Web gateway multi-carrier support

• US 20080313288A1
• Filed: 09/25/2007
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Smith, Richard A., Bhadange, Nikhil
• Granted Patent: US 9,002,951 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• 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 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

The present invention provides multi-carrier support in a wireless Internet gateway (WIG) that allows the WIG to send messages to any number of ‘peer’ gateways on the Internet in a conveniently reconfigurable manner. The disclosed embodiments include a ‘Message Distribution Center’ (MDC), through which short messages can be routed to the gateways of other wireless carriers based on carrier formats stored in an abstracted carrier format table. The conventional technique of separate classes written for each carrier is replaced by entries in a look-up table format, to provide a more easily adaptable wireless gateway. Thus, occasional updates of the carrier format table need only be updated, rather than the wireless Internet gateway program, reducing down time for updates, reducing the complexity of updates, and improving the reliability of a wireless Internet gateway in the face of changes for one or more carriers in a wireless network. The present invention enables a WIG to communicate with the gateways of other carriers (particularly other wireless carriers) having different and occasionally changing kinds of message destinations using different and occasionally changing protocols. Information regarding other carriers (i.e., destinations) may be added, changed, and/or removed from a wireless short messaging system network by simply modifying a configuration property file relating to message formats for each other carrier, rather than the conventional technique of providing each carrier with its own class, avoiding the conventional need to reprogram relevant sending gateways.

Claims

1-13. -13. (canceled)

14. A gateway, comprising:

a carrier format table comprising a carrier configuration file, said carrier configuration file defining a plurality of carriers serviced by said gateway and specifying the particular properties of said plurality of carriers;

a message distribution center to interrogate an incoming message to determine a destination carrier; and

a destination link to send an outgoing message to said destination carrier in accordance with information retrieved from said carrier configuration file.

15. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

at least one protocol receiver.

16. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

an email message receiver.

17. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

an HTTP protocol message receiver.

18. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

an SMPP protocol message receiver.

19. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

an area code/exchange number to destination carrier mapper to map an area code/exchange number of a message received in said incoming message queue to a destination carrier'"'"'s gateway format.

20. The gateway according to claim 14, further comprising:

an interface to an Internet.

21. The gateway according to claim 14, wherein:

said gateway is a wireless internet gateway.

22. A method of facilitating movement of a message between networks, comprising:

defining a plurality of carriers serviced by a gateway within a carrier format table;

specifying particular properties of said plurality of carriers within said carrier format table; and

send an outgoing message to said destination carrier in accordance with information retrieved from said carrier configuration file.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

forwarding a message to a destination gateway in accordance with information retrieved from said carrier format table.

24. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

generating a peer destination class based on information retrieved from said carrier format table.

25. Apparatus for facilitating movement of a message between networks, comprising:

means for defining a plurality of carriers serviced by a gateway within a carrier format table;

means for specifying particular properties of said plurality of carriers within said carrier format table; and

means for sending an outgoing message to said destination carrier using information retrieved from said carrier configuration file.

26. The method according to claim 25, further comprising:

means for forwarding a message to a destination gateway in accordance with information retrieved from said carrier format table.

27. The method according to claim 25, further comprising:

means for generating a peer destination class based on information retrieved from said carrier format table.