Telecommunication and multimedia management method and apparatus

摘要

A telecommunication and multimedia management apparatus and method that supports voice and other media communications and that enables users to: (i) participate in multiple conversation modes, including live phone calls, conference calls, instant voice messaging or tactical communications; (ii) review the messages of conversations in either a live mode or a time-shifted mode and to seamlessly transition back and forth between the two modes; (iii) participate in multiple conversations either concurrently or simultaneously; (iv) archive the messages of conversations for later review or processing; and (v) persistently store media either created or received on the communication devices of users. The latter feature enables users to generate or review media when either disconnected from the network or network conditions are poor and to optimize the delivery of media over the network based on network conditions and the intention of the users participating in conversations.

主权项

1. Computer code, embedded in a tangible computer readable medium and configured to be executed on a computing device, the computer code comprising:
a progressive, store and forward, messaging module configured to progressively store on the computing device and progressively transmit to an intended recipient video media of a video message as the video media is created, the video message including an identifier associated with the recipient, the progressive, store and forward, messaging module using a progressive, store and forward, protocol that: relies on a lookup result of the identifier associated with the recipient for discovering an IP address for a target client device on a network associated with the identified recipient; progressively routes the video message to the target client device over the network using the discovered IP address of the target client device, as the video media is created, the progressive transmission enabling the intended recipient to review the video message substantially live at the target client device; and guarantees the delivery of the video message over the network to the intended recipient by transmitting the video message out of storage when the target client device becomes available on the network if the target device was not available on the network when the video message was created and transmitted.