Methods and systems for preventing short message service (SMS) message flooding

• US 20020159387A1
• Filed: 07/19/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec Global, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Marsico, Peter J., Allison, Rick L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,145,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A short message service (SMS) flood control routing node includes an SMS flood control module that receives short message service messages, determines the presence of short message service flooding, and takes appropriate action, such as discarding short message service messages that result in flooding. The presence of short message service message flooding may be determined by maintaining a count of short message service messages addressed to a particular called party within a time period. If the count exceeds a threshold, the short message service message that caused the count to exceed the threshold may be discarded. The routing node may generate a message the originator of a short message service message flood and/or to an enforcement agency.

Claims

1. A method for preventing short message service (SMS) message flooding, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a first SMS message including called and calling party identification information;

(b) performing a lookup in a message flood control (MFC) database using at least one of the called and calling party identification information;

(c) in response to locating a matching entry in the MFC database, using information contained in the matching entry to detect the presence of SMS message flooding; and

(d) in response to detecting the presence of SMS message flooding, discarding the first SMS message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a first SMS signaling message includes receiving a signaling system 7 (SS7) mobile application part (MAP)-based SMS message.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein receiving an SS7 MAP-based SMS message includes receiving an Internet protocol (IP)-encapsulated SS7 MAP-based SMS message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a first SMS message includes receiving a session initiation protocol (SIP)-based SMS message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identification information includes a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network (MSISDN) number.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party identification information includes an international mobile station identifier (IMSI).

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party information includes an email address.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the called party information includes an Internet protocol (IP) address.

9. The method of claim 1 including, in response to detecting the presence of SMS message flooding, generating a second SMS message addressed to the calling party associated with the first SMS message.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the second SMS message notifies the calling party that the first SMS message was not delivered to the called party.

11. The method of claim 1 including, in response to detecting the presence of SMS message flooding, generating a second SMS message addressed to a third party.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the second SMS message notifies the third party of an originator of a flood of SMS messages.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the third party is a government agency.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the third party is a network operator.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein using information in the matching entry to detect the presence of SMS message flooding includes determining whether the number of SMS messages received by a called party within a predetermined time period exceeds a threshold number of SMS messages.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein using information in the matching entry to detect the presence of SMS message flooding includes determining whether the number of SMS messages received from a calling party within a predetermined time period exceeds a threshold number of SMS messages.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein using information in the matching entry to detect the presence of SMS message flooding includes determining whether the number of SMS messages received by a network within a predetermined time period exceeds a threshold number of SMS messages.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein using information in the matching entry to detect the presence of SMS message flooding includes determining whether the number of SMS messages received from a network within a predetermined time period exceeds a threshold number of SMS messages.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a first SMS message includes receiving the first SMS message at a network routing node and redirecting the first SMS message to a message processing platform separate from the network routing node.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein redirecting the first SMS message includes examining a destination address contained in the first SMS message.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the destination address contained in the first SMS message includes an SS7 destination point code (DPC) value.

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the destination address contained in the first SMS message includes an IP address value.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein redirecting the first SMS message includes redirecting the first SMS message based on a message type indicator included within the message.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the message type indicator includes a subsystem number (SSN) identifier.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the message type indicator includes a SIP message type identifier.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein redirecting the first SMS message includes examining an origination address contained in the first SMS message.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the origination address contained in the first SMS message includes an SS7 originating point code (OPC) value.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the origination address contained in the first SMS message includes an IP address value.

29. The method of claim 1 comprising, in response to locating a matching entry in the MFC database, incrementing an SMS message counter associated with the matching entry.

30. The method of claim 1 comprising, in response to failing to locate a matching entry in the MFC database, inserting a new entry in the MFC database.

31. A method for collecting information that can be used to prevent a calling party who has previously flooded a called party with SMS messages from flooding another subscriber or the network again, the method comprising:

(a) at a network element, detecting that a calling party identified in a received SMS message is flooding a called party with SMS messages and, in response, entering information for identifying the calling party in a message flood control (MFC) database;

(b) in response to detecting that the calling party is flooding the called party, checking the MFC database to determine whether the calling party has previously flooded any subscriber identified in the MFC database; and

(c) in response to locating a matching entry in the MFC database, sending a message to a third party indicating that the calling party is a repeat offender.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the third party is a network administrator with the capability to remove the offending party'"'"'s authentication from the network, thereby preventing further access.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the third party is a network administrator with the capability to enable screening of calls to block the offending party from accessing the network.

34. The method of claim 31 wherein the third party is a government agency.

36. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the first communication module is a signaling system 7 (SS7)-capable link interface module (LIM).

37. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the first communication module is a Internet protocol (IP)-capable data communication module (DCM).

38. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control information includes the number of SMS messages received within a predetermined time period.

39. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control information includes the number of SMS messages received by a particular mobile subscriber within a predetermined time period.

40. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control information includes the number of SMS messages received from a particular calling party within a predetermined time period.

41. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control information includes the number of SMS messages received from a particular network within a predetermined time period.

42. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control information includes the number of SMS messages directed to a particular network element within a time period.

43. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control module is located within the SMS flood control routing node.

44. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 wherein the SMS flood control module is located external to the SMS flood control routing node.

45. The SMS flood control routing node of claim 35 comprising a provisioning interface for allowing a user to add or modify the data in the SMS flood control database.

35. An SMS flood control routing node comprising:

(a) a first communication module for receiving SMS messages from a network;

(b) an SMS message flood control (MFC) database for storing information for preventing SMS message flooding; and

(c) an SMS flood control module for receiving the SMS messages from the first communication module for performing a lookup in the SMS MFC database based on information extracted from the SMS messages and detecting the presence of SMS message flooding.