Telecommunication Systems, Inc.

Daniel J Hronek

Mark Titus

Erik L Wallace

Dara Ung

Phillip W Geil

Walter Weichselbaumer

Carle S Johnson, Jr

Orville Pike

Tom McCormick

A technique and apparatus to provide status tracking of presence and/or location of a mobile, wireless device to a requesting entity even outside of a particular wireless system. This allows wireless service providers the ability to monitor and log changes in the status of mobile stations within and/or outside their networks. Embodiments are disclosed wherein presence and/or location information is provided to entities outside of a particular servicing wireless network using the mechanisms of call processing components of a mobile network (e.g., call setup procedures), and using standard mechanisms currently available to any appropriately conforming Mobile Switching Center (MSC) element. A mobile activity status tracker (MAST) is disclosed which contains a database of information similar to the information contained in the Home Location Register. The MAST tracks and reports status and activity of mobile wireless devices in a wireless network using mobile registration message, mobile inactivity message forwarding, and/or mobile automatic notification of subscriber status to TCP/IP entities (e.g., application servers on the Internet or Intranet). The MAST system duplicates the same or similar information contained in a corresponding HLR, but is available as an external database entity which is not restricted by SS7 standards. The tracking need not track call-specific information, e.g., called telephone numbers or information regarding conversations sustained by the tracked wireless subscribers.

Mobile activity status tracker

A prepaid messaging solution that uses open networking standards and supports pre-payment of enhanced Internet messaging services. The prepaid messaging solution accurately determines if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a complete short message, prior to message delivery. Message delivery is prevented if insufficient funds are in the subscriber's account. A prepaid tariff engine, preferably extensible over a TCP/IP network, supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers to apply a real-time billing charge for each message. A service provider may create subscriber classes of service that define subscriber rates and/or tariffing plans used to apply real-time billing charges for sending/receiving messages. The prepaid short message tariff engine determines the appropriate message billing based upon, e.g., flat rate per message, character count, Time of Day, etc. The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports Internet web page access to subscriber's short messaging account balances and account status.

Prepaid short messaging

A prepaid messaging solution using open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) to support pre-payment of Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures/methods determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a short message, prior to message delivery. A message may be prevented from being delivered (at the source end or destination end) if a subscriber account has insufficient funds. A prepaid tariff engine supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers to apply real-time billing for each message. A service provider may define subscriber rates and/or tariffing plans to apply real-time billing for sending/receiving messages. Message billing may be based upon, e.g., rate per message, message count, character count, Time of Day, Day of Week, message type, and/or mobile location. The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports internet access to subscriber's account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.

A prepaid messaging solution which uses open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) and which supports pre-payment of enhanced Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures and methods accurately determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a complete short message, prior to delivery of the message. The short message may be prevented from being delivered (either at the source end or at the destination end) if insufficient funds are in the subscriber's account. A prepaid tariff engine is preferably extensible over a TCP/IP network, and supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers for the purpose of applying a real-time billing charge for each message. A service provider may create subscriber classes of service that define and uniquely identify subscriber rate and/or tariffing plans used to apply real-time billing charges for sending or receiving of messages. The prepaid short message tariff engine determines the appropriate message billing based upon, e.g., flat rate per message, message count (e.g., 10 messages @ $ 5.00), character count (e.g., $0.01/char.), Time of Day, Day of Week (i.e., peak & non-peak hours), type of message, and/or mobile location (i.e., network point code). The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports Internet web page access to subscriber's relating to their short messaging account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.

A method interactive menus and sub-menus to a mobile device via SMS messaging in order to provide WAP like services at a fraction of the cost of CSD. Mobile Originated Interactive Menus are implemented as a feature of a Short Message Service Center (SMSC), thus leaving traffic channels available for voice calls. Interactive SMS menus allow service providers to offer targeted subscribers personalized messaging menus with multiple options for quick and easy access to Web-based content. Users may define the content and frequency they want, whether it is a scheduled delivery or on-demand for checking, e.g., stock quotes, local weather, and/or other Web-based news and information. Replacement of messages in TDMA and GSM mobile devices allow for heavy usage without filling up the user's phone buffer, i.e., prior messages may be overwritten, to assure that only the latest information is all that is being displayed and read.

Mobile originated interactive menus via short messaging services method

A prepaid messaging solution which uses open networking standards (e.g., TCP/IP) and which supports pre-payment of enhanced Internet messaging services. The disclosed prepaid architectures and methods accurately determine if a subscriber has sufficient account balance to deliver a complete short message, prior to delivery of the message. The short message may be prevented from being delivered (either at the source end or at the destination end) if insufficient funds are in the subscriber's account. A prepaid tariff engine is preferably extensible over a TCP/IP network, and supports remote interaction with the SMSC and web chat servers for the purpose of applying a real-time billing charge for each message. A service provider may create subscriber classes of service that define and uniquely identify subscriber rate and/or tariffing plans used to apply real-time billing charges for sending or receiving of messages. The prepaid short message tariff engine determines the appropriate message billing based upon, e.g., flat rate per message, message count (e.g., 10 messages @ $5.00), character count (e.g., $0.01/char.), Time of Day, Day of Week (i.e., peak & non-peak hours), type of message, and/or mobile location (i.e., network point code). The prepaid short messaging service preferably supports Internet web page access to subscriber's relating to their short messaging account balances and status maintained in the prepaid short messaging database of the prepaid messaging server.

Two-way interactive short message system with personalized messaging menus that provide WAP like services at less cost than CSD. Mobile Originated Interactive Menus are implemented as a feature of a Short Message Service Center (SMSC). Each option guides either to the next menu level, or to a final action to be executed according to the path followed by the subscriber. Importantly, the mobile originated interactive menus use SMS communications instead of circuit switched data (CSD) (e.g., instead of WAP communications), thus leaving traffic channels available for voice calls. Users may define the content and frequency they want. Replacement of messages in TDMA and GSM mobile devices allow for heavy usage without filling up the user's phone buffer, i.e., prior messages may be overwritten, to assure that only the latest information is all that is being displayed and read.

Mobile originated interactive menus via short messaging services

A unique method and apparatus to dynamically maintain different Intelligent Roaming Database (IRDB) or Preferred Roaming Lists (PRL) in a mobile handset. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the current location of the mobile device or other individualized aspect of the mobile device (e.g., class of service, time of day, etc.) is used to determine and select one of a plurality of different wireless carrier code lists (i.e., IRDBs or PRLs) for download to a particular mobile device. Individual IRDBs may be developed for each mobile device, providing a customized wireless carrier code list based on a type of subscription plan, etc. or other network or subscriber based feature. The described IRDB is of the same size as the current system IRDB (i.e., 82 carriers maximum, 166 bytes maximum), although a list of wireless carriers of any length is within the scope of the present invention. A location based IRDB is downloaded to a particular mobile device when the mobile device enters the location corresponding to that particular location based IRDB. When one of the many location based IRDBs are updated, only those mobiles in the relevant geographical region need have their IRDB updated. When the mobile device roams to a new geographical region and re-registers, a triggering event is formed. The present invention brings the trigger for an IRDB update down to the level of the particular subscriber, e.g., based on the subscribers location, the subscribers plan, etc. The triggering event may be detected by any suitable function of the wireless network, e.g., by utilizing a registration notification (REGNOT) message from the mobile device. The triggering event will cause the download to that triggering mobile device only from a suitable over the air function (OTAF) application including a suitable location based IRDB manager of the location based IRDB for that new region, whether the location based IRDB for that reason has not been changed in a while or has been recently updated. The described location based IRDB manager is implemented in Over The Air Programming (OTAP) software. The location based IRDB manager uses conventional registration information (e.g., the current location information contained in a REGNOT message) in conjunction with data contained in a log file accessible to the location based IRDB manager to determine if a new and/or updated IRDB should be downloaded to the mobile device. Individualized IRDB updating reduces network loading. Moreover, using a location and subscriber based IRDB, the available IRDBs can be focused on a subscriber differentiating feature, e.g., a class of service (COS) basis and/or on the current location of the mobile device, to provide further customization and direction of the mobile device to carriers desired by the servicing wireless company.

Growing community of inventors

Annapolis, MD, United States of America

Daniel J Hronek