Method and apparatus for providing extensible scalable transcoding of multimedia content
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A gateway for use in a hierarchical gateway system, the gateway comprising:
- an input interface configured to receive a message directed to an end-user device;
a transcoder coupled to receive the message from the input interface, the transcoder outputting a modified message after modifying message content by transcoding in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the gateway by determining required transcoding based on information describing characteristics of the end-user devices downstream of the gateway to allow all end-user devices downstream of the gateway to receive and display the message content and modifying message content by at least one of removing at least one of image and audio content from the message, modifying at least one of image and audio content in the message, removing attachments from the message, summarizing message content, removing confidential material from the message and summarizing information about the message; and
an output interface configured to direct the modified message output from the transcoder to a downstream gateway coupled to a subset of all end-user devices downstream of the gateway, where the downstream gateway is configured to further modify the modified message by transcoding in a manner required by all end-user devices in the subset.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A hierarchical gateway system for use in a message delivery system is disclosed, in which each tier of gateways in the hierarchy includes means for transforming incoming messages in a manner required by downstream end-user devices. The hierarchical gateway system has the advantage of being scalable and extensible while avoiding transmission bottlenecks as the number of end-user device types, and their differing system requirements, increase. The invention is operable in the context of a notification server architecture, as well as the Web.
38 Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A gateway for use in a hierarchical gateway system, the gateway comprising:
-
an input interface configured to receive a message directed to an end-user device; a transcoder coupled to receive the message from the input interface, the transcoder outputting a modified message after modifying message content by transcoding in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the gateway by determining required transcoding based on information describing characteristics of the end-user devices downstream of the gateway to allow all end-user devices downstream of the gateway to receive and display the message content and modifying message content by at least one of removing at least one of image and audio content from the message, modifying at least one of image and audio content in the message, removing attachments from the message, summarizing message content, removing confidential material from the message and summarizing information about the message; and an output interface configured to direct the modified message output from the transcoder to a downstream gateway coupled to a subset of all end-user devices downstream of the gateway, where the downstream gateway is configured to further modify the modified message by transcoding in a manner required by all end-user devices in the subset. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method for transcoding a message received by a gateway that is directed to an end-user device, the method comprising:
-
receiving, at the gateway, a message directed to an end-user device; modifying the message content in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the gateway by transcoding said message to provide a modified message by determining required transcoding to allow all end-user devices downstream of the gateway to receive and display the message content based on information describing characteristics of said end-user devices downstream of the gateway and modifying message content by at least one of removing at least one of image and audio content from the message, modifying at least one of image and audio content in the message, removing attachments from the message, summarizing message content, removing confidential material from the message and summarizing information about the message; and directing the modified message to a downstream gateway coupled to a subset of all end-user devices downstream of the gateway, where the downstream gateway is configured to further modify the modified message by further transcoding in a manner required by all end-user devices in the subset. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A hierarchical gateway system, comprising:
-
a first gateway level including at least one first-level gateway, each first-level gateway including a first-level input interface configured to receive a message directed to an end-user device, a first-level transcoder outputting a modified message after modifying message content by transcoding in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the first-level gateway, and a first-level output interface for outputting the modified message; at least one successive gateway level including at least two successive-level gateways, each successive-level gateway including a successive-level input interface configured to receive a modified message directed to an end-user device from a previous-level gateway, a successive-level transcoder coupled to receive the modified message from the successive-level input interface, the successive-level transcoder outputting the message after further modifying the modified message content by further transcoding in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the successive-level gateway, and a successive-level output interface for outputting the further modified message and sending it to either a next successive-level gateway for further transcoding or to the end-user device to which the message is directed, wherein modifying message content by transcoding comprises determining required transcoding to allow all end-user devices downstream of the gateway to receive and display the message content based on information describing characteristics of the end-user devices downstream from the respective transcoder and modifying message content by at least one of removing at least one of image and audio content from the message, modifying at least one of image and audio content in the message, removing attachments from the message, summarizing message content, removing confidential material from the message and summarizing information about the message. - View Dependent Claims (17)
-
-
18. A computer program product in a computer readable storage medium for use in transcoding messages received by a gateway and directed to an end-user device, the computer program product comprising:
-
first instructions for receiving a message directed to an end-user device; second instructions for modifying the message content in at least one manner required by all end-user devices downstream of the gateway by transcoding said message to provide a modified message by determining required transcoding to allow all end-user devices downstream of the gateway to receive and display the message content based on information describing characteristics of said end-user devices downstream of the gateway and modifying message content by at least one of removing at least one of image and audio content from the message, modifying at least one of image and audio content in the message, removing attachments from the message, summarizing message content, removing confidential material from the message and summarizing information about the message; and third instructions for directing the modified message to a downstream gateway coupled to a subset of all end-user devices downstream of the gateway, where the downstream gateway is configured to further modify the modified message by further transcoding in a manner required by all end-user devices in the subset.
-
Specification