WO2011064545A1

WO2011064545A1 - A communication device

Info

Publication number: WO2011064545A1
Application number: PCT/GB2010/002179
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peter Tanner
Original assignee: Peter Tanner
Priority date: 2009-11-25
Filing date: 2010-11-25
Publication date: 2011-06-03
Also published as: GB0920723D0; GB2475702A

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention there is provided an apparatus and a method for communicating a message. In a first aspect of the present invention, there is described a communication apparatus comprising a processor. The processor is arranged to select a first communication address from which is to be sent a first message to one or more first communication devices; correlate a received message from at least one of the one or more first communication devices with a sent message by correlating the communication address that the sent message has been sent from with the communication address that the received message has been received at; and select a second communication address from which is to be sent a second message to the at least one of the one or more first communication devices unless a predetermined period of time has expired.

Description

A COMMUNICATION DEVICE

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication device and in particular to an apparatus for collating responses sent in response to a message, as well as correlating an outbound message with an end user's response.

Background of the Invention

Increasingly, businesses are attempting to improve efficiency by automating processes that typically have been performed by human interaction.

One such case relates to the issuing of electronic messages to an existing client base, where the electronic messages could take many different forms, for example SMS, e-mail or MMS messages.

However, as a business may send out many messages in a day, which could be sent to many hundreds of people, it can be difficult and time consuming attempting to correlate a received message with a transmitted message. For example, if a series of SMS messages are sent to a client and the client responds to just one of these SMS messages, it may be unclear to the original sender as to which one of the SMS messages the client is responding.

Furthermore, a business may wish to aggregate a series of replies sent in response to a specific message sent out to one or more recipients. This may be rendered more difficult if multiple responses are sent in response to multiple outbound messages, such that the business may not know which responses have been sent in response to which outbound message.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an automated process for correlating a received message with a transmitted message, as well as properly managing and cataloguing the message responses. Summarv of the Invention

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication apparatus, and a method of communicating a message, according to the accompanying claims.

By collating and sending to a client's database all responses sent during a specified time period in response to an outgoing message, it is possible for a business and the client to instantly assess and analyse all replies sent in response to a specific outbound message. Furthermore, by using the sending address and the recipient's communication address as identifiers, this provides the advantage of allowing one of several outgoing messages to be paired with an end user's corresponding response(s) to that message.

Brief Description of the Figures

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, of which:

Figure 1 illustrates a messaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment of the Invention

The following embodiment describes a communication device that allows a message received from a recipient to be paired with the corresponding outgoing message sent to the recipient. Furthermore, the communication device also allows all responses sent in response to an initial outgoing message during a predetermined time period to be collated.

Whilst the invention is described with reference to a specific embodiment, the invention should not be construed as being limited to this embodiment, and variations of the embodiment as well as other embodiments and variations of those may well fall within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is to be limited only by the appended claims. Figure 1 illustrates a message server 30 that is arranged to receive data from a first communication device 10. The message server 30 can receive the data from the first communication device 10 by any suitable means, for example via a local area network, the Internet or a telephone link and via a wired or wireless communication link. Alternatively, the data may be loaded locally onto the message server 30 (e.g. using a USB key, etc.). If the first communication device 10 is located remotely to the message server 30, it would be preferable for the communication link that is established between the first communication device 10 and the message server 30 to be secure. The message server is arranged to establish a communication link with a recipient communication device 40. The communication link between the message server 30 and the recipient's device 40 can be any suitable communication link.

The message server 30 and the communication device 10 may form a single entity, or device, such as a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus is capable of receiving and sending messages to and from the recipient communication device 40 and one or more clients 50 (i.e. an entity that wishes to send a message to a recipient).

The first communication device 10 includes a database 20, where, for illustrative purposes, the database 20 includes records having the following fields: a unique identifier, a message to be sent to a recipient and a

communication address for the recipient. It is also envisaged that the database 20 may be comprised in the message server 30. As would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, the database records may include additional fields, for example a password for increased security or, if different records within the database 20 belong to different clients 50, then a field to identify the client to which the record belongs. Each client may comprise a respective client database 20a.

If a number of messages within the database need to be sent to one or more recipients 40, where responses to the messages need to be tracked, the data from the respective database records is sent from the database 20 in the first communication device 10 to the message server 30. The message server 30 is then arranged to send the respective messages to appropriate recipient(s), as described below. The message server 30 includes means (not shown) for receiving and transmitting a message. As a person skilled in the art would appreciate, the mechanism for receiving and transmitting a message will depend upon the type of message being sent and the type of communication system that the message server 30 forms part off. For example, the messages may be e-mail, SMS or MMS or any other suitable form of electronic message and the message system may be part of a computer network or a telephone system. The message server 30 also includes a processor (not shown) for performing the processing steps required of the message server 30.

The process for collating responses sent in response to an outbound message will now be described.

The message server 30 first selects a communication address from which is to be sent a message to one or more recipients. The sending of the message may trigger a timer (not shown) which keeps track of the elapsed time since the sending of the message. Each recipient of the message may then respond to the communication address from which the initial message has been sent (described in detail below), perhaps more than once, at multiple intervals, or not at all. Each response to the message is received by the message server 30 and may be stored in a single record of the database 20. Clearly, if the database 20 is comprised in the communication device 10, each received response is first sent from the message server 30 to the communication device 10 before storage. A received response may be identified as relating to an initial message by comparing the communication address the initial message was sent from with the communication address the response was sent from, thus correlating a received messaged (i.e. a response) with a sent message. The correlation of a received message with a sent message may take place in either in the message server 30 or the communication device 10. Preferably, upon receipt of a response from the recipient, the response is sent to the client 50, and the client 50 may then decide to store the response in a first record of the client database 20a.

The time elapsed since the sending of the initial message will eventually reach a predetermined amount, at which point the record of client database 20a "closes" and no further responses to the initial message may be stored in the record. Any further responses sent by the recipient(s) of the message may nevertheless be sent to the client 50. Any such responses may be stored in a second, separate record of the client database 20a, or alternatively may be ignored by the client 50, ignored by the message server 30, or may be stored in a record of the message server's database 20. Thus, a complete history of the responses sent to the message server 30 by each recipient of the message, in response to the initial sending of the message, may be sent to the client 50.

As mentioned above, the received responses may be stored in the communication device's database 20 (or, as the case may be, the message server's database 20). This may be done for auditing or similar purposes, e.g. to monitor the outflow and inflow of messages sent to one or more recipients and of messages received in response to the sent messages.

Before the predetermined amount of time since the sending of the message has expired, the message server 30 may send second and subsequent messages to the same one or more recipients. In order to do so, a second communication address is selected from which is to be sent the second message (likewise, a third communication address from which may be sent a third message may be selected, etc.). Once the predetermined period of time has elapsed, the first communication address is "freed up" and may then be used to send subsequent messages; all responses to the initial first outgoing message will have been correlated with the first outgoing message and preferably may have been sent to the client 50 and/or stored on the database 20.

The sending of the second message may trigger a counter (not shown) to keep track of the elapsed time since the sending of the second message. In much the same way as described above with respect to the sending of the first message from the first communication address, any response to the second message preferably may be sent to client 50. The client 50 may then

subsequently store the response in a second record of the client database 20a. Once the elapsed time reaches a predetermined amount, the record "closes" and no further responses to the second message may be stored in the second record. Thus, a complete history of the responses sent to the message server 30 by each recipient of the second message, in response to the initial sending of the second message, may be sent, or transmitted, to the client 50.

Alternatively, the sending of a second message does not need to trigger a timer, and the message server 30 is simply able to pair the response with the relevant message that is being responded to by determining which message was sent to the recipient from the communication address the response was received at. Thus, the communication address used with the second message can be reused once a reply has been received.

It should be noted that the counter does not need to measure the elapsed time since the sending of a message - alternatively, the counter may begin to measure the elapsed time at a time after the sending of a message (e.g. perhaps once the message in question has been confirmed as being received by the recipient(s) for whom it is destined).

By way of example, an engineering corporation may wish to maintain a continual progress report on an engineering project over a 24-hour period. Using the message server 30 of the present invention, a text message (e.g. an SMS message) is sent from a first communication address to one or more

communication devices (e.g. mobile phones) of a one or more engineers responsible for the project. The sending of the text message triggers the counter to begin recording the elapsed time since the sending of the text message.

The text message requests each engineer provide a status update on the project every six hours for the next twenty-four hours. Therefore, approximately six hours after the sending of the text message, each of the engineers responds to the message server 30 with a status update by sending a message to the first communication address. Each response is correlated with the initial sent message by correlating, or comparing, the communication address that each response has been sent from with the communication address that each response has been received at. Preferably, each response may be transmitted, or sent, to the client 50 (i.e. the engineering corporation). The fields of the record may also identify the responses as pertaining to the engineering project in question (e.g. "Project X Status Updates") and may also identify the originating communication address or the recipient's communication address (e.g. "Communication Address 1"). Additionally, each response may also be stored on a record of the database 20.

Twelve hours into the 24-hour period, a second text message, sent on a second communication address, is sent to the plurality of engineers, requesting a status update on Project Y every hour for the next twelve hours. The sending of the second text message triggers the counter (or, alternatively, a second counter) to begin counting down from twelve hours. At approximately every hour after the sending of the text message, each engineer responds to the second text message with a status update by sending a message to the first communication address. Preferably, each response may be transmitted or sent to the client 50.

Twenty-four hours since the sending of the first text message, both records of the client database 20a "close" and any further responses by the engineers are either ignored by the message server 30 or the client 50, or may be sent to the client 50 and stored on a separate, third record of the client database 20a. For auditing or similar purposes, the responses may also be stored on the database 20 of the communication device (or, as indicated above, on the database 20 of the message server, depending on where the database 20 is located). Thus, the data records (a complete status update of both Project X and Project Y at intervals of six hours and every hour, respectively, over a 24-hour and a 12-hour period, respectively) may have been sent to the client 50.

Moreover, the corporation may now also have a complete status update of both Project X and Project Y at intervals of six hours and every hour, respectively, over a 24-hour and a 12-hour period, respectively. Whilst the first record of the database 20a remains "open" (i.e. whilst the predetermined time period triggered by the sending of the first message has not yet expired), the sending of a second message from a second communication address (different to the first communication address) and the receiving of responses thereto allows for the correlation of responses with the appropriate initial message (this process being described more generally below). In other words, responses sent from the second communication address will be correlated with the second message, and, likewise, messages sent from the first

communication address will be correlated with the first message. Once the first record "closes" (i.e. once the predetermined time period has expired), the first communication address is freed up and may be used to send a second message to one or more recipients, as described more generally below.

In one embodiment, the expiration of the period of time since the first message was sent (i.e. the point in time when the record of the database 20a "closes") may be determined dynamically by at least one of the recipients of the message. In other words, the expiration of the period of time since the sending of the first message, rather than being predetermined, may be selected on-the- fly by at least one of the recipients of the message. For instance, the message server 30 may send three separate messages to a particular recipient, each message being sent from a respective communication address. The recipient may choose to reply to each of the messages, or perhaps to only some, or perhaps even to none. After receipt of the third message, the recipient may choose to dynamically "close" the record of the database 20a. Once closed, the three communication addresses used to send the three outgoing messages are Yreed-up', and may be reused to send further messages to the recipient.

The closing of the record may be achieved via instruction directly from the recipient - e.g. the recipient may instruct the message server 30 to close the record and thus reuse, in any future message transmissions with the recipient, any of the communication addresses used to send the initial three messages. In particular, the instructions to close the record may be contained in one of the responses to the initial outgoing messages.

Alternatively, the recipient may have remote control over the record of the database 20a, and may therefore have the capability to remotely close the record without needing to first instruct the message server.

In the case where the same message is being sent to multiple recipients, each recipient may have the power to close the record and thus free up all communication addresses used thus far to communicate with the multiple recipients in question. Alternatively, in order to close the record, each of the recipients, or perhaps a particular subset of the multiple recipients, must approve the closing of the record before the record is closed.

The process for allowing an outgoing message to be paired with a recipient's response by the message server 30 or the communication device 10 will now be described.

It should be noted that this section of the description, for clarity's sake, does not make reference to the sending of a received response to a client. In other words, the following description only describes how the invention may correlate an outbound message with an end user's response, independently of the correlation of the one or more responses to a single message before expiry of a predetermined time period.

First, the message server 30 selects a communication address for sending an initial message from. The communication address is selected to be different to any other communication addresses that have been used to send a message to the intended recipient 40 and to which the intended recipient 40 has not yet responded. When a response from the recipient 40 is received, which should be sent back to the originating communication address, the message server 30 is able to pair the response with relevant message that is being responded to by determining which message was sent to the recipient 40 from the communication address the response was received at. For example, based on a text messaging system, if a first text message is sent from the message server on telephone number 0123456789 to a recipient on telephone number 0987654321 and the telephone number 0123456789 has not been used to send any other message to 0987654321, then upon receipt of a message at telephone number 0123456789 from 0987654321 the message from 0987654321 must be in response to the earlier message.

It should be noted, however, that although the above embodiment describes a text messaging system, as stated above any suitable messaging system may be used, for example e-mail or MMS.

Accordingly, upon receipt at the message server 30 of data from the first communication device 10, the message server 30 selects a unique

communication address pairing for each message that is to be sent to a recipient 40. For example, for each message to be sent to a recipient 40, the message server 30 selects the next available communication address from a pool of pre- set communication addresses and uses the sequence of communication addresses to deliver respective messages to the recipient 40. Upon receipt of a response from the recipient 40, the message server 30 is able to pair the received response with the sent message based on the communication address that the original message was sent from and the communication address of the device sending the response.

Once a response to a message has been received, the relevant

communication address that the original message was sent from can be freed up for use with another message that needs to be sent to the recipient.

Clearly, as the message/response pairing is determined on unique pairing of receiving and transmitting communication addresses, the message server 30 can use the same communication addresses for different recipients.

From the pool of pre-set communication addresses, a communication address is available if any of the following is true: 1) A communication address has not been used to send a message to a specific communication address of a recipient (i.e. the communication address may have been used to send messages to communication addresses associated with different recipients but not the same recipient. That is to say, the combination of sending and receiving communication addresses are used to allow a pairing between a transmitted message and a response to be made).

2) A communication address has been used as in 1) above but the recipient of the previous message has replied to that message, thereby freeing up this communication address for further use with the same recipient.

Optionally, the message server 30 can be configured to provide an alert if the number of unique communication addresses for a given recipient's

communication address falls below a predetermined number.

Once the message server 30 has paired a response with a transmitted message, the response is forwarded to the first communication device 10 with the unique identifier that was associated with the original message in the database record, thereby allowing the first communication device 10 to

determine which message the response is associated with. Any suitable form for communicating the response to the first communication device 10 can be used, for example:

1) Leaving the message in a personal message box where the first communication device 10 can download content at intervals (similar to how e- mail works).

2) Using a standard POP mailbox.

3) POST or GET calls to a URL with the relevant variables.

4) For certain technologies (such as COM), a persistent link to a socket can be made (similar to how messaging programs work) and an immediate notification of a response can be made using this link. Any messages that cannot be delivered (if the link fails, etc.) are queued until they can be. This is similar to how instant messaging works. For increased security, information that may be stored in the database 20 of the first communication device 10, for example recipient details and/or message content, could be stored in the message server 30, and the first communication device 10 could initiate a message transmission from the message server 30 to a recipient 40 by the use of a job number with an identifier. The job number can be used to identify to the message server 30 the recipient and message to be sent to the recipient. The identifier has the same purpose as the unique identifier as used in the above embodiment.

The first communication device 10 can be configured with a control panel (not shown) that allows a user of the first communication device 10 to control the use of the message server 30. The control panel can be used to:

1) Pre-load user information and standard messages to minimise the relay of sensitive data and allow for easy scheduling of future or ongoing messages;

2) Define message sending schedules;

3) Create/edit/manage user profiles. A user can be of the following types:

a. Operator - Access all features except user manager, billing information and reports;

b. Administrator - Can also edit users, view billing information and review reports; and

c. Super user - Can create companies and view all companies;

4) Pre-load a list of communication addresses and create groups of addresses so that a message can be sent to a whole distribution list as well as individuals; 5) Review inbound messages;

6) View a range of reports;

7) View logs of inbound and outbound messages;

8) Use a special merge syntax to perform mail merges; and

9) Billing manager - view invoices and make payments.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosed subject matter may be modified in numerous ways and may assume embodiments other than the preferred forms specifically set out as described above. For example, the message server 30 can be arranged to receive requests to send messages from a number of different communication devices, and the functionality of the message server 30 and the communication device 10 can be combined into a single device or into a number of different devices.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus comprising a processor, wherein the processor is arranged to:

select a first communication address from which is to be sent a first message to one or more first communication devices;

correlate a received message from at least one of the one or more first communication devices with a sent message by correlating the communication address that the received message has been sent from with the communication address that the received message has been received at; and

select a second communication address from which is to be sent a second message to the at least one of the one or more first communication devices unless a period of time has expired since the first message has been sent, the expiration of the period of time being either predetermined or determined dynamically.

2. The communication apparatus of claim 1, wherein the expiration of the period of time is determined dynamically by the at least one of the one or more first communication devices.

3. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the communication apparatus is a combination of a communication device and a message server.

4. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the processor is further arranged to select the first communication address from which is to be sent the second message if the period of time has expired.

5. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the processor is further arranged to store a received message correlated with the first message.

6. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the processor is further arranged to send a received message correlated with the first message to a second communication device.

7. The communication apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second

communication device collates the received messages correlated with the first message.

8. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein a message is an SMS, e-mail or MMS message.

9. The communication apparatus of any preceding claim, further comprising means arranged to receive a request to send:

the first message to the one or more first communication devices; and a plurality of identifiers for allowing an association to be made with the first message and each of the one or more first communication devices.

10. A method of communicating a message, comprising:

selecting a first communication address from which is to be sent a first message to one or more first communication devices;

correlating a received message from at least one of the one or more first communication devices with a sent message by correlating the communication address that the received message has been sent from with the communication address that the received message has been received at; and

selecting a second communication address from which is to be sent a second message to the at least one of the one or more first communication devices unless a period of time has expired since the first message has been sent, the expiration of the period of time being either predetermined or determined dynamically.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the expiration of the period of time is determined dynamically by the at least one of the one or more first communication devices.

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein the method further comprises selecting the first communication address from which is to be sent the second message if the period of time has expired.

13. The method of any of claims 10 - 12, wherein the method further comprises storing a received message correlated with the first message.

14. The method of any of claims 10 - 13, wherein the method further comprises sending a received message correlated with the first message to a second communication device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second communication device collates the received messages correlated with the first message.

16. The method of any of claims 10 - 15, wherein a message is an SMS, e- mail or MMS message.

17. The method of any of claims 10 - 16, wherein the method further comprises receiving a request to send: