Systems and methods for facilitating communications originating from a non-terrestrial network

• US 9,503,956 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogo Business Aviation LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Gogo LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lauer, Bryan Adrian, Wang, Kathy, LaMarca, Tony, Kanabar, Paresh, Bangole, Premkumar, Walsh, Pat
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jianye
• Application Number:
  US14/291,878
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350996A1
• Time in Patent Office: 907 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• 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 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

Embodiments are provided for facilitating text- and voice-based communications that originate from an electronic device connected to a non-terrestrial network. According to certain aspects, the electronic device can be previously registered with a data center and can have an active service or product with the data center. The electronic device initiates a communication request that is intended for a destination device. The data center examines the communication request to identify the electronic device, and modifies the communication request to indicate a subscription associated with the electronic device. The data center transmits the modified communication request to a service provider network for delivery to the destination device.

Claims

1. A method of processing communication requests, the method comprising:

receiving, by a data center, a communication request that is (1) initiated by a communication application installed on a first electronic device connected to a non-terrestrial network and (2) intended for a destination electronic device, the communication request comprising an identification of the first electronic device, wherein the identification of the first electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI), and wherein the communication request is received via a connection with the first electronic device initiated using a digital certificate previously issued by the data center to the first electronic device when the communication application was registered with the data center;

using, by a processor, the identification of the first electronic device to identify a subscription identification associated with the first electronic device, wherein the subscription identification associated with the first electronic device is a mobile subscriber integrated services for digital network (MSISDN) number;

modifying, by the processor, the communication request to replace, in an origin field of the communication request, the identification of the first electronic device with the subscription identification associated with the first electronic device; and

transmitting the communication request that was modified to a service provider network for delivery to the destination electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the communication request comprises:

receiving an Internet-based voice communication request.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the communication request that was modified comprises:

transmitting the internet-based voice communication request that was modified to an internet telephony service provider (ITSP) for delivery to the destination electronic device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the communication request comprises:

receiving a message of a specified protocol; and

converting the message of the specified protocol into a short message service (SMS) message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein modifying the communication request comprises:

modifying the short message service (SMS) message to indicate the subscription identification; and

wherein transmitting the communication request that was modified comprises;

transmitting the SMS message that was modified to a short message service center (SMSC) for delivery to the destination electronic device.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the message of the specified protocol comprises body text data, and wherein converting the message of the specified protocol into the short message service (SMS) message comprises:

appending the body text data to the SMS message, wherein the body text data is configured to be presented to a user of the destination electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication request further comprises an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the electronic device, and wherein receiving the communication request comprises:

using the IP address to identify a care-of address (CoA) for the first electronic device; and

modifying the communication request to include the CoA for the first electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that there is an active product or service associated with the identification of the first electronic device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgement that the communication request was delivered to the destination electronic device; and

forwarding the acknowledgement for delivery to the electronic device.

10. A system for processing communication requests, comprising:

a communication module configured to send and receive data; and

a data center comprising a memory and a processor, and communicatively connected to the communication module, wherein the data center is configured to;

receive, via the communication module, a communication request that is (1) initiated by a communication application installed on a first electronic device connected to a non-terrestrial network and (2) intended for a destination electronic device, the communication request comprising an identification of the first electronic device, wherein the identification of the first electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI), and wherein the communication request is received via a connection with the first electronic device initiated using a digital certificate previously issued by the data center to the first electronic device when the communication application was registered with the data center,

use the identification of the first electronic device to identify a subscription identification associated with the first electronic device, wherein the subscription identification associated with the first electronic device is a mobile subscriber integrated services for digital network (MSISDN) number,

modify the communication request to replace, in an origin field of the communication request, the identification of the first electronic device with the subscription identification associated with the first electronic device, and

transmit, via the communication module, the communication request that was modified to a service provider network for delivery to the destination electronic device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center receives the communication request as an internet-based voice communication request.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the data center is further configured to:

transmit the internet-based voice communication request that was modified to an internet telephony service provider (ITSP) for delivery to the destination electronic device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center receives the communication request as a message of a specified protocol, and wherein the data center is further configured to:

convert the message of the specified protocol into a short message service (SMS) message.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data center is further configured to:

modify the short message service (SMS) message to indicate the subscription identification, and

transmitting the SMS message that was modified to a short message service center (SMSC) for delivery to the destination electronic device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the message of the specified protocol comprises body text data, and wherein the data center is further configured to:

append the body text data to the SMS message, wherein the body text data is configured to be presented to a user of the destination electronic device.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the communication request further comprises an internet protocol (IP) address associated with the first electronic device, and wherein the data center is further configured to:

use the IP address to identify a care-of address (CoA) for the first electronic device, and

modify the communication request to include the CoA for the first electronic device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further configured to:

determine that there is an active product or service associated with the identification of the first electronic device.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the data center is further configured to:

receive an acknowledgement that the communication request was delivered to the destination electronic device, and

forward the acknowledgement for delivery to the first electronic device.