.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a third group member of the plurality of group members is subscribed to the service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is received from a device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members and wherein the group member and the second group member are subscribed to the service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a communication server of the service provider.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a location of the group member associated with the profile.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a time when the message is received.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to sending the message, determining whether an acknowledgement is received from the device associated with the network address within a time period, the acknowledgement indicating that the message has been received by the device; and

in response to determining that the acknowledgement was not received within the time period;

selecting a second network address from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile; and

sending the message to the second network address, wherein the message includes the multimedia content modified based on a second multimedia data format associated with the second network address.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the network address from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile, wherein the network address is selected based on a priority order indicated in the profile.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a second profile from the group profile, wherein the second profile is associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members and wherein the second profile includes a second network address associated with a second multimedia data format; and

sending the message including the multimedia content to the second network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the second multimedia data format.

12. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message; and

sending the message including the multimedia content to the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor and the memory are included in a computing device associated with a messaging service provider.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the message is received from a device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members, wherein the second group member is not subscribed to the messaging service provider, and wherein the group member is subscribed to the messaging service provider.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the network address from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile, wherein the network address is selected based on a location of a recipient of the message, content included in the message, a type of the message, or a combination thereof.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a location of the group member associated with the profile, a time when the message is received, or both.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the multimedia data format includes a set of component multimedia formats including a data format, a text format, an audio format, an image format, a video format, or a combination thereof.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the message includes a plurality of distinct components, each distinct component corresponding to a particular component multimedia format of the set of component multimedia formats.

19. A computer readable storage device including instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message; and

sending the message including the multimedia content to a network device having the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format.

20. The computer readable storage device of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise modifying the multimedia content based on the multimedia data format, wherein the multimedia data format is selected from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a type of the message, based on content included in the message, or both.