HK1100797A - Multimedia messaging service routing system and method - Google Patents

Description

Multimedia messaging service routing system and method

Background

The present invention relates to Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), and more particularly to sending MMS message announcements to recipient mobile devices through a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and, if desired, through a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and another PLMN.

In recent years, users of mobile devices, such as mobile phones and pagers, have used Short Message Service (SMS) to send messages to each other. Mobile radio networks employ SMS in the global system for mobile communications (GSM). Messages are coordinated between the sender and the recipient by using their respective Mobile Services Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN) numbers. These numbers are essentially the telephone numbers of the mobile device. The SMS is integrated into a mobile radio communications network so that it can use the addressing and routing system of the mobile radio network to send messages to mobile devices connected to the network. The SMS framework cannot be used for multimedia messages because it is only possible to convey ASCII text messages of very limited size (up to 160 characters). This is because SMS messages are sent over the signalling channel of the mobile radio network.

Email communication over the internet has proliferated over the past few years. Email messages are routed over the internet using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and email addresses. People wishing to send email messages using the internet are provided with email accounts having personalized email addresses. The internet was created to allow computers to communicate with each other over a general-purpose network. This in turn allows users of the computers to share information and messages with each other. Communication between computers connected to the internet is made possible by the transmission control protocol/internet protocol. This networking protocol provides for communication between computers having diverse hardware architectures and different operating systems over an interconnected network. The enthusiasm for users to send e-mails comes in part from the ability of e-mails to contain attachments of generally unlimited size. These attachments may include image files, video files, sound files, and a combination of video and sound files. Thus, friends and family members can attach multimedia files in their email messages, sharing pictures, sound and video with each other, which will enhance the communication experience.

Mobile devices are limited in processing power compared to personal computers due to battery limitations and consumer demand for small devices. While it is possible to send and receive e-mail to and from a mobile device, the process is cumbersome and limited. One of the main problems with using email on mobile devices is the complexity of the system and the login process. Another problem is that it is not possible to push an email message to a recipient. Instead, the recipient must pull a new message from a server connected to the internet. Yet another problem is that there is no limitation on the content of the e-mail. Therefore, accessories of unknown size and unknown format may be included, which may overwhelm (overshell) the mobile device or mobile radio communications network.

Due to advances in technology, the bandwidth in mobile radio networks has increased significantly. This increased bandwidth makes it possible for users of mobile devices to send larger messages to each other. These larger messages may include text, images, video, and sound. In addition, the processing and storage capacity of mobile devices has also evolved to allow multimedia messages to be stored at and rendered by the mobile devices. It is therefore now possible and desirable to send multimedia messages to users of mobile devices. The third generation partnership project (3GPP) has initiated the MMS standard, wherein the requirements of release one (release 99) are defined in the following documents: the 1999 edition of the third generation partnership project TS 22.140 phase one, multimedia messaging service: service aspects ("Multimedia Messaging Service: Service aspects"; Stage 1, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 22.140 Release1999 ") (available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs); second phase, 1999 edition third generation partnership project TS 23.140, multimedia messaging service: description of the function ("Multimedia Messaging Service: Functional description; Stage2, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 23.140 Release 1999") (available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs), both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

MMS evolved from a popular SMS messaging system and it used the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is a protocol that allows mobile devices to communicate with internet servers over mobile radio communication networks. Since the display on a mobile device (typically 150 x 150 pixels) is much smaller than the computer monitor display (typically at least 640 x 480 pixels), there are practical problems that prevent a web address designated for display on a computer monitor from being displayed on the mobile device. Mobile devices also have much less processing power than personal computers. WAP has therefore been developed to allow mobile devices to access specific internet addresses specified for display on the mobile device, as well as to provide an interface between the mobile device and the internet. Users of WAP-enabled mobile devices may access the internet via a mobile radio network to shop, obtain stock quotes, obtain traffic and weather reports, and so forth.

MMS is a standard for sending and receiving multimedia messages. The multimedia message may include any combination of formatted text, images, photographs, audio and video clips. The image may be in any standard format such as GIF and JPEG. MMS also supports video formats such as MPEG 4 and audio formats such as MP3 and MIDI. The WAP MMS specification describes the format of MMS messages transmitted from an MMS proxy relay to a user agent at a terminal, with mandatory steering fields (encapsulation documents), and also describes the message sequence (message service document) in the following documents: the 1999 edition of the third generation partnership project TS 22.140 phase one, multimedia messaging service: service aspects ("Multimedia Messaging Service: Service aspects"; Stage 1, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 22.140 Release1999 ") (available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs); second phase, 1999 edition third generation partnership project TS 23.140, multimedia messaging service: description of the function ("Multimedia Messaging Service: Functional description; Stage2, Third Generation Partnership Project TS 23.140 Release 1999") (available from www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs), both of which are incorporated herein by reference.

A typical format of an MMS message is illustrated in fig. 1. The MMS message includes a header 1. The header 1 provides routing information for the MMS message and addresses of the recipient and sender. The message body 2 comprises a multimedia message, which may include: possibly an image 3 in JPEG form, formatted or plain text 4, audio 5 in possibly WAVE file form, video 6 in possibly MPEG file form, and optionally a presentation file 7 which presents the multimedia content to the recipient of the multimedia message.

MMS was created in part to address the aforementioned problems associated with the use of email on mobile devices. SMS messages are relatively short, allowing them to be transmitted over signalling channels of a mobile radio communications network. MMS messages are much larger and therefore need to be transmitted over the voice or data channels of a mobile radio communications network. MMS can be seen as a new messaging architecture defined in the "border" between the internet and telecommunications (i.e. the client is connected to the mobile telecommunications network and the server is connected to the internet). During a dedicated session between a mobile device using WAP and an MMS server, MMS messages are sent between the mobile device and the MMS server over a voice or data channel. This can be analogized to a conversation between a personal computer and the internet using a modem and dial-up connection.

In SMS, messages are sent and received over a mobile communication network using MSISDN numbers of the respective mobile devices. Likewise, the MMS message may be addressed to the recipient's MSISDN number. As described above, MMS messages are routed through the internet using SMTP. This presents a problem because once the message reaches the sender's MMS server, the MMS server wants to route the message to the recipient's MMS server, but it does not know the recipient's MMS server address. The MMS message may be addressed only to the recipient's MSISDN number, which itself does not provide an indication of the recipient's MMS server. Therefore, some method of associating the recipient's MMS server address with the recipient's MSISDN number is required.

There is therefore a need for a system and method for notifying a recipient of a multimedia message by a sender of the multimedia message via a mobile radio communications network that a mobile device retrieves the multimedia message from the internet. Thus, when the message is addressed using only the MSISDN number, the system and method eliminates the problem of routing MMS messages through the Internet.

Summary of The Invention

The foregoing and other objects are achieved in a MMS routing method and system for routing individual messages through the internet. According to one aspect of the invention, an SMS notification is sent to a mobile device, wherein the SMS notification indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval by the mobile device. The multimedia message is automatically retrieved and stored in the mobile device in response to receiving the SMS notification.

In another aspect of the invention, a WAP advertisement is sent to the mobile device, wherein the WAP advertisement indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval by the mobile device. The multimedia message is automatically retrieved and stored in the mobile device in response to receiving the WAP advertisement.

In another aspect of the invention, in the server, the logic is configured to send an SMS notification to the mobile device in response to receiving the multimedia message. In a mobile device, logic is configured to receive an SMS notification, wherein the notification indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval by the mobile device. The logic is configured to automatically retrieve the multimedia message and store it in the mobile device in response to receiving the SMS notification.

In another aspect of the invention, in the server, the logic is configured to send a WAP advertisement to the mobile device in response to receiving the multimedia message. In a mobile device, logic is configured to receive a WAP advertisement, wherein the advertisement indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval by the mobile device. The logic is configured to automatically retrieve the multimedia message and store it in the mobile device in response to receiving the WAP advertisement.

Brief Description of Drawings

The objects and advantages of the invention may be understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the following drawings:

FIG. 1 depicts the format of an MMS message;

FIG. 2 depicts a standard MMS traffic routing sequence;

FIG. 3 depicts an MMS traffic routing sequence of the present invention; and

fig. 4 depicts an MMS traffic routing sequence according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Various features of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like reference characters.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known methods, devices, network types, and circuits are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the present invention.

The MMS can be described as a new messaging architecture that seeks to fill gaps between mobile radio communication networks and the internet (i.e., users of mobile devices send messages to each other through mobile radio communication networks, while users connected to the internet communicate with each other using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and email addresses through servers connected to the internet). However, routing messages from mobile devices addressed with MSISDN numbers over the internet remains an unsolved problem.

A prior art MMS traffic routing sequence is illustrated in fig. 2. The user of the mobile device 10 has an MMS message that the user would like to send to another mobile device 24. The mobile device 10 sends the MMS message to the MMS server 14 via PLMN X12. The MMS server routes messages through the internet using SMTP and email addresses. Since the message sent by the mobile device 10 is addressed to the recipient's MSISDN number, the MMS server 14 must determine the address of the recipient's MMS server in order to route the multimedia message to the recipient's MMS server. If the MMS server 14 is able to identify its MMS server by the MSISDN number of the recipient's mobile device 24, the multimedia message is routed to the recipient's MMS server 18 over the internet using SMTP and the email address of the recipient's MMS server. The MMS server 18 then sends a multimedia message announcement to a Push Access Protocol (PAP) server 20. The PAP server 20 is a push gateway that pushes messages to the mobile device 24 using the WAP forum standard. The PAP server 20 sends an advertisement to the mobile device 22 via the second public land mobile network y (plmn y) 22. The recipient mobile device 24 pulls the MMS message from the MMS server 18 through PLMN Y22. In response to the pull of the mobile device 24, the MMS server 18 routes the multimedia message to the recipient mobile device 24 via PLMN Y22. The multimedia message is received at the mobile device 24, where the message may be presented, played or displayed to a user of the mobile device 24.

One major drawback of this routing system is that the sender's MMS server must determine the route to the recipient's MMS server. Since MMS messages sent from the mobile device 10 are addressed only to the recipient's MSISDN number, the MMS server must determine an address for the recipient's MMS server based on the recipient's MSISDN number. The MMS server may not be able to contact the recipient's MSISDN number and the recipient's MMS server together, which makes routing the MMS message impossible. If the sending mobile device 10 and the recipient mobile device 24 share the same MMS server 14, there is no need to deliver the MMS message to another MMS server. However, the routing of MMS messages has not been solved and is considered complex.

One proposed solution to the problem of coordinating MSISDN numbers with SMTP and email addresses is ENUM. The abbreviation ENUM refers to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) protocol that takes a complete international telephone number and resolves it into a series of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) with a domain name system based structure. ENUM is an unfinished standard that, in the Domain Name System (DNS) context, translates MSISDN numbers to URL addresses. ENUM based servers must be available to all MMS servers to enable MSISDN to email conversion. ENUM is based on the Domain Name System (DNS). The conversion from MSISDN number to SMTP and email address makes it possible to route multimedia messages over the internet to a MMS server, which is accessible to the recipient mobile device. The country code in the MSISDN number can be used to route the message to the ENUM server in that country. Each country maintains a database for routing MMS messages to subscribers in that country. However, the adoption of the ENUM standard may be costly and unevenly distributed due to different socioeconomic hierarchies in each country. This would result in the system not being able to deliver all MMS messages to their intended recipients. Another complication is that if the ENUM standard is to be installed in multiple locations, it may be difficult to continuously update all installations when a subscriber is added, a subscriber is revoked, a subscriber has changed his email address, a subscriber has changed his MSISDN, or a subscriber has changed his service provider but maintains the same MSISDN number (i.e., number portability).

Another possible solution is an internal table within the MMS server. The table needs to be updated each time the user changes his/her mobile telephone service provider or Internet Service Provider (ISP). For example, a user may desire to use the user's ISP's MMS server address instead of the one provided by the user's mobile telephony service provider. This means that the mobile telephone service provider must update the internal table so that the MSISDN number of the user points to the address of the MMS server belonging to the ISP. Not only does the user's mobile telephone service provider need to make this update, the other MMS servers must also update their internal databases so that all MMS servers know the new routing address to the user's ISP. This will also cause too many updates, causing the tables to become out of sync. If not all tables are synchronized, some of the data in the tables will be erroneous, making it impossible for some multimedia messages to be routed to their intended recipients.

The present invention solves the aforementioned problems using the MMS traffic routing sequence shown in fig. 2 without the need for a complex conversion scheme of database tables and ENUM.

An embodiment of the MMS routing system and method of the present invention is illustrated in fig. 3. The user of the mobile device 26 has an MMS message that the user would like to send to the recipient mobile device 38. The MMS message is sent from the mobile device 26 to a multimedia messaging service center (MMS-C)29 via PLMN X28 during an ongoing session or a dedicated session with the internet, the MMS-C29 including an MMS server 30. The MMS-C29 is a combination of an MMS server and an MMS proxy relay that handles MMS messages arriving at the MMS-C29 for the user. The MMS message is transmitted to the MMS-C29 and MMS server 30 using the voice or data channel of the PLMNX 28. The MMS message is initially a WAP message generated at the mobile device 26 that arrives at MMS-C via HTTP. An announcement is sent from the MMS server 30 to a Push Access Protocol (PAP) server 32. The PAP server 32 is a push gateway that uses WAP to push messages.

Should the recipient mobile device 38 be in a session with the internet or a dedicated session at the time the announcement is to be sent, the PAP server may send the announcement directly to the recipient mobile device 38 using WAP, provided that both the sender and recipient mobile devices are using the same PLMN. If the mobile device is not in a dedicated session with the internet and it is using the same PLMN as the MMS server, the MMS message announcement is sent through the public PLMN by using SMS as a carrier for the MMS message announcement, i.e. the MSISDN number of the recipient mobile device is used to route the MMS message announcement by sending the MMS message announcement as an SMS message to the recipient mobile device. If the recipient mobile device is connected to a PLMN other than the public PLMN, the SMS message is routed from PLMN X28 to PLMN Y36 of the recipient mobile device through the PSTN (not shown) and delivered to the recipient mobile device. Since the announcement is sent from the sender's MMS-C29 to the recipient's mobile device through the PAP server by using SMS as a carrier for the announcement, no address translation is necessary because the MMS message is not routed through the internet by the sender's MMS-C29.

In either case, the SMS message arrives at the recipient mobile device 38. The SMS message contains an MMS message announcement, which is a WAP push. The mobile device 38 may be configured in such a way that the WAP push is automatically extracted from the SMS message. In response to the WAP push, the recipient mobile device 38 may initiate a dedicated session with the internet and send an HTTP GET request using WAP to retrieve MMS messages sent by the mobile device 26 from the sender's MMS-C over the PLMN's voice or data channel. The MMS message is received at the mobile device 38 and, where the MMS message is stored in the mobile device 38, it may also be presented, played or displayed to the user of the mobile device 38. It is therefore the recipient mobile device that retrieves the message from the sender's MMS-C29, without the need to route the message to the recipient's MMS server over the internet.

Another embodiment of the MMS routing system and method of the present invention is illustrated by fig. 4 and the following discussion, wherein the recipient's MMS-C52 may also retrieve MMS messages from the sender's MMS-C44. In this case, the recipient mobile device 58 has its own MMS-C52 between PLMN Y56 and the Internet 50. The sending mobile device 40 sends the MMS message to the sending mobile device's MMS-C44 via PLMN X42. The MMS server 46 of the MMS-C44 sends a notification of the new MMS message to the PAP server 48. The PAP server 48 sends a new MMS message notification to the recipient mobile device 58. The recipient mobile device 58 receives the notification of the new MMS message from the PAP server 48 as described above with reference to fig. 3. In response to the notification of the new MMS message, the recipient mobile device 58 requests the recipient's MMS-C52 to retrieve the MMS message from the sender's MMS-C44. The notification of the new MMS message includes information to direct the recipient's MMS-C52 to the sender's MMS-C44 over the internet 50 to retrieve the MMS message from the sender's MMS-C44. The recipient's MMS-C52 then delivers the MMS message to the recipient mobile device 58 via PLMN Y56 where it is stored and presented to the user of the recipient mobile device 58.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that MMS announcements using SMS can be routed through a telecommunications network using any combination of PLMN and PSTN, just as any conventional SMS message. For example, if the sending and recipient mobile devices are connected to the same PLMN, then an MMS announcement using SMS as a bearer is routed to the recipient mobile device using the same PLMN. However, if the sending and receiving mobile devices are connected to different PLMNs, then an MMS announcement using SMS as a bearer will be routed through the PLMN connected to the sender MMS-C to the PSTN to the PLMN of the recipient mobile device. Thus, the addressing deficiencies and problems described above are also addressed by embodiments of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that MMS messages need not originate from a mobile device. For example, consider that MMS-C may wish to send a message directly from its associated MMS server to a mobile device using its services. These MMS messages may provide discounts, specials, etc. to the user of the mobile device. It is also envisaged that MMS messages may be sent to mobile devices by users of the internet. In this case, the user would compose an MMS message and send the message to the MMS-C of the mobile device through the user's ISP.

The invention thus solves the problem of addressing and routing MMS messages from a mobile radio network to the same or another mobile radio network via the internet. The addressing problem is caused by mobile radio networks and the internet using different addressing protocols. These different addressing protocols mean that MMS messages addressed according to the mobile radio network protocol must be converted into the address protocol of the internet and then back into the mobile radio network protocol in order to be able to exchange MMS messages between the internet and the mobile radio network. The present invention solves this addressing problem by sending an MMS message to an MMS-C and sending an MMS message announcement from the sender's MMS-C to the recipient mobile device to tell the recipient mobile device to retrieve the MMS message from the sender's or recipient's MMS-C.

The MMS traffic routing sequence of the present invention does not require an internal table to translate MSISDN addresses into email addresses because the present invention uses MSISDN based routing, which is already addressed in signaling system 7 network (SS 7). The invention can also be implemented and introduced into a mobile radio network less expensively, in part because the SMS messaging service is already in place. Since it does not rely on new and unproven standards such as ENUM used on MMS servers. This provides better service performance because no external or internal tables need to be looked up and no dependency on unproven criteria is relied upon.

The present description focuses on the special communications that take place between a client in a mobile network and a server in the internet. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that in the preferred embodiment these communications are mechanized. Such mechanized functions may be implemented in a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, fixed wiring circuits or processors executing an appropriate set of program instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), magnetic storage media (e.g., tape, disk, floppy disk, etc.), or optical storage media (e.g., Compact Disk (CD) ROM, etc.). The invention can be implemented in one or a combination of these forms, including, but not limited to, a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon an appropriate set of program instructions. As used herein, the term "logic" is intended to refer to any and all forms of such embodiments, or portions thereof.

The invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that it is possible to embody the invention in specific forms other than those of the embodiment described above. This can be done without departing from the spirit of the invention. The preferred embodiments, however, are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims (40)

1. A method of sending a multimedia message to a mobile device, comprising:

sending the multimedia message to a server;

sending an announcement from the server to the mobile device, wherein the announcement includes an address of the server and indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval from the server by the mobile device;

automatically retrieving the multimedia message from the server in response to receiving the notification; and

storing the multimedia message on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the multimedia message is sent from another mobile device to the server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile device and the another mobile device are mobile phones.

5. A method according to claim 4, characterized in that the mobile telephones are in the same or different PLMNs, addressed with MSISDN.

6. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the announcement is sent using SMS as a bearer and addressed to the MSISDN number of the mobile device.

7. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that said server is an MMS server.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending a notification from the MMS server to a PAP server; and

sending the advertisement from the PAP server to the mobile device, wherein the advertisement comprises a WAP push.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending an HTTP GET request from the mobile device to automatically retrieve the multimedia message.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending the multimedia message from another mobile device to the MMS server.

11. A method of sending a multimedia message to a mobile device, comprising:

initially sending a multimedia message to a sender's server;

sending an announcement from a sender's server to the mobile device, wherein the announcement includes an address of the sender's server and the announcement indicates that a multimedia message is available for retrieval from the sender's server by the mobile device;

sending, from the mobile device to a server of the mobile device, a request to retrieve the multimedia message from the sender server in response to receiving the notification, wherein the request includes an address of the sender server;

the server of the mobile device retrieves the multimedia message from the sender server;

the mobile device retrieving the multimedia message from a server of the mobile device; and

storing the multimedia message in the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising: the multimedia message is sent from another mobile device to the sender server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile device and the another mobile device are mobile phones.

15. A method according to claim 14, characterized in that the mobile telephones are in the same or different PLMNs, addressed with MSISDN.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the announcement is sent using SMS as a bearer and addressed to the MSISDN number of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the sender server and the server of the mobile device are MMS servers.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

sending a notification from the sender's MMS server to a PAP server; and

sending the advertisement from the PAP server to the mobile device, wherein the advertisement comprises a WAP push.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, in response to the WAP push, sending an HTTP GET request from the mobile device to automatically retrieve the multimedia message.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending the multimedia message from another mobile device to the sender's MMS server.

21. A system for transmitting a multimedia message to a mobile device, the system comprising:

in a server, logic is configured to:

receiving a multimedia message;

in response to receiving the multimedia message, sending an announcement to the mobile device, wherein the announcement includes an address of the server and further indicates that the multimedia message is available for retrieval from the server by the mobile device;

in the mobile device, logic is configured to:

automatically retrieving the multimedia message from the server in response to the announcement; and

the multimedia message is stored in the mobile device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising: in another mobile device, logic is configured to send the multimedia message from the other mobile device to the server.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the mobile device and the another mobile device are mobile phones.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the mobile telephones are in the same or different PLMNs, addressed with MSISDNs.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the notification is sent using SMS as a bearer and addressed to the MSISDN number of the mobile device.

27. A system according to claim 21, characterised in that said server is an MMS server.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a PAP server, wherein the logic is configured to:

receiving an announcement from the MMS server; and

sending the advertisement from the PAP server, wherein the advertisement comprises a WAP push.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising, in the mobile device, logic configured to: and responding to the WAP push, and sending an HTTP GET request to the MMS server.

30. The system of claim 26, further comprising, in another mobile device, logic configured to send the multimedia message from the another mobile phone to the MMS server.

31. A system for transmitting a multimedia message to a mobile device, the system comprising:

in the sender's server, logic is configured to:

initially receiving a multimedia message; and

sending an announcement of the multimedia message to the mobile device, wherein the announcement includes an address of the sender server and indicates that the multimedia message is available for retrieval by the mobile device;

in the mobile device, logic is configured to: in response to receiving the notification, sending a request to a server of the mobile device, wherein the request includes an address of the sender server;

in the server of the mobile device, logic is configured to retrieve a multimedia message from a sender's server;

logic in the mobile device configured to:

retrieving the multimedia message from a server of the mobile device; and

storing the multimedia message in the mobile device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the mobile device is a mobile phone.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

the other mobile device has logic therein configured to send the multimedia message from the other mobile device to a sender server.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the mobile device and the another mobile device are mobile phones.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the mobile telephones are in the same or different PLMNs, addressed with MSISDNs.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the system further comprises a memory device

The announcement is sent from the sender server to the mobile device using SMS as a carrier, and the announcement is also addressed to the MSISDN number of the mobile device.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the server of the sender and the server of the mobile device are MMS servers.

38. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

a PAP server having logic configured to:

receiving an announcement from the sender's MMS server; and

sending the advertisement from the PAP server to the mobile device, wherein the advertisement is a WAP push.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

in the mobile device, logic is configured to: in response to the WAP push, sending an HTTP GET request to an MMS server of the mobile device.

40. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

in the other mobile device, the logic is configured to send the multimedia message from the other mobile device to the sender's MMS server.