HK1064842B - A method for implementing prepaid multimedia messaging service - Google Patents

Description

Method for implementing prepayment multimedia message service

Technical Field

The invention relates to a prepaid service, in particular to a method for realizing a prepaid multimedia message service.

Background

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a further development of Short Message Service (SMS) and Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) that provides a complete end-to-end solution for personal multimedia mobile communication services. From the communication content, the multimedia message comprises images, audio, video, data and the like; functionally, multimedia messaging services encompass terminal-to-terminal, terminal-to-application, and application-to-terminal multimedia messaging. The method not only realizes information transfer between terminals and between the terminals and applications, but also realizes the diversity of contents, including various combinations of pictures, voice, images, data and texts. As an open media access platform, MMS can derive more colorful content service applications under the interaction of mobile users and internet content providers. The users are both consumers of MMS and content developers, which will undoubtedly increase the end-user's interest in the use of the service.

Prepaid MMS services are considered as an important service for the initiation and development of 2.5G and 3G data services. The prepayment MMS service adopts the processing flow of wireless application protocol (WAP for short) event on the practical realization method, the receiver actively gets information from the multimedia message center, the same as the browsing or downloading mode of WAP, therefore, the prepayment MMS service is different from SMS on the network structure and the charging mode.

The prepayment user is an important component of Chinese mobile user, and the prepayment MMS service aims at providing perfect multimedia message service for prepayment user, so that the prepayment mobile user can enjoy various multimedia information services at any time and any place as well as the global user.

With respect to prepaid MMS services, the description in the 3GPP standard is as follows:

the multimedia messaging center may support prepaid MMS services. When the sender submits the multimedia message, if the sender multimedia message center confirms that the sender of the multimedia message is a prepaid MMS client, the sender multimedia message center sends a charging request to a service control point SCP for authentication and charging check, if the client amount is not enough to submit the specific multimedia message, the sender multimedia message center can reject the message. The examination was based on the following criteria:

-the size of the multimedia message;

-a content type;

-the setting of an information element;

-the type of abstract message;

the flow is described as follows:

1. the service control point (SCP for short) authenticates the multimedia message center.

2. If the sender is a terminal or an Email address, the multimedia message center assigns a rate, and the service control point checks and deducts the fee according to the rate and the amount payable by the sender user.

3. If the sending party is a value added service (VAS for short), the VAS generates a rate and a charging type, and a service control point SCP checks and deducts the fee according to the rate, the charging type and the amount payable by a receiving party user.

If the multimedia message is rejected, the sending multimedia message center should prompt the sending MMS terminal with an appropriate status response, and the sending MMS terminal should prompt the user to pay attention to the message.

If the SCP successfully authenticates the multimedia message of the sender, the service control point SCP requests the multimedia message center to send the message.

In the extraction, the recipient multimedia messaging center first confirms that the recipient of the multimedia message is a prepaid MMS client and then initiates a monetary check for the particular client. The check may be made when the multimedia message reaches the recipient multimedia messaging center. Depending on the result of the check, the multimedia message center may reject or accept the multimedia message. If the multimedia message is accepted (with or without prior checking), the multimedia messaging center can start the money check when the recipient MMS terminal sends a withdrawal request. The check is based on the same criteria as at the time of transmission. If the multimedia message can not be extracted because the customer balance is too little, the multimedia message center of the receiver should respond with a proper state value to prompt the MMS terminal of the receiver, and the MMS terminal of the receiver should prompt the user to pay attention to the message; otherwise, the multimedia message is sent to the recipient MMS terminal.

After the multimedia message center issues the message, it sends a charging confirmation request to the service control point SCP, which completes the correct charging.

The specification of the prepaid MMS service in 3GPP is relatively simple, and mainly describes some basic principles of the development of the prepaid MMS service as a whole, and no solution is developed for the specific implementation of the prepaid MMS service. The following defects mainly exist:

(1) the protocol and message structure problems between the prepaid interfaces (interface between the multimedia message center and the service control point SCP) of prepaid MMS services are not solved.

(2) There is no service flow problem for prepaid (state row) MMS services with respect to message interaction between terminal and terminal, terminal and VASP application.

(3) The 3GPP only briefly mentions the charging problem of the prepaid MMS service, and does not provide a complete solution for the prepaid charging mechanism.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a method for realizing a prepaid multimedia message service aiming at the defects in the prior art.

The invention is for the prepaid multimedia message service user, have prepaid service and prepaid service multimedia message service's business on the business control point that the prepaid user belongs to, said method comprises the following step at least:

A. the calling user submits the multimedia message to the multimedia message center;

B. the multimedia message center judges the address types of a calling user and a called user receiving the multimedia message so as to determine the user type;

the user type comprises a terminal and an application;

C. the multimedia message center of the terminal initiates a charging request message to the service control point to complete the charging processing and complete the multimedia message issuing.

According to the above method:

step C further comprises the steps of:

a. if the calling user and the called user are both terminals and belong to the same multimedia message center, turning to the step b;

if the calling user and the called user are both terminals and belong to different multimedia message centers, turning to step c;

if the calling user is the terminal and the called user is the application, turning to the step d;

if the calling user is the application and the called user is the terminal, performing the step e;

b. the multimedia message center sends down multimedia message, and completes the charging process to the calling user and the called user by sending authentication charging request message to the service control point, and then goes to step f;

c. the multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs and the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs respectively send authentication charging request messages to the service control point to complete the charging processing of the calling user and the called user, and the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs issues multimedia messages, and then the step f is carried out;

d. the multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs issues multimedia messages, and completes the charging processing of the calling user by sending authentication charging request messages to the service control point, and then the step f is carried out;

e. the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs issues multimedia messages, and completes the charging processing of the called user by sending authentication charging request messages to the service control point, and then the step f is carried out;

f. the multimedia message center returns a message to the calling subscriber.

Step b further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center initiates an authentication and charging request message of a sender to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication and charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center initiates a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point; the service control point carries out authentication and pre-deduction operation and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(3) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the called user;

(4) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center sends a receiver charging confirmation request message to the service control point, and the service control point performs flow rate verification and returns a charging confirmation request;

(5) after the multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request of a sender to the service control point, the service control point confirms the deduction and the flow reduction, and returns a response message of the charging confirmation request to the multimedia message center.

Step c further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs initiates an authentication and charging request message of the sending party to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns the authentication and charging request message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs forwards the received multimedia message to the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs;

(3) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs initiates a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(4) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs issues the multimedia message to the called party;

(5) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs initiates a receiver charging confirmation request message to the service control point, the service control point SCP performs flow verification and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs;

(7) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs sends a forwarding delivery report to the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs;

(8) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center to which the calling belongs initiates a charging confirmation request message of a sending party to the service control point, and the service control point confirms the deduction and the flow verification, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center to which the calling belongs.

Step d further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center initiates an authentication charging request message of a sender to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the application;

(3) after confirming that the application has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request message of a sender to the service control point, the service control point carries out fee deduction and flow rate check, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center;

step e further comprises the step of

(1) The multimedia message center to which the receiver belongs sends a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to a receiver terminal;

(3) after confirming that the terminal of the receiving party has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a receiving party charging confirmation request message to the service control point, the service control point carries out deduction and flow verification, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center.

The authentication charging request message comprises a plurality of items in fields of session ID, content provider identification, service code and service code, message number, code of a source multimedia message center for forwarding the multimedia message, multimedia message center code for sending a charging request to a service control point, priority of the multimedia message, multimedia message destination number category, coding plan of the multimedia message destination number, address of the multimedia message destination number, charging number, charge rate, charging type, call ticket type and discount rate.

The authentication charging request response message comprises a session ID and a field for judging whether the charging operation is successful or not.

The charging confirmation request message comprises a session ID, a message number, a charging mobile phone number, a state value for identifying whether the multimedia message is successfully sent or not, a code of a multimedia message center for sending a charging request to the service control point and a plurality of items in a flow size field of the content.

The charging confirmation request response message includes a session ID and a charging confirmation operation success or failure field.

When the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request to the service control point, the multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point within the set time, the service of the current multimedia message is stopped, and a delivery report is sent to the calling user.

When the multimedia message center can not receive the charging confirmation request response message, the charging confirmation mark field of the call ticket is set as 'unacknowledged', and the processing flow of the non-prepaid multimedia message service user is processed.

The charging mechanism may employ: deducting the per-item charging information fee in real time, deducting the monthly fee in real time, authenticating the charging mobile phone account, checking the weight of the per-item charging, checking the weight of the monthly fee, limiting the single per-item consumption, limiting the monthly fee, confirming the charging request, supporting the top-sealed charging and monthly fee-covered charging modes or checking and reducing the flow of the per-item charging.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

the invention effectively provides a detailed solution about the prepaid MMS service, solves the definition of protocol and message structure between prepaid interfaces (interface between multimedia message center and service control point SCP) of prepaid MMS service, the realization of service flow of prepaid (China state) MMS service about message interaction between terminal and terminal, terminal and application, the charging principle of prepaid MMS service and the concrete realization of charging mechanism of prepaid MMS service, and provides excellent technical scheme for the smooth development of prepaid MMS service.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a prepaid system networking;

FIG. 2 is a main flow chart of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a terminal-to-terminal (non-forwarding) service flow diagram of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the terminal-to-terminal (forward) service of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the terminal-to-application service of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a service flow diagram of the present invention applied to a terminal.

Detailed Description

Referring to the prepaid system shown in fig. 1, the interaction protocol between the Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) and the associated network devices is as follows:

the MMSC and the service control point G-SCP adopt an EMPP protocol for long connection;

SMTP protocol is adopted between MMSC and equipment with Email address;

an HTTP protocol is adopted between the MMSC and a Service Provider (SP) application;

an HTTP protocol is adopted between the MMSC and the WAP gateway;

in this embodiment, the multimedia message center and the service control point SCP communicate using the EMPP protocol, implementing the prepaid interface function of the prepaid MMS service.

In the present embodiment the prepaid MMS service is directed to a prepaid MMS subscriber and therefore it depends on the original prepaid MMS service, and in principle the account of the prepaid MMS subscriber should be located at the service control point SCP to which the prepaid subscriber belongs, at which at least both the prepaid service and the prepaid MMS service should be available. The invention defines the interface message protocol structure of the multimedia message center and the service control point as follows:

authentication charging request message (MM _ Charge.req)

MM_Charge.req
				Message field	Description of the invention
	Tsct-id	And the session ID is used for message interaction.
				Vasp-id	Identification of the content provider.
	Sp-id	Service code + service code.
				msg-id	The message number, generated by the multimedia message center, is a 10-ary numeric string.
	src-mmsc	A source multimedia message center that forwards the multimedia message.
				gw-mmsc	Sending the code of the multimedia message center of the charging request to the service control point SCP.
	pri	Priority of multimedia messages.
				Charge-date	The year and month are charged, the charge of the month of the year is described, and the format is as follows: year + month. When the Type is the monthly payment, the month value is: 1 to 12; when Type is single charge, monthly inquiry or capped charge, the value is 0.
Sub-element addr	ton	A category of multimedia message destination numbers.
				npi	And (4) encoding plan of the multimedia message destination number.
	val	The address of the multimedia message destination number. The multimedia message center is responsible for filling the user number of the called terminal user for the purpose of multimedia message.
			Sub-element chg-info	msid	A billing number. Filled with the mobile phone number of the prepaid MMS user who sent the multimedia message.
	rate	The rate, in units of minutes. The multimedia message center sets the rate for the prepaid MMS user to send the multimedia message. Or charging according to the charge rate on the service control point SCP without filling.
				type	The type of charging. And (3) value specification: 1: free of charge; 2: charging according to the number of the charging strips; 3: collecting according to month; 4: and (6) sealing and charging.
	cdrtype	A ticket type. And (3) value specification: 1: MO uplink charging; 2: MT downlink charging; 3: MMC charging.
				discount	Discount, rate × discount ÷ 100 is the actual charge.

Authentication charging request message response (MM _ Charge. res)

MM_Charge.res
				Message field	Description of the invention

	Tsct-id	A session ID for message interaction; req corresponds to the message MM _ charge.
				stat	If the charging operation is successful, the error code refers to the EMPP protocol.

Charging confirmation request message (MM _ Confirm. req)

MM_Confirm.req
				Message field	Description of the invention
	Tsct-id	And the session ID is used for message interaction.
				msg-id	The message number must correspond to the msg-id in the sm-chg-req.
	Msid	And charging the mobile phone number.
				Val	The address of the MM destination number. The MMSC is responsible for filling the user number of the called terminal user for the MM purpose.
	Mstat	A status value identifying whether the multimedia message was successfully sent or not. And (3) value specification: 0: failure of multimedia message transmission; 1: the multimedia message is successfully sent.
				Gw-mmsc	Sending the code of the multimedia message center of the charging request to the service control point SCP.
	Data-length	The flow of the content is in byteBit

Charging confirmation request message response (MM _ Confirm. res)

MM_Confirm.res
				Message field	Description of the invention
	Tsct-id	A session ID for message interaction; req corresponds to the message MM _ Confirm
				stat	If the charging is confirmed to be successful, the error code refers to the EMPP protocol.

Through the four complete message protocol interfaces, the message interaction between the multimedia message center and the service control point SCP is realized, and the prepayment function of the multimedia message is completed.

Referring to fig. 2, the present invention mainly includes the steps of:

A. a prepaid calling subscriber submits a multimedia message to a multimedia message center MMSC (step 100).

B. The multimedia message center MMSC determines the address types of the calling subscriber and the called subscriber receiving the multimedia message to determine the subscriber type (step 110).

The multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs determines the types of the calling user and the called user and the multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs according to the addresses of the calling user and the called user obtained from the received message and the addresses. The calling subscriber and the called subscriber may belong to the same multimedia message center or may belong to different multimedia message centers. The user type comprises a terminal and an application, the terminal mainly refers to a mobile terminal (mobile phone), and the application comprises an SP application and an Email address application. Therefore, a non-forwarded terminal-to-terminal, a terminal-to-application and an application-to-terminal service can be formed between the calling party and the called party.

The method for judging the terminal type comprises the following steps:

(a) judging the mobile phone terminal:

if the address string of a single address conforms to the e.164 number address specification, it can be initially identified as a PLMN number, i.e., a possible "/TYPE ═ PLMN" string excluding the end of the address string, which is composed of all 0-9 digits and legal numbers such as "+". Only on the basis of judging as a PLMN number, checking and finding that the number part of the address string takes the route not to be empty and the number length is correct, then the address is a legal destination mobile terminal address.

(b) Judging rules of Email addresses:

the Email address must conform to the standard to RFC822 address specification, i.e., with an "@" symbol, a username string before "@" and a string of a domain address string after "@".

(c) The judgment rule applied by the SP:

the "address" to which the SP applies must first be a PLMN type address which will be treated as an SP application address if the number part of the address does not take a route or if its length value is not standard to mobile terminal number to length.

C. According to the user type, the multimedia message center to which the user belongs initiates a charging request message to the service control point to complete the charging process and complete the multimedia message issuing (step 120).

And adopting a corresponding service flow according to the judgment result, and interacting the multimedia message center and a corresponding service control point to finally finish charging and multimedia message issuing.

The multimedia message center and the service control point interact, the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request message with the structure to the service control point SCP when receiving the multimedia message, and the field in the message carries the relevant control information, the service control point SCP calculates the Charge according to the message field rate and the account, determines the charging type according to the message field type, and determines the call list type and the content according to the message fields cdrtype, Tsct-id, src-mmsc, gw-mmsc, pri, Charge-date, ton and npi. And after passing the authentication and the pre-deduction fee, the service control point returns an authentication charging request response message MM _ Charge.res with the structure, wherein the value of a message field stat represents the charging operation result. The multimedia message center issues a multimedia message, and after confirming that a called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center sends a charging confirmation request message MM _ Confirm.req of the structure to a service control point SCP, the service control point SCP confirms fee deduction according to a message field Mstat, and then returns a charging confirmation request response message MM _ Confirm.res of the structure to the multimedia message center, and the message field stat indicates a charging confirmation operation result.

The charging mechanism of the prepaid MMS service adopted by the invention is as follows:

1. real-time deduction of fee charged according to fee

After receiving a charging request initiated by a multimedia message center, the prepaid MMS service checks the state, balance and the like of a prepaid MMS user account, and performs a fee deduction operation after the check. Due to the characteristics of prepaid MMS services, the multimedia messaging center should send a charging request to the service control point SCP before forwarding the multimedia message.

2. Real-time deduction of monthly fee

After receiving a monthly payment deduction request initiated by a multimedia message center, the prepaid MMS service checks the state, balance and the like of a prepaid MMS user account, and performs fee deduction operation after the check. The service provider (or the MISC) must transmit the monthly fee deduction information before transmitting the multimedia message of which the first user enjoys the service. When the service provider subsequently sends the prepaid MMS service multimedia message with the MT, the fee is still filled as monthly payment, but the fee deducted by the SCP for each prepaid MMS service multimedia message is zero.

3. Accounting mobile account authentication

Before deducting the per-item fee or monthly fee of the prepaid MMS user, the prepaid MMS service checks the account state and account balance of the prepaid MMS user, and only the prepaid MMS user in the valid period state and with the account balance more than or equal to the fee deduction of this time can actually carry out fee deduction operation.

4. Checking duplicate by charging

In a period (at least 72 hours) in which the multimedia message sequence number (Msg-ID) settable by the operator is not repeated, the service control point SCP will check whether the multimedia message sequence number (Msg-ID), the charging handset number (Msid), the recipient address (Val) are identical to the charging request in the period, and if so, the charging request is rejected by the service.

5. Monthly fee check

In a monthly payment period (generally 1 month) which can be set by an operator, a Service Control Point (SCP) checks whether a charging mobile phone number (Msid), a receiver address (Val), an enterprise code (vasop-id) and a service code (sp-id) are completely the same as the monthly payment request in the period, and if the charging mobile phone number (Msid), the receiver address (Val), the enterprise code (vasop-id) and the service code (sp-id) are the same as the monthly payment request in the period, the service considers that monthly payment.

6. Single consumption limit per strip

In the charging according to the strip, the operator can flexibly set the maximum amount which can be appointed in each fee deduction request, if the amount in the fee deduction request according to the strip exceeds the limit, the service refuses the fee deduction request.

7. Monthly consumption limit

In monthly payment, the operator can flexibly set the maximum amount which can be appointed in each payment request, and if the amount in the monthly payment request exceeds the limit, the service refuses the payment request.

8. Charging confirmation request (mechanism of money)

When the prepaid MMS user uses the prepaid MMS service, whether the prepaid MMS user is an uplink communication fee or a downlink information fee, the multimedia message center initiates a pre-deduction to a service control point SCP, and then the pre-deduction is confirmed or supplemented according to a corresponding status report (the uplink status report is initiated to the multimedia message center to which the user belongs by the multimedia message center accessed by a service provider, and the downlink status report is initiated by the multimedia message center to which the user belongs), so that the system is ensured not to lose every fee and not to collect fees by mistake under the condition that the user does not enjoy the service.

The multimedia message center to which the user belongs should initiate a charging confirmation request message MM _ confirm.req to the service control point SCP after receiving the status report sent by the multimedia message center to which the other party belongs. In the period (generally 2 days) of waiting for the status report, which may be set by the operator, if the service control point SCP does not receive the corresponding charging confirmation request, the service control point SCP should also perform the corresponding reimbursement operation.

9. Service supporting top-sealed charging and monthly payment charging modes

For the service of the top-sealing charging mode, after the top-sealing cost is reached, the service provider designates the charging type as the top-sealing mode when sending the multimedia message to the user of the receiving party, and when the service control point SCP processes the charging request, the charging number is not authenticated and charging is not carried out, only a ticket is simply recorded, and then the multimedia message center is informed that the charging request is successfully processed.

For the monthly payment service, after the monthly payment is collected, the service provider designates the charging type as the monthly payment when sending the multimedia message to the receiver user, and when the service control point SCP processes the charging request, the charging number is not authenticated and charging is not carried out, only a ticket is simply recorded, and then the multimedia message center is told that the charging request is successfully processed.

10. Bar-by-bar time-consuming flow reduction

When the prepaid MMS service is loaded in the GPRS network, the multimedia message generates a flow rate charge in the GPRS network that is not charged to the user when the prepaid MMS service is charged by one (content charging). For prepaid MMS users, the flow charging and content charging are performed separately, and the flow meter time consumption cannot distinguish that the flow is multimedia message, so that the flow occurring in the multimedia message cannot be billed. The method is to compensate the flow charge when the content is charged.

In the charging flow, whether charging by one piece or monthly payment, the multimedia message center is required to report the flow of the multimedia message, namely the message field Data-length, in the charging confirmation request message MM _ confirm.

The following describes in detail the overall flow of the service from the non-forwarded terminal to the terminal, from the terminal to the application and to the terminal:

1. terminal-to-terminal (non-forwarding) traffic flow, see fig. 3:

the flow is suitable for the message processing flow from the prepaid MMS terminal to the terminal (non-forwarding), i.e. the sender terminal and the receiver terminal of the multimedia message belong to the same multimedia message center, and the multimedia message can not be forwarded between different multimedia message centers.

(1) After the calling user submits the multimedia message, the multimedia message is forwarded to a multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs through a WAP GW and a Redirector;

(2) the multimedia message center initiates a sender authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP); the service control point SCP performs authentication and pre-deduction operation, and the completed functions are as follows: and (4) carrying out duplicate checking according to the charging and fee deduction according to the charging. After the authentication and the pre-deduction are passed, the service control point SCP returns a message MM _ Charge.res to the MMSC, a cost deduction result is identified by a stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, and if the stat is successful, the multimedia message center is requested to issue the multimedia message;

(3) the multimedia message center initiates a receiver authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP); the service control point SCP performs authentication and pre-deduction operation, and the completed functions are as follows: and (4) carrying out duplicate checking according to the charging and fee deduction according to the charging. SCP returns message MM _ Charge.res to MMSC after passing authentication and pre-deduction, and the result of deduction is identified by the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, if the stat is successful, the multimedia message center is requested to issue the multimedia message;

(4) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the called user;

(5) after the multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, a receiver charging confirmation request (MM _ confirm.req) to a service control point SCP is initiated; and the service control point SCP performs flow rate verification and returns a response (MM _ confirm.res) to the multimedia message center, and the sta in the message MM _ Charge.res identifies a deduction result.

(6) After the multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request (MM _ Confirm.req) of a sending party to a service control point SCP to confirm fee deduction and flow rate reduction, returns a response (MM _ Confirm.res) to the multimedia message center, and marks a fee deduction result by a stat in the message MM _ Charge.res.

(7) And the multimedia message center sends the delivery report to the user of the sending party.

And (3) processing the abnormal condition:

(1) after the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request to the service control point SCP, if the multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point SCP within the set time, the multimedia message center immediately stops the service of the current multimedia message, and sends a delivery report to the user of the sender to inform the user that the current multimedia message is refused to be sent down because the authentication charging of the service control point SCP is not passed.

(2) And for the case that the multimedia message center can not receive the charging confirmation request response, processing the following steps:

a. and setting the 'charging confirmation mark' field of the ticket as 'unacknowledged'.

b. The subsequent flow is the same as the non-prepaid MMS user processing flow.

2. The service flow from terminal to terminal (forwarding), see fig. 4:

the process is suitable for the message processing process from the terminal to the terminal (forwarding), namely the condition that the sender terminal and the receiver terminal of the multimedia message belong to different multimedia message centers and the multimedia message can be forwarded between the different multimedia message centers. :

(1) after the calling user submits the multimedia message, the multimedia message is forwarded to a multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs through a WAP GW and a Redirector;

(2) the calling multimedia message center initiates a sender authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP); the service control point SCP performs authentication and pre-deduction operation, and the completed functions are as follows: and (4) carrying out duplicate checking according to the charging and fee deduction according to the charging. After the authentication and the pre-charging are passed, SCP returns a message MM _ Charge.res to MMSC, the result of the charging is identified by the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, if the stat is successful, the calling multimedia message center is required to forward and send the multimedia message;

(3) and the calling multimedia message center forwards the received multimedia message to the called home multimedia message center.

(4) The called multimedia message center initiates a receiver authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP); the service control point SCP performs authentication and pre-deduction operation, and the completed functions are as follows: and (4) carrying out duplicate checking according to the charging and fee deduction according to the charging. SCP returns message MM _ Charge.res to MMSC after passing authentication and pre-deduction, and the result of deduction is identified by the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, if the stat is successful, the called multimedia message center is required to issue the multimedia message;

(5) the called multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the called user;

(6) after the called multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, a receiver charging confirmation request (MM _ confirm.req) to a service control point SCP is initiated; and the service control point SCP performs flow rate verification and returns a response (MM _ confirm.res) to the called multimedia message center, and the sta in the message MM _ Charge.res identifies a deduction result.

(7) The called multimedia message center sends a forwarding delivery report to the calling multimedia message center;

(8) after the calling multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, a sender charging confirmation request (MM _ confirm.req) is initiated to a service control point SCP; and the service control point SCP confirms the deduction and the flow rate reduction, returns a response (MM _ confirm.res) to the calling multimedia message center, and identifies the deduction result by the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res.

(9) And the calling multimedia message center sends the delivery report to the user of the sending party.

Handling of exception conditions

(1) After the calling multimedia message center sends an authentication charging request to a service control point SCP, if the calling multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point SCP within a set time, the service of the current multimedia message is immediately stopped, a delivery report is sent to a sending user, and the user is informed that the current multimedia message is refused to be sent down because the authentication charging of the service control point SCP is not passed.

(2) And the case that the calling multimedia message center can not receive the charging confirmation request response is processed as follows:

a. and setting the 'charging confirmation mark' field of the ticket as 'unacknowledged'.

b. The subsequent flow is the same as the non-prepaid MMS user processing flow.

3. The service flow from the terminal to the application is shown in fig. 5:

(1) after the calling user submits the multimedia message, the multimedia message is forwarded to a multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs through a WAP GW and a Redirector;

(2) the multimedia message center initiates a sender authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP); the service control point SCP performs authentication and pre-deduction operation, and the completed functions are as follows: and (4) carrying out duplicate checking according to the charging and fee deduction according to the charging. SCP returns message MM _ Charge.res to MMSC after passing authentication and pre-deduction, and the result of deduction is identified by the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, if the stat is successful, the multimedia message center is requested to issue the multimedia message;

(3) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the VASP;

(4) after confirming that the VASP has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a sender charging confirmation request (MM _ confirm. req) to a service control point SCP; the service control point SCP carries out fee deduction and flow rate reduction, and returns a response (MM _ confirm.res) to the multimedia message center, and the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res identifies the fee deduction result.

(5) And the multimedia message center sends the delivery report to the user of the sending party.

And (3) processing the abnormal condition:

(1) after the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request to the service control point SCP, if the multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point SCP within the set time, the multimedia message center immediately stops the service of the current multimedia message, and sends a delivery report to the user of the sender to inform the user that the current multimedia message is refused to be sent down because the authentication charging of the service control point SCP is not passed.

(2) And for the case that the multimedia message center can not receive the charging confirmation request response, processing the following steps:

a. and setting the 'charging confirmation mark' field of the ticket as 'unacknowledged'.

b. The subsequent flow is the same as the non-prepaid MMS user processing flow.

4. The service flow applied to the terminal, see fig. 6:

the flow is suitable for calling flow from VASP to prepaid MMS terminal.

The multimedia message processing flow is as follows:

(1) the VASP submits the message to a home multimedia message center of a receiver;

(2) and the multimedia message center sends a receiver authentication charging request (MM _ Charge.req) to a Service Control Point (SCP). The completed functions are as follows: and checking the duplicate by charging or monthly and carrying out the operation of deducting the fee by charging or monthly, wherein the monthly or monthly operation depends on whether monthly business is covered or not. The SCP carries out authentication and pre-deduction operation, after the authentication and pre-deduction operation passes, the SCP returns a message MM _ Charge.res to the MMSC, a deduction result is identified by a stat in the message MM _ Charge.res, and if the stat is successful, a multimedia message center is requested to issue the multimedia message;

(3) the multimedia message center sends the message to the receiver terminal;

(4) after confirming that the terminal of the receiving party has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a receiving party charging confirmation request (MM _ confirm.req) to a service control point SCP; the service control point SCP carries out fee deduction and flow rate reduction, and returns a response (MM _ confirm.res) to the multimedia message center, and the stat in the message MM _ Charge.res identifies the fee deduction result.

(5) The multimedia messaging center sends a delivery report to the VASP.

And (3) processing the abnormal condition:

(1) after the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request to the service control point SCP, if the multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point SCP within the set time, the multimedia message center immediately stops the service of the current multimedia message, and sends a delivery report to the user of the sender to inform the user that the current multimedia message is refused to be sent down because the authentication charging of the service control point SCP is not passed.

(2) And for the case that the multimedia message center can not receive the charging confirmation request response, processing the following steps:

a. and setting the 'charging confirmation mark' field of the ticket as 'unacknowledged'.

b. The subsequent flow is the same as the global general user processing flow.

For the present invention Email application is similar to the flow of SP application, except that multimedia messages are sent from different interfaces. The multimedia message center and the Email server adopt an SMTP protocol for interaction.

Claims (12)

1. A method for implementing prepaid Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is characterized by comprising the following steps:

A. the calling user submits the multimedia message to the multimedia message center;

B. the multimedia message center judges the address types of a calling user and a called user receiving the multimedia message to determine the user type, wherein the user type comprises a terminal and an application;

C. the multimedia message center which the terminal belongs to finishes the charging processing and the multimedia message issuing by initiating a charging request message to the service control point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step C further comprises the steps of:

a. if the calling user and the called user are both terminals and belong to the same multimedia message center, turning to the step b;

if the calling user and the called user are both terminals and belong to different multimedia message centers, turning to step c;

if the calling user is the terminal and the called user is the application, turning to the step d;

if the calling user is the application and the called user is the terminal, performing the step e;

b. the multimedia message center sends down multimedia message, and completes the charging process to the calling user and the called user by sending authentication charging request message to the service control point, and then goes to step f;

c. the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs sends the multimedia message, and the multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs and the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs respectively send an authentication charging request message to the service control point to complete the charging processing of the calling user and the called user, and then step f is carried out;

d. the multimedia message center to which the calling user belongs issues multimedia messages, and completes the charging processing of the calling user by sending authentication charging request messages to the service control point, and then the step f is carried out;

e. the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs issues multimedia messages, and completes the charging processing of the called user by sending authentication charging request messages to the service control point, and then the step f is carried out;

f. the multimedia message center returns a message to the calling subscriber.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step b further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center initiates an authentication and charging request message of a sender to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication and charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center initiates a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point; the service control point carries out authentication and pre-deduction operation and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(3) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the called user;

(4) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request of a receiver to the service control point, and the service control point performs flow rate verification and returns the charging confirmation request;

(5) after the multimedia message center confirms that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request of a sender to the service control point, the service control point confirms the deduction and the flow reduction, and returns a response message of the charging confirmation request to the multimedia message center.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein step c further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs initiates an authentication and charging request message of the sending party to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns the authentication and charging request message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs forwards the received multimedia message to the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs;

(3) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs initiates a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(4) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs issues the multimedia message to the called party;

(5) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs initiates a receiver charging confirmation request message to the service control point, the service control point performs flow rate verification and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center to which the called user belongs;

(6) the multimedia message center to which the called party belongs sends a forwarding delivery report to the multimedia message center to which the calling party belongs;

(7) after confirming that the called user has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center to which the calling belongs initiates a charging confirmation request message of a sender to the service control point, and the service control point confirms the deduction and the flow verification, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center to which the calling belongs.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein step d further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center initiates an authentication charging request message of a sender to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to the application;

(3) after confirming that the application has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a charging confirmation request message of a sender to the service control point, the service control point performs fee deduction and flow rate check, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein step e further comprises the steps of:

(1) the multimedia message center to which the receiver belongs sends a receiver authentication charging request message to a service control point, and the service control point performs authentication and pre-deduction operations and returns an authentication charging request response message to the multimedia message center;

(2) the multimedia message center sends the multimedia message to a receiver terminal;

(3) after confirming that the terminal of the receiving party has received the multimedia message, the multimedia message center initiates a receiving party charging confirmation request message to the service control point, the service control point carries out deduction and flow verification, and returns a charging confirmation request response message to the multimedia message center.

7. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the authenticated charging request message comprises a plurality of items from a session ID, a content provider identifier, a service code and a service code, a message number, a code of an original multimedia message center forwarding the multimedia message, a multimedia message center code sending a charging request to a service control point, a priority of the multimedia message, a multimedia message destination number category, a coding plan of a multimedia message destination number, an address of a multimedia message destination number, a charging number, a rate, a charging type, a ticket type, and a discount rate field.

8. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that said authentication charging request response message comprises a session ID and a charging operation success or failure field.

9. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the charging validation request message comprises a plurality of items in the session ID, the message number, the charging handset number, the address of the destination number of the multimedia message, a status value identifying the success or failure of the multimedia message transmission, a code of the multimedia message center sending the charging request to the service control point and the traffic size field of the present content.

10. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the charging confirmation request response message comprises a session ID and a charging confirmation operation success or failure field.

11. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that: when the multimedia message center sends the authentication charging request to the service control point, the multimedia message center does not receive the authentication charging request response of the service control point within the set time, the service of the current multimedia message is stopped, and a delivery report is sent to the calling user.

12. The method according to one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that when the multimedia message center does not receive the charging confirmation request response message, the charging confirmation flag field of the ticket is set to "not confirmed", and the user processing flow is followed by the non-prepaid multimedia message service.