Virtual Sender ID Grouping for Cost-Effective SMS Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
SMS communication using telephone numbers offers high message delivery and identity verification but is limited by the cost and scarcity of telephone numbers, making it less accessible and more expensive compared to email-based communication.
Innovation Solution
A message transfer apparatus that includes an acceptance unit for client and terminal IDs, a database for registering correspondence among group, client, and sender IDs, and units for transmitting and delivering messages, allowing efficient use of limited sender IDs across multiple clients within groups.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If SMS communication using telephone numbers is used, then message delivery reliability and identity verification capability are improved, but cost and resource scarcity worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual sender IDs that replicate the functionality of telephone numbers without requiring actual telephone number resources. Each virtual sender ID is associated with a group ID and can be used by multiple clients within that group, allowing the system to copy the identity verification and message delivery capabilities of SMS while avoiding the scarcity and cost of actual telephone numbers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes a single group ID and its associated virtual sender IDs universally usable by multiple clients within the group. Instead of requiring each client to have their own telephone number, the system allows multiple clients to share the same group ID and virtual sender IDs, making the limited sender ID resources serve multiple functions and multiple users simultaneously.
2Reliability
If SMS communication using telephone numbers is used, then identity verification capability is improved, but cost worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates virtual sender IDs that replicate the identity verification functionality of telephone numbers. The virtual sender ID associated with a group ID provides the same level of identity verification as a real telephone number would, but without the associated cost and resource requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically manages the association between clients, group IDs, and virtual sender IDs through the database control unit. The message transfer apparatus itself provides the identity verification service through the virtual sender ID mechanism, eliminating the need for external telephone number allocation and associated costs.
3Reliability
If multiple clients each have dedicated sender IDs, then message delivery reliability is improved, but device complexity and resource usage worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple clients into groups identified by group IDs, and merges the sender ID resources at the group level rather than the individual client level. The database stores the correspondence among group ID, client ID, and sender ID, allowing the system to manage sender IDs collectively for groups while maintaining the ability to track which client sent which message.
Solution Approach 2:
The group ID acts as an intermediary between clients and sender IDs. Instead of directly mapping each client to a sender ID, the system uses group ID as a middle layer that associates multiple clients with shared sender ID resources, simplifying the overall system structure while maintaining message delivery reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A message transfer apparatus is provided which comprises: an acceptance unit that accepts a client ID identifying one of a plurality of clients, a transmitted message from the client to be transmitted to a terminal, and a terminal ID identifying the terminal, the plurality of clients each belonging to one of groups each identified by a group ID; a database in which a correspondence among the group ID, the client ID, a sender ID, and the terminal ID is registered and a plurality of the sender IDs are associated with one of a plurality of the group IDs; a database control unit that updates and searches the database; a transmission unit that transmits, to the terminal identified by the terminal ID, the transmitted message to which is attached one of the plurality of sender IDs in the database associated with the group ID corresponding to the client ID; a reception unit that receives a reply message from the terminal having received the transmitted message, the reply message being a message in which the sender ID attached to the transmitted message is designated as a return destination and to which the terminal ID of the terminal is attached; and a delivery unit that delivers the reply message to the client identified by the client ID corresponding to a pair of the sender ID and the terminal ID registered in the database.