Coordination of communication with devices

• US 7,284,046 B1
• Filed: 09/04/2002
• Issued: 10/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kreiner, Barrett M., Peterson, Jonathan M., Hodges, Donna K
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit; Bunjob
• Assistant Examiner(s): DOAN, DUYEN MY
• Application Number:
  US10/235,461
• Time in Patent Office: 1,868 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709204-206, 709/203, 709/246, 715733-737
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A system and method is provided for coordinating network communication between multiple communication devices of a user. A communication session is established with an application. A message is received from the application and sent to one of a plurality of communication devices based at least on a status and an output capability of each of the plurality of communication devices.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating network communication between multiple communication devices associated with a user, comprising:

determining that a first communication device has a first output capability regarding displaying or sounding digital content items and that a second communication device has a second output capability regarding displaying or sounding digital content items, wherein the determining is accomplished by a user-device mapping engine that logically maps between the user and the user'"'"'s communication devices and a device-type mapping engine that maps between a user'"'"'s communication devices and a type and format of digital content items, wherein the type of digital content items is identified by one of a set of Extensible Markup Language tags and a file extension;

determining that the first and second communication devices are associated with each other;

receiving, from an application, a first digital content item and a second digital content item within a communication session;

determining by the device-type mapping engine that the first digital content item is able to be output by the first communication device and that the second digital content is able to be output by the second communication device, wherein the device-type mapping engine analyzes the capabilities of each communication device and selects a communication device with the highest capability relative to the type and format of the digital content item; and

concurrently with sending the first digital content item to the first communication device based on the capability of the first communication device to display the first digital content item, sending the second digital content item to the second communication based on the capability of the second communication device to display the second digital content item, wherein the device-type mapping engine allows the user to switch between the first and second communication devices without having to end an existing session.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first and second output capability comprises at least one of a capability to display plain text, a capability to display text with style applied, a capability to display grayscale graphic images, a capability to display color graphic images, a capability to display video images, and a capability to produce audio sounds.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first and second communication devices each comprise one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a wireless phone, a wireless pager, a wireless text messaging device, and a wireless e-mail device.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first communication device is a wireless phone capable of producing audio sounds, the second communication device is a wireless text messaging device, and wherein receiving the first and second digital content items comprises receiving a text digital content item and an audio digital content item, wherein the first and second digital content items are each accompanied by a document type definition complying with the Standard Generalized Markup Language;

determining that the first digital content item is able to be output by the first communication device and that the second digital content is able to be output by the second communication device comprises determining that the wireless text messaging device can display text and that the wireless phone is capable of producing audio sounds; and

sending the first and second digital content items comprises sending the text digital content item to the wireless text messaging device and the audio digital content item to the wireless phone.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first communication device is a wireless phone capable of producing audio sounds, the second communication device is a wireless communication device capable of displaying graphics and wherein receiving a communication including the first and the second digital content items comprises receiving an audio digital content item and a graphic digital content item;

determining that the first digital content item is able to be output by the first communication device and that the second digital content is able to be output by the second communication device comprises determining that the wireless phone is capable of producing audio sounds and that the wireless communication device is capable of displaying graphics; and

sending the first and second digital content items comprises sending the audio digital content item to the wireless phone and the graphic digital content item to the personal digital assistant.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein determining that the first digital content item is able to be output by the first communication device comprises determining whether the first digital content item comprises text, audio, or graphics based on an indication associated with the first digital content item.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving a first digital content item comprises receiving an Extensible Markup Language tag associated with the first digital content item indicating whether the first digital content item comprises text, audio, or graphics.

8. A method for coordinating network communication between multiple communication devices associated with a user, comprising:

receiving, at a device coordination engine, a HTML message destined for a first communication device containing at least a first digital content item and a second digital content item within a communication session;

determining each type of digital content item from an accompanying tag;

determining a second communication device associated with the first communication device using a user-device mapping engine where the user-device mapping engine provides logical mapping between the user and the communications devices associated with each other and available to the user which is also in communication with a device coordination engine;

determining, by the device coordination engine, a device status for each of the first and second communication devices by requesting from a first device manager associated with the first communication device and a second device manager associated with the second communication device, the device status indicating whether the first and second communication devices are operable to receive a digital content item and an indication of the output capability of the communication device;

using the device status, mapping between the digital content item type and the multiple communication devices; and

sending the first and second digital content items to each of the first and second communication devices based at least on the device status and the type of digital content item, wherein also the device coordination engine allows the user to receive each of the first and second digital content items by switching between the first and second communication devices without interrupting an existing communication session.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the sending comprises sending the digital content item to both the first and second communication devices based on a grouping of communication devices.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining that the first communication device is associated with a first time period;

determining that the second communication device is associated with a second time period;

determining a current time upon receiving the message; and

sending the message to the first communication device if the current time corresponds to the first time period and sending the message to the second communication device if the current time corresponds to the second time period.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining a current time upon receiving the message; and

sending the message to either the first communication device or the second communication device based at least on a predefined schedule.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

sending the message to either the first communication device or the second communication device based at least on a predefined priority.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining an output capability of the first and second communication device, the output capability regarding displaying or sounding digital content items; and

sending the message to the communication device having the highest output capability.

14. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the first communication device has a first output capability, the method further comprising:

dynamically adding a new output capability to the first communication device; and

communicating to the network, the addition of the new output capability.

15. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising receiving a request to send the message to the first communication device.

16. A system for coordinating network communication between a plurality of communication devices associated with a user, comprising:

for each of the plurality of communication devices, a device manager that is operable to determine a status and an output capability regarding display or sounding capability at least one of plurality of communication devices and to communicate with the corresponding communication device; and

a device coordination engine in communication with an application and with each device manager, the device coordination engine being operable

to establish a communication session with the application,

to receive from the application a first type of digital content item and a second type of digital content item within the communication session, and

to send the first type of digital content item to a first communication device of the plurality of communication devices and the second type of digital content item to a second communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on the status and the output capability of the first communication device and the second communication device and the first type and the second type of digital content items, wherein the device coordination engine further comprises a user preference engine which includes a group function which associates the first and the second communication devices into defined groups and which allows the device coordination engine to distribute the first and the second types of digital content items based on the output capability of each of communication devices in the defined group, a calendar function which allows the distribution of the first and the second types of digital content items to the first and the second communication devices based on a stipulated time period associated with each of the first and the second communication devices, and a priority function which associates a priority level to the first and the second communication devices which allows the distribution of the first and the second types of digital content items to the first and the second communications devices based on availability of the first and the second communication device and its priority level;

wherein the device coordination engine allows the user to switch between the first and second communication devices without having to end an existing session.

17. A system for coordinating network communication between a plurality of communication devices associated with a user, comprising:

for each of the plurality of communication devices a device manager that is operable to determine an output capability of the communication device, the output capability regarding displaying or sounding digital content items, and operable to communicate with the corresponding communication device; and

a device coordination engine that is operable to communicate with an application and that is operable to communicate with each device manager, to determine that a first communication device of the plurality of communication devices has a first output capability and that a second communication device of the plurality of communication devices has a second output capability, to determine that the first and the second communication devices are associated with each other, to receive a communication from an application including a first digital content item and a second digital content item within a communication session, to determine that the first digital content item is able to be output by the first communication device and that the second digital content is able to be output by the second communication device, and to send the first digital content item to the first communication device and send the second digital content item to the second communication device wherein further, the device coordination engine comprises a group function that associates the communications devices into defined groups which allows the user to receive each of the first and second digital content items by switching between the first and second communication devices without interrupting an existing communication session.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the first and second output capability comprises at least one of a capability to display plain text, a capability to display text with style applied, a capability to display grayscale graphic images, a capability to display color graphic images, a capability to display video images, and a capability to produce audio sounds.

19. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the first and second communication devices each comprise one of a personal computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a wireless phone, a wireless pager, a wireless text messaging device, and a wireless e-mail device.

20. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the device coordination engine is further operable to determine whether the first digital content item comprises text, audio, or graphics based on an indication associated with the first digital content item.

21. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein the device coordination engine is further operable to receive an Extensible Markup Language tag associated with the first digital content item indicating whether the first digital content item comprises text, audio, or graphics.