Method and system for controlling message routing

• US 8,738,051 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2013
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Nowack, Matthew David, Malatack, Patrick, Wilsher, Thomas, Selph, Chad
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, CONGVAN
• Application Number:
  US13/951,349
• Publication Number:
  US 20140031070A1
• Time in Patent Office: 306 Days
• Field of Search: 4554121- 2, 455/414.1, 455/434, 455/435.2, 455/445, 455/466, 455/435.3, 455/103, 455/428, 455/3.01, 455/3.04, 455/703
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A system and method for transmitting telephony messages that includes transmitting a first outgoing telephony message through a first channel using a first routing option selected from a plurality of routing options; receiving a message delivery report through at least a second channel; updating message routing data in response to the message delivery report; selecting a second routing option for at least a second outgoing message, the second routing option selected from the plurality of routing options prioritized by the updated message routing data; and transmitting a second outgoing telephony message through the first channel using the selected second routing option.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting telephony messages comprising:

transmitting a first outgoing telephony message through a first channel using a first routing option selected from a plurality of routing options;

receiving a message delivery report through at least a second channel, wherein the second channel is different from the first channel;

updating message routing data in response to the message delivery report;

selecting a second routing option for at least a second outgoing message, the second routing option selected from the plurality of routing options prioritized by the updated message routing data; and

transmitting the second outgoing telephony message through the first channel using the selected second routing option.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first channel is a short message service (SMS) message communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first channel is a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message communication channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of routing options includes a set of message delivery gateway destinations, wherein at least a subset of the message delivery gateway destinations are different carriers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein updating message routing data in response to the message delivery report comprises ranking routing options based on delivery success rates as indicated by a message delivery report.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising classifying a message as undelivered if the message delivery report is not received within a timeout period.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second channel is internet protocol network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a message delivery report comprises receiving the message delivery report through an application programming interface (API) of the messaging platform from at outside application.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a message delivery report indicates a message quality report collected through a user interface on the destination device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a link redirection service;

converting a link within content of the first telephony message to a redirection link directed at the link redirection service;

wherein receiving a message delivery report through at least a second channel comprises receiving confirmation that the link of the first telephony message was accessed.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a pin code validation service;

wherein the first telephony message includes a pin code generated by the pin code validation service; and

wherein receiving a message delivery report through at least a second channel comprises receiving confirmation that the generated pin code was validated by a device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a message delivery report through at least a second channel comprises monitoring user response inbound messages from the destination of the first message;

and marking a message as received if a response is made within a timeout, otherwise marking a message as a delivery failure.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

classifying the first outgoing telephony message into a first classification;

wherein updating message routing data comprises updating message routing data associated with the first classification; and

classifying the second outgoing telephony message into the first classification.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein classifying a first outgoing telephony message and classifying the second outgoing telephony message comprises analyzing a message properties of at least a destination address, content properties, message cost, and time of day.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising prior to transmitting the second outgoing telephony message, modifying the second telephony message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the second telephony message includes selectively changing encoding of the content of the second telephony message, splitting the content into multiple messages that are individually transmitted, or editing content of the second telephony message.

17. The message of claim 1, further comprising upon receiving a message delivery report exposing a confirmation of message delivery through an application programming interface (API).

18. A method comprising:

providing a message delivery system with at least two message delivery channel options;

sending a message through the message delivery system with a coded identifier in the content of the message, the message sent through one of the message delivery channel options, and wherein the coded identifier is mapped to the message delivery channel option used in sending the message;

at a code identifier service, tracking use of the coded identifier;

in response to the tracked use of the coded identifier, generating a score of the message delivery channel option based on results of the tracked message delivery.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the coded identifier service is a two-factor authentication service;

wherein sending a message through the message delivery system is initiated by the two-factor authentication service and the content is a pin code;

wherein tracking use of the coded identifier comprises confirming a pin code during authentication and using pin code validation as confirmation of message delivery.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the coded identifier is a redirection universal resource identifier (redirection-URI), wherein tracking use of the coded identifier comprises detecting access of the redirection-URI as confirmation of message delivery.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising providing a link shortening service;

and converting links in content of a message to redirection-URIs.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising selecting a message delivery channel option based on the score of the message delivery channels when transmitting a subsequent message delivery.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising determining a classification of the message;

and wherein selecting a message delivery channel option based on the score of the message delivery channels comprises selecting a message delivery channel option based on the score of the message delivery channels when transmitting a subsequent message delivery of the same classification.