Method, system, gateway and user device for receiving/sending multimedia message

• US 20050207379A1
• Filed: 03/18/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shen, Jun, Sun, Pei, Song, Song, Zhang, Jian Ming
• Granted Patent: US 7,924,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

Methods, systems, gateways and user devices for receiving/sending multimedia message. According to the invention, a multimedia messaging service system comprising a wireless LAN, a multimedia messaging service user device and a multimedia messaging service gateway, the user device communicates with the gateway via the wireless LAN so as to send and receive multimedia messages. Furthermore, the gateway of the invention detect whether the user device is located within the wireless LAN. If yes, then multimedia messages are sent and received via the wireless LAN; and if not, then via conventional telecom network. The invention also discloses a corresponding gateway and a corresponding user device.

Claims

1. A multimedia messaging service system comprising:

a wireless LAN;

a MMS user device for sending and receiving multimedia message over said wireless LAN; and

a MMS gateway, for receiving, storing and sending the multimedia message sent by said MMS user device.

2. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 1, wherein:

said MMS gateway comprises a multimedia message storage/transceiver, a presence manager and a notification sender;

said MMS user device comprises a heartbeat sender, a message transceiver and a notification receiver,

said presence manager detects the heartbeat signals sent by the heartbeat sender so as to confirm whether said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN,

when said multimedia message storage/transceiver has a multimedia message stored therein and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN, the notification sender sends a notification over said wireless LAN to said MMS user device, said notification is received by said notification receiver; and

said message transceiver is configured to send a multimedia message by sending a request carrying said multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, or, when said notification receiver receives said notification, to send a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, so that said multimedia message storage/transceiver retrieves the multimedia message according to said location information and returns it to said MMS user device via said wireless LAN to be received by said message transceiver.

3. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said MMS gateway further comprises an authentication module for verifying the authorization of MMS user devices.

4. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said MMS gateway is provided in an enterprise intranet and communicates with multimedia message applications of the enterprise.

5. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a telecom network communicating with said MMS user device and said MMS gateway, and said MMS user device and said MMS gateway further make use of the telecom network to send, receive and store multimedia messages,

wherein, said MMS gateway further comprises a presence manager for detecting the location of the MMS user device, and when said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN, said MMS gateway communicates with the MMS user device via said wireless LAN, and when said MMS user device fails to be detected within said wireless LAN, said MMS gateway communicates with said MMS user device via the telecom network.

6. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 5, wherein:

said MMS gateway further comprises a multimedia message storage/transceiver and a notification sender;

said MMS user device comprises a heartbeat sender, a message transceiver, a notification receiver, a short message receiver and a second message transceiver;

said telecom network further comprises a short message center and a gateway,

said presence manager detects the heartbeat signals sent by the heartbeat sender so as to confirm whether said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN;

when said multimedia message storage/transceiver has a multimedia message stored therein and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN, the notification sender sends a notification over said wireless LAN to said MMS user device, said notification is received by said notification receiver;

when said multimedia message storage/transceiver has a multimedia message stored therein and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is not located within said wireless LAN, the notification sender sends a short message notification to said short message center, which sends a short message to said short message receiver so as to notify said MMS user device;

said message transceiver is configured to send a multimedia message by sending a HTTP request carrying said multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, or, when said notification receiver receives said notification, to send a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, so that said multimedia message storage/transceiver retrieves the multimedia message according to said storage location information and returns it to said MMS user device via said wireless LAN to be received by said message transceiver; and

said second message transceiver is configured to send a multimedia message to said multimedia message storage/transceiver by sending a request carrying said multimedia message to said gateway, or, when said short message receiver receives said notification, to send a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message via said gateway to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, so that said multimedia message storage/transceiver retrieves the multimedia message according to said storage location information and returns it to said MMS user device via said telecom network, said multimedia message is received by said second message transceiver.

7. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 2, wherein said heartbeat signal comprises the user device number or IP address.

8. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 5, wherein said MMS gateway further comprises an authentication module for verifying the authorization of MMS user devices.

9. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 8, wherein said authentication module is further configured to realize key management, and said MMS user device further comprises a certificate manager, which, along with said authentication module, conducts certificate management for the MMS user device and encryption management for the communication between the MMS user device and the MMS gateway.

10. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein said MMS gateway is provided in an enterprise intranet and communicates with multimedia message applications of the enterprise.

11. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 5, wherein:

said MMS gateway further comprises a multimedia message storage/transceiver, a notification sender and a gateway;

said MMS user device comprises a heartbeat sender, a message transceiver, a notification receiver, a short message receiver and a second message transceiver;

said telecom network further comprises a short message center, and

wherein;

said presence manager detects the heartbeat signals sent by the heartbeat sender so as to confirm whether said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN;

when said multimedia message storage/transceiver has a multimedia message stored therein and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is located within said wireless LAN, the notification sender sends a notification over said wireless LAN to said MMS user device, said notification is received by said notification receiver;

when said multimedia message storage/transceiver has a multimedia message stored therein and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is not located within said wireless LAN, the notification sender sends a short message notification to said short message center, which sends a short message to said short message receiver so as to notify said MMS user device;

said message transceiver is configured to send a multimedia message by sending a HTTP request carrying said multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, or, when said notification receiver receives said notification, to send a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message over said wireless LAN to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, so that said multimedia message storage/transceiver retrieves the multimedia message and returns it to said MMS user device via said wireless LAN to be received by said message transceiver;

said second message transceiver is configured to send a multimedia message to said multimedia message storage/transceiver by sending a request carrying said multimedia message to said gateway, or, when said short message receiver receives said notification, to send a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message via said gateway to said multimedia message storage/transceiver, so that said multimedia message storage/transceiver retrieves the multimedia message and returns it to said MMS user device via said gateway and said telecom network, said multimedia message is received by said second message transceiver.

12. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said heartbeat signal comprises the user device number or IP address.

13. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 11, wherein:

said MMS gateway further comprises an authentication module for verifying the authorization of MMS user devices.

14. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said MMS gateway is provided in an enterprise intranet and communicates with multimedia message applications of the enterprise.

15. A multimedia message user device comprising:

a heartbeat sender for sending heartbeat signals to be detected by a wireless LAN;

a notification receiver for receiving from said wireless LAN a notification indicating a fact that there is a multimedia message to be received;

a message transceiver for sending multimedia message by sending a request carrying said multimedia message over said wireless LAN, and in response to said notification, sending a request carrying a storage location information of the multimedia message over said wireless LAN so that the MMS user device receives said multimedia message from the wireless LAN.

16. The multimedia message user device as claimed in claim 15, further comprising:

a short message receiver for receiving short message notifications from a telecom network; and

a second message transceiver, for sending a multimedia message by sending a request carrying said multimedia message to a gateway of a telecom network or via a telecom network to a gateway outside of the telecom network, and, in response to said short message notification, sending a request carrying storage location information of the multimedia message via said gateway, so that the multimedia message is received from the telecom network.

17. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 15, wherein said heartbeat signal comprises the user device number or IP address.

18. A multimedia messaging service gateway, comprising:

a presence manager for detecting whether a MMS user device is located a wireless LAN;

a multimedia message storage/transceiver for receiving, storing and sending the multimedia messages sent by a MMS user device; and

a notification sender for sending a notification over said wireless LAN to said MMS user device when a multimedia message is present in said multimedia message storage/transceiver and when said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is located in said wireless LAN.

19. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 18, wherein:

said presence manager is further configured so that, when said MMS user device is detected to be located within said wireless LAN, said multimedia messaging service gateway communicates with said MMS user device over said wireless LAN, and when said MMS user device fails to be detected to be located within said wireless LAN, said multimedia messaging service gateway communicates with said MMS user device over a telecom network; and

said notification sender is further configured to send a notification to said MMS user device via a short message center of said telecom network when a multimedia message is stored in said multimedia message storage/transceiver and said presence manager detects that said MMS user device is not located within said wireless LAN.

20. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 18, characterized in further comprising an authentication module for verifying the authorization of MMS user devices.

21. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 20, wherein:

said authentication module is further configured to realize key management, so as to conduct certificate management for the MMS user device and encryption management for the communication between the MMS user device and the multimedia messaging service gateway.

22. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 19, further comprising a gateway for receiving via said telecom network the request carrying the multimedia message or the storage location information thereof and sent by said MMS user device, so as to receive the multimedia message sent by said MMS user device or send the multimedia message stored in said multimedia message storage/transceiver to said MMS user device.

23. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 22, further comprising an authentication module for verifying the authorization of MMS user devices.

24. The multimedia messaging service gateway as claimed in claim 18, wherein said heartbeat signal comprises the user device number or IP address.

25. The multimedia messaging service system as claimed in claim 18, wherein said MMS gateway is provided in an enterprise intranet and communicates with multimedia message applications of the enterprise.

42. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing functions of a multimedia messaging service gateway, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 18.

26. A method for receiving/sending a multimedia message, comprising receiving/sending the multimedia message between a MMS user device and a MMS gateway via a wireless LAN.

27. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 26, characterized in detecting whether the wireless LAN is available, if not, then multimedia messages are sent and received between said MMS user device and said MMS gateway via a telecom network.

28. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 27, wherein said step of detecting whether the wireless LAN is available comprises detecting the heartbeat signals sent by said MMS user device.

29. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 28, wherein said heartbeat signal comprises user device number or IP address.

30. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 26, wherein the step of sending a multimedia message via the wireless LAN by said MMS user device comprises a step of sending a request carrying said multimedia message via the wireless LAN.

31. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 26, wherein the step of receiving a multimedia message via the wireless LAN by the MMS user device comprises the following steps:

said MMS gateway sends a notification carrying storage location information of the multimedia message to said MMS user device;

said MMS user device retriever said location information from said notification;

said MMS user device sends a request carrying said location information to said MMS gateway;

said MMS gateway retrieves said multimedia message according to said location information and returns the multimedia message to said MMS user device.

32. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 26, wherein when sending and/or receiving a multimedia message, said MMS gateway verifies the authorization of said MMS user device.

33. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 26, wherein the sent/received multimedia message is encrypted by the following steps:

the MMS gateway issues a certificate to the MMS user device;

in response to a request of a MMS user device having a certificate, the MMS gateway sends a session ID and a master key encrypted by the gateway'"'"'s private key to the MMS user device;

the master key is decoded by the MMS user device and mixed with the MMS user device'"'"'s phone number and the session ID to generate a shared secret key;

the gateway generates a shared secret key with the same algorithm;

the multimedia message is encrypted using said shared secret key.

34. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 33, wherein the MMS user device or the MMS gateway can fresh the secret key by changing the session ID.

35. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 33, wherein at least one of the step of issuing the certificate and the step of sending the session ID and the master key is performed by sending a short message or a WAP response.

36. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 33, wherein the step of issuing the certificate is performed by synchronization via an infrared port.

37. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 27, wherein the step of sending a multimedia message via the telecom network by said MMS user device comprises the steps of:

sending a request carrying said multimedia message via a gateway;

said gateway sends the multimedia message to said MMS gateway.

38. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 27, wherein the step of receiving a multimedia message via the telecom network by the MMS user device comprises the following steps:

said MMS gateway sends a notification message carrying storage location information of the multimedia message to a short message center of the telecom network;

said short message centers forwards said notification message to the MMS user device;

said MMS user device retriever said storage location information from said notification message, and sends a request carrying said storage location information via a gateway to said MMS gateway;

said MMS gateway retrieves the multimedia message according to said storage location information and returns the multimedia message via said gateway to said MMS user device.

39. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 37, wherein said gateway is provided in said MMS gateway.

40. The method for receiving/sending a multimedia message as claimed in claim 37, wherein said gateway is provided in said telecom network.

41. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing receiving/sending a multimedia message, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 26.