Charging of a Short Message Transmission
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
InventorRogier August Noldus
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to charging of a short message transmission in a telecommunications network. The invention provides a mechanism for refunding the subscriber for an already charged short message in the event of a failure during the delivery of that short message. The invention also relates to the methods and devices that are used to deliver a short message and perform the charging thereof.
Claims14
A method for refunding the costs of a failed short message transmission to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of:
- receiving a short message at a Control Node;
- the Control Node generating a short message identifier associated to the short message;
- the Control Node forwarding the short message to a Short Message Service Centre;
- a Call Detail Record Storage Unit receiving a Service Call Detail Record;
- the Call Detail Record Storage Unit forwarding the Service Call Detail Record to a Post-Processing Unit;
- the Short Message Service Centre forwarding the short message towards a receiving entity;
- the Short Message Service Centre detecting the failure of the delivery of the short message;
- the Short Message Service Centre generating a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record in the event of the failure of the delivery of the short message;
- and
- the Short Message Service Centre forwarding the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record to the Post-Processing Unit
- wherein the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record comprise the short message identifier associated to the failed short message transmission, the Service Call Detail Record further comprising a charged amount for the short message transmission, the method further comprising:
- the Control Node forwarding the short message identifier to the Short Message Service Centre;
- the Short Message Service Centre including the short message identifier in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record.
- the Post-Processing Unit calculating a refund amount for the failed short message transmission based on information in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record;
- and
- the Post-Processing Unit initiating the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber.
A method for refunding the costs of a failed short message transmission to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
- receiving a short message in a Short Message Service Center wherein the Short Message Service Center performs the steps of:
- forwarding the short message towards a receiving entity;
- detecting the failure of the delivery of the short message;
- generating a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record in the event of the failure of the delivery of the short message;
- forwarding the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record;
- receiving a short message identifier associated to the short message from a Control Node;
- and
- including the short message identifier in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record.
A method for refunding the costs of a failed short message transmission to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
- receiving a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record from a Short Message Service Centre in a Post Processing Unit, wherein the Post Processing unit performs the steps of:
- receiving a Service Call Detail Record from a Call Detail Record Storage Unit;
- wherein the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record comprise a short message identifier associated to the failed short message transmission, the Service Call Detail Record further comprising a charged amount for the short message transmission;
- calculating a refund amount for the failed short message transmission based on the information in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record;
- and
- initiating the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber.
A Short Message Service Centre for a telecommunications network comprising an input unit for receiving a short message, a processing unit for controlling further units, a call detail record generating unit for generating a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record, an output unit for forwarding the short message and for forwarding the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and detecting means for detecting the failure of the delivery of the short message and informing the processing unit thereof,
- input unit being arranged to receive a short message identifier from a Control Node and in that the processing unit is arranged to initiate the call detail record generating unit to include the short message identifier in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record.
An apparatus in a telecommunications network comprising
- an input unit for receiving a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and for receiving a Service Call Detail Record, the Service Call Detail Record comprising a charged amount for a short message transmission,
- a processing unit for controlling further units and an output unit for forwarding messages,
- wherein the processing unit is adapted to calculate a refund amount for a failed short message transmission to a subscriber based on information in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record and in that the processing unit is arranged to initiate the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.