System and method for short message delivery in a mobility network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10470099-B2
Application number	US-201916245326-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2019
Priority date	May 24, 2016
Publication date	Nov 5, 2019
Grant date	Nov 5, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, determining a compatibility of the mobile station with a 3GPP IMS architecture. In response to determining that the mobile station is compatible with the 3GPP IMS architecture, a transfer is facilitated of the machine-type communication message to the mobile station via a network element of an IMS network core. In response to determining that the mobile station is not compatible with the 3GPP IMS architecture a forwarding is facilitated of the machine-type communication message to a machine-type communication interworking function associated with the mobile station, wherein the machine-type communication interworking function facilitates a directing of the machine-type communication message to the mobile station via an SGs interface of a mobility management entity of an evolved packet core of a 3GPP long term evolution network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining, by a processing system including a processor, a compatibility of a mobile station with an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture;
in response to determining that the mobile station is compatible with the IMS architecture, facilitating, by the processing system, transfer of a machine-type communication message to the mobile station via a network element of an IMS network core; and
in response to determining that the mobile station is not compatible with the IMS architecture, facilitating, by the processing system, transfer of the machine-type communication message to a machine-type communication interworking function associated with the mobile station,
wherein the machine-type communication interworking function facilitates delivery of the machine-type communication message to the mobile station via an SGs interface of a mobility management entity of an evolved packet core of a long term evolution network, without using a specialized interface between the machine-type communication interworking function and the mobility management entity.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the processing system, a location of the mobile station; and
identifying, by the processing system, the machine-type communication interworking function based on the location of the mobile station.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of the location of the mobile station comprises querying, by the processing system, a home subscriber server of the evolved packet core of the long term evolution network based on the location of the mobile station.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transfer of the machine-type communication message to the machine-type communication interworking function comprises:
encapsulating the machine-type communication message within a first protocol, compatible with the machine-type communication interworking function to obtain a first encapsulated machine-type communication message; and
processing of the first encapsulated machine-type communication message by the machine-type communication interworking function to obtain an interworking processed machine-type communication message.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transfer of the machine-type communication message to the machine-type communication interworking function further comprises encapsulating the interworking processed machine-type communication message within a second protocol, compatible with the mobility management entity, to obtain a second encapsulated machine-type communication message.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second encapsulated machine-type communication message is routed to the mobile station through a radio access network of the long term evolution network.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the encapsulating of the machine-type communication message within the first protocol comprises encapsulating a session initiation protocol within a mobile application part protocol, and wherein the encapsulation of the interworking processed machine-type communication message within the second protocol comprises encapsulating the mobile application part protocol within an SGs application part protocol.

8. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining a compatibility of a mobile station with an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture;
in response to determining that the mobile station is compatible with the IMS architecture, facilitating forwarding of a machine-type communication message to the mobile station via a network element of an IMS network core; and
in response to determining that the mobile station is not compatible with the IMS architecture facilitating a-forwarding of the machine-type communication message to a machine-type communication interworking function associated with the mobile station,
wherein the machine-type communication interworking function facilitates-a directing of the machine-type communication message to the mobile station via an SGs interface of a mobility management entity of an evolved packet core of a long term evolution network, without using a specialized interface between the machine-type communication interworking function and the mobility management entity.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining a location of the mobile station; and
identifying the machine-type communication interworking function based on the location of the mobile station.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the determining of the location of the mobile station comprises querying a home subscriber server of the evolved packet core of the long term evolution network based on the location of the mobile station.

11. The device of claim 8 , wherein the forwarding of the machine-type communication message to the machine-type communication interworking function comprises:
encapsulating the machine-type communication message within a first protocol, compatible with the machine-type communication interworking function, to obtain a first encapsulated machine-type communication message; and
processing of the first encapsulated machine-type communication message by the machine-type communication interworking function to obtain an interworking processed machine-type communication message.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the forwarding of the machine-type communication message to the machine-type communication interworking function further comprises encapsulating the interworking processed machine-type communication message within a second protocol, compatible with the mobility management entity, to obtain a second encapsulated machine-type communication message.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the second encapsulated machine-type communication message is routed to the mobile station through a radio access network of the long term evolution network.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the encapsulating of the machine-type communication message within the first protocol comprises encapsulating a session initiation protocol within a mobile application part protocol, and wherein the encapsulation of the interworking processed machine-type communication message within the second protocol comprises encapsulating the mobile application part protocol within an SGs application part protocol.

15. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
determining a compatibility of a mobile station with an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture;
in response to determining that the mobile station is compatible with the IMS architecture, facilitating a-transfer of a machine-type communication message to the mobile station via a network element of an IMS network core; and
in response to determining that the mobile station is not compatible with the IMS architecture facilitating forwarding of the machine-type communication message to a machine-type communication interworking function associated with the mobile station, wherein the machine-type communication interworking function facilitates-a directing of the machine-type communication message to the mobile station via an interface of a mobility management entity of an evolved packet core of a long term evolution network.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Kodaypak Rajendra Prasad
• Bryant Christopher
• Redfern Ryan
• Wang Jiansong

Classifications

• H04W4/14

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title

• H04W64/003

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• H04W80/04

  Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol] · CPC title

• H04L65/103

  in the network · CPC title

• H04W4/70 Primary

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title