Transmission of multimedia messages between mobile station terminals

• US 6,718,168 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Issued: 04/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/1999
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Teliasonera Finland Oyj (Telia Company AB)
• Inventors: Koski, Jussi, Ala-Luukko, Sami
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Sonny
• Application Number:
  US10/135,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20030064706A1
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/414.1, 455/413, 455/414.4, 455/433, 455/517, 455/560, 455/403, 455/428, 455/445, 455/514, 709/206, 709/219, 370/254, 370/259, 370/356, 370/389, 370/487, 370/352, 379/67.1, 379/68, 379/88.11, 379/88.12, 379/88.13
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/146 using digital cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5307 for recording messages comprising any combination of audio and non-audio components
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5322 for recording text messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/537 Arrangements for indicating the presence of a recorded message , whereby the presence information might include a preview or summary of the message
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A method and a system for transmitting messages containing multimedia information or content that enables transmission and communication of multimedia messages between subscribers connected to telecommunication systems of different system operators. The inventive system includes a first mobile station terminal from which a multimedia message is sent, a second mobile station terminal that is the intended recipient of the multimedia message, a digital mobile network, a first multimedia message server for receiving a multimedia message from the first mobile station terminal, a first address database associated with the first multimedia message server, a second multimedia message server for receiving the multimedia message from the first multimedia message server, an IP network for carrying communications between the first and second multimedia message servers, and a second address database associated with the second multimedia message server.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting a multimedia message from a first mobile station terminal of a sender to a second mobile station terminal of an intended recipient of the multimedia message, comprising the steps of:

transmitting the multimedia message from the first mobile station terminal to a first multimedia message server that receives the multimedia message from the first mobile station terminal via a mobile telecommunication network;

saving the received multimedia message on the first multimedia message server in a mailbox of the sender;

identifying, from the received multimedia message, address information of a second multimedia message server, optionally by utilizing a first database associated with the first multimedia message server;

creating, at the first multimedia message server, an e-mail message based on the received multimedia message;

transmitting the created e-mail message from the first multimedia message server to the second multimedia message server for receipt by the second multimedia message server;

creating a new multimedia message based on the e-mail message received by the second multimedia message server;

saving the created new multimedia message on the second multimedia message server in a mailbox of the recipient;

identifying, at the second multimedia message server, address information of the second mobile station terminal, optionally by utilizing a second database associated with the second multimedia message server; and

sending, from the second multimedia message server to the second mobile station terminal via the mobile communication network, a notification of the new multimedia message that has been saved by the second multimedia message server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of creating an e-mail message further comprises creating an e-mail message based on the multimedia message by coding the multimedia message into an e-mail message in MIME format.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first database comprises a first address database containing information correlating DNS addresses and MSISDN numbers of the first and second multimedia message servers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second database comprises a second address database correlating MSISDN numbers and e-mail addresses of mobile subscribers associated with the second multimedia message server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting the multimedia message from the first mobile station terminal further comprises transmitting the multimedia message using a browser-type interface in the first mobile station terminal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of retrieving the new multimedia message from the second multimedia message server onto the second mobile station terminal using a browser-type user interface in the second mobile station terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of encrypting the created e-mail message to be transmitted to the second multimedia message server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting the created e-mail message from the first multimedia message server to the second multimedia message server further comprises transmitting the created e-mail message using SMTP protocol.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a billing ticket based on the multimedia message.

10. A system for transmitting a multimedia message in a telecommunication network from a first mobile station terminal of a sender to a second mobile station terminal of an intended recipient of the multimedia message, said system comprising:

a second multimedia message server;

a first multimedia message server operable for receiving the multimedia message from the first mobile station terminal, for saving the received multimedia message, for transforming the received multimedia message into an e-mail message and for sending the e-mail message to the second multimedia message server;

a first address database associated with the first multimedia message server for maintaining address information of plural multimedia message servers of the telecommunication network;

an IP network for transmitting the e-mail message from the first multimedia message server to the second multimedia message server;

said second multimedia message server being operable for receiving the e-mail message from the first multimedia message server, for transforming the received e-mail message into a new multimedia message, for saving the new multimedia message and for sending to the second mobile station terminal a notification of the saved new multimedia message; and

a second address database associated with the second multimedia message server for maintaining address information of subscribers associated with the second multimedia message server.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a coder for coding the received multimedia message into MIME format.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first address database contains information correlating DNS addresses and MSISDN numbers of the plural multimedia message severs.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the second address database contains information correlating MSISDN numbers and e-mail addresses of subscribers associated with the second multimedia message server.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the first mobile station terminal includes a browser-type user interface.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the second mobile station terminal includes a browser-type user interface.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising an encrypter for encrypting the e-mail message to be sent from the first multimedia message server to the second multimedia message server.