Non-IMS rich communication suite

• US 9,549,073 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interop Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: Interop Technologies LLC
• Inventors: Zitnik, Stephen J., Aubin, Steven D., Rigas, Roy Benton
• Primary Examiner(s): Oh, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US14/313,919
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373200A1
• Time in Patent Office: 938 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

This invention relates to telecommunications, and in particular, to a Rich Communication Suite (RCS) and RCS-e (“e” for enhanced) messaging infrastructure within a network without the need to deploy an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) core within the network.

Claims

1. A method for delivering messages between a legacy messaging client and a Rich Communication Suite (RCS) client in a non-IMS RCS telecommunication system comprising four logical entities, the first logical entity is a session controller (SC), the second logical entity is a control node (CN), the third logical entity is a Protocol Conversion Gateway (PCG), and the fourth logical entity is a subscriber and routing database (SRDB);

said logical entities function in operative association with a telecommunication network having a plurality of user agents, a home location register (HLR) and one or more legacy controllers selected from a short messaging service center (SMSC) and a multimedia messaging service center (MMSC) to transmit messages from a First Subscriber to a Second Subscriber over the telecommunication network, comprising the steps of;

Sending from a First Subscriber using a legacy messaging client a Short Message Delivery Point-to-Point Bearer Service (SMDPP protocol) message to a Short Messaging Service Center (SMSC) for delivery to a Second Subscriber;

Forwarding from the SMSC a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP protocol) message to said PCG for delivery;

Assigning a mapping by the PCG of the Modular Integrated Services Digital Network (MISDN) to a RCS client proxy;

Sending from the PCG an INVITE to said Control Node (CN) acting as a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) to request an RCS session with the Second Subscriber;

Querying by the CN of the SRDB to determine if the Second Subscriber'"'"'s target handset is RCS capable of having an RCS client, wherein SRDB data is populated by prior registration call flow;

Querying said HLR if the Second Subscriber'"'"'s target handset is RCS capable to authenticate both the First Subscriber and the Second Subscriber;

Forwarding the INVITE to the Second Subscriber once the HLR Query authenticates the First Subscriber and the Second Subscriber;

Sending from the PCG acting as an RCS client of the Second Subscriber an ACCEPT message to the CN;

Sending from the CN a CREATE SESSION command to the Session Controller (SC);

Sending from the SC an ACCEPT message back to the CN;

Forwarding from the CN the ACCEPT message to the PCG;

Sending one or more communications between the Second Subscriber and the PCG over Message Session Relay Protocol (MSRP) via the SC;

Forwarding said one or more communications over SMPP to the SMSC for delivery to the First Subscriber;

the steps are performed on the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system, said logical entities, the telecommunication network, and subscriber devices having programming instructions saved to non-transitory storage media and executed on processors for performing the method;

the PCG handles conversion of one or more communications from legacy Signalling System 7 (SS7), SMPP, or MM4/MM7 traffic (Multimedia Messaging interface 4, MM4) (Multimedia Messaging interface 7, MM7) to RCS/SIP/MSRP (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP) for delivery from SMSCs and/or MMSCs;

the PCG acts as an RCS client to the SC and as an Extended Short Messaging Entity (ESME) to legacy SMSC/MMSC infrastructure;

the SC is responsible for the set up and control of MSRP sessions in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system;

the CN handles one or more signaling interfaces, including both SIP and SS7, necessary to handle registration, session set up, and subscriber authentication;

the CN acts in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system as both a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) and a serving call session control function (S-CSCF);

the CN acts as an application controller for RCS; and

the SRDB acts as a home subscriber server (HSS) in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system and holds individual handset capability information garnered in the registration process, and any operator- or handset-specific routing information.

2. A non-IMS RCS telecommunications system for delivering messages between a legacy messaging client and a Rich Communication Suite (RCS) client, said system comprising four logical entities, the first logical entity is a Protocol Conversion Gateway (PCG), the second logical entity is a Session Controller (SC), the third logical entity is a Control Node (CN), and the fourth logical entity is a Subscriber and Routing Database (SRDB);

said logical entities function in operative association with a telecommunication network having a plurality of user agents, a Home Location Register (HLR) and one or more legacy controllers selected from a Short Messaging Service Center (SMSC) and a Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) to transmit a message from a First Subscriber to a Second Subscriber over the telecommunication network;

the PCG handles conversion of one or more communications from legacy Signalling System 7 (SS7), SMPP, or MM4/MM7 traffic (Multimedia Messaging interface 4, MM4) (Multimedia Messaging interface 7, MM7) to RCS/SIP/MSRP (Session Initiation Protocol, SIP, (Message Session Relay Protocol, MSRP) for delivery from the SMSC and/or the MMSC, wherein the PCG acts as an RCS client to the SC and as an External Short Messaging Entity (ESME) to legacy SMSC/MMSC infrastructure of the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system;

the SC is responsible for the set up and control of MSRP sessions in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system;

the CN handles the signaling interfaces, including both SIP and SS7, necessary to handle registration, session set up, and subscriber authentication, wherein the CN acts in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system as both a proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) and a serving call session control function (S-CSCF), wherein the CN acts as an application controller for RCS; and

the SRDB acts as a home subscriber server (HSS) in the non-IMS RCS telecommunications system and holds individual handset capability information garnered in the registration process, as well as any operator- or handset-specific routing information;

said logical entities, telecommunication network, and subscriber devices having programming instructions saved to non-transitory storage media and processors for executing said programming instructions;

said legacy messaging client programmed to send from a First Subscriber a Short Message Delivery Point-to-Point Bearer Service (SMDPP protocol) message to a Short Messaging Service Center (SMSC) for delivery to a Second Subscriber;

said SMSC programmed to forward a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP protocol) message to a Protocol Conversion Gateway (PCG) for delivery;

said PCG programmed to assign a mapping of the Modular Integrated Services Digital Network (MISDN) to a RCS client proxy;

said PCG programmed to send an INVITE to the CN acting as a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) to request an RCS session with the Second Subscriber;

said CN programmed to query the Subscriber and Routing Database (SRDB) to determine if the Second Subscriber'"'"'s target handset is RCS capable, wherein SRDB data is populated in the SRDB by prior registration call flow;

said CN programmed to querying the HLR to determine if the Second Subscriber'"'"'s target handset is RCS capable in order to authenticate both the First Subscriber and the Second Subscriber;

said CN programmed to forward the INVITE to the Second Subscriber once the HLR Query authenticates the First Subscriber and the Second Subscriber;

said PCG acting as an RCS client to the SC for the Second Subscriber programmed to send an ACCEPT message to the CN;

said CN programmed to send a CREATE SESSION command to the SC;

said SC programmed to send an ACCEPT message back to the CN;

said CN programmed to forward the ACCEPT message to the PCG;

said SC programmed to send one or more communications between the Second Subscriber and the PCG over Message Session Relay Protocol (MRSP) via the SC; and

said SC programmed to forward said one or more communications over SMPP to the SMSC for delivery to the First Subscriber.