Definitions

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions apply:

NOTE 1:   The term "mobile station" (MS) in the present document is synonymous with the term "user equipment" (UE) in UMTS terminology as defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 [29].

active MS: switched‑on mobile station with a SIM/UICC see 3GPP TS 31.101 [31] module attached

alert‑SC: service element provided by a GSM/UMTS PLMN to inform an SC which has previously initiated unsuccessful short message delivery attempt(s) to a specific MS, that the MS is now recognized by the PLMN to have recovered operation

status report: SC informing the originating MS of the outcome of a short message submitted to an SME

Gateway MSC For Short Message Service (SMS‑GMSC): function of an MSC capable of receiving a short message from an SC, interrogating an HLR for routing information and SMS info, and delivering the short message to the VMSC or the SGSN of the recipient MS

Interworking MSC For Short Message Service (SMS‑IWMSC): function of an MSC capable of receiving a short message from within the PLMN and submitting it to the recipient SC

IP-Short-Message-Gateway (IP-SM-GW): function responsible for protocol interworking between the IP-based UE and the SC

Messages‑Waiting (MW): ervice element that makes a PLMN store information (Messages‑Waiting‑Indication), listing those SCs that have made unsuccessful short message delivery attempts to MSs in that PLMN

Messages‑Waiting‑Indication (MWI): data to be stored in the HLR and VLR with which an MS is associated, indicating that there is one or more messages waiting in a set of SCs to be delivered to the MS (due to unsuccessful delivery attempt(s))

Messages‑Waiting‑Data (MWD): part of the MWI to be stored in the HLR. MWD consists of an address list of the SCs which have messages waiting to be delivered to the MS

Mobile-services Switching Centre (MSC): exchange which performs switching functions for mobile stations located in a geographical area designated as the MSC area

Mobile‑Station‑Memory‑Capacity‑Exceeded‑Flag (MCEF): part of the MWI to be stored in the HLR

NOTE 2:   MCEF is a Boolean parameter indicating if the address list of MWD contains one or more entries because an attempt to deliver a short message to an MS has failed with a cause of MS Memory Capacity Exceeded

Mobile‑Station‑Not‑Reachable‑Flag (MNRF): part of the MWI to be stored in the VLR and the HLR

NOTE 3:   MNRF is a Boolean parameter indicating if the address list of MWD contains one or more entries because an attempt to deliver a short message to an MS has failed with a cause of Absent Subscriber.

Mobile‑station‑Not-Reachable-for-GPRS (MNRG): part of the MWI to be stored in the SGSN and the HLR

NOTE 4:   MNRG is a Boolean parameter indicating if the address list of MWD contains one or more entries because an attempt to deliver a short message to an MS has failed with a cause of Absent Subscriber.

Mobile‑Station‑Not‑Reachable-via-the-MSC-Reason (MNRR-MSC): part of the MWI in the HLR which stores the reason for an MS being absent when an attempt to deliver a short message to an MS fails at the MSC with a cause of Absent Subscriber

Mobile‑Station‑Not‑Reachable-via-the-SGSN-Reason (MNRR-SGSN): part of the MWI in the HLR which stores the reason for an MS being absent when an attempt to deliver a short message to an MS fails at the SGSN with a cause of Absent Subscriber

More‑Messages‑To‑Send (MMS): information element offering an MS receiving a short message from an SC the information whether there are still more messages waiting to be sent from that SC to the MS

NOTE 5:   The TP‑MMS element (conveyed in the Transfer layer) is copied into the RP‑MMS element (conveyed in the Relay layer). It is possible with Phase 2 and later versions of MAP (3GPP TS 29.002 [15]) for the RP‑MMS element to keep an SM transaction open between the SMS-GMSC and the MS in the case where there are more‑messages‑to‑send. Earlier versions of MAP support the transport of the TP‑MMS element.

priority: service element enabling the SC or SME to request a short message delivery attempt to an MS irrespective of whether or not the MS has been identified as temporarily absent

protocol‑identifier: information element by which the originator of a short message (either an SC or an MS) may refer to a higher layer protocol

receiving MS: the mobile station to which an MT SM is destined.

reply path procedure: mechanism which allows an SME to request that an SC should be permitted to handle a reply sent in response to a message previously sent from that SME to another SME

NOTE 6:   This may happen even though the SC may be unknown to the SME which received the initial message.

report: response from either the network or the recipient upon a short message being sent from either an SC or an MS

NOTE 7:   A report may be a delivery report, which confirms the delivery of the short message to the recipient, or it may be a failure report, which informs the originator that the short message was never delivered and the reason why.

      When issued by the Service Centre, the delivery report confirms the reception of the Short Message by the SC, and not the delivery of the Short Message to the SME.

      When issued by the Mobile Station, the delivery report confirms the reception of the Short Message by the Mobile Station, and not the delivery of the Short Message to the user.

replace short message type: range of values in the Protocol Identifier which allows an indication to be sent with a short message (MT or MO) that the short message is of a particular type allowing the receiving MS or the SC to replace an existing message of the same type held in the SC, the ME or on the SIM/UICC, provided it comes:

‑     in MT cases:                 from the same SC and originating address;

‑     in MO cases:                 from the same MS.

sending MS: the mobile station from which an MO SM is sourced.

Service Centre (SC): function responsible for the relaying and store‑and‑forwarding of a short message between an SME and an MS

NOTE 8:   The SC is not a part of the GSM/UMTS PLMN, however MSC and SC may be integrated.

Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN): exchange which performs packet switching functions for mobile stations located in a geographical area designated as the SGSN area

short message: information that may be conveyed by means of the Short Message Service

NOTE 9:   As described in the present document.

Short Message Entity (SME): entity which may send or receive Short Messages

NOTE 10: The SME may be located in a fixed network, an MS, or an SC.

SMS‑STATUS‑REPORT: short message transfer protocol data unit informing the receiving MS of the status of a mobile originated short message previously submitted by the MS, i.e. whether the SC was able to forward the message or not, or whether the message was stored in the SC for later delivery

SMS‑COMMAND: short message transfer protocol data unit which enables an MS to invoke an operation at the SC

NOTE 11: An MS may then, for example, delete a short message, cancel a TP-Status-Report-Request, enquire about the status of a short message or request another function to be performed by the SC.

NOTE 12: The type of operation is indicated by the TP‑Command‑Type and the particular SM to operate on is indicated by the TP‑Message‑Number and the TP‑Destination‑Address. Receipt of an SMS‑COMMAND is confirmed by an RP‑ACK or RP‑ERROR. In the case of certain SMS‑COMMANDs, an SMS‑STATUS‑REPORT may be sent, where the outcome of the SMS‑COMMAND is passed in its TP‑Status field.

SMS‑DELIVER: short message transfer protocol data unit containing user data (the short message), being sent from an SC to an MS

SMS‑SUBMIT: short message transfer protocol data unit containing user data (the short message), being sent from an MS to an SC

Service‑Centre‑Time‑Stamp (SCTS): information element offering the recipient of a short message the information of when the message arrived at the SM‑TL entity of the SC

NOTE 13: The time of arrival comprises the year, month, day, hour, minute, second and time zone.

UE‑Not-Reachable-for-IP (UNRI): part of the MWI to be stored in the IP-SM-GW and the HSS/HLR

NOTE 14: UNRI is a Boolean parameter indicating if the address list of MWD contains one or more entries because an attempt to deliver a short message to an UE has failed with a cause of Absent Subscriber.

UE‑Not‑Reachable-Reason (UNRR): part of the MWI in the HSS/HLR which stores the reason for an UE being absent when an attempt to deliver a short message to an UE fails at the IP-SM-GW.

Validity‑Period (VP): information element enabling the originator MS to indicate the time period during which the originator considers the short message to be valid.

Visitor Location Register (VLR) is a database - part of the GSM mobile phone system - which stores information about all the mobiles that are currently under the jurisdiction of the MSC (Mobile Switching Center) which it serves. Of all the information it stores about each MS (Mobile Station), the most important is the current LAI (Location Area Identity). LAI identifies under which BSC (Base Station Controller) the MS is currently present. This information is vital in the call setup process.

Whenever an MSC detects a new MS in its network, in addition to creating a new record in the VLR, it also updates the HLR of the mobile subscriber, apprising it of the new location of that MS.


3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
Technical Specification (TS)
Short Message Service (SMS)
Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)
Operator Determined Barring (ODB)
Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)
Service Centre(s) (SC)
Mobile‑services Switching Centre(s) (MSC)
Point-to-Point (PP)
Short Message Service (SMS)
Data Terminal Equipment ‑ Data Circuit terminating Equipment (DTE ‑ DCE)
Mobile Application Part (MAP)
Subscriber Identity Module ‑ Mobile Equipment (SIM‑ ME)
Universal Multiple‑Octet Coded Character Set (USC)
Personalisation of Mobile Equipment (ME)
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
Ir Mobile Communications (IrMC)
Internet Mail Consortium (IMC)
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
mobile station" (MS)