System and method for operating intravendor and intervendor messaging systems

• US 20030224809A1
• Filed: 05/31/2002
• Published: 12/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Savinen, Teppo, Warsta, Ville
• Granted Patent: US 7,116,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1854 with non-centralised forwarding system, e.g. chaincast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/182 Network node acting on behalf of an other network entity, e.g. proxy
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A system and method for enabling the operation of intervendor and intravendor messaging service systems within an operator network includes correctly routing data messages and handshaking messages between the various system components. In one aspect, the present invention uses the uniform resource identifier of a particular messaging system to route one or more handshaking messages from a target terminal to the particular messaging system. In another aspect, the present invention uses a message transaction identification embedded in the handshaking message to direct the handshaking message to the correct messaging service system. In one embodiment, the transaction identification is analyzed by a load balancing switch to determine the location of the particular messaging service system. In another embodiment, one or more of the several messaging service systems in the operator network are used to analyze the transaction identification to determine the location of the particular messaging service system.

Claims

1. A method for sending messaging information between an originator terminal and a target terminal in an operator network having several messaging systems, comprising:

initiating a message transaction by sending a message from the originator terminal to the target terminal;

storing the message on a particular messaging service system in the operator network having several messaging service systems; and

directing one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system, each handshaking message indicating a status of the message transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending messaging information between an originator terminal and a target terminal comprises sending multimedia messaging information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein storing the message on the particular messaging system comprises selecting the particular messaging service system according to one or more load balancing parameters.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the particular messaging service system according to one or more load balancing parameters comprises distributing the message to the particular messaging service system based on response times of the several messaging service systems in the operator network.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein selecting the particular messaging service system according to one or more load balancing parameters comprises distributing the message to the particular messaging service system based on storage capacities of the several messaging service systems in the operator network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises sending a notification acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system confirming that a message notification was received by the target terminal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein sending the notification acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging system comprises sending the notification acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the notification acknowledgement is directed.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the notification acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the notification acknowledgement is directed comprises:

including a message location identifier in a notification message from the particular messaging service system to the target terminal, the notification message indicating that the message transaction is stored in the particular messaging service system and the message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system; and

directing the notification acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the notification acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the notification acknowledgement is directed comprises:

including an information element in a notification message from the particular messaging service system to the target terminal, the notification message indicating that the message transaction is stored in the particular messaging service system and the message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system; and

directing the notification acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system specified in the information element.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises sending a delivery acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system confirming that a message has been received by the target terminal.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein sending the delivery acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system includes sending the delivery acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the delivery acknowledgement is directed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein sending the delivery acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the delivery acknowledgement is directed comprises:

including a message location identifier in a notification message from the particular messaging service system to the target terminal, the notification message indicating that the message transaction is stored in the particular messaging service system and the message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system; and

directing the delivery acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein sending the delivery acknowledgement using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to which the delivery acknowledgement is directed comprises:

including an information element in a notification message from the particular messaging service system to the target terminal, the notification message indicating that the message transaction is stored in the particular messaging service system and the message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system; and

directing the delivery acknowledgement from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system specified in the information element.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages from the target client to the particular messaging service system further comprises using a transaction identification to route the one or more handshaking messages to the particular messaging service system to which the one or more handshaking messages are directed.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein using the transaction identification to route the one or more handshaking messages comprises using a load balancing switch to analyze the transaction identification for determining the location of the particular messaging service system to which the one or more handshaking messages are directed.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein using the transaction identification to route the one or more handshaking messages comprises using one or more of the several messaging service systems to analyze the transaction identification to determine the location of the particular messaging service system to which the one or more handshaking messages are directed.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein using one or more of the several messaging service systems to analyze the transaction identification comprises:

routing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to a randomly selected messaging service system in the operator network;

using the randomly selected messaging service system to determine the location of the particular messaging service system; and

sending the one or more handshaking messages from the randomly selected messaging service system to the particular messaging system to which the one or more acknowledgement messages are directed.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages comprises sending a notification acknowledgement message.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages comprises sending a delivery acknowledgement message.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein routing the one or more handshaking messages comprises routing a forwarding request from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system and in response to receiving the forwarding request the particular messaging service system routes a reply to the target terminal through the randomly selected messaging service system.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system further comprises:

sending the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to a randomly selected messaging service system in the operator network; and

routing the one or more handshaking messages from the randomly selected messaging service system to each messaging service system in the operator network.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the randomly selected messaging service system includes sending a notification acknowledgement.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the randomly selected messaging service system includes sending a delivery acknowledgement.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system further comprises sequentially routing the one or more handshaking messages to each messaging service system until the one or more handshaking messages are routed to the particular messaging service system.

25. A messaging system, comprising:

a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, the first mobile terminal initiating a message transaction by sending a message to the second mobile terminal; and

a particular messaging service system coupled to the first and the second mobile terminals and occupying an operator network including several messaging service systems, the messaging service system configured to store the message sent by the first mobile terminal and receive handshaking messages regarding the status of the message transaction directed from the second mobile terminal to the particular messaging service system.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the message sent by the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal is a multimedia message.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising a load-balancing switch coupled to the several messaging service systems for directing messages and handshaking messages between the several messaging service systems in the operator network and the mobile terminals.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the second mobile terminal sends a notification acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system confirming that a message notification has been received by the second mobile terminal.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the second mobile terminal uses the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system to direct a notification acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the particular messaging service system incorporates a message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system into a notification message sent from the particular messaging service system to the second mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal directs a notification acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the particular messaging service system incorporates an information element specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system into a notification message to the second mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal directs a notification acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system specified in the information element.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the second mobile terminal directs a delivery acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system to confirm that a message has been received by the second mobile terminal.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the second mobile terminal directs a delivery acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

34. The system of claim 25, wherein the particular messaging service system incorporates a message location identifier specifying the uniform resource identifier of particular messaging service system into a notification message sent to the second mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal directs a delivery acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

35. The system of claim 25, wherein the particular messaging service system incorporates an information element specifying the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system into a notification message to the second mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal directs a delivery acknowledgement to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system specified in the information element.

36. The system of claim 25, wherein one or more of the several messaging service systems determine the location of the particular messaging service system to which the handshaking messages are directed by analyzing a transaction identification.

37. The system of claim 27, wherein the load-balancing switch uses a transaction identification to route handshaking messages to the particular messaging service system to which the handshaking messages are directed.

38. The system of claim 27, wherein the load-balancing switch routes the one or more handshaking messages from the second mobile terminal to a randomly selected messaging service system, the randomly selected messaging service system analyzes the transaction identification to identify the particular messaging service system and routes the handshaking messages to the particular messaging service system to which the handshaking messages are directed.

39. The system of claim 27, wherein the load-balancing switch sends the handshaking messages from the second mobile terminal to a randomly selected messaging service system in the operator network and the randomly selected messaging service system routes the handshaking messages to each messaging service system in the operator network.

40. The system of claim 27, wherein each messaging service system in the operator network routes the handshaking messages to another messaging service system until the handshaking messages are routed to the particular messaging service system.

41. A messaging system, comprising:

means for initiating a message transaction by sending a message from an originator terminal to a target terminal;

means for storing the message on a particular messaging service system in an operator network having several messaging service systems; and

means for directing one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system, each handshaking message indicating a status of the message transaction.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein means for initiating a message transaction by sending a message from an originator terminal to a target terminal comprises means for sending multimedia messaging information.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein means for means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for directing the one or more handshaking messages to the particular messaging service system using the uniform resource identifier of the particular messaging service system.

44. The system of claim 41, wherein means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for using a transaction identification for directing the one or more handshaking messages to the particular messaging service system.

45. The system of claim 41, wherein means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for using a load-balancing switch to determine the location of the particular messaging service system by analyzing a transaction identification.

46. The system of claim 41, wherein means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for using one or more of the several messaging service systems to determine a location of the particular messaging service system by analyzing a transaction identification.

47. The system of claim 41, wherein means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for sending the one or more handshaking messages to each messaging service system in the operator network.

48. The system of claim 41, wherein means for directing the one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system comprises means for sequentially routing the one or more handshaking messages to each messaging service system until the one or more handshaking messages are routed to the particular messaging service system.

49. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for sending messaging information between an originator terminal and a target terminal in an operator network having several messaging systems, the computer-executable instructions performing a method comprising:

initiating a message transaction by sending a message from the originator terminal to the target terminal;

storing the message on a particular messaging service system in the operator network having several messaging service systems; and

directing one or more handshaking messages from the target terminal to the particular messaging service system, each handshaking message indicating a status of the message transaction.