Methods and apparatus for performing media/device sensitive processing of messages stored in unified multimedia and plain text mailboxes

• US 20030028604A1
• Filed: 08/02/2001
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Unify Inc. (Atos SE)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Information And Communication Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Aktas, Christoph A., Yates, John W., Meredith, Phillip C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,260,607 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

The invention provides users of either a unified messaging mailbox or simple plain text storage mailbox, with media and device sensitive methods and apparatus to convert messages from one medium to another (when necessary) taking into account the type of target device (for example, cell phone, PDA, pager, etc.), being used to access a stored message Additionally, the invention provides methods and apparatus for determining target device type and for summarizing message content based on target device type.

Claims

1. A multimedia mailbox system, comprising:

a) a message store for storing multimedia messages; and

b) conversion means for converting messages in one medium to messages in another medium, said conversion means being sensitive to the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said conversion means includes at least two selected from the group consisting of a text to speech converter, a speech to text converter, and a fax to text converter.

3. A system according to claim 1 further comprising means for determining the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

4. A system according to claim 1 further comprising means for summarizing message contents based on the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

5. A mailbox system, comprising:

a) a message store for storing text messages; and

b) means for summarizing the message content of a stored text message that operates as a function of the type of target device being used to access the stored text message.

6. A system according to claim 5 wherein said means for summarizing is operative to summarize a stored message based on a predefined set of target device related parameters.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein said predefined set of target device related parameters includes target device display size.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein said predefined set of target device related parameters includes target device buffer size.

9. A system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said target device is a mobil device.

10. A system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said mobil device is a pager.

11. A system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said mobil device is a PDA.

12. A system as set forth in claim 9 wherein said mobil device is a cell phone.

13. A method for managing a multimedia mailbox system, comprising the steps of:

a) storing multimedia messages in a mailbox; and

b) converting messages in one medium to messages in another medium, said conversion means being sensitive to the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

14. A method according to claim 13 wherein said step of converting messages includes utilizing at least two selected from the group consisting of a text to speech converter, a speech to text converter, and a fax to text converter.

15. A method according to claim 13 further comprising determining the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

16. A method according to claim 13 further comprising the step of summarizing message contents based on the type of target device being used to access the stored message.

17. A method for managing a mailbox system, comprising the steps of:

a) storing text messages in a mailbox; and

b) summarizing the message content of a stored text message operates as a function of the type of target device being used to access the stored text message.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein said step of summarizing is operative to summarize a stored message based on a predefined set of target device related parameters.

19. A method according to claim 18 wherein said predefined set of target device related parameters includes target device display size.

20. A method according to claim 18 wherein said predefined set of target device related parameters includes target device buffer size.