System and method for receiving multi-media messages

• US 8,086,751 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2007
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ostermann, Joern, Civanlar, Mehmet Reha
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi
• Application Number:
  US11/679,911
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• Field of Search: 709/231, 709246-247, 709/203, 709206-207, 706/270, 706/275, 706/260
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A system and method of delivering a multi-media message to a recipient is disclosed. The multi-media message is created by a sender and contains a talking entity for delivering a sender message. A determination is made as to whether the recipient device has rendering software for delivering a video portion of the multi-media message. If the recipient device does not have the rendering software, the multi-media message is streamed from a server such that a generic rendering software device will deliver the multi-media message.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

at least one server configured;

to receive information corresponding to a multi-media message sent from a client device of a sender via a network;

to stream the multi-media message to a second client device for presentation to a recipient;

to determine whether the second client device has rendering software for delivering a video portion of the multi-media message;

if the at least one server determines that the second client device does not have the rendering software, to stream the multi-media message from the at least one server such that a generic rendering software will deliver the multi-media message;

to determine whether the second client device includes the rendering software for delivering a video portion of the multi-media message, wherein if the at least one server determines that the second client device does not include the rendering software, the at least one server is configured to stream the multi-media message from the at least one server such that the generic rendering software will deliver the multi-media message; and

to determine whether the second client device includes speech synthesis software associated with a voice requested by the sender, wherein;

if the at least one server determines that the second client device does not include the speech synthesis software, the at least one server is configured to synthesize audio and stream the audio to the second client device;

if the at least one server determines that the second client device includes the speech synthesis software and the voice requested by the sender is available, the at least one server is configured to deliver data for voice synthesis to the second client device, the voice requested by the sender to be synthesized at the second client device; and

if the at least one server determines that the second client device includes the speech synthesis software but the voice requested by the sender is not available, the at least one server is configured to download the voice to the second client device for the second client device to synthesize the voice.

2. A method of delivering a multi-media message to a recipient, the multi-media message being created by a sender and comprising a talking entity delivering the multi-media message, the method comprising:

determining, based at least on a database of recipient email addresses, whether a recipient device has speech synthesis software for delivering an audio portion of the multi-media message;

if the recipient device has speech synthesis software, synthesizing a voice for delivering the multi-media message at the recipient device; and

if the recipient device does not have the speech synthesis software, synthesizing audio at at least one server to yield synthesized audio and streaming the synthesized audio to the recipient device jointly with delivery of a video portion of the multi-media message, wherein the at least one server is further configured;

if the at least one server determines that the client device does not have the speech synthesis software, to synthesize audio at the at least one server and stream the audio to the recipient jointly with available rendering software;

if the at least one server determines that the client device has the speech synthesis software and a requested voice is available, to create an intermediate representation of the voice at the at least one server; and

if the at least one server determines that the client device has the speech synthesis software and the requested voice is not available, to synthesize the voice at the at least one server and stream the voice jointly with video rendered from the available rendering software.

3. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor, the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising:

instructions for determining whether a recipient device has rendering software for delivering a video portion of a multi-media message;

instructions for streaming the multi-media message from a server such that a generic rendering software will deliver the multi-media message if the recipient device does not have the rendering software, wherein the instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software further comprise;

instructions for maintaining a database of recipient e-mail addresses and available rendering software associated with each e-mail address;

instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message upon receiving the multi-media message and using the database of recipient email addresses; and

instructions for presenting a recipient with an option to receive a streaming multi-media message from the server regardless of whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message, wherein a high-priority queue and a low-priority queue are used to deliver multi-media messages; and

instructions for placing the multi-media message destined for the recipient on the low priority queue if the recipient has the rendering software.

4. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor, the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising:

instructions for determining whether a recipient device has rendering software for delivering a video portion of a multi-media message; and

instructions for streaming the multi-media message from a server such that a generic rendering software device will deliver the multi-media message if the recipient device does not have the rendering software, wherein the instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software further comprise;

instructions for maintaining a database of recipient e-mail addresses and available rendering software associated with each e-mail address; and

instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message upon receiving the multi-media message and using the database of recipient email addresses;

instructions for presenting a recipient with an option to receive a streaming multi-media message from the server regardless of whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message; and

instructions for placing the multi-media message in a high-priority queue if the recipient device does not have the rendering software.

5. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions recorded thereon for at least one processor, the non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising:

instructions for determining whether a recipient device has rendering software for delivering a video portion of a multi-media message; and

instructions for streaming the multi-media message from a server such that a generic rendering software device will deliver the multi-media message if the recipient device does not have the rendering software, wherein the instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software further comprise;

instructions for maintaining a database of recipient e-mail addresses and available rendering software associated with each e-mail address; and

instructions for determining whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message upon receiving the multi-media message and using the database of recipient email addresses;

instructions for presenting a recipient with an option to receive a streaming multi-media message from the server regardless of the determination of whether the recipient device has the rendering software for delivering the multi-media message; and

instructions for placing the multi-media message on a very high-priority queue as soon as the recipient tries to access the multi-media message if the recipient device has the rendering software, but the rendering software is unavailable due to a different message access device.