HK1080663A - Method and apparatus for conveying reports for sms messages in wireless communication systems - Google Patents

Description

Method and apparatus for delivering SMS message reports in a wireless messaging system

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to wireless messaging, and more specifically to techniques for communicating short message reports in a wireless communication system.

Technical Field

Short Message Service (SMS) is a service that supports the exchange of SMS or short messages between a mobile station and a wireless communication system. These short messages may be user-specific messages for a particular receiving mobile station or broadcast messages for multiple mobile stations.

SMS can be implemented through various types of wireless communication systems, two of which are Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems. A CDMA network may be designed to implement one or more standards such as CDMA2000, WCDMA, IS-95, and so on. TDMA networks may also be designed to implement one or more standards such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). Each network typically further implements a specific mobile network protocol to allow roaming and advanced services, ANSI-41 is typically used for CDMA networks (except W-CDMA) and GSM mobile application part (GSM-MAP) is used for GSM and W-CDMA networks. The network may also implement a combination of different technologies. For example, the GSM1x network is a GSM-MAP network using a CDMA air interface.

Since SMS is network technology (ANSI-41 or MAP) dependent, CDMA and GSM networks implementing different network technologies support different SMS implementations. Each SMS implementation has different capabilities and uses different message types and formats to send short messages. For simplicity, SMS implementations based on GSM-MAP networks are referred to as GSMSMS, while SMS implementations based on ANSI-41 networks are referred to as CDMA SMS.

In some cases, it is desirable to convert GSM SMS messages to CDMA SMS or vice versa. This may be the case, for example, in a GSM1x network, GSM SMS messages are exchanged between a GSM1x mobile station and the network using CDMASMS messages. Message switching is also required to support roaming between CDMA and GSM networks.

Since GSM SMS and CDMA SMS support different message types and formats, CDMA SMS and GSM SMS may not be able to send a particular type of information under the current standards. This is because the message types available in one SMS implementation are not defined in other SMS implementations. As an example, when a GSM network sends an SMS message to a GSM1x mobile station over a CDMA air interface, the network may wish for the mobile station to send an SMS delivery Report (SMS-delivery-Report) TPDU (transport protocol data unit). The TPDU includes a report for SMS messages sent to the mobile station. The report may include information such as (1) whether the message was received correctly or in error, (2) the type of error, if available, and (3) user data. In the current CDMA SMS standard, when a mobile station receives an SMS Message, it can send a (transport layer) SMS Acknowledge Message (SMS Acknowledge Message) to the network and optionally a (teleservice layer) SMS User Acknowledge Message (SMS User Acknowledge Message) to the original sender of the received SMS. SMS acknowledgement messages cannot carry user data while SMS user acknowledgement messages can carry user data but require manual confirmation by the user. Therefore, there is currently no mechanism in CDMA SMS to automatically send information similar to that included in GSM SMS delivery reports, especially if the TPDU should carry user data.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a technique for delivering reports for short messages to ameliorate the problems described above.

Disclosure of Invention

Techniques are provided herein for communicating reports of SMS messages in wireless communication networks using a CDMA air interface, such as GSM1x and CDMA networks. In one aspect, two new messages, SMS deliver report message and SMS submit report message, are defined for the SMS teleservice layer in CDMA SMS. These messages can be used to more fully convey the information in the SMS delivery report TPDU and SMS submit report TPDU defined in GSM SMS. A new Report _ Req field is also provided in the reply option subparameter of the SMS deliver Report message and SMS submit message defined in CDMA SMS. This new field is used to request a report of an SMS message sent by the recipient of the SMS message.

In one embodiment, a method of communicating a report for a short message in a wireless communication network (e.g., a GSM1x network or a CDMA network) using a CDMA air interface is provided. According to the method, a first short message is initially received, including a request for a report for the first short message. A second short message is then generated and sent, including a report for the first short message.

If the method is performed at a mobile station, the first short message may be an SMS delivery message and the second short message may be an SMS delivery report message. In this case, the network may derive an SMS delivery report TPDU based on the SMS delivery report message. The first short message may also be an SMS submit message and the second short message may be an SMS submit report message if the method is performed at the network. In this case, the SMS submit report message may be derived from the SMS submit report TPDU message.

In any case, the report may include (1) a first value (e.g., successful Success) indicating whether the first short message was received correctly or in error, (2) a second value (e.g., TP-Failure Cause) indicating any type of error that may occur with the first short message, (3) user data, and (4) any combination thereof.

Various aspects and embodiments of the invention are described in further detail below. The invention also provides methods, program codes, digital signal processors, mobile stations, base stations, systems, and other apparatuses and elements that implement various aspects, embodiments, and features of the invention, as described in further detail below.

Brief Description of Drawings

The features, nature, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which like reference characters identify correspondingly throughout and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a wireless communication network supporting SMS;

fig. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating a signal flow for transmitting an SMS message from an SMS service center to a mobile station, or vice versa;

FIG. 3A is an illustration of the format defined by GSM SMS for SMS delivery report TPDU and SMS submit report TPDU;

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating a format for an SMS delivery report message and an SMS submit report message;

fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating the conversion between a CDMA SMS report message and a GSM SMS report message TPDU;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a message for SMS delivery and SMS submission with a new Reprot _ Req field;

fig. 6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating a signal flow for transmitting an SMS message from an SMS service center to a mobile station using an SMS deliver report message and an SMS submit report message, or vice versa;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a process for communicating reports for SMS messages in a network using a CDMA air interface; and

figure 8 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an SMS service center, MSC, and mobile station.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is an illustration of a wireless communication network 100 supporting Short Message Service (SMS). The network 100 includes a number of SMS service centers (SMS-SCs) 112, Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) 114, and base stations 116. The SMS service center is responsible for storing, relaying, and forwarding short messages for mobile stations 140 in the network. The MSCs perform switching functions (i.e., routing of messages and data) for mobile stations within their coverage areas. The SMS service center may be implemented separately from or integrated with the MSC. Each mobile station is served by one MSC at any given moment, and the MSC is referred to as the serving MSC for that mobile station. A base station is a fixed station used for communicating with mobile stations. A mobile station may also be called a remote station, a terminal, a User Equipment (UE), or some other terminology.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, each SMS service center communicates with a corresponding MSC to support SMS. Each MSC is further coupled to a number of base stations and controls communications for mobile stations that are under the coverage of those base stations. Each base station communicates with the mobile stations under its coverage area to support SMS and other services (e.g., voice, packet data, etc.). Each mobile station may communicate with one or more base stations at any given moment, depending on whether it is active and whether soft handoff is supported.

Network 100 may be a CDMA network, a TDMA network, or some other type of network. The network 100 may further implement ANSI-41 or GSM-MAP. The network 100 may also be a GSM1x network implementing GSM-MAP and using a CDMA air interface.

SMS is network technology dependent and two SMS implementations are defined for ANSI-41 and GSM-MAP. The SMS implementation for GSM-MAP (referred to herein as GSM SMS) is further described in 3GPP TS 23.038 V5.0.0 and TS23.040 V4.7.0. An SMS implementation for ANSI-41 (referred to herein as CDMA SMS) IS described in further detail in TIA/EIA-637-B, entitled "Short Message Service for Wideband Spread Spectrum System" (ANSI-41) IS described in TIA/EIA/IS-41-D, entitled "cellular radio telecommunications systems Operations (cellular radio telecommunications Operations)", which are all disclosed and incorporated herein by reference.

For GSM-MAP based networks such as GSM1x, the MSC further functions as a GSM SMS gateway MSC (GSM-SMS-GMSC) and a GSM SMS interworking MSC (GSM-SMS-IWMSC) to support SMS. GSM-SMS-GMSC is a function of the MSC with the following functions: receiving short messages from the SMS service centre, interrogating (interrogates) a Home Location Register (HLR) for routing information and SMS information for each short message, and delivering the short messages to the appropriate service node (or base station) for the mobile station, which are the intended recipients of the messages. The GSM-SMS-IWMSC is a function of the MSC that is capable of receiving short messages and submitting them to an SMS service center.

The techniques described herein for communicating reports for SMS messages may be implemented in different types of networks. For example, the techniques may be implemented in a GSM1x network, a CDMA network, and so on. For simplicity, the various aspects and embodiments are described with particular reference to a GSM1x network in which GSM SMS messages are exchanged between an SMS service center and a mobile station through an MSC, and CDMA SMS messages are exchanged between the MSC and the mobile station for these GSM SMS messages.

The SMS protocol stack for GSM SMS comprises four layers: a short message application layer (SM-AL), a short message transport layer (SM-TL), a short message relay layer (SM-RL) and a short message lower layer (SM-LL). For GSM SMS, short messages are exchanged between the SM-TL of the SMS service center and the peer entity in the mobile station in data units called Transport Protocol Data Units (TPDUs). The TPDU is transmitted by the SMS service center to the MSC and may be encapsulated into protocol elements at the short message relay layer. For GSM1x, the protocol elements/TPDUs are further converted by the MSC into corresponding CDMA SMS messages.

The SMS protocol stack for CDMA SMS also includes four layers: an SMS teleservice layer, an SMS transport layer, an SMS relay layer, and a link layer.

Fig. 2A is a diagram illustrating the signal flow in a GSM1x network for sending SMS messages from an SMS service center to a mobile station using messages currently defined by GSM SMS and CDMA SMS. For simplicity, fig. 2A illustrates basic (underlay) data units and messages exchanged between a network entity and a mobile station.

Initially, the SMS service center sends the SMS message to the GSM1x mobile station by providing an SMS delivery TPDU to the mobile station's serving MSC. The GSM-SMS-GMSC function in the MSC converts the SMS delivery TPDU into a (remote service layer) SMS delivery message. The message is then provided to the serving base station of the mobile station, which transmits the message to the mobile station over the air (over-the-air).

In response to receipt of the SMS deliver message, the mobile station may send a (transport layer) SMS acknowledge message to the network. The mobile station may also choose to send a (teleservice layer) SMS user confirmation message to the original sender of the received SMS message. An SMS acknowledgement message and/or an SMS subscriber acknowledgement message sent by the mobile station is received by the serving base station and provided to the MSC. The MSC then converts these messages into an SMS delivery report TPDU, which is then forwarded to the SMS service center.

The SMS acknowledge message does not convey relevant information that may be included in the SMS delivery report TPDU. This is true if the SMS delivery report TPDU is considered to be supposed to carry user data. The SMS user confirmation message may carry user data but requires manual confirmation by the user.

Fig. 2B is a diagram illustrating the signal flow for sending an SMS message from a mobile station to an SMS service center in a GSM1x network using currently defined messages.

Initially, the mobile station initiates an SMS message by sending a (teleservice layer) SMS submit message to the serving base station, which receives the message and conveys it to the MSC. The GSM-SMS-GMSC function in the MSC then converts the SMS submit message into an SMS submit TPDU, which is then forwarded to the SMS service center.

In response to receipt of the SMS submit TPDU, the SMS service center may send an SMS submit report TPDU that carries the results for the SMS submit TPDU just received. The MSC then converts the SMS submit report TPDU into a (transport layer) SMS acknowledge message, which is then sent to the mobile station. Again, the SMS acknowledge message does not carry relevant information that may be included in the SMS submit report TPDU from the SMS service center. An optional (remote service layer) SMS delivery confirmation message may also be sent to the mobile station.

Fig. 3A is a diagram illustrating the formats for an SMS delivery report TPDU and an SMS submission report TPDU as defined by GSM SMS. GSM SMS defines six different TPDUs at the short message transport layer (SM-TL) to support SMS. For these, an SMS delivery report TPDU is used to send a report from the mobile station to the SMS service center for the SMS message just received by the mobile station. Accordingly, the SMS submit report TPDU is used to send a report from the SMS service center to the mobile station for SMS messages received by the service center. Other TPDUs are used to exchange short messages, status and commands between the mobile station and other service centers.

The SMS delivery report and SMS submit report TPDU have the general format shown in fig. 3A. (an SMS submit report TPDU may have additional fields not shown in fig. 3A.) each of these two TPDUs includes several fields, but only four fields are of interest to the current application shown in fig. 3A. Table 1 lists these four fields and their short descriptions, where TP denotes the transport protocol.

TABLE 1

Abbreviations	Full scale	Length of	Description of the invention
				TP-FCS	TP-Failure-Cause	8 bits	Indicating the reason for failure in the corresponding SMS delivery or SMS submit TPDU
TP-DCS	TP Data encoding Scheme TP-Data-Coding-Scheme	8 bits	Identifying coding schemes in TP-User-Data
				TP-UDL	TP User Data Length TP-User-Data-Length	8 bits	Indicating the length of TP-User-Data
TP-UD	TP User Data TP-User-Data	Variable	User data for short messages

The SMS delivery report TPDU and the SMS submit report TPDU are sent for the SMS delivery TPDU and the SMS submit TPDU, respectively, that have been received. Each reported TPDU may carry an error code in the TP-FCS field indicating the reason for any failure to transmit or process the received TPDU. The TP-FCS field is included in a report if the acknowledged SMS message is in error, and is not included otherwise. The absence or presence of the TP-FCS field can thus be used to distinguish between success or failure. The TP user data field contains user data for short messages. The user data is typically an alpha-numeric message generated based on a particular character set or encoding scheme, but may also include multimedia and other enhanced formats. The length of the TP-user-data field is defined by the value in the TP-user-data length field. The TP-data-coding-scheme field indicates different attributes of the data in the TP-user-data field.

The formats of the SMS delivery report TPDU and the SMS submission report TPDU are further described in detail in TS23.040 V4.7.0.

Figure 3B is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of message formats in an SMS deliver report message and an SMS submit report message. These are two newly defined teleservice layer messages that can be used to more fully convey the information in the SMS delivery report TPDU and the SMS submit report TPDU. The SMS deliver report message and the SMS submit report message have the general format shown in fig. 3B, which includes several sub-parameters. Table 2 lists the sub-parameters for these messages and their short descriptions.

TABLE 2

Sub-parameters	Length of	Description of the invention
			Message identifier	5 bytes	Including message type and message identification that can be used for acknowledgement
Successful Success	3 bytes	Indicating whether SMS Deliver/SMS submit messages were successfully or incorrectly received
			Cause of TP failure	3 bytes	Indicating cause of failure in incorrectly received SMS-deliver/SMS-submit messages
User data	Variable	Including multiple attributes for user data and the user data itself for use in short messages
			Language indicator	3 bytes	Indicating a language associated with user data in a message
Multi-coded user data	Variable	Including user data that can be encoded using multiple coding schemes

For SMS delivery report messages and SMS submit report messages, the message identifier and Success sub-parameters may be defined as mandatory while the remaining sub-parameters may be optional. The TP failure factor parameter may be mandatory if the Success subparameter has the value "fail" (i.e., the error type only needs to be sent when an error occurs).

As shown in fig. 3B, the Message identifier subparameter includes several sub-segments, one of which is a Message _ Type field, identifying the SMS Message Type. The TIA/EIA-637-B defines six different message types for the teleservice layer, which are assigned message type values from "0001" to "0110". A message type value of "0111" may be assigned to the SMS memory availability indication message. Two new message types may be defined for SMS deliver report messages and SMS submit report messages. In a particular implementation, these two new message types are assigned a value of "1000" and a value of "1001", as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3

Message_Type	Message name	Description of the invention
				Λ	Λ
“1000”	SMS delivery report message	Report for sending an SMS message received by a mobile station (generated only by the mobile station)
			“1001”	SMS submit report message	For sending an SMS message received from (terminating only with) a mobile station
	All other values are reserved

TIA/EIA-637-B also defines 21 sub-parameters that may be included in the SMS teleservice layer message and may be assigned Subparameter _ ID (SP _ ID) values of "00000000" to "00010100". A new Subparameter can be defined for the Success Subparameter and can be assigned one of the reserved Subparameter ID values (e.g., "00010101"). Another new sub-parameter may be defined for the TP failure cause sub-parameter and may be allocated another reserved Subparameter _ ID value (e.g., "00010110"). Table 4 shows two new Subparameter _ ID values and their assigned Subparameter _ ID values for one particular embodiment.

TABLE 4

Sub-parameters	Subparameter _ ID value
		Λ	Λ
Success (New)	“00010101”
		TP-Failure Cause (New)	“00010110”
All other values are reserved

In one embodiment, the Success parameter is defined to have three fields. Table 5 lists the fields in the Success subparameter, their lengths, and their short descriptions and (appropriate) values.

TABLE 5

Field(s)	Length (bit)	Description of the invention
			Subparameter_ID	8	Setting the Success sub-parameter to "00010101"
Subparam_Len	8	Set to "00000001", which is the length (in bytes) of the Success Subparameter, excluding the Subparameter _ ID and Subparam _ Len fields.
			Success value	8	Set to "1" for "true" and "0" for "false"

In one embodiment, the TP failure factor parameter is defined to have three fields. Table 6 lists the fields in the TP failure cause subparameter, their lengths, and their brief descriptions and (where appropriate) values.

TABLE 6

Field(s)	Length (bit)	Description of the invention
			Subparameter_ID	8	The sub-parameter is set to "00010110" for the cause of TP failure "
Subparam_Len	8	Is set to be '00000001'
			TP cause of failure value	8	Set to the value of one TP failure cause defined in 3GPP TS23.040 V4.7.0

Table 7 lists the fields of the user data subparameters, their lengths, and their short descriptions and (suitable) values.

TABLE 7

Field(s)	Length of	Description of the invention
			Subparameter_ID	8 bits	For user data sub-parameter set to "00000001"
Subparam_Len	8 bits	Indicating user data sub-parametersLength of the number
			Msg_Encoding	5 bits	Indicating coding scheme for user data in short messages
Message_Type	0 or 8 bits	Indicating a Message _ Type for a short Message. It can also be used to carry TP-DCS field information for use in SMS delivery reports and SMS submit reports TPDU
			Num_Fields	8 bits	Indicating the number of occurrences of the chari field, generally corresponding to the number of characters of the user data

Num _ Fields presents the following Fields:

chari

variable

Occurs once for each character in the user data in the short message

The user data subparameter ends with the following fields

Padding

0-7 bits

An integer including a sufficient number of bits to make the length of the user data subparameter 8-ary

As shown in table 7, the user data of the SMS deliver report message and the SMS submit report message are contained in the CHARi field, which occurs once for each character, the total number of occurrences being indicated by the value in the Num _ Fields field. The Msg _ Encoding field indicates the particular Encoding scheme used for the characters in the CHARi field. Since different coding schemes may have different character lengths, the length of the CHARi field is determined by the coding scheme used for the user data in the short message.

The TP-DCS field in GSM SMS contains different types of information related to the user data in the TP-UD field, such as whether the user data is compressed or uncompressed, the message class, and other indications. Since there is no corresponding field or subparameter currently used in the CDMA SMS for information in the TP-DCS field, the information may be carried in the Message _ Type field in the user data subparameter. A new value (e.g., "01010") may be defined for the Msg _ Encoding field to indicate that the Message _ Type field contains information for the TP-DCS field. The use of the Message _ Type field to carry TP-DCS information is described in further detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. [ attorney docket No.020530], entitled "Short Message conversion between transfer Formats for Wireless Communication System," filed on 9.6.2002, assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference.

As shown in fig. 3B, each of the SMS deliver report message and the SMS submit report message may be carried in (transport layer) SMS point-to-point messages defined by CDMA SMS. The transport layer message includes several parameters including: (1) a teleservice identifier parameter that identifies which upper layer service access point is sending or should receive the message, (2) an optional bearer reply option parameter that can be used to request a reply to the SMS acknowledge message from the receiver, and (3) other optional parameters.

Fig. 3B illustrates a particular implementation of an SMS delivery report message and an SMS submit report message. Other message formats having fewer, different, and/or additional sub-parameters and fields may also be defined and are within the scope of the present invention. For example, the two messages may be defined without a language indicator and a multi-coded user data subparameter. As another example, the Success and TP failure cause subparameters may be combined into one subparameter that includes both Success value and TP failure cause value fields. In yet another embodiment, the Success sub-parameter may be ignored and may be implicitly interpreted by the presence of the TP failure cause sub-parameter.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating a session between a CDMA SMS report message and a GSM SMS report TPDU. The session from the SMS delivery report message to the SMS delivery report TPDU may proceed as follows:

1) if the Success subparameter requires, setting a TP-FCS field in an SMS delivery report TPDU as a value in a TP failure reason value field in a TP failure reason subparameter of an SMS delivery report message;

2) setting a TP-UD field in an SMS delivery report TPDU to data in a CHARi field in a user data subparameter in the SMS delivery report message;

3) setting a TP-UDL field in the SMS delivery report TPDU to a value in the Num _ Fields field in the user data subparameter; and

4) the TP-DCS field in the SMS delivery report TPDU is set to the value of the Message _ Type field of the user data subparameter.

Accordingly, the session from the SMS submit report TPDU to the SMS submit report message may proceed as follows:

1) if the Success subparameter requires, setting the TP failure reason value field in the TP failure reason subparameter in the SMS submission report message into the value in the TP-FCS field in the SMS submission report TPDU;

2) setting a CHARi field in a user data subparameter in an SMS submit report message to data in a TP-UD field of an SMS submit report TPDU;

3) setting a Num _ Fields field in a user data subparameter to a value in a TP-UDL field of an SMS submit report TPDU; and

4) the Message _ Type field in the user data subparameter is set to the value in the TP-DCS field of the SMS submit report TPDU.

Since SMS deliver report messages and SMS submit report messages are new teleservice layer messages in CDMA SMS, a mechanism is also provided so that the sender of the SMS message can request a report through one of these new messages.

Fig. 5 is a diagram of one embodiment of message formats for an SMS deliver message and an SMS submit message, both of which are teleservice layer messages, including new fields for requesting a report of a sent SMS message. SMS deliver and SMS submit messages include several sub-parameters including message identifier, subscriber data, response options, etc. The response options subparameter includes several fields that indicate whether multiple types of acknowledgements are requested.

As currently defined by TIA/EIA-637-B, the response option sub-parameters include (1) a User _ Ack _ Req field that may be set to "true" to request a positive User (manual) acknowledgment of the SMS message, (2) a Dak _ Req field that may be set to "true" to request a delivery acknowledgment of the SMS message, and (3) a Read _ Ack _ Req field that may be set to "true" to request an acknowledgment when the SMS message is observed. In one embodiment, a new Report _ Req field is defined and may be set to "true" to request a Report from the receiver. In particular, if Report _ Req in the SMS delivery message is set to "true", the mobile station is expected to send an SMS delivery Report message to the network. Accordingly, if Report _ Req is set to "true" in the SMS submit message, the network is expected to send an SMS submit Report message to the mobile station. The new Report _ Req field may be defined to use one bit in the reserved field.

In one embodiment, for a GSM1x network, the Report _ Req field need not be set to true when the SMS submit message is sent by a GSM1x mobile station. This is because the network may automatically enable this field before delivering the message to the receiving mobile station over the CDMA air interface. As an example, consider the case where SMS messages are exchanged between two GSM1x Mobile Stations (MS). When the GSM1x MS a sends an SMS submit message without the Report _ Req field to the GSM1x MS B, the MSC receives and converts the message into an SMS submit TPDU and transfers it to the GSM-SMS-SC. The GSM-SMS-SC then sends it as an SMS delivery TPDU to GSM1x MS B. The MSC receives the TPDU and converts it into an SMS deliver message with a Report _ Req field and sends it to GSM1x MS B. GSM1x MS B receives the message and sends an SMS delivery report message to the MSC, which then converts it to an SMS delivery report TPDU and passes it to the GSM-SMS-SC. In this message exchange, since the GSM1x network is expected to send SMS submit Report TPDU to the mobile station, there is no need to set the Report _ Req field in the GSM1x network. In an ANSI-41 based CDMA network, the network may enable or disable this field depending on the needs of the network.

Fig. 6A is a signal flow illustrating the transmission of an SMS message from an SMS service center to a mobile station using a newly defined SMS delivery report message in a GSM1x network. The signal flow in fig. 6A is similar to that shown in fig. 2A, except that the messages exchanged over the CDMA air interface are different. Specifically, the MSC converts the SMS delivery TPDU of the SMS message into an SMS delivery message whose response option (reply) subparameter has the Report _ Req field set to "true" to request a Report from the mobile station. The SMS deliver message is then sent to the mobile station over the air.

In response to receipt of the SMS delivery message having the Report _ Req field set to "true", the mobile station sends an SMS delivery Report message to the network. For GSM SMS, the report needs to be sent within a specific time period between 12 and 20 seconds, as defined in 3GPP TS 24.011 section 10. The MSC receives and converts the message into an SMS delivery report TPDU, which is then transmitted to the SMS service center.

Fig. 6B is a diagram illustrating the signal flow for transmitting an SMS message from a mobile station to an SMS service center using a newly defined SMS submit report message in a GSM1x network. The signal flow in fig. 6B is similar to that shown in fig. 2B, except that the messages exchanged over the CDMA air interface are different. Specifically, the mobile station sends an SMS submit message with the Report _ Req field set to "true" to the network.

In response to receipt of the SMS submit TPDU for the SMS message, the SMS service center generates an SMS submit report TPDU. Since Report _ Req in the original SMS submit message is set to true, the MSC then receives and converts the SMS submit Report TPDU into an SMS submit Report message. The SMS submit report message is then sent to the mobile station over the air. For GSM SMS, the network is required to send an SMS submit report message to the mobile station within a specific time period of between 35 and 45 seconds, as defined in 3gpp ts 24.011 section 10.

Fig. 7 is a flow diagram of one embodiment of a process 700 for communicating an SMS message report in a network using a CDMA air interface, such as a GSM1x network. The process may be performed by the network or the mobile station.

Initially, an incoming SMS message is received (712). The received SMS message may be (1) an SMS deliver message if the process is to be performed by the mobile station, or (2) an SMS submit message if the process is to be performed by the network. A determination is next made as to whether the Report _ Req field is included in the received SMS message, and if so, the value of this field is obtained (step 714).

If the Report _ Req field is included in the received SMS message and its value is true, as determined in step 716, a response SMS message is generated with the message for the received SMS message (step 718). The generated SMS message may be (1) an SMS deliver report message if the process is performed by the mobile station, or (2) an SMS submit report message if the process is performed by the network. The generated SMS message may include (1) a first value indicating whether the incoming SMS message was received correctly or in error, (2) a second value indicating any error type for the received SMS, (3) user data, and so on. The generated SMS message is then sent to the sender of the received SMS message (step 720). The process ends.

Returning to step 716, if the Report _ Req field is not included in the received SMS message or its value is not true, then no Report need be generated for the received SMS message. Other forms of acknowledgement may be sent for the received SMS message, or not, depending on the response option subparameter in the received SMS message. For simplicity, these other forms of validation are not shown in FIG. 7. If the answer in step 716 is no, the process ends.

The techniques described herein for communicating SMS messages allow (1) the mobile station to send SMS messages to the network to communicate information in an SMS delivery report TPDU, and (2) the network to send SMS messages to the mobile station to communicate information in an SMS submit report TPDU.

These techniques may be used in a GSM1x network that uses a CDMA air interface instead of a GSM air interface for communication between the network and mobile stations. Using these techniques, a GSM1x mobile subscriber in a GSM1x environment can operate much like and enjoy the same experience as a GSM mobile subscriber in a GSM environment in the form of a receive SMS message submission status, despite the underlying air interface being CDMA rather than GSM. The GSM1x mobile subscriber may also receive SMS submit report TPDU information and may also send SMS deliver report TPDU information when talking to the GSM mobile subscriber. Thus, neither the GSM1x mobile user nor the GSM mobile user will feel any difference in this environment.

The technique may also be advantageously used in ANSI-41 of a CDMA-based network. For "pure" CDMA networks, new report messages represent an enhancement to the CDMA SMS feature in the form of the ability to carry user data and other information in these new report messages. In general, the techniques described herein may be used for any network using a CDMA air interface.

Figure 8 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an SMS service center 112x, an MSC 114x, and a mobile station 140 x. For this embodiment, SMS service center 112x supports GSM SMS while MSC 114x performs the conversion between reports for GSM SMS and CDMA SMS.

In the SMS service center 112x, a message buffer 812 stores short messages to be exchanged with mobile stations in the network. At the transmitting end, short message processor 814 receives the data from buffer 812 and generates a GSM SMS message in the appropriate type and format. Specifically, the short message processor 814 generates and provides an SMS delivery TPDU for each short message to be transmitted to the mobile station and generates and provides an SMS submit report TPDU for each short message report. On the receiving side, the short message processor 814 receives an SMS delivery report TPDU for a short message previously sent to a mobile station and an SMS submit TPDU for a short message sent by the mobile station. The short message processor 814 then extracts relevant data from these received TPDUs and stores the data in the buffer 812. SMS service center 112x performs TPDU exchanges with MSC 114 x.

At MSC 114x, message buffer 822 stores TPDUs for short messages to be exchanged with mobile stations in the network. At the transmitting end, short message converter 824 receives the TPDU from buffer 822 and generates a corresponding CDMA SMS message in the appropriate type and format. Specifically, short message converter 824 provides an SMS deliver message for each SMS deliver TPDU and an SMS submit report message for each SMS submit report TPDU. On the receiving side, short message translator 824 receives and translates each SMS delivery report message to provide a corresponding SMS delivery report TPDU, and also receives and translates each SMS submit message to provide a corresponding SMS submit TPDU.

MSC 114x exchanges CDMA SMS messages with base station 116, which is currently serving the mobile station as the recipient/producer of the message. At the transmitting end, each base station processes the received short messages and includes them in a modulated signal that is transmitted to the mobile stations within its coverage area.

In the SMS service center 112x, a controller 816 directs the flow of short messages through the service center. In MSC 114x, a controller 826 directs the conversion of short messages by the MSC. Memory units 818 and 828 provide storage for program codes and data used by controllers 816 and 826, respectively.

Fig. 8 also shows one embodiment of a mobile station 140 x. In the receive path, a modulated signal transmitted from a serving base station for a mobile station is received by an antenna 852 and provided to a receiver unit (RCVR) 854. Receiver unit 854 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) the received signal and further digitizes the conditioned signal to provide samples. A demodulation (Demod)/decoder 856 then demodulates the samples (e.g., based on cdma2000 physical layer processing) and further decodes the demodulated data to provide decoded data, which comprises an SMS message sent in a modulated signal. Data for user-specific and broadcast SMS messages sent to the mobile station is provided as a data output and may further be stored in memory 862.

On the transmit path, data for messages and reports to be sent by the mobile station is provided to an encoder/modulator (Mod)872, which encodes and modulates the data. The modulated data is then conditioned by a transmitter unit (TMTR)874 to provide a modulated signal suitable for transmission back to the base station.

Controller 860 directs operation in mobile station 140 x. For example, controller 860 may direct the processing of SMS delivery messages and SMS submit report messages received from the network and generate SMS delivery report messages and SMS submit messages ready to be sent to the network. Memory unit 862 provides storage for program code and data used by controller 860 (e.g., data for SMS messages).

Fig. 8 illustrates a particular embodiment of SMS service center 112x, MSC 114x, and mobile station 140 x. Other embodiments are also contemplated and are within the scope of the present invention. For example, the conversion of reports between GSM SMS and CDMA SMS may be performed by an SMS service center.

The techniques described herein for communicating reports for short messages may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the elements used to implement any of the techniques described herein (e.g., in process 700), or a combination thereof, may be implemented within one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.

For a software implementation, the techniques for communicating reports for short messages may be performed in modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in memory units (e.g., memory units 818, 828, and 862 in fig. 8) and processed by processors (e.g., controllers 816, 826, and 860). The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor, and may be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means as is known in the art.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and inventive features disclosed herein.

Claims (22)

1. In a wireless communication network using a CDMA air interface, a method of communicating a report for a short message, comprising:

receiving a first short message including a request for a report of the first short message; and

a second short message is sent including a report for the first short message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first short message is an SMS deliver message and the second short message is an SMS deliver report message.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

an SMS delivery report TPDU (transport protocol data unit) is derived based on the SMS delivery report message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first short message is an SMS submit message and the second short message is an SMS submit report message.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

the SMS submit report message is derived from the SMS submit report TPDU.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes a first value indicating whether the first short message was received correctly or in error.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes a second value indicating any type of error (if any) encountered for the first short message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the report includes user data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network is a GSM1x network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network is a CDMA network.

11. In a wireless communication network using a CDMA air interface, a method of communicating a report for a short message, comprising

Receiving an SMS deliver message including a request for a report of the SMS deliver message; and

an SMS delivery report message is sent including a report for the SMS delivery message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending an SMS submit message including a request for a report of the SMS submit message; and

an SMS submit report message is received including a report for the SMS submit message.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the SMS deliver report message includes a first value indicating whether the SMS deliver message was received correctly or in error and a second value indicating any type of error encountered for the SMS deliver message.

14. In a wireless communication network using a CDMA air interface, a method of communicating a report for a short message, comprising

Sending an SMS deliver message including a request for a report of the SM8 deliver message;

receiving an SMS delivery report message including a report for the SMS delivery message; and

an SMS delivery report TPDU is formed based on the SMS delivery report message.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving an SMS submit message including a request for a report of the SMS submit message; and

an SMS submit report message is sent, which is generated based on the SMS submit report TPDU and includes therein a report for the SMS submit message.

16. In a wireless communication network using a CDMA air interface, a method of communicating a report for a first short message received over the CDMA air interface, comprising:

setting a first field in a second short message to a first value indicating whether the first short message was received correctly or in error;

setting a second field in a second short message to a value indicating any type of error that may occur in the first short message; and

the second message is sent.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

a third field in the second short message is set to the user data to be sent in the second short message.

18. In a wireless communication network using a CDMA air interface, an apparatus for communicating a report of a short message, comprising:

means for receiving a first short message including a request for a report of the first short message; and

means for sending a second short message including a report for the first short message.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

means for converting the second short message into a corresponding TPDU (transport protocol data unit).

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the second short message includes a first value indicating whether the first short message was received correctly or in error and a second value indicating any type of error that may have occurred in the first short message.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the wireless communication network is a GSM1x network.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the wireless communication network is a CDMA network.