Unified Message Object Indexing for Secondary Content
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in organizing, managing, and searching across various communications formats and protocols, as existing methods do not allow for a single, integrated platform to automatically index and archive 'secondary message content' from multiple communication formats and protocols, making it challenging to access and share data seamlessly.
Innovation Solution
A multi-protocol, multi-format communication system that converts messages into a Universal Message Object (UMO) format, archives, and indexes them in a centralized database, enabling deep searching and accessibility through a single interface, using a Content Discovery Service to identify and process secondary message content like URL links and attachments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If messages are stored in multiple communications formats and protocols, then data accessibility across different formats is improved, but device complexity and data management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a message gateway as an intermediary component that mediates between multiple communication formats/protocols and the core messaging system. The gateway converts incoming messages from various formats (SMS, MMS, email, instant messaging) into a standardized internal format, eliminating the need for the core system to handle multiple formats directly. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining adaptability to diverse formats while simplifying internal data management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the handling of different message formats by assigning specific communication protocols to dedicated message gateways. Each gateway is responsible for a particular format (e.g., email gateway, SMS gateway), which processes and standardizes messages before they enter the core system. This segmentation allows the system to maintain versatility across formats while keeping each component's complexity manageable and specialized.
2Loss of information
If secondary message content is extracted and indexed, then searchability and accessibility of message content is improved, but processing time and system resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary extraction and indexing of secondary message content (attachments, links, embedded data) at the time of message receipt and initial processing. By pre-extracting and indexing this content before it is needed for search operations, the system improves future searchability without adding processing delays during actual search operations. The content is ready for immediate retrieval when users perform searches.
Solution Approach 2:
The message processing system automatically extracts and indexes secondary content without requiring manual user intervention. The system self-services by identifying attachments, links, and embedded content, extracting relevant data, and indexing it for search purposes. This automation eliminates the time cost of manual processing while maintaining comprehensive searchability of message content.
3Ease of operation
If all message data is made accessible through a single interface, then user convenience is improved, but system complexity and integration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal messaging interface that provides access to all message data regardless of the original communication format or protocol. The interface presents a unified view of messages, attachments, links, and other content types through consistent interaction patterns. This multi-functional interface handles diverse content types (email, SMS, MMS, instant messaging) through a single standardized access point, improving user convenience while the backend gateways handle the complexity of format-specific processing.
Data Source
AI summary
In email and messaging systems, it's often difficult—and sometimes nearly impossible—to locate a particular URL link that was sent to you (or that you sent to someone else). This problem can become worse as time passes and it becomes more and more difficult to remember the time and/or context in which you sent or received the particular URL link. This disclosure relates to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable media to permit computing devices to utilize a single, integrated communications platform that may automatically index and archive message data (including “secondary message content,” such as: file attachments; URL links to other files and/or webpages embedded in the original message; and text and/or other media information located on the webpages that are linked out to by the links embedded in the original message, etc.) from messages in a variety of communications formats and received over a variety of communications protocols.