METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MESSAGE SERVICE IN MULTI-DEVICE ENVIRONMENT AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

• US 20150044998A1
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Published: 02/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: SK Planet Co., Ltd. (SK Telecom Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Roh, Hai Gang, Kim, Han Joon
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,645 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and a system for a message service in a multi-device environment in which one or more terminals are used by a user, and to an apparatus therefor, the present invention registering, for each user, one or more terminals which will be using a message service and providing the message service by means of the one or more registered terminals, thereby providing additional services comprising user privacy protection and/or provision of presence information.

Claims

1. A message service system in a multi-device environment, comprising:

a service device that registers at least one terminal as a device for using a message service for each user, provides transmission and reception messages of the user to the at least one registered terminal at the same time, and provides an additional service including at least one of user privacy protection and presence information providing based on the at least one registered terminal; and

the at least one terminal that uses the message service and the additional service through the service device.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein, according to a service restriction request of a specific terminal out of the at least one terminal, the service device performs control such that message transmission to the specific terminal is blocked or a message is disclosed to only a user who is authenticated in the specific terminal.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the service device collects location information and personal schedule information of at least one user from the at least one terminal, analyzes at least one piece of the collected location information and personal schedule information, determines state information of the user, and provides the determined state information as presence information of the user.

4. A service device for a message service in a multi-device environment, comprising:

a communication unit configured to transmit and receive data with a plurality of terminals via a communication network;

a storage unit configured to store registration information of at least one terminal that is used by a user; and

a service control unit that registers at least one terminal that uses a message service for each user, provides the message service through the at least one registered terminal, and provides an additional service including at least one of user privacy protection and presence information providing based on the at least one registered terminal.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein, according to a service restriction request of a specific terminal out of the at least one terminal, the service control unit performs control such that message transmission to the specific terminal is blocked or a message is disclosed to only a user who is authenticated in the specific terminal.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein, when the service restriction request of the specific terminal is released after message transmission to the specific terminal is blocked, the service control unit transmits a message that is not delivered up to a release time to the specific terminal.

7. The device according to claim 5, wherein the service control unit receives the service restriction request of the specific terminal from any terminal out of the plurality of terminals.

8. The device according to claim 5, wherein the service control unit extracts a terminal that does not use the message service for a predetermined time or more as the specific terminal out of the plurality of terminals and generates a service restriction request.

9. The device according to claim 5, wherein the service control unit encrypts a message and transmits the message such that the message is disclosed to only an authenticated user and performs control such that the message is decoded and displayed after the user is authenticated in the specific terminal.

10. The device according to claim 5, wherein, when the message is transmitted to the specific terminal, the service control unit also transmits a hiding or display restriction request of the message and displays the message after the user is authenticated.

11. The device according to claim 4, wherein the service control unit performs control such that location information and personal schedule information of at least one user are collected from the at least one terminal, at least one piece of the collected location information and personal schedule information are comparatively analyzed, state information of the user is determined, and the determined state information is provided as presence information of the user.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein the service control unit determines a priority of the collected information based on a property including at least one of a time zone in which the location information or the personal schedule information is collected and a type of the terminal, and determines the state information of the user based on information having a high priority.

13. A terminal for a message service in a multi-device environment, comprising:

a communication unit configured to transmit and receive data via a communication network;

an input unit configured to generate a user input signal corresponding to a user'"'"'s request;

a control unit configured to perform control such that communication is performed with a service device through the communication unit and a message related to the user is transmitted, received, and output, and when a service restriction request of the user is generated through the input unit, a service restriction request of a specific terminal out of a plurality of terminals that are used by the user is transmitted to the service device; and

an output unit configured to output transmitted and received messages under control of the control unit.

14. The terminal according to claim 13, wherein the control unit performs control such that a transmission and reception state of the message is hidden so as not to be known under control of the service device and the hidden message is displayed through the output unit when the user is successfully authenticated.

15. The terminal according to claim 13, wherein the control unit displays at least one of a sender, a receiver, and some of the message content of the transmitted and received messages in an unrecognizable state, and converts at least one of the sender, the receiver, and the some of the message content into a recognizable state when the user is successfully authenticated.

16. The terminal according to claim 13, wherein the control unit performs control such that, when an encrypted message is received from the service device, a reception state of the message is notified of, and the message is decoded and output when the user is successfully authenticated.

17. A message service method performed by a service device in a multi-device environment, comprising:

providing transmission and reception messages of a user to a plurality of terminals registered by the user at the same time;

checking a service restriction request of a specific terminal out of the plurality of terminals while the transmission and reception messages of the user are provided to the plurality of terminals; and

controlling the specific terminal such that message transmission to the specific terminal for which service restriction is requested is blocked or a message is disclosed to only a user who is authenticated in the specific terminal.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein, in the controlling, the service device encrypts a message and transmits the message to the specific terminal, and the message is decoded after the user is authenticated in the specific terminal.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein, in the controlling, the service device transmits the message to the specific terminal along with a hiding or display restriction request of the message, and the message is disclosed only after the specific terminal authenticates the user.

20. A message service method performed by a service device in a multi-device environment, comprising:

registering information of at least one terminal that uses a message service;

collecting location information and personal information of at least one user from the at least one terminal;

comparatively analyzing at least one piece of the collected location information and personal schedule information and determining state information of the user; and

providing the determined state information as presence information of the user.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the collecting includes,

receiving the personal schedule information stored in the at least one terminal that executes the message service from each terminal.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the location information includes at least one piece of information among GPS information and an access IP of a terminal in which the message service is executed.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein, in the determining, the personal schedule information of the user classified by at least one of day of the week, date, and hour, is compared with the location information, and when there is personal schedule information matching the location information and the hour, the state information is determined based on the matching personal schedule information.