Short message (sms) storage system

• US 20050064882A1
• Filed: 12/09/2002
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Original Assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
• Inventors: Garcia Robles, Ana, Molina Zamora, Fernando, Bragado Carrasco, Loreto
• Granted Patent: US 7,373,384 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 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/24 between backbone network devices

Abstract

It comprises a Short Message Service Center (2) (SMSC), STP nodes (4) (Signal Transfer Point), Home Location Register (3) (HLR) and Visitor Location Register (VLR); it is characterized in that it comprises additional SMS storage means (5) and storage means (3 or 4) of an identification of said additional SMS storage means (5), which relates the identification of the means (5) with their address in the mobile network, so that when sending a number corresponding to the identification of the means (5), means (3 or 4) are consulted, from which means the address of the network associated with the identification used as a VLR address for sending the SMS to means (5) is obtained, being stored in these means as if they were a mobile terminal. Storage is carried out such that each mobile terminal subscriber uses the identification of the means (5) for sending an SMS, which had previously been received or generated, in the same manner as it does when it sends an SMS to another mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A short message storage system comprising a Short Message Service Center (2) arranged for receiving short messages from a sender mobile terminal and for forwarding said short messages to a recipient mobile terminal, said Short Message Service Center comprising means of accessing, through a Signal Transfer Point node (4), a Home Location Register (3) for obtaining information corresponding to:

the Visitor Location Register in which the recipient mobile terminal is registered; and

the International Mobile Subscriber Identification of said recipient mobile terminal;

whereby the Short Message Service Center is arranged to deliver the message to the recipient mobile terminal through said Visitor Location Register,

characterized in that

the system further comprises;

additional short message storage means (5) for storing short messages; and

identification storage means for storing an identification of said additional short message storage means (5), whereby the system is arranged so that when a short message is sent from a mobile terminal towards the additional short message storage means using said identification, the identification storage means access means arranged for univocally relating said identification with a storage address having a Visitor Location Register address format but being an address of the additional short message storage means, whereby the system is arranged so that when the short message sent from a mobile terminal to the Short Message Service Center refers to the identification of the additional short message storage means (5), the Short Message Service Center will forward the short message to the additional short message storage means (5) at said storage address having a Visitor Location Register address format, the system further being arranged to store the short message in said additional short message storage means (5) together with an identification of the mobile terminal that sent the short message.

2. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification storage means comprise the Signal Transfer Point (4) data base, whereas the means arranged for univocally relating said identification with a storage address are provided in the additional short message storage means (5), whereby the system is arranged so that when a subscriber sends a short message referring to the identification of said additional short message storage means (5), the Signal Transfer Point (4) accesses the additional short message storage means (5), which are arranged to return the storage address.

3. A system according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification storage means are provided in a Home Location Register (3), the means arranged for univocally relating said identification with a storage address also being provided in the Home Location Register (3), whereby the system is arranged so that when a subscriber sends a short message referring to the identification of the additional short message storage means (5), the Short Message Service Center (5) is arranged to access the Home Location Register (3) through the Signal Transfer Point (4), the Home Location Register (3) being arranged to return the storage address.

4. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the additional short message storage means are arranged for generating, when receiving a short message, a message receipt confirmation, and for returning said message receipt confirmation to the Short Message Service Center (2).

5. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the additional short message storage means (5) comprise a storage data base for storage of relevant fields of the short messages, as well as for storage of data corresponding to the subscribers, including subscriber identification data and message service profile.

6. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the additional short message storage means (5) comprise an interface (7) with the mobile telephone network (12) arranged for permitting communication with different nodes of said network.

7. A system according to claim 6, characterized in that the interface (7) with the mobile telephone network (12) is a Mobile Application Part interface.

8. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the additional short message storage means (5) comprise a message download and configuration interface (8) arranged for accessing stored short messages from a means outside of the mobile telephone network and/or from any external machine by means of a user identifier and password, the external means in turn being arranged for permitting the mobile telephone network to access the short message by means of the mobile terminal (1), as well as to re-send messages to another recipient mobile terminal.

9. A system according to claim 8, characterized in that the message download and configuration interface (8) is of the web type, where a server constitutes the additional short message storage means, the clients being subscribers to a service involving storage of short messages in the additional short message storage means.

10. A system according to claim 8, characterized in that the message download and configuration interface (8) comprises means for configuring a personal e-mail address for re-sending the short messages, translated to mail, to an e-mail address.

11. A system according to claim 5, characterized in that the additional short message storage means (5) also comprise an internal management module (9) arranged for controlling proper system functioning according to orders received by the different interfaces (7, 8).

12. A system according to claim 2, characterized in that the identification of the additional short message storage means (5) is stored in the data base of all the Signal Transfer Points (4) included in the mobile telephone network.

13. A system according to claim 10, characterized in that it is arranged for carrying out re-sending of the short messages manually or automatically, according to criteria previously established in the message download and configuration interface (8).