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. A method of providing and operating a progressive, store and forward, messaging system capable of supporting near real-time communication, the method comprising:
providing a communication application, configured to be embedded in a non-transitory computer readable medium on a communication device, the communication application including a progressive, store and forward, messaging module that progressively stores and progressively transmits over a network media of an outgoing message created using the communication device as the media of the outgoing message is created, the outgoing message intended for a recipient using a second communication device; and operating a progressive, store and forward, node on the network, the progressive, store and forward node on the network configured to: (i) progressively receive the voice media of the outgoing message from the communication device; (ii) progressively store the voice media of the outgoing message at the progressive, store and forward, node as the voice media of the outgoing message is progressively received; and (iii) progressively forward the voice media of the outgoing message to the second communication device, as the voice media is progressively received, when the second communication device is connected to and available on the network, so that the voice media of the outgoing message can be selectively reviewed in near real-time on the second communication device, without establishing a synchronous connection over the network between the communication device and the second communication device.