Service layer message templates in a communications network

A method, comprising:

• storing, in a memory of a service of a communications network, the service supporting service capabilities through a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), one or more message templates, each message template, of the one or more message templates, comprising one or more values of parameters associated with a respective type of message that may be received by the service from one or more devices on the communications network and having a list of target resources identifying one or more target resources of the network apparatus that each message template applies to;
• receiving a request to create a new request message template, the request to create a new request message template comprising one or more values of parameters associated with a respective type of message which the message template is to represent and one or more target resources that the message template applies to;
• creating the new request message template, the new request message template comprising corresponding parameter values, wherein the corresponding parameter values are the received one or more values of parameters;
• generating an identifier associated with the new request message template;
• storing, in the memory, the new request message template in association with the identifier and the one or more target resources;
• receiving, by the service, from a device on the communications network, a message targeting a resource of the network apparatus matching a target resource of the one or more target resources associated with the new request message template;
• retrieving, by the service from the memory in response to the message from the device, a stored message template associated with the resource targeted in the message received from the device;
• combining, by the service, information in the received message with parameter values in the retrieved stored message template to form a complete message;
• processing, by the service layer entity, the complete message;
• and
• sending, to the device in response to the message received from the device, a response message.

A device coupled to a communications network and comprising at least one processor and memory, the memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform operations comprising:

• create a request message comprising information and an identifier of a message template, of one or more message templates stored at a service of the communications network, the service supporting service capabilities through a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the stored message template comprising one or more values of parameters associated with a respective type of the request message which the message template is to represent and one or more target resources that the message template applies to, wherein the request message targets a resource of a network apparatus matching a target resource of the one or more target resources associated with the message template;
• sending a request to create a new request message template, the request to create a new request message template comprising one or more values of parameters associated with a respective type of message which the message template is to represent and one or more target resources that the message template applies to, wherein the request causes the network apparatus to:
• create the new request message template, the new request message template comprising corresponding parameter values, wherein the corresponding parameter values are the received one or more values of parameters,
• generate an identifier associated with the new request message template, and
• store, in the memory, the new request message template in association with the identifier and the one or more target resources;
• sending the request message to the service, wherein the request message comprises the information and the identifier associated with the new request message template and targets a resource of the network apparatus matching a target resource of the one or more target resources associated with the new request message template;
• and
• receiving, from the service, a response message.