Abstract:
The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for enhancing delivery of information and accessibility of a receiver. In particular the invention concerns a method for establishing a communication comprising a step of transmitting a request for establishing a communication by a communication terminal, which request is handled by a server. As a response to inability to establish the requested communications, the server returns a failure response including rerouting details to the communication terminal. The communication terminal receives the failure response including rerouting details, and forwards data according to the received rerouting details.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for enhancing delivery of information and accessibility of a receiver.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     One way of exchanging messages with a friend or a co-worker is to establish an instant messaging (IM) session for real-time online “conversation”. Instant messaging presupposes that parties to be connected are subscribers of the service and both are logged in the system, i.e. online at the same time. Additionally the intended recipient must be willing to engage in instant messaging communications. Instant messaging differs from ordinary e-mail in the immediacy of the message exchange. Usually the instant messaging system also provides an ability to easily see whether a chosen receiver is connected to the Internet at the moment, and whether the receiver is available. Most exchanges are text only, but some services allow also voice messaging and file sharing.  
         [0003]     For initiating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements, such as video, voice, chat, gaming or virtual reality, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is used. SIP works in the application layer of the 7-layered Open Systems Interconnection (OSI), which is a standard description for how messages should be transmitted between any 2 points in a telecommunication network. The mentioned application layer is responsible for ensuring that communication is possible.  
         [0004]     SIP can establish multimedia sessions or Internet telephony calls, and modify, or terminate those. The protocol can also invite participants to unicast or multicast sessions that do not necessarily involve the initiator. SIP is also capable of managing direct communications in the form of peer-to-peer messaging, where the SIP protocol infrastructure is used as a mechanism for transporting and routing the messages. SIP supports name mapping and redirection services, so it makes possible for users to initiate and receive communications and services from any location in the network, and also for networks to identify the users wherever they are.  
         [0005]     SIP is a request-response protocol, dealing with requests from subscribers or clients, and responses from servers. All subscribers of the system are identified by SIP URLs (Uniform Resource Locator). SIP requests can be sent through any transport protocol, such as UDP (User Datagram Protocol), SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol), or TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). SIP takes care of messaging and details related to it: SIP determines the end system to be used for the messages, and the communication media and media parameters. The called party&#39;s desire to engage in communications is requested in session establishment. Once the desire is assured, SIP establishes call parameters at both ends of the communication, and handles call setup, modification and termination.  
         [0006]     One problem arising when using typical messaging arrangements is that the chosen recipient may not be accessible. This occurs if the recipient is not connected to the Internet, or if the recipient is not able or willing to engage in the requested messaging communication. Typically a failure response is returned to the client sending a request. After receiving the failure response, it is up to the client, whether he resends the messaging request after a while, or decides to choose some other way of communication. The decision to use an alternative communications currently assumes that the user has experience of other ways of communication with the other user, the user is able to use other communication means and the user has appropriate machinery for using them.  
         [0007]     Another way to handle the situation of not being able to reach the chosen recipient using interactive messaging, is to use some automatic forwarding of messages. In the recipient&#39;s network there may be intelligent gateways and proxy servers that forward messages to other systems. This kind of forwarding, however, goes beyond the sender&#39;s control, leaving no control over the message delivery to the original sender of the message. This reduces transparency of the overall system, and may make functioning of a system unpredictable to a user, who is supposed to be responsible for messages that originate from his terminal.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An objective of the present invention is to make it possible to transmit and forward messages easily, transparently and user-friendly. A further objective of the present invention is to keep message delivery transparent to user. A yet further objective of the present invention is to enhance a delivery of information. A yet further objective of the present invention is to improve the accessibility of a receiver.  
         [0009]     The objectives are attained so that when a requested communication for messaging cannot be established, a server handling the communication requests informs a sender of a request about rerouting possibilities for the message enabling a message to be directed to a different messaging system.  
         [0010]     The invention concerns a communicating system comprising a communication terminal for transmitting a request for establishing a communication, a server for handling the request, said server being adapted to respond to a communication establishment failure situation by returning a failure response including rerouting details, wherein the communication terminal is adapted to receive such a failure response including rerouting details and to forward data according to received rerouting details. The invention further concerns a method for establishing a communication, comprising steps of transmitting a request for establishing a communication by a communication terminal, handling the request by a server, returning a failure response including rerouting details as a response to inability to establish the requested communication by a server, receiving the failure response including rerouting details by the communication terminal, and forwarding data according to the received rerouting details.  
         [0011]     Further the invention concerns a communication terminal for transmitting messages, comprising means for transmitting a request for establishing a communication, means for receiving a failure response having rerouting details including an alternative contact information as a response to inability to establish the requested communication, means for displaying the alternative contact information and means for confirming the forwarding of data according to the received rerouting details, and means for forwarding data according to the received rerouting details as a response to the confirmation. Yet further the invention concerns a server for handling request-response based communication, comprising means for fetching rerouting details including an alternative contact information of the requested recipient from a data storage storing alternative contact information of users, means for adding the rerouting details to the failure response, and as a response to inability to establish the requested communication, means for returning to the sender of the request the failure response including rerouting details. Additionally the invention concerns computer program products, comprising computer executable code means for performing the previously described steps, when executed on a computer.  
         [0012]     The previously described background of the invention illustrates SIP protocol, which is a request-response protocol, dealing with requests from subscribers or clients, and responses from servers. However SIP is only one exemplary type of communication and the present invention may be implemented with any type of communication based on transmitting requests and responses.  
         [0013]     According to an embodiment of the present invention the failure response includes a detailed URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and the communication terminal has means for receiving the failure response including the detailed URL to another messaging system, and for forwarding data to the detailed URL.  
         [0014]     According to another embodiment of the present invention the failure response includes a phone number of a requested receiver and the communication terminal has means for receiving the failure response including the phone number of a requested receiver, and for forwarding data to the received phone number through short message service centre by a short message service or a multimedia messaging service.  
         [0015]     According to another embodiment of the present invention the failure response includes an electronic mail address and the communication terminal has means for receiving the failure response including an electronic mail address, and for forwarding data to the electronic mail address.  
         [0016]     The present invention and its advantageous embodiments illustrate a user-friendly way to use different kinds of messaging services. According to one embodiment of the present invention the alternative messaging services are not initially compatible. The use of different messaging services makes it easier for a sender to reach or access a chosen receiver without demanding specific actions from the receiver. According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the compatibility of different messaging systems is established so that the user has control over the execution of interoperability functions or linking of different messaging systems. Still the user interaction is advantageously kept at a minimum, and the user may for example just accept the forwarding of data to a different messaging service. At least the sender has the knowledge of used routes, reroutes, links and gateways. This way functioning and interoperability of different systems is observable and transparent to users, but the forwarding of data can be implemented automatically. The server needs to attach some new contact information concerning some other messaging system to the failure response sent back to a sender of a SIP request. The communication terminal of the sender is then able to use this new contact information and redirect data according to the new contact information to other messaging system. The user need not have experience or knowledge of data transmitting details for other messaging systems. Still the user is aware of the functioning and able to control the transmitting and delivery. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0017]     In the following the invention is described more closely, referring to the advantageous embodiments of the present invention presented by way of example and to the accompanying drawings in which  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  illustrates an arrangement according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention,  
         [0019]      FIG. 2  illustrates transmitting of messages according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention,  
         [0020]      FIG. 3  illustrates an arrangement according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention,  
         [0021]      FIG. 4  illustrates a communication terminal according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, and  
         [0022]      FIG. 5  illustrates a server according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0023]      FIG. 1  illustrates an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. A user sends by a user terminal  101  a SIP request  102  to a proxy-server  103 . The user terminal  101  is also referred as a communication terminal. By the request  102  the user terminal  101  requests establishing a messaging session to a chosen receiver, here user  107 . The requested session can be an instant messaging session or a peer-to-peer connection. The proxy-server  103  handles the requests. The proxy-server  103  is not able to establish the requested SIP connection, if for example a chosen recipient is not logged in the system or willing to engage in the communication at the moment. The request  102  for establishing a communication is instant, and if the communication cannot be established at the moment, the proxy-server  103  sends back as a response a failure message  104  illustrating inability to establish the requested communication.  
         [0024]     According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the proxy-server  103  attaches to this message  104  some contact information concerning an alternative way to reach the chosen receiver  107 . The receiver may be reached through some other communication terminal than the one for which the original request for establishing a communication session was meant. Typically the receiver is reached through the same communication terminal for which the original request for establishing a communication session was transmitted. The alternative service can be for example a short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), link to an email address or anything alike.  
         [0025]     The failure response  104  including contact information according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention is transmitted to the user terminal  101  originally requesting the establishing of an instant message connection. The user  101  is informed of the possibility to reach the chosen recipient  107  through some other service instead of failed instant messaging. According to one advantageous embodiment of the present invention the user  101  accepts the next used service by confirming the action, for example by pressing an OK-button. Typically the user  101  is at least informed and able to control the rerouting of data. The user  101  may for example choose a used way from multiple suggestions, terminate the rerouting, try another service than suggested by his terminal according to received contact information, or decide to resend the original SIP request after a period of time. According to an embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the user terminal  101  receives from the proxy-server  103  a failure response  104  including a phone number for the mobile terminal of the chosen recipient  107 . The sender  101  may contact the chosen recipient  107  by transmitting data through short message service centre, SMSC  105 , which transmits a message  106  further to the chosen user  107 . The user  107  terminal may be the one originally reached or it may be some other terminal of the reached user.  
         [0026]     At present many different messaging systems are available and also the messaging systems are commonly used. Such messaging can relate to more than just fun and pleasure, such as to different business-related situations. Additionally messages are used for many informative purposes. Present messaging systems, such as e-mail, are verifiably indicated to be a useful and easy way of communication.  
         [0027]     One simple and in Europe widely used messaging system is the SMS (short message service), which is implemented in global system for mobile (GSM) communications network. SMS-messages are typically plain text. They are transmitted through the network to a short message service centre (SMSC), which searches for a receiving terminal and transmits an SMS-message further to the receiving terminal. An SMS centre may transmit SMS-messages for example to a GSM device, to a computer, to a fax or to any device having ability to receive SMS-messages. If the receiver cannot be reached at the moment, the SMS centre holds up the SMS-message and tries to send it again later. An SMS-message may be stored for some predetermined time and a new sending may be triggered periodically or predetermined number of times. A receiver device cannot be reached if it is not connected to the network at the moment, or if it is in a shadow area not covered by the network.  
         [0028]     A more advanced message type is a multimedia message, so called MMS-message, which may include besides the plain text also sound, video, pictures, movement of elements, and so on. The advanced MMS-messages are transmitted like the SMS-messages, i.e. through SMS centre. The recipients of these messages are identified by phone numbers, which in this application illustrates contact information of an alternative service attached by a server to a failure message.  
         [0029]      FIG. 2  illustrates transmitting of messages according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. The sender transmits a request for establishing a communication session  201  to a local proxy server handling these requests. If the local proxy server is unable to establish the requested communication, it gives a response by transmitting a message  202  including contact information of the chosen recipient through alternative messaging service. The local proxy server has the knowledge of subscribers and users logged in at the moment in order to be able to establish the requested communication. According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the local proxy server also has knowledge of contact information for contacting the recipients through alternative services. The alternative contact information is advantageously stored in a database or in other data recording form, which is easy, and fast to handle and operate with. The proxy server, or more commonly a server, and the functioning of it may be configured by the administrator of a server or a network, by the employer managing the server, or by the user. The one with authorization may change user profiles by changing the primary and secondary messaging services used in failure situations of communications. There might be many different ways to try to contact the recipient and advantageously the order for trying different contact ways is defined. According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention it is also possible to attach multiple contact information to a failure response transmitted by a server.  
         [0030]     According to the prior art systems the proxy server may have routing information and intelligence to forward the request for example to another proxy server. This is usually confusing to users, especially to a sender, who may have no control over the redirecting or forwarding of messages originating from his terminal. According to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the suggestion for another possibly usable communication service is transmitted back to the user as illustrated by an arrow  202 . The user may accept just by confirming the use of the suggested alternative service. It is also possible to make the forwarding to the alternative service automatic, but at least the user has the knowledge of used routes and control over the operation. In the embodiment of  FIG. 2 , the local proxy sends back to the sender  202  a URL of a remote proxy server and the wanted data is then transmitted from sender to the remote proxy server. This transmission is illustrated by an arrow  203  in  FIG. 2  and the transmission route may go through fixed cable, through air, through a gateway or through any other route for transmitting data. By the used route the receiver may be reached and the data to be delivered is transmitted  204  to the receiver through the mentioned remote proxy server.  
         [0031]      FIG. 3  is an exemplary system according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. The user terminal  301  transmits a request  302  for establishing a SIP communication to a proxy  303  handling these requests. This request message  302  includes a phone number of a recipient and identification that the message is a SIP request. The server  303  transmits this message  302  by sending a query  304  to a unit  305  called ENUM. The ENUM unit  305  converts phone numbers into a SIP addresses typically by using a database. If the chosen recipient is not logged in to the system, the conversion cannot be made, and the ENUM unit  305  returns NULL  306  to the server  303 . This is an indication to the server  303  that the conversion was prohibited, so it is not possible to establish the requested communication at the moment. The server  303  has a data structure, wherein there is stored contact information for alternative services for possible recipients. The recipients are known, because typically all chosen recipients are subscribers of the interactive messaging service, which is primarily tried to be used.  
         [0032]     The server  303  attaches the alternative contact information or several alternative suggestions to the message  307  it transmits back to the user  301 . The rerouting details, which include the alternative contact information, may be in the following form: contact&lt;sms:phone number&gt; or contact&lt;mms:phone number&gt; or contact&lt;http:url address&gt; or contact&lt;mailto:email address&gt;. The rerouting details are typically sent by so-called “380 Alternative Service”-type of SIP (version 2.0) message, or some other 300-series (such as 300, 3XX) SIP message. It is possible to add some contact information to these types of SIP messages. Also according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the user terminal  301  is able to receive and recognize these SIP messages, and further identify the new route and the contact information. Typically handling of the received messages is automatic in the user terminal  301 . The steps of rerouting of a message can be implemented without user interaction. Typically confirmation is expected from the user.  
         [0033]     According to the received new contact information, the user  301  is able with minimum or no interaction to reroute a message user  301  wants to deliver to a recipient. The contact information is an identifying address to some other messaging system. The contact information can be a mobile phone number or a URL of a chosen recipient. The message is then delivered according to the contact information for example to the SMS centre to a local area network (LAN), to a proxy-server or to a wap (wireless application protocol) server. Messages may be sent through cable, GSM network, data network or through some over the air (OTA) application. Messages may be transmitted between mobile phones, GSM-phones, faxes, computers, mobile devices and so on. The server  308  can be a proxy server of a local area network or a routing component through which the message is delivered to the recipient  310 . The user terminal of the recipient  310  can be a mobile phone or a computer, an electronic mail service, the web site or some other device able to receive digital data.  
         [0034]     A communication terminal, typically also called a user terminal, according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . A communication terminal has means for receiving and transmitting data. Data can be sent through different routes. According to one embodiment, data is delivered over the air. For over the air delivering, a communication terminal includes a transceiver branch having a microphone  401 , an amplifier  402 , a converter  403  for converting analog signals to digital form and a transmitter unit  404 . An antenna  406  and duplexer  405  are common to transceiver and receiver branches. A receiver branch has a receiver unit  407 , a converter  408  for converting digital signals to analog form, an amplifier  409  and a loudspeaker  410 . As another exemplary receiving and transmitting means a communication terminal might include a fixed cable connection  415 , which typically connects a communication terminal to a server or to another terminal. A cable connection can be a permanent or a releasable connection. Yet another exemplary way to deliver data is to use a short-range wireless connection  414 . Typically a communication terminal includes a panel as an access channel for short-range wireless connection  414 , which is usually implemented by infrared- or bluetooth technique.  
         [0035]     A communication terminal according to an embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 4  further includes a display  412  for presenting data, a keyboard  413  for inputting data and a control unit  411 , which controls and manages all the functions and actions in the communication terminal. An application unit  416  is responsible for handling the failure message including rerouting details according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. Typically the control unit  411  identifies a received failure message and transmits it to an application unit  416 , which identifies rerouting details from the failure message. With the aid of control unit  411  and application unit  416  data is forwarded according to the received rerouting details.  
         [0036]     In  FIG. 5  there is illustrated a server according to an advantageous embodiment of the present invention. A server includes a receiving unit  501 , for receiving messages and checking if the received message is addressed to this specific server. If the receiving unit  501  discovers that the received message is not meant for this server, the receiving unit  501  forwards the message further, for example, to the next server in the network. If it is detected in the receiving unit  501  that the message is intended to this server, the receiving unit  501  transmits certain received requests to certain units handling the requests in the server. A request handling unit  502  handles certain requests, for example SIP requests. A request handling unit  502  identifies a received SIP request, locates a requested recipient to be contacted through received SIP request and checks whether the requested recipient is on line. Typically there is some data storing unit like a database  503 , from where a request handling unit  502  checks the users, so called subscribers, to be valid. Additionally a request handling unit  502  transmits a description of a requested session included in the SIP request to the recipient&#39;s proxy and waits for a response from the recipient. The response can then be an acceptation or a rejection of the requested communication.  
         [0037]     The requested communication cannot be established, for example if a recipient is not a valid user, not on line at the moment, or not willing to engage in communication session. In these situations a respective failure message is advantageously transmitted to a failure message handling unit  504 . A failure message handling unit  504  checks for alternative contact information for the requested recipient for example from a database  505 . The database  505 , or data storing unit used may include many different contact routes for a certain recipient. According to one embodiment of the present invention there is defined the primary route used, so the contact information is to be transmitted primarily. According to another embodiment several contact information are attached to a failure message in a predefined order. This has an advantage, that the original sender of the communication establishing request may choose some other than primary contact information to be used, or at least the original sender is informed of multiple possible routes to reach the requested recipient.  
         [0038]     A server can be a program code, situated in same or other device than a sender of a request. Sometimes the devices running server codes are called servers. Here a program code including different functional parts, units is referred as a server.  FIG. 5  illustrates only few functional units of a server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Depending on where a server is situated in relation to the sender of the request and a requested recipient, the server is accessed through typical ways, such as gateways, cable connections, over the air applications and so on.  
         [0039]     In the previous description, various embodiments of the present invention are illustrated with the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are illustrative for various implementations of the invention. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and structural and functional modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.