Intelligent short message delivery system and method

• US 20090318174A1
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sierra Wireless America Incorporated (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Numerex Corporation (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Inventors: Criscolo, Michael J., Tarleton, Bryan Keith
• Granted Patent: US 8,738,046 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 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure

Abstract

An intelligent short message system can provide an integrated home location register and short message service center (HLR/SMSC). Upon receiving an indication from a mobile switching center (MSC) that an SMS message could not be delivered to a destination device, the integrated HLR/SMSC prevents further retries from being attempted until the destination device becomes available again.

Claims

9. An intelligent SMS system, comprising:

a short message service center (SMSC) configured to perform the following functions;

receive an SMS message from a sending device for delivery to a destination device;

determine a serving mobile switching center (MSC) where the sending device is registered;

forward the SMS message to the serving MSC;

receive a delivery failure notification from the serving MSC;

update a database to reflect that the destination device is unavailable to prevent additional delivery attempts to the destination device;

receive a registration notification from the serving MSC that the destination device is available;

update the database to reflect that the destination device is available; and

forward the SMS message to the serving MSC for delivery to the destination device.

1. A method for intelligently transmitting a SMS message to a destination device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the SMS message from a sending device;

determining a serving mobile switching center (MSC) to which the SMS message should be forwarded;

forwarding the SMS message to the serving MSC;

receiving a failure notification from the serving MSC;

updating a database to reflect a status of the destination device to prevent additional delivery attempts to the destination device unit the status changes.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of notifying the sending device of the status of the destination device.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of sending a message to a visitor location register (VLR) instructing the VLR to cancel the destination device from its active records.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein upon receiving an updated status of the destination device from a visitor location register (VLR), the SMS message is delivered to the destination device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein upon receiving another attempt to forward the SMS message to the destination device, immediately notifying the sending device that the destination device is unavailable.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of forwarding the SMS message to a serving MSC only upon receiving a notification that the destination device is available to receive the SMS message.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is forwarded to the serving MSC only when the database reflects that the destination device is available.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a registration notification from the serving MSC that the destination device is available;

updating the status of the destination device; and

forwarding the SMS message to the serving MSC for delivery to the destination device.

10. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein the SMSC is further configured to notify the sending device of the status of the destination device.

11. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein the SMSC is further configured to send a message to a visitor location register (VLR) to cancel the destination device from the records of the VLR.

12. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein upon receiving another attempt to forward the SMS message to the destination device, the SMSC automatically sends a failure notification to the sending device based on the unavailability of the destination device.

13. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein upon receiving another attempt to forward the SMS message to the destination device, the SMSC performs the steps of:

checking the availability of the destination device by referencing the database; and

if the destination device is recorded in the database as being unavailable, immediately notifying the sending device that the destination device is unavailable.

14. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein the SMSC is further configured to forward the SMS message to a serving MSC only when the database does not list the destination device as being unavailable.

15. The intelligent SMS system of claim 9, wherein the SMSC is further configured to store the SMS message in a queue and forward the SMS message to a serving MSC upon receiving a notification that the destination device is available to receive the SMS message.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs the step of forwarding the SMS message to a serving MSC only upon receiving a notification that the destination device is available to receive the SMS message.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein upon receiving an updated status of the destination device from a visitor location register, the SMS message is delivered to the destination device.

16. A short message service center (SMSC) comprising:

a database; and

a processor, wherein the processor is configured to perform the steps of;

receiving an SMS message from a sending device for delivery to a destination device;

determining a serving mobile switching center (MSC) to forward the SMS message;

forwarding the SMS message to the serving MSC;

receiving a failure notification from the serving MSC;

updating the database to reflect the status of the destination device to prevent additional delivery attempts to the destination device.

17. The SMSC of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs the step of notifying the sending device of the status of the destination device.

18. The SMSC of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs the step of sending a message to a visitor location register (VLR) to cancel the destination device.

19. The SMSC of claim 16, wherein upon receiving another attempt to forward the SMS message to the destination device, the processor further performs the step of automatically sending a failure notification to the sending device.

20. The SMSC of claim 16, wherein upon receiving another attempt to forward the SMS message to the destination device, the processor further performs the step of immediately notifying the sending device that the destination device is unavailable.

21-1. The method of claim 15, wherein the SMSC further comprises the functionality of a home location register (HLR).