STORAGE OF DATA MESSAGES FOR LATER RETRIEVAL BY THE RECIPIENT

• US 20080095337A1
• Filed: 10/24/2006
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cai, Yigang, Sharma, Alok
• Granted Patent: US 8,675,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/88.22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that allow for storing of data messages (e.g., text messages or multimedia messages) in a data message mailbox. If a data message is sent from a sender to a recipient, then the communication network receiving the data message attempts to deliver the data message to the recipient. If unsuccessful in delivering the data message, then the network stores the data message for the recipient. If the communication network later receives a request to retrieve the stored data message from the recipient, then the communication network delivers the stored data message to the recipient.

Claims

1. A method of operating a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving a data message from a sender to a recipient;

attempting to deliver the data message to the recipient;

storing the data message responsive to a failure to deliver the data message to the recipient;

receiving a request from the recipient to retrieve the stored data message; and

delivering the stored data message to the recipient responsive the request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the data message comprises a text message.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data message comprises a multimedia message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitting an alert message to the recipient indicating that the data message is being stored for the recipient.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the alert message comprises an email message.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the data message comprises storing the data message in a mailbox account for the recipient.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the mailbox account is a combined voice mailbox and data message mailbox.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the data message comprises:

processing a user profile for the recipient; and

storing the data message in an individual mailbox account for the recipient or a group mailbox account for the recipient based on the user profile.

9. A communication network, comprising:

a data message system adapted to receive a data message from a sender to a recipient, and forward the data message;

a network node adapted to receive the data message from the data message system, to attempt to deliver the data message to the recipient, and to transmit a delivery failure indication to the data message system responsive to a failure to deliver the data message to the recipient;

the data message system further adapted to store the data message responsive to the delivery failure indication; and

the data message system further adapted to receive a request from the recipient to retrieve the stored data message, and to deliver the stored data message to the recipient through the network node responsive the request.

10. The communication network of claim 9 wherein the data message comprises a text message.

11. The communication network of claim 9 wherein the data message comprises a multimedia message.

12. The communication network of claim 9 wherein:

the data message system is further adapted to transmit an alert message to the recipient indicating that the data message is being stored for the recipient.

13. The communication network of claim 12 wherein the alert message comprises an email message.

14. The communication network of claim 9 wherein the data message system is further adapted to:

store the data message in a mailbox account for the recipient.

15. The communication network of claim 14 wherein the mailbox account is a combined voice mailbox and data message mailbox.

16. The communication network of claim 9 wherein the data message system is further adapted to:

process a user profile for the recipient; and

store the data message in an individual mailbox account for the recipient or a group mailbox account for the recipient based on the user profile.

17. The communication network of claim 9 wherein the data message system is further adapted to process a user profile for the recipient to determine where to route the data message, and to store the data message responsive to processing the user profile.

18. A method of operating a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving a data message from a sender to a recipient;

processing a user profile for the recipient to determine where to route the data message;

storing the data message responsive to processing the user profile;

transmitting an alert message to the recipient indicating that the data message is being stored for the recipient;

receiving a request from the recipient to retrieve the stored data message; and

delivering the stored data message to the recipient responsive the request.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the data message comprises a text message.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the data message comprises a multimedia message.