HK1064833A1 - Method for forwarding multimedia messages between multimedia message centers - Google Patents

Description

Method for forwarding multimedia message between terminal and value-added service provider application

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to the field of multimedia message interaction.

Background

In the era of 2G mobile communication, the development of data traffic is inhibited due to network bandwidth. The inherent drawbacks of the SMS short message service are difficult to solve. With the development of the third generation mobile communication system (including 2.5G), various data services using the system as a bearer network are born like spring shoots after rain, and the 3G is much broader than the 2G.

Multimedia technology enables people to express and transmit information more accurately and vividly, a 3G mobile communication network introduces multimedia into the field of mobile communication, and a brand-new message Service, multimedia Messaging Service, will fundamentally change people's short message communication modes. MMS provides a non-real-time multimedia communication mode, and users can send or receive multimedia messages composed of characters, images, videos, audios and the like, and richer service applications can be derived and better service quality can be provided on the platform.

The multimedia messaging center is responsible for sending messages over the network that may consist of plain text, pictures, video, audio, and other media formats. Three basic service capabilities can be provided: point-to-point service capabilities, point-to-application service capabilities, application-to-point service capabilities. And can provide two expanded service capabilities: point-to-multipoint service capabilities, service capabilities applied to multipoint.

The multimedia message center equipment is positioned at the IP network side, and realizes the connection with the wireless bearing network through the WAP gateway, so the service realization is irrelevant to the specific wireless bearing network, and the multimedia message center equipment supports the networks of GSM, GPRS, WCDMA, CDMA2000 and the like, and supports the future 3G network.

The structure of the multimedia message center equipment system is shown in fig. 1, the related system interface is determined by each component network element, the definition and description of the interface mainly focus on the standard flow of service access, and the minimum requirement is set for the specification of the system physical interface to ensure the diversity of the system.

As shown in fig. 1, which is a structure diagram of a multimedia message center equipment system in the prior art, network elements in the diagram are as follows:

MMS User Agent: the MMS user agent is an application on the multimedia message terminal, and provides functions of browsing, editing and processing multimedia messages, and operations of sending, receiving and deleting messages. The MMS user agent supports MIME, the multimedia message is expressed by MIME format, and the multimedia message can contain text, image, sound and other data through the definition of different subtypes in MIME.

Mmsc (mmsc): the multimedia message center performs protocol conversion, content adaptation, storage and scheduling on the multimedia message, completes the transmission operation of the multimedia message among different multimedia devices, and generates a CDR (charging detail record) ticket for charging.

MMS User Databases: and the MMS user database is used for storing user information, personalized information, interface information and the like. In the target network, this database is part of the MISC system, currently integrated in the MMSC.

MMS VAS applications: and the external value-added application server provides value-added service.

The filling System: and the charging system is used for finishing the charging operation of the multimedia message center system.

External Servers: e-mail server, short message center (SMSC), and facsimile machine.

The interfaces in the multimedia message reference architecture are:

MM 1: reference point between the MMS user agent and the MMS Relay/Server.

MM 2: reference point between MMS Relay and MMS Server.

MM 3: reference point between MMS Relay/Server and external (legacy) messaging systems.

MM 4: reference point between MMS Relay/Server and another MMS Relay/Server within another MMSE.

MM 5: reference point between MMS Relay/Server and Home Location Register (HLR).

MM 6: reference point between MMS Relay/Server and MMS subscriber database.

MM 7: reference point between MMS Relay/Server and MMS VAS application.

MM 8: reference point between Relay/Server and charging system.

As shown in fig. 2, the reference point MM4 is an interface between different multimedia message centers for transferring messages between the different multimedia message centers, and the sending of the messages should be based on simple Mail Transfer protocol (SMTPSimple Mail Transfer protocol 1) (RFC821 protocol definition). The structure of the message transmission protocol to be followed for the message transmission of multimedia messages on the MM4 interface mainly follows the protocol specification of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project).

1. Route forwarding of multimedia messages

After successfully addressing a peer multimedia messaging center, the multimedia messaging center of the sender should forward a multimedia message to the multimedia messaging center of the receiver using MM4 forward. The recipient's multimedia messaging center should respond with MM4 forward.res, containing the state required in MM4 forward.res. The messages involved are shown in table 1:

abstract message name	Message type	Direction of rotation
			MM4_forward.REQ	Request for	Originator MMSC->recipient MMSC
MM4_forward.RES	Response to	Recipient MMSC->originator MMSC

TABLE 1

2. Route forwarding send report

After the multimedia message center of the receiver finishes the sending of the multimedia message, a sending report MM _ delivery _ report is generated according to the current sending condition and sent to the multimedia message center of the sender, wherein the sending report MM _ delivery _ report only contains MMS control information. The sending multimedia message center should respond with MM4_ delivery _ report.res, which provides status information of the MM4_ delivery _ report.req request handling case.

For MMSC, it is necessary to support MM4_ delivery _ report. The messages involved are shown in table 2:

abstract message name	Message type	Direction of rotation
			MM4_delivery_report.REQ	Request for	Recipient MMSC->originator MMSC
MM4_delivery_report.RES	Response to	Originator MMSC->recipient MMSC

TABLE 2

3. Route forwarding reading report

After the receiving multimedia message center finishes sending down the MM multimedia message, the MM4_ Read _ reply is used to forward a reading report which is submitted by the receiving MMS user agent in advance to the sending multimedia message center before routing, wherein the reading report only contains MMS control information. The sending multimedia message center should respond with MM4_ Read _ reply.res and provide therein status information of the MM4_ Read _ reply.req request handling situation. The messages involved are shown in table 3:

abstract message name	Message type	Direction of rotation
			MM4_read_reply.REQ	Request for	Recipient MMSC->originator MMSC
MM4_read_reply.RES	Response to	Originator MMSC->recipient MMSC

TABLE 3

By following the existing message transmission protocol structure, the multimedia message can be forwarded between different multimedia message centers, and the charging function of the multimedia message is completed through the forwarded related charging message. As shown in fig. 3, MM4_ forward.req, MM4_ forward.res, MM4_ delivery _ report.req, and MM4_ delivery _ report.res are protocol messages of the MM4 interface, and messages of other interfaces are intended to supplement the flow. The flow related to the reading report of the MM4 interface is an optional flow.

Although the existing message transmission protocol structure of the MM4 interface can complete the forwarding function of multimedia messages between different multimedia message centers in the message sending process, when the following situation occurs, the message transmission protocol structure using only the current MM4 interface will not complete the realization of the corresponding function.

The prior art has the problem that when the terminal and the VASP application are not in the same multimedia message center, the multimedia message is required to be forwarded between different multimedia message centers, and the charging function cannot be completed due to lack of charging information required by related message transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention mainly aims to provide a method for forwarding multimedia messages between a terminal and a value added service provider application, which aims to solve the problem that the multimedia messages in the prior art can not be charged correspondingly when being forwarded between different multimedia message centers;

a method for multimedia message forwarding between a terminal and a VASP application, comprising:

a. the multimedia message center of the sender receives the multimedia message submitted by the terminal of the sender and edits and generates a route forwarding request message (MM4_ forwarded. REQ), wherein the message carries identification multimedia message information and VASP service related information;

b. the multimedia message center of the sender sends the message generated in the step a to the multimedia message center of the receiver;

c. the receiving multimedia message center replies a response (MM4_ forward.RES) of the route forwarding request message to the sending multimedia message center;

d. and the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the multimedia message issuing operation according to the multimedia message information and the VASP service related information in the MM4_ forward.REQ.

In the method for forwarding multimedia messages between a terminal and a VASP application, in step a, the identification VASP service related information includes: code of VASP service application, service code, charging type, rate, etc.

The method for forwarding the multimedia message between the terminal and the VASP application further comprises the following steps:

e. and c, the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the operation of charging processing according to the relevant information in the step a.

The method for forwarding the multimedia message between the terminal and the VASP application further comprises the following steps:

f. the multimedia message center of the sender carries out charging operation.

The invention can accurately indicate the VASP application of the current service, the service of the current service and accurate charging information by correspondingly expanding the current MM4_ forward.REQ structure to include five fields of a VASP service application code, a service code, a charging type and a charging rate, thereby successfully solving the problem that the multimedia message can not complete corresponding charging function although information forwarding can be carried out between different multimedia message centers when the terminal and the VASP application are not in the same multimedia message center.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system architecture of a prior art multimedia messaging center device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of interfaces between different multimedia messaging centers in the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a message interaction flow of an MM4 interface protocol in the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a networking architecture employed by the present invention;

fig. 5 is a multimedia message forwarding flow diagram of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings.

For the purpose of illustration, we will adopt the description of the invention corresponding to the prior art so as to more clearly see the key points of the invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the network environment is realized by the method for forwarding multimedia information of the present invention, the networking structure of the system adopted is consistent with the networking of the prior art, in the networking diagram, the MMSRelay/Server is the multimedia message center, the multimedia message is firstly submitted to the multimedia message center of the sender by the terminal of the sender, the multimedia message center of the sender forwards the multimedia message to the multimedia message center of the receiver through the MM4 interface realized by the SMTP protocol, the multimedia message center of the receiver completes the issuing work of the multimedia message, and finally the multimedia message is issued to the terminal of the receiver, and meanwhile, the multimedia message center of the receiver also informs the sending multimedia message center of the issuing situation of the current multimedia message in the form of a sending report.

It can thus be seen that the present invention comprises the steps as shown in fig. 5:

a. the multimedia message center of the sender receives the multimedia message submitted by the terminal of the sender and edits and generates MM4_ forward.REQ, wherein the message carries identification multimedia message information and VASP service related information;

when a multimedia message center of a sending party receives a multimedia message sent between a newly submitted terminal and a VASP application, if the terminal and the VASP application belong to different multimedia message centers, the current multimedia message is forwarded. When multimedia message forwarding between different multimedia message centers is carried out, the multimedia message center of the sending party forwards the multimedia message submitted by the terminal of the sending party to the multimedia message center of the receiving party of the multimedia message by adopting MM4_ forward. In the technical scheme, in order to complete information forwarding of the multimedia message between different multimedia message centers and simultaneously complete a corresponding charging function, when the multimedia message center receives the currently submitted multimedia message, the multimedia message center firstly edits and generates MM4_ forward.REQ. For the message, the multimedia message center adds fields of relevant information such as codes for identifying VASP service application, service codes, charging types, rates and the like on the basis of MM4_ forward.REQ specified in the prior technical scheme, carries VASP information of the current service, service information of the current service and charging information, and provides the fields for the multimedia message center of a receiving party to use when the multimedia message is issued.

As shown in table 4, when multimedia message forwarding is performed between different multimedia message centers in the prior art, the sending multimedia message center adopts the message structure of MM4_ forward.req (see table 4):

information unit	Presence of condition	Description of the invention
			3GPP MMS release	Is absolutely necessary	As defined in this documentMMS version of the originator MMS Relay/Server.
Message type	Is absolutely necessary	Type of message used on interface MM 4: "MM 4_ forward.
			Transaction ID	Is absolutely necessary	Identification of MM4 forward.req/MM4 forward.res pairs.
Message ID	Is absolutely necessary	Identification of the multimedia message.
			Receiver address	Is absolutely necessary	Address of multimedia message recipient: there may be multiple addresses.
Sender address	Is absolutely necessary	Recently processed multimedia messages (i.e., submitted or forwarded)

		Multimedia message). If the originator MMS user agent has requested that its address be hidden from the recipient, its address is not provided to the recipient.
			Content type	Is absolutely necessary	Content type of multimedia message content.
Message classification	As the case may be	Categories of multimedia messages (e.g., personal services, advertising services, and information services) (if specified by the originator MMS user agent)
			Date and time	Is absolutely necessary	The time and date when the multimedia message was last processed (i.e., submitted or forwarded) by the MMS user agent.
Time-out	As the case may be	Multimedia message specified timeout time (specified by originator MMS user agent).
			Sending reports	As the case may be	Request to send a report (if the originator MMS user agent has requested a report to send of a multimedia message).
Priority level	As the case may be	Priority (importance) of the message (if the originator MMS user agent has specified).
			Sender visibility	As the case may be	Requesting that the sender's identification be revealed or hidden when the message is delivered to the multimedia message recipient (if the originator MMS user agent has requested that the recipient hide its address).
Reading the answer	As the case may be	Request for a read reply report (if the originator MMS user agent has requested a read reply report for a multimedia message).
			Themes	As the case may be	The title of the entire multimedia message (if specified by the originator MMS user agent).
Acknowledging request	Optionally	Request of MM4_ forward.res
			Forwarding counter	As the case may be	A counter indicating the number of times a certain multimedia message is forwarded.
The last sender	Optionally	In the case of forwarding, this information element contains one or more messages for MMS handling (i.e., forwarding or submitting) the multimedia message

		The addresses of the user agents that precede the MMS user agent whose address is contained in the "sender" address information element. The order in which the addresses are provided should be indicated. The address of the originator MMS user agent (if present) should be indicated.
			Last transmission date and time	Optionally	The date and time associated with the submission and forwarding of the event before the last time the multimedia message was processed by the MMS user agent.
Content providing method and apparatus	As the case may be	Unchanged content in the multimedia message (if the originator MMS user agent has specified it).

TABLE 4

In order to complete the corresponding charging function, the present invention correspondingly expands the current MM4_ forward.req structure, and the specific expanded fields in the MM4_ forward.req are shown in table 5.

Information unit	Presence of condition	Description of the invention
			VASP code	As the case may be (when the multimedia message center is not the same as the VASP at the processing terminal)Information forwarding is optional, and other conditions are optional)	Identification code for VASP applications
Service code	As the case may be (optional when forwarding multimedia messages at the processing terminal not in the same multimedia message center as the VASP, other optional cases)	Service for identifying a service on a current VASP application
			Service code	As the case may be (optional when forwarding multimedia messages at the processing terminal not in the same multimedia message center as the VASP, other optional cases)	Identifying a service on a current VASP application
Type of charge	As the case may be	For charging

	(optional when forwarding multimedia messages in a multimedia message center different from the VASP at the processing terminal, other optional)	Type (B)
			Rate of charge	As the case may be (optional when forwarding multimedia messages at the processing terminal not in the same multimedia message center as the VASP, other optional cases)	Rate used for charging

TABLE 5

b. The multimedia message center of the sender sends the message generated in the step a to the multimedia message center of the receiver;

the multimedia message center of the sending party sends the generated MM4_ forward.REQ to the multimedia message center of the receiving party, and the message carries related charging information which is taken as a charging basis.

c. The receiving multimedia message center replies a response (MM4_ forward.RES) of the route forwarding request message to the sending multimedia message center;

when receiving the MM4 forward.REQ submitted by the multimedia message center of the sender, the multimedia message center of the receiver firstly returns an MM4 forward.RES as the response of the current receiving situation.

d. And the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the multimedia message issuing operation according to the multimedia message information and the VASP service related information in the MM4_ forward.REQ.

And then, the multimedia message center of the receiver performs the multimedia message issuing operation according to the current multimedia message related information carried in the received MM4_ forward. Here, since the received MM4_ forward.req carries the information of VASP of the current service added by extension, the information of the service of the current service, the charging information and other related information, the receiving-side multimedia message center can extract the information of the multimedia message itself and the fields of the code identifying the application of VASP service, the service code, the charging type, the rate and other related information from the MM4_ forward.req when constructing the message to be used for transmitting the current multimedia message, and fill the fields into the message to be used for transmitting the multimedia message. After the construction of the message used for transmitting the current multimedia message is completed, the multimedia message center of the receiver transmits the current multimedia message, and simultaneously, the multimedia message center of the receiver completes the charging function of the multimedia message according to the fields of relevant information such as codes, service codes, charging types, rates and the like which are carried in MM4_ forward.REQ and identify VASP service application, so that the charging of the communication fee and/or the information fee of the terminal of the receiver is realized.

After the multimedia message center of the receiver finishes the sending of the multimedia message, a corresponding sending report is generated according to the sending condition of the current multimedia message and is sent to the multimedia message center of the sender of the current multimedia message, so that the multimedia message center of the sender can be informed that the sending state of the current multimedia message is successful or failed and the like, and the multimedia message center of the sender is ensured to finish the corresponding multimedia message forwarding processing flow and the related charging function. After receiving the sending report sent by the receiving multimedia message center, the sending multimedia message center generates a new sending report according to the state information of the sending report and the requirement of the sending terminal on the sending report, and sends the new sending report to the sending terminal to inform the user of the condition of sending the submitted multimedia message. Meanwhile, the multimedia message center of the sender finishes the forwarding processing flow of the current multimedia message, finishes the charging function required by the multimedia message center of the sender in the forwarding flow of the multimedia message, and realizes the charging processing of the terminal of the sender.

e. And c, the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the operation of charging processing according to the relevant information in the step a.

When the construction of the message used for transmitting the current multimedia message is finished, the multimedia message center of the receiving party transmits the current multimedia message, and simultaneously, the multimedia message center of the receiving party completes the charging statistics of the multimedia message according to the fields of the relevant information such as codes for identifying VASP service application, service codes, charging types, rates and the like carried in the MM4_ forward.REQ.

g. The multimedia message center of the sender carries out charging operation.

When the communication fee is collected by the multimedia message center of the sender, the multimedia message center of the sender completes the collection work, and the collection of the communication fee and/or the information fee of the terminal of the receiver is realized. This is a step of charging in general message sending, but there are some exceptions, and sometimes it needs to be done by the receiving multimedia message center, for example, for some service messages, the receiving service side will be required to pay, and then the receiving multimedia message center will complete the charging.

The invention can accurately indicate the VASP application of the current service, the service of the current service and accurate charging information by correspondingly expanding the current MM4_ forward.REQ structure to include five fields of a VASP service application code, a service code, a charging type and a charging rate, thereby successfully solving the problem that the multimedia message can not complete corresponding charging function although information forwarding can be carried out between different multimedia message centers when the terminal and the VASP application are not in the same multimedia message center.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope of the present invention are included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (3)

1. A method for forwarding multimedia messages between a terminal and a Value Added Service Provider application (VASP Value Added Service Provider), comprising:

a. the multimedia message center of the sender receives the multimedia message submitted by the terminal of the sender, and edits and generates a route forwarding request message (MM4_ forwarded. REQ), wherein the message carries identification multimedia message information and VASP service related information, and the identification VASP service related information comprises: code, service code, charging type, and rate-related information of the VASP service application;

b. the multimedia message center of the sender sends the message generated in the step a to the multimedia message center of the receiver;

c. the receiving multimedia message center replies a response (MM4_ forward.RES) of the route forwarding request message to the sending multimedia message center;

d. and the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the multimedia message issuing operation according to the multimedia message information and the VASP service related information in the MM4_ forward.REQ.

2. The method for multimedia message forwarding between a terminal and a VASP application as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

e. and c, the multimedia message center of the receiving party performs the operation of charging processing according to the relevant information in the step a.

3. The method for multimedia message forwarding between a terminal and a VASP application as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

f. the multimedia message center of the sender carries out charging operation.