Patent ID: 8559945

Claim:
At a home Multimedia Message Service Gateway (MMSG) of a Service Provider (SP) in a communication network, a method for separating between access and transmission of services in an effort of lowering a Multimedia Message Service Center (MMSC) load, the method comprising: receiving over a first connection a service request carrying a multimedia message from a service provider (SP), wherein the service request is received at a home Multimedia Message Service Gateway (MMSG) of the SP; upon receipt of the service request, authenticating one or more of the SP, a service associated with the service request, or a receiving user of the service request; and upon authentication, transferring over a second connection the multimedia message in the service request to a home Multimedia Message Service Center (MMSC) of the receiving user, wherein the MMSG is connected respectively with the MMSC and the SP, wherein transferring the multimedia message to the home MMSC of the receiving user comprises: determining if the MMSG is connected with the MMSC, wherein if the MMSG is connected with the MMSC, the method further includes: sending the multimedia message directly to the connected MMSC; and deciding whether the receiving user belongs to the MMSC connected with the MMSG according to the receiving user's ID; or otherwise, if the receiving user does not belong to the MMSC connected with the MMSG, the method further includes: receiving from a searched performed by the MMSC a home MMSC of the receiving user; and sending the received multimedia message to the found home MMSC of the receiving user; or if the MMSG is connected with a plurality of MMSCs, the method further includes: searching for the home MMSC of the receiving user according to the receiving user's ID; and transferring the received multimedia message to the found home MMSC of the receiving user.