Patent ID: 8417270

Claim:
A method of handling Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message communications through a wireless communication system, between mobile stations served by the wireless communication system and application servers, the method comprising steps of: concentrating communication of MMS messages with the application servers, in a mobile origination mode, by: receiving MMS messages intended for the application servers from the mobile stations at a Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) dedicated to application-specific traffic, via a plurality of other MMSCs not dedicated to application-specific MMS traffic: forwarding the received MMS messages intended for the application servers from the MMSC dedicated to application-specific traffic, to the application servers; receiving responsive MMS messages from the application servers at the MMSC dedicated to application-specific traffic; forwarding the received responsive MMS messages from the MMSC dedicated to application-specific traffic to the other MMSCs; and delivering the responsive MMS messages from the other MMSCs through the wireless communication system, to the mobile stations; and concentrating communication of MMS messages with the application servers, in a mobile termination mode, by: receiving MMS messages from the application servers intended for mobile stations at the MMSC dedicated to application-specific traffic; and delivering received MMS messages from the MMSC dedicated to application-specific traffic through the wireless communication system to respective destination mobile stations without forwarding to any of the other MMSCs.