Patent ID: 8768386

Claim:
A method for processing a short message, comprising: determining, by a network element in a 2G or 3G network, that a current service type is short message; selecting a delivery method to send a short message to a terminal to enable the terminal to receive the short message without requiring interruption of a packet switched (PS) service based on if the terminal is in an idle state, or the terminal is in a connected state and a working mode of the terminal is an lu mode, or the terminal is in the connected state and the working mode of the terminal is an A/Gb mode and a dual transfer mode (DTM) is supported by the terminal; according to the selected delivery method, sending, by the network element, a paging message carrying circuit switched (CS) domain indication information to the terminal, wherein the CS domain indication information instructs the terminal to send a paging response message to a mobile-services switching centre/visitor location register (MSC/VLR) through a CS connection and receive the short message from the MSC/VLR through the CS connection.