Patent ID: 8195131

Claim:
A method for handling broadcast messages within a communication system, comprising: receiving a Short Messaging Service (SMS) message at a mobile device, the SMS message including identification information identifying a message-type for the SMS message; determining, by examining the identification information of the received SMS message, that the received SMS message is an SMS cell broadcast message comprising a reply field and a payload field, the reply field comprising a reply-to address and a reply-type field, the payload field comprising payload information; displaying the payload information of the payload field of the SMS cell broadcast message on a display of the mobile device; receiving an instruction to reply to the SMS cell broadcast message; determining a form of reply to initiate based on information in the reply-type field of the reply field of the SMS cell broadcast message; and initiating a reply responsive to the instruction to reply to the SMS cell broadcast message, the reply being directed to the reply-to address of the reply field of the SMS cell broadcast message, wherein initiating a reply comprises: placing a voice call if the form of reply is determined to be a voice call; generating and transmitting an SMS one-on-one message if the form of reply is determined to be a message; and connecting to a network location if the form of reply is determined to be a connection to a network location, wherein the SMS cell broadcast message is an SMS message that is broadcast over a particular cell broadcast area such that it is received by mobile devices based on their being present in the cell broadcast area.