Automated messaging

#Many people today make and receive phone calls on mobile devices that also have messaging capabilities. Often, when a first person calls a second person, the second person will not answer the phone because the second user is busy and/or wants to ignore the caller. While a caller or callee can send a follow up written message such as a text or e-mail to the other party, doing so can be time consuming because it requires multiple steps including creating a new message, typing the message, and sending the message. Many mobile users today increasingly use short cuts in an effort to conserve text space and be more time efficient. There is a need for a service that automates the message sending process.

#“Short Message Service” or “SMS” text messaging has become one of the most popular communication tools due to its speed and convenience. People can send messages to one another independent of their geographic location. Moreover, communication between different people is often similar. Many people ask each other similar questions, to which they frequently respond similarly.

#In light of this, it has been discovered that responses to certain questions can be predicted. One aspect of this disclosure relates to an automated messaging platform where communication between people is organized in a predictive manner.

#FIG. 1 is a logical block diagram showing an exemplary mobile phone system in which an automated messaging system can operate.

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process of obtaining and initializing an automated messaging system application on a subscriber's mobile device.

#FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for determining whether to trigger an automated messaging system installed on a mobile device.

#Embodiments of the disclosed subject matter can provide a messaging system that can enable mobile subscribers to automatically send written messages to people they have called and/or received call from, preferably in the circumstance where a call is terminated without a connection (e.g., where the call recipient did not answer the call). The automated messaging system can automatically detect that a calling subscriber has called a called subscriber, and that the called subscriber did not answer the call. After the calling subscriber ends the phone call attempt (and/or the call is otherwise terminated), the automated messaging system can automatically prompt the calling and/or called subscriber, and provide several messaging options. For example, the options presented to the subscriber can include both preset messages (“canned messages”) as well as customizable messages edited or written by the subscriber. In some embodiments, the system can work in a similar manner when a user ignores or misses a phone call. For example, if a called subscriber does not answer a phone call, the called subscriber can be automatically presented with a list of text messages to send to the calling subscriber. This disclosure also provides an automated messaging system that can predict responses to certain messages and prepare message packages that comprise a message and response message options, enabling users to more quickly send messages to each other. Other embodiments are within the scope of the disclosed subject matter.

#FIG. 1 shows an exemplary mobile phone system in which the automated messaging system can operate. FIG. 1 includes a first subscriber's (e.g., a calling subscriber's) mobile device 102, a second subscriber's (e.g., a called subscriber's) mobile device 104, and a network 106. The first subscriber (e.g., John) can place calls from mobile device 102 to the second subscriber's (e.g., Jill's) mobile device 104 via network 106. Similarly, the second subscriber (e.g., Jill) can place calls from mobile device 104 to the first subscriber's (e.g., John's) mobile device 102 via network 106. Each of the mobile devices 102 and 104 can also be configured to send/receive texts and send/receive data such as e-mails, webpages, and video data. The mobile devices 102 and 104 can be any communication device such as a mobile phone (e.g., APPLE® IPHONE®, SAMSUNG GALAXY, MOTOROLA® MOTO®), and/or a tablet (e.g., APPLE® IPAD®, MICROSOFT SURFACE®, AMAZON® KINDLE®). Lastly, while the specification herein focuses on “mobile” devices, this is not required. For example, the techniques described herein can also apply to non-mobile devices such as desktop computers.

#In some embodiments, network 106 can be a wireless cellular or data network maintained by a mobile operator, and can comprise multiple sub-networks and back-end servers. For example, the network 106 can include base stations (eNodeBs), a voice network for handling voice calls and texts, a packet switched network for handling mobile data, backhaul networks, messaging servers, etc. Exemplary versions of the network 106 can be provided by, for example, Verizon®, AT&T®, T-Mobile®, INWI®, Vodafone®, Claro®, and Orange®.