HK1024587B - Method and apparatus for global message monitoring - Google Patents

Description

Method and apparatus for global message monitoring

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to paging systems, and more particularly to monitoring for pages in a paging system.

Background

In paging systems, subscribers receive paging messages or pages sent by the users of the paging system. Typically, pages only reach users to whom they are intended, as well as users who can only obtain pages sent to them.

A unique use of paging systems occurs when a third party subscriber, or message monitoring user, wishes to obtain a page to someone else. One example of a message monitoring user who wishes to receive a page from another person is a law enforcement agency.

In prior art systems, when a law enforcement agency wishes to be a message monitoring user, they are provided with duplicate pagers so that when a page is sent to a user that the law enforcement agency wishes to monitor, the law enforcement agency also receives the page. This approach requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a large number of working pagers, each corresponding to one user being monitored. This also requires that the law enforcement agency be within the reception area of the target user so that the duplicate pager he uses for monitoring will be able to receive the monitored page.

In addition to law enforcement agencies, different individual users may also have a need to monitor messages sent to other users. Two specific examples of possible personal message monitoring users are employers and parents, to whom the current paging industry does not provide this service.

Many employers offer their employees all of the pager that the employer owns for commercial use. The employer may need to monitor the use of these pagers to ensure that the business is properly managed or that all of the company's pagers have not been misused. Parents or legal guardians are another example of potential message monitoring usage groups that are not offered by the current paging industry. Parents may wish to be able to monitor activity and paging of their children, but parents are not currently able to obtain message monitoring services.

Applying the current law enforcement agency solutions to private users, such as parents, is not entirely feasible because parents cannot have a duplicate pager for every child. Even if a parent carries a duplicate pager to monitor multiple children, in existing prior art systems, the parent must stay within the child's reception range to receive pages. Furthermore, a parent may not be able to monitor all children simultaneously if all children monitored by the parent are not within the same reception range.

Paging systems currently known in the art lack a mechanism to allow a single user to conveniently monitor pages scheduled to be sent to multiple other users. As a result, when a message monitoring user is interested in monitoring multiple other users, the message monitoring user carries multiple copies of the pager and is limited in reception range to the monitored user.

Disclosure of Invention

What is needed is a method and apparatus that allows a message monitoring user to conveniently receive paging messages sent to a plurality of other users, and a method and apparatus that provides a message monitoring user with the convenience of specifying which user to monitor. There is also a need for a method and apparatus that allows a message monitoring user to receive paging messages sent to other users even when the message monitoring user is outside the page transmission range of the monitored party.

The present invention provides a method of operating a pager, the method comprising the steps of: storing in the message source and delivery device a list of unique target user IDs for a plurality of target users, the target user IDs being associated with target user information for each respective target user and with at least one unique identification for at least one message monitoring user; associating a message monitoring pager with each of said unique identifications of said message monitoring users; receiving user messages at the message source and transmitting device; determining whether the user message is for a particular target user of a plurality of target users, wherein unique target user IDs of the plurality of target users are in the list; and if the user message is for the particular target user: the message monitoring pager receiving the target subscriber information for the particular target subscriber from the message source and transmitting device; receiving, by the message monitoring pager, a monitoring page associated with the target subscriber from the message source and delivery device; and the message monitoring pager alerts the at least one message monitoring user.

The present invention also provides a pager comprising: a data structure stored therein, wherein the data structure is configured to further store: a list of at least one target user; and monitoring for messages of each of the at least one target user included in said list status messages; and a receiver for receiving said list including at least one target user and said message monitoring status message.

Drawings

The invention is particularly pointed out in the appended claims. However, other features of the present invention will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

fig. 1 shows a paging system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a data structure stored in a message source and delivery device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 shows a monitored paging message sent to a message monitoring user in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a data structure stored in a message monitoring pager in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart depicting steps in a service provider configuration session in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of updating a list of target users in a pager in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of sending a monitored paging message to a message monitoring user in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method of receiving a monitored paging message in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

User' s

As used herein, "subscriber" refers to any user of a paging system that is capable of receiving pages.

Message Monitoring User (MMU)

As used herein, "message monitoring user" or "MMU" refers to a user having message monitoring privileges. That is, a message monitors that a user is able to receive a copy of pages intended for other users.

Message monitoring pager

As used herein, "message monitoring pager" refers to a pager carried by a message monitoring user. A message monitoring pager may be a conventional pager or may be a pager with improved performance.

Target user

As used herein, "target user" refers to a user that is the target that is monitored by the MMU.

Message sender

As used herein, "message sender" refers to the message source of a paging message. A message sender may or may not be a subscriber.

Monitored paging message

As used herein, a "monitored paging message" is a page sent to a message monitoring user that is a duplicate of a page originally sent to a target user.

Pager

As used herein, a "pager" is any device that receives digital or alphanumeric messages over a variety of transmission systems, including the wireless spectrum or wireline system. The pager can also alert the pager user to the receipt of messages and display these messages to the user.

Turning now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the different views, reference is first made directly to FIG. 1.

Fig. 1 shows a paging system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The paging system 10 includes a message source and delivery device (MOOD)20, a message sender 30, and paging system users 40, 50, and 60. Message sender 30 communicates with MOOD20 via communication link 35. Communication link 35 is any communication link that supports the dumping of a paging message by message sender 30 to MODD 20. Examples of a communication link include, but are not limited to, a terrestrial telephone network, a cellular telephone network, or a satellite telephone network. In addition to telephony, MODD20 supports paging messages offloaded by data devices.

In a preferred embodiment, the MODD20 network represented in fig. 1 is one of a plurality of separate MODDs, connected together to allow wide range or global page delivery. The paging message unloaded by the MOOD20 is distributed to the paging system users. When the message sender 30 unloads a message, it identifies a target user as the intended recipient of the paging message. As shown in fig. 1, the intended recipient of a paging message may be any of target users 40, 50 or 60, and mod 20 transmits the paging message to target users 40, 50 and 60 via communication links 45, 55 and 65, respectively. The communication links 45, 55 and 65 are preferably Radio Frequency (RF) links, but other links, such as optical links, may also be used.

Each paging system user in the paging system 10 has a unique target user ID. When MODD20 receives a paging message with a target user ID intended for a particular user, the paging message is sent to that user. In addition, MODD20 supports global message monitoring, which allows paging messages intended for certain target users to be copied and sent to a third party user. The third party user who receives the copy of the page originally intended for other target users is a message monitoring user. A message monitoring user receives a duplicate page message that is the page message being monitored. Because MODD20 is preferably a global device network, the message monitoring user does not necessarily have to be within the same reception area as the target user.

For convenience, only one message sender 30 is shown in fig. 1. The paging system 10 may support any number of message senders 30. Further, fig. 1 shows three target users, but the paging system 10 can support any number of target users.

As shown in fig. 1, subscriber 40 is a message monitoring user. When a service provider specifies a MODD20 so that a subscriber can monitor messages that should be received by multiple target subscribers, the subscriber becomes a message monitoring subscriber. These target users to be monitored may be a list of users provided by law enforcement agencies. Or these target users to be monitored may correspond to multiple pagers, such as where a parent wishes to monitor multiple children's pagers. Of course, a parent is just one example of a very large number of possible private message monitoring users. Thus, although the term "parent" is used herein, any term describing a legitimate private message monitoring user is applicable in the practice of the present invention.

In one example of a message monitoring operation, when message sender 30 forwards a message to target subscriber 50 or target subscriber 60, the page message is sent to its intended target subscriber and copied as a monitored page message to message monitoring user 40. The method and apparatus of the present invention allows a message monitoring user to use a single pager to receive monitored paging messages intended for multiple target users.

As will be described below, MODD20 will maintain a list of multiple target subscriber IDs, each corresponding to a particular message monitoring user. When a target subscriber receives a page and the target subscriber is monitored by a message monitoring user specified in the list in MODD20, a message monitoring user will receive a copy of the page message, i.e., a monitored page message. Because MODD20 sends monitored paging messages to a single message monitoring user from among potentially multiple target users, it is desirable for the message monitoring user to have the ability to select which target user ID is the most attentive of the message monitoring user. It will be described that in a preferred embodiment, a message monitoring pager held by the message monitoring user 40 allows the user to specify which target subscriber is to be monitored.

It should also be noted that all pagers used in a paging system may be identical and capable of supporting message monitoring capabilities, even if not all subscribers have the ability to access global message monitoring. This is because the service provider provides global message monitoring to a user in the MODD, thus allowing a user to receive the service.

A further improved feature of message monitoring pagers is the ability to receive messages under multiple pager identifications. Commonly used pagers have a unique pager identification. A conventional pager has a unique identifier associated with its paging device which is used to instruct the pager to receive a valid message. The service provider may also provide a message monitoring pager to receive all messages having the target user's pager identification. In this manner, the MODD does not need to assign MMU pager identifications for all duplicate pages.

The method and apparatus of the present invention provide a number of advantages. For law enforcement agencies, parents and other MMUs, the advantage is that pages intended for multiple target users can be monitored using a single MMU pager. The way in which the MMU monitors is unobtrusive and imperceptible to the target user. Also, when using an MMU pager, the MMU can enable/disable message monitoring separately for each target user through interaction with the pager. Furthermore, the MMU may be located anywhere in a global system and need not be confined to the paging delivery area of the target user.

The method and apparatus of the present invention provide benefits to both service providers and message monitoring users. A basic set of paging services is typically provided for users. The message monitoring user can also be provided with additional capabilities to monitor pages that are expected to be sent to at least one other target user. The result is a situation that is beneficial to both the service provider and the message monitoring user. The service provider has a new service so that new fees can be charged, and the user has a new desirable feature.

Fig. 2 shows the data structure stored in MODD20, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The data structure 100 includes a Message Monitor User (MMU) ID 110, and a target user ID 120. The data structure includes an MMU ID 110 for each message monitoring user registered in MODD20 (FIG. 1). For each MMU ID 110 included in the data structure 100, multiple target user IDs 120 can be maintained. Each target user ID 120 corresponds to a target user monitored by the corresponding message monitoring user specified by the MMU ID 110. Because data structure 100 is stored in MODD20 (fig. 1), MODD is able to associate multiple target users with a single message monitoring user.

When a page message is dumped by the originating and transmitting device, the data structure 100 is searched for a target user for whom the page message is intended to be transmitted. If a target user ID 120 is found for the target user, then a monitored paging message is sent to the message monitoring user specified by MMU ID 110, where MMU ID 110 corresponds to target user ID 120. In a preferred embodiment, the location of each MMU is determined prior to copying the page transmission. If the MMU is not within range of the target user MODD, then the MODD sends the page to the MODD serving the area in which the MMU is located. The MMU MODD then passes the copied page to the MMU. In this way, the MMU does not need to be limited to the transmission range of the target user MODD to receive the duplicate page.

In a preferred embodiment, MODD20 (fig. 1) always sends the monitored paging message to the message monitoring user when the target user is found to be within target user ID 120. As described below, in an alternative embodiment, additional fields are included in data structure 100 in MODD20 that support the conditional transmission of monitored paging messages to message monitoring users.

Fig. 3 shows a monitored paging message sent to a message monitoring user in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Monitored paging message 300 includes target user ID 310, message ID 320, and initial target user message 330. Monitored paging message 300 is generated by MODD20 (fig. 1) when data structure 100 (fig. 2) specifies that a message monitoring user is to receive a monitored paging message. The target user ID 310 includes the ID of the target user to which the paging message is initially to be transmitted. Message ID 320 includes a unique identification of the paging message being sent. Message 330 includes all or a portion of the initial paging message forwarded by a message sender to MODD20 (fig. 10). Monitored paging message 300 is sent by MODD20 (fig. 1) to a message monitoring user where it is received by a conventional pager or a message monitoring pager.

Fig. 4 shows a data structure stored in a message monitoring pager in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data structure 400 includes a target user ID 420 and an enable flag 410. The target user ID 420 and the enable flag 410 are present in pairs in the data structure 400. The number of pairs corresponds to the number of target users that the particular message monitoring pager monitors. By saving the data structure 400, a message monitoring pager can selectively alert a message monitoring user that a monitored paging message was received. If a monitored paging message is received that is a duplicate of a paging message originally intended for a particular target subscriber and if an enable flag 410 appears in the data structure 400 corresponding to the correct target subscriber ID 420, then the message alerts the monitoring user. In this manner, a message monitoring pager has a potentially very large number of target users who it is capable of monitoring, but at any particular time is capable of effectively monitoring only a selected subset of the target users.

The enable flag 410 is an example of message monitoring status information. The message monitoring status information specifies status information about a target subscriber indicating that the target subscriber is considered relevant by a message monitoring user. The message monitoring status information preferably also includes statistics for the target subscriber such as how many monitoring pages have been received and how many flag messages for monitoring pages that have not been noticed by the message monitoring user have been received by the pager.

As described below, data structure 400 can be generated in a message monitoring pager in a variety of ways. For a message monitoring user, one method is to interact with the pager and enter the target subscriber ID and enable flags. A preferred embodiment of building the data structure 400 is more automated. For a target subscriber not represented in data structure 400, when a message monitoring pager receives a monitored paging message, the message monitoring pager automatically generates a record in data structure 400, inserts the target subscriber ID, and introduces an enable flag. The message monitoring user is automatically alerted and a duplicate page is displayed on the message monitoring user's pager. The message monitoring user can later modify this automatically generated record to enable or disable effective monitoring of this target user.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a service provider configuration session in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Method 500 describes the steps of generating data structure 100 (fig. 2) in MODD20 (fig. 1). The method 500 is a privileged operation and is typically performed by an administrator of the paging system 10 (fig. 1). Neither the individual user nor the target user typically has the ability to change the data structure 100 (FIG. 2), and therefore the steps in method 500 are typically not performed.

In step 510, the MODD receives a message from the administrator to monitor the user ID. This MMU ID corresponds to MMU ID 110 shown in FIG. 2. After the administrator has entered an MMU ID, the MODD receives a target user ID from the administrator at step 520. This target user ID corresponds to the target user ID 120 shown in the data structure 100 of fig. 2. The MODD then asks the administrator whether there are more target users 20 to associate with the MMU ID that has been entered in step 530. If so, processing branches back to step 520, where more target user IDs can be entered. When this branch is taken and multiple target user IDs are entered, the data structure 100 shown in FIG. 2 associates multiple target user IDs 120 with a single MMU ID 110.

After step 530, when the MMU has no more target users, processing branches to step 540. The decision block in step 540 would effect a larger loop in method 500 that would allow multiple MMU IDs to be entered. If, at step 540, it is determined that more message monitoring users are to be entered, then processing branches back to step 510, where the MODD receives another message monitoring user ID and processing continues until all message monitoring users have been entered. Method 500 is repeated whenever a new message monitoring user is to be included in paging system 10 (fig. 1) or whenever a new target subscriber ID is to be entered into a particular MMU.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for updating a list of target subscribers in a pager in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Method 600 shown in fig. 6 represents a method by which a message monitoring user can interact with a message monitoring pager to modify data structure 400 (fig. 4). Method 600 assumes that data structure 400 (fig. 4) is already present in a message monitoring pager.

In step 610, the pager presents a list of target subscribers to the message monitoring user. This list of target users corresponds to target user ID 420 (FIG. 4). At step 620, the first target user in the list is designated as the current target user. At step 630, the message monitoring pager allows the message monitoring user to determine whether an alert should be generated for a monitored paging message destined for the current target subscriber. If an alert is to be generated for the current target user, then processing continues to step 640, where an enable flag is generated for the current target user. Conversely, if the message monitoring user does not want to be alerted when the monitored paging message corresponding to the current target subscriber is received, then processing continues to step 645 where the enable flag for the current target subscriber is cancelled.

Once processing has been completed, either at step 640 or at step 645, processing continues to step 650. Step 650 determines if the current target user is the last target user in the list. If not, processing continues to step 660, where the current target user is changed to the next target user in the list, and processing returns to decision block 630. If the current target user is the last in the list at step 650, the process ends. The loop in method 600, including step 660, allows the message monitoring user to update the enable flag 410 for each target user referenced in the data structure 400. In an alternative embodiment, the update process may be exited directly without scrolling through the entire list of target users. In addition, a target user enable flag can be individually accessed and changed.

The interaction between an MMU and a pager as exemplified in method 600 is beneficial. It is a highly desirable feature to make the MMU easier to use and to enable and disable locally for individual MMUs and law enforcement agencies for each target user individually.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of sending a monitored paging message to a message monitoring user in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, method 700 is performed by a MODD. In step 710, the MODD receives a message from a message sender intended for a target user. Then, in step 720, the MODD sends the paging message to the target user specified in step 710.

Processing continues to step 730 where the MODD determines if there are any message monitoring users corresponding to the target user. The MODD performs step 730 by searching data structure 100 (fig. 2) for a target user ID corresponding to the target user specified in step 710. If the target subscriber is found in a target subscriber ID 120 (FIG. 2), then the corresponding MMU ID 110 (FIG. 2) designates a message monitoring user that receives a monitored paging message.

If, as a result of step 730, the MODD determines that there are no message monitoring users for the target user, then the process ends. If, in contrast, the MODD determines that there is a message monitoring user for the target subscriber in step 730, then processing continues to step 740 where a monitored paging message is sent to any message monitoring user listed with the target subscriber. When the MMU is not in the same reception area as the target user, then as part of step 740, the MMU's location is determined and pages monitored by the message are scheduled to be sent to another MODD within the reception range in which the MMU is located. This second mod then passes the page to the MMU.

It should be noted that a single target user may be listed multiple times in data structure 100 (fig. 2). In this case, it is possible that a plurality of message monitoring users all receive one monitored paging message corresponding to a single paging message that is dumped by one message transmitter for a single target user.

Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a method of receiving a monitored paging message in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In a preferred embodiment, method 800 is performed by a pager. In step 810, a message monitoring pager receives a page. At step 820, the message monitoring pager determines whether the page is a page that was originally intended to be sent to the message monitoring user or whether the page was a page that was originally intended to be sent to a target subscriber to be monitored. If, in step 820, the message monitoring pager determines that the page is not a monitored page message, processing continues to step 860 where a warning message monitors that the user received the page.

If, at step 820, the message monitoring pager determines that the page is a monitored page, processing continues to step 830 where the message monitoring pager searches data structure 400 (fig. 4) for a target user ID. In a preferred embodiment, the format of the received monitored paging message is as shown in FIG. 3 as monitored paging message 300. In step 830, the message monitoring pager compares the target user ID 310 (FIG. 3) received in the monitored paging message with the target user ID 420 (FIG. 4) included in the pager. If a match is found, processing continues to step 850. Where the state of the enable flag is detected. If the enable flag is present, then the message is alerted at step 860 to monitor that the user has received the message, otherwise the user is not alerted. If in step 830 the target user ID is not found in the pager, processing continues to step 840 where the target user listed in the monitored paging message is added to the data structure 400 (FIG. 4) and the corresponding enable flag is raised. Processing then continues to step 860 where the warning message monitors that the user has received a page.

Examples of beneficial applications of global message monitoring can be found from parents and their children. A parent buys a large number of pagers, at least one of which is a message monitoring pager, and subscribes with the service provider of paging system 10 (fig. 1) to set the remaining pagers to the target users to be monitored by the message monitoring pager. The parent then hands the non-message monitoring pager to the child, and the child's page will be copied as a monitored paging message and sent to the parent. The parent then decides which child to monitor by interacting with the message monitoring pager using the method shown in fig. 6.

Alternative embodiment MODD in an alternative embodiment, not all target subscribers listed in data structure 100 (figure), send monitored paging messages to message monitoring users. In this alternative embodiment, data structure 100 also includes an enable flag, similar to enable flag 410 in data structure 400 of FIG. 4. For a target user listed in the data structure 100, when the MODD receives a paging message, the enable flag corresponding to that target user is detected using a method similar to the method 800 (fig. 8) in the preferred embodiment described above. In this manner, the determination of whether to alert a message monitoring user is performed in the MODD, rather than in a pager held by the message monitoring user. This allows a conventional pager to be used as a message monitoring pager. The message monitoring user may use a normal pager because the monitored paging message can be received without special processing in the pager. If in this alternative embodiment a message monitoring user wishes to change the value of the enable flag included in the data structure 100, the message monitoring user initiates a user service session to the mod. This user service session is similar to the method 600 shown in fig. 6. In addition, the message monitoring user can see a plurality of duplicate messages to be monitored in one service session.

In summary, the method and apparatus of the present invention provides an advantageous global message monitoring feature of a paging system. Only a single MMU pager or paging receiver is required to be able to monitor multiple target users. Is imperceptible to the target user being monitored. MMU pager paging allows the MMU to enable or disable message monitoring on a per target user basis, respectively. The MMU is also not restricted to be in the same paging delivery area as the monitored target user.

While we have shown and described specific embodiments of the present invention, further modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art. It is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but that the invention will include all modifications which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims (7)

1. A method of operating a pager, said method comprising the steps of:

storing in the message source and delivery device a list of unique target user IDs for a plurality of target users, the target user IDs being associated with target user information for each respective target user and with at least one unique identification for at least one message monitoring user;

associating a message monitoring pager with each of said unique identifications of said message monitoring users;

receiving user messages at the message source and transmitting device;

determining whether the user message is for a particular target user of a plurality of target users, wherein unique target user IDs of the plurality of target users are in the list; and is

If the user message is for the particular target user:

the message monitoring pager receiving the target subscriber information for the particular target subscriber from the message source and transmitting device;

receiving, by the message monitoring pager, a monitoring page associated with the target subscriber from the message source and delivery device; and is

The message monitoring pager alerts the at least one message monitoring user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

associating a monitoring state with at least one target user of the plurality of target users;

receiving a specific target user ID from the at least one message monitoring user in the message source and delivery device; and is

Receiving an enable flag value from the message monitoring user, the enable flag value specifying a monitoring status of the target user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitoring pages comprises at least a portion of a page expected to be received by said target user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said target user information comprises:

an enable flag.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said monitor page includes an object ID field, said step of alerting said message to the monitoring user including the steps of:

alerting the message monitoring user when the target user ID field matches the target user ID.

6. A pager, comprising:

a data structure stored therein, wherein the data structure is configured to further store:

a list of at least one target user; and

monitoring for messages of each of at least one target user included in said list status messages; and

a receiver for receiving said list including at least one target user and said message monitoring status message.

7. The pager of claim 6 further comprising a user interface for designating a status of said message monitoring status information for each of at least one target subscriber included in said list.