Application-to-Application Message Routing and Billing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack the ability to effectively track and bill for certain types of SMS and MMS message traffic across various devices and applications, hindering the development of commercial services that utilize mobile phone messaging standards.
Innovation Solution
A message routing system that screens and routes messages formatted in mobile phone messaging standards, generating charging data records to enable billing for messages sent between software applications, using configurable business rules and prepaid account checks to ensure accurate charging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If messaging systems support multiple device types and applications, then versatility and adaptability improve, but the ability to track and bill for message traffic deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a universal messaging interface that handles multiple device types (mobile phones, personal computers, satellite phones) and application protocols (SMS, MMS, email) through a single standardized processing architecture. This universal interface enables consistent tracking and billing across all message types while maintaining the versatility to support diverse communication scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
A centralized messaging server acts as an intermediary between various messaging sources and destinations. This server receives messages from different device types and applications, standardizes them into a unified processing format, tracks them through the network, and generates billing records. The intermediary approach enables precise measurement and billing while accommodating the versatility of multiple device types.
2Productivity
If the system routes messages between applications rather than only between mobile devices, then productivity and service expansion improve, but billing accuracy and tracking capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the messaging server receives acknowledgment signals from destination applications, tracks message delivery status, and uses this information to generate accurate billing records. This feedback loop ensures that billing accuracy is maintained even when routing between applications, as the system can verify actual message delivery and consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary tracking actions by creating billing records and tracking identifiers when messages are initially received and routed, before final delivery occurs. This preliminary action ensures that billing accuracy is established early in the message lifecycle, and the system can track messages through complex application-to-application routing paths without compromising billing reliability.
3Reliability
If the system implements comprehensive screening and routing capabilities, then message delivery reliability improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The messaging system is segmented into distinct functional modules: a screening module that evaluates message criteria, a routing module that determines delivery paths, and a billing module that generates records. This segmentation allows each module to handle specific tasks independently, improving message delivery reliability through specialized processing while managing overall system complexity through modular architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic routing decisions where the routing module can adapt message delivery paths based on real-time conditions, recipient preferences, and network status. This dynamic approach improves message delivery reliability by selecting optimal routes while managing complexity through algorithmic decision-making rather than rigid predetermined paths.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A message routing system that enables charging for messages that are formatted in a mobile phone messaging standard and routed between software applications. The mobile phone messaging standard may be, for example, the Short Message Service standard or the Multimedia Messaging Service standard. The routing system receives a message from a mobile device or from an application server. The routing system screens the message to determine whether the message should be delivered to a recipient. If the message passes the screening check, the routing system routes the message for delivery to a recipient mobile device or application server. The system may receive and route the message over any type of network, whether wired or wireless. In accordance with configurable business rules, the routing system generates a charging data record associated with the message to allow the message sender and/or message recipient to be billed for the message.