Message dispatch system for telecommunications network
A system and method for dispatching messages from a user to at least one recipient over a telecommunications network is disclosed. The system includes a messaging system and an authentication system. The messaging system receives user messages, retrieves contact information for recipients on a user's contact list, and attempts to deliver messages to recipients on the list. The system may continue attempting to deliver messages to recipients until it finds a recipient who is available to receive the message. The authentication system is used to ensure the recipient is a person and not a machine. The messages could be audio messages delivered using a telephone network or messages delivered over an SMS network.
1. A method of sending audio messages over a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
receiving a call from a user;
requesting user identification information from the user;
receiving the requested user identification information from the user;
recording an audio message from the user;
retrieving a list of contacts associated with the user identification information;
automatically calling a first recipient from the list of contacts;
determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the audio message, wherein determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the audio message further includes:
determining that the call to the first recipient has been connected;
requesting that the first recipient perform a task; and
determining that the first recipient has failed to perform the task;
after determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the audio message, automatically calling a second recipient from the list of contacts; and
determining that the second recipient is available to immediately receive the audio message; and
upon the determining that the second recipient is available to immediately receive the audio message, delivering the audio message to the second recipient.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications network is a telephone network.
3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user identification information includes at least a name.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the user identification information includes at least a phone number.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining that the second recipient is available to immediately receive the audio message further includes:
determining that the call to the second recipient has been connected;
requesting that the second recipient perform a task; and
determining that the second recipient has performed the task.
6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the task includes repeating a phrase.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the task includes entering a specified number using a phone.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the task includes solving an audio CAPTCHA problem.
9. A method of sending short message service messages over a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
receiving a short message service (SMS) message from a user, wherein: the SMS message includes user identification information; and
the SMS message includes text; retrieving a list of contacts associated with the user identification information;
automatically sending a first preliminary message to a first recipient from the list of contacts;
determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately view the SMS message, wherein determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately view the SMS message further includes:
requesting that the first recipient perform a task; and
determining that the first recipient has failed to perform the task;
after determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately view the SMS message, automatically sending a second preliminary message to a second recipient from the list of contacts; and
determining that the second recipient is available to immediately view the SMS message;
upon the determining that the second recipient is available to immediately view the SMS message, delivering the SMS message to the second recipient.
10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the task includes solving an image CAPTCHA problem.
11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the SMS message includes multimedia information.
12. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the determining that the second recipient is available to immediately view the SMS message further includes:
requesting that the second recipient perform a task; and
determining that the second recipient has performed the task.
13. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the task includes answering a question.
14. A message dispatch system for delivering messages to users over a telecommunications network, comprising:
a device processor; and
a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that are executable by the device processor to implement:
a messaging module that is configured to automatically dispatch a user supplied message to recipients in a user's contact list; and
an authentication module that is configured to automatically determine if a recipient is available to receive the user supplied message, wherein the authentication module is configured to determine if the recipient is available by asking the recipient to perform a challenge-response task;
wherein the authentication module is further configured to:
automatically call a first recipient from the recipients in the user's contact list;
determine that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the user supplied message,
wherein determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the user supplied message further includes:
determining that the call to the first recipient has been connected;
requesting that the first recipient perform the challenge-response task; and
determining that the first recipient has failed to perform the challenge-response task;
after determining that the first recipient is not available to immediately receive the user supplied message, the authentication module is configured to automatically call a second recipient from the recipients in the user's contact list; and
determine that the second recipient is available to immediately receive the user supplied message; and
upon the determining that the second recipient is available to immediately receive the audio message, the authentication module is configured to deliver the user supplied message to the second recipient.
15. The message dispatch system according to claim 14 , wherein the user supplied message is an audio message.
16. The message dispatch system according to claim 14 , wherein the challenge-response task is to ask the recipient to enter a specified number.
17. The message dispatch system according to claim 14 , wherein the challenge-response task is to ask the recipient to repeat a phrase.
18. The message dispatch system according to claim 14 , wherein the messaging module is further configured to send text messages to one or more recipients in the user's contact list.
19. The message dispatch system according to claim 18 , wherein the messaging module sends a preliminary message to each recipient in the user's contact list to determine if the recipient is available to immediately view the user supplied message before delivering the user supplied message to the recipient.
20. The message dispatch system according to claim 14 , wherein the messaging dispatch system includes a database for storing user identification information that is used to identify a user calling in with a message.