Abstract

This invention is directed to systems and methods for preserving delivery status notification information as a message transits from one type of network to another type of network. For incoming messages, the present invention takes a two-pronged approach whereby the delivery status notification information accompanying the incoming message is 1) mapped to the closest available options supported by the network and 2) preserved so that the original information may be fully recovered without loss at a later time. When messages are delivered within the network, the mapped delivery status notification information will generate the closest delivery status notifications supported by the network. For outgoing messages, the preserved delivery status notification information is extracted and used to set delivery status notification options. If the message is being transferred to the same type of network that originated the message, using the preserved delivery status notification information results in the original options being fully restored without loss of any kind. If the message is being sent to a different network than that generated the message, using the original delivery status notification information will result in the closest available options being selected. This two-pronged approach taken by the present invention minimizes the mapping losses under all circumstances.

Other References

• Moore et al., "An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications", University of Tennessee, pp. 1-39, Jan. 199