Patent ID: 8046013

Claim:
A system for providing Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to mobile stations through a wireless communication network, the network comprising: a plurality of first Multimedia Messaging Service Centers (MMSCs) coupled to the wireless communication network, wherein each first MMSC provides MMS communication between a first mobile station and a second mobile station and supports MMS communication between mobile stations and application servers; and a second MMSC coupled to the wireless communication network, wherein the second MMSC provides MMS communications between mobile stations and application servers, wherein: (a) the second MMSC is coupled to the first MMSCs; (b) the second MMSC is dedicated to application-specific MMS traffic; (c) in a mobile origination mode, the second MMSC concentrates traffic by: receiving MMS messages intended for the application servers from the mobile stations via the first plurality of MMSCs, and forwarding the received MMS messages to the application servers, and receiving responsive MMS messages from the application servers, and forwarding the received responsive MMS messages to the first plurality of MMSCs; and (d) in a mobile termination mode, the second MMSC receives MMS messages from the application servers and delivers each of the received MMS messages to a destination mobile station without forwarding the received MMS messages to any of the first MMSCs.