Cellular telephone network having short message service interaction with other networks
First Claim
1. A communications system, comprising:
- a cellular communications network comprising a plurality of mobile stations engaging in cellular telephone communications as well as short message service message communications wherein at least one short message service message contains a destination address in a non-cellular communications network as well as a network designation identifying that non-cellular communications network for the destination address;
a plurality of non-cellular communications networks for carrying network message communications; and
means connected between the cellular and non-cellular communications networks for facilitating inter-network message communications, said means functioning to perform a conversion of short message service messages originated at mobile stations on the cellular network to network messages transmitted for delivery by a certain one of the non-cellular communications networks to the destination address and to identify that certain one of the non-cellular communication networks for converting and delivering the network message from the network designation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for facilitating inter-network message communications within the framework of a cellular telecommunications network. The message center of the cellular network includes functionality for processing received messages and forwarding the received messages between the cellular network and other connected networks. Each message handled by the message center includes a destination identifier in the text field of the message which identifies not only the delivery destination (addressee) for the message, but also the network over which the message is to be transmitted in order to reach the identified delivery destination. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the message center functionality facilitates inter-network communications among and between a cellular network (using SMS message format transmissions), a conventional telephone network (using facsimile message format transmissions), and a wide or local area network (using e-mail message format transmissions).
429 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A communications system, comprising:
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a cellular communications network comprising a plurality of mobile stations engaging in cellular telephone communications as well as short message service message communications wherein at least one short message service message contains a destination address in a non-cellular communications network as well as a network designation identifying that non-cellular communications network for the destination address; a plurality of non-cellular communications networks for carrying network message communications; and means connected between the cellular and non-cellular communications networks for facilitating inter-network message communications, said means functioning to perform a conversion of short message service messages originated at mobile stations on the cellular network to network messages transmitted for delivery by a certain one of the non-cellular communications networks to the destination address and to identify that certain one of the non-cellular communication networks for converting and delivering the network message from the network designation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 13)
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- 7. A message center for a cellular communications network, the cellular communications network supporting the transmission of short message service messages to and from mobile stations, the message center including an inter-network communications functionality facilitating the transmission of messages between the cellular communications network and a plurality of non-cellular communications networks connected thereto wherein each of the messages contains a destination address in a non-cellular communications network as well as a network designation identifying that non-cellular communications network for the destination address, the non-cellular communications network supporting the transmission of network messages, said inter-network communications functionality operating to convert short message service messages originated at mobile stations to network messages for transmission over a certain one of the non-cellular communications networks to the destination address and to identify that certain one of the non-cellular communications networks for converting the network message from the network designation in the short message service message.
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11. A method for inter-network message communications, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a short message service message originated at a mobile station of a cellular communications network, said message received at an interconnection point between the cellular communications network and a plurality of non-cellular communications networks, and said message including a destination address in a non-cellular communications network as well as a network designation identifying that non-cellular communications network for the destination address; converting the received short message service message for transmission as a network message over a certain one of the non-cellular communications networks, the step of converting including the step of identifying the certain one of the non-cellular communications networks from the included network designation and the step of identifying a destination on that certain non-cellular network for the network message comprising the converted short message service message from the included destination address; and delivering the network message over the certain non-cellular communications network to the identified destination address. - View Dependent Claims (12, 14, 15)
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16. A method for inter-network message communications, comprising the steps of:
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receiving a network message originated on a non-cellular communications network, said message received at an interconnection point between the non-cellular communications network and a cellular communications network including a plurality of mobile stations, said message including a primary address for the network message comprising an address within the non-cellular communications network for the interconnection point and further including a secondary address for the network message comprising an address within the cellular communications network for a certain one of the mobile stations; converting the received network message for transmission as a short message service message over the cellular communications network, the step of converting including the step of identifying a destination mobile station on the cellular network for delivery of the short message service message comprising the converted network message from the included secondary address; and delivering the short message service message over the cellular communications network to the identified destination mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A communications system, comprising;
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a cellular communications network comprising a plurality of mobile stations engaging in cellular telephone communications as well as short message service message communications; a non-cellular communications network for carrying network message communications wherein at least one network communication contains a primary address for the network message comprising an address within the non-cellular communications network for a network interconnection point and further including a secondary address for the network message comprising an address within the cellular communications network for a certain one of the mobile stations; and means connected between the cellular and non-cellular communications networks at the addressed network interconnection point for facilitating inter-network message communications, said means functioning to perform a conversion of network messages originated on the non-cellular communications network to short message service messages transmitted for delivery to mobile stations by the cellular communications network and to identify the certain one of the mobile stations in the cellular communications network from the included secondary address for delivery of the short message service message. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A message center for a cellular communications network, the cellular communications network supporting the transmission of short message service messages to and from mobile stations, the message center including an inter-network communications functionality facilitating the transmission of messages between the cellular communications network and a plurality of non-cellular communications networks connected thereto wherein the messages contain a destination address, the non-cellular communications networks supporting the transmission of network messages, said inter-network communications functionality operating to;
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convert network messages originated on the non-cellular communications network to short message service messages for transmission over the cellular communications network and delivery to a certain mobile station identified by the destination address; and convert short message service messages originated on the cellular communications network to network messages formatted for a certain one of the non-cellular communications networks identified in an included network designation for transmission over the non-cellular communications network and delivery to a certain entity identified by the destination address. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification