Short message service protocol gateway

• US 8,923,900 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Midkiff, David
• Primary Examiner(s): KELLEY, STEVEN SHAUN
• Application Number:
  US13/296,330
• Publication Number:
  US 20120057586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,141 Days
• Field of Search: 455/406, 455/466
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8221 Message based
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/085 involving different upper layer protocol versions, e.g. LCS - SUPL or WSN-SOA-WSDP
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A system for communicating short message service messages from a SMS application to a wireless communication device. The system includes a protocol gateway for converting messages from a simple object access protocol (SOAP) to a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) protocol. By using a SOAP protocol for a portion of communications between the SMS application and the wireless communication device, the system provides communications path in which SMS application is not required to maintain knowledge of the complex SMPP protocol. The system may also include a billing mechanism for charging subscribers for content received by the wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A method, associated with delivery of short message service messages, comprising:

receiving, by a gateway having a processor, delivery responses confirming that short message service messages have been sent to a plurality of destination addresses, each of the short message service messages having identical message content;

assembling, by the gateway, the delivery responses to generate a composite response;

sending, by the gateway, the composite response to a short message service application;

receiving, by the gateway, from the short message service application, a validity request being formatted in a first, simple-object-access, protocol and identifying multiple addresses of the destination addresses;

converting, by the gateway, the validity request, identifying the multiple addresses, from the first, simple-object-access, protocol into a plurality of queries, each of the queries being formatted according to a second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol and including one of the multiple addresses;

sending, by the gateway, in a second sending act, one of the queries, being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol, to a service for verification of the address of the query;

receiving, by the gateway, from the service, in a second receiving act, a validity response message responding to the query sent and being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol;

repeating, in connection with each remaining query of the plurality of queries, the second sending and the second receiving acts;

assembling the validity response messages received to create a composite validity response message being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol; and

sending, to the short message service application, the composite validity response message being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the short message service application, a bulk short message service request including the identical message content and the plurality of destination addresses and being formatted in the first protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising obtaining a separate short message service send request in the second protocol for each of the destination addresses of the bulk short message service request, each send request including the identical message content.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the separate send request for each of the destination addresses includes:

converting the bulk short message service request from the first protocol to the second protocol; and

generating the separate send request in the second protocol for each of the destination addresses of the bulk short message service request.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the gateway is a first gateway; and

the method further comprises sending the separate short message service send requests to a second gateway for delivery to the destination addresses.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the bulk short message service request includes a delivery notification flag.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the gateway is a first gateway; and

the method further comprises;

obtaining a separate send request in the second protocol for each of the destination addresses of the bulk short message service request, each send request including the identical message content and the delivery notification flag; and

sending the separate short message service send requests, including the identical message content and the notification flag, to a second gateway for delivery to the destination addresses.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the short message service messages are associated with the bulk short message service request, the short message service messages having been sent to the plurality of destination addresses in response to receiving the bulk short message service request; and

the method further comprises billing a subscriber corresponding to one of the destination addresses for receiving the short message service message associated with the bulk short message service request.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, to a billing server, a purchase request comprising at least one piece of data selected from a group of data consisting of:

a type of the message content;

a price of the message content;

a mobile telephone number corresponding to a mobile account to be billed by the billing server;

an amount of data to be sent to a mobile device associated with the mobile telephone number; and

an amount to be charged to the mobile account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the service is configured to receive multiple destination addresses in a single validity request; and

the method further comprises;

sending, to the service for verification, at least one combined query having more than one of the distinction addresses; and

receiving, by the gateway, from the service, a validity response message responding to the combined query sent.

11. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium being in communication with the processor and having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, associated with delivery of short message service messages, comprising;

receiving delivery responses confirming that short message service messages have been sent to a plurality of destination addresses, each of the short message service messages having identical message content;

assembling the delivery responses to generate a composite response;

sending the composite response to a short message service application;

receiving, from the short message service application, a validity request being formatted in a first, simple-object-access, protocol and identifying multiple addresses of the destination addresses;

converting, the validity request, identifying the multiple addresses, from the first, simple-object-access, protocol into a plurality of queries, each of the queries being formatted according to a second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol and including one of the multiple addresses;

sending, in a second sending act, one of the queries, being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol, to a service for verification of the address of the query;

receiving, from the service, in a second receiving act, a validity response message responding to the query sent and being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol; and

repeating, in connection with each remaining query of the plurality of queries, the second sending and the second receiving acts;

assembling the validity response messages to create a composite validity response message being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol; and

sending, to the short message service application, the composite validity response being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from the short message service application, a bulk short message service request including the identical message content and the plurality of destination addresses and being formatted in the first protocol.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

converting the bulk short message service request from the first protocol to the second protocol;

generating a separate short message service send request in the second protocol for each of the destination addresses of the bulk short message service request; and

sending the separate short message service send requests, including the identical message content, to a gateway for delivery to the destination addresses.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein:

the bulk short message service request includes a delivery notification flag;

the operations further comprise;

obtaining a separate short message service send request in the second protocol for each of the destination addresses of the bulk short message service request, each short message service send request including the identical message content and the delivery notification flag; and

sending the separate short message service send requests, including the identical message content and the notification flag, to a gateway for delivery to the destination addresses; and

receiving, in response to sending the separate short message service send requests, including the identical message content and the notification flag, a separate delivery notification, in the second protocol, from the gateway, in connection with each of the destination addresses.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the service is configured to receive multiple destination addresses in a single validity request; and

the operations further comprise;

sending, to the service for verification, at least one combined query having more than one of the distinction addresses; and

receiving, from the service, a validity response message responding to the combined query sent.

16. A computer-readable storage device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, associated with delivery of short message service messages, comprising:

receiving delivery responses confirming the sending of short message service messages to a plurality of destination addresses, each of the short message service messages having identical message content;

assembling the delivery responses to generate a composite response;

sending the composite response to a short message service application;

receiving, from the short message service application, a validity request being formatted in a first, simple-object-access, protocol and identifying multiple addresses of the destination addresses;

converting, the validity request, identifying the multiple addresses, from the first, simple-object-access, protocol into a plurality of queries, each of the queries being formatted according to a second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol and including one of the multiple addresses;

sending, in a second sending act, one of the queries, being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol, to a service for verification of the address of the query;

receiving, from the service, in a second receiving act, a validity response message responding to the query sent and being formatted according to the second, lightweight-directory-access, protocol;

repeating, in connection with each remaining query of the plurality of queries, the second sending and the second receiving acts

assembling the validity response messages to create a composite validity response message and being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol; and

sending, to the short message service application, the composite validity response message being formatted according to the first, simple-object-access, protocol.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein:

the service is configured to receive multiple destination addresses in a single validity request; and

the operations further comprise;

sending, to the service for verification, at least one combined query having more than one of the distinction addresses; and

receiving, from the service, a validity response message responding to the combined query sent.