Apparatus and method for improving short message service dependability

A method for improving short message service (SMS) dependability in a mobile telephony network having a short message service center (SMSC) that can provide for persistently storing and forwarding of short messages (SM) to respective addressees and a router that first receives the SM and mitigates the number of SM forwarded to the SMSC by attempting to deliver a portion of the SM received, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a SM from a submitter;
• creating a copy of the SM in a replicate store;
• acknowledging receipt of the SM to the submitter;
• attempting one of a first delivery attempt (FDA) of the SM to an addressee and a forwarding (FWD) of the SM to the SMSC;
• on successful completion of the one of the FDA and the FWD, deleting the copy of the SM in the replicate store;
• on recovery from a failure, determining if the SM might have been lost by searching the replicate store for the copy of the SM and if the copy of the SM is found reattempting the one of a FDA and a FWD using the copy of the SM;
• wherein the replicate store is a survivable storage medium whose contents can survive a failure of the router and wherein the step of creating a copy of the SM occurs before the step of acknowledging.

An apparatus for improving short message service (SMS) dependability in a mobile telephony network comprising:

• a mobile telephony network interface adapted to receiving a short message (SM) from a submitter in the mobile telephony network and for sending an acknowledgement to the submitter;
• a fixed network interface adapted to forwarding the SM to an addresses;
• an SMSC interface adapted to forwarding the SM to a short message service center (SMSC);
• a log store adapted to storing log entries and to preserving the log entries in the case of a failure of the apparatus;
• a log manager adapted to adding and retrieving log entries to and from the log store;
• a SM manager adapted to:
• creating a first log entry, including a copy of the SM, in the log store via the log manager;
• sending an acknowledgement to the submitter via the mobile telephony network interface after creating the first log entry;
• attempting one of a first delivery attempt (FDA) of the SM to an addressee and a forwarding (FWD) of the SM to the SMSC, via the fixed network interface and the SMSC interface respectively;
• and
• creating, on successful completion of the one of the FDA and the FWD, a second log entry, including an indication of the successful completion, in the log store via the log manager;
• and
• a recovery manager adapted to determining, on recovery from a failure, if the SM might have been lost by searching the log store for the second log entry and if the second log entry is not found re-attempting the one of a FDA and a FWD using the copy of the SM included in the first log entry.

An apparatus for improving short message service (SMS) dependability in a mobile telephony network comprising:

• a mobile telephony network interface adapted to receiving a short message (SM) from a submitter in the mobile telephony network and for sending an acknowledgement to the submitter;
• a fixed network interface adapted to forwarding the SM to an addresses;
• an SMSC interface adapted to forwarding the SM to a short message service center (SMSC);
• a replicate store adapted to storing a copy of the SM, and to preserving the copy of the SM in the case of a failure of the apparatus;
• a replicate manager adapted to adding and deleting the copy of the SM to and from the replicate store;
• a SM manager adapted to:
• adding a copy of the SM to the replicate store via the replicate manager;
• sending an acknowledgement to the submitter via the mobile telephony network interface after creating the first log entry;
• attempting one of a first delivery attempt (FDA) of the SM to an addressee and a forwarding (FWD) of the SM to the SMSC, via the fixed network interface and the SMSC interface respectively;
• and
• deleting, on successful completion of the one of the FDA and the FWD, the copy of the SM from the replicate store via the replicate manager;
• and
• a recovery manager adapted to determining, on recovery from a failure, if the SM might have been lost by searching the replicate store for the copy of the SM and if the copy of the SM is not found re-attempting the one of a FDA and a FWD using the copy of the SM.