Method and apparatus for group messaging
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- receiving, by a group messaging system via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“
HTTP”
), a broadcast message from an originating endpoint device associated with an originating user, the broadcast message including text;
identifying, by the group messaging system, a group of recipients for the broadcast message;
determining, by the group messaging system, contact information for a recipient included in the group of recipients, the determining of the contact information for the recipient included in the group of recipients comprising;
determining an endpoint terminal address of a first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the endpoint terminal address comprising one of a cell phone number and a Short Message Service (“
SMS”
) address for the recipient;
sending, by the group messaging system, the broadcast message to a second destination endpoint device associated with the recipient using HTTP; and
sending, by the group messaging system to the endpoint terminal address of the first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the broadcast message by short text messaging the broadcast message to the one of the cell phone number and the SMS address for the recipient,wherein the first destination endpoint device and second destination endpoint device are different devices, andwherein the broadcast message includes a set of hyperlinks usable to reroute the broadcast message to an additional destination endpoint device in accordance with a sending method that is associated with the additional destination endpoint device.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for group messaging are disclosed. An exemplary method includes a group messaging system receiving a broadcast message from an originating user, imposing a limit on a number of text characters included in the broadcast message, identifying a group of intended recipients of the broadcast message, determining contact information for an intended recipient included in the group, determining at least one broadcast message sending method for the intended recipient, and sending the broadcast message to the intended recipient using the at least one broadcast message sending method.
19 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
receiving, by a group messaging system via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“
HTTP”
), a broadcast message from an originating endpoint device associated with an originating user, the broadcast message including text;identifying, by the group messaging system, a group of recipients for the broadcast message; determining, by the group messaging system, contact information for a recipient included in the group of recipients, the determining of the contact information for the recipient included in the group of recipients comprising; determining an endpoint terminal address of a first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the endpoint terminal address comprising one of a cell phone number and a Short Message Service (“
SMS”
) address for the recipient;sending, by the group messaging system, the broadcast message to a second destination endpoint device associated with the recipient using HTTP; and sending, by the group messaging system to the endpoint terminal address of the first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the broadcast message by short text messaging the broadcast message to the one of the cell phone number and the SMS address for the recipient, wherein the first destination endpoint device and second destination endpoint device are different devices, and wherein the broadcast message includes a set of hyperlinks usable to reroute the broadcast message to an additional destination endpoint device in accordance with a sending method that is associated with the additional destination endpoint device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A method comprising:
-
receiving, by a group messaging system via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“
HTTP”
), a broadcast message from an originating endpoint device associated with an originating user, the broadcast message including video;saving the video at the group messaging system; identifying, by the group messaging system, a group of recipients for the broadcast message; determining, by the group messaging system, contact information for a recipient included in the group of recipients, the determining of the contact information for the recipient included in the group of recipients comprising; determining an endpoint terminal address of a first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the endpoint terminal address comprising one of a cell phone number and a Short Message Service (“
SMS”
) address for the recipient;sending, by the group messaging system, the broadcast message to a second destination endpoint device associated with the recipient using HTTP; and sending, by the group messaging system to the endpoint terminal address of the first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, an indication of the broadcast message by short text messaging to the one of the cell phone number and the SMS address for the recipient, wherein the indication of the broadcast message includes text indicating how to retrieve the broadcast message, wherein the first destination endpoint device and second destination endpoint device are different devices, and wherein the broadcast message includes a set of hyperlinks usable to reroute the broadcast message to an additional destination endpoint device in accordance with a sending method that is associated with the additional destination endpoint device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A system comprising:
-
at least one server computer implementing a group messaging facility that; receives, via Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“
HTTP”
), a broadcast message from an originating endpoint device associated with an originating user, the broadcast message including text;identifies a group of recipients of the broadcast message; determines contact information for a recipient included in the group of recipients by identifying and extracting the contact information from a contacts database and determining, from the contact information, an endpoint terminal address of a first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the endpoint terminal address comprising one of a cell phone number and a Short Message Service (“
SMS”
) address for the recipient;sends the broadcast message to a second destination endpoint device associated with the recipient using HTTP; and sends, to the endpoint terminal address of the first destination endpoint device associated with the recipient, the broadcast message by short text messaging the broadcast message to the one of the cell phone number and the SMS address for the recipient, wherein the first destination endpoint device and the second destination endpoint device are different devices, and wherein the broadcast message includes a set of hyperlinks usable to reroute the broadcast message to an additional destination endpoint device in accordance with a sending method that is associated with the additional destination endpoint device. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification