System for Transmitting Messages, Between an Installed Network and Wireless Device

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a system for electronic messaging via wireless devices, and particularly, a system for communicating select information to wireless devices by use of an electronic mail gateway to a wireless network service provider.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronic mail, or e-mail, provides a convenient and easy means for two or more individuals to communicate electronically. Users who rely on e-mail and other electronic messages for business and personal communications have a need for organizing and managing the information they send and receive. On-line information services, such as CompuServe.RTM., provide the services individuals need to locate, send, receive, and manage information that is of interest to their users. For example, features in the CompuServe Mail facility include the ability to compose and send messages easily, the ability to forward messages to other users, and the ability to establish a set of rules for accepting incoming messages. In addition, users may send and receive important business and financial information in the form of e-mail messages.

Wireless and mobile communication and computing devices facilitate communications that may take place almost anywhere and at almost anytime. The proliferation of different devices and associated technologies has lead to the development of wireless service gateways that provide a common communication channel to dissimilar wireless and mobile devices. These gateways are developed and maintained by wireless service providers who ensure that incoming messages from a variety of sources are sent to the proper device. Among the capabilities provided by the wireless service provider is the ability to send electronic messages to its subscribers. These messages may vary in content from simple numeric messages to lengthy alphanumeric messages. In most instances, however, the wireless service provider supplies only transport services so that messages are passed through as they are received. Recipients do not have the ability to control what information is received at the wireless device. The ability to filter incoming information and messages may be very limited.

The use of e-mail and wireless communication devices has become so pervasive that increasingly, users want to be able to send and receive electronic messages on their wireless communication devices. Ideally, senders should be able to compose messages using the facilities with which they are familiar. Furthermore, if senders want to reach recipients at their wireless devices, senders should not be required to know details about the device in order to send information to it. Recipients, on the other hand, should be able to determine what messages they will accept on their wireless devices. The present invention allows a wireless device user to receive select information--via a wireless service provider--at the wireless device.

To use the present invention, a wireless device user registers the device with an information service. The registration process is self-administering--meaning the wireless device user registers the device through an interactive, online session with the information service--so that no human intervention is required. This self-registration process is more convenient and efficient for users and more cost effective than a registration process requiring assistance from a customer service representative. Users are not required to purchase a special device nor are they limited to registering one of only a few devices with which the information service can communicate. Users may register their existing wireless devices or any of a number of devices from many different manufacturers. The ability to communicate with many different devices results in greater efficiencies and cost savings for wireless device users.

Through the registration process, the device is associated with the user's information service ID. Messages are then addressed to the user's ID so that the sender need not know identification information about the device in order to send a message. Because messages are sent through the information service, the recipient may take advantage of the sophisticated messaging capabilities that the information service provides--for example, the ability to selectively accept incoming messages. Messages destined for wireless devices are then routed to wireless service provider responsible for routing the message to the correct device. The advantages of the present invention are explained further by the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the principal steps for sending a message from one user to another;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the principal steps for registering a device with an information service;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrammatic representations of the device information for a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5 is a chart of the events passed into and out of the wireless message gateway;

FIGS. 6A and 6B are state transition diagrams for a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of an event message;

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E and 8F illustrate a message body for a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 illustrates the format of display information for a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention defines an interface whereby an information service may send messages through a wireless service provider to wireless devices. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the system of the present invention. A message destined for a wireless device 24 may originate at a workstation 10 connected via a modem 12 to an information service wide area network 14. Messages may originate from other devices and those devices may connect to the information service wide area network through other means such as X.25 communication links.

Messages destined for a wireless device pass through one or more information service message servers 16, 17 before arriving at the wireless gateway server 18. In some instances, the servers through which the messages pass perform one or more operations on the messages before sending them to the next server. Additionally, one server may call on another server to provide information necessary to complete an operation. For example, one server may responsible for applying information filtering rules to the message to determine what message action should be performed next. Preferably, the wireless gateway server 18 locates the registered wireless device information and formats the message so that the wireless service provider may send the message to the proper device. Preferably, the wireless gateway server performs any address translation that may be required for routing the information service message to the correct wireless service provider.

The wireless gateway server 18 is connected to the wireless service provider 22, preferably, via a dedicated communication link 20 so that messages are delivered in a timely manner. Although any of a number of protocols may be used for routing messages, preferably, TCPIP/SMTP is used as network, transport, and messaging application protocols so that the Internet addressing scheme may be used to communicate with the wireless service provider.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown the principal steps for sending a message between two users--User A and User B. User A, the message originator, may be, but is not necessarily, a subscriber to the information service. User B is an information service subscriber who would like to receive incoming messages on a wireless device. The process begins, preferably, with User B registering the wireless device with the information service 12. During registration, User B provides information needed by the wireless service provider to determine how to "reach" the device. Preferably, User B provides this information through an interactive, online session with the information service. Alternatively, User B may call a customer service representative to provide the information. In either case, User B has the option of registering one or more wireless devices from a variety of manufacturers. Preferably, User B is not limited to one of a few wireless devices supported by the information service.

In the next step 14, which is optional, User B may define specific rules for accepting messages on the wireless device. For example, User B may choose to accept all incoming messages or to accept messages from only certain originators. The options described here are exemplary only. Other options may be provided without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Furthermore, this step could be performed at any point before or after the device has been registered.

In the next step 16, User A creates a message to send to User B. Preferably, for the message address, User A provides User B's information service ID and an indicator that the message should be forwarded to User B's wireless device. The indicator may be a word such as "MOBILE." Preferably, the actual wireless device address is constructed from information obtained from a look-up based on the information service ID. For this type of addressing--indirect addressing--the sender does not know or need to know the recipient's device information. Preferably, the actual format of the message is:

The types of wireless devices may include, among others, numeric pagers (designated "numeric"), one-way alphanumeric pagers (designated "alpha1"), two-way alphanumeric pagers (designated "alpha2"), and one-way (designated "PCPAGER1") and two-way (designated "PCPAGER2") PCMCIA pager devices.

For free-form or "one-off" wireless devices, the sender may address the wireless device directly provided he or she knows the recipient device identification details. The address format is preferably:

for alphanumeric devices where RCC.sub.-- ID is the radio common carrier identifer and the PIN is a personal identification number; and

for numeric devices.

User A's message, which contains an information service address, is next sent to the information service mail server 18. Preferably, the mail server examines the message to determine that its destination is a wireless device 20. The mail server may perform other functions, call on other servers to provide information necessary to complete an operation, or send the message to another server for additional processing. Preferably, if User B has defined any rules for incoming messages, they are applied to User A's message at this point. If User A's message meets User B's selection criteria, then the message is routed to the information service wireless messaging gateway for further processing 22. Preferably, the gateway locates the wireless device information associated with User B's ID and formats the message appropriately so it may be forwarded by the wireless service provider to the proper device. The gateway then forwards the messages to the wireless service provider. The wireless service provider uses the device information to locate specific details needed to forward the message to the correct device 24.

In other embodiments of the present invention, a wireless device user may arrange to have sports, business, financial, and other types of information available from the information service sent directly to the device. The message therefore, originates from the information service itself rather than another information service subscriber or another non-subscriber. Although the originator of the message is different, the techniques of the present invention may be used to send this information to the wireless device.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the steps of registering a device with the information service are shown. The process begins, preferably, with the user entering information needed by the wireless service provider to determine how to "reach" the device 12. The information may include the carrier or reseller name, a personal identification number, the coverage location where messages may be received on the device, the frequency of the device, the phone number, and the maximum size message received by the device. Preferably, this information is associated with the user's ID so that it may be retrieved when messages are directed to the ID.

In the next step 16, the wireless service provider locates information needed to send a message to the wireless device. In step 18, the wireless service provider sends a text message to the wireless device containing a validation number and a visual indicator of the maximum number of characters the device can receive. The message is in the format defined by the information service. Preferably, the wireless service provider detects transmission failure related to the size of the test message and retries with a legal message size. The user validates the test message by entering and sending to the information service both the unique validation number and the number of characters actually received on the test page 20. The information service then verifies the validation information thus closing the feedback loop 20. Finally, the user may optionally define rules for accepting incoming messages 22.

Referring now to FIGS. 4A and 4B, there is shown a diagrammatic representation of device for a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A listing of the preferred device registration information is shown.

The information service wireless messaging gateway and wireless service provider communicate via messages representing events that may occur while the system is operating. FIG. 5 lists the events passed into and out of the wireless messaging gateway when a device is registered. The events generated by the information service wireless messaging gateway include user add, cancel/delete, and validation 10, 12, 14. The events generated by the wireless service provider are acknowledgments sent in response to the events generated by the information service 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are state transition diagrams for a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The state transition diagrams represent the various states the system enters in response to particular events that may occur when a wireless device is registered. FIG. 6A shows the states from the perspective of the wireless messaging gateway. FIG. 5B shows the states from the perspective of the wireless service provider.

FIG. 7 illustrates the mechanism by which events defined in FIG. 3 are communicated to the wireless service provider. Events are communicated to the wireless service provider via well-defined fields within the text body part of messages. The actual format of a message may vary depending on the message type. As shown in FIG. 7, messages are composed of an envelope 10 and a body 14. An envelope 10 may contain information such as the name and address of the recipient, the name and address of the originator, and a subject heading. The actual contents of the envelope may vary depending on the message type. The envelope is delimited with a carriage return and line feed. The body 14 is composed of a header 16 and message text (or text "body part") 18. Event information is provided as tagged fields 20 in the beginning of the message text. The number and format of the tagged fields vary depending on the message type. Messages destined for wireless devices have tagged field containing an indicator for the wireless application.

FIGS. 8A through 8K illustrate the tagged field types and formats for a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The tagged fields are used by the wireless service provider to forward messages to the correct device.

The actual text of the message destined for the wireless device 22 is delimited from the tagged field information by a carriage return, line feed blank line. The format of the message body varies depending on the destination device type. FIG. 9 illustrates the format of one particular message type for a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention allows users of wireless devices to receive important personal and business messages at their wireless devices. Because messages are delivered via an information service, both message originators and recipients may take advantage of sophisticated messaging creation and management features available on the information service. Originators may send messages without particular knowledge about the type of wireless device used by the recipient nor any special information about addressing the wireless device. Recipients benefit from the approach of the present invention for several reasons. First, wireless device users may take advantage of a self-registration process for registering their devices. Second, recipients may access the online information service to get messages that may not have been delivered to the wireless device. In addition, recipients may use the sophisticated message filtering features of the online information service to control what information is sent to the wireless device. The ability to apply sophisticated filtering operations on messages destined for a wireless device is unique to the present invention. Finally, recipients may register more than one wireless device or make arrangements to use different devices without a need for the originator to know what, if any changes, have been made.