Status Agent and Service for Group Message Delivery Tracking

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing electronic messaging systems lack the immediacy and context of in-person conversations, making it difficult for senders to know if recipients have received or read messages, especially in group communications, leading to delays and inefficiencies.

Innovation Solution

A communication system and method that includes a status agent and status service to transmit and receive notifications about message delivery and read status, providing real-time updates to the sender through a push service, enhancing the apparent immediacy of electronic communication and contextual information.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If electronic messaging systems are used for remote communication, then communication can be transmitted across distances, but the immediacy and context of in-person conversation is lost

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveremote communication capabilityVSAvoidimmediacy of communication
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback mechanisms through delivery status notifications and read receipts that provide real-time information about message delivery and reading status. This feedback loop restores a sense of immediacy by continuously updating senders on the communication state, making remote electronic communication feel more synchronous with in-person interaction.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

2Productivity

If group messaging is used to communicate with multiple participants, then communication efficiency is improved, but it becomes difficult to track which recipients have received or read the message

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication efficiencyVSAvoiddelivery status information
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the tracking of message status by recipient, maintaining individual delivery and read status records for each group member. This segmentation allows the system to scale to large groups while providing granular, per-recipient status information, preventing information loss about individual message reception states.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A status service acts as an intermediary between senders and recipients, centrally managing and providing delivery status information. This intermediary layer handles the complexity of tracking multiple recipients independently, allowing efficient group communication while maintaining complete visibility into message delivery status for all participants.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Ease of operation

If traditional messaging systems are used, then device complexity is kept simple, but real-time status notification and push service infrastructure adds system complexity

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesimplicity of messaging systemVSAvoidstatus notification infrastructure
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The status service is designed as a multi-functional intermediary that handles delivery tracking, read status monitoring, and push notification delivery for various messaging protocols and platforms. This universal service consolidates complex status notification logic into a single infrastructure component, making the added complexity manageable while providing comprehensive functionality across different communication scenarios.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP2475138B1Delivery and management of status notifications for group messaging
Publication Date: 2019.03.13 BLACKBERRY LTD
  • EP2475138B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2B
  • EP2475138B1 patent drawingFigure 2C~3B
  • EP2475138B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

Systems and methods are provided for managing and delivering status notifications relating to multicast messages transmitted from a sending communication device to multiple recipient communication devices. Each communication device is provided with a status agent for detecting transmission of messages to a recipient device and receipt of messages from a sending device. Upon transmission, the status agent notifies a status service of the outbound message. Upon receipt of the multicast message by one of the recipients or upon the message being marked read, the recipient status agent notifies the status service. The status service then notifies the status agent of the sending device that the message has been received or read by that recipient, so that the sending device's status agent can notify a corresponding messaging application. The status service operates to reconcile outbound message notifications and received or read status updates for multicast messages.