Short message service notification forwarded between multiple short message service centers

• US 6,208,870 B1
• Filed: 06/01/1999
• Issued: 03/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Lorello, Timothy J., Hart, Reuben D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban, Edward F.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jackson, Blane J.
• Application Number:
  US09/322,929
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 455/412, 455/422, 455/433, 455/560, 455/567, 455/414
• US Class Current: 455/466
• 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 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A short message service (SMS) network allows more than one short message service center (SMSC) to service an individual subscriber with virtually no modification to the existing conventional network elements, e.g., the home location register (HLR) or the mobile switching center (MSC). In a disclosed embodiment, the HLR of the SMS network sends a notification, e.g., an SMS notification (SMSNOT) signal, to a predetermined one of the plurality of SMSCs in the SMS network when a subscriber becomes available to receive a pending short message from at least one of the plurality of SMSCs. Each of the plurality of SMSCs in turn delivers short messages to an intended subscriber, and then forwards the notification signal to another one of the SMSCs, until all of the SMSCs have delivered the respective pending short messages. The next SMSC to which the SMSNOT is forwarded may be fixedly determined, e.g., by network configuration. Moreover, the path for forwarding the SMSNOT signal may be reconfigured when one or more SMSCs are added to the SMS network. Alternatively, the forwarding path may be determined dynamically by the preceding SMSC in accordance with an intelligent rule based on parameters such as, for example, the type of short message(s) that was retained by the preceding SMSC, the address the intended subscriber, the type of intended subscriber, etc. The path may also be determined by a combination of fixed and dynamic selection. For instance, the selection of the next SMSC may normally be fixed, and upon an occurrence of a predetermined event, dynamic selection based on the intelligent rule(s) may be triggered.

Claims

1. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register; and

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

at least two of said plurality of short message service centers being adapted to forward said short message service notification message to another one of said plurality of short message service centers.

2. The short message service network according to claim 1, wherein:

said one of said plurality of short message service centers is adapted to forward said short message service notification message to said another one of said plurality of short message service centers upon completion of delivery of one or more short message to said intended subscriber from said one of said plurality of short message service centers.

3. The short message service network according to claim 1, wherein:

said one of said plurality of short message service centers is adapted to forward said short message service notification message to said another one of said plurality of short message service centers upon a determination that no message is currently stored by said one of said plurality of short message service centers for said intended subscriber.

4. The short message service network according to claim 1, wherein:

said another one of said plurality of short message service centers is chosen dynamically by said one of said plurality of short message service centers.

5. The short message service network according to claim 1, wherein:

said another one of said plurality of short message service centers is determined fixedly by a configuration of said short message service network.

6. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register; and

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

each of said plurality of short message service centers being adapted to forward said short message service notification message to at least one other one of said plurality of short message service centers.

7. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register; and

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

each of said plurality of short message service centers being adapted to forward said short message service notification message to at least one other one of said plurality of short message service centers until all of said plurality of short message service centers have received said short service notification message.

8. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register;

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

wherein at least two of said plurality of short message service centers are adapted to forward said short message service notification message to another one of said plurality of short message service centers; and

wherein a last one of said plurality of short message service centers is adapted to not forward said short message service notification message to any other ones of said plurality of short message service centers.

9. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register; and

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

said one of said plurality of short message service centers being adapted to not forward said short message service notification message if received from any of said plurality of short message service centers.

10. A short message service network for sending and receiving short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of said short message service network, comprising:

at least one home location register; and

a plurality of short message service centers, one of said plurality of short message service centers being an only one among said plurality of short message service centers which is adapted to receive a short message service notification message from said at least one home location register, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said short messages;

said plurality of short message service centers being arranged to form a daisy chain path with respect to forwarding of said short message service notification message.

11. A method of delivering short messages retained within a plurality of short message service centers in a short message service network, comprising:

receiving, by a first one of said plurality of short message service centers, a short message service notification message from a home location register;

forwarding, by said first one of said plurality of short message service centers, said short message service notification message to a second one of said plurality of short message service centers; and

forwarding, by said second one of said plurality of short message service centers, said short message service notification message to a third one of said plurality of short message service centers.

12. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 11, further comprising:

determining if any message intended for a communication device identified by said short message service notification message is stored at said first one of said plurality of short message service centers.

13. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

delivering at least one short message retained within said first one of said plurality of short message service centers if it is determined that at least one message intended for said subscriber is stored during said step of determining.

14. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

dynamically determining, by said first one of said plurality of short message service centers, to which short message service center among remaining ones of said plurality of short message service centers said short message service notification message is to be forwarded.

15. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

fixedly determining which of said plurality of short message service centers is said another one of said plurality of short message service centers to in accordance with a configuration of said short message service network.

16. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

forwarding said short message service notification message by each remaining one of said plurality of short message service centers.

17. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

forwarding said short message service notification message by each of said plurality of short message service centers until all of said plurality of short message service centers has received said short service notification message.

18. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

designating a last one of said plurality of short message service centers as one that does not forward said short message service notification message to any other one of said plurality of short message service centers.

19. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

preventing said first one of said plurality of short message service centers from forwarding a short message service notification message received from any other of said plurality of short message service centers.

20. The method of delivering short messages in accordance with claim 12, further comprising:

arranging said plurality of short message service centers to form a daisy chain path with respect to forwarding of short message service notification messages.

21. A method of delivering to an intended subscriber at least one short message retained within a corresponding at least one of plurality of servicing short message service centers servicing said intended subscriber in a short message service network, comprising:

determining if said intended subscriber has become available to receive said at least one short message;

initiating delivery of said retained at least one short message to said intended subscriber by notifying from a home location register only one of said plurality of servicing short message centers that said intended subscriber is available to receive said at least one short message from any one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers;

determining whether a short message indicator flag is set, said short message indicator flag being set when at least one delivery attempt of at least one short message had failed; and

sending from said home location register a short message service notification message to said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers if it is determined that said short message indicator flag is set.

22. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 21, further comprising:

receiving said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers; and

forwarding said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers to another one of said plurality of short message service centers.

23. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 22, further comprising:

dynamically determining, by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers, to which servicing short message service center among remaining ones of said plurality of servicing short message service centers said short message service notification message is to be forwarded.

24. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 22, further comprising:

fixedly determining, by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers, to which servicing short message service center among remaining ones of said plurality of servicing short message service centers said short message service notification message is to be forwarded in accordance with a configuration of said short message service network.

25. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 24, further comprising:

forwarding said short message service notification message by each remaining one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers.

26. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 25, further comprising:

designating a last one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers as one that does not forward said short message service notification message to any other one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers.

27. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 25, further comprising:

preventing said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers from forwarding a short message service notification message received from any other of said plurality of servicing short message service centers.

28. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 23, further comprising:

receiving said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers; and

determining if any message intended for said subscriber is stored within said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers; and

delivering one or more short message retained within said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers if it is determined that one or more short message intended for said subscriber is stored within said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers.

29. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 25, further comprising:

forwarding said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers to another one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers upon completion of delivery of said one or more short message.

30. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 23, further comprising:

forwarding said short message service notification message by each of said plurality of servicing short message service centers until all of said plurality of servicing short message service centers has received said short service notification message.

31. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 23, further comprising:

receiving said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers;

determining whether forwarding of said short message service notification message is allowed by a configuration of said short message service network; and

forwarding said short message service notification message by said one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers to another one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers only if it is determined that forwarding is allowed.

32. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 31, further comprising:

dynamically changing said configuration of said short message service network to allow forwarding of said short message service notification message if it is determined that forwarding is not allowed during said step of determining whether forwarding of said short message service notification message is allowed.

33. The method of delivering to said intended subscriber said at least one short message in accordance with claim 31, further comprising:

dynamically changing said configuration of said short message service network to disallow forwarding of said short message service notification message if it is determined that forwarding is allowed during said step of determining whether forwarding of said short message service notification message is allowed.

34. A method of delivering to an intended subscriber at least one short message retained within a corresponding at least one of plurality of servicing short message service centers servicing said intended subscriber in a short message service network, comprising:

determining if said intended subscriber has become available to receive said at least one short message;

initiating delivery of said retained at least one short message to said intended subscriber by notifying from a home location register only one of said plurality of servicing short message centers that said intended subscriber is available to receive said at least one short message from any one of said plurality of servicing short message service centers; and

arranging said plurality of servicing short message service centers to form a daisy chain path with respect to forwarding of short message service notification message.

35. A short message service center for storing and delivering one or more short messages to and from a communication device of a subscriber of a short message service network having a plurality of network entities, comprising:

a memory to store said one or more short messages;

at least one communication interface adapted to communicate with at least one entity of said short message service network; and

a controller in communicative connection with said memory and said at least one communication interface to control storage of said one or more short messages within said memory, said controller adapted to control delivery of said one of more short messages stored within said memory to one or more of said plurality of entities via said at least one communication interface, said controller further adapted to receive a short message service notification message from one or more of said plurality of entities via said at least one communication interface, said controller further adapted to forward said received short message service notification message to one or more of said plurality of entities via said at least one communication interface, said short message service notification message indicating availability of an intended subscriber to receive said one or more short messages.

36. The short message service center according to claim 35, wherein:

said controller is adapted to forward said short message service notification message to said one or more of said plurality of entities upon completion of delivery of said one or more short messages to said one or more of said plurality of entities.

37. The short message service center according to claim 35, wherein:

said controller is adapted to forward said short message service notification message to said one or more of said plurality of entities upon a determination that no message intended for said intended subscriber is currently stored within said memory.

38. The short message service center according to claim 37, wherein:

said controller is adapted to dynamically choose to which one of said plurality of entities said short message service notification is to be forwarded.

39. The short message service center according to claim 37, wherein:

said controller is adapted to fixedly choose to which one of said plurality of entities said short message service notification is to be forwarded by a configuration setting of said short message service network.