Reporting terminal capabilities for supporting short message service

1. A method for receiving a short message service (SMS) message by user equipment (UE), comprising:

registering with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) in a network using an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration procedure;

sending capability information to the network, the capability information indicating SMS message capabilities of the UE; and

in response to sending the capability information, receiving the SMS message using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) via a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW) and the S-CSCF.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to receiving the SMS message, communicating a delivery report to the network using SIP.

4. A method for sending a short message service (SMS) message from a user equipment (UE), comprising:

registering with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) in a network using an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration procedure;

sending capability information to the network, the capability information indicating SMS message capabilities of the UE; and

transmitting the SMS message using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to a short message service center (SMSC) via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW).

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

6. The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

receiving a delivery report from the SMSC.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the delivery report indicates whether the SMS message was delivered to the SMSC.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein if the delivery report indicates that the SMS message was not delivered to the SMSC, then the delivery report also indicates a reason for delivery failure.

9. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a registering device configured to register the UE with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) in a network using an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration procedure;

a transmitter configured to send capability information to the network, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE; and

a receiver configured to receive the SMS message using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) via the S-CSCF and the a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW).

10. The UE according to claim 9 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

11. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a registering device configured to register the UE with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) in a network using an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration procedure; and

a transmitter configured to:

send capability information to the network, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE; and

send a SMS message using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to a short message service center (SM-SC) via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW).

12. The UE according to claim 11 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

13. A method for delivering a short message service (SMS) message from an Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW) to a user equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating SMS message capabilities of the UE;

evaluating the capability information to determine whether the UE can receive the SMS message; and

delivering the SMS message to the UE using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) via a call state control function (S-CSCF).

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the SMS message is received from a short message service center (SM-SC).

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving a delivery report from the UE using SIP; and

sending the delivery report to a short message service center (SM-SC).

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the delivery report indicates whether the SMS message was delivered to the UE.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein if the delivery report indicates that the SMS message was not delivered to the UE, then the delivery report also indicates a reason for delivery failure.

19. An Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW), the IP-SM-GW comprising:

a communications interface configured:

to receive capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE;

to receive an SMS message; and

on a condition that the capability information indicates that the UE is capable of receiving the SMS message, to deliver the SMS message to the UE using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) via a serving call state control function (S-CSCF).

20. The IP-SM-GW according to claim 19 , wherein the capability information includes at least one of: available memory size, terminal type, screen size, and SIP support.

21. The IP-SM-GW according to claim 19 , wherein the communications interface is configured to receive the SMS message from a short message service center (SM-SC).

22. The IP-SM-GW according to claim 19 , wherein the communications interface is further configured:

to receive a delivery report from the UE using SIP; and

to send the delivery report to a short message service center (SM-SC).

23. The IP-SM-GW according to claim 22 , wherein the delivery report indicates whether the SMS message was delivered to the UE.

24. The IP-SM-GW according to claim 23 , wherein the delivery report indicates that the SMS message was not delivered to the UE and indicates a reason for delivery failure.

25. A method for use in a network node, the method comprising:

receiving Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration data from the UE for registering the UE with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) according to an IMS registration procedure;

transmitting the IMS registration data to the S-CSCF;

receiving capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE;

transmitting the capability information of the UE;

receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW), wherein the SIP message includes SMS content; and

transmitting the SIP message to the UE.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the network node is a packet data gateway (PDG).

27. A network node comprising: a communications interface, configured to:

receive Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration data from the UE for registering the UE with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) according to an IMS registration procedure;

transmit the IMS registration data to the S-CSCF;

receive capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating short message service capabilities of the UE;

transmit the capability information of the UE;

receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW), wherein the SIP message includes short message service (SMS) content;and

transmit the SIP message to the UE.

28. The network node of claim 27 wherein the network node is configured to implement packet data gateway (PDG) functionality.

29. A method for use in a network node, the method comprising:

receiving Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration data from the UE for registering the UE with a serving call state control function (S- CSCF) according to an IMS registration procedure;

transmitting the IMS registration data to the S-CSCF;

receiving capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE;

transmitting the capability information of the UE;

receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message from the UE, wherein the SIP message includes SMS content; and

transmitting the SMS content to a short message service center (SM-SC) via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW).

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the network node is a packet data gateway (PDG).

31. A network node comprising:

a communications interface configured to:

receive Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) registration data from the UE for registering the UE with a serving call state control function (S-CSCF) according to an IMS registration procedure;

transmit the IMS registration data to the S-CSCF;

receive capability information from the UE, the capability information indicating short message service (SMS) capabilities of the UE;

transmit the capability information of the UE;

receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message from the UE, wherein the SIP message includes SMS content; and

transmit the SMS content to a short message service center (SM-SC) via the S-CSCF and a Internet Protocol short message gateway (IP-SM-GW).

32. The network node of claim 31 wherein the network node is configured to implement packet data gateway (PDG) functionality.