Binary SMS Exposure Service for Third-Party Application Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current telecommunications systems face challenges in supporting the integration and management of binary content attachments in Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages, particularly in providing secure and efficient access for third-party applications to telecom networks, which limits the ability to offer advanced services to end-users.
Innovation Solution
A binary SMS exposure service is introduced, featuring an application-facing web services interface and a network-specific protocol interface, deployed on a service access gateway, allowing third-party applications to send binary SMS messages without requiring knowledge of network-specific protocols, enabling the transmission of generic binary content, such as encrypted tokens, and providing delivery status polling and asynchronous notifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If third-party applications directly access telecom networks using network-specific protocols, then integration capability is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an SMS gateway as an intermediary component that sits between third-party applications and the telecom network. The gateway translates standard SMTP protocol messages from applications into network-specific SMS protocols, eliminating the need for applications to directly handle complex telecom protocols while maintaining full integration capability with the network
2Adaptability or versatility
If third-party applications directly access telecom networks, then service offering capability is improved, but security and management control worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The SMS gateway serves as a security intermediary that all third-party applications must pass through to access the telecom network. This centralized gateway enables the network operator to enforce security policies, monitor traffic, and maintain control over network access while still allowing diverse service offerings from multiple applications
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway provides multiple functions including protocol translation, security enforcement, message routing, and delivery status tracking through a single universal interface. This multi-functional approach maintains security and management control while supporting various service types from different third-party applications
3Ease of operation
If standard SMTP protocol is used for SMS transmission, then ease of operation is improved, but functionality and adaptability worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway translates standard SMTP protocol messages with binary attachments into network-specific SMS formats. This allows applications to use the simple, well-known SMTP protocol for sending messages with binary content while the gateway handles the complex translation to support various SMS formats and network requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the data format parameters during translation, converting SMTP protocol messages with binary attachments into appropriate SMS message formats. The gateway adjusts message encoding, attachment formats, and protocol parameters to match network requirements while maintaining the simple SMTP interface for applications
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described for enabling binary object attachment support in a short messaging service (SMS). More specifically, a binary SMS exposure service is described that allows for sending any generic binary content via SMS to the telecom network. The binary SMS exposure service includes an application-facing web services interface and a network-specific protocol interface. The binary attachment sent via SMS can represent any object, such as an electronic business card, an encrypted token, and the like. Applications are enabled to poll for the delivery status of a message sent using the exposure service, as well as receive asynchronous notifications for messages that have been sent. In addition, a specific use case is described wherein an encrypted binary object attachment is transmitted via SMS to an automobile in order to perform a specified function thereon.