SMS Quality of Service Tracking via Event Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
SMS providers lack the ability to track and provide quality of service information for SMS message deliveries to mobile devices, making it difficult for customers to assess the quality of service they are paying for and compare different providers.
Innovation Solution
A system that gathers and analyzes data on SMS message transmissions by creating send and receipt events with unique identifiers, allowing for the calculation of success rates and latency, and storing these events for later analysis to determine the quality of service provided by SMS providers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If SMS providers act as aggregators with multiple mobile carriers, then the ability to send SMS messages to many different mobile phones is improved, but the ability to track quality of service information is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the SMS delivery process into distinct events: send events when messages are dispatched to carriers, and receipt events when messages are delivered to mobile devices. Each event is independently tracked with unique identifiers, allowing the system to monitor quality of service at each stage while maintaining the ability to communicate with multiple carriers through a single interface.
2Device complexity
If SMS providers end involvement at the interface with mobile carriers, then the complexity of tracking message delivery is reduced, but the ability to provide quality of service information to customers is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where mobile devices send receipt events back to the SMS provider, confirming successful message delivery. This feedback loop provides quality of service information without significantly increasing complexity, as the receipt events are automatically generated by mobile devices and processed through existing event handling infrastructure.
3Reliability
If quality of service tracking is implemented end-to-end, then the ability to provide transparent service information is improved, but the system complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The event processing system serves multiple functions: it tracks quality of service metrics, provides transparency to customers, and maintains compatibility with existing carrier interfaces. The same infrastructure that handles normal SMS routing also processes quality of service tracking, eliminating the need for separate complex tracking systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A Short Message Service (“SMS”) provider's quality of service, such as SMS transmission latency and/or success rate, is measured based on collected event data. A notification service initiates SMS message transmissions which are sent through an SMS provider and a carrier before reaching a mobile service on a mobile device. Each SMS message includes a unique identifier. The notification service creates send events recording when each SMS message was sent. The mobile service creates receipt events recording when each received SMS message was received. By determining how many sent messages are received, and aggregated time differences between messages being sent and received, quality of service information can be determined. In some embodiments, quality of service information is determined on a per-SMS provider basis, and/or on a per-location basis.