Patent ID: 8014757

Claim:
A method for exchanging messages through a wireless network between a sender using a first wireless device and a recipient using a second wireless device, the second wireless device having a recipient phone number associated with it, the method comprising the steps of: associating a recipient alias with the recipient; initiating a first wireless network messaging service message using the first wireless device; inserting content into the first message of the first wireless device, the content including at least some non-text content; inserting the recipient alias in the body of the first message of the first wireless device; inserting a short code associated with an exchange server in a destination address field of a header of the first message; sending the first message to the wireless network using the first wireless device, using the short code as the destination, wherein the recipient phone number is not included in the first message; retrieving the recipient alias from the first message; retrieving the recipient phone number by performing a database lookup based on the recipient alias; allocating one of a plurality of long codes of the exchange server to the recipient; saving the allocated long code, an identifier associated with the sender and the recipient phone number in a long code record; forwarding the first message from the exchange server to the recipient through the wireless network based on the recipient phone number as a destination and using the allocated long code as a source address; creating a second wireless network messaging service message at the second wireless device, the second message being a reply to the first message; providing the allocated long code as the destination of the second message; sending the second wireless network messaging service message from the second wireless device; and responsive to the allocated long code as the destination of the second message, using the long code record to forward the second message through the wireless network to the first wireless device.