GB2367977A

GB2367977A - Preparing and sending text and/or graphic messages from communication devices having limited input means

Info

Publication number: GB2367977A
Application number: GB0016021A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Chi Sing Alexander Chris Chow
Original assignee: Hutchison Telephone Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hutchison Telephone Co Ltd
Priority date: 2000-06-29
Filing date: 2000-06-29
Publication date: 2002-04-17
Anticipated expiration: 2020-06-29
Also published as: CN1332568A; GB0016021D0; CN1257639C; GB2367977B; HK1047167B; HK1047167A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for preparing and sending messages in which content templates are selected from a library stored on a server, and are then either transmitted as is, or are further edited and/or combined with other templates prior to being transmitted. The library may be divided into a number of categories of content templates and may include content templates that are added to the library by users.

Description

MESSAGING SYSTEM

This invention relates to a system and method for preparing and sending messages, and in particular to such a system and method adapted to facilitate the sending of text and/or graphic messages from communication devices having limited input means.

Prior to the development of widespread use of personal computers, text and/or graphic messages could only be sent by a small number of electronic means such as telex, telegrams and facsimile systems. The popular adoption of personal computers has in turn led to their being used as a messaging system, in particular the sending of messages by computers using delivery mechanisms such as e-mail and bulletin boards has become a major means of communication.

Conventionally, however, such messages are sent from computers having regular full size keyboards and other input means in the form of, for example, a mouse or electronic pen. Alternatively a PC may have sufficient computing power to support voice recognition software. With such conventional PCs, and also with conventionally sized portable laptop computers, the entry of data and the preparation of messages is simple and presents no problems.

More recently, however, a generation of devices have been developed that combine substantial computing power into physically very small devices. Such devices include personal organisers, personal digital assistants, ao-callcd palm-top or hand-held computing devices, and Internet appliances. More recently third generation mobile phones have been developed that are able to use Wireless Application Protocol, 1-mode, Java, and other XML-derived languages and the like to extend to mobile phones a range

of functions and facilities that were traditionally the preserve of more conventional computing devices.

Such devices have the ability to transmit messages through a wide range of delivery mechanisms including Short Messaging, paging, 1-mode, radio frequency transmission, the Internet. optical signaling. electrical signaling and biological signaling.

The difficulty, however, is that the use of such devices for communication purposes is limited by the fact that it may be very difficult from a physical point of view to input a message into such a device. For example the preparation of a text e-mail to be sent from a WAP phone is a time consuming and tedious task. The use of such small devices as serious communication tools is being seriously hampered by this data input and message preparation problem.

According to the present invention there is provided a messaging system comprising : (a) a library of prestored content templates located on a server, (b) means for enabling a user to access said library from a personal communication device, and (c) means by which a user may select a content template from said library to compose a message for transmission by said communication device.

By means of this arrangement, rather than going through a tiresome process of entering each message individually from the beginning, a user may save time by selecting from a variety of prestored content templates.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the selection of n content tcmplatc from a large library, the library may be divided into a plurality of categories of content templates, which categories may be defined by the content of said content templates.

Furthermore, it is preferable that a user may add content templates to the library.

The content templates added by a user may be made available for access by any other user, or may be stored in a private area of said library for access by that user only.

Some content templates may be suitable for transmission as a complete message in their own right. However, others may not be so suited and preferably therefore a content template may be edited prior to being transmitted, In addition, preferably, a plurality of content templates may be selected by a user and combined into a single message.

The invention, at least in its preferred forms is particularly suited to a system where the communication device is a wireless communication device such as a WAP phone, a personal digital assistant, a palmtop or handheld computer, Internet appliance or the like. Furthermore the message may be transmitted through any message delivery mechanism to which a user is a subscriber.

Viewed from another aspect the present invention provides a method of preparing a message for transmission from a personal communication device ; comprising : (a) using said communication device to access a library of prestored content templates located on a server, and (b) selecting a content template from said library.

Viewed from a further broad aspect the invention also provides a method of transmitting a message from a personal communication device, comprising : (a) preparing a message in accordance with the method described above, Md (b) transmitting said message through any delivery mechanism to which a user subscribes.

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

Fig. lis a flowchart illustrating the use of the method of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows the screen display during the operation of the sending of a message during one example of the present invention.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a library of content templates is established on a server which controls a message delivery system. and a user sends a message by selecting a content template from the library and then sending the content template either as is or further editing the content template prior to sending the message.

The content templates stored in the library may be text only, graphics, pictures, audio or video messages, bit maps, images, or any combination of these or other forms of message elements. Where the content templates include text or audio, the text or audio may be in any language, for example different libraries may be established for different languages, eg English, Chinese and Japanese. The library may also comprise both general content templates prepared by the system for use by any user, and may include content templates prepared by a user and then stored on the server for future use. Such content templates that are added by a user to the library may be reserved in a private library for the use of that user only, or may be stored in a public library for general use.

To facilitate use of the library and the retrieval of a content template therefrom, all the content templates are divided into different categories and possibly sub-categories.

For example, in this preferred embodiment of the invention the possible categories include : Greeting, Celebration, Appointment, Reply, What To Do, What To Play, When, Which Day, and Where. In the following examples of possible content templates within these categories only English text messages will be given, but it should be understood that this is for the sake of simplicity of explanation and that the content templates may be

in any language : supported by the message delivery system and may include graphics or pictures, video or audio clips, images, bit maps, graphics and the like.

Examples of content templates stored in the Greeting category include the following : "Jus to say Hui! " "How are you ? "

"CongratUlations !" "Good luck" "Getwellsoon" "Longtimenosee" "I love you" "Imissyou" Examples of content templates within the Celebration category include : "Happy Birthday" "Happy New Year" "Merry Christmas" "Happy Easter" "Happy Holiday" "KungHeiFatChoi" Examples of content templates within the Appointment category include : "Meet me at"

"I am tied up. Can't get away" "Meeting is rescheduled to" "I arrived safely" "Please call me" "Will call you later" "Same place same time" Examples of content templates within the Reply category include : "I am fine, thank you" "Congratulations" "I am busy" "Same to you" "It's a dear "Your wish is my command" "Everything's cool" "You're kidding" Examples of content templates within the What To Do category include:

"Concert" , rtll "Party" "Happy Hour" "Meeting" "Movie"

"Karaotcc" "Lunch" "Dinner" "Breakfast" Examples of content templates within the What To Play category include: "Mah Jong" "Hiking" "Swimming" "Football" "Tennis" "Basketball" "Golf' "Badminton" "Snooker" Examples of content templates within the When category include : "Morning" "Afternoon" "Evening" "Today" "Tonight" "Tomorrow"

'"Next week" "Next month" Examples of content templates within the Which Day category include : "Monday" "Tuesday" "Wednesday" "Thursday" "Friday" "Saturday" "Sunday" "Holiday" Examples of content templates within the Where category include: "Airport" "Restaurant" "Cinema" "Station" "Ferry" "Supermarket" "Shopping mall" "Your place or mine ?"

Fig. l is a flowchart showing the basic operation of the preferred embodiment of the invention. To begin, the system must decide whether a user wishes to edit an existing template or wishes to enter a new user defined content template. If the latter is the case, the message is categorized either by the system or by the user and then stored in the library located on the server. A content template added by a user may be added to any of the existing general categories defined above and available for access by all users of the system, or may be stored in a private library of user defined templates available for that user only.

If the user wishes to select an existing content template for editing and sending, the different categories of content templates are offered to the user and the user may select a template from one of these categories. As-explained above, there may be a number of general categories of templates available to all users of the system, and also a category of templates redefined by that user and accessible only to that user. The user may also switch to other corresponding libraries having similar content templates in other languages.

Once a content template has been selected it may be sent as is, or it may be edited.

Some content templates may be suitable for sending unaltered, for example"How are you?", others will almost always need editing to add essential information, such as"Meet me at"which will need a place and/or time added. This editing may be performed by the normal data input means of the device being used, eg the keys of 8t P phone. Alternatively the editing may involve the combination of different content templates from different categories and once a user has selected a first content template the user may cycle back to the beginning of the sequence and select a second and subsequent content

templates. For example a content template from the Appointment category may be combined with templates from the When and Where categories. In addition further editing of the message may be carried out after two or more templates have been combined.

The messaging system of the present invention is particularly suitable for use with communication devices such as WAP mobile telephones or similar personal communication devices that have the software capability for electronic communications other than direct voice to voice transmissions, but because of their size have limited data entry means. Fig. 2 shows a possible sequence of screen displays and menus for such a mobile telephone when using the messaging system of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In the first screen shown in Fig. 2 (l) there is a menu of functions of the mobile phones available to a user, such as Email, Calendar, Contact and To Do. Of these functions the user will select Email. In the second screen shown in Fig. 2 (2) an e-mail menu will appear offering access to the Inbox, Sent and Trash folders, and also offering a Compose Mail option. This Compose Mail option is then selected and a message entry screen appears as shown in Fig. 2 (3). At this point a user may enter a message in any conventional manner permitted by the data entry means of the mobile phone. Alternatively, however, the user has the option of selecting a message editor function

which then gives the user two choices as shown in Fig. 2 (4), either of editing an existing message or selecting the messaging system of the present embodiment of the invention by selecting Quick Text.

When Quick Text is selected the user is presented (Fig. 2 (3)) with the categories of redefined content templates and may scroll down until the required category is located and then selected. Following selection of a category, the user is then presented with a list of all the content templates within that category (Fig. 2 (6)) and may select a desired template. When a desired content template has been selected by a user it appears as a message within the compose mail screen (Fig. 2 (7) ) and the user may Then once more engage the message editor function (Fig. 2 (8)) which permits the selected content template either to be sent as is, to be edited using the conventional data input means of the mobile phone, or for the user to return to the Quick Text function to select a further content template. This sequence may be repeated until a user is satisfied that the message is complete at which point it may be transmitted either bye-mail (Figs. 2 (9) and (10) or by Short Messaging (Figs. 2 (ll) and (12) ). The message may be transmitted either to a single destination (one to one) to a group of recipients (one to many).

It is important to note that the content templates and all the associated software for operating the messaging system of the present invention are located on the server to minimise the drain on the processing power of the communications device. Although the present embodiment has been described in the context of a WAP mobile phone it is not limited thereto and could be applied to any form of electronic communication device. The invention is particularly suited to small devices such as WAP phones, palm-top or handheld computing devices, personal digital assistants, Internet appliances and the like where the physical size of the device puts a practical limit on the ease of data entry. The invention is not necessarily limited to such devices, however, and could also be applied to a conventional PC or laptop computer.

It should also be understood that although the invention has been described by way of an embodiment in the form of an e-mail transmission, it is not so limited and can be applied to any form of message delivery system such as Short Messaging, Paging, WAP, 1-mode, ICQ, MCQ, Instant Messaging, and the Internet. Where a message is sent on a one-to-many basis, different recipients may receive the message through different delivery systems.

Claims

1. A messaging system comprising : (a) a library of content templates located on a server, (b) means for enabling a user to access said library from a personal conunMcation device, and (c) means by which a user may select a content template from said library to

compose a message for transmission by said communication device.

2. A messaging system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said library is divided into a plurality of categories of content templates.

3. A messaging system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said categories may be divided into sub-categories.

4. A messaging system as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the categories are defined by the content of said content templates.

5. A messaging system as claimed in any of claims I to 4 wherein a user may add content templates to said library.

6. A messaging system as claimed in claim 5 wherein content templates added by a user may be made available for access by any other user.

7-A messaging system as claimed in claim

S or 6 wherein content templates added by a user may be categorised by said user. 8. A messaging system as claimed in claim 5 wherein content templates added by a user may be stored in a private area of said library for access by that user only.

9. A messaging system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a content template may be edited prior to being transmitted.

10. A messaging system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein a plurality of content templates may be selected by a user and combined into a single message.

11. A messaging system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said communication device is a wireless communication device.

12. A messaging system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the message is transmitted through any message delivery mechanism to which a user is a subscriber.

13. A messaging system as claimed in any preceding claim wherein said content templates are available in multiple languages.

14. A messaging system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

15. A method of preparing a message for transmission from a personal cornmunication device, compnsing : (a) using said communication device to access a library of content templates located on a server, (b) selecting a content template from said library.

16. A method ag claimed in claim 15 wherein said library is divided into a plurality of categories of content templates and wherein said method further comprises choosing a category of template prior to selecting a content template.

17. A method as claimed in claim 16 wherein said categories are defmed by the content of said content templates.

18. A method as claimed in any of claims 15 or 16 wherein a user may add content templates to said library for future selection.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein content templates added by a user may be made available for access by any other user.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein content templates added by a user are stored in a private area of said library for access by that user only.

21. A method as claimed in any of claims 15 to 20 further comprising editing a content template prior to transmission.

22. A method as claimed in any of claims 15 to 21 comprising selecting and combining into one message a plurality of content templates.

23. A method of preparing a message substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the : accompanying drawings.

24. A method of transmitting a message from a personal communication device, comprising : (a) preparing a message in accordance with the method of any of claims 15 to 23, and (b) transmitting said message through any delivery mechanism to which a user subscribes.

25. A method of transmitting a message substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to The accompanying drawings.