Method for the transmission of short messages

State of the art

0001Short message services for transmitting short messages are already known. The short message services are used to send a short message to a subscriber of a telecommunication network without a telecommunications connection having to be established beforehand. This is of particular interest in mobile radio systems, since participants are often not available. In this case, incoming short messages are stored by a network operator of the telecommunications network and transmitted to the addressed subscriber at a later point in time. The subscriber is informed of the arrival of a short message intended for him so that he can download it from the network operator.

0002An example of a short message service is the short message service (SMS) according to the GSM standard (Global System for Mobile Communications). This short message service provides a transfer frame for the transmission of a short message with up to 160 7-bit ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). A transmission of longer texts is possible with concatenated short messages. With the aid of this short message service, it is also possible to create and read the short messages with simple mobile radio terminals. Since, according to the GSM standard, only one text transmission is provided for the short messages, the transmission of binary data, such as audio data, image data or the like, would have to be converted into the text format and converted back into the binary format after reception.

0003Out <nplcit id="ncit0001" npl-type="b"><text>Seh-Joon Dokko et al. "Development of Multimedia E-Mail System Providing an Integrated Message View", Hihgh Performance Computing on the Information Superhighway (HPC-Asia '97), IEEE Computer Society, pages 494 to 498</text></nplcit>, A method is known for transmitting a short message from a sender to a receiver through a network with SMTP. The message is transmitted in a transmission frame where an e-mail address is the address of the recipient.

0004From the <patcit id="pcit0001" dnum="EP0739147A1"><text>EP 0 739 147 A1</text></patcit> A method is known for transmitting a short message stored in the network. When a terminal is turned on, it sends an inquiry message to the network operator, which then detects an activation of the terminal. The terminal then receives a message as a response. The terminal then requests the transmission of the short message. In a further step, the terminal downloads the short message completely.

0005Out <nplcit id="ncit0002" npl-type="s"><text>Bosch, &amp; quot; Generalized Structure for a Multimedia Message Service &amp; quot ;, ETSI STC SMG1 + SMG12 MULTIMEDIATdoc 043/98</text></nplcit>, A transmission frame of a message with different data formats is known. A message of the structure or content of the message is sent to the terminal.

0006The object of the present invention is to optimize the transmission of short messages.

0007This object is achieved by the method according to claim 1. Advantageous further developments are defined in the dependent claims.

0008The transmission frame in an advantageous further development of the method according to the invention has the advantage that at least two data fields are provided in which data of a short message are stored in the data fields and that data of a first data format and in a second data field data of a data format of the first data format Different second data format. In this way, a short message comprising different data types can be transmitted in a single transmission frame. Thus, different media such as text data, audio data and image data can easily be integrated into a single short message so that a multimedia short message can be formed.

0009A further advantage is that the transmission frame is not limited in its length but that arbitrary data fields can be transmitted in succession in the transmission frame.

0010A further advantage is that, by the juxtaposition of the data fields, a simple separation or downloading of the data of a single data field or medium with text, audio or image data is made possible. Since only the actually required part of the short message has to be downloaded by the network operator of the telecommunications network, transmission capacity can be saved. It is particularly advantageous that a first identifier is provided in the first data field, which identifies the structure and / or the content of the short message. In this way, a subscriber to which the short message is addressed can be informed particularly easily by transmission of only the first data field from the network operator of the telecommunication network to the addressed subscriber via the structure and / or the content of the short message. Based on this information, the addressee can then decide which parts or data fields of the short message he wishes to download from the network operator of the telecommunications network.

0011A further advantage is that the first data field is limited in its size to a predetermined value. Thus, a subscriber with limited recording capacity for the receipt of short messages can also be informed about the structure and / or the content of the entire short message by transmitting the first data field.

0012A further advantage is that the overall length of the short message is not limited.

0013It is also advantageous that a data field-specific identification is provided in at least two data fields, which identifies the structure and / or the content of the corresponding data field. In this way, a message about the structure and / or the content of the entire short message can also be generated by combining all data field-specific identifiers and sent to the addressed subscriber so that the first data field is not excessively filled by identification data, especially in the case of a size restriction.

0014By the data-field-specific identification, the addressed subscriber can be informed more precisely of this data field when the associated data field is downloaded from the network operator, and thus, for example, can better adapt a reproduction of the data transmitted with the data field to its reproduction possibilities.

0015It is particularly advantageous for the data stored in the first data field to be present in a data format readable by all subscribers of the telecommunication network. In this way, short messages are at least partially transmissible to all participants in the telecommunications network. In addition, all subscribers can at least be informed of short messages for them to the network operator, even if they can not read certain data fields of the short message intended for them.

drawing

0016An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and explained in greater detail in the following description. Show it<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A block diagram for the transmission of short messages in a telecommunications network, <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A general structure of a transmission frame, and <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A concrete example of a structure of a transmission frame.

Description of the exemplary embodiment

0017In <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> 60 denotes a first subscriber and 65 a second subscriber of a telecommunications network 10, which is designed in particular as a radiotelecommunications network, for example as a mobile radio network. The first subscriber 60 and the second subscriber 65 are each embodied as a telecommunication device, in particular as a spark unit, for example as a mobile radio, as a radio, as a handheld radio, or the like. In<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A network operator 70 of the telecommunications network 10 is shown, which can also be designed as a telecommunication device, in particular as a spark unit.

0018At the second subscriber 65, a short message 5 is generated for the first subscriber 60 and transmitted to the network operator 70 via the telecommunications network 10 with appropriate addressing. The network operator 70 stores the short message 5 and sends a message to the first subscriber 60, after which the latter is informed of the presence of a short message 5 addressed to it. This message can be sent to the first subscriber 60, for example, if the network operator 70 detects an activation of the first subscriber 60. If the first subscriber 60 requests the network operator 70 to transmit the short message 5 after receiving the said message, the network operator 70 first sends a message to the first subscriber 60 which informs the first subscriber 60 of the structure and / or content of the short message 5. The first subscriber 60 can then download the short message 5 partially or completely from the network operator 70 so that the short message 5 is transmitted partially or completely from the network operator 70 to the first subscriber 60.

0019In <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> The construction of such a short message 5 is shown. The short message 5 is transmitted in a transmission frame 1 from the second subscriber 65 to the network operator 70. The transmission frame 1 comprises a first data field 15, a second data field 20, a third data field 25 and a fourth data field 30 if appropriate. The first data field 15 comprises a first identifier 35 which identifies the structure of the short message 5. In addition, a second identifier 40 can be provided in the first data field 15, which identifies the content of the short message 5. The first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 can also be combined into a single identifier, which characterizes the structure and / or the content of the short message 5. In the first data field 15, data of a first data format are also stored. Data of a second data format which is different from the first data format is stored in the second data field. Data are also stored in the further data fields 25, 30, if applicable, whose data format may differ from the data format of the first data field 15 or the second data field 20, but need not. If more than two data fields are provided in the transmission frame 1, data of different formats is stored at least in two of the data fields, the position of these data fields in the transmission frame 1 being irrelevant.

0020By dashed lines in FIG <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> It is indicated that the first data field 15 can additionally comprise a first data field-specific identifier 45 which characterizes the structure and / or the content of the first data field 15. Correspondingly, the second data field 20 can comprise a second data field-specific identifier 50 which characterizes the structure and / or the content of the second data field 20. Correspondingly, the third data field 25 can comprise a third data field-specific identifier 55 which characterizes the structure and / or the content of the third data field 25, and the fourth data field 30 can comprise a fourth data field-specific identifier 75 which describes the structure and / or the content of the fourth data field 30.

0021The first identifier 35 can comprise information about the number of data fields 15, 20, 25, 30 in the short message 5. In addition or alternatively, the first identifier 35 may include information about the data formats of the data stored in the data fields 15, 20, 25, 30. In addition or alternatively, information about the size of the data fields 15, 20, 25, 30 can also be contained in the first identifier 35. The second identifier 40 can then contain information about the data type of the data stored in the data fields 15, 20, 25, 30. For example, the second identifier 40 can contain information as to whether audio data or image data are stored in a data field.

0022It may now be provided that, on request of the first subscriber 60, the network operator 70 transmits the first data field 15 with the first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 to the first subscriber 60 so that the first subscriber 60, And / or the content of the short message 5, which data fields of the short message 5 can download and / or reproduce them from the network operator 70 because of its functionality. In the case of the first subscriber 60, a decision can also be made as to which of the readable data fields of the short message 5 are to be downloaded at all by the network operator 70 if not all readable data fields of the short message 5 are of interest to the first subscriber 60 and transfer capacity is to be saved. If the entire first data field 15 with the first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 is to be transmitted to the first subscriber 60 after the first subscriber 60 has been requested, it should be ensured that the data stored in the first data field 15 is stored in one of all Of the telecommunication network 10. This is in particular the case when the data stored in the first data field 15 are present in a text format together with the data in the first identifier 35 and in the second identifier 40, wherein, for example, the SMS format (short message service) GSM standard (Global System for Mobile Communications) because it is readable in a telecommunication network designed according to the requirements of the GSM system from the subscribers or mobile telephones of this telecommunications network trained according to the GSM standard. In this case, the first data field 15 can correspond to the data field previously prescribed for the SMS short message service according to the GSM standard and can be limited in its size to the 160 7-bit ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) characters. The other data fields 20, 25, 30 need not be limited in their size.

0023Another data format for the first data field 15, which is also readable by all subscribers of the telecommunications network 10 as an alternative to the text format, is the binary coding of references to entries in such tables which contain known data formats and which are known to all subscribers of the telecommunication network 10.

0024At least a part of the data stored in the first data field 15, for example the data of the first identifier 35 and / or the data of the second identifier 40, are then composed of binary-coded values ​​which represent the indices of the table entries. In the tables, known data types and / or data formats, for example audio and / or video formats, are assigned to these indices.

0025The data field-specific identifiers 45, 50, 55, 75 can also contain information about the data formats in the respectively associated data field 15, 20, 25, 30 and / or on the size of the respectively associated data field 15, 20, 25, 30 and / or on the data type In the respective data field 15, 20, 25, 30. If it is agreed that in the first data field 15 present the data according to the GSM SMS text format and this data field is limited, for example, to 160 7-bit ASCII text characters, then the first d atenspezifische identifier 45 can also be omitted. It can be provided that only data of a single data format are stored in each data field 15, 20, 25, 30. However, it can also be provided that at least one data field contains data of a plurality of data formats, in particular in the second data field 20 and / or, if appropriate, in one or more further data fields 25, 30. It may, of course, also be provided for the short message 5 to be more Than the four in<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> .

0026It may also be provided that the message of the network operator 70 is generated by the network operator 70 by means of the configuration and / or content of the short message 5 to the first subscriber 60 after evaluation by the data field-specific identifiers 45, 50, 55, The first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 are not required, and the first data field 15 does not have to be sent to the first subscriber. However, the message generated in this way about the structure and / or content of the short message 5 can, however, also be sent to the first subscriber 60 in a data format readable by all subscribers of the telecommunications network 10, in particular the GSM SMS text format using a data field with For example, 160 7-bit ASCII text characters can be provided.

0027Based on <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> A concrete example of a transmission frame 1 for a short message 5 will now be described. The short message 5 is designed as a multimedia short message. Identical reference characters in<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Characterize the same elements as in <figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref>. According to<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> The first data field 15, the second data field 20 and the third data field 25 are provided in the transmission frame 1. Data field-specific identifiers in the individual data fields 15, 20, 25 are not provided. The first data field 15 comprises text data in the ASCII text format, the second data field 20 comprises audio data, for example, according to the WAV format (Wave), and the third data field 25 comprises image data, for example, according to the GIF format (Graphic Interchange Format). The first data field 15 with the text data is text-formatted according to the GSM SMS short message service. A dotted line between the first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 is shown in FIG<figref idrefs="f0001">FIG</figref> Indicates that the first identifier 35 and the second identifier 40 can be combined to form a common identifier. Such a common identifier 35, 40 indicates the number of data fields 15, 20, 25 and the content as well as the size of the second data field 20 and of the third data field 25. Thus, the common identifier 35, 40 could look as follows:<ul><li>"Multipart / 2 / Audio / 7654 / Image / 12345"</li></ul>

0028This common identifier 35, 40 indicates that it is a short message from several data fields according to the keyword "multipart". The number "2" indicates that in addition to the always present first data field 15 with the text data and the length of 160 7-bit ASCII text characters, two further data fields 20, 25 are present in the transmission frame 1 of the short message 5. The first data type in the common identifier 35, 40 is called "audio", so that the common identifier 35, 40 indicates that the data stored in the second data field 20 is audio data. Secondly, the data type "image" is mentioned in the common identifier 35, 40, so that the common identifier 35, 40 indicates that the data stored in the third data field 25 are image data. The size of the associated data field 20, 25 is then indicated in the common identifier 35, 40, so that a length of an audio file transmitted in the second data field 20 with the audio data of 7654 byte and one in the Third data field 25 with the image data of 12345 byte. For the first data field 15, no details are required in the common identifier 35, 40 since, in the described example, this is always text data which is compatible with the GSM SMS text format and in its number 160 alphanumeric ASCII text characters Are limited. It may also be provided that the common identifier 35, 40 also indicates the data format for the data in the second data field 20 and in the third data field 25. For the audio data in the second data field 20, the WAV format could then be specified as the data format in the common identifier 35, 40. For the image data in the third data field 25, the GIF format could be specified in the common identifier 35, 40 as the data format. However, it is also possible for the data "audio" and "image" of the above-mentioned common identifier 35, 40 to simultaneously describe the content and also the format of the data stored in the corresponding data fields 20, 25, in which case it is assumed that audio data, Always in a predetermined format, for example the WAV format and image data, are also always present in a predetermined format, for example, the GIF format in the corresponding data field of the transmission frame 1.

0029As described, it is also possible to encode the data type and / or the data format over all the subscribers of the telecommunications network 10, for example by means of a binary code. In a first table for data types, the data type "text data" of the digit "1", the data type "audio data" of the digit "2", the data type "image data" of the digit "3" and the data type video data " , The data format "WAV" of the digit "1", the data format "G.723" of the digit "2", the data format "G.728" of the digit "3", the data format "MPEG-Audio" (Motion Picture Expert Group) of the digit "4" and the data format "AMR" (Adaptive Multi Rate) of the digit "5" The data format "GIF" of the digit "1", the data format "JPEG" (Joint Picture Expert Group) of the digit "2", and the data format can be stored in a third table for data formats of the data type "image data" "BMP" (bitmap) of the digit "3", whereby these digits can again be correspondingly binary-coded.

0030The common identifier 35, 40 could then look as follows:<ul><li>2/2/1/3/1</li></ul>

0031This common identifier 35, 40 says the same as described above in the text format. In this case, the first digit "2" of the common identifier 35, 40 stands for the number of data fields present in addition to the first data field 15 in the transmission frame 1 of the short message 5. The second digit "2" Data types to the data type "audio data" and thus declares that 20 audio data are stored in the second data field. The third digit "1" of the common identifier 35, 40 refers to the "WAV" data format within the second table for data formats of the data type "audio data" and indicates that the data stored in the second data field 20 is in the "WAV" data format . The fourth digit "3" of the common identifier 35, 40 refers to the data type "image data" within the first table for data types, and thus predicts that 25 image data are stored in the third data field. The fifth digit "1" of the common identifier 35, 40 refers to the "GIF" data format within the third table for data formats of the data type "image data" and declares that the data stored in the third data field 25 are in the "GIF" data format .

0032On the basis of the common identifier 35, 40 transmitted to the first subscriber 60, it can be decided whether a download of the second data field 20 and / or of the third data field 25 by the network operator 70 is at all useful or desired. If the first subscriber 60 is not audio-capable, ie has no processing or playback capability for audio data, downloading the audio data from the second data field 20 from the network operator 70 is not useful. If the first subscriber 60 is not image-capable, ie no processing or reproduction of image data is possible at the first subscriber 60, downloading image data from the third data field 25 from the network operator 70 is likewise not useful.

0033In order to select the data fields of the transmission frame 1 of the short message 5 to be downloaded from the network operator 70, it may be provided to display the common identifier 35, 40 on a display device of the first subscriber 60.

0034The short message 5 could also comprise a transmission frame 1 comprising precisely two data fields 15, 20, the text data with the common identification 35, 40 being present in the first data field 15 as described, and a plurality of data types or media being combined in the second data field 20. However, it may also be provided that N data or media to be transferred in the short message 5 are distributed to N or N + 1 data fields in the transmission frame 1 of the short message 5. The first subscriber 60 can download all the data fields of the short message 5 individually or together from the network operator 70.

0035In the case of the first subscriber 60, an evaluation of the transmitted common identifier 35, 40 can already take place so that its display on the display device of the first subscriber 60 already indicates which data fields of the short message 5 can be downloaded at all by the network operator 70 due to the functionality of the first subscriber 60.

0036The second subscriber 65 generates a short message 5 in the described transmission frame 1. The generation of a transmission frame 1 in the case of the second subscriber 65 can in this case be effected simply by joining the individual data fields 15, 20, 25, 30 with the addition of one of the data field-specific identifiers 45, 50, 55, 75. The network operator 70, in turn, receives and saves short messages 5 in the described transmission frame 1. With appropriate functionality of the first subscriber 60, it can be provided to download the transmission frame 1 completely from the network operator 70 and to transmit it to the first subscriber 60. In this case, the first subscriber 60 receives the short message 5 in the described transmission frame 1, stores it, and / or reproduces it optically and / or acoustically. The first subscriber 60 at least receives a single data field of the transmission frame 1, stores it and / or reproduces it optically and / or acoustically. An evaluation of received data fields 15, 20, 25, 30 in the network operator 70 and in the case of the first subscriber 60 can take place, for example, on the basis of the data field-specific identifications 45, 50, 55, 75, if these are transmitted with the associated data fields 15, 20, 25, On the basis of the possibly transmitted first identifier 35 and / or second identifier 40.

0037The transmission frame 1 according to the invention is not limited to use in a radiotelecommunications network, but can also be used in a wire-bound telecommunications network 10, in which case also the subscribers 60, 65 and the network operators 70 are wired. It may also be provided for one of the two subscribers 60, 65 to be connected to the network operator 70 via a wire-bound telecommunications network 10 and the other of the two subscribers 60, 65 via a wireless telecommunications network 10 so that the transmission frame 1 is used both for transmission Of short messages 5 in the wired and the wireless telecommunication network 10 is suitable.

0038The invention also relates to a transmission frame (1) for the transmission of short messages (5) in a telecommunications network (10), in particular in a radiotelecommunication network, wherein at least two data fields (15, 20, 25, 30) Wherein data of a first data format is stored in a first data field and data in a second data format that is different from the first data format is stored in a second data field. (DE). WIPO Home services World Intellectual Property Organization

0039A first identifier (35), which characterizes the structure of the short message (5), can be provided in the first data field (15).

0040(15, 20, 25, 30) and / or the data formats in the data fields (15, 20, 25, 30) and / or the size of the data fields ( 15, 20, 25, 30).

0041A second identifier (40), which characterizes the content of the short message (5), can be provided in the first data field (15).

0042In this case, the second identifier (40) can contain data about the data type, such as in particular audio or image data, of the data stored in the data fields (15, 20, 25, 30).

0043In this case, only the first data field (15) can be limited in its size to a predetermined value.

0044A data field-specific identifier (45, 50, 55, 75) can be provided in at least two data fields (15, 20, 25, 30), which identifies the structure and / or the content of the corresponding data field (15, 20, 25, 30 ). In this case, the data stored in the first data field (15) can be present in a data format readable by all subscribers of the telecommunication network (10).

0045In this case, the data stored in the first data field (15) can be present in a text format, in particular according to the GSM SMS format (Global System for Mobile Communications - Short Message Service).

0046Data of a plurality of data formats can be stored in one of the data fields (15, 20, 25, 30).

0047In this case, only data of a single data format can be stored in each data field (15, 20, 25, 30).

0048(1) for the transmission of short messages (5) in a telecommunications network (10), in particular in a radiotelecommunication network, wherein in the transmission frame (1), the telecommunication network (10, (15, 20, 25, 30) are stored in the data fields (15, 20, 25, 30), and wherein, in a first data field (15), data of a first data format and In a second data field (20), data of a second data format other than the first data format are stored.