Message transmitting scheme of mobile terminal

• US 20050143104A1
• Filed: 07/28/2004
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Yong-Sik
• Granted Patent: US 7,333,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• 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 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A system and method for controlling a mobile terminal transmits collectively messages in different formats, such as LMS and SMS. The message transmission mode is designated by recipient numbers and content is input based on a corresponding message transmission mode. A message can be transmitted to multiple destinations regardless of whether the receiver terminals are able to receive LMS format messages and regardless of whether the receiver terminals are manufactured by different mobile communication providers. In addition, the hardware of the mobile terminal does not need to be re-designed, since the mobile terminal can be implemented simply changing existing software.

Claims

1. A message transmitting method of a mobile terminal, comprising:

designating different formats of a message;

receiving content of the message; and

transmitting the message to a plurality of receiver terminals in the different formats.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the different message formats include SMS format and LMS format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the LMS format includes MMS.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating an option to be used to send the message to each of the receiver terminals, wherein the option is at least one of a receive confirmation and read confirmation function to be performed for the transmitted message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, in transmitting the message, SMS multiple-destination transmission and LMS multiple-destination transmission are separately performed using multiple-destination transmission fields.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the SMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a general traffic channel.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the SMS multiple-destination transmission is repeatedly performed a number of times equal to the number of a receiver terminals.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein LMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a data call.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

in LMS multiple-destination transmission, encoding destination information of the plurality of receiver terminals together with a separator symbol; and

collectively transmitting the message based on the encoded destination information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the different formats of the message are designated based on destination information of the receiver terminals.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the destination information includes at least one of a phone number and an e-mail address.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission of the message to the receiver terminals is recognized as one message transmission process by a user.

13. A message transmitting method for a mobile terminal, comprising:

adding an LMS field to each of a plurality of recipient numbers to discriminate SMS and LMS formats based on the numbers; and

transmitting the message to the recipient numbers after content input is completed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the LMS includes an MMS.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the SMS and LMS are discriminated by a tele-service identifier stored in storage fields associated with the recipient numbers.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the message is transmitted based on a set option, which includes at least one of a receive confirmation and read confirmation function for the transmitted message.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the message is performed based on a procedure comprising:

dividing the SMS and LMS by multiple-destination transmission fields;

performing an SMS multiple-destination transmission; and

performing an LMS multiple-destination transmission.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the SMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a general traffic channel.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the SMS multiple-destination transmission is repeatedly performed a number of times equal to the number of the recipients'"'"' numbers.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the LMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a data call.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein, in the LMS multiple-destination transmission, the message is transmitted at one time as the recipient numbers are encoded together with separator symbols.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the message is performed by a two-step procedure recognized as one message transmission process by a user.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein the recipients'"'"' numbers include a phone number and an e-mail address.

24. A message transmitting method of a mobile terminal, comprising:

designating a plurality of recipient numbers for multiple-destination transmission;

receiving information designating SMS and LMS transmission formats for the recipient numbers;

discriminately storing in the terminal information indicating SMS and LMS formats in storage fields of the recipient numbers;

receiving content of a message; and

transmitting the message to the recipient numbers based on the discriminated fields.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the recipient numbers include at least one telephone number and at least one e-mail address.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

setting an option indicating that at least one of a receive confirmation and read confirmation function is to be performed for the transmitted message.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein transmitting the message includes:

dividing the SMS and LMS by multiple-destination transmission fields;

performing an SMS multiple-destination transmission; and

performing an LMS multiple-destination transmission.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the SMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a general traffic channel.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein SMS multiple-destination transmission is repeatedly performed a number of times equal to a number of the recipient numbers.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein LMS multiple-destination transmission is performed through a data call.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein, in the LMS multiple-destination transmission, the message is transmitted at one time as the recipients'"'"' numbers are encoded together with separator symbols.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein transmission of the SMS and LMS messages is recognized as one message transmission process by a user.

33. A mobile terminal apparatus for wireless communications, comprising:

a selector to allow a user to select a particular format of a message to be transmitted, among multiple message formats comprising a LMS (long messaging service) format and a SMS (short messaging service) format;

an input device to allow the user to create the message to be transmitted according to the selected message format;

a processor to process the created message and output a processed message according to the selected message format; and

a transmitter to transmit the processed message to a destination.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the selector is implemented in software executed by the processor.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the selector provides display of a user menu with selectable options.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the LMS format supports a MMS (multimedia messaging service).

37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the processor includes an encoder to encode the created message if the selected message format requires encoding, and the processed message output by the processor is either an encoded message or a non-encoded message.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the encoded message corresponds to a LMS (long messaging service).

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the non-encoded message corresponds to a SMS (short messaging service).

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the encoding by the processor allows a single message to be sent to multiple destinations by encoding all destination information together with separators to distinguish each destination.