U.S. patent application number 13/484985 was filed with the patent office on 2012-09-20 for unified addressing.
This patent application is currently assigned to Research In Motion Limited. Invention is credited to Robert Liang.
Application Number | 20120238300 13/484985 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38194546 |
Filed Date | 2012-09-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120238300 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Liang; Robert |
September 20, 2012 |
UNIFIED ADDRESSING
Abstract
An outgoing message composed on a mobile wireless communication
device may be recognized as including a Short Messaging Service
(SMS) destination address in an addressing field. The outgoing
message may then be processed to create a SMS message payload. The
SMS message payload may then be passed to a SMS client application
executed on the wireless communication device with an indication of
the SMS destination address so that the SMS client application may
form an SMS message based on the SMS message payload and the
indication of the SMS destination address.
Inventors: |
Liang; Robert; (Mississauga,
CA) |
Assignee: |
Research In Motion Limited
|
Family ID: |
38194546 |
Appl. No.: |
13/484985 |
Filed: |
May 31, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
13035323 |
Feb 25, 2011 |
8204526 |
|
|
13484985 |
|
|
|
|
11313813 |
Dec 22, 2005 |
7904099 |
|
|
13035323 |
|
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/466 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04M 1/72552 20130101;
H04L 51/38 20130101; H04L 51/066 20130101; H04W 88/184
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/466 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/14 20090101
H04W004/14 |
Claims
1. A method of handling an outgoing message in a mobile
communication device, said method comprising: presenting a message
composition interface for creating a being-composed message;
recognizing that said being-composed message comprises a Short
Messaging Service (SMS) destination address in an addressing field;
determining whether a device associated with said SMS destination
address is capable of concatenating multiple SMS message payloads;
during composition of said being-composed message, displaying a
marker in said message composition interface to indicate a point in
said being-composed message at which a character limit has been met
if said device associated with said SMS destination address is
incapable of said concatenating; permitting editing of said
being-composed message while displaying said marker; and
transmitting said being-composed message as a macro SMS message
where the device associated with said SMS destination address is
capable of said concatenating, or, as multiple SMS message payloads
where the device associated with said SMS destination address is
not capable of said concatenating.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising: where said message is
formatted for an email message handling service, determining that
said message is associated with a first destination address for
said email message handling service; determining that said message
is associated with a second destination address for said SMS; and
passing said message to a SMS client application on said mobile
communication device for said SMS with an indication of said second
destination address.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said SMS destination address is a
first SMS destination address and said method further comprises:
determining that said message is associated with a second SMS
destination address; and passing first and second SMS message
payloads of said multiple SMS message payloads to said SMS client
application with an indication of said second SMS destination
address.
4. The method of claim 2 further comprising including contents of a
subject field associated with said message in first and second SMS
message payloads of said multiple SMS message payloads.
5. The method of claim 2 further comprising formulating a first SMS
message based on a first SMS message payload of said multiple SMS
message payloads and said SMS destination address and formulating a
second SMS message based on a second SMS message payload of said
multiple SMS message payloads and said SMS destination address.
6. The method of claim 5 further comprising transmitting said first
and said second SMS messages on a wireless network.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein said determining comprises
consulting an entry associated with said SMS destination address in
a contact management application on said communication device, said
entry indicating whether a device associated with said SMS
destination address is capable of concatenating multiple SMS
message payloads.
8. A method of controlling a message composition interface for
creating a being-composed message on a communication device, said
method comprising: presenting said message composition interface
for creating said being-composed message; recognizing that said
being-composed message includes a Short Messaging Service (SMS)
destination address in an addressing field; determining whether a
device associated with said SMS destination address is capable of
concatenating multiple SMS message payloads; during composition of
said being-composed message, displaying a marker in said message
composition interface to indicate a point in said being-composed
message at which a character limit has been met if said device
associated with said SMS destination address is incapable of said
concatenating; permitting editing of said being-composed message
while displaying said marker; and transmitting said being-composed
message as a macro SMS message where the device associated with
said SMS destination address is capable of said concatenating, or,
as multiple SMS message payloads where the device associated with
said SMS destination address is not capable of said
concatenating.
9. A communication device comprising a processor adapted to:
present a message composition interface for creating a
being-composed message; populate fields of said message composition
interface based on user input; recognize that said being-composed
message comprises a Short Messaging Service (SMS) destination
address in an addressing field; determine whether a device
associated with said SMS destination address is capable of
concatenating multiple SMS message payloads; during composition of
said being-composed message, display a marker in said message
composition interface to indicate a point in said being-composed
message at which a character limit has been met if said device
associated with said SMS destination address is incapable of said
concatenating; permit editing of said being-composed message while
displaying said marker; and transmit said being-composed message as
a macro SMS message where the device associated with said SMS
destination address is capable of said concatenating, or, as
multiple SMS message payloads where the device associated with said
SMS destination address is not capable of said concatenating.
10. A tangible and non-transitory computer readable medium having
stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when
performed by a processor in a communication device, cause said
processor to: present a message composition interface for creating
a being-composed message; populate fields of said message
composition interface based on user input; recognize that said
being-composed message comprises a Short Messaging Service (SMS)
destination address in an addressing field; determine whether a
device associated with said SMS destination address is capable of
concatenating multiple SMS message payloads; during composition of
said being-composed message, display a marker in said message
composition interface to indicate a point in said being-composed
message at which a character limit has been met if said device
associated with said SMS destination address is incapable of said
concatenating; permit editing of said being-composed message while
displaying said marker; and transmit said being-composed message as
a macro SMS message where the device associated with said SMS
destination address is capable of said concatenating, or, as
multiple SMS message payloads where the device associated with said
SMS destination address is not capable of said concatenating.
11. A method of controlling a message composition interface on a
communication device, said method comprising: presenting a message
composition interface for creating a being-composed message;
populating fields of said message composition interface based on
user input; recognizing a Short Messaging Service (SMS) destination
address in an addressing field of said message composition
interface; determining whether a device associated with said SMS
destination address is capable of concatenating multiple SMS
message payloads; during composition of said being-composed
message, displaying a marker in said message composition interface
to indicate a point in said being-composed message at which a
character limit has been met if said device associated with said
SMS destination address is incapable of said concatenating;
permitting editing of said being-composed message while displaying
said marker; and transmitting said being-composed message as a
macro SMS message where the device associated with said SMS
destination address is capable of said concatenating, or, as
multiple SMS message payloads where the device associated with said
SMS destination address is not capable of said concatenating.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein said displaying a marker further
comprises displaying another marker in a text field to indicate
another point in said being-composed message at which a further
character limit has been met such that text between said marker and
said another marker will be sent as one SMS message payload.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 13/035,323 filed Feb. 25, 2011, which application is a
continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/313,813 filed Dec. 22,
2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,904,099, the contents of both prior
applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present application relates to electronic messaging and,
in particular, the handling of an outgoing message so that the
outgoing message may be sent to users of more than one message
handling service.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Current mobile wireless communication devices provide
features beyond basic wireless telephony that include an ability to
send and receive Short Message Service (SMS) messages, an ability
to send and receive e-mail messages and an ability to browse online
information formatted using either the known Wireless Application
Protocol (WAP) or the known Hyper.-Text Transfer Protocol
(HTML).
[0004] Each of the features is typically implemented in a separate
client application executed on the wireless communication device.
To implement the features outlined above as examples, an exemplary
wireless communication device may require an SMS client
application, an e-mail client application, a WAP browsing
application and an HTML browsing application.
[0005] Unfortunately, when a user of the exemplary wireless
communication device is intent on sending the same message to a
first recipient associated with an e-mail address and a second
recipient associated with a telephone number of a device capable of
receiving SMS messages (an SMS destination address), the user is
required to separately compose the message in the e-mail client
application and send the message to the first recipient associated
with the e-mail address and compose the same message in the SMS
client application and send the message to the second recipient
associated with the SMS destination address.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] In the figures which illustrate example embodiments of this
application:
[0007] FIG, 1 illustrates components of an exemplary mobile data
communication device according to an embodiment of the present
application;
[0008] FIG. 2 illustrates elements of an exemplary wireless carrier
network in communication with a public switched telephone
network;
[0009] FIG. 3 illustrates a high level overview of message flow
according to an embodiment of the present application;
[0010] FIG. 4 illustrates steps in an exemplary method of handling
an outgoing message according to an embodiment of the present
application; and
[0011] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary e-mail message composition
user interface according to an embodiment of the present
application.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0012] An e-mail client application executed on a wireless
communication device may be configured to allow an e-mail message
to be addressed to both an SMS destination address and an e-mail
address in any of the address fields. The e-mail client application
may process the e-mail message to form an SMS message payload and
pass the SMS message payload, along with addressing information, to
an SMS client application executed on the same wireless
communication device. The SMS client application may then handle
the formulation of an SMS message based on the SMS message payload
and the SMS destination address. The SMS client application may
also handle the delivery of the SMS message to the associated
wireless network while the e-mail application handles the
conventional delivery of the e-mail message to the associated
wireless network. In this manner, the same message may be sent to
recipients assumed to be associated with devices with full featured
e-mail clients and recipients assumed to be associated with devices
with limited text messaging capabilities. Advantageously, the user
experience is enhanced in that the message need only be composed
once.
[0013] In accordance with an aspect of the present application
there is provided a method of handling an outgoing message. The
method includes, where the outgoing message is formatted for a
first message handling service, determining that the outgoing
message is associated with a first destination address for the
first message handling service, determining that the outgoing
message is associated with a second destination address for a
second message handling service, processing the outgoing message to
create a message payload for the second message handling service
and passing the message payload to a client application for the
second message handling service with an indication of the second
destination address. In other aspects of the application, a
communication device is provided, with a processor adapted to
perform this method, and a computer readable medium is provided to
adapt a communication device to perform this method.
[0014] In accordance with another aspect of the present application
there is provided a method of controlling a message composition
interface on a mobile communication device. The method includes
presenting the message composition interface to a user of the
Mobile communication device, receiving input from the user,
creating a being-composed message based on the input, recognizing
that the being-composed message includes a Short Messaging Service
destination address in an addressing field and displaying a marker
in the message composition interface to indicate a point in the
being-composed message at which the message will be truncated for
sending as a Short Messaging Service message payload.
[0015] In accordance with a further aspect of the present
application there is provided a method of handling an outgoing
message. The method includes, where the outgoing message is
formatted for a first message handling service, determining that
the outgoing message is associated with a first destination address
for the first message handling service, determining that the
outgoing message is associated with a second destination address
for a second message handling service and passing the outgoing
message to a client application for the second message handling
service with an indication of the second destination address.
[0016] Other aspects and features of the present application will
become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review
of the following description of specific embodiments of the
application in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates elements of an exemplary network
environment 100 for a first wireless mobile communication device
101A. The elements of the exemplary network environment 100 include
multiple wireless carrier networks and a data communication network
108, which may be considered to represent at least one wide area
network, such as the present day Internet and successors, as well
as, potentially, multiple local area networks. A first base station
antenna 102A, with which the first wireless mobile communication
device 101A may communicate wirelessly, is provided as part of a
first base station subsystem 104A.
[0018] The first base station subsystem 104A connects to a first
wireless network subsystem 106A. In an exemplary Global System for
Mobile communications (GSM) implementation, the first wireless
network subsystem 106A includes, among other components, a mobile
services switching center, a home location register, a visitor
location register, a relay and a Short Messaging Service Center
(SMSC). As illustrated in FIG. 1, the first wireless network
subsystem 106A is connected to the data communication network
108.
[0019] Also connected to the data communication network 108 is a
second wireless network subsystem 106B. Similar to the first
wireless network subsystem 106A, the second wireless network
subsystem 106B may include a mobile services switching center, a
home location register, a visitor location register, a relay and an
SMSC. The second wireless network subsystem 106A connects to a
second base station subsystem 104E with a second base station
antenna 102B, The second base station antenna 102E3 may allow the
second base station subsystem 104E to communicate wirelessly with a
second mobile device 101E3.
[0020] The first mobile device 101A may be associated with an
enterprise 110 connected to the data communication network 108. The
enterprise 110 may, for instance, include a firewall or proxy
server 112 connecting to the data communication network 108 and to
a local area network (LAN) 114. The LAN 114 may allow communication
between a mobile device server 116 and an enterprise server
118.
[0021] Also connected to the data communication network 108 may he
an e-mail server 120 and a desktop computer 122, which may be
associated with a user having an account on the e-mail server 120.
Also connected to the data communication network 108 may be a
messaging portal 124.
[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates the first wireless mobile communication
device 101A including a housing, an input device (a keyboard 214),
and an output device (a display 226), which is preferably a full
graphic or full color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). Other types of
output devices may alternatively be utilized. A processing device
(a microprocessor 228) is shown schematically in FIG. 2 as coupled
between the keyboard 214 and the display 226. The microprocessor
228 controls the operation of the display 226, as well as the
overall operation of the first mobile device 101A, in response to
actuation of keys on the keyboard 214 by a user.
[0023] The housing may be elongated vertically, or may take on
other sizes and shapes (including clamshell housing structures).
The keyboard may include a mode selection key, or other hardware or
software, for switching between text entry and telephony entry.
[0024] In addition to the microprocessor 228, other parts of the
first mobile device 101A are shown schematically in FIG. 2. These
include: a communications subsystem 240; a short-range
communications subsystem 202; the keyboard 214 and the display 226,
along with other input/output devices including a set of auxiliary
I/O devices 206, a serial port 208, a speaker 211 and a microphone
212; as well as memory devices including a flash memory 216 and a
Random Access Memory (RAM) 218; a battery 222; and various other
device subsystems 220. The first mobile device 101A is preferably a
two-way radio frequency (RF) communication device having voice and
data communication capabilities. In addition, the first mobile
device 101A preferably has the capability to communicate with other
computer systems via the Internet.
[0025] Operating system software executed by the microprocessor 228
is preferably stored in a computer readable medium, such as the
flash memory 216, but may be stored in other types of memory
devices; such as a read only memory (ROM) or similar storage
element. In addition, system software, specific device
applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily loaded into a
volatile store, such as the RAM 218. Communication signals received
by the mobile device may also be stored to the RAM 218.
[0026] The microprocessor 228, in addition to its operating system
functions, enables execution of software applications on the first
mobile device 101A. A predetermined set of software applications
that control basic device operations, such as a voice
communications module 230A and a data communications module 230B,
may be installed on the first mobile device 101A during
manufacture. An e-mail client application module 230C may also be
installed on the first mobile device 101A during manufacture, to
implement aspects of the application. Additionally, an SMS client
application module 230D may also be installed on the first mobile
device 101A during manufacture, to implement aspects of the
application. As well, additional software modules, illustrated as
an other software module 230N, which may be, for instance, a
personal information manager (PIM) application, may be installed
during manufacture. The PIM application is preferably capable of
organizing and managing data items, such as e-mail messages,
calendar events, voice mail messages, appointments, and task items.
The PIM application is also preferably capable of sending and
receiving data items via a wireless carrier network represented in
FIG. 2 by the first base station antenna 102A. Preferably, the data
items managed by the PIM application are seamlessly integrated,
synchronized and updated via the wireless carrier network with the
device user's corresponding data items stored or associated with a
host computer system.
[0027] Communication functions, including data and voice
communications, may be performed through the communication
subsystem 240 and, possibly, through the short-range communications
subsystem 202. The communication subsystem 240 includes a receiver
250, a transmitter 252 and one or more antennas, illustrated as a
receive antenna 254 and a transmit antenna 256. In addition, the
communication subsystem 240 also includes a processing module, such
as a digital signal processor (DSP) 258, and local oscillators
(LOs) 260. The specific design and implementation of the
communication subsystem 240 is dependent upon the communication
network in which the first mobile device 101A is intended to
operate. For example, the communication subsystem 240 of the first
mobile device 1011 may be designed to operate with the Mobitex.TM.,
DataTAC.TM. or General Packet Radio Service (CPRS) mobile data
communication networks and may also be designed to operate with any
of a variety of voice communication networks, such as Advanced
Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA),
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Personal Communications
Service (PCS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc.
Other types of data and voice networks, both separate and
integrated, may also be utilized with the first mobile device
101A.
[0028] When required network registration or activation procedures
have been completed, the first mobile device 101A may send and
receive communication signals over the wireless carrier network.
Signals received from the first base station antenna 102A by the
receive antenna 254 are routed to the receiver 250, which provides
for signal amplification, frequency down conversion, filtering,
channel selection, etc., and may also provide analog to digital
conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of the received signal
allows the DSP 258 to perform more complex communication functions,
such as demodulation and decoding. In a similar manner, signals to
be transmitted to the base station antenna 102A are processed
(e.g., modulated and encoded) by the DSP 258 and are then provided
to the transmitter 252 for digital to analog conversion, frequency
up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission to the
first base station antenna 102A via the transmit antenna 256.
[0029] In addition to processing communication signals, the DSP 258
provides for control of the receiver 250 and the transmitter 252.
For example, gains applied to communication signals in the receiver
250 and the transmitter 252 may be adaptively controlled through
automatic gain control algorithms implemented in the DSP 258.
[0030] In a data communication mode, a received signal, such as an
SMS message or web page download, is processed by the communication
subsystem 240 and is input to the microprocessor 228. The received
signal is then further processed by the microprocessor 228 in
preparation for output to the display 226, or alternatively to some
other auxiliary I/O devices 206. A device user may also compose
data items, such as e-mail messages or SMS messages, using the
keyboard 214 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device 206, such as a
touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, or some other type of
input device. The composed data items may then be transmitted to
the base station antenna 102A via the communication subsystem
240.
[0031] In a voice communication mode, overall operation of the
device is substantially similar to the data communication mode,
except that received signals may be output to the speaker 211, and
signals for transmission may be generated by the microphone 212.
Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message
recording subsystem, may also be implemented on the first mobile
device 101A. In addition, the display 226 may also be utilized in
voice communication mode, for example, to display the identity of a
calling party, the duration of a voice call, or other voice call
related information.
[0032] The short-range communications subsystem 202 enables
communication between the first mobile device 101A and other
proximate systems or devices, which need not necessarily be similar
devices. For example, the short-range communications subsystem 202
may include an infrared device and associated circuits and
components, or a Bluetooth.TM. communication module, to provide for
communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.
[0033] An SMS message Protocol Data Unit (PDU) includes a payload,
routing data and other metadata. In typical SMS messaging
operation, illustrated at a high level in FIG. 3, a user 302 of the
first mobile device 101A may employ (reference link 320) a user
interface module 304 of the SMS client application to compose an
SMS message (i.e., compose the payload). The user may address the
SMS message by directly entering a telephone directory number
(i.e., an SMS destination address) of an SMS-capable entity (say,
the second mobile device 101B) in an addressing field presented as
part of the user interface of the SMS client application.
Alternatively, the user may select a contact from within a user
interface presented by the PIM application. Once the contact is
selected, the PIM user interface may allow the user to specify an
instruction to begin composition of an SMS message payload for
sending to the contact The PIM application may then trigger the SMS
client application to open an SMS message composition interface
provided by the SMS user interface module 304 with an SMS
destination address of an SMS-capable entity associated with the
contact pre-loaded in the addressing field.
[0034] When the user has completed composition of the SMS message
payload, the user may indicate, through use of the SMS client
interface, that the SMS message payload is complete and should be
sent. The SMS user interface module 304, in response, may pass
(reference link 324) the composed SMS message payload and
addressing information to a SMS message formulation module 308 to
formulate a standard-compliant SMS message based on the composed
SMS message payload and addressing information. The SMS message
formulation module 308 may then arrange (reference link 328) the
transmission of the SMS message to the first base station antenna
102A via the communication subsystem 240 by a wireless networking
module 312.
[0035] The SMS message received at the first base station antenna
102A may be later received at the mobile services switching center
in the first wireless network subsystem 10SA. From the mobile
services switching center, the SMS message may be sent to the SMSC,
which may also be in the first wireless network subsystem 106A. The
SMSC may arrange the delivery of the SMS message to the second
mobile device 101B via the data communication network 108, the
second wireless network subsystem 106B and the second base station
subsystem 104B.
[0036] Normally, only a single SMS destination address is allowed
per SMS message. However, SMS destination address aliases may be
configured to represent multiple SMS destination addresses. An SMS
message payload addressed to an SMS destination address alias may
cause the SMS client application to employ the communication
subsystem 240 to send the same SMS message payload multiple times,
once for each SMS destination address to which the SMS destination
address alias corresponds.
[0037] In typical e-mail messaging operation, the user 302 of the
first mobile device 101A may employ (reference link 322) an e-mail
user interface module 306 of the e-mail client application to
compose an e-mail message body. The user may address the e-mail
message body by directly entering an e-mail address of a contact
(say, the user having an account on the e-mail server 120) in an
addressing field presented as part of the user interface of the
e-mail client application. Alternatively, the user may select a
contact from within a user interface presented by the PIM
application. Once the contact is selected, the PIM user interface
may allow the user to specify an instruction to begin composition
of an e-mail message body to be sent to the contact. The PIM
application may then trigger the e-mail client application to open
an e-mail message composition interface provided by the e-mail user
interface module 306 with an e-mail address associated with the
contact pre-loaded in one of the addressing fields.
[0038] When the user has completed composition of the e-mail
message body, the user may indicate, through use of the email user
interface module 306, that the e-mail message body is complete and
should be sent. The e-mail user interface module 306, in response,
may pass (reference link 326) the composed body and addressing
information to an e-mail message formulation module 310 to
formulate a standards-compliant e-mail message based on the
composed body and addressing information. The e-mail message
formulation module 310 may then arrange (reference link 330) the
transmission of the e-mail message to the first base station
antenna 102A via the communication subsystem 240 by the wireless
networking module 312.
[0039] The e-mail message received at the first base station
antenna 102A may be later received at the relay in the first
wireless network subsystem 106A. From the relay, the e-mail message
may be sent to the mobile device server 116 via the data
communication network 108, the firewall 112 and the LAN 114. The
mobile device server 116 may then forward the e-mail message to the
enterprise server 118 at which the delivery of the e-mail message
to the e-mail server 120 via the data communication network 108 may
be arranged. Finally, an e-mail client executed on the desktop
computer 122 associated with the user having an account on the
e-mail server 120 may communicate with the e-mail server 120 to
retrieve the e-mail message.
[0040] In contrast to an SMS message payload, a given e-mail
message body may be addressed to multiple recipients without the
use of an alias. Addressing fields available to the e-mail message
composition interface often include a "TO:" field for indicating
addresses of primary recipients, a "CC:" field for indicating
addresses of secondary recipients and a "BCC:" field for indicating
addresses of recipients to kept secret from the other recipients.
Additionally, an e-mail message may be further distinguished from
an SMS message in that, unlike an SMS message, an e-mail message
includes a "SUBJECT:" field.
[0041] In overview, the e-mail message formulation module 310 on
the first mobile device 101A may he configured to determine that
one or more SMS destination addresses have been included in the
addressing information received from the e-mail user interface
module 306. When a given message composed as an e-mail message and
addressed to at least one SMS destination address is to be sent,
the e-mail message formulation module 310 may pass (reference link
322) all or part of the given message to the SMS message
formulation module 308 so that the SMS message formulation module
308 may arrange (reference link 328) the transmission of an SMS
message, based on all or part of the given message, to the at least
one SMS destination address. As such, all or part of a message
composed as an e-mail message may be transmitted to an SMS
destination address, thereby obviating a requirement to compose and
send the same message twice when sending a single message to one
recipient associated with an SMS destination address and another
recipient associated with an e-mail address.
[0042] FIG. 4 illustrates one aspect of operation, wherein the
e-mail message formulation module 310 of the e-mail client
application determines (step 402) that at least one SMS destination
address has been included among the addressing information
associated with a given e-mail message body (and subject), An SMS
destination address may be determined as having been included among
the addressing information through the recognition that a
destination address has no "@" symbol and consists only of digits.
The e-mail message formulation module 310 may process the given
e-mail message body (step 404) before passing (step 406) one or
more portions of the given message to the SMS message formulation
module 308 of the SMS client application as SMS message payloads
associated with an SMS destination address.
[0043] Current GSM SMS standards allow for no more than 160
characters per SMS message, while current TDMA and CDMA networks
allow 200 characters per SMS message. In the GSM case, the SMS
message payload is standardized as 140 bytes: either 160 7-bit
characters, 140 8-bit characters or 70 2-byte characters in
languages such as Chinese, Korean, or Japanese when encoded using
2-byte UTF-16 character encoding.
[0044] As such, the processing (step 404) performed by the e-mail
message formulation module 310 may involve creating an SMS message
payload by truncating the body of a composed e-mail message.
Optionally, the SMS message payload may include the text of the
subject of the composed e-mail message as the first characters of
the SMS message payload. The remaining characters of an SMS message
payload created to include the text of the subject of the composed
e-mail message would be representative of the first characters of
the body of the composed e-mail message included in the SMS message
payload until the limit of characters is reached. Notably, the SMS
message payload may be devoid of addressing information.
[0045] Once the processing (step 404) of the e-mail message to form
an SMS message payload is complete, the e-mail message formulation
module 310 may pass (step 406) the SMS message payload, along with
an indication of the SMS destination address, to the SMS message
formulation module 308. In the case wherein more than one SMS
destination address has been specified in the addressing
information included with the e-mail message body received by the
e-mail message formulation module 310 from the e-mail user
interface module 306, the e-mail message formulation module 310 may
send the SMS message payload paired with an SMS destination address
to the SMS message formulation module 308 once for each SMS
destination address.
[0046] Since the SMS message payload sent to the SMS message
formulation module 308 from the e-mail message formulation module
310 may be limited to a given number of characters, when the e-mail
user interface module 306 determines that an SMS destination
address has been included in at least one of the addressing fields,
the e-mail user interface module 306 of the e-mail client
application may insert a marker in a display of the being-composed
e-mail message body to indicate the point in the being-composed
e-mail message body at which the character limit has been reached.
The marker may be interpreted by the user as indicating the extent
of the text to be sent to the SMS destination address.
[0047] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary e-mail message composition
user interface 500. Notably, the being-composed e-mail message has
been provided with a first e-mail address 502 in a "To:" addressing
field. In a "cc:" addressing field, the being-composed e-mail
message has been provided with a second e-mail address 504 and an
SMS destination address 506. Upon determining that an SMS
destination address has been included in the "cc:" addressing
field, the e-mail user interface module 306 has inserted a marker
508 in the e-mail message composition user interface 500 to
indicate the point in the being-composed e-mail message body at
which the character limit has been reached. As will be understood
by person of ordinary skill in the art, the character limit is
dependent upon the standard in use by the device executing the
e-mail user interface module that is presenting the e-mail message
composition user interface 500.
[0048] It is known, in some wireless device-based e-mail client
applications, to add a signature to the body of an outgoing
composed e-mail message, where a signature may include a few lines
of text relating to contact information for the sender. Such
contact information may, for instance, include text indicating a
name, organization, one or more e-mail addresses and one or more
telephones numbers.
[0049] A situation may exist wherein a composed e-mail message body
to be sent includes fewer characters than the character limiting
number. As such, the sender may not witness a marker in the e-mail
message composition interface. However, the e-mail message
formulation module 310 may insert, into the SMS message payload to
be transferred to the SMS message formulation module 308, as much
of the signature text as will fit given the text to be transmitted
(e.g., subject, body) and the character limit.
[0050] SMS client applications are known to exist that allow the
construction of a "macro" SMS message with more characters than are
allowed in a standard SMS message. In a macro SMS message
composition interface, a user may not be required to stop composing
when the standard character-limit is reached. Instead the user is
allowed to continue composing until a macro SMS message has been
composed. When arranging for the transmission of the macro SMS
message, the SMS client application may break up the macro SMS
message into portions, where each portion has no more characters
than the character-limit. A mobile device receiving the multiple
portions may recognize the portions' relationship to each other and
may recreate the macro SMS message by concatenating the portions
received as separate SMS messages for presentation to the user.
[0051] As an alternative to the passing, by the e-mail message
formulation module 310, of a single SMS message payload based on a
composed e-mail message body to the SMS message formulation module
308, the e-mail message formulation module 310 may send multiple
SMS message payloads based on the body of the composed e-mail
message to the SMS message formulation module 308 along with an
indication of the SMS destination address. The SMS message
formulation module 308 may simply transmit multiple standard-sized
SMS messages, each one carrying one of the multiple SMS message
payloads. Ideally, the Short Message Entity that corresponds to the
SMS destination address has the capability to form a macro SMS
message from multiple standard-sized SMS messages and can,
therefore, generate the composed e-mail message body.
[0052] Even where the Short Message Entity that corresponds to the
SMS destination address does not have the capability to form a
macro SMS message from multiple standard-sized SMS messages, the
text of the composed e-mail message will still be received at the
Short Message Entity, but may only be reviewed by the user as
multiple portions.
[0053] To facilitate the e-mail message formulation module 310
deciding between passing, to the SMS message formulation module
308, just a single SMS message payload or multiple SMS message
payloads representative of a composed e-mail message, a field may
be present in the contact management application of the PIM. A user
may manually indicate in the field whether a device associated with
an SMS destination address associated with a particular contact is
capable of reassembling a macro SMS message from multiple
standard-sized SMS messages.
[0054] When the e-mail message formulation module 310 has decided
to transmit multiple SMS messages payloads representative of a
single e-mail message to the SMS message formulation module 308,
the e-mail message formulation module 310 may insert markers in the
display of the being-composed e-mail message body to indicate
additional truncation points in the being-composed e-mail message
body at which the character limit of SMS messages, subsequent to
the initial SMS message, has been reached. Alternatively, in
recognition of the macro SMS message, the e-mail message
formulation module 310 may refrain from inserting markers in the
display of the being-composed e-mail message body.
[0055] It is common for an e-mail message to include, in the
addressing fields, the many e-mail addresses to which the e-mail
message is intended. A receiver of an e-mail message may,
therefore, review a list of intended recipients for the e-mail
message (except those e-mail addresses for recipients specified in
the BCC: field, if any). The inclusion of such information allows a
recipient to "Reply to All" when replying to the received e-mail
message such that the e-mail client application populates the
addressing fields with the contents of the addressing fields of the
received e-mail message.
[0056] Even though the one or more SMS destination addresses
specified by a user of a mobile device executing aspects of the
application are used by the e-mail client application to instruct
the SMS client application, it is expected that the e-mail client
application will not remove the one or more SMS destination
addresses from the addressing fields before transmitting the e-mail
message in the usual manner. While the e-mail client application
need not attempt to send to the one or more SMS destination
addresses, the one or more SMS destination addresses may be useful
to an e-mail message recipients e-mail client application, where
the recipients e-mail client application has the same or similar
SMS addressing capabilities as the senders e-mail client
application. Additionally, an e-mail message recipient may
recognize an SMS destination address in an addressing field of a
received e-mail message as associated with a particular
recipient.
[0057] Unfortunately, the addressing information received
associated with an SMS message may be limited to the SMS
destination address of the Short Messaging Entity that was the
origin of the SMS message.
[0058] Rather than being executed at the first mobile device 101A,
an e-mail client application having SMS addressing capabilities may
be executed at the desktop computer 122. The enterprise server 118
may receive, from the e-mail client application executed at the
desktop computer 122, an outgoing e-mail message addressed to at
least one e-mail address as well as to at least one SMS destination
address. The enterprise server 118 may handle the transmission of
the e-mail message to the at least one e-mail address and,
additionally, may perform aspects of the application to recognize
that the outgoing e-mail message is associated with an SMS
destination address, process the outgoing message to create an SMS
message payload and pass the SMS message payload, via the data
communication network 108, to an SMS client application that is
executed on the messaging portal 124. The SMS client application
may then send the SMS payload to the SMS destination address.
[0059] Equally, the enterprise server 118 may recognize that the
outgoing e-mail message is associated with an SMS destination
address and may pass the entire outgoing e-mail message (addressing
fields, subject, body), via the data communication network 108, to
an SMS client application that is executed on the messaging portal
124. The SMS client application may then process the outgoing
e-mail message to form an SMS message payload and send the SMS
payload to the SMS destination address.
[0060] Alternatively, an e-mail client application having SMS
addressing capabilities may be executed at the messaging portal 124
(FIG. 1). The messaging portal 124 may, for instance, present a
Hyper--Text Markup Language-based (HTML.-based) interface, over the
data communication network 108, to a user at the desktop computer
122. Using the HTML-based interface, the user may compose an
outgoing e-mail message and address the message to at least one
e-mail address as well as at least one SMS destination address. The
e-mail client application executed on the messaging portal 124 may
then, as described above in conjunction with a description of the
activities of the first mobile device 101A perform aspects of the
application to determine that the outgoing e-mail message is
associated with an SMS destination address, process the outgoing
message to create an SMS message payload and pass the SMS message
payload to an SMS client application that is also executed on the
messaging portal 124.
[0061] Again, the e-mail client application executed on the
messaging portal 124 may pass the entire e-mail message (addressing
fields, subject, body) to the SMS client application executed on
the messaging portal 124. The SMS client application may then
process the e-mail message to form the SMS message payload and send
the SMS payload to the SMS destination address.
[0062] As should be clear to a person of ordinary skill in the art,
rather than the e-mail message formulation module 310 processing a
composed e-mail message to form an SMS message payload and
subsequently passing the SMS message payload, along with an
indication of the SMS destination address, to the SMS message
formulation module 308, the e-mail message formulation module 310
may pass the entire e-mail message (addressing fields, subject,
body) to the SMS message formulation module 308. The SMS message
formulation module 308 may then process the e-mail message to form
the SMS message payload and send the SMS payload to the SMS
destination address.
[0063] Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the
art and, therefore, the invention is defined in the claims.
* * * * *