Abstract:
A method and system for providing message-based access to services includes receiving a request message from a mobile subscriber relating to a service that is desired by the mobile subscriber, routing the request message for processing, performing one or more activities in accordance with the requested service, returning a response message to the mobile subscriber, and facilitating/enabling/etc. access to the requested service.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/120,327, filed May 14, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/244,065, filed Oct. 6, 2005, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/616,122, filed on Oct. 6, 2004, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services. More particularly, the present invention relates to the utilization of various wireless messaging paradigms, including, inter alia, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), wireless electronic mail (e-mail) and Instant Messenger (IM), to facilitate access to services, including, inter alia, the increasingly popular wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi). 
     2. Background of the Invention 
     While the ‘wireless revolution’ continues to march forward it carries with it a range of untapped, or under-exploited, potentials. As the various technological (e.g., ubiquitous cross-carrier interoperability), social (e.g., user or subscriber inertia), etc. impediments are breached, wireless data services continue to grow and continue to provide significant revenue opportunities to wireless carriers. To sustain that growth a continual stream of new ‘singular’ wireless data products and services is required. 
     One such product/service is the immensely popular Wireless Fidelity or Wi-Fi. 
     Private Wi-Fi environments are frequently deployed by individuals within their homes to provide un-tethered network access within their home. Additionally, private Wi-Fi environments have been, and continue to be, deployed by companies and other organizations within their buildings and campus complexes to provide their employees and workers with wireless network access. 
     Wi-Fi ‘hotspots’ or access points have been deployed at a variety of public locations, and new hotspots are being raised at an ever-increasing rate at, amongst other public locations, airports, hotels, conference centers, coffee shops, fast food restaurants, sports stadiums, etc. 
     As a potential service user moves about from one public location to another it is not always clear or obvious to that user what services may be available at any given location. To address this challenge mechanisms have become available that identify for a potential service user the location, availability, etc. of a desired service. 
     While mechanisms have begun to appear that identify the location and the availability of services such as public Wi-Fi hotspots, no mechanisms yet exist to address the many challenges that inevitably arise from the fact that each public Wi-Fi hotspot is effectively a separate service ‘island,’ distinct and apart from other (proximate or distant) Wi-Fi hotspots. Two of the many challenges are (1) payment and (2) access. 
     The present invention addresses the payment and access challenges and thus aids significantly in the further adoption and use of public Wi-Fi and other services that are similarly situated. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to one exemplary aspect, the present invention relates to a method for providing access to a service, comprising receiving a request message from a mobile subscriber relating to a service that is desired by the mobile subscriber, routing the request message for processing, performing one or more processing steps on the request message in accordance with said service including generating a temporary User ID and Password, returning a response message to the mobile subscriber, and facilitating access to the desired service. 
     According to another exemplary aspect of the present invention, a system is disclosed for facilitating access to a service. The system includes a mobile wireless device, a provider network, an inter-carrier vendor network, and a service. The system is operable to route a request message relating to a service that is desired by the user of the mobile wireless device from the mobile wireless device through the provider network and to an inter-carrier vendor resulting in an appropriate set of processing activities in accordance with the requested service and the dispatch of a response message to the mobile wireless device with the response message facilitating access to the desired service. 
     These and other features of embodiments of the present invention will be more fully explained below in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic presentation of an exemplary user experience that may be realized through the instant invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating the relative locations of an inter-carrier vendor, wireless carriers and a service provider, in accordance with embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     To better understand the particulars of the present invention consider for a moment the following hypothetical example. 
     In this example, Alice is a potential service user who is traveling on business and finds herself with an hour of time during which she would like to access her company&#39;s e-mail facility from her laptop computer so that she can check for new e-mail messages and manage (respond to, delete) existing e-mail messages. 
     Nearby Alice notices a posted sign describing the presence of a public Wi-Fi hotspot at her location (any one of, for example, an airport, a hotel, a conference center, a coffee shop, a fast food restaurant, etc.). The sign indicates that one may pay for access to the hotspot (e.g., in one hour increments), and receive credentials for accessing the hotspot, by sending an SMS message to a particular destination address (e.g., a Telephone Number [TN]). 
     On her mobile telephone Alice composes an SMS message, directed to the indicated destination address and requesting one hour of access to the hotspot, and dispatches the message. Following the successful receipt and processing of Alice&#39;s SMS message (described in detail below), Alice receives a reply SMS message thanking her for her use of the hotspot and including a temporary User ID and Password that she may use to access the hotspot. 
     On her laptop computer Alice enters the temporary User ID and Password that she received in the reply SMS message, gains access to the hotspot, and reaches her company&#39;s e-mail facility through the Internet (as made available via the hotspot). 
     The hypothetical example that was just presented may be better and more fully understood through the following discussion of  FIG. 1 . 
     At Step A  132 , Alice  110 , our potential service user, observes a sign  106  that is posted near her that describes the presence of a Wi-Fi hotspot  102 . Alice follows the instructions that are presented on the sign  106 , composes on her mobile telephone  108  a request SMS message  130  soliciting one hour of access to the hotspot  102 , and dispatches the request SMS message  130 . (It is important to note that other wireless messaging paradigms, including inter alia MMS, may be employed as an alternative to SMS; to simplify the description that follows an SMS-based model will be employed.) 
     The instructions that are presented on the sign  106  may indicate that Alice should address (direct) her request SMS message  130  to a TN, e.g., 703-555-1234. 
     Alternatively, the instructions that are presented on the sign  106  may indicate that Alice should address (direct) her request SMS message  130  to a Common Short Code (CSC), e.g., 12345. A description of a common (i.e., universal) short code environment may be found in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/742,764 entitled “UNIVERSAL SHORT CODE ADMINISTRATION FACILITY.” 
     The instructions that are presented on the sign  106  may indicate that Alice should specify in her request message  130  the desired amount of access time in numerical form with a unit of measure (e.g., hour, minute, etc.) qualifier. 
     At Step B  136 , Alice&#39;s Wireless Carrier (WC)  112  receives Alice&#39;s request SMS message  130 , examines the destination address (e.g., the TN or the CSC), identifies the destination address as residing outside of its network, and passes the request message  134  along to its messaging Inter-Carrier Vendor (ICV)  114  for processing. 
     At Step C  140 , a Gateway (GW)  116  at Alice&#39;s WC&#39;s  112  messaging ICV  114  receives Alice&#39;s request SMS message  134 . reference is made to pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/426,662, entitled “AN INTERMEDIARY NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING MESSAGE EXCHANGE BETWEEN WIRELESS NETWORKS,” for a description of a messaging ICV  114  and a summary of various of the services/functions/etc. that are performed by same. This application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     The use of messaging ICV  114 , although not required, provides significant advantages. As shown, for example, in  FIG. 2 , messaging ICV  114  is disposed between multiple wireless carriers  205   a ,  205   b  on one side and a service provider  210  (in this case a Wi-Fi service provider) on the other side. Consequently, as long as the messaging ICV  114  has a relationship with “Alice&#39;s” particular wireless carrier, Alice will be able to obtain access to the services offered by service provider  210 . 
     Referring again to  FIG. 1 , the messaging ICV  114  examines the destination address of the received request SMS message  134 , determines that the message should be processed by a Service Access Subsystem (SAS)  118 , and appropriately routes the request SMS message  138 . 
     The SAS  118  receives Alice&#39;s request SMS message  138  and, possibly amongst other activities, extracts key data elements (e.g., Alice&#39;s TN as the source address of the message, the requested amount of access time) from the message, validates the extracted data elements (e.g., is Alice&#39;s TN on any ‘blacklist’ of users who are to be denied service, or is the requested amount of access time structurally correct and reasonable in size?), completes the required billing transaction  120  (this will be further explained below), generates a temporary User ID  126  and Password  128  (or credentials) that are unique to Alice and which are configured to expire/die at the end of the requested access interval, and associates in its internal data store  122  Alice&#39;s TN  124  with, at a minimum, the temporary credentials (i.e., User ID  126  and Password  128 ). 
     As described above, as part of its processing activities the SAS  118  completes the required billing transaction  120  so that Alice may actually pay for her upcoming access to the hotspot. The billing transaction  120  may take any number of forms including, inter alia: 
     1) The appearance of a line item charge on the bill or statement that Alice receives from her WC. Exemplary mechanics and logistics associated with this approach are described in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/837,695 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR BILLING AUGMENTATION,” which is incorporated herein by reference. Other ways of line item billing are easily implemented by those skilled in the art. 
     2) The charging of a credit card or the debiting of a debit card. The particulars (e.g., number, expiration date) of the card that is to be used may be included in the originating SMS message (i.e., the SMS message that Alice composed requesting access to the hotspot, as described above for Step A  132 ). Alternatively, the particulars of the card that is to be used may be retrieved from an account that Alice established previously through a publicly-available Web site (or other means) that is associated (in some way) with the hotspot service provider. 
     3) The decrementing of a pre-paid account that Alice established previously through a publicly-available Web site (or other means) that is associated (in some way) with the hotspot service provider. 
     4) Other means including, inter alia, pre-paid or ‘countdown’ cards, redemption coupons, etc. 
     At Step D  144 , the SAS  118  constructs a reply SMS message  142  that is addressed to Alice (i.e., to the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone) and that contains Alice&#39;s temporary User ID  126  and Password  128 . The message  142  is dispatched to the ICV GW  116 . 
     The generated reply message  142  may optionally contain an informational message—e.g., ‘Thank you for visiting our hotspot!’ or ‘Please visit one of our other nearby hotspots at . . . ’, etc. The informational message may be selected statically (e.g., all generated reply messages are injected with the same informational message), randomly (e.g., a generated reply message is injected with an informational message that is randomly selected from a pool of available informational messages), or location-based (i.e., a generated reply message is injected with an informational message that is selected from a pool of available informational messages based on the current physical location of the recipient of the reply message). 
     The generated reply message  142  may optionally contain advertising—e.g., textual material if an SMS model is being utilized, or multimedia (images of brand logos, sound, video snippets, etc.) material if an MMS model is being utilized. The advertising material may be selected statically (e.g., all generated reply messages are injected with the same advertising material), randomly (e.g., a generated reply message is injected with advertising material that is randomly selected from a pool of available material), or location-based (i.e., a generated reply message is injected with advertising material that is selected from a pool of available material based on the current physical location of the recipient of the reply message). 
     At Step E  148 , the GW  116  at Alice&#39;s WC&#39;s  112  messaging ICV  114  receives the SAS&#39;s  118  reply SMS message  142 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone), identifies the destination (i.e., Alice&#39;s) WC  112 , and appropriately routes the message  146 . 
     At Step F  152 , Alice&#39;s WC  112  receives the reply SMS message  150 , examines the destination address (i.e., the TN of Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  108 ), and delivers the message  150  to Alice&#39;s mobile telephone  108 . Alice retrieves the temporary User ID  126  and Password  128  from the received SMS message  150  and on her laptop computer  104  enters the temporary credentials to gain access to the hotspot  102 . 
     Although not explicitly depicted in  FIG. 1 , the hotspot  102  that Alice connects to is in communication, either directly or indirectly, with the SAS  118  (e.g., using any of the numerous publicly available Internet Protocol [IP]-based communication mechanisms, using an SS7-based communication mechanism, etc.) to, amongst other activities, validate the temporary credentials (User ID  126  and Password  128 ) that are entered by Alice and identify the validity period for those credentials (i.e., at what specific time will those credentials expire or die and Alice&#39;s hotspot access cease). It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that this may be accomplished through numerous arrangements or configurations. 
     Numerous enhancements, extensions, etc. to the model that was just described are easily possible. For example, as a user&#39;s access time is about to expire the SAS may dispatch an SMS message to the user (a) politely reminding them of the upcoming expiration of their access time and (b) asking if they would like to purchase another block of access time (at a quantity equal to, or possibly different from, their previous purchase). 
     It is important to note that the hypothetical example that was presented above, which was described in the narrative and which was illustrated in the accompanying  FIG. 1 , is exemplary only. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that numerous alternatives to the presented example are easily possible and, indeed, are fully within the scope of the present invention. 
     The discussion that was just presented employed two specific wireless messaging paradigms—SMS and MMS. These paradigms potentially offer an incremental advantage over other paradigms, such as e-mail, in that native support for SMS and/or MMS is commonly found on the mobile telephone that a potential service user would be carrying; for example, e-mail may not be available to a consumer until the consumer had established access to a public Wi-Fi hotspot and launched their Web browser or their e-mail client application to reach their e-mail facility. However, it is to be understood that it would be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that other paradigms such as, inter alia, e-mail and instant messaging (IM), are fully within the scope of the present invention. 
     While the discussion that was just presented focused on Wi-Fi, it will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the relevant art that the application of the present invention to numerous other services is easily possible and indeed is fully within the scope of the present invention. 
     The following list defines acronyms as used in this disclosure. TABLE-US-00001 Acronym Meaning CSC Common Short Code GW Gateway ICV Inter-Carrier Vendor IM Instant Messenger IP Internet Protocol MMS Multimedia Message Service SAS Service Access Subsystem SMS Short Message Service TN Telephone Number WC Wireless Carrier Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity 
     The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many variations and modifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. The scope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by their equivalents. 
     Further, in describing representative embodiments of the present invention, the specification may have presented the method and/or process of the present invention as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps may be possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims. In addition, the claims directed to the method and/or process of the present invention should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.