Apparatus and method for providing electronic mail relay translation services
First Claim
1. Apparatus for providing translation services to permit a telecommunications application process to send an information message over a data transmission facility when an electronic mail address of an addressee of the message is unknown, but at least one unique identifier for the addressee is known, comprising:
- a host connected to the data transmission facility for receiving a data message from the telecommunications application process which is a client connected to the data transmission facility, the data message including the information message and the at least one unique identifier for the addressee of the information message, the host having means for deriving an electronic mail address for the addressee of the information message given the at least one unique identifier for the addressee, means for re-addressing the information message with the electronic mail address of the addressee, and means for forwarding the information message to the addressee by electronic mail;
wherein the data transmission facility is the Internet and the client sends the data message to the host as an electronic mail message over the Internet.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and a method for providing translation services to telecommunications processes for mapping from a unique identifier for an object, such as a telephone number, to an electronic address for the object, such as an electronic mail address. The apparatus and method permit telecommunication application processes to send multimedia messages created in one delivery method over the Internet in another delivery method without supporting directory standards. The advantage is the ability to develop less complicated application processes in less time and therefore get more quickly to market.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. Apparatus for providing translation services to permit a telecommunications application process to send an information message over a data transmission facility when an electronic mail address of an addressee of the message is unknown, but at least one unique identifier for the addressee is known, comprising:
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a host connected to the data transmission facility for receiving a data message from the telecommunications application process which is a client connected to the data transmission facility, the data message including the information message and the at least one unique identifier for the addressee of the information message, the host having means for deriving an electronic mail address for the addressee of the information message given the at least one unique identifier for the addressee, means for re-addressing the information message with the electronic mail address of the addressee, and means for forwarding the information message to the addressee by electronic mail; wherein the data transmission facility is the Internet and the client sends the data message to the host as an electronic mail message over the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. Apparatus for providing translation services to permit a voice message to be sent via Internet when an electronic mail address of an addressee of the voice message is unknown, but at least one unique identifier for the addressee is known, comprising:
a host connected to the Internet for receiving an electronic mail message from a client requiring the translation services, the electronic mail message including the voice message and the at least one unique identifier for the addressee of the voice message, the host having means for querying a directory service to obtain the electronic mail address for the addressee of the voice mail message using the at least one unique identifier for the addressee, means for re-addressing the voice message with the electronic mail address of the addressee, and means for forwarding the voice message to the addressee as an electronic mail message. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of providing translation services to permit a telecommunications application process to send an information message over the Internet to an unknown address of a recipient of the information message when a unique identifier for the recipient is known, comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving from the telecommunications application process an electronic mail message sent over the Internet to an electronic mail host;
the electronic mail message including the information message and the unique identifier for the recipient;(b) passing the electronic mail message to an application process which extracts the unique identifier from the electronic mail message and dispatches a query over the Internet to a directory server to obtain the unknown address of the recipient from the directory server; (c) receiving a response to the query sent to the directory server; (d) extracting the unknown address from the response if the response returned an address; (e) inserting the address in the information message if an address was returned by the response; and (f) forwarding the information message over the Internet using the address if an address was returned by the response.
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Specification