CN1332571C - Method for repeating multimedia news between networks - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for retransmitting multimedia messages between networks. The method comprises the steps: an MMSC (multimedia message service center) of a network which a sender's users belong to acquires the address information or the operator information of an MMSC which a receiver's users belong to; when the receiver's users and the sender's users are judged to belong to different operator networks based on the address information or the operator information of the MMSC, the MMSC which the sender's users belong to sends a retransmitting request message to the next MMSC which retransmits the multimedia messages, and the request message carries the address information or the operator information of the MMSC which the receiver's users belong to; moreover, besides the MMSC which the receiver's users belong to, part or all MMSCs which retransmit the multimedia messages carry the address information or the operator information of the MMSC which the receiver's users belong to in the retransmitting request message; the sequent MMSC which receives the request message directly confirms another next MMSC to retransmit the multimedia messages based on the address information or the operator information of the MMSC which the receiver's users belong to in the request message.

Description

Method for forwarding multimedia messages between networks

technical field

The invention relates to multimedia message technology, in particular to a method for forwarding multimedia messages between networks.

Background technique

Mobile number portability refers to a service in which a mobile user changes the mobile operator that provides the service, while keeping the mobile terminal number unchanged. Before the implementation of mobile number portability, if a mobile user wants to change the mobile operator that provides services, his mobile terminal number will also be changed. The user must notify others of the new number in time, otherwise he will lose contact. Great inconvenience. After the implementation of mobile number portability, users can easily change the service network and obtain better services, while the number remains unchanged, and the telephone connection with others will not be affected in any way. After the multimedia message service implements mobile number portability, and after the mobile user changes the service network, all multimedia messages sent to the user can still be correctly sent to the user's mobile terminal.

The number portability of mobile phone calls is realized through the signaling transfer point in the No. 7 signaling network to complete the route redirection to the HLR. In order to connect to the called party, the mobile switching center (MSC) that provides services for the calling user needs to query the home location register (HLR) corresponding to the number according to the called mobile terminal number, obtain the current serving MSC of the called party, and then proceed to call connection . Because the mobile terminal number has a corresponding relationship with the HLR address, the No. 7 signaling network can route the location query message to the correct HLR according to the mobile terminal number. After number portability, the user number remains unchanged and still corresponds to the original HLR, but the user-related information is stored in the new HLR, and the location query message must be sent to the new HLR correctly to obtain the user's service MSC. The signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability in the No. 7 signaling network can query the internal database or external database according to the mobile terminal number, obtain the routing address of the new HLR to which the user belongs, and replace the destination address in the location query message with the new The address of the HLR.

The number portability of the short message is also realized through the signaling transfer point in the No. 7 signaling network to complete the route redirection to the HLR. In order to send a short message to the mobile user of the receiving party, the short message center of the sending party needs to query the HLR corresponding to the number according to the mobile terminal number, obtain the serving MSC where the receiving party is currently located, and then forward the short message. The number portability is the same as the redirection process of the short message routing query message and the location query message in a call. In the GSM network, the query message is MAP-SRI-FOR-SM, and in the CDMA network, the query message is SMSREQ.

Mobile number portability involves multiple mobile operators. Assume that the sender user and the receiver user belong to two mobile operators respectively, and the third-party operator specializes in MMS Internet service. The receiver user is a mobile number portability user. The multimedia message transmission process See Figure 1:

a1: After receiving the multimedia message submitted by the sender's user, MMSC1 first queries the user database to determine whether the receiver is a user of the MMSC, and if so, sends the message directly to the receiver, otherwise according to The mobile terminal number of the receiver of the message initiates a short message routing query. If MMSC1 can judge that the receiving party is a GSM user, then construct and initiate the GSM short message routing request message SRI_for_SMS, wherein the user number parameter is a mobile subscriber telephone number (MSISDN), and the signaling connection control part (SCCP) layer destination address is based on The global code of MDISDN (GT, is used for addressing within the same operator's network or between different operator's networks) number; If MMSC1 can judge that the recipient is a CDMA user, then construct and initiate a CDMA short message routing request message SMSREQ, The user number parameter is the mobile directory number (MDN), and the destination address of the SCCP layer is the GT number based on the MDN; if MMSC1 cannot determine the user type of the receiver, it can choose one of the two to try to query, and then try another one if the query fails. kind.

a2: The signaling transfer point STP1 connected to MMSC1 that supports Mobile Number Portability (MNP) receives the SCCP message that contains the short message route query MAP message, and queries the external The number portability database or internal number portability database obtains the No. 7 address of the HLR-B that the user belongs to after the number portability, uses it to replace the destination address in the received message, and reroutes the message to HLR-B through the No. 7 signaling network. Before the number portability, since the number of the mobile terminal corresponds to the No. 7 address of the HLR to which it belongs, the signaling gateway will route the message to the HLR.

a3: After HLR-B receives the short message routing query MAP message, it queries the internal database according to the mobile terminal number in the message to obtain the corresponding user identification code (IMSI for the GSM network, and MIN for the CDMA network), in the response message of the short message routing request Return to MMSC1.

a4: After MMSC1 obtains the mobile subscriber identification code (IMSI of GSM network, MIN of CDMA network) returned by HLR-B, it queries the internal database or external database, obtains the information of the mobile operator to which the subscriber belongs, and determines the Next MMSC address (domain name or IP address). If it belongs to the same operator as the sender, but belongs to a different MMSC, the MM4 Forward.REQ (request message for forwarding user multimedia messages between MMSCs) message is forwarded to the receiving MMSC through the MM4 interface, and the MMSC sends the message to the receiving user Send multimedia messages. If the sending and receiving parties do not belong to the same operator, MMSC1 forwards the MM4_Forward.REQ message to the gateway MMSC2 for external communication of this network through the MM4 interface.

a5: MMSC2 receives MM4_Forward.REQ and returns MM4_Forward.RES message to MMSC1.

b1~b5: Similar to a1~a5, after MMSC2 inquires HLR-B to obtain the receiver's mobile subscriber identification code, it checks the internal database or external database to determine the operator to which the receiver belongs. If it belongs to the operator, it sends the message through the MM4 interface If it is forwarded to the recipient's MMSC, if it belongs to another operator, the multimedia message will be forwarded to the Internet gateway MMSC3 that operates the MMS interconnection service through the MM4 interface.

c1~c5: Similar to a1~a5, after MMSC3 inquires HLR-B to obtain the receiver's mobile subscriber identification code, it checks the internal database or external database to determine the operator to which the receiver belongs, and forwards the multimedia message to the recipient's mobile subscriber through the MM4 interface. Network gateway MMSC4.

d1~d5: Similar to a1~a5, after MMSC4 inquires HLR-B to obtain the mobile subscriber identification code of the receiving party, it inquires the internal database or external database to determine that the receiving party belongs to the MMSC5 of the operator, and forwards the multimedia message to the receiving party through the MM4 interface. Fang belongs to MMSC5. After receiving the message to the user, the MMSC5 to which the receiving party belongs queries the internal database and confirms that it is the user of the MMSC, then starts the process of sending multimedia messages to the user terminal.

It can be seen from the above that since the MM4 interface message MM4_Forward.REQ between MMSCs does not contain information about the operator to which the user belongs, each MMSC between the MMSC to which the sender belongs and the MMSC to which the receiver belongs must send a short message. Routing query to obtain the mobile subscriber identification code (IMSI or MIN) of the recipient user, so there are disadvantages such as complicated processing flow of each MMSC, large consumption of network resources, slow response speed and high overall cost.

Contents of the invention

The invention provides a method for forwarding multimedia messages between networks to solve the disadvantages of complex MMSC processing flow, slow reflection speed and large consumption of network resources in the prior art when forwarding multimedia messages between terminals of different operating networks.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

A method for forwarding multimedia messages between networks, the method is:

The multimedia messaging service center (MMSC) of the network where the sender user is located obtains the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the receiver user belongs;

When judging that the receiver user and the sender user belong to different operator networks according to the address information or operator information of the MMSC, the MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a forwarding request message to the next MMSC forwarding the multimedia message; and

In addition to the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs, some or all of the MMSCs that forward the multimedia message carry the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs in the forwarding request message, and the subsequent MMSC that receives the request message directly according to the request message The address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs determines the next MMSC to forward the multimedia message.

in:

The MMSC obtains the address information or the operator information of the MMSC to which the receiving party user belongs, including steps: the MMSC of the network where the sending party user is located sends a short message routing query request to a signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; the signaling transfer point Query the external or internal number portability database to obtain the recipient's home location register address, and route the short message routing query request to the home location register; the home location register returns the receiver user identification code to the MMSC, and the MMSC according to The user identification code queries the database to obtain the address information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs or the information of the operator to which he belongs.

The MMSC obtains the address information or the operator information of the MMSC to which the receiving party user belongs, including steps: the MMSC of the network where the sending party user is located sends a short message routing query request to a signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; the signaling transfer point Query the external or internal number portability database to obtain the user identification code of the receiving party and return it to the MMSC; the MMSC queries the database according to the user identification code to obtain the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the receiving party belongs.

The MMSC obtains the address information or the operator information of the MMSC to which the receiving party user belongs, including steps: the MMSC of the network where the sending party user is located sends a short message routing query request to a signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; the signaling transfer point Query the external or internal number portability database to directly obtain the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the receiver user belongs, and return it to the MMSC of the network where the sender user is located.

According to the domain name parameters of the receiving user based on the mobile terminal number, the MMSC obtains the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the receiving user belongs by querying the domain name resolution server.

The invention expands the MM4 interface message MM4_Forward.REQ to indicate the MMSC address information or the operator information of the user, and shares it among multiple MMSCs, avoiding the MMSC's repeated inquiry of short message routes from the HLR, thus simplifying the processing flow of the MMSC , which can improve the response speed, reduce the consumption of network resources and reduce the overall cost.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the flowchart of forwarding multimedia message in the prior art;

Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are flowcharts of forwarding multimedia messages in the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to prevent the Multimedia Message Service Center (MMSC) that forwards multimedia messages from repeatedly inquiring about short message routes from the HLR, the present invention expands the information indicating the MMSC address or operator to which the user belongs in the MM4 interface message MM4_Forward. shared between. That is, after the MMSC to which the sender belongs obtains the address or operator information of the MMSC to which the user of the receiver belongs, the MMSC that forwards the multimedia message subsequently directly uses the information to determine the next MMSC. The operator's information may directly use a mobile subscriber identification code (IMSI or MIN), or may use a mobile operator identification (ID) or a mobile operator name.

Referring to Fig. 2, the forwarding process of the multimedia message is as follows:

1-1. After receiving the multimedia message submitted by the sender, the MMSC1 of the sender user first queries the user database to determine whether the receiver is the MMSC user, and if so, sends the message directly to the receiver; otherwise, according to the receiver of the message The mobile terminal number initiates a short message routing query. If MMSC1 can determine that the receiving party is a GSM user, then construct and initiate a GSM short message routing request message SRI_for_SMS, wherein the user number parameter is MSISDN, and the SCCP layer destination address is a GT number based on MDISDN; if MMSC1 can determine that the receiving party is For a CDMA user, construct and initiate a CDMA short message routing request message SMSREQ, in which the user number parameter is MDN, and the SCCP layer destination address is a GT number based on MDN; if MMSC1 cannot determine the type of receiver user, one of the two can be selected to try query, and try another one if the query fails.

1-2. The MNP-supporting signaling transfer point STP1 connected to MMSC1 receives the SCCP message containing the short message route query MAP message, and queries the external number portability database according to the GT number based on the mobile terminal number in the destination address Or use the internal number portability database to obtain the No. 7 address of the HLR-B to which the user number is ported, use it to replace the destination address in the received message, and reroute the message to HLR-B through the No. 7 signaling network. Before the number portability, since the number of the mobile terminal corresponds to the No. 7 address of the HLR to which it belongs, the signaling network will route the message to the HLR-A.

1-3. After HLR-B receives the short message routing query MAP message, it queries the internal database according to the mobile terminal number in the message to obtain the corresponding user identification code (GSM network IMSI, CDMA network MIN), and in the response message of the short message routing request Return to MMSC1.

1-4, After MMSC1 obtains the mobile subscriber identification code (GSM network IMSI, CDMA network MIN) of the receiving party user that HLR-B returns, inquires internal database or external database, obtains the mobile operator information that receiving party user belongs to, and with This determines the next MMSC address (domain name or IP address). If it belongs to the same operator as the sender, but belongs to a different MMSC, the MM4_Forward.REQ message is forwarded to the receiver MMSC through the MM4 interface, and the MMSC sends the multimedia message to the receiver user. If the sending and receiving parties do not belong to the same operator, MMSC1 forwards the MM4_Forward.REQ message to the gateway MMSC2 for external intercommunication of this network through the MM4 interface. The MM4_Forward.REQ message includes the carrier information of the receiver (CarrierInfo=IMSI/MIN/CarrierID/CarrierName), and the MMSC1 and subsequent MMSCs can determine the address of the next MMSC according to the information.

1-5. MMSC2 receives MM4_Forward.REQ and returns M4_Forward.RES message to MMSC1.

2-1. MMSC2 does not need to initiate an HLR query, but directly determines the next MMSC address according to the operator information of the receiver in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message. If the receiver belongs to the operator, the message is forwarded through the MM4 interface If the receiver belongs to MMSC, if it belongs to another operator, the multimedia message will be forwarded to the Internet gateway MMSC3 operating the MMS interconnection service through the MM4 interface.

2-2. MMSC3 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMC2.

3-1. MMSC3 does not need to initiate an HLR query, but directly determines the next MMSC address according to the information of the receiver's operator in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message, and forwards the multimedia message to the receiver's operator through the MM4 interface. Gateway MMSC4 (ingress gateway of this network).

3-2. MMSC4 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMC3.

4-1. MMSC4 first judges and queries the internal database to determine whether the receiver is a user of the network. If so, it does not need to initiate an HLR query, but directly determines the next MMSC address according to the operator information of the receiver in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message , and forward the multimedia message to the MMSC5 of the recipient through the MM4 interface; if not, reject it.

4-2. MMSC5 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMSC4. After receiving the message to the user, the MMSC5 to which the receiving party belongs queries the internal database and confirms that it is the user of the MMSC, then starts the process of sending multimedia messages to the user terminal.

The MMSC to which the sending user belongs obtains the user identification code (that is, steps 1-1 to 1-3) can also be realized by querying the domain name resolution service (ENUM-DNS) based on the E164 number, so that the MMSC does not need to query the HLR, which can further simplify the MMSC Process flow and improve response speed. Referring to Figure 3, its processing flow is as follows:

A1: After receiving the multimedia message submitted by the sender, the MMSC1 of the sender's user first queries the user database to determine whether the receiver is the MMSC user, and if so, sends the message directly to the receiver; otherwise, according to the receiver's mobile terminal of the message The number initiates an ENUM-DNS query.

A2: ENUM-DNS Server receives the ENUM-DNS_REQ message, queries the internal or external database according to the domain name parameters based on the mobile terminal number to obtain the MMSC address information or operator information of the recipient, and returns it to MMSC1 in the ENUM-DNS_RES message.

A3: The MMSC obtains the ENUM-DNS query result, judges according to the MMSC address or operator information of the receiver, if it belongs to the same operator as the sender, but belongs to a different MMSC, then forward the MM4_Forward.REQ message to the receiver through the MM4 interface The MMSC sends the multimedia message to the receiver user by the MMSC. If the sending and receiving parties do not belong to the same operator, MMSC1 forwards the MM4_Forward.REQ message to the gateway MMSC2 for external intercommunication of this network through the MM4 interface. The MM4_Forward.REQ message includes address information of the MMSC to which the recipient belongs or carrier information (MMSC_Address/CarrierInfo), and MMSC1 and subsequent MMSCs can determine the address of the next MMSC according to this information.

A4: MMSC2 receives MM4_Forward.REQ and returns M4_Forward.RES message to MMSC1.

B1: MMSC2 determines the next MMSC address according to the MMSC address information or operator information of the receiver in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message. If the receiver belongs to the operator, the message is forwarded to the receiver's MMSC through the MM4 interface , if it belongs to another operator, forward the multimedia message to the Internet gateway MMSC3 that operates the MMS interconnection service through the MM4 interface.

B2: MMSC3 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMC2.

C1: MMSC3 determines the next MMSC address according to the MMSC address information or operator information of the receiver in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message, and forwards the multimedia message to the gateway MMSC4 of the operator of the receiver through the MM4 interface.

C2: MMSC4 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMC3. D1: MMSC4 determines the next MMSC address according to the MMSC address information or operator information of the receiver in the received MM4_Forward.REQ message, and forwards the multimedia message to the MMSC5 of the receiver through the MM4 interface.

D2: MMSC5 returns a response message MM4_Forward.RES to MMC4. After receiving the message to the user, the MMSC5 to which the receiving party belongs queries the internal database and confirms that it is the user of the MMSC, then starts the process of sending multimedia messages to the user terminal.

In the process shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, the multimedia message is forwarded by five MMSCs, but the implementation of the present invention is not limited thereto, and the number of MMSCs forwarding the multimedia message in the actual forwarding process can be more or less.

In addition to obtaining the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs through the above methods, the MMSC can also obtain the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs through the following methods:

1. The user identification code is directly provided by the number portability database, namely:

The MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a short message routing query request to the signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability;

The signaling transfer point queries the external or internal number portability database to obtain the recipient's user identification code and returns it to the MMSC;

The MMSC inquires the database according to the user identification code to obtain the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the recipient user belongs.

2. The number portability database directly provides the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the recipient user belongs, namely:

The MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a short message routing query request to the signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability;

The signaling transfer point queries the external or internal number portability database to directly obtain the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the receiving user belongs, and returns it to the MMSC of the network where the sending user is located.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, all MMSCs that forward the multimedia message except the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs carry the address information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs or the operator information in the forwarding request message, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It may also be that some MMSCs carry the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs in the forwarding request message, and directly use this information for subsequent MMSCs that receive the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs Determine the next MMSC, and for the subsequent MMSC that does not contain the above information, determine the next MMSC through the query method (the query method is the same as the existing method)

In the present invention, in the MM4_Forward.REQ message, the parameters of the MMSC address information and/or operator information of the sender user can also be expanded for other MMSCs to know the information of the operator or MMSC to which the sender belongs, so as to facilitate billing and settlement.

Claims (7)

1. A method for forwarding multimedia messages between networks, characterized in that it comprises steps: The multimedia message service center MMSC of the network where the sending user is located obtains the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the receiving user belongs; When it is judged according to the address information or operator information of the MMSC that the receiver user and the sender user belong to different operator networks, the MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a forwarding request message to the next MMSC forwarding the multimedia message, and In addition to the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs, some or all of the MMSCs that forward the multimedia message carry the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs in the forwarding request message, and the subsequent MMSC that receives the request message directly according to the request message The address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs determines the next MMSC to forward the multimedia message. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MMSC obtains the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the recipient user belongs, comprising the following steps: The MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a short message routing query request to the signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; The signaling transfer point queries an external or internal number portability database to obtain the recipient's home location register address, and routes the short message routing query request to the home location register; The home location register returns the user identification code of the receiving party to the MMSC, and the MMSC queries the database according to the user identification code to obtain the address information or operator information of the MMSC to which the receiving user belongs. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MMSC obtains the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the recipient user belongs, comprising the following steps: The MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a short message routing query request to the signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; The signaling transfer point queries the external or internal number portability database to obtain the recipient's user identification code and returns it to the MMSC; The MMSC queries the database according to the user identification code to obtain the address information of the MMSC to which the recipient user belongs or the information of the operator to which he belongs. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MMSC obtains the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the recipient user belongs, comprising the following steps: The MMSC of the network where the sender user is located sends a short message routing query request to the signaling transfer point that supports mobile number portability; The signaling transfer point queries the external or internal number portability database to directly obtain the address information of the MMSC or the information of the operator to which the receiving user belongs, and returns it to the MMSC of the network where the sending user is located. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the MMSC of the network where the sending user is located obtains the address information of the MMSC or the operator to which the receiving user belongs by querying the domain name resolution server according to the domain name parameters of the receiving user based on the mobile terminal number. supplier information. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the forwarding request message also carries address information of the MMSC to which the sender user belongs and/or operator information. 7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that the operator information can be a mobile subscriber identification code, an operator ID or an operator name.