Missed call notification to cellular telephone using short text messaging
View Patent ↗A system for and method of providing Short Message Service (SMS) message notification to a cellular telephone customer regarding missed incoming calls that are missed while the cellular telephone is powered off. This is accomplished by generating a notification message at a SS7 gateway that includes caller ID/name ID information and/or time of the missed call. The message is preferably generated at the SS7 gateway only upon receipt of an “access denied” response with a reason code of “inactive” that is sent from a home location register in response to a location request sent by the SS7 gateway. Once the generated message is complete it is request sent to a message center where it is stored until it is retrieved by the cellular telephone soon after registration with the cellular network.
1. A method of providing missed call notification to a cellular telephone, comprising the steps of:
receiving a telephone call, which is directed to a cellular telephone, at a central office;
generating a message at an SS7 gateway including information identifying the origin of the telephone call;
sending the message to a short message service (SMS) message center; and
forwarding the message to the cellular telephone when the cellular telephone registers with the home location register, thereby providing notification of a missed call.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the message only when the cellular telephone is not registered with the home location register.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the message only when the cellular telephone is powered off.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message comprises at least one of a telephone number from which the telephone call originated, a name and a time of the telephone call.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering telephone calls for which notification is provided.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the home location register is associated with a mobile switching center.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein an incremental cost to a customer for receiving missed call notification in accordance with claim 1 is less than an incremental cost to the customer for voice mail service.
8. A method of providing missed call notification, comprising the steps of:
receiving a telephone call from a first cellular telephone, which is directed to a second cellular telephone, at a mobile switching center;
generating a message at an SS7 gateway that is in communication with the mobile switching center, the message including information identifying the origin of the telephone call;
sending the message to a message center; and
forwarding the message to the second cellular telephone when the second cellular telephone registers with the home location register, thereby providing notification of a missed call.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the message only when the second cellular telephone is not registered with the home location register.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the message only when the second cellular telephone is powered off.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the message comprises at least one of a telephone number from which the telephone call originated, a name and a time of the telephone call.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising filtering telephone calls for which notification is provided.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the home location register is associated with a mobile switching center.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein an incremental cost to a customer for receiving missed call notification in accordance with claim 8 is less than an incremental cost to the customer for voice mail service.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) message.
16. A system for providing missed call notification to a cellular telephone, comprising:
a central office operable to receive a telephone call, which is directed to a cellular telephone;
an SS7 gateway in communication with a central office operable to receive call setup information that is representative of the telephone call and send a location request communication to a home location register based on the call set up information;
a message generator operable to generate, in response to the home location register, a message at the SS7 gateway including information identifying the origin of the telephone call;
means for sending the message to a message center; and
means for forwarding the message to the cellular telephone when the cellular telephone registers with the home location register, thereby providing notification of a missed call.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message is generated only when the cellular telephone is not registered with the home location register.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message is generated only when the cellular telephone is powered off.
19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message comprises at least one of a telephone number from which the telephone call originated, a name and a time of the telephone call.
20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising means for filtering telephone calls for which notification is provided.
21. The system of claim 16 , wherein the home location register is associated with a mobile switching center.
22. The system of claim 16 , wherein the same business entity operates both the central office and a cellular telephone network.
23. The system of claim 16 , wherein an incremental cost to a customer for receiving missed call notification via the system of claim 16 is less than an incremental cost to the customer for voice mail service.
24. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message generator is implemented in one of hardware, software or a combination thereof.
25. The system of claim 16 , wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) message.
26. A system for providing missed call notification, comprising:
a mobile switching center operable to receive a telephone call from a first cellular telephone, which is directed to a second cellular telephone;
means for forwarding call setup information that is representative of the first cellular telephone call from the mobile switching center to an SS7 gateway and sending a location request communication to a home location register;
a message generator operable to generate a message at the SS7 gateway including information identifying the origin of the telephone call;
means for sending the message to a message center; and
means for forwarding the message to the second cellular telephone when the second cellular telephone registers with the home location register, thereby providing notification of a missed call.
27. The system of claim 26 , wherein the message is generated only when the cellular telephone is not registered with the home location register.
28. The system of claim 26 , wherein the message is generated only when the cellular telephone is powered off.
29. The system of claim 26 , wherein the message comprises at least one of a telephone number from which the telephone call originated, a name and a time of the telephone call.
30. The system of claim 26 , further comprising means for filtering telephone calls for which notification is provided.
31. The system of claim 26 , wherein the home location register is associated with a mobile switching center.
32. The system of claim 26 , wherein the same business entity operates both the central office and a cellular telephone network.
33. The system of claim 26 , wherein an incremental cost to a customer for receiving missed call notification via the system of claim 26 is less than an incremental cost to the customer for voice mail service.
34. The system of claim 26 , wherein the message generator is implemented in one of hardware, software or a combination thereof.
35. The system of claim 26 , wherein the message is a short message service (SMS) message.