Method and system for circulating messages

• US 8,526,988 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2008
• Issued: 09/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bychkov, Eyal, Ron, Uri, Engelstein, Tal
• Primary Examiner(s): Safaipour, Bobbak
• Application Number:
  US12/325,210
• Publication Number:
  US 20100136948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,738 Days
• Field of Search: 455/11.1, 455/13.1, 455/7
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/765 Linked or grouped accounts, e.g. of users or devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/2073 Multipoint, e.g. messaging, broadcast or group SMS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/724 Linked accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A method for circulating a message to a group of people, including sending a circulated message by a 1^st mobile communicator, and sequentially receiving the circulated message by an n^th mobile communicator and sending the circulated message to an (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N−1, wherein each one of the N mobile communicators has a distinct phone number. A system is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for circulating a message to a group of people, comprising:

storing, by each one of a group of N distinct mobile communicators, an ordered list of the mobile communicators, the list specifying a 1^st, 2^nd, . . . , N^th one of the mobile communicators;

receiving, by the 1^st mobile communicator, an instruction to sequentially circulate an SMS or MMS message among the group;

in response to said receiving, automatically sending the message by the 1^st mobile communicator to the 2^nd mobile communicator; and

sequentially receiving the message by the n^th mobile communicator, and automatically sending the message to the (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N−

1.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending a status report about the message from the N^th mobile communicator to the 1^st mobile communicator.

3. A communication system, comprising:

a group of N distinct mobile communicators; and

circuitry in said mobile communicators, (i) for storing an ordered list specifying a 1^st, 2^nd, . . . , N^th one of the mobile communicators, (ii) for sending an SMS or MMS message by the 1^st mobile communicator to the 2^nd mobile communicator, in response to the 1^st mobile communicator receiving an instruction to sequentially circulate the message among the group, and (iii) for sequentially receiving the message by the n^th mobile communicator, and automatically sending the circulated message to the (n+1)^st mobile communicator, n=2, 3, . . . , N−

1.

4. The communication system of claim 3 wherein said circuitry also sends a status report about the message from the N^th mobile communicator to the 1^st mobile communicator.

5. A method of communication, comprising:

storing an ordered list of distinct mobile communicators, in a destination mobile communicator;

receiving an SMS or MMS message, by the destination mobile communicator, from a previous destination mobile communicator; and

automatically sending the message to a next destination mobile communicator, where the previous destination mobile communicator, the destination mobile communicator and the next destination mobile communicator are successive members of the list, if the destination mobile communicator is not the last member of the list.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising sending a status report about the message to the first member of the list, if the destination mobile communicator is the last member of the list.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising re-sending the circulated message to the next destination mobile communicator after a pre-defined amount of time has elapsed, if a positive submission report for the message is not received from an SMS center.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising repeatedly re-sending the message to the next destination mobile communicator after a pre-defined amount of time has elapsed, up to a designated maximum number of tries, if a positive submission report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center.

9. The method of claim 5 further comprising sending the message to a different next destination mobile communicator, if a positive status report for the message is not received from an SMS center, wherein the different next destination mobile communicator is subsequent to the destination mobile computer in the list.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising repeatedly sending the message to a different next destination mobile communicator, if a positive status report for the circulated message is not received from an SMS center, wherein the different next destination mobile communicator is subsequent to the destination mobile computer in the list, until all possible different next destination mobile communicators have been tried.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the list is a pre-determined list.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein the list is embedded within the message.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising removing the destination mobile communicator from the list prior to said sending the message to a next destination mobile communicator.

14. A destination mobile communicator, comprising:

a modem for sending and receiving messages;

a memory for storing a group of identifiers of distinct mobile communicators, and an ordered list thereof; and

modem controller circuitry communicatively coupled with said modem and with said memory, for controlling said modem (i) to receive an SMS or MMS message from a previous destination mobile communicator, and (ii) to automatically send the message to a next destination mobile communicator, where the previous destination mobile communicator, the destination mobile communicator and the next destination mobile communicator are successive members of the list, if the destination mobile communicator is not the last member of the list.

15. The mobile communicator of claim 14 wherein said modem controller circuitry also controls said modem to send a status report about the message to the first member of the list, if the destination mobile communicator is the last member of the list.

16. The mobile communicator of claim 14 wherein the list is a pre-determined list.

17. The mobile communicator of claim 14 wherein the list is embedded within the message.

18. The mobile communicator of claim 17 further comprising removing the destination mobile communicator from the list prior to said sending the message to a next destination mobile communicator.