Method and system for premium access

• US 20060282386A1
• Filed: 03/14/2006
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Chen, Szeto, Christopher T., Vemulapalli, Rajanikanth, Ramakrishnan, Thyagarajapuram
• Application Number:
  US11/375,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20060282386A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

A method for instant messaging, comprising: receiving a login request containing information associated with a user; determining, based on the information, whether that user is authorized to use at least one premium service for instant messaging; causing display of a premium instant messaging user interface enabling use of the premium service on a client computer in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service; and causing the same client computer to display a second instant messaging user interface in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

Claims

1. A method for instant messaging, comprising:

receiving a login request containing information associated with a user;

determining, based on the information, whether that user is authorized to use at least one premium service for instant messaging;

causing display of a premium instant messaging user interface enabling use of the premium service on a client computer in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service, and causing the same client computer to display a second instant messaging user interface in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the premium service enables initiating an instant message containing at least an item selected from the group consisting of audible sound files, images, and animations.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing the instant message in a server;

receiving a request via the premium instant messaging user interface in the client computer to transmit the instant message to a recipient; and

transmitting the instant message from the server to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the premium service includes selecting a skin from a set of skins.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

storing descriptions of the set of skins;

receiving a request from the client computer to download a selected skin; and

transmitting information defining the selected skin to the client computer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the premium service includes displaying an emoticon in a status indicator associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing display of a premium instant messaging user interface comprises:

encrypting a premium access token; and

transmitting the premium access token to the client computer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the premium access token includes data representing:

a user identification associated with the user, a list of one or more premium services the user is authorized to access, and an expiration date.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second login request containing the same information associated with the same user, the second login request originating at a different time and from a different computer than the first login request; and

causing display of the premium instant messaging user interface on the second computer in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service, and causing the second computer to display the second instant messaging user interface in response to the second login request in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

10. A method for instant messaging, comprising:

receiving a message from a sender who is one of a plurality of users, the message having a recipient and containing a representation of premium content that is made available to a subset of the plurality of users, the subset including users who are authorized to send instant messages containing premium content;

determining whether the sender is authorized to initiate an instant message containing the premium content; and

transmitting the premium content to the recipient in response to the sender is authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content, and performing an alternative step in response to the sender is not authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the alternative step comprises preventing delivery of the message.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the alternative step comprises suspending a messaging conversation, a messaging session or a messaging account used by the sender to send the message containing premium content.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the sender;

and wherein the premium content is previewed by the sender.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the transmitting is performed by a server computer in response to the message from the sender.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the receiving and determining are performed by a first server computer, and the transmitting is performed by at least a second server computer.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the recipient for replaying the premium content.

17. A method for instant messaging, comprising:

transmitting a login request containing information associated with a user to a server;

receiving an access token from the server containing information identifying whether the user is authorized to use at least one premium service for instant messaging; and

displaying a premium instant messaging user interface enabling use of the premium service in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service, and displaying a second instant messaging user interface in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the premium instant messaging user interface enables the user to send or receive an instant message containing at least an item selected from the group consisting of audible sound files, images, and animations, and wherein the second instant messaging user interface enables the user to receive the instant message containing at least an item selected from the group consisting of audible sound files, images, and animations.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

decrypting the access token; and

denying the user access to the premium instant messaging user interface in response to a result of the decrypting indicates that the access token has been altered after being sent from the server.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

caching the instant message in a local client computer; and

replaying the instant message in the local client computer without retransmitting the instant message from the server to the local client computer.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the premium instant messaging user interface has a skin and enables the user to select and download the skin from a set of skins stored on the server.

22. A computer program product for instant messaging, comprising a medium storing executable program code, the computer program product comprising:

code for receiving a login request containing information associated with a user;

code for determining, based on the information, whether that user is authorized to use at least one premium service for instant messaging; and

code for causing display of a premium instant messaging user interface enabling use of the premium service on a client computer in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service, and causing the same client computer to display a second instant messaging user interface in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the premium service enables initiating an instant message containing at least an item selected from the group consisting of audible sound files, images, and animations.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

code for storing the instant message in a server;

code for receiving a request via the premium instant messaging user interface in the client computer to transmit the instant message to a recipient; and

code for transmitting the instant message from the server to the recipient.

25. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the premium service includes selecting a skin from a set of skins.

26. The computer program product of claim 25, further comprising:

code for storing descriptions of the set of skins;

code for receiving a request from the client computer to download a selected skin; and

code for transmitting information defining the selected skin to the client computer.

27. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the premium service includes displaying an emoticon in a status indicator associated with the user.

28. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the code for causing display of a premium instant messaging user interface comprises:

code for encrypting a premium access token; and

code for transmitting the premium access token to the client computer.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein the premium access token includes data representing:

a user identification associated with the user, a list of one or more premium services the user is authorized to access, and an expiration date.

30. The computer program product of claim 22, further comprising:

code for receiving a second login request containing the same information associated with the same user, the second login request originating at a different time and from a different computer than the first login request; and

code for causing display of the premium instant messaging user interface on the second computer in response to the user is authorized to use the premium service, and causing the second computer to display the second instant messaging user interface in response to the second login request in response to the user is not authorized to use the premium service for instant messaging.

31. A computer program product for instant messaging, comprising a medium storing executable program code, the computer program product comprising:

code for receiving a message from a sender who is one of a plurality of users, the message having a recipient and containing a representation of premium content that is made available to a subset of the plurality of users, the subset including users who are authorized to send instant messages containing premium content;

code for determining whether the sender is authorized to initiate an instant message containing the premium content; and

code for transmitting the premium content to the recipient in response to the sender is authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content, and code for performing an alternative step in response to the sender is not authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the code for performing the alternative step comprises code for preventing delivery of the message.

33. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the code for performing the alternative step comprises code for suspending a messaging conversation, a messaging session or a messaging account used by the sender to send the message containing premium content.

34. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the sender;

and wherein the premium content is previewed by the sender.

35. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the code for transmitting is executed by a server computer in response to the message from the sender.

36. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein:

the code for receiving and code for determining are executed by a first server computer, and

the code for transmitting is executed by at least a second server computer.

37. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the recipient for replaying the premium content.

38. A system for instant messaging, comprising:

an instant messaging server comprising a data storage, the instant messaging server further comprising

logic for receiving a message from a sender who is one of a plurality of users, the message having a recipient and containing a representation of premium content that is made available to a subset of the plurality of users, the subset including users who are authorized to send instant messages containing premium content;

logic for determining whether the sender is authorized to initiate an instant message containing the premium content; and

a content server comprising a data storage, the content server further comprising logic for transmitting the premium content to the recipient in response to the sender is authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content, and logic for performing an alternative step in response to the sender is not authorized to send instant messages containing the premium content.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the logic for performing the alternative step comprises logic for preventing delivery of the message.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the logic for performing the alternative step comprises logic for suspending a messaging conversation, a messaging session or a messaging account used by the sender to send the message containing premium content.

41. The system of claim 38, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the sender;

and wherein the premium content is previewed by the sender.

42. The system of claim 38, wherein the logic for transmitting is performed by the content server in response to the message from the sender.

43. The system of claim 38, wherein:

the logic for receiving and logic for determining are performed by the instant messaging server, and

the logic for transmitting is performed by the content server.

44. The system of claim 38, wherein the premium content is cached at a computer used by the recipient for replaying the premium content.