MANAGING MESSAGING SERVICES

• US 20170149720A1
• Filed: 11/20/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Castagna, Raffaele, Casillo, Alessandro, Elefante, Leopoldo, Di Lauro, Francesco, Aliberti, Antonio
• Granted Patent: US 10,469,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

In some implementations, messaging services, through which messages from an entity, such as a company, are communicated to various users, are managed. In one aspect, the techniques described may be provided by a messaging management service that keeps track of such messaging services and provides messages to users through these messaging services on behalf of various companies. In this way, the messaging management service may enable companies to quickly establish a presence on new communication platforms and more easily communicate through the mobile communication and social networking services that are most suitable to their existing and potential customers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing, by a messaging management service, message recipient information that includes, for each of multiple message recipients, (i) preference data identifying one or more messaging services through which messages are to be sent to a user, and, (ii) for each of the messaging services through which messages are to be sent to the user, account information for the user;

receiving, by the messaging management service and from a message initiator, a request to transmit a message, wherein the request includes at least (i) a message content type identifier that indicates a type of message that is to be transmitted, and (ii) data identifying one or more message recipients;

for each message recipient;

selecting, by the messaging management service, one or more particular messaging services based on the preference data for the message recipient;

for each of the particular messaging services;

generating, by the messaging management service, a message based on the message content type identifier, and

transmitting, by the messaging management service, the message and the account information for the user to the messaging service.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each of the particular messaging services;

in response to transmitting the message, receiving, by the messaging management service, an acknowledgement from the messaging service;

generating, by the messaging management service, a response to the request based on at least one of the one or more acknowledgements; and

transmitting, by the messaging management service and to the message initiator, the response to the request.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more particular messaging services include one or more social networking services.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request further includes (iii) a set of content that is to be included in the message that is to be transmitted.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein generating the message based on the message content type identifier comprises:

selecting, from among multiple templates that are each associated with different message content type identifiers, a particular template that is associated with the received message content type identifier; and

populating the particular template with the set of content.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the multiple templates are maintained by one or more administrators associated with the message initiator.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the preference data further identifies a language in which messages are to be provided to the user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving, by the messaging management service and from the message initiator, the request to transmit the message comprises:

receiving, by the messaging management service and from the message initiator, a request (i) under a simple object access protocol and (ii) to transmit a message.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein accessing, by the messaging management service, message recipient information comprises:

accessing, by the messaging management service, message recipient information for each of multiple users that are registered to receive messages on behalf of the message initiator.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least a portion of the message recipient information for each of the multiple users is obtained in through one or more processes through which each user is registered to receive messages on behalf of the message initiator.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the one or more processes through which each user is registered to receive messages on behalf of the message initiator are performed, at least in part, by one or more computing devices that host a website associated with the message initiator.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

selecting one or more particular messaging services based on the preference data for the message recipient comprises, for each of one or more message recipients;

selecting, by the messaging management service, two or more particular messaging services based on the preference data for the message recipient; and

generating the message based on the message content type identifier comprises, for each of the two or more particular messaging services;

generating, by the messaging management service, a message based on the message content type identifier that is formatted for the respective one of the two or more particular messaging services.

13. A computer-implemented method comprising:

accessing, by a messaging management service, message recipient information that includes, for each of multiple message recipients, (i) preference data identifying one or more existing messaging services through which messages are to be sent to the user, and, (ii) for each of the existing messaging services through which messages are to be sent to the user, account information for the user;

receiving, by the messaging management service, new messaging service provisioning information for a new messaging service, wherein the new messaging service provisioning information includes (i) information that associates message content type identifiers to message templates that are formatted for the messaging service, and (ii) instructions for electronically communicating messages to the new messaging service;

transmitting, by the messaging management service and to one or more message initiators, a notification indicating that messages may now be transmitted through the new messaging service; and

receiving, by the messaging management service and from one or more of the message initiators, updated message recipient information that includes, for each of one or more of the multiple message recipients, (i) updated preference data identifying the new messaging service, and, (ii) account information for the new messaging service and the user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein receiving, by the messaging management service and from one or more of the message initiators, updated message recipient information comprises:

receiving, by the messaging management service and from one or more of the message initiators, updated message recipient information based on an indication that the user would like receive messages through the new messaging service.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the indication that the user would like receive messages through the new messaging service is received by the message initiator through a website associated with the message initiator.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the messaging management service, one or more updates to enable the messaging management service to generate messages that are compatible with the new messaging service.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

updating the message recipient information for each of the one or more of the multiple message recipients, to reflect the (i) updated preference data identifying the new messaging service, and, (ii) account information for the new messaging service and the user.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a message initiator, an indication that a particular message recipient has initiated communication of a message through a particular messaging service;

determining, by the message initiator, that message recipient information for the particular message recipient indicates that messages are not to be transmitted to the particular message recipient through the particular messaging service;

in response to determining that the message recipient information for the particular message recipient indicates that the messages are not to be sent to the particular message recipient through the particular messaging service, providing, by the message initiator, a prompt for the particular message recipient to confirm that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service;

receiving, by the message initiator, a response from the particular message recipient confirming that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service; and

in response to receiving the response from the particular message recipient confirming that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service, transmitting, to a messaging management service, a request to transmit a message, wherein the request includes at least (i) a message content type identifier that indicates a type of the message that is to be transmitted, (ii) data identifying the particular message recipient, and (iii) data indicating that the particular message recipient has overridden preference data indicating that messages are not to be transmitted to the particular message recipient through the particular messaging service.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein providing, by the message initiator, the prompt for the particular message recipient to confirm that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service comprises:

providing, by the message initiator and through an interface of a website associated with the message initiator, a prompt for the particular message recipient to confirm that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein receiving, by the message initiator, the response from the particular message recipient confirming that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service comprises:

receiving, by the message initiator and through the interface of the website associated with the message initiator, a response from the particular message recipient confirming that the message is to be transmitted through the particular messaging service.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the particular messaging service is a social networking service.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the request further includes (iv) a set of content that is to be included in the message that is to be transmitted.

23. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

accessing, by a messaging management service, message recipient information that includes, for each of multiple message recipients, (i) preference data identifying one or more messaging services through which messages are to be sent to a user, and, (ii) for each of the messaging services through which messages are to be sent to the user, account information for the user;

receiving, by the messaging management service and from a message initiator, a request to transmit a message, wherein the request includes at least (i) a message content type identifier that indicates a type of message that is to be transmitted, and (ii) data identifying one or more message recipients;

for each message recipient;

selecting, by the messaging management service, one or more particular messaging services based on the preference data for the message recipient;

for each of the particular messaging services;

generating, by the messaging management service, a message based on the message content type identifier, and

transmitting, by the messaging management service, the message and the account information for the user to the messaging service.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein generating the message based on the message content type identifier comprises:

selecting, from among multiple templates that are each associated with different message content type identifiers and maintained by one or more administrators through a web administration console of the messaging management service, a particular template that is associated with the received message content type identifier; and

populating the particular template with the set of content.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the web administration console of the messaging management service enables templates to be added and modified by the one or more administrators.