Title of Invention

METHOD FOR PROVIDING REMINDER FOR DEFERRED MULTIMEDIA MESSAGE

Abstract

This invention applies to the multimedia messaging technology ,where especially the deferred MM is quite evident ,as the user may wish to postpone the decision to retrive the MM upon receiving the notification of MM arrival.The invention explains a method and a system for reminder management to increase the probabillity of retriving the deffered offline message under notify/get scenario; where the said method can be inplemented in the client side or server side.

Full Text

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY This invention relates, in general, to the multimedia messaging (MM) technology, where especially the deferred MM is quite evident, as the user may wish to postpone the decision to retrieve the MM upon receiving the notification of MM arrival. More particularly, this invention relates to a system and method for providing reminder for deferred MM. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART Currently the MMS system follows the Notify/Get mechanism to deliver a particular message. According to MMS standards, the originating user composes an MM and submits the message to the service provider. Upon accepting the message request, the service provider sends a notification, containing the URI of the MM location to the recipient user. The retrieval decision by the recipient user may be immediate, postponement, rejection, etc. The retrieval decision is normally conveyed back to the MMS system in response to the notification. A sample message flow is described in Figure 1. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is therefore to invent a system for reminding the user about the deferred MM. to avoid the loss of multimedia messages because of message expiry. Introducing such system will improve the user experience and may increase the revenue for the operator. According to the invention, the system requests the recipient user, about whether he wants to be reminded later, when he prefers to defer the message. Further he can specify the duration, after which he wants to be reminded. The system is expected to remind the user about the deferred MM, once the duration has expired, but before the expiry of the MM. Accordingly, this invention explains a system and method for reminder management to increase the probability of retrieving the deferred offline message under Notify/Get scenario comprising the following steps: (a) notification procedure; (b) deferred procedure; (c) reminder Procedures; and (d) retrieval of MM; Where the said method can be implemented in the Client Side or Server Side. The notification procedure in the client side implementation involves the steps of: initiating notification request to the recipient user to inform the arrival of new MM upon accepting the message by the service provider. The deferred procedure in the client side implementation involves the steps of: postponing the retrieval of MM by responding back to the notification request message by the said recipient user; and keeping the message till the expiry of the message by the server. The notification response message contains the deferred decision from the recipient user. The recipient user tries to retrieve the MM before the expiry period. The reminder procedure in the client side implementation involves the steps of: requesting the user, the need to be reminded about the MM later when the recipient user attempts to defer the MM by the said system; reminding the recipient user later after 'n' seconds by the said system; validating the recipient user's duration with the actual expiry of the MM by the said system; asking the recipient user to re-enter the duration by the said system if the duration 'n' exceeds the expiry of MM; and registering the MM notification along with the reminder duration in the local storage once the recipient user enters a valid duration. The said system is to provide an option to have a default setting for reminders of any message which the user can opt to choose. The system has a reliable timer event manager, which monitors those notifications which are required to be reminded. Once the said duration has expired, the timer event manager triggers the system to intimate the user about the retrieval of MM and the system in turn notify the user about the need for retrieving the MM. The Retrieval of MM procedure in the client side implementation involves the steps of: initiating the WSP/HTTP Get request by referring the URI, extracted from the notification message by the recipient user; responding back to the said request by the server with the multimedia contents using the Retrieval Confirmation message; confirming the retrieval with an acknowledgement by the recipient client; and deleting the corresponding reminders by the client from its storage once the recipient user retrieves the MM. Apart from reminding the user, the reminder system allows the users to perform enabling and disabling of reminder mechanism, setting a default time duration for the reminders and setting or modifying or canceling of the individual message reminders. The MMS client maintains a reliable timer event manager to indicate the timer related events. The MMS client requests the user to specify the time for the next reminder. The MMS client reminds the user upon expiry of the reminder duration. The MMS client provides the list of reminders to the users. The MMS client allows the user to alter the reminder values anytime before the expiry of MM. The MMS client removes the reminders once the reminders become invalid. The notification procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of initiating notification request to the recipient user about the arrival of new MM by the MMS Proxy Relay; and specifying by the MMS Proxy Relay whether to allow the reminders to be set by the user. A header X-Mms-Allow-Reminder is added in the notification request which indicates whether the MMS Proxy Relay supports reminders for this MM. The Reminder of Message procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of deciding to deferring the MM as recipient user is busy in retrieving the message; requesting the user, whether to be reminded about the MM retrieval later v^hen the recipient user attempts to defer the MM; reminding the recipient user later after 'n' seconds by the said system; validating the recipient user's duration with the expiry of the MM by the said system; and asking the recipient user to re-enter the duration if the duration 'n' exceeds the expiry of MM by the system in the recipient client. The said system in the MMS Proxy Relay assumes the expiry time as the duration, if the duration exceeds the expiry time. The deferred procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of sending the duration 'n' in the Notification response / defer request by the client once the recipient user enters a valid duration. A header X-Mms-Reminder-Duration is added in the Notification Response message which indicates the duration of next reminder. The notify and retrieve procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of: registering the time when the recipient user wants to receive the notification upon receiving the defer message request by the said system; monitoring the list of MM for which a reminder notification is requested by a reliable time event manager of the MMS Proxy Relay; triggering the MMS Proxy Relay Server by the system to intimate the user about the retrieval of MM once the duration has elapsed; sending a notification request by the MMS Proxy Relay; reminding the user later as per the procedures and raising MM retrieval request; and deleting the corresponding reminders by the server from its storage once the recipient user retrieves the MM. The reminder system allows the users to perform enabling and disabling of reminders and when the server indicates the support of reminders in the notification request, the user decides not to set a reminder for a message where, the reminder duration header is not present in the notification response message and the MMS Proxy Relay disables the reminder for that particular MM. The reminder system allows the users to perform modifying or canceling the reminders using a reminder alter transaction using M-Reminder-Alter.Req and M-Reminder-Alter.conf primitives which allow the user to alter the existing timer values, or to create a new timer value, if not created earlier during the defer request. The reminder system allows the users to list the reminders using a reminder list view transaction using M-Reminder-Ustview.Req and M-Reminder-Listview.conf primitives which allows the user to view list of reminders that are actively present in the said system. The The MMS Proxy Relay server specifies its support to reminder mechanism, through notification procedure. The MMS client responds back its desire for reminder, through the notification response procedure. The MMS server sends a notification to the user upon the expiry of reminder duration. The MMS server maintains the reminder till the message is stored in the server. The MMS Client and server supports the reminder alter procedure. The MMS client and server support the reminder view procedure. Accordingly, this invention further explains a system for reminder management to increase the probability of retrieving the deferred offline message under Notify/Get scenario comprising: (a) means for notification procedure; (b) means for deferred procedure; (c) means for reminder procedures; and (d) means for retrieval of MM; Where the said system is achieved using the said method implemented in the Client Side or Server Side. The other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from ensuing the detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates the Traditional MMS Retrieval - Deferred approach - where the multimedia message is deferred and then retrieved later. Figure 2 illustrates the MMS Retrieval approach with the invention based on the client side implementation. Reminders are processed and managed at the client side. Figure 3 illustrates the MMS Retrieval approach with the invention based on the server side implementation. Reminders are processed and managed at the server side. Figure 4 illustrates MMS transaction which describes the modification or cancellation of those reminders that were set earlier. Figure 5 illustrates the MMS transaction which describes the viewing of reminders list that were set earlier. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. Structure of the Invention The proposed system can be realized in two ways: 1. Client Side Implementation: Client takes the responsibility to remind the user. 2. Server Side Implementation: Server takes the responsibility to remind the user through notifications. Operation of the invention Currently, the MMS system follows the Notify/Get mechanism to indicate the arrival of new MMs for the recipients. However the recipient may decide to defer the MM retrieval. As a result of this, the user may lose the MM, if the user may forget to retrieve the MM, or changes his device, where the notification may possibly stored in the device. In such cases, it's necessary that the recipient may have to be reminded again upon wish. The system shall provide a reliable mechanism to remind the user, thereby increasing the user experience, and service provider's business. This invention describes two solutions that could be implemented one in the client side and another in the server side. The client side implementation is as referred in the Figure 2. The details are given below: 1. Client Side Implementation: i) Notification procedure and deferred procedure: The originating user A initiates the submission of multimedia message using Send Message Request primitive. The service provider confirms the multimedia message request using Send Message confirmation. Upon accepting the message, the service provider sends a notification request to the recipient user B to inform the arrival of new MM. The user B prefers to postpone the retrieval of MM by responding back to the notification request message. The notification response message contains the decision from the recipient user (Deferred). The server is expected to keep the message till the expiry of the message. The user B is expected to retrieve the MM before the expiry period. ii) Reminder Procedures: When the user B attempts to defer the MM, the recipient's client makes use of the invention; thereby the proposed system requests the user, whether he wants to be reminded about the MM later. The user B wants the proposed system to remind him later after 'n' seconds. The proposed system validates the user B*s duration with the actual expiry of the MM. If the duration 'n' exceeds the expiry of MM, the proposed system will ask the user B to re-enter the duration. Once the user B enters a valid duration (i.e: Duration The proposed system shall have a reliable timer event manager, thereby the system will monitor for those notifications which are required to be reminded. Once the duration has expired, the timer event manager will trigger the system to intimate the user about the retrieval of MM. In turn the proposed system shall notify the user about the need for retrieving the MM. User may prefer to be reminded again as per the procedures mentioned above iii) Retrieval of MM: The user B initiates the WSP/HTTP Get request by referring the URI, actually extracted from the notification message. The sever responds back to this request with the multimedia contents using the Retrieval Confirmation message. The recipient client confirms the retrieval with an acknowledgement. Once the user B retrieves the MM, the client deletes the corresponding reminders from its storage. Apart from reminding the user, the reminder system can allow the users to perform 1. Enabling and Disabling of reminder mechanism 2. Setting a default time duration for the reminders 3. Setting or Modifying or Canceling the individual message reminders Requirements: 1 The MMS client shall provide a reliable reminder management mechanism. 2. The MMS client shall maintain a reliable timer event manager to indicate the timer related events. 3. The MMS client should request the user to specify the time for the next reminder. 4. The MMS client shall remind the user upon expiry of the reminder duration. 5. The MMS client shall provide the list of reminders to the users. 6. The MMS client shall allow the user to alter the reminder values anytime before the expiry of MM. 7. The MMS client should remove the reminders once the reminders become invalid (because of expiry of MM, MM retrieved, etc.). 3. Server Side Implementation: According to this implementation, the MMS Proxy Relay Server takes the responsibility to remind the user through notifications. The server side implementation is as referred in the Figure 3. The details are given below: i) Notification of the message: The originating user A initiates the submission of multimedia message using Send Message Request primitive. The service provider confirms the multimedia message request using Send Message confirmation. The MMS Proxy Relay accepts the A's message request, and notifies B about the arrival of new MM. The MMS Proxy Relay may also specify whether it allows the reminders to be set by the user. The following header can be added in the notification request Indicating 'Yes' in the IE, X-Mms-Allow-Reminder, makes the MMS Proxy Relay to convey its support for the proposed system. ii) Reminder of Message: The user B is busy in retrieving the message, thereby decides to defer the MM. When the user B attempts to defer the MM, the proposed system in the recipient's client on finding the "X-Mms-Allow-Reminder = Yes" IE, shall request the user, whether he wants to be reminded about the MM retrieval later. The user B wants the system to remind him later after 'n' seconds. The proposed system validates the user B's duration with the expiry of the MM. If the duration 'n' exceeds the expiry of MM, the proposed system in the recipient client will ask the user B to re-enter the duration. The proposed system in the MMS Proxy Relay may assume the expiry time as the duration, provided if the duration exceeds the expiry time. iii) Defer the Multimedia Message: The following header can be added in the Notification Response message. The above information element indicates the support of the proposed system in the recipient client. Once the user B enters a valid duration (i.e: Duration iv) Notify & Retrieve the Multimedia Message Upon receiving the defer message request, the proposed system shall register the time when the recipient user wants to receive the notification. The MMS Proxy Relay shall have a reliable time event manager, to monitor the list of MM for which a reminder notification is requested. Once the duration has elapsed, the proposed system will trigger the MMS Proxy Relay Server to intimate the user about the retrieval of MM. In turn, the MMS Proxy Relay shall send a notification request. User may prefer to be reminded later as per the procedures mentioned above (ii) & (iii). Otherwise he may decide to retrieve the MM, thereby raises MM retrieval request. Once the user B retrieves the MM, the server deletes the corresponding reminders from its storage. Apart from reminding the user, the reminder system can allow the users to perform 1. Enabling and Disabling of reminders When the server indicates that the support of reminders in the notification request, the user may decide not to set a reminder for a message. In such scenarios, the reminder duration header shall not be present in the notification response message. The MMS Proxy Relay shall disable the reminder for that particular MM. 2. Modifying or Canceling the reminders The recipient user may be able to modify the list of reminders available, using a reminder alter transaction as mentioned in Fig 4: The recipient user may alter or cancel the previous reminders set for a particular MM. The procedure should be followed after the user defers the MM with the reminders. This can be achieved through a separate transaction called: M-Reminder-Alter.Req: The above two primitives allow the user to alter the existing timer values, or to create a new timer value, if not created earlier during the defer request. Such system provides the user more flexibility to set the timer, whenever he wants, but before the expiry of MM. 3. List the reminders The recipient user may be able to know the list of reminders available, using a reminder list view transaction as mentioned in Fig 5: 1. M-Reminder-Listview.Req: 2. M-Reminder-Listview.conf: The above two primitives will allow the user to view list of reminders that are actively present in the proposed system. This will enable the user to make further decisions with respect to the retrieval of MM or management of reminders. Default duration for the reminders can be configurable by the operator. Requirements 1. MMS server shall have a reliable reminder system. 2. MMS server shall specify its support to reminder mechanism, through notification procedure. 3. MMS client shall respond back its desire for reminder, through the notification response procedure. 4. MMS server shall send a notification the user upon the expiry of reminder duration. 5. MMS server should maintain the reminder till the message stored in the server. 6. MMS Client should support the reminder alter procedure. 7. MMS client should support the reminder view procedure. 8. MMS Server shall support the reminder alter procedure. 9. MMS server shall support the reminder view procedure. Although illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise embodiments, and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. The above-presented description is of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention. The manner and process of making and using it is in such a full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable to any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use this invention. New embodiments in particular, which also lie within the scope of the invention can be created, in which different details of the different examples can in a purposeful way be combined with one another. This invention is however, susceptible to modifications and alternate constructions from that disclosed above which are fully equivalent. Consequently, it is not the intention to limit this invention to the particular embodiment disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications and alternate constructions coming within the spirit and scope of the invention as generally expressed by the following claims which particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter of the invention. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND THEIR DEFINITIONS MMS - A messaging technology that allows the people to convey their messages through media objects (Text, Image, Audio and Video). MMS Client - An user agent resides in the mobile device for enabling the multimedia messaging. MMS Proxy Relay - A server that hosts the MMS Service. MMS Notification - An event that occurs upon the arrival of new MM. Deferred MM - An MM which was postponed for later retrieval or delivery. Reminders - An event that occurs periodically to remind the MMS user. WE CLAIM 1. A method for reminder management to increase the probability of retrieving the deferred offline message under Notify/Get scenario, where the said method can be implemented in the Client Side or Server Side. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the reminder procedure in the client side implementation involves the steps of: (a) requesting the user, the need to be reminded about the MM later when the recipient user attempts to defer the MM by the said system; (b) reminding the recipient user later after 'n' seconds by the said system; (c) validating the recipient user's duration with the actual expiry of the MM by the said system; (d) asking the recipient user to re-enter the duration by the said system if the duration 'n' exceeds the expiry of MM; and (e) registering the MM notification along with the reminder duration in the local storage once the recipient user enters a valid duration. 3. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the said system is provided an option to have a default setting for reminders of any message which the user can opt to choose. 4. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the system has a reliable timer event manager, which monitors those notifications which are required to be reminded. 5. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein once the said duration has expired, the timer event manager triggers the system to intimate the user about the retrieval of MM and the system in turn notifies the user about the need for retrieving the MM. 6. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the client side implementation deletes the corresponding reminders by the client from its storage once the recipient user retrieves the MM, 7. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein apart from reminding the user, the reminder system allows the users to perform enabling and disabling of reminder mechanism, setting a default time duration for the reminders and setting or modifying or canceling of the individual message reminders. 8. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the MMS client maintains a reliable timer event manager to indicate the timer related events. 9. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the MMS client requests the user to specify the time for the next reminder. 10. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the MMS client provides the list of reminders to the users. 11. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the MMS client allows the user to alter the reminder values anytime before the expiry of MM. 12. A method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the MMS client removes the reminders once the reminders become invalid. 13. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the Reminder of Message procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of: (a) Enables or disables the reminder mechanism for a particular MM; (b) Indicating the support for reminder management for the MM in the notification request. (c) Validating the recipient user's duration with the expiry of the MM by the said system; (d) Responding with a reminder value in the notification response; (e) Registering the time when the recipient user wants to receive the notification upon receiving the defer message request by the said system; (f) Sending a notification to the user upon expiry of reminder time; and (g) Managing the reminders that includes the update on the reminders, retrieval of reminders & Deletion of reminders. 14. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein a header X-Mms-Allow-Reminder is added in the notification request which indicates whether the MMS Proxy Relay supports reminders for this MM. 15. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the said system in the MMS Proxy Relay assumes the expiry time as the duration, if the duration exceeds the expiry time. 16. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the deferred procedure in the server side implementation involves the steps of sending the duration 'n' in the Notification response / defer request by the client once the recipient user enters a valid duration. 17. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein a header X-Mms-Reminder-Duration is added in the Notification Response message which indicates the duration of next reminder. 18. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the reminder system allows the users to perform enabling and disabling of reminders and when the server indicates the support of reminders in the notification request, the user decides not to set a reminder for a message where, the reminder duration header is not present in the notification response message and the MMS Proxy Relay disables the reminder for that particular MM. 19. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the reminder system allows the users to perform modifying or canceling the reminders using a reminder alter transaction using M-Reminder-Alter.Req and M-Reminder-Alter.conf primitives which allow the user to alter the existing timer values, or to create a new timer value, if not created earlier during the defer request. 20. A method as claimed in claim 12 wherein the reminder system allows the users to list the reminders using a reminder list view transaction using M-Reminder-Listview.Req and M-Reminder-Listview.conf primitives which allows the user to view list of reminders that are actively present in the said system. 21. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the MMS server sends a notification to the user upon the expiry of reminder duration. 22. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the MMS server maintains the reminder till the message is stored in the server. 23. A method for reminder management in a reminder management system to increase the probability of retrieving the deferred offline message under Notify/Get scenario substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

1442-CHE-2004 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 08-10-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 FORM-13 19-06-2006.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 POWER OF ATTORNEY 08-10-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 AMENDED CLAIMS 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION. 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 FORM-1 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 FORM-13 12-12-2013.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 FORM-6 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 POWER OF ATTORNEY 20-06-2012.pdf

1442-CHE-2004 FORM-13 17-12-2013.pdf

1442-che-2004-abstract.pdf

1442-che-2004-claims.pdf

1442-che-2004-correspondnece-others.pdf

1442-che-2004-description(complete).pdf

1442-che-2004-description(provisional).pdf

1442-che-2004-drawings.pdf

1442-che-2004-form 1.pdf

1442-che-2004-form 13.pdf

1442-che-2004-form 5.pdf