System and method for remote dialable number conversion

1. A remote server for use in a mobile communications network to remotely convert an input alphanumeric string into an output numeric string, comprising:

an input gateway to receive the input alphanumeric string from a mobile device; memory; and

a processor on said remote server coupled to the input gateway and the memory, the processor operable to:

receive the input alphanumeric string from the mobile device;

replace one or more characters within the input alphanumeric string with its numeric equivalent to generate an output numeric string; and

return the output numeric string.

2. The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is an SMS server and the processor is further operable to:

retrieve the input alphanumeric string from within a received SMS message; and

return the output numeric string as a return SMS message that includes the output numeric string.

3. The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is a Mobitex server and the processor is further operable to:

retrieve the input alphanumeric string from within a received Mobitex message; and

return the output numeric string as a return Mobitex message that includes the output numeric string.

4. The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is a WAP application server and the processor is further operable to:

retrieve the input alphanumeric string from within a received WML (Wireless Markup Language) message; and

return the output numeric string as a returned WML (Wireless Markup Language) message that includes the output numeric string and a WTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface) dial command.

5. The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is an Internet application server and the processor is further operable to:

retrieve the input alphanumeric string from within a received HTML message; and

return the output numeric string as a returned HTML message that includes the output numeric string.

6. The server of claim 1 , wherein the server is a mobile telephony switch and the processor is further operable to:

retrieve the input alphanumeric string from within a received dialed number from a mobile platform; and

initiate a dialed call using the output numeric string.

7. A method of converting an alphanumeric input string into a numeric input string on a remote server, the method comprising:

receiving the input alphanumeric string from a mobile device;

replacing one or more characters within the input alphanumeric string with its numeric equivalent to generate an output numeric string on the remote server; and

providing the output numeric string to the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the output numeric string to the mobile device further comprises encapsulating the output numeric string in an SMS message.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the output numeric string to the mobile device further comprises encapsulating the output numeric string in a Mobitex message.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the output numeric string to the mobile device further comprises encapsulating the output numeric string in a WML (Wireless Markup Language) message along with a WTAI (Wireless Telephony Application Interface) command to dial the output numeric string.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the output numeric string to the mobile device further comprises encapsulating the output numeric string in an HTML message.

12. A method of converting an alphanumeric input string into a numeric input string on a remote server, the method comprising:

receiving the input alphanumeric string from a mobile device;

replacing one or more characters within the input alphanumeric string with its numeric equivalent to generate an output numeric string on the remote server; and

dialing a destination based on the output numeric string.