Integrated message delivery over a plurality of transport mediums

• US 7,583,958 B2
• Filed: 11/05/2004
• Issued: 09/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Coskun, Risvan, Zhang, Haining
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peaches; Randy
• Application Number:
  US10/982,480
• Publication Number:
  US 20060099976A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 455/415, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/466, 455/414.1
• US Class Current: 455/414.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Facilitating a communication directed to a communication device operable to receive data over a plurality of transport mediums includes determining present transport coverage of the communication device, determining which transport mediums the communication device is presently operable to receive the communication, and selecting one of theses transport mediums for delivery of the communication to the communication device.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for facilitating a communication over a plurality of transport mediums, comprising:

receiving communication data for a communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium;

determining if the communication device is presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium by checking the transport coverage of the first transport medium at the communication device;

if the communication device is not presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium, then;

determining which of the plurality of transport mediums over which the communication device is presently operable to receive the communication by checking the transport coverage of each of the plurality of transport mediums at the communication device; and

selecting one of the plurality of transport mediums as a second transport medium for delivery of at least a subset of the communication to the communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium comprises an e-mail communication.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subset of the communication comprises a short messaging service (SMS) message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium comprises a short messaging service (SMS) message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one of the plurality of transport mediums as a second transport medium for delivery of the communication to the communication device comprises:

accessing transport options data; and

selecting one of the plurality of transport mediums as the second transport medium based on the transport options data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting the communication from a first transport medium format to a second transport medium format that corresponds to the second transport medium.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first transport medium comprises an e-mail transport medium and the second transport medium comprises a short messaging service (SMS) transport medium.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein converting the communication from a first transport medium format to a second transport medium format comprises generating SMS message data from e-mail message data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising delivering the communication over the first transport medium when the mobile device becomes presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is not presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium because a network associated with the first transport medium is down.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is not presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium because the communication device is out of data coverage for the first transport medium.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the transport coverage of one or more of the plurality of transport mediums is checked by determining if the communication device has secured a network resource associated with the one or more of the plurality of transport mediums.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the transport coverage of one or more of the plurality of transport mediums is checked by examining data received from the communication device to determine if the data includes indicia of mobile device coverage.

14. A processor-implemented method for facilitating communication over a plurality of transport mediums, comprising:

receiving communication data for a communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium;

determining a present transport coverage at the communication device, wherein the present transport coverage indicates which of the plurality of transport mediums are locally available to the communication device;

if the present transport coverage does not include the first transport medium, then;

selecting a second transport medium over which the communication device is presently operable to receive communication data;

determining if the second transport medium is operable to deliver the communication;

if the second transport medium is operable to deliver the communication, then redirecting the communication over the second transport medium; and

if the second transport medium is not operable to deliver the communication, then generating and transmitting alternate communication data over the second transport medium.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein selecting a second transport medium over which the communication device is presently operable to receive communication data comprises:

accessing transport options data; and

selecting one of the plurality of transport mediums as the second transport medium based on the transport options data.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium comprises an e-mail communication.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the alternate communication data comprises a short messaging service (SMS) message.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the alternate communication data comprises a personal identification number (PIN) message.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium comprises a short messaging service (SMS) message.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising delivering the communication over the first transport medium when the mobile device becomes presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium.

21. A system for facilitating a communication over a plurality of transport mediums, comprising:

an integrated transport delivery device comprising a processing subsystem, a memory subsystem, and a communication subsystem, the processing subsystem coupled to the memory subsystem and the communication subsystem, and operable to store and retrieve data in the memory subsystem, to execute instructions stored in the memory subsystem, and send and receive data over the communication subsystem over a plurality of transport mediums; and

integrated transport delivery device program code comprising program instructions executable by the processing subsystem and stored in the memory subsystem and upon execution cause the integrated transport delivery device to be operable to;

receive communication data for a communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium;

determine if the communication device is presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium by checking the transport coverage of the first transport medium at the communication device; and

if determining that the communication device is not presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium, then;

determine which of the plurality of transport mediums over which the communication device is presently operable to receive the communication by checking the transport coverage of the plurality of transport mediums at the communication device; and

select one of the plurality of transport mediums as a second transport medium for delivery of at least a subset of the communication to the communication device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the communication to be delivered to a communication device over a first transport medium comprises an e-mail communication.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the subset of the communication comprises a short messaging service (SMS) message.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the integrated transport delivery device program code comprises further program instructions executable by the processing subsystem and stored in the memory subsystem and upon execution cause the integrated transport delivery device to be operable to:

access transport options data; and

select one of the plurality of transport mediums as the second transport medium based on the transport options data.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the integrated transport delivery device program code comprises further program instructions executable by the processing subsystem and stored in the memory subsystem and upon execution cause the integrated transport delivery device to be operable to convert a least a subset the communication from a first transport medium format to a second transport medium format that corresponds to the second transport medium.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the integrated transport delivery device program code comprises further program instructions executable by the processing subsystem and stored in the memory subsystem and upon execution cause the integrated transport delivery device to deliver the communication over the first transport medium when the mobile device becomes presently operable to receive the communication over the first transport medium.