SMS technology for computerized devices

• US 10,819,635 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2014
• Issued: 10/27/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Lew, Eugene Lee, Gal-Oz, Nimrod
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Huy D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Nizam U
• Application Number:
  US14/215,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20140198796A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,416 Days
• Field of Search: 370392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update

Abstract

A method and system for delivering SMS and MMS messages from a mobile telephone to devices having addresses on an Internet Protocol network are provided. In an embodiment of the invention a device having an IP address and a Media Access Control (MAC) address is registered on a network router and a telephone number is associated with the registered device on the router, such that when the router receives an SMS or MMS message for the telephone number associated with the device the router retrieves the IP address for the device and routes the message to the device.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for establishing a message communication session between at least one mobile telephone and at least one user device having an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a Media Access Control (MAC) address, the method comprising:

associating a telephone number with the at least one user device;

registering the associated telephone number with the IP address and the MAC address of the at least one user device on a Network Allocation Translation (NAT) router in communication with the at least one user device via a Local Area Network (LAN),

registering the associated telephone number with the IP address and the MAC address of the at least one user device on a central router in communication with the NAT router via a first IP connection, and

registering the associated telephone number of the at least one user device with an SMS/MMS aggregator configured to route messages directed to the associated telephone number to the central router via a second IP connection;

receiving a message from the SMS/MMS aggregator at the central router via the second IP connection, the message directed to the associated telephone number and originated by the at least one mobile telephone on a respective mobile telephone carrier;

retrieving on the central router at least one of the IP address and the MAC address of the at least one registered user device using the associated telephone number as a selection criterion;

establishing, by the central router, an IP communication via the first IP connection between the central router, the NAT router, and the at least one registered user device;

routing, by the central router, the message via the established IP communication to at least one of the IP address and the MAC address of the at least one registered user device; and

establishing, by the central router, a bi-directional SMS/MMS/EMS messaging session between the at least one registered user device and the central router independently of the mobile telephone carrier using an application operating on the at least one registered user device providing an interface to send and receive messages via the bi-directional messaging session.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the message is at least one selected from the group of:

a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message and a Short Message Service (SMS) text message,

wherein the central router is at least one of;

an SMS router; and

an MMS router;

thereby delivering the message from the at least one mobile telephone to the at least one at least one registered user device having at least one of the IP address and the MAC address,

wherein the message is delivered in the form of a text message.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the IP address is statically allocated.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the message is at least one selected from the group of:

a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message and a Short Message Service (SMS) message transmitted using one of;

an XMPP protocol;

an SMPP protocol;

an MMS protocol; and

a SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE) protocol.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the type of the message is at least one selected from the group consisting of audio, image and video.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising delivering the message to at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a television, a cordless DECT telephone, a video game console, a portable video game device, a mobile personal digital assistant, an IP enabled messaging appliance, and, a personal computer.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising delivering the message to a plurality of registered user devices associated with the associated telephone number.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein the mobile telephone is at least one selected from the group of:

an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) capable telephone, an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) capable Personal Data Assistant (PDA) device, a Femtocell capable telephone, a Femtocell capable Personal Data Assistant (PDA) device and a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone (DECT) based telephone or device.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the network router is at least one selected from the group of:

an SMS router, an MMS router, and a Network Address Translation (NAT) wired or wireless router.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising delivering and receiving the message and displaying the message in an instant messaging session, by transmitting and receiving a plurality of message formats to and from a plurality of devices and displaying sent or received messages in the instant messaging session wherein at least one participant messages via a mobile telephone device and at least one participant messages via an internet device.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising delivering and receiving the message by a unified messaging server, wherein the unified messaging server sends and receives the message to and from a plurality of devices and a plurality of types of devices and converts the message format to and from at least one format selected from the group consisting of:

SMS, MMS, Instant Message, Common Profile for Instant Messaging (CPIM), APEX, Instant Messaging Exchange Protocol, Presence and Instant Messaging Protocol, Voice Over Internet Protocol, XMPP, SMPP, MMS Protocol and SIP for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE).

21. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

graphically indicating, in the interface of the application operating on the at least one registered user device, a type of registered user device corresponding to the at least one registered user device to a recipient of a message communicated in the bi-directional messaging session.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the graphical indication of the type of registered user device indicates at least one of a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) telephone, a television, a video game console, a portable video game device, a mobile personal digital assistant, an IP enabled messaging appliance and a personal computer device.

12. A system for establishing a message communication session between a mobile and at least one device having an Internet Protocol (IP) and a Media Access Control (MAC) address, the system comprising:

a central router comprising a table for registering and associating a telephone number with at least one of the MAC address and the IP address of the at least one device;

a Network Allocation Translation (NAT) router for registering the associated telephone number, the MAC address and the IP address of the at least one device, the NAT router in communication with the central router via a first Internet Protocol (IP) connection; and

at least one local area network (LAN) selected from the group consisting of a wireless network, a cable network, a DSL network, a telco network, a combination of a DSL and wireless network, a combination of a telco and wireless network, and a combination of a cable and wireless network, the LAN in communication with the NAT router via a second IP connection, and the at least one device for transporting a message in the message communication session from the central router to the at least one device,

wherein the system delivers the message independently of a mobile telephone provider of the mobile telephone via a third IP connection between an SMS/MMS aggregator and the central router to the at least one device having at least one of the IP address and the MAC address with the associated telephone number,

wherein the message is at least one selected from the group of a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message and a Short Message Service (SMS) text message,

wherein the central router;

establishes an IP communication path between the central router, the NAT router, and the at least one registered device;

routes the message via the established IP communication path to at least one of the IP address and the MAC address of the at least one registered device; and

establishes a bi-directional SMS/MMS messaging session between the at least one registered device and the central router independently of the mobile telephone provider using an application operating on the at least one registered device providing an interface for sending and receiving messages via the bi-directional messaging session.

13. The system according to claim 12 wherein the at least one device is a wireless user router and the message is delivered to devices connected to the router.

14. The system according to claim 12 wherein the message is at least one selected from the group of:

a Multimedia Message Service (MMS) message, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, and an Instant Messaging format message transmitted using the XMPP protocol or the SIMPLE protocol.

15. The system according to claim 12 wherein the message comprises at least one selected from the group of:

an audio message, an image message and a video message.

16. The system according to claim 12 wherein the mobile telephone is at least one selected from the group of:

an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) capable telephone, an Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) capable Personal Data Assistant (PDA) device, a Femtocell capable telephone, a Femtocell capable Personal Data Assistant (PDA) device and a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone (DECT) based telephone or device.

17. The system according to claim 12 wherein the network router is at least one selected from the group of:

an SMS router, an MMS router, and a Network Address Translation (NAT) wired or wireless router.

18. The system according to claim 12 further comprising at least one social networking profile which is accessed for a plurality of telephone numbers which receive the message.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein the provisioning process further comprises associating the telephone number and the user identification.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the device is an IP enabled mobile telephone sending and receiving SMS text messages via a unified messaging server.

23. The system according to claim 12, wherein the interface of the application operating on the at least one registered user device graphically indicates a type of registered user device corresponding to the at least one registered user device to a recipient of a message communicated in the bi-directional messaging session.

24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the graphical indication of the type of registered user device indicates at least one of a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) telephone, a television, a video game console, a portable video game device, a mobile personal digital assistant, an IP enabled messaging appliance and a personal computer device.