Patent ID: 7746864

Claim:
A method for routing mobile messaging service (MMS) messages originating from any of a plurality of mobile stations which is operable within a wireless network of a carrier, the wireless network of the carrier having a mobile messaging service center (MMSC), comprising steps of: (a) for each respective MMS message received at the MMSC from any of the mobile stations through the carrier's wireless network, determining whether the MMSC stores a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) corresponding to a destination mobile directory number (MDN), which is contained in the respective MMS message; and (b) forwarding a first of the received MMS messages from the MMSC to a network of another carrier based on the URI stored in the MMSC corresponding to the MDN contained in the first MMS message, when the MMSC stores the URI corresponding to the MDN contained in the first MMS message; (c) obtaining a URI corresponding to the destination MDN of a second of the received MMS messages from an external telephone number mapping (ENUM) server, when the MMSC does not store the URI corresponding to the destination MDN contained in the second MMS message; and (d) forwarding the second MMS message from the MMSC to a network of another carrier based on the URI obtained from the external ENUM server.