Title: Systems and methods for remote access to a display-based bulletin board in a shared user environment
Abstract: An electronic bulletin board for use in a shared always-on environment wherein a user may manipulate messages from a remote location. The electronic bulletin board may be implemented via database and programming logic on an application server accessible from any network node, including wireless devices. The always-on environment may be set up on a computer or broadband internet appliance or other communications device. Remote users may perform operations such as updating an existing message, posting a new message, download messages, and the like. The bulletin board also supports shared messages designed for special purposes, for example, an electronic grocery list that is accessible from remote locations.
Patent Number: 6,968,362 Issued on 11/22/2005 to Koch, et al.
| Inventors:
|
Koch; Robert A. (Norcross, GA);
Holt; Scott C. (Decatur, GA)
|
| Assignee:
|
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corp. (Wilmington, DE)
|
| Appl. No.:
|
029149 |
| Filed:
|
December 28, 2001 |
| Current U.S. Class: |
709/206; 709/204; 715/751; 715/753 |
| Intern'l Class: |
G06F 015/16 |
| Field of Search: |
709/206,204
715/751,753
|
References Cited [Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
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| |
| 5941946 | Aug., 1999 | Baldwin et al.
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| 6094675 | Jul., 2000 | Sunaga et al.
| |
| 6138139 | Oct., 2000 | Beck et al.
| |
| 6141537 | Oct., 2000 | Takahari.
| |
| 6151620 | Nov., 2000 | Madsen et al.
| |
| 6161149 | Dec., 2000 | Achacoso et al.
| |
| 6342901 | Jan., 2002 | Adler et al.
| |
| 6363427 | Mar., 2002 | Teibel et al.
| |
| 6463463 | Oct., 2002 | Godfrey et al.
| |
| 6466236 | Oct., 2002 | Pivowar et al.
| |
| 6484196 | Nov., 2002 | Maurille.
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| 6505233 | Jan., 2003 | Hanson et al.
| |
| 2002/0023230 | Feb., 2002 | Bolnick et al.
| |
| 2002/0063732 | May., 2002 | Mansikkaniemi et al.
| |
| 2002/0065881 | May., 2002 | Mansikkaniemi et al.
| |
Primary Examiner: Edelman; Bradley
Assistant Examiner: Chea; Philip
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Withers & Keys, LLC
Claims
1. An electronic bulletin board display system comprising:
an application server configured to update a bulletin board display graphical
user interface of a client computer that includes messages to different recipients
by receiving and processing remote message manipulation instructions from one or
more remote users, said instructions comprising a sender e-mail address, a recipient
e-mail address pointing to the applications server, and a content for each message
to be generated;
wherein said application server looks up the recipient e-mail address of each
message in a customer database to find a bulletin board address of a client gateway
associated with the recipient e-mail address where the client computer providing
the bulletin board display graphical user interface resides behind the client gateway,
and wherein said application server updates the bulletin board display graphical
user interface of the client computer by generating messages based on the remote
message manipulation instructions and sending the messages to the client gateway
in communication with said communications center such that the client computer
automatically and concurrently displays the content of a plurality of the generated
messages in the bulletin board display graphical user interface.
2. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the instruction
further comprises a retrieval command and wherein, in response to the instruction,
the application server instructs the communications center to send a copy of any
data displayed thereon to the sender address.
3. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the instruction
further comprises a retrieval command and wherein, in response to the instruction,
the application server instructs the communications center to send a subset of
any data displayed thereon to the sender address.
4. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the application
server is further configured to store a copy of data displayed on the communications center.
5. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 4, wherein the instruction
further comprises a retrieval command and wherein, in response to the instruction,
the application server sends the copy of data to the sender address.
6. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 4, wherein the instruction
further comprises a retrieval command and wherein, in response to the instruction,
the application server sends a subset of the copy of data to the sender address.
7. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the content
of the instruction includes an audio clip.
8. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the content
of the instruction includes a video clip.
9. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein the content
of the instruction includes an audio clip and a video clip.
10. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein bulletin
board display on the communications center includes audio clips.
11. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein bulletin
board display on the communications center includes video clips.
12. The electronic bulletin board display system of claim 1, wherein bulletin
board display on the communications center includes audio clips and video clips.
13. A method of providing remote access to a shared always-on bulletin board
system, said method comprising:
creating a customer database in communication with an application server on the
application server side of a customer gateway containing at least an e-mail address
of a recipient and a bulletin board address of the same recipient;
receiving a remote message manipulation instruction by the application server
from a remote user, said instruction comprising a sender address, the recipient
e-mail address and a content;
looking up the recipient e-mail address in the customer database;
mapping the recipient's e-mail address to the recipient's bulletin board address;
pushing automatically the remote message manipulation instruction to the customer's
gateway based on the recipient's bulletin board address;
causing the shared always-on bulletin board system to display a message header
and content according to the sender address, the recipient address and the content
by sending an instruction to the customer's gateway in communication with said
bulletin board system, and wherein the bulletin board system concurrently displays
additional message headers and contents including messages to different recipients.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the remote manipulation instruction further
comprises a retrieval command.
15. The method of claim 14, further comprising instructing the communications
center to send data to the sender address.
Description
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to messaging systems, and more particularly
to electronic messaging systems.
2. Background of the Invention
Today's work and home lifestyles can be very busy for many families. In many
cases, individual family members may be involved in multiple activities. Oftentimes,
individual family members may have very little personal interaction. In some such
families, a bulletin board, chalk board or other manual messaging systems may be
used to provide some means of communication between members of the household. In
some households, notes may be placed on the refrigerator or other commonly used
appliances. Message areas may include a place for leaving notes of interest to
the entire household, such as reminders for group events or grocery lists. In some
households, the message area may be divided into various sub-areas allowing messages
to be easily targeted to one or more household members.
Such messaging systems are also commonly used in a variety of offices or other
work spaces. For example, a bulletin board system may be used to let others in
the work place know of an individual's whereabouts. A bulletin board may also be
used to post important messages for employees attention.
A problem with the above-described messaging systems in that an individual must
be near the location of bulletin board to be able to post or read messages on the
board. That is, conventional message systems do not provide a convenient method
to manage notes posted in a shared environment from a remote location. For example,
if a user is away from home when he or she desires to post a message to the bulletin
board, that user would not be able to post the message until he or she returns
home. By this time, the intended recipient of the message may have already departed
the home, thereby missing the communication from the user. In another example,
a message cannot be removed from the messaging area unless the user is physically
near the messaging system. Similarly, a user cannot post a new message or update
an existing messaging from a remote location.
Another problem with conventional messaging systems is that it is difficult
to determine whether or not one or more of the intended recipients have read the
note. For example, in conventional bulletin boards, even if a reader of a note
initials the note or otherwise marks it to show it has been read, other users of
the bulletin board must still physically review the board to receive the notification.
Conventional messaging systems also do not provide convenient means
for creating a transportable copy of any messages posted thereon. Currently, if
a user wants to take a copy of a message away from the messaging system, the user
must manually copy a note onto a separate piece of paper. Alternatively, if the
note was posted using a paper that may be removed from the board (e.g., pinned
or taped to a bulletin board) the user may physically remove note and take the
message away from the messaging system. However, if a note is removed from the
message board then others members of the household or workplace will not be able
to read the note.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention uses a broadband-enabled internet connection to provide
an always-on interface to a virtual family, group, or office bulletin board system.
Family members (or, e.g., associates or co-workers) may use this shared environment
to communicate with one another either locally or remotely (e.g., using any email-
or other web-capable device). The system allows users to print, reply to messages,
and hot link to embedded web uniform resource locators (URLs) from within a posted message.
The present invention also provides the capability to create, share and modify
"common notes" (e.g., a shopping list) that can be written to or retrieved by anyone,
whether in a remote location or not. Accordingly, the present invention provides
systems and methods enabling a user to update the bulletin board whenever a need
arises. For example, if a user is on his way home from work when he decides to
stop at a grocery store, he may retrieve a current version of the shopping list
by sending an email or other command to an application server. The application
server responds to the request and sends a copy of the list to the user. Further,
the user may send a request to update the bulletin board to reflect his intent
to purchase the items from the list. In another example, a user, for example, a
child, may be informed at school of some item he needs to bring to school. The
child may send a message to update the shopping list with the additional item.
In this manner, there is less chance of the child forgetting to inform the parents
that an item is needed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary user-interface that may be
used in an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an exemplary electronic bulletin board
according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an architecture that may be used to implement
an embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary tables that may be maintained in a customer database
in an embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention comprises an "always-on" electronic bulletin
board system that may be remotely manipulated by users. Remote manipulation may
include, for example, reading one or more notes posted on the bulletin board, posting
one or more notes to the bulletin board, deleting one or more notes from the bulletin
board, acknowledging receipt of a note posted on the bulletin board, and the like.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary display device, communications center
100, that
may be used to display an electronic bulletin board according to an embodiment
of the present invention. Communications center
100 may optionally include
a memory, a central processing unit and computer programming logic for controlling
the device. FIG. 1 shows a display of an exemplary graphical user interface for
providing various communications systems via communications center
100.
An electronic messaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention
may be provided as an option, such as message center
102 on communications
center
100. Message indicators, for example indicator
104, may be
used to provide a visual alert to one or more family members that a message has
been posted for their attention. As shown in FIG. 1, message center
102
may include a separate area for each family member (or workplace user) and a collective
"family" (or workplace) area. In this embodiment, a user in the household (or workplace)
may access the message center (e.g., by clicking on icon
106) to manipulate
messages in the communications center. As will be described in greater detail herein,
remote users may also access the communication center to manipulate messages.
FIG. 2 shows an exemplary graphical user interface that may be displayed in
embodiments of the present invention when a user clicks on icon
106. Alternatively,
the interface shown in FIG. 2 may be displayed on communications center
100
when the device is idle. For example, the bulletin board may automatically be displayed
in a manner similar to that of a "screen saver" commonly used on personal computer
systems. As would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, other visual
display layouts may be used to convey the message information to users. For example,
a text-based interface may be used in embodiments of the present invention. In
another example, the messages may include audio and/or video clips providing multimedia
communications via the bulletin board system.
As shown in FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, messages may be posted to the
bulletin board and addressed to particular members of the household (or workplace).
For example, message
202 is addressed to "Billy" whereas message
204
is addressed to "Mom." Similarly, messages may be address to "All" members of the
household (or workplace) such as message
206, or may comprise a universal
message, such as grocery list
208.
In the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 2 each message includes a menu bar
210
providing options for manipulating the message. Options may allow a user to reply
to a message ("Reply"), print a message to a printer device attached to communications
center
100 or another printer device accessible on a network ("Print"),
delete a message from the display area ("Delete"), mark a message as read ("Mark"),
mail a message to some other system ("Mail"), edit a message ("Edit") and read
extended messages ("More"). Other options may be provided in alternative embodiments
of the present invention. Moreover, the menu of options need not be provided individually
on each message. That is, a single menu may be used to manipulate selected messages.
Alternatively, other user interface options may be implemented to present the menu
of options to a user (e.g., "right-clicking" on a message may result in a menu
being displayed).
An embodiment of the present invention also allows a user to post messages including
links to web pages. For example, message
212 from "Steve" to "Jane" includes
a uniform resource locator (URL) that the author wants the recipient to review.
When Jane reads message
212, she may click on the link to view the web page.
An embodiment of the present invention may include additional option buttons
such
as, for example, buttons
214 and
216 providing other options for
the user. In this example, button
214 allows a user to create a new message
to be posted on the bulletin board and button
216 allows the user to return
to a main screen, such as shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 shows an architecture that may be used to implement an embodiment of
the present invention. In this embodiment, the primary logic for providing a service
according to the present invention is provided by application server
300
and customer database
302. Application server
300 may be any computer
system, which would typically include a central processing unit, a volatile memory
and a non-volatile memory. Customer database
302 may be part of application
server
300 or may be on a different computer system. In this embodiment,
customer database
302 includes records mapping a user's email address to
the user's bulletin board address. The database may also include an IP address
associated with particular users and may include user authentication information.
FIG. 4A shows an example of records
400 that may be stored in customer database
302. The mapping provided by customer database
302 may be used in
an embodiment to simplify the displayed names for a sender and recipient of a message,
as described below.
In an embodiment implemented as shown in FIG. 3, a user may post messages to
the
electronic bulletin board by sending an instruction via an email sent to a specified
address. The email is processed by application server
300 which generates
a message to send to communications center
100. The email may be sent from
any email-enabled device, including, for example, interactive pager
304,
wireless telephone
306, wireless personal digital assistant (PDA)
308,
handheld computer
310, computer
312, internet appliance
314,
and the like. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, the devices may transmit the email
message via any standard data path to which the devices are adapted. For example,
devices
304-
310 may be adapted to transmit email via wireless voice/data
network
316. Network
316 may include one or more wireless application
protocol (WAP) gateways and one or more web gateway systems. Similarly, devices
310-
314 may transmit email via switch
318 and internet service
provider (ISP)
320. Switch
318 may be a central office (CO) switch
such as those used in the public switched telephone network, or may be a softswitch
used in data networks and voice-over-IP systems. ISP
320 provides connectivity
to internet
322.
Application server
300 may, for example, send the message to client
gateway
108 via secure intranet
326, firewall
324, ISP
320
and internet
322 as shown in FIG. 3. It would be apparent to one of ordinary
skill in the art that other means of sending the message to gateway
108
may also be used. Although FIG. 3 shows only one ISP and one wireless network providing
internet connectivity to each device, there may be multiple ISPs and multiple wireless
network service providers as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the
art. Similarly, there may be multiple switches serving each of devices
310-
314
or a single switch may be used as shown in FIG. 3.
Remote Writing (Posting) of Items to Bulletin Board
As noted above, a remote user may post an item (i.e., a message) to the bulletin
board system by sending an email message to an address that is routed to application
server
300. Upon receipt of the email message, application server
300
may consult customer database
302 to determine whether or not the sender
of the email is an authorized user of the electronic bulletin board. Such an authentication
step is an optional procedure and may be carried out in a variety of ways. For
example, customer database
302 may comprise a list of authorized sender
email addresses from which it accepts bulletin board messages. Alternatively, customer
database
302 may include a username and password that must be included in
the email message.
In this embodiment, the sender's email message may include an addressee such
as,
for example, "TO: Billy@joneshome.com" and a sender's address such as, for example,
"FROM: Jane@Janeswork.com." Application server
300 looks up the addressee's
domain name in column
402 in of table
400 in customer database
302
to determine the destination address, that is, an address associated with client
gateway
108 at the user's home (or workplace). As shown in FIG. 4A, the
destination address (column
404) may be expressed as any network address,
such as for example, an IP address or a domain name, among others. Application
server
300 may check to see whether or not the sender is authorized to post
messages to an electronic bulletin board associated with this destination address.
As described above, this step (if implemented) may involve a lookup of the sender's
email address (column
406) or may involve verification of a username (column
408) and password (column
410). Alternatively, in some embodiments,
open access may be allowed (i.e., application server accepts all messages received
and processes them for posting to the electronic bulletin board).
Application server
300 may format the message for delivery to
client gateway
108 and display on communications center
100. In an
embodiment of the present invention, customer database
302 also includes
a mapping of email sending and receiving addresses to provide a more personalized
messaging system. For example, customer database
302 may include a table
such as table
450 shown in FIG. 4B. In this example, a message received
from "Jane@Janeswork.com" is formatted for posting on the electronic bulletin board
according to the recipient's address. That is, if Jane is sending a message intended
for one of her children (Billy or Jane) application server
300 formats the
message to identify the sender as "Mom" and the recipient by his or her first name
as shown in rows
452 and
454. However, when a message from "Jane@Janeswork.com"
to "Steve@joneshome.com" is received, application server
300 formats the
message to be posted to include a sender name "Jane" and a recipient name "Steve"
as shown in row
456. Similarly, a message from Jane to "all@joneshome.com"
is routed to "Steve & Kids" from "Mom" as shown in row
458.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a user may post a message to
the
bulletin board system by connecting to application server
300. The connection
process may be completed using any suitable network protocol, including, for example,
HTTP, Telnet, and the like. Again, there may be an authentication process for verifying
the user's rights to access the bulletin board system. Such authentication process
may include, for example, checking a list of authorized network addresses that
may connect to the server, username and password control, and the like. In this
embodiment, the user may be provided a menu of options to select, for example,
the sender and receiver names to use for a posted message.
Remote Reading of Bulletin Board Items
Remote retrieval or reading of content on an electronic bulletin board according
to an embodiment of the present invention may be accomplished in substantially
the same manner as described above. That is, for example, a user may send an email
message to application server
300 requesting a download of messages from
the bulletin board. In one embodiment, the user may be provided the option of only
downloading those items that have not been marked read by the user. In another
embodiment, the user may request a subset of messages, for example, only messages
addressed to the user. In still other embodiments, the user may be able to select
messages from a particular user, messages according to their posting time, or other
criteria for identifying messages to be downloaded.
In an embodiment of the present invention, application server
300 maintains
a copy of messages sent to client gateway
108. In this embodiment, download
requests may be processed at application server
300 without a need to contact
client gateway
108. In other embodiments, application server
300
does not maintain copies of messages posted to the bulletin board. In this embodiment,
when a download request is received, application server sends a retrieval command
to client gateway
108. Client gateway
108 responds to the command
and sends requested content either to application server
300 for further
processing or directly to the requestor's email address.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a user may read messages or request
downloads of messages by logging onto application server
300 using any suitable
network protocol as described above. In this embodiment, application server
300
may include, for example, a web server configured to display the bulletin board
content via a web browser application. As described above, the user may request
all messages, or may select a subset of messages for retrieval.
In an embodiment, application server
300 may check the user's permission
to access the bulletin board, as described above. That is, application server
300
may request the user to provide a username and password, or may check the requestor's
email or IP address to determine whether or not the request should be honored.
Other Remote Manipulation of Bulletin Board Items
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user may perform
other remote manipulation operations on posted bulletin board items. For example,
a user may request removal of an item from a bulletin board. In other embodiments,
a user may remotely edit a particular message. Other remote manipulation operations
that may be provided in one or more embodiments of the present invention include
marking a message as read, replying to a message, changing a position of a posting
on the bulletin board, copying a message, mailing a message to another email address,
and the like.
In some embodiments, customer database
302 may include access levels for
determining which users may perform these or other manipulation operations on one
or more messages on the bulletin board. As with other embodiments described herein,
the user may be requested to provide user authentication information or application
server
300 may use other suitable authentication methods. Furthermore, in
some embodiments, the user posting a message on the bulletin board may determine
which other users may manipulate the message. For example, a user may "lock" a
message to prevent others from deleting it.
Other Alternative Embodiments
In an embodiment of the present invention, special messages may be supported.
For example, a special message such as grocery list
208 shown in FIG. 2
may be remotely manipulated. As used herein, grocery list
208 is a "special
message" because it need not include an author (i.e., sender) name and need not
include an addressee. A user may update grocery list
208 in generally the
same manner as described above, except that the user may address the email to,
for example, "grocery@joneshome.com." Application server
300 may format
the contents of the email to display a message as shown in FIG. 2. Note, that because
a grocery list requires no "reply", the menu of options associated with such a
message may be customized as shown in the FIG. 2 to eliminate this option. Alternatively,
the system may include a "reply" option in the menu.
The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the present invention
has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended
to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many
variations and modifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent
to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. The scope
of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents.
Further, in describing representative embodiments of the present invention,
the specification may have presented the method and/or process of the present invention
as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process
does not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the method or
process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As
one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps may
be possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification
should not be construed as limitations on the claims. In addition, the claims directed
to the method and/or process of the present invention should not be limited to
the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art
can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within
the spirit and scope of the present invention.
*
