End to end acknowledgment of SMS messages

• US 8,442,562 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2009
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jeffrey C. Konicek, Jon E. Kappes
• Original Assignee: Jeffrey C. Konicek, Jon E. Kappes
• Inventors: Konicek, Jeffrey C., Kappes, Jon E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Addy, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hua, Quan M
• Application Number:
  US12/504,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20100016002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/415, 455/432.1, 455/567, 370/260, 370/261, 370/28, 370/349, 370/496, 370/522
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

End to end acknowledgment of SMS messages based on sending an acknowledgement back to the sender of the SMS that the message was received after successful delivery.

Claims

1. A method that acknowledges a receiving cell phone'"'"'s receipt of SMS messages from a sending cell phone, comprising:

receiving a short message service (SMS) message at the receiving cell phone from the sending cell phone;

in response to receiving said SMS message, the receiving cell phone automatically initiating a missed call that is configured to provide acknowledgement of the receiving cell phone'"'"'s receipt of said SMS message,

wherein said automatically initiating a missed call comprises initiating a call to the sending cell phone by sending a ring back from receiving cell phone to the sending cell phone and terminating the call before being answered at the sending cell phone;

the call from the receiving phone to the sending cell phone configured to cause the sending cell phone, in response to receiving the ring back within a predetermined amount of time, to refrain from resending the SMS message;

wherein the act of initiating a missed call is performed by the receiving phone dependent on a particular geographical location detected using the receiving cell phone'"'"'s GPS function.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the receiving cell phone determining from the received SMS message whether the sending cell phone requires acknowledgement prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the receiving cell phone determining from the received SMS message whether the SMS message should be acknowledged prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the receiving cell phone determining from the received SMS message whether the SMS message includes information indicating that the message should be acknowledged prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the SMS message is received at the receiving cell phone from an internet location.

2. A wireless device configured to include a non-transitory computer readable medium having program code thereon configured to control the device to:

receive a short message service (SMS) message at the wireless device from a sending wireless device;

in response to said receiving, the receiving wireless device automatically initiating a missed call that is configured to provide acknowledgement of the receiving wireless device'"'"'s receipt of said SMS message,

wherein said automatically initiating a missed call comprises;

initiating a call to the sending wireless device by sending a ring back from receiving wireless device to the sending wireless device and terminating the call before being answered at the sending wireless device;

the call from the receiving wireless device to the sending wireless device configured to cause the sending wireless device, in response to receiving the ring back within a predetermined amount of time, to refrain from resendinq the SMS message; and

wherein the act of initiating a missed call is performed by the receiving wireless device dependent on a particular geographical location detected using a GPS function.

7. The wireless device of claim 2 further configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the sending device requires acknowledgement prior to automatically placing a call to the sending device that sent the SMS message.

8. The wireless device of claim 2 further configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the SMS message should be acknowledged prior to automatically placing a call to the sending device that sent the SMS message.

9. The wireless device of claim 2 further configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the SMS message includes information indicating that the message should be acknowledged prior to automatically placing a call to the sending device that sent the SMS message.

10. The wireless device of claim 2 further configured to receive the SMS message from an internet location.

11. A message acknowledgement system, comprising:

a receiving cell phone configured to receive a short message service (SMS) message from a sending cell phone;

wherein the receiving cell phone is configured to automatically call the sending cell phone and making the call a missed call to indicate the receiving cell phone'"'"'s receipt of the SMS message;

wherein said making the missed call comprises initiating a call to the sending cell phone by sending a ring back from receiving cell phone to the sending cell phone and terminating the call before being answered at the sending cell phone;

the call from the receiving cell phone to the sending cell phone configured to cause the sending cell phone, in response to receiving the ring back within a predetermined amount of time, to refrain from resending the SMS message;

wherein the act of initiating a missed call is performed by the receiving phone dependent on a particular location of the receiving cellphone being detected using the receiving cell phone'"'"'s GPS function.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the receiving cell phone is configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the sending cell phone requires acknowledgement prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the receiving cell phone is configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the SMS message should be acknowledged prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the receiving cell phone is configured to determine from the received SMS message whether the SMS message includes information indicating that the message should be acknowledged prior to automatically calling the sending cell phone for the purposes of making a missed call to indicate receipt of the SMS message.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the receiving cells phone is configured to receive the SMS message from an internet location.