Abstract:
A messaging service system, including a call component for receiving a voice call from a caller and transmitting call data associated with the call, the call data including caller identification (ID) data; and a subscription server for receiving the call data, causing the call component to send a subscription acceptance message to the caller, and storing the caller ID data in association with data representing a messaging service identified by the called number of the call data.

Description:
FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a process and system for use in subscribing to a messaging service, such as an SMS delivery service. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A number of premium SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service) delivery services are available for mobile telephone subscribers. This allows subscribers to have selected messages delivered to their phones on a regular basis to provide information of interest, such as sports scores or breaking news. There are currently a number of different processes available for subscribing to the services, and these include:
         (i) Browsing to a website where a number of forms need to be completed and submitted to receive the service. This normally involves providing a range of different personal details.   (ii) Sending an SMS message to a designated number. This may involve sending an SMS to a number advertised on television and/or in print media. The number may also be provided for responding to a particular competition, survey or voting process of a competition, such as part of a reality television program. Once the SMS is sent, then SMS messages may be delivered on a regular basis, and at significant cost to the subscriber for some premium SMS messages. Depending on the service, it can be difficult or cumbersome for a subscriber to unsubscribe.       

     Whilst the current processes may be relatively easy to use by people who are comfortable with new technology, there are a number of people who have considerable difficulty using the technology required to complete the processes. For example, there are a number of mobile telephone subscribers who find it extremely difficult to send SMS text messages, and also a number of mobile telephone subscribers who have never or do not know how to send an SMS message. Moreover, some mobile phone subscribers may not be able to access the Internet to complete the forms on web pages needed to subscribe to some SMS information services. 
     Accordingly, it is desired to provide a process and system which considerably simplify the subscription process or at least provide a useful alternative. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with the present invention there is provided an automated process for subscription to a messaging service, including:
         accepting a voice call from a mobile communications device;   extracting caller identification (ID) data received with the voice call;   sending a subscription acceptance message to the device; and   associating the caller ID data with a messaging service identified by the called number of the call.       

     The present invention also provides an automated process for subscription to a messaging service, including
         accepting a voice call from a communications device;   determining if caller identification (ID) data can be extracted from the voice call;   determining if the communications device is able to receive messages of a messaging service;   sending a subscription acceptance message to the device; and   associating the caller ID data with a messaging service identified by the called number of the call.       

     The present invention also provides a messaging service system, including:
         a call component for receiving a voice call from a caller and transmitting call data associated with the call, the call data including caller identification (ID) data; and   a subscription server for receiving the call data, causing the call component to send a subscription acceptance message to the caller, and storing the caller ID data in association with data representing a messaging service identified by the called number of the call data       

    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
       Preferred embodiments of the present invention are hereinafter described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of a messaging service system; 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a subscription process performed by the messaging service system; and 
         FIG. 3  is a screen shot of a display provided by the messaging service system. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     A messaging service system  100 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a telephone private branch exchange (PBX)  102 , at least one computer server  104 , and a database  106  for maintaining subscription data for messaging services. The system  100  is connected to a public telecommunications network  110  that includes the Internet and the public switch telephone network (PSTN). The system  100  uses an SMS gateway  108 , such as that provided by Clickatell (Pty) Ltd (http://www.clickatell.com), to send regular SMS or MMS messages to the mobile telephone  112  of a subscriber to a messaging service of the system  100 . 
     The PBX  102  includes a call handling component  114  for accepting voice calls from the network  110  directed to one of a plurality of destination telephone numbers supported by the PBX  102 . The call handling component  114  is able to receive a voice call and transmits call data associated with the call, such as the calling line identification and the called number, to a subscription server  120  of the server  104 . The telephone numbers supported by the PBX  102  each correspond to a messaging service delivered by the system  100 . Mobile telephone subscribers can be advised of numbers and the services they correspond to using a number of information delivery methods, including television and print advertisements. For example, the system  100  includes a web server  124  that provides a web site using data stored in the database  106 , to provide information on the various messaging services supported by the system  100 . A web page of the site delivered to a web browser of a computer  130  connected to the network  110  is shown in  FIG. 3 . This describes how to subscribe and unsubscribe to a number of messaging services that provide regular messages on respective topics, including dining deals, accommodation, travel bargains, movie specials, shopping offers and sport offers. To subscribe to a service, a mobile telephone subscriber simply needs to use their mobile telephone  112  to place a call, i.e. a voice call, to the telephone number corresponding to the service. The mobile telephone  112  can be any communications device that can place a voice call to the number of the service with calling line identification (CLI) enabled and which is capable of receiving SMS or MMS electronic messages. 
     The messaging service system  100  performs a subscription process  200  for a messaging service, as shown in  FIG. 2 . The subscription process and the other processes performed by the system  100  are entirely automated without any human intervention. The PBX  102  accepts a call from the mobile telephone  112  to the telephone number (e.g. 88221001) of a messaging service (e.g. for dining deals). The call is received by the call handling component  114  and the subscription server  120  detects the incoming phone call on receipt of the call data (step  202 ). The subscription server  120  processes the data of the call to first determine if caller identification (ID) data has been received with the call ( 204 ). The caller ID data is the calling line identification (CLI) data provided by the network  110  that represents the MSISDN (Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number) of the calling phone  112 , i.e. the telephone number of the phone. If the caller identification data cannot be extracted, the subscription server  120  instructs the call handling component  114  to answer the call and access and play an audio file stored on the PBX  102 . The played audio file advises the caller that the caller identification data cannot be obtained ( 206 ). 
     The audio message, depending on the call and how it is received, will also provide the caller with instructions on how to enable CLI so that the caller identification data may be extracted on a subsequent call. The call and the process is then terminated ( 250 ). 
     If the caller identification data can be extracted ( 204 ) the process  200  proceeds to determine whether the call has been received from a device that cannot receive the messages of the messaging service ( 208 ). For example, if the caller identification data extracted represents the telephone number of a fixed land line then this indicates that the messaging service cannot be delivered, and the subscription server  120  instructs the call handling component  114  to answer the call and play an appropriate stored audio message to the caller ( 210 ). The message may simply advise the caller that the service is not available from the particular telephone number on which the call has been made, and then advise the caller to call from a suitable mobile telephone. The call and the process is then terminated ( 250 ). 
     If it is determined that the telephone  112  can receive the messages of the messaging service ( 208 ), the subscription server  120  instructs the call handling component  114  to answer the call and play a stored audio file to advise the caller that subscription to the messaging service corresponding to the dialed number has been successful, and terminates the call ( 212 ). The subscription server  120  also stores at least one entry in the database  106  that associates the MSISDN of the telephone  112  with the messaging service corresponding to the dialed number ( 212 ). The dialed number of the call is extracted from the data of the call by the subscription server  120 . The subscription server then instructs a SMS server  122  of the server  104  to generate and send a confirmation SMS text message to the number of the telephone  112 . The SMS server  122  communicates with the SMS gateway  108  using HTTP to instruct the gateway to send the confirmation message to the telephone  112  ( 214 ). The subscription process then completes ( 250 ). 
     The SMS server  122  queries the database  106  on a regular scheduled basis, or when instructed by an operator, and SMS or MMS messages are compiled so they can be sent to the mobile telephone  112  according to or for the messaging services that have the number of the telephone  112  recorded as being subscribed for that service. 
     To unsubscribe from the messaging service, the subscriber of the telephone  112  simply needs to dial the number of that messaging service again so as to place a subsequent voice call on that number to the system  100 . The subscription server  120  executes an unsubscribe process which is essentially the same as the subscription process  200 , except that when the server  120  seeks to make the association between the MSISDN and the messaging service, if this association already exists, the MSISDN is flagged as being inactive for the service. For a third call to the messaging service number, similar processes again are performed by the subscription server  120  but the MSISDN is then flagged as active for the service. Accordingly, odd calls to the messaging service telephone number will lead to an active subscription whereas even calls will lead to an inactive subscription. Calls to the messaging service numbers will cause the service for the phone  112  to toggle between the active and inactive states. 
     The messaging service system  100  may be implemented using a variety of components. The PBX  102  may be provided by a computer server, such at that produced by IBM Corporation running Unix or Linux with the call handling component  114  provided by a computer program instruction code part written using a language such as Ruby (http://www.ruby-lang.org) and part provided by Asterisk (http://www.asterisk.org) which implements a telephone private branch exchange. The PBX  102  communicates and interacts with the subscription server  120  using the Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI). The computer server  104  may be provided by a computer server produced by IBM Corporation, and include computer program instruction code written in Ruby to provide the subscription server  120  and the SMS server  122 , with the web server  124  being provided using Ruby on Rails (http://www.rubyonrails.org). The database  106  may be implemented using MySQL (http://www.mysql.com). Other alternatives are available where, for example, the servers  120 ,  122 ,  124  are provided on separate machines and any code required is based on the .Net framework (http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework). Also, the computer program instruction code can be replaced, at least in part, by hardware circuits (e.g. ASICs and FPGAs), particularly in the PBX  102 , to improve processing speeds for those parts of the process that do not need to be regularly reconfigured. 
     Many modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.