Methods and systems for transmitting video messages to mobile communication devices

1. A video messaging system comprising:

a processor;

a content database that stores video content;

a user database that stores:

a user identifier associated with at least one user;

an identifier corresponding to a telecommunications carrier associated with a mobile phone of the at least one user;

an indicator indicating the messaging capability of the mobile phone of the at least one user;

a telephone number associated with the mobile phone of the at least one user;

program code stored in computer readable memory that when executed by the processor is configured to:

provide for display on a user terminal a form via which a user can view a plurality of available videos from the content database, view an amount associated with sending the video, select a video to be sent as a message, specify a recipient for the video message, enter text to be sent to the recipient in association with the selected video, and instruct that the selected video and the text be sent as a message to the specified recipient;

receive and store in computer readable memory the user video selection, the recipient specification, and the text;

initiate the transmission of an approval request message to a mobile phone associated with the user using the phone number associated with the user mobile phone to address the approval request message, wherein the user can approve the sending of the video message to the recipient by taking an action in response to the approval request;

when the user approves sending of the video message within a specified period of time:

initiate the transmission of the video message and associated text to a mobile phone associated with the recipient;

identify the video message as being in an active state at least until a confirmation of receipt indication is received via a carrier associated with the recipient;

when a confirmation is received, store the confirmation in computer readable memory; and

when the user does not approve sending of the video message within the specified time period, initiating the cancellation of the transmission the video message to the recipient.

2. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the program code is further configured to:

determine whether the recipient mobile phone is capable of receiving an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) message;

when the recipient mobile phone is capable of receiving an MMS message, have the video message delivered to the recipient mobile phone via an MMS message; and

when the recipient mobile phone is not capable of receiving an MMS message, have access to the video message provided to the recipient mobile phone via a SMS (Short Message Service) WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) push message.

3. The system as defined in claim 2 , wherein the SMS WAP push message includes an option of connecting to a specified URL (Uniform Resource Locator) via a recipient mobile phone browser to access the video message.

4. The system as defined in claim 2 , wherein when the SMS WAP push message is to be used, the program code is configured to create a corresponding WAP push object and transmit the WAP push object to a gateway for forwarding to the recipient mobile phone carrier.

5. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the program code is further configured to provide the form via a Web page.

6. The system as defined in claim 1 , the system further comprising a plurality of geographically distributed server nodes configured to store and provide Web pages and widget code, and to cache video messages.

7. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the program code is further configured to generate a hash code to identify the combination of user, recipient, and message identifiers.

8. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the program code is further configured to:

receive an instruction from the user to transmit a second video message to a second recipient;

determine whether the user had previously approved the sending of at least one other video message to at least one recipient based on information stored in system memory; and

when the user had previously approved the sending of at least one other video message to at least one recipient, initiate the transmission of the second video message to the second recipient without the transmission of an approval request message to the mobile phone associated with the user.

9. The system as defined in claim 1 , wherein the program code is further configured to determine how the video message is to be transmitted to the second recipient at least partly based on a mobile phone-type of the recipient and/or a carrier associated with the mobile phone of the recipient.

10. A method of transmitting video messages to a mobile phone, the method comprising:

receiving over a network from a user terminal an identification of a message recipient, wherein the message recipient is associated with a mobile phone, text to be included in a message, and selection of video content to be included in the message:

creating a message object corresponding to the message and storing the message object in computer readable memory;

accessing a data store to determine what campaign the message is entitled to, wherein the campaign indicates when the user is to be charged on a per message basis;

identifying a telecommunications carrier associated a user telephonic device;

when a determination is made that the user is to be charged on a per message basis for the message:

at least partly in response to the determination that the user is to be charged on a per message basis for the message, causing, at least in part, an authorization notification to be transmitted to the user's telephonic device, wherein the authorization notification indicates that the user needs to provide authorization for the video message to be sent;

when an indication is received within a first period of time that the user has provided authorization for the message to be sent:

initiating the transmission of the message to the recipient's mobile phone; and

determining when a transmission confirmation is received with a second period of time, and when the transmission confirmation is not received with the second period of time, storing a successful delivery indication in memory, and when the transmission confirmation is not received with the second period of time, storing a delivery failure indication in memory.

11. The method as defined in claim 10 , the method further comprising:

determining whether the recipient mobile phone is capable of receiving an MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) message;

when the recipient mobile phone is capable of receiving an MMS message, having the video message delivered to the recipient mobile phone via an MMS message; and

when the recipient mobile phone is not capable of receiving an MMS message, having access to the video message provided to the recipient mobile phone via a SMS (Short Message Service) WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) push message.

12. The method as defined in claim 11 , wherein the SMS WAP push message includes an option of connecting to a specified URL (Uniform Resource Locator) via a recipient mobile phone browser to access the video message.

13. The method as defined in claim 11 , wherein when the SMS WAP push message is to be used, the program code is configured to create a corresponding WAP push object and transmit the WAP push object to a gateway for forwarding to the recipient mobile phone carrier.

14. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the video message is delivered using deferred MMS delivery.

15. The method as defined in claim 10 , the method further comprising:

receiving from the user a request that a second message be sent;

determining whether the user had previously provided authorization for at least one message to be sent in response to at least one authorization notification; and

at least partly in response to determining the user had previously provided authorization for at least one message to be sent in response to at least one authorization notification, initiating transmission of the second message without sending another authorization notification to the user's telephonic device.

16. The method as defined in claim 15 , the method further comprising sending another notification request authorizing transmission of the second message to the user's telephonic device at least partly in response to determining the user had not, within a specified period of preceding time, provided authorization for at least one message to be sent in response to at least one authorization notification.

17. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the campaign indicates that the transmission of the message is covered by a subscription subscribed to by the user, wherein the user is entitled to transmit an unlimited number of messages or a predetermined number of messages within a specified period of time without an incremental cost per message.

18. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the campaign indicates that the transmission of the message is paid for or to be paid for by a third party.

19. The method as defined in claim 10 , wherein the second period of time is at least one day.

20. The method as defined in claim 10 , the method further comprising at least partly causing the user to be charged for the message by the user's telecommunications carrier.

21. The method as defined in claim 10 , the method further comprising providing over the network for display on the user terminal a user interface via which a user can search for video content by entering a search query and an menu of video content form via which a user can view a plurality of available videos from the content database, view an amount associated with sending the video, select a video to be sent as a message, specify a recipient for the video message, enter text to be sent to the recipient in association with the selected video, and instruct that the selected video and the text be sent as a message to the specified recipient.