Method and apparatus for message identification

An apparatus for identifying an unwanted short message service (SMS) message from SMS messages received by a cellular mobile communication system, the apparatus, when in use, being coupled to the cellular mobile communication system that comprises at least a history database (HB) for storing a set (H) of the messages received by the cellular mobile communication system, the apparatus comprising:

• a comparator for comparing contents of an incoming SMS message (m) to the contents of a set (H) of stored messages stored in a history database (HB) to determine similarity between the incoming message and the stored messages, for measuring a difference in an information content between an SMS message (m) received by the cellular mobile communication system and the set (H) of messages stored in the history database (HB), for comparing that difference to a predefined threshold value, for identifying the incoming message as spam if the difference that is measured is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, whereby spam is identified even when the contents of an incoming message do not exactly match any predefined spam terms.

A cellular mobile communication system comprising:

• a plurality of cellular mobile communication devices;
• at least one database comprising a history database (HB) for storing a set (H) of the messages received by the cellular mobile communication system,
• at least one apparatus for identifying an unwanted short message service (SMS) message from SMS messages received by the cellular mobile communication system, the apparatus, when in use, being coupled to the cellular mobile communication system and comprising a comparator for comparing contents of an incoming SMS message (m) to the contents of a set (H) of stored messages stored in a history database (HB) to determine similarity between the incoming message and the stored messages, for measuring a difference in an information content between an SMS message (m) received by the cellular mobile communication system and the set (H) of messages stored in the history database (HB), for comparing the measured difference to a predefined threshold value, and for identifying the incoming message as spam if the difference that is measured is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, whereby spam is identified even when the contents of an incoming message do not exactly match any predefined spam terms.

A computer program storing a program readable by a computer for performing a method of identifying an unwanted short message service (SMS) message from SMS messages received by a cellular mobile communication system, which comprises at least a history database (HB) for storing a set (H) of the messages received by the cellular mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

• comparing contents of an incoming SMS message (m) to the contents of a set (H) of stored messages stored in a history database (HB) to determine similarity between the incoming message and the stored messages;
• measuring a difference in an information content between an SMS message (m) received by the cellular mobile communication system and the set (H) of messages stored in the history database (HB), and
• identifying the incoming message as spam and marking the SMS message (m) as being an unwanted SMS message if the difference that is measured is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, whereby spam is identified even when the contents of an incoming message do not exactly match any predefined spam terms.