EP1393524A1

EP1393524A1 - Method for handling a message with a multimedia reference

Info

Publication number: EP1393524A1
Application number: EP02740367A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Markus Tauberg; Josef Laumen; Andreas Schmidt
Original assignee: Siemens AG
Current assignee: Siemens AG
Priority date: 2001-06-01
Filing date: 2002-05-22
Publication date: 2004-03-03
Also published as: US20040153513A1; WO2002100063A1; JP2004532485A; DE10126847A1

Abstract

The invention relates inter alia to a method for handling a message with a multimedia reference in a transmission application and/or transmission/reception application which is implemented on a mobile radio device or on a device which is connected to a mobile radio device. One aspect of the invention is essentially characterized in that the message is generated and transmitted in such a way that it comprises at least one reference contained in a co-transmitted specification block, said reference relating to at least one file which is stored in a memory outside the mobile radio device or on the device which is connected to the mobile radio device. The invention also relates to corresponding methods in a provider network element and corresponding devices and software programs.

Description

description

Procedure for handling a message with a multimedia reference

The invention relates to methods for handling a message with a multimedia reference in a send application or send / receive application and in a provider network element.

Furthermore, the invention relates to corresponding devices, software programs and a software program product.

In addition to voice telephony, the mobile radio system GSM (GSM - Global System for Mobile Communications) also offers the option of sending and receiving short text messages of up to 160 characters in length. This service is called SMS (SMS - Short Message Service), see GSM 03.40 Version 7.4.0, Release 1998, Digital Cellular Telecommunications System, Technical realization of the Short Message Service (SMS).

A multimedia-compatible variant of a mobile messaging service, the so-called MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), is currently being standardized for the next generation UMTS (UMTS - Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). 3G TS 23.140 Version 4.1.0, Release 4, Third Generation Partnership Project, Technical Specification Group Terminals, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Functional Description, Stage 2. Messages with multimedia content are described below for better differentiation from the text messages of the SMS just called MMs (MM - Multimedia Message). In contrast to SMS, there is no restriction to text-only content. With MMS it will be possible to send texts to the Format individual tastes accordingly and embed audio and video content in a message.

According to the current state of the art, MMS is only implemented via WAP (WAP - Wireless Application Protocol). To bridge the air interface between an MMS-compatible device and the WAP gateway, the use of the WAP WSP Transfer Protocol is provided, see 3G TS 23.140 version 4.1.0 (see above) and WAP-209 MMS encapsulation, release 2000; Wireless application protocol; WAP multimedia messaging service; Message encapsulation; MMS Proposed SCD 1.0.

In the single figure is a so-called transaction flow diagram according to the current state of the art according to WAP-209-

MMS encapsulation (see above) is shown, in which the exchange of WAP messages between the four involved entities (MMS User Agent A, MMS Relay / Server A, MMS Relay / Server B and MMS User Agent B) is shown during the transmission of an MM. MMS user agent is an application that uses MMS, for example on a mobile device or on a device connected to a mobile device (e.g. laptop, etc.). An MMS relay / server is a network element at the MMS service provider that provides the MMS user agents with the MMS functionality.

The figure shows a known application for exchanging WAP messages (“MMS user agent A sends MM to MMS user agent B”) according to the prior art. The MM generated in the MMS User Agent A is sent with the WAP message M-

Send. req sent to the MMS Relay / Server A. The MMS user agent A then receives the WAP message M-Send. conf with which the correct receipt of the MM from the MMS re- lay / Server A is confirmed. The forwarding of the MM Zvi ^¬ rule the transmitter-side MMS Relay / Server A and e pfän- gerseitigen MMS relay / server B is done via SMTP (SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), including through the Internet (IP - Internet Protocol). Then the MMS Relay / Server B informs the MMS User Agent B with the WAP message M-Notification. and via the storage space (URI - Universal Resource Identifier) of the newly arrived MM and available for download. The MMS Relay / Server B then receives, for example, the MAP NotifyResp with the WAP message. req a confirmation that the notification {M-Notifi cation. ind) has been successfully delivered via the MM received. The MMS user agent B then uses the WAP message WSP GET, with which the URI is sent to the MMS relay / server B, to request delivery of the MM. With the WAP message M-Retrieve. conf is then sent to the MMS User Agent B by the MMS Relay / Server B the desired MM. The MMS User Agent B acknowledges M-Acknowledge with the WAP message. and the correct receipt of the MM. In the event that the sender has expressed the wish to be notified of successful receipt of the MM sent by him, the MMS Relay / Server A can comply with the WAP message M-Delivery. is sent to MMS User Agent A.

If a sender of an MM wants to integrate a file into an MM, this file must be stored on the end device. If the file is not stored in the end device, the sender can first download the desired file via the air interface, e.g. from his MMS service provider, if he knows the corresponding URI of the desired file, before sending the MM, then install it in his MM and then the complete MM to ship. This MM then grew by the size of the attached file. The disadvantage is on the one hand, the expenditure of time, on the other hand, there are high costs for the transmission on the expensive air interface.

It is an object of the present invention to simplify the handling of MMs with regard to files to be integrated.

This object is achieved with the features of claims 1, 8, 14, 17, 18 and 19, respectively.

The invention relates both to the generation and sending of a message with the reference according to the invention by means of a sending application (MMS User Agent A) and to the reception and processing of this message by the intermediary of the sending and receiving MMS relay / servers A and B or MMS service providers A and B (which can each be identical). The invention also covers the handling on the part of the receiving application (MMS User Agent B), which is notified of a message sent in this way and in turn can request a selected action in the form of a message via the recipient's MMS relay / server. The corresponding software programs on the individual devices are also part of this invention. These devices have, in particular, the necessary processors, control units and transmitting and / or receiving devices.

An important feature of the invention is to give the sender of an MM the option of downloading the MM element present in the form of a file to his mobile radio device or his device (eg laptop) connected to the mobile radio device. to save. Instead, the sender is given the option of specifying at least one reference in the specification block to at least one file, preferably in the form of a URI (storage space), in his MM by means of a control device arranged on or connected to the device. The URI of the file is of course different from that for the part of the MM sent according to the state of the art. It is thus possible, in particular, for the at least one file to be transmitted only after the MM has been transmitted via the air interface (in the figure with air interface A) ) in the area of responsibility of the MMS service provider, the so-called MMSE (MMSE - Multimedia Messaging Service Environment), to the part of the MM sent according to the state of the art. The further transmission of the complete MM including the attached file is preferably done according to the prior art. The advantage of this procedure is the enormous reduction in the amount of data on the transmitter-side air interface and the associated cost savings in two respects: on the one hand, if - with a file not yet saved on the sending application - only the URI is downloaded from the sender instead of the desired file, and the others when sending the MM itself, because not the entire selected file is part of the MM, but only its URI of a few bytes in length. Another advantage is that, according to this invention, an MMS User Agent A itself can send such file types (eg image) and file formats (eg JPEG) as MM elements which it is not able to display or reproduce itself.

A prerequisite for implementing the idea described above is the ability to be able to specify a URI (storage address) for the file when sending an MM. This is preferred by a modification in the specification block of WAP message M-Send. req reached with which the message with the multimedia reference is sent. In this case, the reference is part of the specification block of the WAP message M-Send. req. This WAP message is therefore highlighted in the WAP MMS transaction flow diagram in the figure.

In the following example according to this embodiment of the invention, user A (Andreas xxx) would like to congratulate the user by means of an MM user B (Markus yyy). In the MMS User Agent A, the MM, which initially consists of just one text, is compiled. In addition, user A would like to integrate a birthday melody into the MM. Since he has not currently stored a suitable melody on his end device, he decides to contact his MMS service provider (e.g. through mobile web browsing) and select a melody from his range. According to the invention, user A only has to download the URI (of a few bytes in size) instead of the entire audio file (typically a few kilo-bytes in size) onto his MMS user agent A and integrate it into his MM.

For this integration, a new header field is preferably introduced, which for example could be called "X-Mms-Add-Element ^{/ f} . The field name has, for example, the hexadecimal value 0x89. The field values are preferably according to WAP-209-MMSEncapsulation (see above) coded as a text string. The coding of the newly defined header field then looks as follows:

X-Mms add element: (0x89)

Add-Element-Value = text string The WAP message M-Send. req according to the example given above looks like this.

M-Send. req (MMS User Agent A - »MMS Relay / Server A):

X-Mms-Message-Type: m-send-req

X-Mms-Transaction-ID: TRANSACTION-ID # l

X-Mms version: 1.0

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:44:11 +0100 From: andreas.xxx@xxx.de

To: markus.yyy@zzz.de

Subject: birthday greetings

X-Mms Delivery Report: Yes

X-Mms add element: http: //provider_a.de/attachments/melody65

Content-Type: Application / vnd.wap.multipart. ixed nEntries: 1

HeadersLen: XX

DataLen: XX Content-Type: text / plain;

Hi Markus,

I wish you a happy birthday with the attached song.

Best regards, Andreas

Then the birthday MM can be sent. In addition to the text, it now also contains the memory address (URI) in the header field "X-Mms-Add-Element" of the desired audio file in the area of responsibility of the MMS service provider and is therefore significantly smaller than an MM resulting from the text and the audio file itself. After the error-free transmission of the MM from the MMS user agent A to the MMS relay / server A, the MMS service provider A first evaluates the header fields of the received MM or the WAP message M-Send using a control unit. req off. If - as in the example given here - the header field "X-Mms-Add-Element" is available, the MM is completed with the audio file requested by the sender from the MMS Service Provider A by appending, referencing using the URI takes place, and the header field "X-Mms-Add element" is preferably deleted again. The MM, which now contains the file itself instead of the reference, is then forwarded to the recipient's MMS Relay / Server B via an IP network (IP - Internet Protocol). The further transmission of the MM to the receiver takes place according to the prior art, ie in the WAP message M-Retrieve. conf according to the figure, the MM user agent B is sent an MM consisting of two MM elements: the text and the melody selected by user A.

The WAP message M-Retrieve. conf according to the example given above looks like this.

M-Retrieve. conf (MMS Relay / Server B - MMS User Agent B):

X-Mms-Message-Type: m-retrieve-conf X-Mms-Transaction-ID: TRANSACTION-ID # 3 X-Mms-Version: 1.0

Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:48:32 +0100 From: andreas.xxx@xxx.de To: markus.yyy@zzz.de X-Mms-Message-ID: MESSAGE-ID # 1 Subject: Birthday greetings X-Mms Delivery Report: Yes

Content-Type: Application / vnd.wap. ultipart. ixed nEntries: 2 HeadersLen: XX DataLen: XX

Content-Type: text / plain; Hi Markus,

I wish you a happy birthday with the attached song.

Best regards, Andreas.

HeadersLen: XX DataLen: 82345

Content-Type: audio / mp3,

Instead of attaching the said file in the MMS service provider on the transmitter side, it is advantageously also possible to attach the file only in the MMS service provider on the receiver side, provided that the latter has the possibility of such access. In a further alternative, the file can also be located in another storage location from which the sending and / or receiving MMS service provider retrieves the file, so that the file can subsequently be attached to the said message.

According to the variant of the invention described above, the recipient is either sent the complete message or the recipient is given the option of selecting how he would like to proceed with the file. For this he is MMS Relay Server on the receiving side notifies that a file is available in a storage location for it. Such notice, for example, in the case of WAP Archi ^¬ ture by means of the WAP message M-Notification. ind happened. In an alternative, the recipient is notified of the presence of the file together with the message sent (but without the file).

The recipient preferably receives additional information about the file, for example its name, its size and / or its file format. The recipient can then advantageously use the receiving application to request whether the file referenced in the reference should be downloaded or not. Other options for dealing with the file are preferably opening the file at its current storage location and / or forwarding it to another storage location, including forwarding it to another receiving application. All of these actions require that the recipient-side MMS relay / server and the recipient-side receiving application support detailed notification of the additional file information. The requesting of one or more of the above-mentioned actions is preferably carried out by means of a message sent by the receiving application to the recipient-side MMS relay / server. If the file is downloaded to the receiving application, the recipient can preferably choose whether the file should be integrated into the part of the message received according to the prior art or be stored separately from it, if the receiving application supports this procedure.

The invention can be used not only when sending MMs using WAP messages, but also in future against transmission and reception procedures, especially UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System).

Claims

Expectations

I. Procedure for handling a message (MM) with a multimedia reference in a sending application or sending / receiving application (MMS User Agent A, MMS User Agent B), which is implemented on a mobile radio device or on a device connected to a mobile radio device, characterized that the message (MM) is generated and / or sent in such a way that it includes at least one reference contained in a specification block that is also sent to at least one file that is stored in a memory outside the mobile radio device or on the device connected to a mobile radio device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the at least one reference is implemented in a header field of the specification block.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the at least one reference contains a URI (Universal Resource Identifier).

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the message with multimedia reference with the WAP message M-Send. req is sent from the sending application (MMS User Agent A) to the MMS Relay / Server (MMS Relay / Server A) at the transmitter, the WAP message M-Send. req contains at least one header field {"X-Mms-Add-Element") with the at least one reference.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the at least one reference to at least at least one file is directed to the area of responsibility of the sender's MMS service provider (MMS Service Provider A), the recipient's MMS service provider (MMS Service Provider B) and / or in an external data storage device with access by the sender and / or recipient MMS Service Provider (MMS Service Providers A, MMS Service Providers B) is stored.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the field name of the header field {"X-Mms add element") carries the hexadecimal value 0x89.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the field value or the field values of the header field {"X-Mms-Add element") is or are encoded as a text string.

8. Method for handling a message (MM) with a multimedia reference, which is sent according to one of the preceding claims by a sending application or sending / receiving application (MMS User Agent A, MMS User Agent B) and by a provider network element (MMS Relay / Server A, MMS Relay / Server B) was received, the specification block also sent in the sender and / or receiver-side MMS service provider (MMS Service Provider A, MMS Service Provider B) being evaluated with regard to the at least one reference to the at least one file.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the evaluation takes place with respect to a reference to the at least one file via the URI of the file.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the receiver-side MMS relay / server (MMS relay / server B) the receiving application (MMS user agent B) via the at least one reference referenced in the at least one file, preferably including its characteristic File attributes, notified.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that the notification by means of the WAP message M notification. ind takes place.

12.The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11, characterized in that the recipient-side MMS relay / server (MMS relay / server B) causes the file referenced in the reference upon request by the recipient, who previously made a detailed notification received according to claim 10 or 11, is subjected to at least one of the following actions:

- opening the file in its current location, - forwarding the file to another location,

- Delivery of the file (download) to the receiving application (MMS User Agent B),

- Integrate the file into the message with the multimedia reference.

13.The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, that the header field {"X-Mms-Add-Element") after successful execution of the order at the transmitter-side MMS relay / server (MMS relay / server A) or at the recipient's MMS relay / Server (MMS Relay / Server B) is deleted.

14.Device with means for generating, sending, receiving and / or processing messages (MM) with multimedia Learning reference, characterized in that the messages can be generated, sent, received and / or processed in such a way, in particular according to a method according to one of the preceding claims, that they contain at least one reference contained in a specification block, in particular a header field comprise at least one file, in particular in the form of a URI (Universal Resource Identifier).

15.Device according to claim 14, characterized in that it is designed as a telecommunications device, in particular a mobile radio device and / or a device connected to the or a mobile radio device and in particular for carrying out one or more of the method steps according to one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the file is stored in a memory outside of these facilities.

16.Device according to claim 14, characterized in that it acts as a network element in the area of an MMS service provider (MMS service provider A, MMS service provider B), in particular for carrying out one or more of the method steps according to one of claims 8 to 13, is trained.

17. Software program which can run on a device, in particular a device according to one of claims 14 to 16, in such a way that the software program together with the device executes the method steps according to one of claims 1 to 13.

18. Software program which can be loaded into a device, in particular a device according to one of claims 14 to 16, so that the device programmed in this way is capable or is adapted to carry out the method steps according to one of claims 1 to 13.

19. A software program product which comprises a processor-readable storage medium on which a program is stored which enables a device, in particular a device according to one of claims 14 to 16, after it has been loaded, the method steps according to one of the Perform claims 1 to 13.