Client-based management of multimedia messages

Abstract

A calling user initiates a telephonic communication with a receiving user by dialing a phone number of the receiving user in his or her address book. The communication is transmitted from the calling user's device to the receiving user's device through a network that is not using Internet protocol or Internet-based, e.g., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), TCP-IP, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). After a number of notifications has passed on the receiving user's device and the receiving user is not able to answer the telephonic communication, a local voicemail recorder will be activated to record and store the telephonic communication for later retrieval by the receiving user. The stored communication is identifier by a sequence of string containing at least one of a name, a telephone number, a storage location, a date-time attribute, and a duration associated with the stored communication.

1 . A method, utilizing at least one hardware computing device, for managing voicemails comprising:
 (A) receiving, by a first device associated with a first party, an input entered by the first party to initiate a communication to second device associated with a second party, wherein a party comprises one or more users;   (B) formatting, by the first device, the received input into a standardized format;   (C) translating, by the first device, the formatted input in the standardized format into a predetermined communication format, wherein the standardized format is distinct and different from the predetermined communication format;   (D) mapping, by at least the first device, the translated input in the predetermined communication format to a unique destination identifier associated with the second party;   (E) determining, by the at least first device, whether the mapping is successful;
 (E1) in response to a successful mapping, determining whether the first party is in a block list associated with the second party, if so, notifying the first party and terminating the communication; 
 (E2) in response to an unsuccessful mapping, notifying the first party to review and correct the input entered;
 (E2i) in response to determining that the first party has made at least a change to the input entered within a predetermined threshold of input time, repeat steps (A) to (E); 
 (E2ii) in response to determining that the first party has not made any change to the input entered within the predetermined threshold of input time, notifying the first party and terminating the communication; 
 
   (F) in response to the successful mapping and determining that the first party is not in the block list associated with the second party, allowing, by the first device, the communication to the second device;   (G) transmitting, by a communication server located remotely from the first party of the first device and the second party of the second device, a notifying signal associated with the communication through at least one communication network associated with at least one service provider;   (H) receiving, by the second device, the notifying signal via the at least one communication network;   (I) notifying, by the second device, the second party of the received notifying signal with a predetermined number of notifications;   (J) while the predetermined number of notifications is less than a first threshold set by the second party of the second device, determining whether a voicemail recorder exists and runnable on the second device;   (K) in response to determining that the voicemail recorder exists and runnable on the second device, determining whether the first threshold is less than a second threshold associated with a voicemail server associated with the at least one service provider;
 (K1) in response to determining that the first threshold is less than the second threshold:
 activate the voicemail recorder to intercept the communication on behalf of the second party when the notifying signal is not a distressed signal, and recording and storing, by the voicemail recorder, the intercepted communication in a local storage of the second device; and 
 forward the notifying signal to an authorized party associated with the second party when the notifying signal is the distressed signal; 
 
 (K2) in response to determining that the first threshold is not less than the second threshold:
 enabling the voicemail server to intercept the communication on behalf of the second party; and 
 recording and storing, by the voicemail server, the intercepted communication in a server storage associated with the at least one service provider; 
 
 (K3) in response to determining that the voicemail recorder either does not exist or is not runnable on the second device, determining whether the first threshold is less than the second threshold;
 (K3i) in response to determining that the first threshold is less than the second threshold:
 calculating a complete load time of a new voicemail recorder, 
 determining whether the complete load time is less than the first threshold; 
 in response to determining that the calculated complete load time of the new voicemail recorder is less than the first threshold: 
  preparing the new voicemail recorder with at least one task corresponding to the calculated complete load time; 
  in response to the voicemail recorder is prepared successfully and the first threshold has been reached, activate the new voicemail recorder to intercept the communication on behalf of the second party; and 
  recording and storing, by the new voicemail recorder, the intercepted communication in the local storage of the second device; 
 
 (K3ii) in response to determining that the calculated load time of the new voicemail recorder is not less than the first threshold or in response to determining that the first threshold is not less than the second threshold:
 enabling the voicemail server to intercept the communication on behalf of the second party; and 
 recording and storing, by the voicemail server, the intercepted communication in the server storage associated with the at least one service provider; and 
 
 
   (L) retrieving, by the second party of the second device, the stored communication for reviewing.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first device and the second device are hand-held devices and the mobile network is exclusive of Internet-based network communication protocol used to interconnect network devices on the Internet. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the recording and storing the intercepted communication by either the voicemail recorder, the new voicemail recorder, or the voicemail server further comprises:
 determining whether the intercepted communication is recorded or stored successfully without any error;   in response to the intercepted communication is recorded or stored successfully, terminating the connection to the communication server, and   in response to the intercepted communication is not recorded or stored successfully, determining whether the signal is forwardable;
 in response to the signal is forwardable, forward the signal to an authorized party associated with the second party, otherwise terminating the connection to the communication server. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the mobile network comprises at least one of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobiles (GSM) network, full or half-duplex radio communication, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein a type of the Internet-based communication protocol comprising at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), TCP-IP, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the initiating the communication comprising receiving an input specifying an identifier of the second party in at least one of the following types: text, image, audio, video, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the complete load time of the new voicemail recorder comprising at least one of:
 a duration for an uninstalling task of the existing or nonrunnable voicemail recorder when the voicemail recorder is not runnable,   a duration for a downloading task of the voicemail recorder from a remote application store or a locating task of the new voicemail recorder in the local storage of the second device,   a duration for an installing task of the downloaded or located new voicemail recorder onto the second device, or   a duration for an activating task of the new voice recorder to intercept the communication.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein at least one of the storing and the retrieving is based on a unique first identifier associated with the communication. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the unique first identifier is composed of at least one of:
 an identifier of the first party of the first device;   a date of with the recorded message;   a duration of with the recorded message; or   a storage path of with the recorded message.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the unique first identifier comprising at least one of a name, a telephone number, a residential address, an e-mail address, or a vehicle plate number associated with the first party of the first device. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the first identifier is extracted from an address book, assigned by the second party of the second device, or obtained from the at least one service provider or a third-party web service. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the second identifier comprising at least one of a residential address, an e-mail address, or a vehicle plate number is directly linked to at least one of a name or a telephone number associated with the second party of the second device. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein when the second identifier is specified by the first party of the first device to initiate the communication, converting the second identifier to at least one of the name or the telephone number by at least one of the first device, the at least one service provider, or a third-party web service. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the converting comprising at least one of voice recognition, text recognition, or handwriting recognition to uniquely identify the second party of the second device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the new voicemail recorder, after being prepared successfully, automatically retrieves existing messages stored on the voicemail server. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the second party of the second device is provided with at least one option to manage the stored communication. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the at least one option comprising at least one of downloading the stored communication from the server storage to the local storage or uploading the stored communication from the local storage to a storage server associated with the second party of the second device, the at least one option being associated with at least one criterion. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the at least one criterion comprising a time parameter, a size parameter, a priority parameter, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         19 . A system for managing voicemails comprising at least one hardware processor and at least one hardware memory storing instructions executable by the at least one hardware processor for implementing the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed by at least one computer device cause the at least one computing device to implement the method of  claim 1 .