Systems and methods for transmitting messages to predefined groups

• US 6,442,250 B1
• Filed: 08/22/2000
• Issued: 08/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BBNT Solutions LLC (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Troen-Krasnow, David Mark, Winnett, Steven Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): WOO, STELLA L
• Application Number:
  US09/643,974
• Time in Patent Office: 735 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.15, 379/88.14, 379/88.13, 379/100.13, 379/93.01, 379/92.01, 379/92.03, 379/100.06, 379/100.09
• US Class Current: 379/93.15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases

Abstract

A system provides messaging services by transmitting messages to groups of message recipients. The system receives a message from a subscriber in an input format and identifies the group of message recipients to receive the message (510). The system determines one or more output formats for the message for each of the message recipients in the group (530) and converts the message from the input format to the output format(s) when the output format(s) differ from the input format (540). The system then transmits the message to the group of message recipients in the output format(s) (550).

Claims

1. A method for transmitting messages to groups of message recipients, comprising:

receiving a message from a subscriber in an input format;

identifying one of the groups of message recipients to receive the message;

determining one or more output formats for the message for each of the message recipients in the group of message recipients;

converting the message from the input format to the one or more output formats when the one or more output formats differ from the input format;

transmitting the message to the group of message recipients in the one or more output formats; and

monitoring a status of the transmission of the message to each of the message recipients in the group of message recipients, the status indicating whether the transmission was successful, resulted in a busy signal, resulted in a no-answer, or was answered by a voice storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

authenticating the subscriber before identifying the group of message recipients.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting includes:

transmitting the message to one of the message recipients in a first one to the output formats,

determining whether the transmitting was successful, and

sending the message to the one message recipient in a second one of the output formats when the transmitting in the first output format was unsuccessful.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

identifying the message recipients in the group of message recipients.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifying the message recipients includes:

obtaining contact information for each of the message recipients.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the obtaining includes:

receiving at least one of a number and address for locating each of the message recipients, and

receiving an identification of a type of equipment used by each of the message recipients.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes:

identifying one or more types of equipment used by each of the message recipients, and

identifying one or more of the output formats corresponding to each of the identified types of equipment.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining further includes:

identifying periods of time when the identified types of equipment are valid.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more output formats include a plurality of different output formats:

and

wherein the converting includes;

translating the message from the input format to the different output formats concurrently.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more replies to the message from the message recipients, and

providing the replies to the subscriber.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a status report from the monitored status.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the input format is one of a plurality of input formats:

and

wherein the converting includes;

determining whether the one or more output formats match the input format.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying includes:

receiving a group identifier from the subscriber,

determining the group that corresponds to the group identifier,

verifying that the subscriber is authorized to access the group corresponding to the group identifier, and

locating, in a database, the message recipients in the group when the subscriber is authorized to access the group.

14. A system for transmitting messages from subscribers to groups of message recipients, comprising:

means for obtaining messages from the subscribers in one or more input formats;

means for identifying one of the groups of message recipients to receive each of the messages;

means for determining a plurality of output formats for each of the messages and corresponding to the message recipients in each of the groups of message recipients;

means for translating the messages from the one or more input formats to the output formats when the output formats differ from the one or more input formats;

means for transmitting the messages to the identified groups of message recipients in the output formats; and

means for monitoring a status of the transmission of the message to each of the message recipients in each of the identified groups, the status indicating whether the transmission was successful, resulted in a busy signal, resulted in a no-answer, or was answered by a voice storage device.

15. A system for sending messages from subscribers to groups of message recipients, comprising:

a group database configured to store identifiers for a plurality of groups of message recipients and indicators that identify one or more output formats corresponding to each of the message recipients;

a group access unit configured to receive a message from a subscriber in an input format, identify one of the groups of message recipients in the group database to receive the message, and determine the one or more output formats for each of the message recipients in the identified group based on the indicators in the group database;

a translator configured to convert the message from the input format to the one or more output formats;

a message transmission unit configured to transmit the message to the identified group in the one or more output formats; and

a message status unit configured to monitor a status of the transmission of the message to each of the message recipients in the identified group, the status indicating whether the transmission was successful, resulted in a busy signal, resulted in a no-answer, or was answered by a voice storage device.

16. The system of claim 15, further including:

an authentication unit configured to authenticate the subscriber.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the message transmission unit is configured to transmit the message to one of the message recipients in the identified group in a first one of the output formats, determine whether the transmission was successful, and send the message to the one message recipient in a second one of the output formats when the transmission in the first output format was unsuccessful.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the group access unit is further configured to predefine the groups of message recipients in the group database.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the group access unit is further configured to obtain contact information for each of the message recipients.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the group access unit is further configured to receive information for each of the message recipients including at least one of a number and address for locating the message recipient and an identification of a type of equipment used by the message recipient, and store the received information in the group database.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the group access unit is configured to identify one or more types of equipment used by each of the message recipients, and identify one or more of the output formats corresponding to each of the identified types of equipment.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the group access unit is further configured to identify periods of time when the identified types of equipment are valid.

23. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more output formats include a plurality of different output formats;

and

wherein the translator is configured to concurrently translate the message from the input format to the different output formats.

24. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a message delivery indicator configured to receive one or more replies to the message from the message recipients, and provide the replies to the subscriber.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein the message status unit is further configured to generate a status report from the monitored status.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the input format is one of a plurality of input formats;

and

wherein the translator is further configured to determine whether the one or more output formats match the one input format.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the group access unit is configured to receive one of the identifiers from the subscriber locate the group that corresponds to the received identifier in the group database, verify that the subscriber is authorized to access the group corresponding to the received identifier, and identify the message recipients in the group from the group database when the subscriber is authorized to access the group.

28. A computer-readable medium that stores instructions executable by at least one processor to perform a method for transmitting messages from subscribers to a plurality of groups of message recipients, comprising:

instructions for identifying one of the groups of message recipients to receive a message from a subscriber;

instructions for determining one or more output formats for the message for each of the message recipients in the identified group of message recipients;

instructions for translating the message to the one or more output formats;

instructions for transmitting the message to the identified group of message recipients in the one or more output formats; and

instructions for monitoring a status of the transmission of the message to each of the message recipients in the identified group of message recipients, the status indicating whether the transmission was successful, resulted in a busy signal, resulted in a no-answer, or was answered by a voice storage device.

29. A method for monitoring delivery of messages to groups of message recipients, comprising:

identifying one of the groups of message recipients to receive a message;

determining the message recipients in the identified group of message recipients;

transmitting the message to each of the determined message recipients;

monitoring a status of the transmission to each of the determined message recipients, the status indicating whether the transmission was successful, resulted in a busy signal, resulted in a no-answer, or was answered by a voice storage device; and

generating a status report based on the monitored status.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

receiving one or more replies to the message from the determined message recipients, and

incorporating the one or more replies in the status report.