WO2006087455A1

WO2006087455A1 - Method for transmission of multimedia messages and system for carrying out said method

Info

Publication number: WO2006087455A1
Application number: PCT/FR2006/000323
Authority: WO
Inventors: Philippe Bellordre; Aline Potier
Original assignee: France Telecom
Priority date: 2005-02-15
Filing date: 2006-02-13
Publication date: 2006-08-24

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for transmission of multimedia messages between a first terminal (1) and a communication unit (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d). The first terminal (1) communicates with communication means (5) on a local wireless network within the scope of a subscription with a first operator, the local wireless network begin interconnected to a mobile radio network (3) used by the first operator, in which at least one multimedia message is transmitted between the first terminal (1) and the communication unit (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) by means of local wireless network communication means (5) and a multimedia message server (4) on the mobile radio network (3).

Description

METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING MULTIMEDIA MESSAGES AND SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING THE METHOD

The present invention relates to the transmission of multimedia messages. It relates more particularly to the transmission of multimedia messages within a hybrid communication system comprising communication means according to different technologies.

A known example of multimedia messaging service is MMS

("Multimedia Messaging Service"). This service allows users to exchange multimedia messages. It is intended to be used in particular within the framework of a mobile radio communication network, in particular of third generation (2.5G or 3G).

The implementation of this service requires a server, designated MMS RELAY / SERVER, in a communication network and a client at a terminal associated with a subscription to the MMS service, subscribed with the operator of the communication network. The RELAY / SERVER MMS is the single point of entry for all multimedia messages sent over the communication network. The client, meanwhile, is an application integrated in the terminal for composing, presenting, sending and receiving MMS messages. MMS messages advantageously use the language Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) and can include text, images, audio sequences and video sequences.

If the MMS service is well adapted for terminals to exchange multimedia messages via a mobile radio network, it is not the same when at least one terminal is attached to a local network without wire, different from the mobile radio network.

However, some mobile radio network operators wish to be able to offer their subscribers equipped with appropriate terminals, complementary access to means of communication of a wireless local area network, or WLAN ("Wireless Local Area Network"). Thus, these operators could propose, in addition to the mobile radio coverage for example type 2.5G or 3G, a radio coverage in certain strategic points ("hot spots") according to a WLAN technology, such as as 802.11b for example, allowing their subscribers to make high-speed data transmissions over radio links.

However, at present, interworking between the mobile radio networks and the WLAN networks is not assured, so that data can not be exchanged interchangeably through these networks.

Standardization work is underway by the 3GPP organization ("3rd Generation Partnership Project") to develop interoperability between these systems and specify a technical interworking architecture. On the other hand, it is currently not possible to implement a "seamless" MMS service in a hybrid system comprising communication equipment according to the two mobile radio and WLAN technologies, ie an independent MMS service. access network for a subscriber with a suitable terminal. An object of the present invention is to provide such a multimedia messaging service "seamless".

Another object of the invention is to provide an MMS service subscribed to an operator by a subscriber attached to a WLAN network interconnected to a mobile radio network operated by said operator. The invention thus proposes a method for transmitting multimedia messages between a first terminal and a communication entity, the first terminal being able to communicate with means of communication of a wireless local area network within the framework of a subscription subscribed by a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network operated by said first operator. According to this method, at least one multimedia message is transmitted between the first terminal and the communication entity via the communication means of the wireless local area network and a multimedia messaging server of the mobile radio network. Thus, the routing of the multimedia message, for example of the type

MMS, via a mobile radio network messaging server ensures transmission of the end-to-end multimedia message.

If the first terminal is able to communicate indifferently with the communication means of the wireless network and the mobile radio network, it can then send and receive multimedia messages regardless of the type of its access network, mobile or wireless. The result is a "seamless" multimedia messaging service for the subscriber with this terminal.

When the transmission of the multimedia message is carried out from the first terminal to the communication entity, the method advantageously comprises the following steps:

transmitting the multimedia message from the first terminal to the multimedia network messaging server of the mobile radio network via the means of communication of the wireless local area network; and

- Route the multimedia message from the multimedia messaging server to the communication entity.

When the transmission of the multimedia message is carried out from the communication entity to the first terminal, the method advantageously comprises the following steps:

receiving the multimedia message from the communication entity to the multimedia network multimedia messaging server;

transmitting, from the multimedia messaging server and via the means of communication of the wireless local area network, a notification signaling to the first terminal that a multimedia message has been received for its attention; following the notification, transmitting, from the first terminal and via the means of communication of the wireless local area network, a request to the attention of the multimedia messaging server in order to recover said multimedia message; and - AT -

transmitting, from the multimedia messaging server and via the means of communication of the wireless local area network, said multimedia message to the first terminal.

The notification is advantageously effected via a gateway to which the first terminal is registered.

Furthermore, each transmission from the first terminal to the multimedia messaging server of the mobile radio network is advantageously carried out via at least one gateway.

The communication entity under consideration may comprise, for example, a second terminal capable of communicating with communication means of a network among at least one mobile radio network, a wireless local area network and a fixed network, or even a server of a service provider or content provider.

The invention further provides a communication system comprising means for implementing the aforementioned multimedia message transmission method.

The invention furthermore proposes a gateway for the transmission of multimedia messages from a communication entity to a first terminal able to communicate with means of communication of a wireless local area network in the context of a subscription subscribed to a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network operated by said first operator. The gateway includes:

means for receiving, from a multimedia messaging server of the mobile radio network having previously received a multimedia message from the communication entity, a first notification signaling that a multimedia message has been received by the first terminal, and

means for transmitting to the first terminal, in response to a reception of said first notification, a second notification, via the communication means of the wireless local area network, signaling that a multimedia message has been received by the first terminal; . The invention also proposes a terminal capable of communicating with means of communication of a wireless local area network in the context of a subscription subscribed to a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network. operated by said first operator. The terminal comprises means for exchanging at least one multimedia message with a communication entity via the communication means of the wireless local area network and a multimedia messaging server of the mobile radio network.

Advantageously, said means for exchanging at least one multimedia message with a communication entity comprise means for receiving a notification transmitted from the multimedia messaging server and via the communication means of the wireless local area network, the notification signaling to the terminal that multimedia message has been received for his attention, and means for transmitting via the communication means of the wireless local area network, following said notification, a request to the attention of the multimedia messaging server to retrieve said multimedia message.

The invention further proposes a computer program on an information medium, comprising instructions adapted to the implementation of the aforementioned method, when said program is loaded and executed on the gateway through which the notification signaling to the terminal that a multimedia message has been received to his attention, is performed.

The invention also proposes a notification signal that can be transmitted in the context of a multimedia message transmission from a communication entity to a first terminal able to communicate with means of communication of a wireless local area network in the part of a subscription subscribed with a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network operated by said first operator. Said notification signal is transmitted from a gateway connected to the mobile radio network and via the communication means of the wireless local area network and is configured to signal to the first terminal that a multimedia message has been received at its attention at a server level. of multimedia messaging of the mobile radio network.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will emerge in the following description of nonlimiting exemplary embodiments, with reference to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a simplified example of a system according to invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an exemplary architecture of a system according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram corresponding to a first embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram corresponding to a second embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a system comprising means of communication 5 of a WLAN network, for example of the 802.11b type, as well as a mobile radio network 3, for example of the 2.5G or 3G type, such as a network.

GPRS ("General Packet Radio Service") or a UMTS network ("Universal

Mobile Telecommunication System ").

The means of communication 5 of the WLAN network (which is designated for simplicity as the "WLAN network 5" later) constitute for example a point of traffic flow type "hot spot". They are interconnected with the mobile radio network 3. This interconnection confers a certain level of interworking between the two networks, in accordance with the technical specification TS 23.234, "3GPP System to Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) interworking; ", V6.2.0, published in September 2004 by 3GPP. Interworking is thus provided at the transport level only, the mechanisms to be implemented at the level of the MMS service application layer that is the subject of the present invention and described below.

Note that the operator operating the mobile radio network 3 is also advantageously that which provides interworking with the WLAN 5. In other words, the networks 3 and 5 belong to the same PLMN ("Public Land Mobile Network"). A terminal 1 is able to communicate with the network 5 according to WLAN technology. The terminal 1 has characteristics in accordance with the aforementioned technical specification TS 23.234. In particular, it can be class WA (that is to say it has both 2.5G or 3G and WLAN type radio interfaces and can be attached simultaneously to both networks 3 and 5 ), of class WB (that is, it has both 2.5G or 3G and WLAN type radio interfaces, but it can only be attached to one of the two networks 3 and 5 at a time) or WC class (i.e. it has only one WLAN type radio interface). Moreover, the user of the terminal 1 has access to a multimedia messaging service, such as the MMS service for example, from the operator operating the network 3. This user has a subscription with the operator operating the network 3, linked to its SIM ("Subscriber Identity Module") or USIM ("UMTS SIM") card. In order to be able to exchange multimedia messages, the terminal 1 has a multimedia messaging client, for example an MMS client as provided in the MMS technical specifications of I ¹ OMA (Open Mobile Alliance), in particular the OMA-MMS-ENC standards and OMA-MMS-CTR in their version 1.1. Such an MMS client thus corresponds to that used for 2.5G or 3G mobile terminals.

According to the present invention, the terminal 1, which is under the coverage of the WLAN 5 exchanges MMS multimedia messages with a communication entity. This communication entity is, for example, a mobile terminal 2a capable of communicating with a mobile radio network, for example of the 2.5G or 3G type, a wireless terminal 2b capable of communicating with a WLAN network 6 or a fixed terminal 2c capable of communicating. with a fixed network 7. The communication entity may be associated with an MMS subscription with the same operator as the terminal 1, or with another operator. Alternatively, the communication entity may be a server 2d of a service or content provider interconnected to the mobile radio network 3.

The exchange of multimedia MMS messages between the terminal 1 and the entity of communication is as follows.

When it is the user of the terminal 1 who wishes to transmit an MMS to the user of the communication entity, the terminal 1 must first be authenticated on the mobile radio network 3 and on the WLAN network 5, then be attached to the WLAN 5 which allocates an IP address ("Internet Protocol"). The MMS dialed by the user of the terminal 1 is then transmitted over the WLAN 5 by the terminal 1. The WLAN 5 is interconnected to the mobile radio network 3. In particular, the WLAN 5 can communicate with a MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 of the network 3, and transmit him especially the MMS from the terminal 1. In other words, the WLAN 5 uses the same MMS RELAY / SERVER network 3. On receiving the MMS, the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 deals this message in terms of addressing and features. This processing is in line with that provided in the technical specification TS 23.140, "Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Functional description, Stage 2", published by the 3GPP.

If the recipient of the MMS uses a mobile terminal, for example the terminal 2a, the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 then transmits the MMS to this terminal in accordance with the above-mentioned technical specification TS 23.140, since the terminal 2a, being of the 2.5G or 3G is able to support standardized MMS features in 3GPP. It will be noted that the terminal 2a has been shown in FIG. 1 as directly communicating with the mobile radio network 3, that is to say, as being associated with a subscription with the operator operating this network 3. If the mobile terminal 2a is in fact associated with a subscription with another operator operating its own mobile radio network, the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 then transfers the received MMS to a second MMS RELAY / SERVER belonging to the mobile network of this other operator, and c is this second MMS RELAY / SERVER which ensures the transmission of the MMS to the mobile terminal in question.

If the MMS recipient uses a WLAN terminal having, like the terminal 1, capabilities to process MMS messages, for example the terminal 2b which is in connection with the WLAN 6, the operations to be implemented to route the MMS sent to this terminal are detailed below in the description (in a similar case where the terminal 1, attached to the WLAN network 5, receives an MMS from a remote terminal). As in the previous case, if the terminal 2b is associated with a subscription from an operator other than the one operating the network 3, a second MMS RELAY / SERVER provides relay between the different networks.

If the recipient of the MMS uses a fixed terminal, such as the terminal 2c which is in relation with the fixed network 7, the MMS is then transmitted from the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 to a second MMS RELAY / SERVER 8 of the fixed network 7, which carries the MMS to the terminal 2c in a manner known per se.

We are now interested in the case where the terminal 1 is the recipient of an MMS message from a communication entity.

When the communication entity is a fixed terminal, such as the terminal 2c, it transmits an MMS to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 8 of the fixed network 7 in a manner known per se. The MMS RELAY / SERVER 8 transfers this message to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 of the mobile radio network 3.

When the communication entity is a mobile terminal, such as the terminal 2a, it transmits an MMS to the RELAY / SERVER MMS of the mobile radio network on which it depends, in accordance with the above-mentioned technical specification TS 23.140.

When the communication entity is a WLAN type terminal, such as the terminal 2b, the transmission of the MMS is carried out as described above in the case where the terminal 1 is the sender of the MMS.

Once the MMS has been received by a MMS RELAY / SERVER, the latter transfers the MMS to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 of the mobile radio network 3. This step is of course only necessary if the operators on which the communication entity and the communication entity depend. terminal 1 are different (which is not the case in the examples shown in Figure 1). The MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 then sends a notification to the terminal 1 to inform it that an MMS has been received. This notification is advantageously a SMS WAP push, that is to say a short message whose sending was triggered using the WAP ("Wireless Application Protocol") Push to be routed to 1. Upon receipt of this notification, the terminal 1 is then free to recover or not the MMS addressed to it, as will be described in more detail later.

Hereinafter is described in more detail a particular embodiment of the invention. The system architecture for implementing this embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 2. The entities having the same function as corresponding entities of the system of FIG. 1 bear the same reference numbers. In particular, the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 is that of a mobile radio network 3, and is in accordance with the aforementioned technical specification TS 23.140.

The SM-SC ("Short Message Service Center") 11 and the GMSC / SMS-IWMSC 12 are as defined in TS 23.040 technical specification. , version 5.8.1, Release 5, "Digital cellular telecommunications System (Phase 2+);" Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), "Technical realization of Short Message Service (SMS)", published in October 2004 by 3GPP. These functional entities make it possible to route a notification of the SMS type to the destination terminal 1, by addressing it using its unique mobile identifier MSISDN ("Mobile International Station ISDN Number", where ISDN denotes "Integrated Service Digital Network"). .

When the destination terminal is the WLAN terminal 1, the routing of the notification is via the IP-SM-GW gateway ("IP Short Message Gateway") 13 as defined in Appendix D of the aforementioned technical specification 23.234. This gateway makes it possible to manage the access to the SMS service for any WLAN terminal, to associate with the MSISDN of the SMS recipient the IP address of its WLAN terminal and to change the transport protocol of this SMS notification so that it can be routed according to the IP protocol.

A gateway PDG ("Packet Data Gateway") 15, as defined in the technical specification 23.234 mentioned above, is also used. It has the particular function of a router allowing the exchange of data between a WLAN network (the network 5 in the example of FIG. 1) and an external network. (For example the mobile radio network 3 in the example of Figure 1).

Functional entities using the WAP protocol are also used in this embodiment of the invention. This is the case, in particular, of two WAP gateways: WAP GW ("WAP Gateway" or "proxy") 14 and WAP PPG ("WAP Push Proxy Gateway") 10. These gateways comply with WAP specifications. Forum and their functions are well known to those skilled in the art.

According to the present invention, the gateway IP-SM-GW 13 has additional functionalities compared to those provided in the technical specification 23.234. In particular, it is able to generate application transactions, materialized by the notifications that are named "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" and "MMS_WLAN_notification.RES". It also supports the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) hypertext transport protocol. It is able to temporarily store the notification "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" and return this notification "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" to the destination WLAN terminal in case of non-receipt or wrong reception of the response "MMS_WLAN_notification.RES" transmitted by the WLAN terminal.

The operating mode is as follows. When NP-SM-GW 13 receives from GMSC / SMS-IWMSC 12 a SMS WAP push corresponding to a notification sent by the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4, it then generates a new notification "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" which contains some information contained in the SMS WAP push received and sends it to the destination terminal 1. On receipt of the transaction "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ", the WLAN terminal 1 responds to I ¹ IP-SM-GW 13 with a transaction "MMS_WLAN_notification.RES" as a acknowledgment of receipt.

In case of non-compliant reception, the terminal 1 can respond to NP-SM-GW 13 in a notification "MMS_WLAN_notification.RES" in which a field specifies the cause of the non-compliance.

An example of the content of the transaction "MMS WLAN notification.REQ" is given in Table I below and a example of the content of the transaction "MMS__WLAN_notification.RES" is given in Table II below. These tables show fields of the corresponding transaction, with a mention of their mandatory or optional nature and a brief description. Of course, other optional fields could also be added.

Table I

Table Ii Figure 3 shows the information exchanged between certain functional entities of Figure 2, as part of the transmission of an MMS multimedia message from the WLAN terminal 1.

Once authenticated and authorized on the WLAN 5 network, the terminal 1 initiates the establishment of an IP tunnel to the CEO 15 (step 20). This is done advantageously via a so-called access gateway WAG ("WLAN Access Gateway"). The establishment of this IP tunnel makes possible the exchange of data between the terminal 1 and another entity of the network. It conforms to the procedure described in the aforementioned technical specification 23.234. During this tunnel establishment, the CEO 15 dynamically allocates an IP address to the WLAN terminal 1, which was previously identified only in relation to the mobile identifier MSISDN of its user. The CEO keeps the association between these two identifiers, namely IP address and MSISDN.

Once the IP tunnel is established, the terminal 1 can transmit a MMS composed by its user using the MMS client of this terminal (step 21).

This MMS is transmitted, as a data packet, to the CEO who routes it to the WAP GW 14 to which the CEO is connected via a Wi interface provided in the aforementioned technical specification 23.234. The WAP GW 14 authorizes access to the WAP architecture and then transfers the MMS to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 of the mobile radio network 3. It will be noted that the operator operating this network 3 also uses the functional entities providing the interface between the WLAN 5 and the mobile radio network 3, such as WAP

GW 14 for example.

A processing of the received MMS is then performed at the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 to route it to the destination communication entity (step 22). These processes, in accordance with those provided in the aforementioned technical specification 23.140, include notably a transfer of the MMS to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 16 of the operator to which the recipient (2a 'or 2c) of the message depends via an interface MM4, if this The operator is not the same as the one on which the terminal 1 depends. When the recipient of the MMS is a mobile terminal 2a or 2a 'or a fixed terminal 2c, the MMS

RELAY / SERVER (4 or 16) on which it depends then transmits the MMS in a conventional way. When the recipient is a WLAN terminal, such as the terminal 2b of Figure 1, the processing performed by the MMS RELAY / SERVER is performed as described below.

Note that if a given Access Point Name (APN) is used as part of the MMS service on the radio network mobile 5, so as to be able to charge the sending of MMS to the act, we can then reuse this APN on the WLAN 5. This allows a billing "seamless" between the MMS sending services regardless of the access network, mobile radio or WLAN. We now place ourselves in the case where the MMS must be transmitted from a communication entity, which may be a mobile terminal 2a, WLAN 2b or fixed 2c, or a server 2d of a service provider or content connected to the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4, to the WLAN terminal 1. It is considered that the terminal 1 is previously attached to the WLAN 5 and that it is registered at I ¹ IP-SM-GW 13 according to the procedure provided in the technical specification 23.234 supra.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4, after receiving an MMS from the communication entity, verifies that the destination terminal 1 has MMS capabilities. If this is the case, it generates a notification to the terminal 1 to notify it that an MMS has been received to it. This notification is transmitted to the WAP gateway PPG 10 (step 30).

The WAP gateway PPG 10 then creates a WAP Push message from the received notification. This WAP Push message contains the information contained in the notification. It is transmitted to the SM-SC 11 to which the WAP gateway PPG 10 is associated (step 31). The SM-SC 11, meanwhile, generates an SMS from the information received by the WAP PPG and transfers it to the GMSC / SMS-IWMSC 12.

The GMSC / SMS-IWMSC 12 then interrogates the HLR ("Home Location Register") or the HSS ("Home Subscriber Server"), that is to say a central database which includes information relating to the subscriber Terminal 1 user, to know the location of this terminal. It also verifies that the terminal 1 is of WLAN type, that is to say that it is able to communicate with a WLAN network. If the destination terminal 1 is a WLAN terminal (which is the case in the example illustrated in FIG. 1) and it is registered with an appropriate IP-SM-GW gateway (I ¹ IP-SM- GW 13 in the example illustrated in Figure 2), the address of this IP-SM-GW is then returned by the HLR / HSS at GMSC / SMS-IWMSC 12, as provided in the above-mentioned technical specification TS 23.234. The notification SMS is then relayed to I ¹ IP-SM-GW 13 (step 32).

L ¹ IP-SM-GW 13 delivers the notification to the terminal 1 as described above, using the application transaction "MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" (step 33).

The WLAN terminal 1 then confirms the good reception of the notification to L ¹ IP-SM-GW 13, using the application transaction "MMS_WLAN_notification.RES". In addition, the reception by the terminal 1 of the notification

"MMS_WLAN_notification.REQ" triggers the opening of a WAP session by the terminal 1. For this purpose, a WAP CONNECT transaction is conveniently established between the terminal 1 and the gateway WAP GW 14. As part of the WAP session, the terminal 1 transmits a WAP GET transaction intended for the MMS RELAY / SERVER 4 (the address of which was previously specified in the notification), this transaction having the purpose of requiring the recovery of the MMS message indicated by the notification ( step 34). Information relating to characteristics of the terminal 1 ("User Agent Profile") are also transmitted by the terminal 1.

Upon receipt of the recovery request, the MMS RELAY / SERVER

4 transmits the MMS in question to the terminal 1 (step 35). It advantageously adapts the content of the MMS to the characteristics of the terminal 1 indicated by its "User Agent Profile" (supported multimedia formats, screen size, etc.).

When transmitting an MMS between a WLAN terminal and a MMS RELAY / SERVER, signaling exchanges on the status of the MMS message can also take place. For example, an acknowledgment of receipt of the MMS can be issued. It will be noted that when the acknowledgment is sent by the MMS RELAY / SERVER at the request of the terminal, it can be transmitted according to a WAP push message and a notification SMS, as in the case described above. Similarly, an acknowledgment of reading by the recipient WLAN terminal of the MMS can be issued. Thus, once the MMS has been read, the destination terminal sends a read-write WAP transaction to its MMS RELAY / SERVER, according to the mechanisms described with reference to FIG. 3. The read receipt is then relayed by this MMS RELAY / SERVER to the MMS RELAY / SERVER of the sender of the MMS (if these two MMS RELAY / SERVER are different).

Note that the invention can be implemented using a computer program on an information medium, including instructions adapted to the implementation of the method described above, when the program is loaded and run on the gateway IP-SM-GW 13.

Claims

A method of transmitting multimedia messages between a first terminal (1) and a communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d), the first terminal (1) being able to communicate with communication means (5) of a wireless local area network under a subscribed subscription with a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network (3) operated by said first operator, in which at least one multimedia message is transmitted between the first terminal (1) and the communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network and a multimedia message server (4) of the mobile radio network (3), wherein the transmission of the multimedia message is performed from the communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) to the first terminal (1) and comprises the steps of: - receiving the multimedia message from of the communication entity

(2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) to the multimedia messaging server (4) of the mobile radio network (3);

transmitting, from the multimedia messaging server (4) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, a notification (30-33) signaling to the first terminal (1) that a multimedia message has been received at His attention ;

following the notification, transmitting, from the first terminal (1) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, a request (34) to the attention of the multimedia messaging server (4) with a view to recovering said multimedia message; and

transmitting, from the multimedia messaging server (4) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, said multimedia message to the first terminal (1), and in which the transmission, from the multimedia messaging server (4) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, of the notification (30-33) signaling to the first terminal (1) that a multimedia message has been received for its attention, is performed via a gateway (13) from which the first terminal is registered, said notification comprising an application transaction (33).

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising an acknowledgment, by the first terminal (1), of the receipt of said notification (30-33) signaling to the first terminal that a multimedia message has been received to its attention, said acknowledgment being performed using an application transaction.

3. Method according to claim 1 or 2, in which the communication entity is a second terminal (2a; 2b; 2c) able to communicate with communication means of a network among at least: a mobile radio network (3 ), a wireless local area network (6) and a fixed network (7).

4. Method according to claim 3, wherein the communication entity is a second terminal (2a; 2b; 2c) able to communicate with communication means of an exploited network (3; 6; 7) by a second operator. , and wherein the reception of the multimedia message from the communication entity to the multimedia radio mobile message server (4) (4) comprises receiving the multimedia message to the multimedia messaging server (4) from a second mobile server (4). multimedia messaging (16) of the network operated by the second operator, the second multimedia messaging server (16) being arranged to previously receive the multimedia message from the communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c).

The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication entity comprises a server (2d) of a service provider or content provider.

The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein each transmission from the first terminal (1) to the server multimedia messaging system (4) of the mobile radio network (3) is performed via at least one gateway (14; 15).

A communication system comprising means for implementing the multimedia message transmission method according to any one of the preceding claims.

Gateway (13) for the transmission of multimedia messages from a communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) to a first terminal (1) able to communicate with means of communication (5) of a local network without wire in the context of a subscription subscribed with a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network (3) operated by said first operator, the gateway comprising:

means for receiving a multimedia message from the communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; -32) signaling that a multimedia message has been received for the first terminal (1), and

means for transmitting to the first terminal (1), in response to a reception of said first notification, a second notification, via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, indicating that a multimedia message has been received at the attention of the first terminal (1), said second notification comprising an application transaction (33).

Terminal (1) capable of communicating with means of communication (5) of a wireless local area network in the context of a subscription subscribed with a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a radio network mobile device (3) operated by said first operator, the terminal comprising means for exchanging at least one multimedia message with a communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) via the communication means (5) of the local network wirelessly and a multimedia messaging server (4) of the mobile radio network (3), wherein said means for exchanging at least one multimedia message with a communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) comprises means to receive a notification (30-33) transmitted from the multimedia messaging server (4) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, the notification comprising an application transaction and signaling to the terminal (1) that multimedia message has been received for its attention, and means for transmitting via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network, following said notification, a request (34) to the attention of the multimedia messaging server (4) to retrieve said multimedia message.

10. Computer program on an information carrier, characterized in that it comprises instructions adapted to the implementation of a method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, when said program is loaded and executed on said gateway (13).

11. Notification signal adapted to be transmitted in the context of a multimedia message transmission from a communication entity (2a; 2b; 2c; 2d) to a first terminal (1) able to communicate with communication means (5). ) of a wireless local area network under a subscribed subscription with a first operator, the wireless local area network being interconnected with a mobile radio network (3) operated by said first operator, said notification signal being transmitted from a gateway (13) connected to the mobile radio network (3) and via the communication means (5) of the wireless local area network and being configured to carry an application transaction and signal to the first terminal (1) that a multimedia message has received at its attention at a multimedia messaging server (4) of the mobile radio network (3).