Abstract:
A method includes intercepting a Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) push message and accessing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the WAP push message to access a resource. Content from the resource is received via a WAP session. The content is packaged as a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) packet. The MMS packet is routed to a wireless carrier.

Description:
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention relates generally to the delivery of content to wireless devices. More particularly, the invention relates to transforming a Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) push message to a formatted packet for a Multimedia Messaging Service. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]      FIG. 1  illustrates a prior art Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) system for delivering content via the Short Message Peer-to-peer Protocol (SMPP). WAP is an open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. Its principal application is to enable access to the Internet from a mobile device (e.g., mobile phone, personal digital assistant, and the like). A WAP browser is designed to provide all of the basic services of a computer based web browser, but is simplified to operate within the restrictions of a mobile device. WAP is the protocol used for the majority of the world&#39;s mobile internet sites, known as WAP sites. WAP sites are websites written in, or dynamically converted to, Wireless Markup Language (WML) to facilitate access via a WAP browser. 
         [0003]    SMPP is a telecommunication industry protocol for exchanging Short Message Service (SMS) messages between SMS peer entities. SMPP allows an entity to broadcast messages, 
         [0004]    lobe term WAP Push refers to an SMS message with a link to a WAP site Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A mobile handset accesses he URL to retrieve WML content. 
         [0005]    The system  100  of  FIG. 1  includes a message service  102 . The message service  102  operates to convert a message into a wireless transport message. A message service is sometimes referred to as a Value-Added Service Provider (VASP). An exemplary message service  102  is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,340, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
         [0006]    A content provider  104  delivers a message to a message service  102 . For example, the message may be communicated via SMPP. The SMPP link  106  subsequently routes the message to a wireless carrier  110 . The wireless carrier  110  includes an SMPP gateway  114  and a Short Message Service Center  116 , which facilitates communication with a handset  120 . Alternately, the message may be communicated via an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) message communicated via an Internet Protocol (IP) connection. XML is used to format an SMS message, which is then routed by the message service  102  using the SMPP link  106 . Similarly, a JAVA® message may be used initiate the WAP push session. 
         [0007]      FIG. 2  illustrates a WAP push message originating at a content provider  104 . The WAP push message is passed to the message service  102 , as shown with arrow  200 . The message service  102  then passes the message to the wireless carrier  110 , as shown with arrow  202 . The wireless carrier  110  then delivers the message to the handset  120 , as shown with arrow  204 . When the handset  120  receives the signal, it wakes up and an initiates a WAP session. Thereafter, the handset  120  accesses a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the WAP push message. The URL is conveyed to the wireless carrier  110 , as shown with arrow  206 . The wireless carrier  110  then conveys the URL to the content provider  104 , as shown with arrow  208 . 
         [0008]    Arrow  206  of  FIG. 2  corresponds to arrow  122  of  FIG. 1 , while arrow  208  of  FIG. 2  corresponds to arrow  123  of  FIG. 1 . Referring to  FIG. 1 , the content server  124  is associated with the internet  126 . The content server  124  is associated with the content provider  104 . The content server  124  delivers content to the wireless carrier  110  over link  123  via a WAP session. The wireless carrier  110  then delivers the content to the handset via link  122  (link  212  in  FIG. 2 ). Link  122  may utilize any number of communication protocols (e.g., General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or CDMA Packet Data (1×RTT)). 
         [0009]    The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a telephony standard that allows sending messages that include multimedia objects, such as image objects, audio objects video objects and rich text objects. MM7 is a interface between a Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) and a message service or WASP. MM7 is based on the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), using the HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP). MM7 messages are encoded using XML. One significant advantage of MM7 is its transport capacity, which is much larger than the transport capacity of SMS. 
         [0010]    Migration to MMS is inhibited by the requirement to upgrade systems to support MM7 packaging protocols. As a result, content providers have been slow to exploit the speed advantages of MMS. 
         [0011]    Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism to leverage existing SMS infrastructure, while providing the benefits of MMS. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    The invention includes a method of intercepting a Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) push message and accessing a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the WAP push message to access a resource. Content from the resource is received via a WAP session. The content is packaged as a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) packet. The MMS packet is routed to a wireless carrier. 
         [0013]    The invention also includes a message service with a Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) session module to intercept a WAP push message, access a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) associated with the WAP push message, and receive content from the resource via a WAP session. A Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) conversion module packages the content as a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) packet to route the MMS packet to a wireless carrier. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0014]    The invention is more fully appreciated in connection with the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  illustrates a prior art Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) system for delivering content via the short message peer-to-peer protocol. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  illustrates processing operations associated with the system of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  illustrates a system for delivering content via a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  illustrates processing operations associated with the system of  FIG. 3 . 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  illustrates processing operations associated with a delivery receipt embodiment of the system of  FIG. 3 . 
       
    
    
       [0020]    Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]      FIG. 3  illustrates a system  300  configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The system  300  includes a message service  302 , which includes an SMPP link  106 , as was the case of the prior art system of  FIG. 1 . However, the message service  302  also includes a HTTP/WAP access module  303 , which operates as a handset proxy to fetch WAP push content. The message service  302  also includes an MM7 conversion module  304  to convert retrieved WAP content to an MM7 message format, which is then passed to a wireless carrier  310 . The HTTP/WAP access module  303  and the MM7 conversion module  304  may be implemented as executable instructions operative for execution on a central processing unit associated with the message service  302 . 
         [0022]    The wireless carrier  310  includes an MM7 gateway  306  to process the MM7 message. The MM7 gateway  306  communicates with a Multimedia Service Center (MMSC)  308  to deliver the MM7 message to the handset  120 . The wireless carrier  310  also includes an SMPP gateway  114  and an SMSC  116 , consistent with the wireless carrier configuration of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0023]    The operation of the system  300  of  FIG. 3  is more fully appreciated with reference to  FIG. 4 .  FIG. 4  illustrates that a WAP push message originates at a content provider, as was the case in  FIG. 2 . In other words, a content provider can generate a WAP push message using SMS, as was the case in  FIG. 2 . However, in the processing of  FIG. 4 , the message service  302  (e.g., the HTTP/WAP module  303 ) intercepts the message and accesses the specified URL. Thus, the message service  302  operates as a handset proxy to retrieve content without using the handset to retrieve content, as was the case in the processing of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0024]    The content provider retrieves the specified content and delivers it to the message service  302  via a WAP session. The content is typically in the form of a flat file that is readily converted to another format. The message service then packages the content as an MMS packet. For example, the MM7 protocol (e g. Version 6.3) may be used by the MM7 conversion module  304  to generate an MM7 message. As specified in the MM7 protocol, the message conforms to the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and uses HTTP as the transport protocol. The encoding of the message is done with XML. The MM7 message is then routed to the wireless carrier  310 , which delivers it to the handset  120 . 
         [0025]    Thus,  FIG. 4  illustrates an SMS push message being routed to a message service  302 , which intercepts the message, retrieves specified content, formats the specified content as an MM7 message and then delivers the content to the handset  120  via the wireless carrier  310 . While the wireless carrier is configured with the MM7 gateway  306  and the MMSC  308  to support this functionality, the content provider  104  and its associated content server  124  need not be modified to support this new functionality. Therefore, a content provider can extend its platform to MM7 messages without any infrastructure upgrade. 
         [0026]    Observe in  FIG. 4  that the message is intercepted and the handset  120  is not part of the processing sequence until it actually receives the content.  FIG. 5  illustrates an alternate embodiment of the invention in which after intercepting the message, a device discovery message is sent to the wireless carrier  310 , which relays it to the handset  120 . In response, the handset  120  supplies a user agent profile string, which specifies such things as the device type, the browser type, etc. This information is loaded into a delivery receipt, which is sent from the handset  120  to the wireless carrier  310 , which passes it to the message service  302 , which passes it to the content provider  104 . More particularly, the MMSC  308  processes the profile string at a delivery acknowledgment module, which sends a shortened version of the profile string in a delivery report (delivery receipt) to the message service  302 , which passes the shortened version of the profile string to the content provider  104 . 
         [0027]    At this point, the content provider  104  has retrieved the specified URL and can now format the content associated with the URL in accordance with the user agent profile string. In other words, the content can be customized or optimized for the specified user agent. The custom content is then delivered via a WAP session to the message service  302 . The remaining processing associated with  FIG. 5  is the same as that discussed in connection with  FIG. 4 . 
         [0028]    An embodiment of the present invention relates to a computer storage product with a computer-readable medium having computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs and holographic devices: magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program code, such as application-specific integrated circuits (“ASICs”), programmable logic devices (“PLDs”) and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher-level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter. For example, an embodiment of the invention may be implemented using Java, C++, or other object-oriented programming language and development tools. Another embodiment of the invention may be implemented in hardwired circuitry in place of, or in combination with, machine-executable software instructions. 
         [0029]    The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practice the invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed; obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, they thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.