Patent Application
20070002807
The present invention relates to the transport of audio and video messages. More specifically, this invention relates to methods of transporting data that do not require the use of a real-time data network.
Communication via audio or video messages is a fundamental part of human culture. Examples include a simple telephone call voice mail or placing an order for goods and services. However, despite the emergence of telecommunications infrastructure, such as cellular telephones or the Internet, there are many places or many situations where it is not possible to connect to a communication network to send messages.
In most parts of the world, there are many rural areas where mobile phone networks do not exist or mobile phone service is too expensive. In developing countries, there are hundreds of millions of people who live in rural communities and lack basic communications infrastructure. This represents a need for an electronic data network that can operate in places that lack a real-time communications infrastructure. An important solution to meeting the needs of the rural world is a store-and-forward network, where the messages are recorded electronically and retrieved at a later time by the recipient. A common example of a store-and-forward communication is an electronic e-mail message or a mobile telephone voice mail message. What has been lacking, however, is a method of communication that can integrate modern Internet data transport with conventional telephone networks. More specifically, since most people in the world do not own a private telephone or have access to electronic e-mail, there is also a need for creating a communication system that can be used by people who may lack a private telephone number or e-mail address.
Although Internet or text-based communications are very popular among developed regions and more educated social groups, it is often easier and more convenient to employ audio (voice) communications or video. Furthermore, providing local language interfaces and content for these communities is complicated by the fact that written languages and dialects can vary widely within a given geographic region. In many cases, it is desirable to send and receive a simple voice mail or video mail without requiring reading literacy or computer literacy. It is interesting to note, however, that many illiterate people in developing communities do understand numeric interfaces, such as those provided on a calculator, digital watch, or telephone.
There is a need, therefore, to create a communications technology that can allow messages to be sent and received using a simple interface that most people can understand or can easily learn, such as a telephone device or numeric keypad. In addition, it is important to create an electronic data network and communications service that allows the use of existing telephone devices, which are already in widespread use throughout the world.
The present invention is a system for transporting audio and video messages. This system integrates with existing telephone networks and devices and can be used in areas where real-time data networks do not exist or are not available.
A key aspect of the present invention is the use of physical transport means to transport messages. The audio or video messages can be recorded on client terminals in the form of conventional communication devices, such as a portable computer or telephone. A roving mobile wireless device, mounted on a motorcycle or small airplane, for example, is then used to automatically pick up the message data and deliver it to an electronic network that may be as far as a few hundred kilometers away. Modern wireless standards, such as IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) enable high-bandwidth short-range communications at a very low cost and relatively low-power, which is very important for operation in rural regions.
A second key aspect of the present invention is the use of a voicemail or video-mail server that is connected to a conventional telephone network. This file server has the ability to send and receive telephone messages via common telephone networks, and this file server also has the ability to send and receive the digital messages that are physically transported to and from the remote client terminals. By integrating the telephone network with the local wireless network, the present invention allows users to send and receive telephone messages without needing to be connected to the telephone network. Thus, the file server acts as the proxy for the user and client devices that to not have access to a conventional telephone network.
In contrast to other communication technologies, such as conventional mobile phone networks or long-distance radio networks, the present invention also has the added advantage of having low power consumption and having a low cost of installation and maintenance.
Also shown in
A variety of client devices such as fixed telephone terminals 220 or mobile devices 210 can be employed to send and receive audio and video messages. The messages can then be transferred to the client access point 100 using a direct wired connection 225 or using a wireless connection 215. In the present invention, the use of separate billing accounts and separate electronic mailboxes enables multiple users to share a single terminal 220 or mobile device 210. Conversely, a single user may also operate multiple terminals 220 or mobile devices 210.
As previously described in
A unique aspect of the present invention is hub voicemail server 230, which serves as the link between the local hub access point 120 and devices located anywhere on the local or global telephone network. One purpose of the hub voicemail server 230 is to record and store messages that are placed from any device 280, 290, 260, 270 on the telephone network 240, 250. These messages are then sent as digitized audio or video files to final destinations at client devices 210, 220. A second function of the hub voicemail server is to store audio or video messages that originate from client devices 210, 220 and subsequently play or stream these messages to client devices 280, 290, 260, 270 on the telephone network.
Hub voicemail server 230 contains a telephone modem that enables placing and receiving telephone calls to a conventional Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) network 250. Client devices on the POTS network can be conventional wired telephones 260 or can be wireless mobile telephone devices 270.
As an alternative to conventional telephone networks, audio or video messages can also be transferred via Internet Protocol (IP) and IP network 240 to telephone and terminals 280, 290 that are enabled to send and receive IP data. These “Ethernet” or “IP” telephones can connect to the IP network 240 via a wired Ethernet connection 277 or wirelessly via one of several IP protocols 267, such as Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11). Although not shown in
The local and/or remote voicemail server may also deliver the messages originating from the Client Access Points 100 to conventional wired phones 260 and/or wireless mobile telephone devices 270 on the POTS network 250 through the use of the IP network interface 287. A number of global standards, such as Voice Over IP (VoIP), can be used to electronically encode the voice signal for transport across the digital networks.
The message data is then transferred by wired or wireless connection to a mobile device in step 420. The mobile device then physically carries the data to another location that is proximate to a data network in step 430. The message file is then transferred to an electronic device that is connected to the data network, shown as step 440. At this point 450 the billing and accounting information is sent to a remote and centralized database. The message file is transferred to the voicemail or video-mail server shown as step 460. The file server device then dials and connects to the appropriate telephone device on the telephone network, shown as step 470.
Equivalently, the file server can also connect to a specific telephone device using the IP network and Voice over IP (VoIP) protocol. As the final step 480, shown in
As final step 580, the recipient can play back the received message using a client device. In the simplest embodiment, the client device can be a message playback module contained in the client access point 100. In other embodiments, the client device may be a portable computer or telephone that communicates with the client access point via a wired or wireless connection. In these additional embodiments, the communication between the client device and the client access point can employ internet protocols, such as Voice over IP (VoIP), or employ a standard POTS telephone connection used by conventional corded or cordless telephones.
Although
