Method and system to deliver multimedia alerts to a mobile phone

• US 20070118608A1
• Filed: 11/21/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Syniverse ICX Corp. (Syniverse Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Syniverse ICX Corp. (Syniverse Corp.)
• Inventors: Egli, Paul Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,023,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4872 Non-interactive information services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method and system for transferring content to a communication device or other destination are described. In one embodiment, the system comprises a subscription service to create and store subscriptions to a channel; a channel queue to obtain a multimedia message associated with the channel; and a delivery engine to cause an alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to an eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

Claims

1. A method to transfer content to a communication device, the method comprising:

obtaining a multimedia message;

identifying an eligible subscriber; and

causing an alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the multimedia message in a content database for a validity period.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising removing the multimedia message from the content database, responsive to expiration of the validity period.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the validity period is a period during which the multimedia message can be delivered to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the eligible subscriber comprises determining that the eligible subscriber has at least one unsent message in the content database.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the causing of the alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone comprises:

determining that the eligible subscriber has elected to receive messages from a channel associated with the unsent message;

determining that the eligible subscribe should be receiving the unsent message at that time, according to delivery options associated with the eligible subscriber; and

generating the alert notification for the eligible subscriber utilizing the multimedia message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the causing of the alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone further comprises sending the alert notification to a notification service for delivery to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the eligible subscriber is performed at predetermined time intervals.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the eligible subscriber is performed responsive to the obtaining of the multimedia message.

10. A system to transfer content to a communication device, the system comprising:

a subscription service to create and store subscriptions to a channel;

a channel queue to obtain a multimedia message associated with the channel; and

a delivery engine to cause an alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to an eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel queue comprises a content lifecycle scheduler to maintain the multimedia message in a content database for a validity period.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the channel queue is further to remove the multimedia message from the content database, responsive to expiration of the validity period.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the validity period is a period during which the multimedia message can be delivered to the eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the eligible subscriber is a subscriber to the channel and that there is at least one unsent message stored in the content database.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the delivery engine is to:

determine that the eligible subscriber should be receiving the unsent message at that time, according to delivery options associated with the eligible subscriber; and

generate the alert notification the eligible subscriber utilizing the multimedia message.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel queue comprises a content retrieval scheduler to make periodic requests to obtain multimedia messages from a content provider.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the delivery engine is in communication with a notification service, the notification service being to deliver the alert notification to the eligible subscriber.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel queue comprises a content provider interface to receive multimedia messages from content providers, convert the multimedia messages into an internal message format, and to store the multimedia messages in the content database.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein a web application is in communication with the channel queue to permit users to subscribe to one or more channels.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel is a means to group related messages from a content provider.

21. An apparatus comprising:

means for creating and storing subscriptions to a channel;

means for obtaining a multimedia message associated with the channel; and

means for causing an alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to an eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.

22. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

create and store subscriptions to a channel;

obtain a multimedia message associated with the channel; and

cause an alert notification containing the multimedia message to be delivered to an eligible subscriber'"'"'s mobile phone.