Apparatus and methods for providing enhanced mobile messaging services

• US 8,583,807 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 11/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Malhar, Sahana, Paulson, Janell, Bassam, Masri
• Primary Examiner(s): CHRISTENSEN, SCOTT B
• Application Number:
  US12/262,322
• Publication Number:
  US 20100115035A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,838 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207, 370/93.01
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Various embodiments for providing enhanced mobile messaging services are described. In one or more embodiments, a mobile computing device may send messages of different types. The mobile computing device may allow a sender to compose a message independently of message type. The mobile computing device may automatically determine both a message type for the message and the transfer medium by which to send the message. The mobile computing device may consider factors including message contents, network availability and reliability, historical data, cost, sender preferences, recipient preferences, etc. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a mobile computing device to send and receive messages of different types, the mobile computing device comprising;

a processor;

an intelligent message manager to;

determine available transfer media and available message types for sending a composed message to a plurality of recipients,

automatically select a transfer medium from the available transfer media and a message type from the available message types for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein the automatic selection is at least based on historical data of a best medium or message type from previous connection attempts based on the location of the mobile device, and

provide a unified composer messaging interface to enable a sender to compose messages independently of message type; and

a messaging rules database to store criteria for controlling said automatic selection, the criteria including at least one of transfer medium cost, transfer medium reliability, historical data and message priority;

the mobile device to automatically format the composed message to the selected message type for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein each of the plurality of recipients is associated with a message of a different type, and

the mobile device to send a message to each of the plurality of recipients according to the selected medium and message type.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, the different message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the unified messaging interface to automatically format a composed message to at least one format selected by the intelligent message manager.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, the unified composer messaging interface to enable composition of a message comprising one or more media objects.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, the messaging interface comprising an icon corresponding to a hardware button of the mobile computing device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transfer medium is at least one of a wireless network, or a cellular network.

7. A method comprising:

displaying, on a mobile computing device, a unified composer interface to enable the sender to compose messages independently of message type;

receiving, by the unified composer messaging interface on the mobile computing device, at least one component of a message from a sender;

determining, by the mobile computing device, automatically, based on historical data of a best medium or message type from previous attempts based on the location of the mobile computing device and one or more criteria, a message type and a transfer medium for the message for each of a plurality of recipients;

formatting, by the mobile computing device, the message according to the message type for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein each of the plurality of recipients is associated with a message of a different type; and

sending, by the mobile computing device, the formatted message to each of the plurality of recipients according to the selected transfer medium;

wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of transfer medium cost, transfer medium reliability and message priority.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving a component including at least one of:

text, hypertext markup language (HTML), extensible markup language (XML), an audio file, an image, or a video file.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising determining a message type according to the at least one received component.

10. The method of claim 7, the message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an alert that the sent message is not read/received within a time period;

selecting at least one of an alternate message type or an alternate transfer medium; and

resending the message according to the alternate message type and/or transfer medium.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving confirmation that the message was received successfully; and

storing the selected transfer medium and message type.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

prompting for approval from the sender of the selected message type and transfer medium;

sending the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium when the sender approves;

or

receiving an override including at least one of an alternate transfer medium or an alternate message type from the sender when the sender does not approve; and

sending the message according to the override.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to:

display a unified composer interface to enable the sender to compose messages independently of message type;

receive at least one component of a message from a sender;

determine automatically, based on historical data of a best medium or message type from previous attempts based on the location of the mobile computing device and one or more criteria, a message type and a transfer medium for the message for each of a plurality of recipients;

format the message according to the message type for each of the plurality of recipients, wherein each of the plurality of recipients is associated with a message of a different type; and

send the formatted message to each of the plurality of recipients according to the selected transfer medium;

wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of transfer medium cost, transfer medium reliability and message priority.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to receive a component including at least one of:

text, hypertext markup language (HTML), extensible markup language (XML), an audio file, an image, or a video file.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to determine a message type according to the at least one received component.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, the message types comprising one or more of voice or data messages, voicemail messages, fax messages, video conferencing messages, instant messaging (IM) messages, e-mail messages, short message service or enhanced message service (SMS/EMS) messages, and multimedia message service (MMS) messages.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to:

receive an alert that the sent message is not read/received within a time period;

select at least one of an alternate message type or an alternate transfer medium; and

resend the message according to the alternate message type and/or transfer medium.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to:

receive confirmation that the message was received successfully; and

store the selected transfer medium and message type.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed enable a mobile computing device to:

prompt for approval from the sender of the selected message type and transfer medium;

send the formatted message according to the selected transfer medium when the sender approves;

or

receive an override comprising at least one of an alternate transfer medium or an alternate message type from the sender when the sender does not approve; and

send the message according to the override.