Data communications protocol for facilitating communications between a message entry device and a messaging center
First Claim
1. A method for exchanging data between a message entry device (MED) and a message handling center (MC), comprising:
- defining one of the MED and MC which initiates a communications connection between the MED and MC as a client with the other of the MED and MC being a server, where either the MED or the MC may independently initiate a communications connection as the client;
establishing a set of human-readable transactional commands used by the client and server to transmit information over the established communications connection, each transactional command including a transaction request protocol data unit (PDU) sent from the client which initiates the transaction and a transaction confirm protocol data unit (PDU) sent from the server which confirms whether the transaction request is successful;
generating at one of the MED and the MEC a message to be sent to the other of the MED and the MC;
encapsulating the message between first and second delimiters and associating a message tag with the encapsulated message;
encapsulating the delimited message and associated message tag between third and fourth delimiters to form a protocol data unit (PDU) and associating a PDU tag with the encapsulated message, thereby generating an encoded PDU; and
sending the encoded PDU to the other of the MED and the MC.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data communications protocol facilitates communications between a message entry device and a messaging center. The protocol permits an operator to enter a message and transmit it quickly, efficiently, and with confirmation. In an example application to short text messaging, two-way data communications between a message entry device and a message handling center, a small set of simple transactional commands is used for communicating messages to and from cellular telephones. Both the message entry device and the message handling center may independently initiate and send messages to the other. An input message is encoded by encapsulating the message between first and second delimiters, e.g., "{" and "}", and associating a message tag with the encapsulated message. Both the message tag and the encapsulated message are in human-readable ASCII format. The delimited message and associated message tag are further encapsulated by additional delimiters to form a protocol data unit with an associated protocol data unit tag. The message handling center simply parses the various delimited fields in accordance with the associated tags. No complicated encoding or decoding procedures are necessary.
368 Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for exchanging data between a message entry device (MED) and a message handling center (MC), comprising:
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defining one of the MED and MC which initiates a communications connection between the MED and MC as a client with the other of the MED and MC being a server, where either the MED or the MC may independently initiate a communications connection as the client; establishing a set of human-readable transactional commands used by the client and server to transmit information over the established communications connection, each transactional command including a transaction request protocol data unit (PDU) sent from the client which initiates the transaction and a transaction confirm protocol data unit (PDU) sent from the server which confirms whether the transaction request is successful; generating at one of the MED and the MEC a message to be sent to the other of the MED and the MC; encapsulating the message between first and second delimiters and associating a message tag with the encapsulated message; encapsulating the delimited message and associated message tag between third and fourth delimiters to form a protocol data unit (PDU) and associating a PDU tag with the encapsulated message, thereby generating an encoded PDU; and sending the encoded PDU to the other of the MED and the MC. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A messaging system for delivering messages, comprising:
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a message handling center providing a plurality of messaging services including storing messages in electronic form and forwarding the messages to destination devices under prescribed conditions; a mobile radio communications network connected to the message handling center including a radio base station for communicating voice and data call information over radio channels with portable radios; a message service center including; a telephone for receiving from a call originator a text message to be delivered to one of the portable radios, the text message including alphanumeric characters and other symbols readable by humans; a message entry device connected to the message handling center used to enter the text message, the message entry device including a message processor for encoding the text message and control information related to the text message into a format where at least part of the text message is encapsulated between first and second delimiters and is associated with a message tag, and the control information is encapsulated between third and fourth delimiters to form a protocol data unit (PDU) in which the text message and control information are in human readable format, the PDU being transmitted to the message handling center, wherein the message handling device receives the PDU, parses out the at least part of the text message and control information using the delimiters and message tag, processes the control information and message tag, and delivers the text message to the one portable radio by way of the mobile radio network and the radio base station in accordance with the control information. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification