SMS Shortcode Originator Identification via Service Provider
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Solution Overview
Problem
Businesses face challenges in using SMS messaging services due to stringent regulations, limited technological options, and high costs associated with registering and maintaining a Short Message Peer to Peer (SMPP) gateway for sending SMS messages, which deters their adoption for consumer communication.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that allows multiple message originators to share an SMS shortcode by adding originator identifying codes to outbound messages, enabling recipients to respond with these codes, which are then processed by a service provider to determine the intended originator, facilitating efficient and cost-effective SMS messaging services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If businesses register and maintain their own SMPP gateway for sending SMS messages, then they can ensure reliable message delivery and compliance, but they face high costs and lengthy certification processes
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple businesses share a common SMPP gateway and shortcode through a service provider platform, consolidating infrastructure that would otherwise require separate registrations. This merging approach maintains reliable message delivery while eliminating redundant certification processes for each individual business.
Solution Approach 2:
A service provider acts as an intermediary between businesses and the mobile network infrastructure. The service provider manages the SMPP gateway and shortcode registration, allowing businesses to send messages through this intermediary without directly facing the complex registration and certification requirements.
2Device complexity
If multiple businesses use a shared SMS shortcode, then registration and certification costs are reduced, but it becomes challenging to identify which business originated each message
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the shared shortcode usage by adding unique originator identifying codes to each message. These codes divide and distinguish the communication streams of different businesses within the shared infrastructure, allowing clear identification of each message's originator despite the shared shortcode.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where originator identifying codes are embedded in outbound messages and confirmed in inbound responses. This feedback loop ensures that the service provider can accurately track and attribute messages to their originating businesses throughout the communication process.
3Ease of manufacture
If businesses use informal SMTP gateways for SMS delivery, then setup is simple and fast, but message delivery is unreliable and may be blocked
Solution Approach 1:
The service provider platform provides a universal SMPP gateway that serves multiple businesses simultaneously. This single gateway offers the formal, reliable message delivery capabilities of SMPP while maintaining the ease of access that informal solutions provide, as businesses can connect through the service provider without direct SMPP configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
To enable multiple message originators to share an SMS shortcode, originator identifying codes can be added to outbound SMS messages that prompt recipients to respond with response messages that include the originator identifying codes. The originator identifying codes can be added by a service provider that administers the SMS shortcode. When a response message is received on the SMS shortcode number, the service provider processes the response message content to extract the originator identifying code. The code and, optionally, a recipient ID can be used as a lookup to determine the intended originator that the response message is for. The response message can then be associated by the service provider with the correct originator for subsequent processing.