United States Patent [19]
`Jones
`
`I11111
`
`1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
`US005742763A
`[11] Patent Number:
`[45] Date of Patent:
`
`5,742,763
`Apr. 21, 1998
`
`[54] UNIVERSAL MESSAGE DELIVERY SYSTEM
`FOR HANDLES IDENTIFYING NETWORK
`PRESENCES
`
`5,557,320
`5,608,907
`5,611,050
`
`9/1996 Krebs ........................................ 348112
`3/1997 Fehskens et aI ........................ 395/672
`3/1997 Theimer et aI .................... 3951200.09
`
`[75]
`
`Inventor: Mark Alan Jones, New Providence,
`N.J.
`
`[73] Assignee: AT&T Corp., Middletown, N.J.
`
`Primary Examiner-Too R. Swann
`Assistant Examiner-David Langjahr
`
`[57]
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`[21] Appl. No.: 581,141
`
`Dec. 29, 1995
`
`[22] Filed:
`Int. CL 6
`•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• G06F 13/00
`[51]
`[52] U.S. Ct •.................. 395/200.3; 395/683; 364/DIG. 1
`[58] Field of Search ................................. 348/12; 37/389;
`3951200.09, 672, 200.01
`
`[56]
`
`References Cited
`
`U.S. PATENT DOCUMENfS
`
`A message delivery system, for use with a communication
`network and in which a network presence is provided for an
`entity having attributes, delivers a message from a sender to
`the network presence. In some cases, information identify(cid:173)
`ing the sender is omitted from the message. The delivery
`system can append non-repudiable sender information to the
`message. The sender can provide selected attributes as an
`address, and the delivery system replaces the selected
`attributes with an address of the network presence without
`disclosing the address to the sender. A software agent
`processes the delivered message in accordance with a pro(cid:173)
`cessing preference included in the entity attributes.
`
`5,438,568
`5,555,376
`
`811995 Weisser, Jr .............................. 370/389
`911996 Theimer et aI .................... 3951200.Q9
`
`6 Claims, 2 Drawing Sheets
`
`600
`
`RECEIVING
`ENTITY
`
`SENDING
`ENTITY
`
`MESSAGE
`COMPOSITION
`SERVICE
`
`720
`
`MESSAGE
`DELIVERY
`SERVICE
`
`DIRECTORY
`SERVICE
`
`700
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`MEDIA
`
`740
`
`750
`MESSAGE
`HANDLING
`AGENT
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`AGENT
`
`760
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`SERVICE
`
`730
`
`UNIFIED PATENTS INC.
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`

`
`FIG. 1
`210A
`
`o
`
`SERVICE
`HOST
`(MAIL)
`
`CJ
`
`210B I, DOO~61
`
`200A
`
`300
`
`220A
`
`I'
`
`o
`
`.1 I CONNECTION I MODEM:TTY
`HOST
`..
`
`310A
`
`220B
`
`PAGER .................... ....
`NETWORKS ~
`400
`
`I Iii I CON~~~lIONt~:DEM:Ppp.~
`----------------1 0
`i
`: ~-,
`: bi 0 i
`
`/Z
`LAN
`#
`I
`l X.2S,
`1:000,°=1 ~! ~~~~RNET;o~~~
`b",rdl
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`,I
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`I "
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`I . .
`I
`I
`L __________________ ~
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`~
`
`UNIFIED PATENTS INC.
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`u.s. Patent
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`Apr. 21, 1998
`
`Sheet 2 of 2
`
`5,742,763
`
`600
`
`RECEIVING
`ENTITY
`
`FIG. 2
`
`/00
`
`SENDING
`ENTITY
`
`MESSAGE
`COMPOSITION
`SERVICE
`
`720
`
`MESSAGE
`DEUVERY
`SERVICE
`
`DIRECTORY
`SERVICE
`
`700
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`MEDIA
`
`740
`
`750
`MESSAGE
`HANDUNG
`AGENT
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`AGENT
`
`760
`
`MESSAGE
`STORAGE
`SERVICE
`
`730
`
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`1
`UNIVERSAL MESSAGE DELIVERY SYSTEM
`FOR HANDLES IDENTIFYING NETWORK
`PRESENCES
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to a computer-based com(cid:173)
`munication network service, and, more particularly, is
`directed to a system in which entities are represented by
`network presences associated with handle identifiers used as
`addresses.
`Communication by messaging is becoming steadily more
`popular. Advantages of messaging relative to a personal
`conversation include more efficient use of communication
`capacity, that is, text based electronic mail requires far less
`channel capacity than an equivalent voice message; more
`time efficient due to less need for time consuming ritual
`social inquiries; opportunity for more careful composition;
`and capability of including various types of communication,
`that is, the message can be in a multimedia format including
`audio, video andlor text. Furthermore, if the message is
`broadcast, its composition effort is amortized across the
`recipients. Also, the message can be buffered when a recipi-
`ent is unavailable or unwilling to receive the message
`immediately; the recipient has more time to plan their
`response; an electronic message is easy to capture and place 25
`in long term storage; and software can be used to assist in
`composing and organizing messages.
`One problem with presently available forms of messaging
`is that it is necessary to determine and remember addressing 30
`information which is substantially umelated to the identity
`of the recipient. Voice and facsimile messages require a
`telephone number. Electronic mail messages require an
`address usually comprising an assigned user name and
`electronic domain name, and possibly information indicat- 35
`ing a communication service provider. Also, the format of an
`electronic mail address can differ depending on the com-
`munication provider.
`.
`Telephone numbers are difficult to remember, usually
`change when a person moves or switches jobs, can be 40
`obtained through a directory having only a very limited
`number of search fields and may lack privacy as it is fairly
`easy to associate address information with a telephone
`number.
`Personal telephone numbers, such as the proposed AT&T
`500nOO personal number services, assign a telephone num(cid:173)
`ber to a subscriber, and associate the assigned telephone
`number with a destination telephone number and, optionally,
`a backup telephone number having a voice recording and
`storage device. Callers call the assigned telephone number, 50
`and calls are automatically routed to the destination tele(cid:173)
`phone number. If the destinat~on telephone number does not
`accept the call, then the call is automatically routed to the
`backup telephone number. The destination telephone num(cid:173)
`ber may be changed frequently by the subscriber. These 55
`personal number services mask changes in the subscriber's
`telephone number, that is, allow a subscriber to have a single
`telephone number even while travelling or moving
`frequently. and provide increased privacy. However, the
`personal numbers are still difficult to remember. can be 60
`obtained through a directory having only a very limited
`number of search fields, are accessible through only one
`medium, and, due to reliance on a telephone number, are tied
`into a particular addressing infrastructure which has limited
`call management options.
`Electronic mail addresses are often difficult to remember,
`usually change when a person switches jobs or communi-
`
`2
`cation carriers, and are difficult to obtain due to lack of
`universal directory services.
`Another problem with presently available forms of mes(cid:173)
`saging is that if someone is reachable by a variety of
`5 message types, e.g., voice mail, facsimile and electronic
`mail on several networks, a sender is not sure which type of
`message will be most effective at reaching the intended
`recipient.
`A further problem with presently available forms of
`10 messaging is that there may be a conversion problem
`between an available sending device, such as a twelve-key
`telephone, and a preferred receiving device, such as a
`facsimile machine. Also, there may be a conversion problem
`between the form of the originating message, e.g., voice
`15 mail, and the preferred form of received message, e.g.,
`electronic mail. Products for converting the form of the
`message, such as the AT&T INTUITY product for a PBX!
`LAN environment, have been introduced, but have not yet
`achieved widespread usage. A proposed Multipurpose Inter-
`20 net Multimedia Extension (MIME) specification for Internet
`electronic mail allows senders to provide content in
`multiple, alternative formats but conversion issues have not
`been resolved.
`
`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`A message delivery system, for use with a communication
`network and in which a network presence is provided for an
`entity having attributes, delivers a message from a sender to
`the network presence.
`In an aspect of the invention, information identifying the
`sender is omitted from the message. In another aspect of the
`invention, the delivery system appends non-repudiable
`sender information to the message.
`When the sender provides selected attributes as an
`address, the delivery system replaces the selected attributes
`with an address of the network presence without disclosing
`the address to the sender. In another aspect of the invention,
`a software agent processes the delivered message in accor(cid:173)
`dance with a processing preference included in the entity
`attributes.
`It is not intended that the invention be surumarized here
`in its entirety. Rather, further features, aspects and advan(cid:173)
`tages of the invention are set forth in or are apparent from
`45 the following description and drawings.
`.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications network
`according to the present invention; and
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the logical relationship
`of various services according to the present invention.
`
`DErAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
`PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
`An entity is represented by at least one handle, described
`in detail below. Generally, a handle is a more abstract
`representation of the entity than is found in the prior art. and
`avoids the problems of prior art entity representations asso(cid:173)
`ciated with their insufficiently abstract (i.e., too physical)
`nature. Each handle provides a distinct cyberpresence iden-
`tifier for an entity.
`Directory services, as described in the present disclosure.
`provide more flexibility than prior art directory services.
`65 When used with handles according to the present disclosure,
`directory services provide further enhanced flexibility.
`Generally, a network directory service provides information
`
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`3
`4
`about entities and finds entities based on descriptive queries.
`In one case, the customer equipment comprises only a
`Some of the directory infonnation is publicly available,
`twelve-button telephone set. A user dials a connection host
`whereas other of the directory information is not publicly
`which is part of the network, such as the nearest connection
`available but is usable by the directory service for derefer(cid:173)
`host or a toll-free number providing access to a connection
`encing addresses. Entities specify the desired privacy level 5
`host. Using one or more of voice input and touch-tone input.
`(s) of their directory information. The service provides one
`the user establishes network access authority, such as by
`or more global and specialized network directories, which
`entering an identification code and password. The connec(cid:173)
`may be physically distributed across mUltiple hosts in the
`tion host verifies access authority with the user's home host,
`network.
`. then makes appropriate network resources available to the
`Message composition and delivery services, as described 10 user by, for example, presenting menus of choices to the
`user.
`in the present disclosure, provide more flexibility than prior
`In another case, the customer equipment comprises a
`art message composition and delivery services. When used
`private host such as a personal computer and a modem. The
`with handles according to the present disclosure, message
`user instructs the private host to establish a connection to a
`composition and delivery services provide further enhanced
`connection host. In this case, the connection host functions
`flexibility. Generally, message delivery services provide for 15
`in a more limited manner than in the previously described
`specification of policies by entities as to the forwarding of
`situation where the customer premises equipment is a tele(cid:173)
`messages to specific endpoints or to a universal message
`phone set.
`storage facility, notification of message receipt and retrieval
`of messages. Message notification and retrieval may be
`In yet another case, the customer equipment comprises a
`according to entity specified criteria, such as priority to 20
`receive only pager network. A connection host somewhere
`particular senders or to particular subjects.
`in the network executes software on behalf of the pager
`network.
`Message storage services, as described in the present
`disclosure, provide more flexibility than prior art message
`storage services. When used with handles according to the
`present disclosure, message storage services provide further 25
`enhanced flexibility.
`An important feature of the present disclosure is the
`application to objects such as messages and cyberpresences
`of information retrieval techniques, such as vector space
`models, which have heretofore been applied only to docu(cid:173)
`ments. Generally, flexibility is accomplished by applying
`infonnation retrieval techniques to objects, rather than by
`relying primarily on more structured database query tech(cid:173)
`niques.
`
`30
`
`Handles
`An entity may be a person. organization. corporation,
`department within a corporation, use (interest) group, or a
`set of entities. Alternatively, the entity may be a functional
`role, such as president of an organization.
`An electronic presence is established for every entity
`which requires a public identity. The electronic presence is
`also referred to herein as a network presence or "cyberpres(cid:173)
`ence". The electronic presence is identified by a handle. The
`network presence for an entity serves as a locus of publicly
`35 available information about the entity, as a point of connec(cid:173)
`tion to the entity, and as a centralized set of resources
`available to the entity. Physically, a network presence com(cid:173)
`prises an account on a home host computer, such as the
`home host computer shown in FIG. 1, the actual network
`resource usage associated with the account, the capability of
`using additional network resources and identification of the
`account in network directories. Typically, an account resides
`on a home host. but some accounts may reside on multiple
`hosts due to their resource usage.
`An entity may have multiple network presences each of
`which is associated with a distinct handle. For example, an
`entity which is a person may have one network presence for
`activities related to their job, another network presence for
`activities related to their primary hobby, and yet another
`50 network presence for activities related to their other personal
`uses.
`As used herein and in the claims, "handle" refers to a
`unique identifier registered with a universal directory net(cid:173)
`work service for use by the entity. A handle represents an
`abstract entity, and does not correspond to a physical end(cid:173)
`point although it may be associated with one or more
`physical endpoints for various purposes, as described below.
`The handle functions as the network name of the entity, and
`also functions as the network address of the entity, but is not
`60 a physical end point address. An entity may have one or
`more'handles each of which is associated with a network
`presence. Primarily for billing purposes, each handle is
`associated with a sponsor that is not necessarily the entity
`using the handle.
`Handles permit decoupling of physical endpoints and
`delivery systems from the network presence for an entity.
`That is, a handle is not merely an address. it is a represen-
`
`Network Environment
`Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG.
`I, there is illustrated a network which is generally assumed
`as the environment in the present disclosure. The network 40
`shown in FIG. 1 comprises a communication network 100,
`home host computers 200, service host computers 210,
`connection host computers 220. gateways to other networks
`such as a local area network (LAN) 230, software executed
`on the various computers, and customer premises equipment 45
`such as twelve-key telephone sets 300, personal computers
`310. terminals, and pager networks 400. Although not spe(cid:173)
`cifically shown in FIG. 1, internet connections and wireless
`transmission may be used in a network contemplated in the
`present disclosure.
`As will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art,
`many different communication protocols may be employed
`in communicating between the various parts of the network,
`such as TCPIIP. X.2S, ISDN, Ethernet. asynchronous line
`protocols and analog andlor digital voice transmission. 55
`Communication for transactional services are implemented
`in a secure, flexible remote procedure call (RPC). Also, as
`appropriate. authentication and encryption protocols are
`employed. for example, hypertext transfer protocol (HTfP)
`or secure socket layer (SSL) protocol.
`Various divisions of communications capability between
`customer equipment and network equipment are encom(cid:173)
`passed by the network of FIG. 1. The network is assumed to
`provide processing capability for customer equipment which
`lacks sufficient processing capability to provide the func- 65
`tions described below. The specific type of software pro(cid:173)
`gramming used to provide these functions is not critical.
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`5,742,763
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`5
`tation of an entity because it is associated with resource
`usage and availability for the entity.
`Since a handle is unique at any point in time, it can be
`used as a universal address. Another important feature of a
`handle is its persistence, that is, its association with one
`using entity despite changes in the attributes associated with
`the entity, such as telephone number, address, employment
`affiliation or sponsor. If the entity is a group, then members
`or other attributes of the group may change over time, but
`the group (entity) still retains the handle. Similarly, if the
`entity is a person performing certain functions, e.g., the
`president of XYZ Company, then the person associated with
`the handle may change, but the handle persists; in this case,
`the handle is a referential expression describing a functional
`role.
`Examples of handles are: "bigbear", "Jane_Farnsworth",
`".A:I'T", ''usenet.rec.gardening'', "empiricists", "president_
`XYZ:' and so on. A handle is not a telephone number. A
`telephone number is a physical point which is associated
`with a varying number of users, whereas a handle is not a
`physical point, and is associated with only the entity repre(cid:173)
`sented by the handle. A handle may include alphabetic
`information which serves a mnemonic purpose.
`Advantages of personally chosen handles, relative to
`handles assigned by a network authority, include
`memorability, that is, personally chosen handles have mne(cid:173)
`monic value for message senders, individuality, ability to be
`descriptive or representative of a network persona or
`attributes of an entity, and ability to mask the identity of an
`entity.
`Handles may eventually be reassigned, when the possi(cid:173)
`bility of confusion between entities is deemed to be suffi(cid:173)
`ciently low. For example, when an entity expires, such as a
`person dies or a corporation is dissolved, and a predeter- 35
`mined time has passed since expiration, the handle of the
`expired entity may become available for use by another
`entity.
`Examples of entity attributes which may be associated
`with an individual's handle include password(s), name,
`address, preferred format for message reception, primary
`telephone number, forwarding telephone number, fax
`number, family members, employer, profession, hobbies and
`so on.
`Examples of entity attributes which may be associated
`with an organization's handle include password(s), name,
`address, preferred format for message reception, telephone
`number, fax number, number of members, industry, products
`or services, annual sales, affiliated companies and so on.
`As the name of a network presence for an entity, a handle 50
`is a logical place for an entity to obtain and/or offer network
`services. Generally, the network resources available to an
`entity include a personalized access point, information stor(cid:173)
`age capacity, information access structures such as an
`"address book", a personalized set of message spaces, and
`convenient ways to access frequently used on-line services.
`An "address book", as used herein and in the claims, is a
`personalized directory of frequently accessed message des(cid:173)
`tinations for the entity, that is, a set of handles which identify
`entities. In other words, the objects in an address book are
`handles. An address book allows the entity to refer to other
`entities in a more convenient manner, such as by name,
`photograph, or nickname; thus, the address book hides the
`actual handles from the entity.
`Since the attributes associated with a handle may change
`over time, it is preferred to locally store only the handles for
`an address book with respective temporal information such
`
`6
`as dateltime stamps. At each use of a handle, the address
`book automatically queries the directory service as to
`whether any attributes have changed since the timestamp of
`the handle. The address book locally stores any local infor-
`5 mation associated with the handle, such as the entity's
`nickname or relationship definition for the handle. The
`initial contents of the address book may be determined with
`reference to the sponsor of the entity.
`A query can define a "special" address book of an entity's
`10 base (universal) address book, that is, the query restricts the
`set of handles in the special address book.
`The entity can view a subset of the address book by
`specifying attributes of the objects in the desired subset. For
`example, a view of an address book may provide, for each
`15 entity, its name, face (or other) picture and telephone num(cid:173)
`ber.
`An entity obtains services through its handle generally by
`subscribing to the service; such services are referred to
`herein and in the claims as "vendor services". Service
`20 providers, which may be third party vendors, the provider of
`the communication network or the provider of the network
`presence system, then add the service capabilities to the
`handle in an appropriate manner, such as by authorization to
`act on instructions from the handle, by adding choices to
`25 menu-driven interfaces accessible to the handle, or by add(cid:173)
`ing functional capabilities to software agents associated with
`the handle. Examples of software agents are a message
`handling agent and a message storage agent, described
`below. Examples of vendor services are a message compo-
`30 sition service, a calendar scheduling service and a software
`agent service. FIG. 1 shows a service host for third-party
`services in which the vendor offers a service directly from its
`own handle and other handles must explicitly communicate
`with the vendor's handle for the service.
`An entity offers services through its handle by responding
`to requests directed to the handle. For example, the entity
`may add functional capabilities to one of the agents asso(cid:173)
`ciated with its handle to provide a service to other handles. .
`40 In some embodiments, for provision of certain services, the
`entity may make special billing arrangements with the
`network.
`When the entity is accessible to at least one messaging
`service, the attributes of an entity include a physical end-
`45 point to which messages are to be delivered. For example,
`when the entity is a pager network, the physical endpoint is
`the pager equipment. When the entity is an individual, the
`physical endpoint can be non-network equipment, such as a
`fax machine, or network storage.
`When the entity is accessible to at least one messaging
`service, the attributes of an entity include a preferred media
`format for receiving messages. For example, when the entity
`is accessible by more than one message media format, such
`as fax, voice mail, textual electronic mail and multimedia
`55 electronic mail, the entity indicates the media format in
`which it prefers to receive messages in its "preferred recep(cid:173)
`tion media" attribute.
`There are several differences between personal telephone
`numbers, such as the proposed AT&T 500/700 personal
`60 number services, and the handles of the present invention.
`The personal number services provide a customer with only
`a telephone number, that is, a completely numeric identifier
`which lacks mnemonic value, whereas the present handles
`may comprise alphanumeric information having mnemonic
`65 value. The personal number services must be associated with
`at least one destination telephone number for a customer,
`whereas the present handles need not be associated with a
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`In certain embodiments, an additional privacy designation
`of "secret" is available for information associated with a
`handle. This is useful for broadcasts prepared by a message
`preparation service to entities matching specified criteria,
`5 where the matching entities wish to remain unknown, for
`example, persons testing positive for a particular disease. In
`these cases, the entities may be interested in receiving
`information related to their attributes, but want their pos(cid:173)
`session of such attributes to be masked from mass marketers
`10 and/or probes attempting to guess the information. If secret
`information is used to resolve a handle, then information
`identifying the receiving entity is withheld in any delivery
`receipts provided by the network to the sender or querying
`party.
`Another example of additional flexibility when the user of
`the directory service is a handle is an updating service for an
`address book. The updating service may simply add the
`results of each directory query to the address book.
`Alternatively, the results of the directory query may auto-
`20 matically be transferred to the updating service, and then the
`updating service asks the entity associated with the handle
`using the directory whether and/or how to retain the results.
`As yet another alternative, a software agent associated with
`the handle may treat the results of the directory query as an
`25 information object to be processed in accordance with
`general policies specified by the entity for information
`objects, i.e., policies for information which is not limited to
`directory information.
`
`7
`specific telephone number, instead, an entity may opt to have
`the network store its messages, and then the entity retrieves
`its messages from the network, for example, by a dial-in
`telephone call.
`
`Directory Services
`The universal network directory service stores attributes
`associated with handles and responds to queries relating to
`the stored information to provide a very flexible searching
`ability. The directory service may be a vendor service.
`When a directory user such as a message sender desires to
`know a handle for an entity, the sender provides sufficient
`descriptive information to uniquely identify the entity. In
`some cases, the sender interacts repeatedly with the direc(cid:173)
`tory service to uniquely identify the entity. For example, in
`response to the sender's provision of a person's name, city 15
`and state of residence, employer and profession, the direc(cid:173)
`tory service returns the requested handle.
`In other situations, a directory user knows a handle and
`provides a query to the directory service to obtain one or
`more attributes associated with the handle. For example, a
`directory user may wish to know a daytime telephone
`number associated with a handle.
`Handle attributes have privacy level information specified
`by the entity represented by the handle. In its simplest form,
`privacy level information simply indicates whether the
`attribute is publicly available or not publicly available, i.e,
`private. Therefore, entities may maintain essentially
`"unlisted" handles with no attribute information publicly
`available.
`The directory service generally maintains indices of the 30
`attributes in a variety of hierarchical structures, and responds
`to structure sensitive queries.
`Each of a directory query and a response thereto gener(cid:173)
`ated by the universal network directory service may contain 35
`multimedia depending on the kinds of interfaces and appli(cid:173)
`cations used. As used herein and in the claims, information
`in a multimedia format means information in at least two of
`an internal computer format such as binary format, text
`format such as ASCII. voice format and video format.
`Entities and/or their respective sponsors have the ability
`to self-administer certain of the entity's attributes in accor(cid:173)
`dance with preferences, such as password(s), preferred for(cid:173)
`mat for message reception, forwarding telephone number
`and privacy status of their attributes, using an automated 45
`administration procedure including a software program
`executed on at least one of the hosts of FIG. 1.
`Handle attributes have authenticity information associ(cid:173)
`ated therewith. In its simplest form, authenticity information
`simply indicates who provided the attribute information.
`More complicated authenticity information indicates, for
`example, when the attribute information was provided. The
`authenticity information provides a basis for forming a
`trustworthiness opinion of the associated attribute informa(cid:173)
`tion.
`When the user of the directory service is a handle,
`additional flexibility is contemplated. Specifically, the infor(cid:173)
`mation returned from the directory service may be automati(cid:173)
`cally transferred to another service, such as a message
`composition service offered by a third-party vendor. For
`example, when a handle queries the directory service for all
`handles having specified attributes, such as:
`(type of entity=individual), (family members=at least one
`child), and (address=NY or NJ)
`the resulting set of handles may be used as a set of addresses
`for a message broadcast by a message preparation service
`used by the handle.
`
`Message Composition and Delivery Services
`
`A message composition service permits a message to be
`composed and associated with a destination query. That is,
`a message is sent to a destination query, rather than a
`specified endpoint. The destination query is of the form
`described earlier for the directory service.
`A message delivery service provides delivery of the
`message to the objects satisfying the destination query
`associated with the message, with the objects typically being
`40 handles.
`Messages are assumed to include content information and
`envelope information, such as sender, destination query
`determining the recipient(s), network transit history, arrival
`time, subject and priority. Senders are identified by their
`handles. Recipients are identified by the destination query,
`unless their identity is masked (see discussion below).
`Content information may comprise multimedia and interac(cid:173)
`tive programs; notes from family, friends and business
`associates; electronic correspondence from businesses,
`50 government, associations and so on; electronic postcards;
`electronic letters; electronic newsletters and magazines;
`electronic advertising; electronic solicitations and so on.
`When the sender knows the preferred media format for
`the recipient of the message, the sender can instruct the
`55 message delivery service to put the message, composed in
`one format, into the preferred format when technically
`feasible. For example, the message may be composed as
`text, and converted to voice using speech synthesis. As will
`be appreciated, the preferred media format for a message
`60 recipient can usually be determined from a query to the
`network directory service. Certain message preparation ser(cid:173)
`vices are capable of automatically querying the directory
`service and using the query results for format conversion.
`The message sender can require that it remain
`65 anonymous, for example, by composing a message with the
`sender explicitly identified as "anonymous" or by omitting
`sender information.
`
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`EX1007
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`9
`A message recipient can require that it remain anony(cid:173)
`mous. For example, if an entity has set all of its attribute
`infonnation to non-public, it may receive broadcast mes(cid:173)
`sages to entities having its attributes, but the message
`delivery service will not provide an identifying delivery 5
`receipt to the message sender.