Integrated messaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9641609-B2
Application number	US-201213463496-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2012
Priority date	Feb 28, 2012
Publication date	May 2, 2017
Grant date	May 2, 2017

Abstract

An system, apparatus, and methods for integrated messaging are disclosed. The apparatus may include a user interface engine, an authorization module and a messaging module. The user interface engine receives input describing a recipient and a message to be received by the recipient. The authorization module generates an authorization signal indicating whether the recipient is authorized to exchange messages via a group messaging engine. The authorization module is coupled to the user interface engine to receive the input describing the recipient. The messaging module selectively transmits the message for dispatch to a user device of the recipient via the group messaging engine or a fallback messaging service based at least in part on the authorization signal. The messaging module is coupled to the authorization module to receive the authorization signal and coupled to the user interface engine to receive the input describing the recipient and the message.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a group messaging application on a user device, user input identifying a recipient and a message to be sent to the recipient;
determining, by the group messaging application, whether a digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message to a group messaging engine using a native messaging protocol;
determining, by the group messaging application, whether the recipient is authorized to exchange messages via the group messaging engine by comparing identifying information of the recipient with stored authorization information, wherein the group messaging engine is configured to exchange messages between two or more users using the native messaging protocol;
responsive to determining that the digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol and that the recipient is authorized to exchange messages via the group messaging engine, transmitting, via the group messaging application, and through the digital network data channel, the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol for dispatch to a user device of the recipient;
responsive to determining that the digital network data channel is not available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol, transmitting, by the group messaging application, the message to the user device of the recipient via a fallback messaging service of a mobile network and using a fallback messaging protocol, the fallback messaging service including an SMS or MMS of the mobile network; and
upon the digital network data channel being reestablished after not being available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol:
sending, by the group messaging application, a backup request comprising message data describing the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol, the message data including message thread data identifying the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol as being connected to one or more other messages, exchanged between the two or more users, to which the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol belongs, wherein the backup request causes the message data to be stored at the group messaging engine, and
sending, by the group messaging application, a restore request to the group messaging engine for retrieving the stored message data stored at the group messaging engine and restoring, based on the message thread data, the message for exchange via the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the message to the user device of the recipient using the fallback messaging protocol includes transmitting the message via SMS or MMS protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message using the native messaging protocol further comprises determining whether a data connection to a connection server of the group messaging engine is available for transmitting the message for dispatch via the group messaging engine.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting, using the fallback messaging protocol, the message to the user device of the recipient includes transmitting instructions to an SMS gateway or a telecommunications server to convert the message to an SMS or MMS message and dispatch the message to the user device of the recipient using the fallback messaging protocol.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating an integrated interface for displaying a message previously transmitted for dispatch via the group messaging engine adjacent to a message previously transmitted for dispatch via the fallback messaging service; and
providing the integrated interface for display.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a message via the fallback messaging service using the fallback messaging protocol;
updating the integrated interface to display the message received via the fallback messaging service adjacent to at least one of the message previously transmitted for dispatch via the group messaging engine and the message previously transmitted for dispatch via the fallback messaging service; and
providing the integrated interface for display.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause a computer to:
receive, at a group messaging application on a user device, user input identifying a recipient and a message to be sent to the recipient;
determine, by the group messaging application, whether a digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message to a group messaging engine using a native messaging protocol;
determine, by the group messaging application, whether the recipient is authorized to exchange messages via the group messaging engine by comparing identifying information of the recipient with stored authorization information, wherein the group messaging engine is configured to exchange messages between two or more users using the native messaging protocol;
responsive to determining that the digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol and that the recipient is authorized to exchange messages via the group messaging engine, transmit, via the group messaging application, and through the digital network data channel, the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol for dispatch to a user device of the recipient;
responsive to determining that the digital network data channel is not available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol, transmit, by the group messaging application, the message to the user device recipient via a fallback messaging service of a mobile network and using a fallback messaging protocol, the fallback messaging service including an SMS or MMS of the mobile network; and
upon the digital network data channel being reestablished after not being available for transmitting the message to the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol:
send, by the group messaging application, a backup request comprising message data describing the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol, the message data including message thread data identifying the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol as being connected to one or more other messages, exchanged between the two or more users, to which the message transmitted using the fallback messaging protocol belongs, wherein the backup request causes the message data to be stored at the group messaging engine, and
send, by the group messaging application, a restore request to the group messaging engine for retrieving the stored message data stored at the group messaging engine and restoring, based on the message thread data, the message for exchange via the group messaging engine using the native messaging protocol.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein transmitting the message to the user device of the recipient using the fallback messaging protocol includes transmitting the message via SMS or MMS protocol.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein determining whether the digital network data channel is available for transmitting the message using the native messaging protocol comprises determining whether a data connection to a connection server of the group messaging engine

Assignees

• Eidelson Benjamin David
• Gibbs Colin
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Eidelson Benjamin David
• Gibbs Colin

Classifications

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• H04L51/14

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L69/40 Primary

  for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection (management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06) · CPC title

• H04L51/52

  for supporting social networking services · CPC title

• H04L51/56 Primary

  Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM] · CPC title