Methods and systems for providing short message gateway functionality in a telecommunications network

• US 20050003838A1
• Filed: 05/10/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec Global, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Bantukul, Apirux, Marsico, Peter J., Schaedler, Richard E., McCann, Thomas M., Rao, Raghavendra G.
• Granted Patent: US 6,885,872 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/28 Number portability ; Network address portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A short message gateway may include signal transfer point (STP) functionality, mobile originating short message service center (SMSC) functionality, and short message delivery point-to-point (SMPP) gateway functionality. The short message gateway may receive an SS7 message including a short message payload. The short message gateway may formulate an SMPP message including the short message payload and access one or more internal address resolution and/or number portability databases to determine the destination address for the SMPP message. The short message gateway may then forward the SMPP message to its destination.

Claims

1. A method for communicating a short message payload to a destination, the method comprising:

(a) receiving an SS7-based short message service (SMS) message at a short message gateway node, the SMS message including a destination mobile subscriber address and a short message payload;

(b) using the destination mobile subscriber address to perform a number portability (NP) translation using an NP database in the short message gateway node and obtaining a location routing number responsive to the mobile subscriber being ported;

(c) generating, at the short message gateway node, a short message point-to-point (SMPP) message based on the SMS message, the SMPP message including the destination mobile subscriber address, the LRN, and the short message payload; and

(d) transmitting the SMPP message from the short message gateway node to an SMPP gateway.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an SMS message includes receiving a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile application part (MAP) MO_ForwardSM message.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an SMS message includes receiving a American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Interim Standard 41 (IS-41) MAP SMDPP_Request message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein generating an SMPP message includes generating an SMPP Submit_SM message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein transmitting an SMPP message includes transmitting the SMPP message via an SMPP-over-Internet protocol communication link.

6. The method of claim 1 including buffering SMS message information in the event that the SMPP gateway is congested or unable to receive messages.

7. The method of claim 1 including generating and storing usage measurements associated with SMS message processing.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the usage measurements include peg count information.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the usage measurements include temporary buffer resource usage information.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein generating and storing usage measurements includes generating and storing a call detail record (CDR).

11. The method of claim 7 including using the usage measurements to generate a bill.

12. A method for communicating a short message payload to a destination, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, at a short message gateway, an SS7-based short message service (SMS) message including a destination mobile subscriber address and a short message payload;

(b) using the destination mobile subscriber address to perform a number portability (NP) translation and obtaining location routing number (LRN) responsive to the mobile subscriber being ported;

(c) responsive to the mobile subscriber not being ported, determining a destination address for the short message payload using the destination mobile subscriber address and a destination mobile subscriber address-to-destination address translation database within the short message gateway;

(d) responsive to the mobile subscriber being ported, determining the destination address for the short message payload using the LRN and an LRN-to-destination address translation database within the short message gateway;

(e) generating, at the short message gateway, a short message point-to-point (SMPP) message based on the SS7 SMS message, the SMPP message including the short message payload; and

(f) transmitting the SMPP message from the short message gateway to the destination address determined in step (c) or step (d).

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving an SS7-based SMS message includes receiving a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) mobile application part (MAP) MO_ForwardSM message.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving an SS7-based SMS message includes receiving an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Interim Standard 41 (IS-41) MAP SMDPP_Request message.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein using the destination mobile subscriber address to perform an NP translation includes accessing an NP database within the short message gateway.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein generating an SMPP message includes generating an SMPP Submit_SM message.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein transmitting the SMPP message includes transmitting the message via an SMPP-over-Internet protocol communication link.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein transmitting the SMPP message to the destination address includes transmitting the SMPP message to an SMPP gateway.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein transmitting the SMPP message to the destination address includes transmitting the SMPP message to a terminating short message service center (SMSC).

20. The method of claim 12 including buffering SMS message information responsive to an entity associated with destination address being congested or unable to receive messages.

21. The method of claim 12 including generating and storing usage measurements associated with processing of the SS7 SMS message.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the usage measurements include peg count information.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the usage measurements include buffer resource usage information.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein generating and storing usage measurements includes generating and storing a call detail record (CDR).

25. The method of claim 21 including using the usage measurements information to generate a bill.

26. A short message gateway (SMG) node comprising:

(a) a first communications module for receiving an SS7 short message service (SMS) message including a destination mobile subscriber address and a short message payload;

(b) an application engine module operatively associated with the first communications module for receiving the SMS message from the first communication module, generating a short message point-to-point (SMPP) message responsive to the SMS message, including the short message payload in the SMPP message, and performing routing address resolution processing to determine a destination address for the SMPP message;

(c) a database accessible by the application engine module, the database including information useable by the application engine module for performing the routing address resolution processing and determining the destination address for the SMPP message; and

(d) a second communications module for transmitting the SMPP message to the destination address.

27. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the first communications module comprises a signaling system 7 (SS7) link interface module (LIM) for communicating with a mobile communications network.

28. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the first communications module is adapted to communicate with a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network.

29. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the first communications module is adapted to communicate with an Interim Standard (IS)-41 network.

30. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the application engine module comprises a computing platform coupled to an internal communication bus within the SMG node.

31. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the database comprises a number portability database for performing the routing address resolution processing.

32. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the database comprises a number portability database for performing message authentication.

33. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the database comprises a LRN-to-destination address mapping database accessible by the application engine module for determining destination addresses for SMPP messages intended for ported subscribers.

34. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the database comprises a dialed number-to-destination address mapping database accessible by the application engine module for determining destination addresses for SMPP messages intended for non-ported subscribers.

35. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the second communications module comprises an Internet protocol (IP) capable data communication module (DCM).

36. The short message gateway node of claim 26 including an output buffer for buffering outbound SMPP messages responsive to destinations for the SMPP messages being unavailable or unreachable.

37. The short message gateway node of claim 26 including a usage measurements database for collecting and storing information associated with SMS message processing.

38. The short message gateway node of claim 26 wherein the first communications module, the application engine module, and the second communications module are components of a signal transfer point.

39. The short message gateway node of claim 33 wherein the LRN-to-destination address mapping database includes LRN-to-mobile terminated SMSC address mappings for sending the SMPP messages intended for the ported subscribers to mobile terminated SMSCs associated with the ported subscribers.

40. The short message gateway node of claim 34 wherein the dialed number-to-destination address mapping database includes dialed number-to-destination mobile terminated SMSC address mappings for delivering the SMPP messages intended for non-ported subscribers to mobile terminated SMSCs associated with the non-ported subscribers.

41. A short message gateway comprising:

(a) an SS7 interface for sending and receiving SS7 messages via an SS7 network;

(b) an SMS gateway application operatively associated with the SS7 interface for receiving SS7 messages including short message payloads, for performing originating SMSC and SMPP gateway functionality for converting the SS7 messages into SMPP messages including the short message payloads and determining mobile terminating short message service center (SMSC) addresses for the SMPP messages; and

(c) an SMPP interface operatively associated with the SMS gateway application for sending the SMPP messages to destination mobile terminating SMSCs.

42. The short message gateway of claim 41 wherein the SS7 interface includes SS7 MTP routing functionality.

43. The short message gateway of claim 41 wherein the application engine module includes number portability translation functionality for performing number portability translations for received SS7 messages containing SMS payloads that are directed to ported mobile subscribers.

44. The short message gateway of claim 43 wherein the application engine module is adapted to use the number portability translations to determine the mobile terminating SMSC addresses for SMPP messages intended for ported subscribers.

45. The short message gateway of claim 41 wherein the SMPP interface includes SMPP over IP functionality for sending the SMPP messages to the mobile terminating SMSC over an IP network.

46. A method for communicating a short message payload to a destination, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, at a short message gateway, an SMPP-based message including a destination mobile subscriber address and a short message payload;

(b) using the destination mobile subscriber address to perform a number portability (NP) translation and obtain a location routing number (LRN) responsive to the mobile subscriber being ported;

(c) responsive to the mobile subscriber not being ported, determining a destination address for the short message payload using the destination mobile subscriber address and a destination mobile subscriber address-to-destination address translation database within the short message gateway;

(d) responsive to the mobile subscriber being ported, determining a destination address for the short message payload using the LRN and an LRN-to-destination address translation database within the short message gateway; and

(e) transmitting the SMPP message from the short message gateway to the destination address determined in step (c) or step (d).

47. The method of claim 46 where the SMPP-based message comprises an SMPP Submit_SM message.

48. A method for communicating a short message payload to a destination, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, at a short message gateway, an SMPP-based message including a destination identifier and a short message payload;

(b) at the short message gateway, resolving the destination identifier to a routable destination address; and

(c) transmitting the SMPP-based message from the short message gateway to the destination address.

49. The method of claim 48 where the SMPP-based message comprises an SMPP Submit_SM message.

50. The method of claim 48 where the destination identifier comprises a network entity address identifier.

51. The method of claim 48 where the destination identifier comprises an Internet protocol (IP) address.

52. The method of claim 51 where the IP address comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) identifier.