3. Example
Applications of SMS Messaging
There
are many different kinds of SMS applications on the market today and
many others are being developed. Applications in which SMS messaging
can be utilized are virtually unlimited. We will describe some common
examples of SMS applications below to give you some ideas of what can
be done with SMS messaging.
3.1. Person-to-Person
Text Messaging
Person-to-person
text messaging is the most commonly used SMS application and it is
what the SMS technology was originally designed for. In these kinds
of text messaging applications, a mobile user types an SMS text
message using the keypad of his/her mobile phone, then he/she inputs
the mobile phone number of the recipient and clicks a certain option
on the screen, such as "Send" or "OK", to send
the text message out. When the recipient mobile phone receives the
SMS text message, it will notify the user by giving out a sound or
vibrating. The user can read the SMS text message some time later or
immediately and can send a text message back if he/she wants.
A
chat application is another kind of person-to-person text messaging
application that allows a group of people to exchange SMS text
messages interactively. In a chat application, all SMS text messages
sent and received are displayed on the mobile phone's screen in order
of date and time. SMS text messages written by different mobile users
may be displayed in different colors for better readability, like
this:
|
Me:
Let's have a meeting at 10 am tomorrow to discuss the details of
our next SMS text messaging application.
Tom:
OK.
Alan:
I have another meeting at 10 am. I suggest having the meeting at
11:30 am tomorrow. What do you think?
|
3.2. Provision
of Information
A
popular application of the SMS technology other than person-to-person
text messaging is the provision of information to mobile users. Many
content providers make use of SMS text messages to send information
such as news, weather report and financial data to their subscribers.
Many of these information services are not free. Reverse billing SMS
is a common way used by content providers to bill their users. The
user is charged a certain fee for each reverse billing SMS message
received. The fee will either be included in the monthly mobile phone
bill or be deducted from prepaid card credits.
3.3. Downloading
SMS
messages can carry binary data and so SMS can be used as the
transport medium of wireless downloads. Objects such as ringtones,
wallpapers, pictures and operator logos can be encoded in one or more
SMS messages depending on the object's size. Like information
services, wireless download services are usually not free and reverse
billing SMS is a common way used by content providers to bill their
customers. The object to be downloaded is encoded in one or more
reverse billing SMS messages. The mobile user who requests the object
will be charged a certain fee for each reverse billing SMS message
received. If the mobile user is using a monthly mobile phone service
plan, the download fee will be included in his/her next monthly bill;
if the mobile user is using a prepaid SIM card, the download fee will
be deducted from the prepaid credits.
3.4. Alerts
and Notifications
SMS
is a very suitable technology for delivering alerts and notifications
of important events. This is because of two reasons:
A
mobile phone is a device that is carried by its owner most of the
time. Whenever an SMS text message is received, the mobile phone
will notify you by giving out a sound or by vibrating. You can check
what the SMS text message contains immediately.
SMS
technology allows the "push" of information. This is
different from the "pull" model where a device has to poll
the server regularly in order to check whether there is any new
information. The "pull" model is less suitable for alert
and notification applications, since it wastes bandwidth and
increases server load.
Some
common examples of SMS alert and notification applications are
described below.
3.4.1. Email, Fax
and Voice Message Notifications
In
an email notification system, a server sends a text message to the
user's mobile phone whenever an email arrives at the inbox. The SMS
text message can include the sender's email address, the subject and
the first few lines of the email body. An email notification system
may allow the user to customize various filters so that an SMS alert
is sent only if the email message contains certain keywords or if the
email sender is an important person. The use cases for fax or voice
message are similar.
3.4.2. E-commerce
and Credit Card Transaction Alerts
Whenever
an e-commerce or credit card transaction is made, the server sends a
text message to the user's mobile phone. The user can know
immediately whether any unauthorized transactions have been made.
3.4.3. Stock
Market Alerts
In
a stock market alert application, a program is constantly monitoring
and analyzing the stock market. If a certain condition is satisfied,
the program will send a text message to the user's mobile phone to
notify him/her of the situation. For example, you can configure the
alert system such that if the stock price of a company is lower than
a certain value or drops by a certain percentage, it will send an SMS
alert to you.
3.4.4. Remote
System Monitoring
In
a remote system monitoring application, a program (sometimes with the
help of a group of sensors) is constantly monitoring the status of a
remote system. If a certain condition is satisfied, the program will
send a text message to the system administrator to notify him/her of
the situation. For example, a program may be written to "ping"
a server regularly. If no response is received from the server, the
program can send an SMS alert to the system administrator to notify
him/her that the server may be hanged.
3.5. Two-way
Interactive Text Messaging Applications
SMS
messaging technology can be used as the underlying communication
medium between wireless devices and servers in a two-way interactive
text messaging application. For example, search engines are two-way
interactive text messaging applications. Let's say there is a
dictionary search engine that supports queries in SMS text messages.
It may operate like this:
To
find out the meaning of the term "SMS text messaging", you
can type "find: SMS text messaging" in an SMS text message
and send it to the search engine's phone number. After receiving
your SMS text message, the search engine parses it and finds that it
begins with the command "find" and follows by the words
"SMS text messaging". The search engine then knows you
want to find out the meaning of the term "SMS text messaging".
So, it sends a text message, which contains the meaning of the term
"SMS text messaging", back to your mobile phone.
If
the search result is very long and it cannot contain within a single
SMS text message, the search engine adds "Page 1 of 2",
"Page 1 of 3", etc, at the end of the reply SMS text
message. The search engine also creates a session using your mobile
phone number as the session ID and stores the term that you searched
for (i.e. "SMS text messaging") in the session object.
To
request the second page, you can send a text message with the
content "page: 2" to the search engine's phone number.
After receiving your SMS text message, the search engine parses it
and finds that it begins with the command "page" and
follows by "2". The search engine then knows you want the
second page of the search result. It retrieves the term that you
searched for last time from the session object and finds that it is
"SMS text messaging". The search engine then sends a text
message that contains the second page of the search result for the
term "SMS text messaging" back to your mobile phone.
Many
other two-way interactive text messaging applications can be built
using a similar way. For example, a company may want to build an SMS
messaging application to enable its employees to query the corporate
database while they are working outdoors.
3.6. SMS
Marketing
SMS
messaging can be used as a marketing tool. An example is an SMS
newsletter system. After signing up, the user will receive SMS text
messages about the latest discounts and products of the company. If
the user has any questions or comments, he/she can send a text
message back with the questions or comments in it. The company may
include its phone number in the SMS newsletter so that the user can
talk to the customer service staff directly if he/she wants to do so.
|
Feedback Form (ExpandCollapse)
|
|
