Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Auxiliary data signaling
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-01
2003-12-02
Tran, Sinh (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Auxiliary data signaling
C455S552100, C455S412100, C455S412200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06658260
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless carriers, Internet service providers (ISPs), and information content delivery services/providers. More particularly, it relates to short message service (SMS) messaging services provided between different carriers and/or between subscribers in different air interface standards.
2. Background of Related Art
We are now in what is called the information age. More than ever, the exchange of information, and the ability to do the same, has become an important technical necessity of modern society. With the introduction and now wide usage of the Internet, and the advances in telecommunications, a variety of means for exchanging information have proliferated to bring a great number of people together through the exchange of information.
In the early 1990s, as a result of the growing popularity of digital wireless technology, a standard for digital wireless networks was introduced in Europe. That standard, now known as the global standard for mobiles (GSM), included a service called short messaging service (SMS). One way in which information is exchanged is through short messages. A short message is typically a textual message, e.g., a paging message, e-mail or a voice mail message passed to and/or from various types of communication devices, e.g., cellular telephone handsets, telephones or computers with appropriate modems.
An SMS allows transmission of short messages, typically up to 160 characters, to and from communication devices, e.g., cellular telephone handsets, telephones or computers with appropriate modems. In North America, the SMS is currently implemented on digital wireless/mobile networks, such as a PCS network based on the GSM standard, code division multiple access (CDMA) and/or time division multiple access (TDMA) methods. Short message services are gaining in popularity, particularly in the United States.
Short message services are advantageous over text based paging services because of the capability of bi-directional communication. Such bi-directional communication allows, for example, notification to the originating device of the success or failure of the short message delivery.
Each SMS network typically includes a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) which acts as a store-and-forward mechanism providing guaranteed delivery of short messages to a subscriber, even if the subscriber is inactive when the message was transmitted, by delivering the short messages once the subscriber becomes active. Delivery of all short messages is guaranteed regardless of whether or not the intended subscriber is “on-line” because the transmitted short message is stored within the one SMSC assigned to each intended subscriber, and delivered to the intended subscriber from their assigned SMSC when the subscriber becomes available.
A variety of services have been introduced using SMS networks including, for example, integrated electronic mail and fax, integrated paging, interactive banking, and information services such as stock quotes and airline schedule delivery.
In operation, an SMSC receives a short message from any source intended to be delivered to a particular subscriber. When the intended subscriber is not available because, for example, it is turned off or is outside of the service area of the SMS network, the attempt to deliver the short message at that time will fail. In this case, the short message will be retained in the SMSC assigned to that intended subscriber for a later delivery attempt. Thereafter, when the subscriber finally becomes available, e.g., is turned on or has moved into the service area of the SMS network, the relevant portions of the network (e.g., the mobile servicing center (MSC) and the home location register (HLR)) notify the SMSC to initiate delivery of the stored (i.e., previously failed) short messages.
FIG. 9
shows a general example of a short message exchange network. In particular, in
FIG. 9
, a text message is communicated between a first communication device (i.e., sender
806
) and a second communication device (i.e., recipient
804
). The sender
806
accesses a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet or the Public Telephone Switching Network (PTSN). The short message from the sender
806
via gateway
805
is delivered to the recipient
804
via, e.g., a gateway
802
and a local area network (LAN) and/or wireless network
803
.
Although the recipient
804
is shown as being a mobile phone handset, the recipient
804
may comprise, e.g., a computer device connected either through the LAN
803
or via a direct modem connection to the WAN (e.g., PTSN or the Internet)
801
.
An example of a wireless short message exchange network is described in co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,870, entitled “SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE NOTIFICATION IN MULTIPLE SERVICE CENTER SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE NETWORK”, the entirety of which is explicitly incorporated herein by reference.
An SMSC is a core short messaging router, which connects to the SS7 public network. An SMSC provides phone-to-phone two-way messaging within that carrier's network, either mobile originated or mobile terminated. To provide the ability for the SMSC to communicate over the web, a Wireless Internet Gateway (WIG) is added to the carrier's network. While an SMSC does have a direct Internet Protocol (IP) interface (i.e., Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP)), a WIG acts as a multi-protocol router by typically adding, e.g., six or more additional carrier-class interfaces. A WIG provides an IP based door into a carrier's network.
SMPP is typically used to provide direct communications between SMSCs. Other direct communication links used between SMSCs include CDMP, which is MOTOROLA™ proprietary, and OIS, another proprietary protocol.
A suitable and appropriate WIG is shown and described in co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 09/630,762, entitled “Wireless Internet Gateway”, filed Aug. 2, 2000, the entirety of which is explicitly incorporated herein by reference.
A well known example of a system which delivers short messages is an electronic mail system, commonly referred to as e-mail. E-mail enables a sender to exchange information with a recipient from their respective communication devices, e.g., typically two remotely located computer devices.
Mobile devices such as wireless phones provide limited e-mail services. Wireless phones are designed to accept phone numbers quite easily, but are somewhat cumbersome when required to accept an alphanumeric e-mail address. When communicating between phone on different networks, subscribers must address messages to an e-mail address when communicating from phone-to-phone within the same network, only the phone number is required. Thus, text messages between wireless phones is generally limited in the United States to between subscribers within a common carrier's wireless network.
With current systems, Inter-Carrier e-mail messaging (i.e., between different carrier networks) from wireless devices requires input of a complete e-mail address. In particular, for a subscriber of a first carrier (“Carrier A”) to send a message to a subscriber of another carrier (“Carrier B”), the subscriber of Carrier A must know and input a full e-mail address of the destination device.
Exemplary full e-mail addresses typically comprise a phone number, the “@” sign, and then a unique domain name used specifically for SMS messaging. An exemplary full e-mail address is 4105551234@mobile.myportal.xyzwireless.net. A phone number only experience can be provided to the subscriber of Carrier A only when sending an SMS message (e.g., e-mail) to a subscriber of the same Carrier A.
As an example, mobile terminated short messaging is currently available through web-page based services. For instance, VERIZON WIRELESS™ currently maintains a web page “msg.myvzw.com” for use only by VERIZON WIRELESS™ customers. Using this web page based approach, a user inserts a phone number of a known Verizon customer, types in a body of the desired message, and clicks on an ente
Bollman William H.
Gelin Jean A
TeleCommunication Systems Inc.
Tran Sinh
LandOfFree
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