US6597688B2 — Scalable architecture for transmission of message…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 161 words

A system for supporting a message delivery service, comprising: a plurality of processing servers each being coupled to communicate with a plurality of first outbound resources and a database server, over an internal packet-switched data network, the database server containing account information on customers of the message delivery service, each processing server implements a router-filter and a message queue, the message queue to store request messages that are received from a customer of the message delivery service over an external packet-switched data network, the router-filter to obtain a request message from the queue while polling the queue for pending requests, validate a customer associated with said request message after accessing the account information in the database server, and determine to which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message, each of the first resources being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 161 words

A system for supporting a message delivery service, comprising: a plurality of processing servers each being coupled to communicate with a plurality of first outbound resources and a database server, over an internal packet-switched data network, the database server containing account information on customers of the message delivery service, each processing server implements a router-filter and a message queue, the message queue to store request messages that are received from a customer of the message delivery service over an external packet-switched data network, the router-filter to obtain a request message from the queue while polling the queue for pending requests, validate a customer associated with said request message after accessing the account information in the database server, and determine to which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message, each of the first resources being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 15 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the internal data network is a private data network.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 13 words

The system of claim 2 wherein the external data network is the Internet.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 31 words

The system of claim 3 wherein the request messages are received from the customers via one of a mail transport protocol server and a hypertext transport protocol server on the Internet.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 31 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the router-filter is to prioritize a plurality of request messages that have been obtained from the queue and that are assigned to an outbound resource.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 38 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the router-filter is to determine which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message to, based on which resource offers the least cost of delivering said request message.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 36 words

The system of claim 1 wherein the router-filter is to generate an error message that indicates an error in delivering said request message as reported by the outbound resource to which said request message was assigned.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 79 words

The system of claim 1 further comprising: a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being played back to a telephone over a telephone network, wherein the router-filter is to determine to which of the first and second resources said request message is to be assigned, based on a message type of said request matching a capability of one of a first resource and a second resource.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 91 words

The system of claim 1 further comprising: a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being transmitted to a paging terminal over one of (1) a telephone network and (2) a paging gateway over an external packet-switched network, wherein the route-filter is to determine to which of the first and second resources said request message is to be assigned, based on a message type of said request matching a capability of one of a first resource and second resource.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 155 words

An article of manufacture for supporting a message delivery system, comprising: a machine accessible medium containing data that, when accessed by a machine, cause a plurality of processing servers to communicate with a plurality of first outbound resources and a database server all as part of an internal packet-switched data network, each processing server implements a router-filter and a message queue, the message queue to store request messages that are received from a customer of the message delivery service over an external packet switched data network, the router-filter to obtain a request message from the queue, validate a customer associated with said request message after accessing account information in the database server, and determine which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message, each of the first resources being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 155 words

An article of manufacture for supporting a message delivery system, comprising: a machine accessible medium containing data that, when accessed by a machine, cause a plurality of processing servers to communicate with a plurality of first outbound resources and a database server all as part of an internal packet-switched data network, each processing server implements a router-filter and a message queue, the message queue to store request messages that are received from a customer of the message delivery service over an external packet switched data network, the router-filter to obtain a request message from the queue, validate a customer associated with said request message after accessing account information in the database server, and determine which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message, each of the first resources being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 30 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause the internal network to perform as a private data network.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 27 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which allow the request messages to be received from a customer over the Internet.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 41 words

The article of manufacture of claim 12 wherein the medium includes further data which allow the request messages to be received from the customer via one of a mail transport protocol server and a hypertext transport protocol server on the Internet.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 44 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause the router-filter to prioritize a plurality of request messages that have been obtained from the queue and that are assigned to an outbound resource.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 51 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause the router-filter to determine which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said request message to, based on which resource offers the least cost of delivering said request message.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 49 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause the router-filter to generate an error message that indicates an error in delivering said request message as reported by the outbound resource to which said request message was assigned.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 96 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause one of the plurality of processing servers to be capable of (1) communicating with a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being played back to a telephone over the telephone network and (2) determining which of the first and second outbound resources to assign said request message based on a message type of said request message matching the capability of an outbound resource.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 110 words

The article of manufacture of claim 10 , wherein the medium includes further data which, when executed by the machine, cause one of the plurality of processing servers to be capable of (1) communicating with a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being transmitted to one of (1) a paging terminal over a telephone network and (2) a paging gateway over an external packet-switched network, and (2) determining which of the first and second outbound resources to assign said request message based on a message type of said request message matching the capability of an outbound resource.

Claim 21

Independent Claim 143 words

A method for supporting a message delivery service, comprising: communicating with a plurality of first outbound resources and a data base server over an internal packet-switched data network, each of the plurality of first outbound resources being capable of converting a request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network, the database server containing account information on customers of the message delivery service; obtaining a request message from a message queue, the queue storing a plurality of request messages that are received from customers of the message delivery service and that were sent from an external packet-switched data network; validating a customer associated with said obtained request message after accessing the account information in the database server; and determining to which of the plurality of first outbound resources said obtained request message should be assigned.

Claim 22

Independent Claim 143 words

A method for supporting a message delivery service, comprising: communicating with a plurality of first outbound resources and a data base server over an internal packet-switched data network, each of the plurality of first outbound resources being capable of converting a request message into a format capable of being received by a fax machine over a telephone network, the database server containing account information on customers of the message delivery service; obtaining a request message from a message queue, the queue storing a plurality of request messages that are received from customers of the message delivery service and that were sent from an external packet-switched data network; validating a customer associated with said obtained request message after accessing the account information in the database server; and determining to which of the plurality of first outbound resources said obtained request message should be assigned.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method of claim 19 wherein the internal data network is a private data network.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 13 words

The method of claim 19 wherein the external data network is the Internet.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 21 wherein the request messages are received from the customers via one of a mail transport protocol server and a hypertext transport protocol server on the Internet.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 19 further comprising: prioritizing the delivery of a plurality of request messages that have been obtained from the queue and that are assigned to an outbound resource.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 37 words

The method of claim 19 further comprising: determining which of the plurality of first outbound resources to assign said obtained request message to, based on which resource offers the least cost of delivering said obtained request message.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 35 words

The method of claim 19 further comprising: generating an error message that indicates an error in delivering said obtained request message as reported by the outbound resource to which said obtained request message was assigned.

Claim 29

Dependent Claim 74 words

The method of claim 19 further comprising communicating with a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting a request message into a format being capable of being played back to a telephone over a telephone network; and determining to which of the plurality of first and second outbound resources said obtained message should be assigned, based on a message type of said request message matching a capability of an outbound resource.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 88 words

The method of claim 19 , further comprising: communicating with a plurality of second outbound resources each being capable of converting an input request message into a format capable of being transmitted to one of (1) a paging terminal over a telephone network and (2) a paging gateway over an external packet-switched network; and determining to which of the plurality of first and second outbound resources said obtained message should be assigned, based on a message type of said request message matching a capability of an outbound resource.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2006-07-21	2007-01-20	2007-07-22	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2010-07-21	2011-01-20	2011-07-22	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2014-07-21	2015-01-20	2015-07-22	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Scalable architecture for transmission of messages over a network

Abstract

Inventors

Bibliographic Details

Claims Analysis

References Cited (Backward Citations)

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Assigned Categories & Tags

Assign Category Tag