IMS AND SMS INTERWORKING

• US 20090129372A1
• Filed: 01/15/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schlieber, Karl J., Pandey, Vinod Kumar, Wang, Jianrong, Stafford, Matthew Wayne
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• 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 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

Providing for inter-working between SMS network architectures and IMS network architectures in a mobile environment is described herein. By way of example, a next generation (NG) short message service center (SMSC) is provided that can receive SMS messages in mobile application protocol (MAP) and convert such messages to IMS protocol. In addition, the NG SMSC can also receive IMS data and convert the IMS data to an SMS MAP message. The NG SMSC can reference an IMS or an SMS location registry to determine a location of the target device, and convert from IMS to SMS MAP, and vice versa, as suitable. Accordingly, the NG SMSC can provide an efficient interface between legacy SMS and NG IMS network components while preserving legacy protocols associated with such networks.

Claims

1. A system that provides an interface between short message service (SMS) and Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) networks and devices, comprising:

a short message (SM) routing component that receives a circuit-switched or packet-switched short message and identifies whether a recipient device is packet-capable; and

a next generation serving mobile switching center (NG SMSC) configured to access a packet-switched location server if the recipient device is packet-capable and configured to access a circuit-switched location server if the recipient device is not packet-capable.

2. The system of claim 1, the NG SMSC further comprises an Internet Protocol (IP)/SMS gateway that converts the short message from a circuit-switched protocol to a packet-switched protocol, or vice versa.

3. The system of claim 2, the IP/SMS gateway is configured to extract a circuit-switched protocol message encapsulated within a packet-switched message protocol if the recipient device is not packet-capable.

4. The system of claim 1, the NG SMSC further comprises a routing function that at least one of:

converts short message peer-to-peer (SMPP)/Internet Protocol (IP) protocol to mobile application part signaling system 7 (MAP SS7) protocol or vice versa;

queries a pre-paid database to determine pre-paid billing information associated with the recipient device or an initiating device;

interfaces with a mediation component to finalize billing associated with the circuit-switched or packet-switched short message;

or

accesses a network subscriber directory to determine a packet or circuit switched capability of the recipient device.

5. The system of claim 1, the NG SMSC further comprises a delivery function that accesses a home location register of a legacy SMS network if the recipient device is not packet-capable, or accesses a home subscriber server (HSS) of an IMS network if the recipient device is packet-capable.

6. The system of claim 1, the NG SMSC interfaces an SMS core network with an IMS core network, and provides conversion from MAP SS7 protocol to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), or vice versa.

7. The system of claim 6, the NG SMSC provides an interface between an external short message entity (ESME) application, connected to the SMS core network, and a packet-capable mobile device.

8. The system of claim 6, the NG SMSC provides an interface between an ESME application, utilizing a packet-switched protocol and connected to the IMS core network, and a circuit-switched device utilizing MAP/SS7 protocol.

9. The system of claim 6, the NG SMSC provides an interface between at least one of:

a second SMS core, interfaced with the SMS core, and at least an SIP protocol mobile device;

or

a second IMS core, interfaced with the IMS core, and at least a circuit-switched MAP SS7 protocol mobile device.

10. The system of claim 1, the recipient device is an SMS device or an IMS device, or IMS and SMS capable.

11. The system of claim 1, the packet-switched location server is an HSS associated with an IMS core network.

12. The system of claim 1, the circuit-switched location server is an HLR associated with an SMS core network.

13. A method of interfacing circuit-switched and packet-switched mobile messaging networks, comprising:

receiving a mobile network message;

determining whether a target of the message is a circuit-switched domain device or a packet-switched domain device;

querying a location register to identify location or routing information related to the target if the target is in the packet-switched domain, the location register stores information pertinent to packet-capable devices only; and

forwarding the mobile network message to the packet-switched domain for delivery.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising converting the message from a circuit-switched protocol to a packet-switched protocol.

15. The method of claim 14, employing an SMS SS7 protocol as the circuit-switched protocol or employing SIP as the packet-switched protocol.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising querying a second location register to identify location or routing information related to the target if the target is in the circuit-switched domain.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising at least one of:

determining whether the target or an initiating device are on a pre-paid or post-paid billing system; and

implementing billing procedures for the mobile network message based on the pre-paid or the post-paid billing system, or both.

18. A system that interfaces circuit-switched and packet-switched mobile messaging networks, comprising:

means for receiving a mobile network message;

means for determining whether a target of the message is a circuit-switched domain device or a packet-switched domain device;

means for querying a storage means to identify location or routing information related to the target if the target is in the packet-switched domain, the storage means includes information pertinent to packet-capable devices only; and

means for forwarding the mobile network message to the packet-switched domain for delivery.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for converting the message from a circuit-switched protocol to a packet-switched protocol.

20. The system of claim 18, the means for querying references a second storage means to identify location or routing information related to the target if the target is in the circuit-switched domain.