Intelligent queue for information teleservice messages with superceding updates

• US 6,751,463 B1
• Filed: 10/04/1999
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Artax LLC (IPValuation Partners, LLC)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Puscas, Constantin Horatiu, Lorello, Timothy J., Hart, Reuben D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Nay
• Assistant Examiner(s): SOBUTKA, PHILIP
• Application Number:
  US09/411,240
• Time in Patent Office: 1,716 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/558, 455/420, 455/411, 455/557, 455/550, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/413, 370/394, 370/7.29, 340/7.21, 340/7.47, 340/7.48
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A message exchange network is disclosed in which at least two different methods of storing messages in memories of message storage entities, e.g., a mobile handset, an SMSC, an e-mail client, or an e-mail server, are utilized based on the type and the content of the information contained within the message. An information service message containing information that is supercedingly updateable, e.g., stock quote, weather or traffic information, is stored using a replacement method by which an older message previously stored is replaced by a newly received message. All other types of messages are stored using an append method by which the newly received message is stored in an unoccupied available memory location. In a disclosed embodiment, message identifier included in the message itself provides information necessary to distinguish between the aforementioned two types of messages. In a disclosed embodiment, a block of message identifiers is reserved for storage of information service messages. The architectures and methods for receipt, delivery and storage of messages disclosed herein replaceable and/or on demand update of information service messages while providing efficient use of memory in which the messages are stored, avoiding the annoyance and inconvenience to the subscriber in having to scroll through numerous stale and/or obsolete messages in order to view the most current up to date message and having to manually selecting and deleting obsolete and stale messages, and avoiding unnecessary deliveries of the obsolete and stale messages by message centers.

Claims

1. A message exchange network for passing messages, including a plurality of information service messages, comprising:

a memory, disposed within at least one network element, adapted to store at least one short message containing a source identification intended for a subscriber of said network; and

a controller, disposed within said at least one network element, adapted to control storage of said at least one short message automatically overwriting a previously stored short message with said at least one short message upon determination that said at least one short message is an information service message having commonality with said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text.

2. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 1, wherein:

said network is a short message service network.

3. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 2, wherein:

said at least one network element is a short message service center.

4. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 2, wherein:

said at least one network element is a mobile handset.

5. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 4, further comprising:

an input device adapted to receive an input commands from said subscriber, said input command indicating a request for an update of information contained within a short message among said at least one short message stored within said memory.

6. The message exchange network passing messages according to claims 1, wherein:

said network is an electronic mail network.

7. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 6, wherein:

said at least one network element is an electronic mail server.

8. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 6, wherein:

said at least one network element is an electronic mail client.

9. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 1, wherein:

said newly received message includes an associated message identifier, said message identifier being one of a plurality of available message identifiers.

10. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 9, wherein:

a subset of said plurality of available message identifiers is reserved for storage of said plurality of information service messages exclusively.

11. The message exchange network passing messages according to claim 10, further comprising:

a comparator adapted to compare said associated message identifier with said subset of said plurality of available message identifiers.

12. A short message service center in a short message service network, comprising:

at least one communication interface adapted to communicate a newly received short message intended for a subscriber of said short message service network;

a memory adapted to store said newly received short message received over said at least one communication interface; and

a controller adapted to store said newly received short message within said memory by automatically superceding a previously stored short message with said newly received short message if said newly received short message has commonality with said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text.

13. The short message service center according to claim 12, wherein:

said newly received short message and said previously stored short message are information service short messages.

14. The short message service center according to claim 12, wherein:

said newly received short message and said previously stored short message each include an associated message identifier, said message identifier being one of a plurality of available message identifiers, and said message identifier indicating a common source between said newly received short message and said previously stored short message.

15. The short message service center according to claim 14, wherein:

at least one of said plurality of available message identifiers is reserved for fixed association with a respective at least one short message source.

16. The short message service center according to claim 15, further comprising:

a comparator adapted to compare said associated message identifier with message identifiers within said at least one of said plurality of available message identifiers.

17. The short message service center according to claim 12, further comprising:

means for assigning a message identifier to each received short message.

18. The short message service network according to claim 12, wherein:

said controller is within said short message service center.

19. A mobile receiver in a short message service network, comprising:

at least one communication interface adapted to communicate a newly received short message intended for a subscriber of said short message service network;

a memory adapted to store a plurality of received short messages including said newly received short message; and

a controller adapted to control storage of said plurality of short messages within said memory, said controller being adapted to automatically overwrite a previously stored short message with said newly received short message if said newly received short message has commonality with said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text.

20. The mobile receiver according to claim 19, further comprising:

means for assigning a message identifier to each received short message.

21. The mobile receiver according to claim 19, wherein:

said newly received short message and said previously stored short message each include an associated message identifier, said message identifier being one of a plurality of available message identifiers, and said message identifier indicating a common source between said newly received short message and said previously stored short message.

22. The mobile receiver according to claim 21, wherein:

at least one of said plurality of available message identifiers is reserved for fixed association with a respective at least one short message source.

23. The mobile receiver according to claim 22, further comprising:

a comparator adapted to compare said associated message identifier with said at least one of said plurality of available message identifiers.

24. The mobile receiver according to claim 19, further comprising:

an input device adapted to receive an input command from said subscriber, said input command indicating a request for an update of information contained within a mostly recently received one of said plurality of short messages stored within said memory.

25. The mobile receiver according to claim 24, further comprising:

a display device adapted to display a short message received by said mobile receiver in response to said input command indicating a request for an update.

26. An electronic mail storage for electronic mail messages from a communication network for access by a subscriber of said communication network, comprising:

means for determining a source of a newly received electronic mail message;

means for locating in said electronic mail storage a previously stored electronic mail message corresponding to a same source as said newly received electronic mail message; and

means for automatically overwriting said previously stored electronic mail message with said newly received electronic mail message if said newly received electronic mail message has commonality with said previously stored electronic mail message, as determined by said means for automatically overwriting with an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text.

27. The electronic mail storage for electronic mail messages from a communication network for access by a subscriber of said communication network according to claim 26, wherein:

said network is a short message service network.

28. A method of storing short messages for access by a communication device in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a new short message intended for said communication device;

determining a commonality with a previously received short message based on an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text; and

automatically overwriting all previously received short messages from a storage queue for said communication device having a commonality as said new short message.

29. The method of storing short messages for access by a communication device in a communication network according to claim 28, wherein:

said network is a short message service network.

30. The method of storing short messages in accordance with claim 28, wherein said step of determining comprises:

detecting from said new short message an associated message identifier indicating a source of said new short message; and

comparing said detected message identifier associated with said new short message with a predetermined list of message identifiers reserved exclusively for respective information service sources.

31. A method for a mobile subscriber to receive short messages from a short message service network, comprising:

sending a request for new messages from said mobile subscriber to said short message service network;

receiving new messages from said short message service network; and

determining a commonality of said new short message with a previous short message based on an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text;

automatically overwriting any stored message having a commonality as any of said new messages with said respective new message having said commonality.

32. The method for a mobile handset of a subscriber to send and receive, to and from a short message service network in accordance with claim 31, further comprising:

displaying said new message on a display device of said mobile subscriber.

33. The method for a mobile subscriber to receive short messages from said short message service network in accordance with claim 31, wherein:

said step of sending a request is automatically performed after a completion of a transaction in which said short message service network was utilized by said mobile subscriber.

34. The method for a mobile subscriber to receive short messages from said short message service network in accordance with claim 31, wherein:

said new message contains information regarding a network usage account for said subscriber.

35. The method for a mobile subscriber to receive short messages from said short message service-network in accordance with claim 34, wherein said information regarding said network usage account comprises:

balance information regarding a pre-paid account.

36. A message identifier assignment module for a message exchange network, comprising:

a plurality of available message identifiers including at least one commonality identifier fixedly assigned to at least one particular message source; and

an assignment module with an ability to analyze a message identifier, an originating address, and message text adapted to automatically assign said at least one commonality identifier to messages received from said particular message source, as indicated in one of a message identifier, originating address, and message text, and adapted to automatically assign any of said remainder of said plurality of available message identifiers to messages not from said at least one particular message source, as indicated in at least one of a message identifier, an originating address, and message text.

37. The message identifier assignment module for a message exchange network according to claim 36, wherein:

said message identifier assignment module is implemented with a short message service center.

38. The message identifier assignment module for a message exchange network according to claim 36, wherein:

said network is a short message service network.

39. A method of assigning message identifiers to messages received in a short message service center, comprising:

determining a plurality of available message identifiers for a short message service center;

fixedly assigning at least one of said available message identifiers to at least one corresponding predetermined source;

receiving a short message;

if said short message is received from one of said at least one corresponding predetermined sources, assigning a fixed message identifier pre-assigned to said predetermined source; and

if said short message is received from a source other than said predetermined source, automatically assigning an arbitrarily assigned message identifier to said source other than said predetermined source.

40. The method of assigning message identifiers to messages received in a short message service center according to claim 39, further comprising:

comparing said source of said short message to a predetermined list of information sources to determine if said short message was received from a predetermined information source.

41. A message exchange network for passing messages, including a plurality of information service messages, comprising:

a memory, disposed within at least one network element, adapted to store at least one short message containing a source identification intended for a subscriber of said network; and

a controller, disposed within said at least one network element, adapted to control storage of said at least one short message automatically overwriting a previously stored short message with said at least one short message upon determination that said at least one short message is an information service message having a same identification type as said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze based on at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text.

42. A short message service center in a short message service network, comprising:

at least one communication interface adapted to communicate a newly received short message intended for a subscriber of said short message service network;

a memory adapted to store said newly received short message received over said at least one communication interface; and

a controller adapted to store said newly received short message within said memory by automatically superceding a previously stored short message with said newly received short message if said newly received short message has a common source type with said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze based on at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text.

43. A mobile receiver in a short message service network, comprising:

at least one communication interface adapted to communicate a newly received short message intended for a subscriber of said short message service network;

a memory adapted to store a plurality of received short messages including said newly received short message; and

a controller adapted to control storage of said plurality of short messages within said memory, said controller being adapted to automatically overwrite a previously stored short message with said newly received short message if said newly received short message is from a common source type as said previously stored short message, as determined by said controller with an ability to analyze based on at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text.

44. An electronic mail storage for electronic mail messages from a communication network for access by a subscriber of said communication network, comprising:

means for determining a source of a newly received electronic mail message;

means for locating in said electronic mail storage a previously stored electronic mail message corresponding to a same source as said newly received electronic mail message; and

means for automatically overwriting said previously stored electronic mail message with said newly received electronic mail message if said newly received electronic mail message corresponds to a same source type as said previously stored electronic mail message, as determined by said means for automatically overwriting with an ability to analyze based on at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text.

45. A method of storing short messages for access by a communication device in a communication network, comprising:

receiving a new short message intended for said communication device;

determining a source type of said new short message based on an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text; and

automatically overwriting all previously received short messages from a storage queue for said communication device having a same source type as said new short message.

46. A method for a mobile subscriber to receive short messages from a short message service network, comprising:

sending a request for new messages from said mobile subscriber to said short message service network;

receiving new messages from said short message service network; and

determining a source type of said new short message based on an ability to analyze at least one of a message identifier, an originating address and message text;

automatically overwriting any stored message having a same source type as any of said new messages with said respective new message having said same message identifier.

47. A message identifier assignment module for a message exchange network, comprising:

a plurality of available message identifier types including at least one information source message identifier type fixedly assigned to at least one particular message source; and

an assignment module adapted to automatically assign said at least one information source message identifier type to messages received from said particular message source, as indicated in one of a message identifier, originating address, and message text, and adapted to automatically assign any of said remainder of said plurality of available message identifier types to messages not from said at least one particular message source, as indicated in at least one of a message identifier, originating address, and message text.