Charging of a short message transmission

Abstract

The invention relates to charging of a short message transmission in a telecommunications network. The invention provides a mechanism for refunding the subscriber for an already charged short message in the event of a failure during the delivery of that short message. The invention also relates to the methods and devices that are used to deliver a short message and perform the charging thereof.

1 . A method for refunding the costs of a failed short message transmission to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
 receiving a short message in a Short Message Service Center wherein the Short Message Service Center performs the steps of;
 forwarding the short message towards a receiving entity; 
 detecting the failure of the delivery of the short message; 
 generating a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record in the event of the failure of the delivery of the short message; 
 forwarding the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record; 
 receiving a short message identifier associated to the short message from a Control Node; and 
 including the short message identifier in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record. 
   
     
     
         2 . A method for refunding the costs of a failed short message transmission to a subscriber in a telecommunications network, the method comprising:
 receiving a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record from a Short Message Service Centre in a Post Processing Unit, wherein the Post Processing unit performs the steps of;   receiving a Service Call Detail Record from a Call Detail Record Storage Unit; wherein the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record comprise a short message identifier associated to the failed short message transmission, the Service Call Detail Record further comprising a charged amount for the short message transmission;
 calculating a refund amount for the failed short message transmission based on the information in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record; and 
 initiating the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber. 
   
     
     
         3 . A Short Message Service Centre for a telecommunications network comprising an input unit for receiving a short message, a processing unit for controlling further units, a call detail record generating unit for generating a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record, an output unit for forwarding the short message and for forwarding the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and detecting means for detecting the failure of the delivery of the short message and informing the processing unit thereof,
 the input unit being arranged to receive a short message identifier from a Control Node and in that the processing unit is arranged to initiate the call detail record generating unit to include the short message identifier in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record.   
     
     
         4 . The device as claimed in  claim 3 , wherein the Control Node is a Mobile Services Switching Centre or a Serving General Packet Radio System Support Node. 
     
     
         5 . An apparatus in a telecommunications network comprising
 an input unit for receiving a Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and for receiving a Service Call Detail Record, the Service Call Detail Record comprising a charged amount for a short message transmission,   a processing unit for controlling further units and an output unit for forwarding messages,   
       wherein the processing unit is adapted to calculate a refund amount for a failed short message transmission to a subscriber based on information in the Delivery Failure Call Detail Record and the Service Call Detail Record and in that the processing unit is arranged to initiate the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber. 
     
     
         6 . The method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the step of initiating the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber comprises the step of initiating an Account Management Unit to increment an account associated to the subscriber with the calculated refund amount. 
     
     
         7 . The method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the step of initiating the refund of the calculated refund amount to the subscriber comprises the step of initiating the correction of a bill associated to the subscriber in accordance with the calculated refund amount. 
     
     
         8 . The method as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the Control Node is a Mobile Services Switching Centre or a Serving General Packet Radio System Support Node. 
     
     
         9 . The method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the receiving entity is a Service Node or a subscriber.