Instant Message Client Identifier Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The conflation of multiple instant messaging clients on a user device leads to messages being received by unintended clients, causing privacy and confidentiality issues, as they share the same backend and server entities, resulting in messages being delivered to inappropriate forums.
Innovation Solution
A communication system that attributes an identifier to each instant message based on the client it was sent from, allowing the server to direct messages to specific clients on the recipient's device, ensuring messages are only displayed on matching clients and not on others, using a database to manage user profiles and client support information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiple instant messaging clients share the same backend and server entities, then cost is reduced and software engineering is minimized, but messages are delivered to unintended clients causing privacy and confidentiality issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the unified message delivery system by introducing client-specific identifiers (such as client IDs or device identifiers) that divide the message routing process into distinct client-specific pathways. Each client instance receives messages only intended for it through identifier-based filtering at the server level, while still sharing the same backend infrastructure. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining cost efficiency through shared infrastructure while preventing message leakage to unintended clients through identifier-based segmentation.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple distinct types of IM clients use a shared backend, then access to more contacts is enabled, but client conflation occurs where messages are received by wrong client types
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of client identifiers that act as mediators between the shared backend and multiple client instances. The server uses these identifiers to accurately route messages to the specific client instance that should receive them, preventing conflation between different client types (e.g., financial messaging client vs. general messaging client) while still allowing access to all contacts through the unified backend.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a user device runs multiple IM clients simultaneously, then communication versatility increases, but message conflation causes messages to appear in inappropriate client contexts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning unique identifiers to each client instance and using these identifiers to ensure that messages are delivered with the appropriate contextual quality to the correct client. Financial messages go only to the financial messaging client, personal messages to the personal messaging client, etc. This maintains communication versatility across multiple clients while ensuring each message appears in the appropriate contextual environment, improving user experience.
Data Source
AI summary
A communication system for communicating instant messages between a plurality of user accounts, each instant message forming part of a logical conversation stream comprising one or more such messages, the system comprising: a plurality of communication terminals, each communication terminal being configured to service a respective user account by simultaneously supporting multiple instant messaging clients, each client being (i) associated with a respective user interface different from that of the other instant messaging clients supported on the terminal, (ii) capable of transmitting and receiving instant messages to and from user accounts serviced on others of the communication terminals and (iii) configured to attribute to each instant message generated through that client an identifier corresponding to the client; a database storing a user profile for each of the user accounts, each user profile indicating which clients are supported by the communication terminal for the respective user account; and a server entity for supporting communication of the instant messages, the server having access to the database and being configured to direct instant messages received from one of the communication terminals to a specific instant messaging client on another communication terminal servicing an account of an intended recipient, the specific client being selected by the server entity in dependence on the identifier attributed to the message received from the said one of the terminals and the user profile of the account of the intended recipient.