MESSAGING SERVICES IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

A wireless device for providing a message service is disclosed, along with a computer readable medium. The wireless device may be capable of sending messages via a packet switched WLAN base station in a first mode, or via an SMS base station that is independent of the packet switched base station, in a second mode. A message client on the wireless device determines whether a recipient's wireless device corresponds to a subscriber of a service for receiving the outgoing message via a packet switched bearer. The wireless device sends, via a WLAN transceiver, if the recipient's wireless device corresponds to a subscriber of the service, the outgoing message to the recipient's wireless device in the first mode. Alternatively, if the recipient's wireless device does not correspond to a subscriber of the service, the outgoing message is sent by a cellular transmitter via the SMS base station in the second mode.

主权项

1. A wireless device capable of sending messages, in a first mode, via a packet switched wireless local area network (WLAN) base station or, alternatively, in a second mode, via a short message service (SMS) base station that is independent of the packet switched WLAN base station, the wireless device comprising:
a message client configured to receive information associated with a destination address of a wireless device of a recipient, the message client capable of determining a delivery mode for sending an outgoing message to the destination address; a WLAN transceiver configured to:
send a request, via the packet switched WLAN base station, to a server to determine whether the wireless device of the recipient corresponds to a subscriber of a service for receiving the outgoing message via a packet switched bearer;to receive a response from the server via the packet switched WLAN base station; the message client further configured to determine whether the wireless device of the recipient corresponds to a subscriber of the service for receiving the outgoing message via a packet switched bearer; if the wireless device of the recipient corresponds to a subscriber of the service for receiving the outgoing message via a packet switched bearer, the WLAN transceiver further configured to send in the first mode the outgoing message to the wireless device of the recipient using the destination address via the packet switched WLAN base station; and a cellular transmitter configured, if the wireless device of the recipient does not correspond to a subscriber of the service for receiving the outgoing message via a packet switched bearer, to send in the second mode, the outgoing message to the wireless device of the recipient using the destination address via the SMS base station.