VOICE TEXTING OVER SMS

• US 20130310089A1
• Filed: 07/18/2013
• Published: 11/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: MediaFriends Incorporated
• Original Assignee: MediaFriends Incorporated
• Inventors: Gianoukos, Vasileios John, Lew, Eugene Lee
• Application Number:
  US13/945,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20130310089A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A social messaging hub provides communication services including voice text messaging for a data enabled device having Internet network access capabilities. A user is given a registered phone number and unique IP addressable identification which serve as a source and destination identifier of the associated data enabled device. Voice text messages are processed, stored and delivered as SMS messages using resources on the social messaging hub and the global SMS infrastructure. Voice text messages may be sent to both subscriber and non-subscriber devices connected to the global SMS infrastructure.

Claims

1. A method for voice texting over Short Message Service/Multimedia Messaging Service/Enhanced Messaging Service (SMS/MMS/EMS) communications comprising:

obtaining a plurality of unique identifiers;

assigning to a user of a data enabled device a unique identifier from the plurality of unique identifiers;

associating the unique identifier with a data enabled device identifier;

registering the unique identifier to data enabled device identifier association in a database;

receiving a voice text from the data enabled device including a SMS destination identifier for the voice text;

processing the voice text to store an audio file in audio storage;

generating an SMS message with a link to the audio file;

providing the SMS message to a message service for delivery to a message recipient indicated by the SMS destination identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating a second SMS message with text provided by a user.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the SMS message with a link to the audio file to an online social networking service for delivery to at least one subscriber of the online social networking service.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the SMS message with a link to the audio file to an online microblogging service for delivery to at least one subscriber of the online microblogging service.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the SMS message with a link to the audio file to an online messaging service for delivery to at least one subscriber of the online messaging service.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the SMS message with a link to the audio file to an online discussion forum service for delivery to at least one subscriber of the online discussion forum service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio storage comprises a cloud storage system.

8. A social messaging hub for voice texting over Short Message Service/Multimedia Messaging Service/Enhanced Messaging Service (SMS/MMS/EMS) communications comprising:

a hub application operating on a web server;

a voice text processing engine coupled to the hub application;

an audio storage subsystem coupled to the voice text processing engine; and

an SMS provider coupled to the voice text processing engine and to a global SMS infrastructure.

9. The social messaging hub of claim 8, wherein the audio storage subsystem comprises a cloud storage system.

10. A social messaging application for voice texting over Short Message Service/Multimedia Messaging Service/Enhanced Messaging Service (SMS/MMS/EMS) communications comprising:

a user interface comprising;

a voice text selection button;

a voice text recording screen;

an interface to an audio storage subsystem for uploading an audio file of the voice text to the external storage sub-system.

11. The social messaging application of claim 10 wherein the audio storage subsystem comprises a cloud storage system.