System and method for multimedia messaging

• US 8,595,307 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2013
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rege, Nabha, Zavelson, Tracy, Ward, Melynda
• Primary Examiner(s): Nooristany, Sulaiman
• Application Number:
  US13/897,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20130252647A1
• Time in Patent Office: 193 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content. The message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members. The method includes determining a group profile associated with the group address. The group profile includes a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members. The profile includes a network address associated with a multimedia data format. The group profile is defined by a sender of the message. The method includes sending the message including the multimedia content to a device associated with the network address. The multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, and wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message;

sending the message including the multimedia content to a device associated with the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format; and

sending the message to a second network address in response to a determination that an acknowledgement was not received from the device associated with the network address within a time period, wherein the acknowledgement indicates that the message has been received by the device, wherein the message sent to the second network address includes the multimedia content modified based on a second multimedia data format associated with the second network address, and wherein the second network address is selected from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sender of the message is not one of the plurality of group members.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is received from a second device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members, wherein the second group member is not subscribed to the service provider, and wherein the group member is not subscribed to the service provider.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a third group member of the plurality of group members is subscribed to the service provider.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is received from a second device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members and wherein the group member and the second group member are subscribed to the service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a communication server of the service provider.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a location of the group member associated with the profile.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a time when the message is received.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the network address from the plurality of network addresses associated with the profile, wherein the network address is selected based on a priority order indicated in the profile.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting a second profile from the group profile, wherein the second profile is associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members, and wherein the second profile includes a third network address associated with the second multimedia data format; and

sending the message including the multimedia content to the third network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the second multimedia data format.

11. A system comprising:

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor, the memory including instructions that are executable by the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message;

sending the message including the multimedia content to a device associated with the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format; and

sending the message to a second network address in response to a determination that an acknowledgement was not received from the device associated with the network address within a time period, wherein the acknowledgement indicates that the message has been received by the device, wherein the message sent to the second network address includes the multimedia content modified based on a second multimedia data format associated with the second network address, and wherein the second network address is selected from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor and the memory are included in a computing device associated with a messaging service provider.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the message is received from a second device associated with a second group member of the plurality of group members, wherein the second group member is not subscribed to the messaging service provider, and wherein the group member is subscribed to the messaging service provider.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the network address from the plurality of network addresses associated with the profile, wherein the network address is selected based on a location of a recipient of the message, content included in the message, a type of the message, or a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the multimedia data format from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a location of the group member associated with the profile, a time when the message is received, or both.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the multimedia data format includes a set of component multimedia formats including a data format, a text format, an audio format, an image format, a video format, or a combination thereof.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the message includes a plurality of distinct components, each distinct component corresponding to a particular component multimedia format of the set of component multimedia formats.

18. A computer readable storage device including instructions executable by a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a computing device associated with a service provider, a message including multimedia content, wherein the message is addressed to a group address associated with a plurality of group members;

determining a group profile associated with the group address, the group profile including a profile associated with a group member of the plurality of group members, the profile including a network address associated with a multimedia data format, wherein the group profile is defined by a sender of the message;

sending the message including the multimedia content to a network device having the network address, wherein the multimedia content is modified based on the multimedia data format; and

sending the message to a second network address in response to a determination that an acknowledgement was not received from the device associated with the network address within a time period, wherein the acknowledgement indicates that the message has been received by the device, wherein the message sent to the second network address includes the multimedia content modified based on a second multimedia data format associated with the second network address, and wherein the second network address is selected from a plurality of network addresses associated with the profile.

19. The computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise modifying the multimedia content based on the multimedia data format, wherein the multimedia data format is selected from a plurality of multimedia data formats associated with the network address, and wherein the multimedia data format is selected based on a type of the message, based on content included in the message, or both.