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RCS Business Messaging Glossary
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The following list defines some of the key terms you should know when developing
with RCS Business Messaging.
A
- A2P
- Application-to-person. An interaction between an application and a user,
initiated by the application.
- agent
- A conversational representation of a brand, managed by a partner. Includes any
interface users interact with and any code or infrastructure required to power
the interaction.
B
- brand
- An organization or group represented by one or more agents.
C
- capabilities
- The features that a device supports.
- carousel
- A horizontal array of cards that the viewer can swipe left to right and select
from.
- Cloud Pub/Sub
- A fully-managed real-time messaging service that lets you send and receive
messages between independent applications.
- conversation
- A series of messages between two parties over time.
D
- device
- A piece of hardware that can receive messages, regardless of make, vendor, or
form factor.
- Dialogflow
- Google's natural language understanding (NLU) developer tool for building
conversational experiences for the Google Assistant. It uses machine learning to
understand the intent and context of what a user says in order to respond in the
most useful way. To integrate Dialogflow with your RBM agent, refer to
Dialogflow integration.
E
- event
- An occasion that conveys information, such as a delivery receipt.
G
- Google RCS platform documentation
- The documentation or other materials for the use of the Google RCS Services as
may be provided and updated by Google from time to time. The Google RCS
documentation is located at http://docs.jibemobile.com.
M
- message
- A discrete set of content (text, media, etc.) sent from one party to another.
- MSISDN
- Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number. A number used to
identify a device internationally. A phone number.
N
- Natural Language Understanding
- Advanced natural language processing that "reads" the content of the message.
Used for entity detection, topic classification, sentiment detection, and more.
- NLU
- Natural Language Understanding.
P
- P2A
- Person-to-application. An interaction between an application and a user,
initiated by the user.
- partner
- An individual or group that consumes APIs to create, manage, or operate one
or more agents. May be an aggregator, a customer service provider, a brand, a
carrier, or any other type of organization or individual.
R
- RBM
- RCS Business Messaging.
- RCS
- Rich Communications Services.
- RCS Business Messaging
- A developer platform that lets you communicate with users over RCS.
- reputation score
- An agent's overall performance based on user feedback and other signals,
including spam reports.
- rich card
- A rectangular unit that can contain an image, a video thumbnail, text, and
suggested reply and suggested action buttons. Can be presented individually or
in a carousel.
- Rich Communications Services
- A standards-based communication protocol that brings rich messaging
functionality to carrier networks.
- record level detail
- In the context of RBM billing reports, the information exchanged between
agents and end users (identified by MSISDN) and includes the date, time, data
transfer, direction, type (such as text-based message, rich cards, file
transfer, spam reports, etc.), and billing session information pertaining to
such events, but not message content.
S
- Safe Browsing
- A Google service that identifies and warns users about potentially dangerous
websites and downloads. It works by maintaining a constantly updated list of
unsafe sites, including those known for malware, phishing, and unwanted
software. Safe Browsing
protection extends beyond web browsers to other Google products like Gmail and
Search, as well as platforms like Google Messages and iOS, helping to safeguard
users across various applications and devices.
- session
- A time-bound grouping of interactions, such as messages sent in a conversation.
- SIP
- Session Initiation Protocol.
- suggested action
- A suggestion to trigger an on-device action.
- suggested reply
- A suggestion to reply with predefined text.
- summary billing information
- In the context of RBM billing reports, this is an agent's billing session
information without end user identifiers. It may include the date, time, billing
event type (like a Single Message or A2P Conversation), duration, size
(in terms of data transferred), and depth (in terms of messages sent) of
sessions.
T
- traffic limit
- The number of conversations the agent can initiate per user per month based on
the reputation level.
U
- Universal Profile
- A common set of configuration parameters and functionality for RCS deployments,
which is published by the GSMA and accepted by Google and intended to be the
single global implementation for RCS.
W
- Webhook
- A partner-specified URL where the RBM platform posts
messages
and
events.
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Last updated 2025-04-03 UTC.
[null,null,["Last updated 2025-04-03 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eRCS Business Messaging involves interactions between applications and users (A2P) or vice versa (P2A), facilitated by agents that represent brands.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eKey elements in RCS Business Messaging include messages, conversations, carousels, and rich cards, which enhance user interaction.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe platform uses Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and services like Dialogflow to enhance conversational capabilities, understanding user intent.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003ePartners manage and operate agents, while brands are the organizations represented through these agents within the RCS Business Messaging ecosystem.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebhooks and events are crucial for real-time communication, and Google's Safe Browsing service ensures the safety of users interacting with this platform.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# RCS Business Messaging Glossary\n\nThe following list defines some of the key terms you should know when developing\nwith RCS Business Messaging.\n\nA\n---\n\nA2P\n: Application-to-person. An interaction between an application and a user,\n initiated by the application.\n\nagent\n: A conversational representation of a brand, managed by a partner. Includes any\n interface users interact with and any code or infrastructure required to power\n the interaction.\n\nB\n---\n\nbrand\n: An organization or group represented by one or more agents.\n\nC\n---\n\ncapabilities\n: The features that a device supports.\n\ncarousel\n: A horizontal array of cards that the viewer can swipe left to right and select\n from.\n\nCloud Pub/Sub\n: A fully-managed real-time messaging service that lets you send and receive\n messages between independent applications.\n\nconversation\n: A series of messages between two parties over time.\n\nD\n---\n\ndevice\n: A piece of hardware that can receive messages, regardless of make, vendor, or\n form factor.\n\nDialogflow\n: Google's natural language understanding (NLU) developer tool for building\n conversational experiences for the Google Assistant. It uses machine learning to\n understand the intent and context of what a user says in order to respond in the\n most useful way. To integrate Dialogflow with your RBM agent, refer to\n [Dialogflow integration](/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/guides/integrate/df).\n\nE\n---\n\nevent\n: An occasion that conveys information, such as a delivery receipt.\n\nG\n---\n\nGoogle RCS platform documentation\n: The documentation or other materials for the use of the Google RCS Services as\n may be provided and updated by Google from time to time. The Google RCS\n documentation is located at \u003chttp://docs.jibemobile.com\u003e.\n\nM\n---\n\nmessage\n: A discrete set of content (text, media, etc.) sent from one party to another.\n\nMSISDN\n: Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number. A number used to\n identify a device internationally. A phone number.\n\nN\n---\n\nNatural Language Understanding\n: Advanced natural language processing that \"reads\" the content of the message.\n Used for entity detection, topic classification, sentiment detection, and more.\n\nNLU\n: Natural Language Understanding.\n\nP\n---\n\nP2A\n: Person-to-application. An interaction between an application and a user,\n initiated by the user.\n\npartner\n: An individual or group that consumes APIs to create, manage, or operate one\n or more agents. May be an aggregator, a customer service provider, a brand, a\n carrier, or any other type of organization or individual.\n\nR\n---\n\nRBM\n: RCS Business Messaging.\n\nRCS\n: Rich Communications Services.\n\nRCS Business Messaging\n: A developer platform that lets you communicate with users over RCS.\n\nreputation score\n: An agent's overall performance based on user feedback and other signals,\n including spam reports.\n\nrich card\n: A rectangular unit that can contain an image, a video thumbnail, text, and\n suggested reply and suggested action buttons. Can be presented individually or\n in a carousel.\n\nRich Communications Services\n: A standards-based communication protocol that brings rich messaging\n functionality to carrier networks.\n\nrecord level detail\n: In the context of RBM billing reports, the information exchanged between\n agents and end users (identified by MSISDN) and includes the date, time, data\n transfer, direction, type (such as text-based message, rich cards, file\n transfer, spam reports, etc.), and billing session information pertaining to\n such events, but not message content.\n\nS\n---\n\nSafe Browsing\n: A Google service that identifies and warns users about potentially dangerous\n websites and downloads. It works by maintaining a constantly updated list of\n unsafe sites, including those known for malware, phishing, and unwanted\n software. [Safe Browsing](https://safebrowsing.google.com/)\n protection extends beyond web browsers to other Google products like Gmail and\n Search, as well as platforms like Google Messages and iOS, helping to safeguard\n users across various applications and devices.\n\nsession\n: A time-bound grouping of interactions, such as messages sent in a conversation.\n\nSIP\n: Session Initiation Protocol.\n\nsuggested action\n: A suggestion to trigger an on-device action.\n\nsuggested reply\n: A suggestion to reply with predefined text.\n\nsummary billing information\n: In the context of RBM billing reports, this is an agent's billing session\n information without end user identifiers. It may include the date, time, billing\n event type (like a Single Message or A2P Conversation), duration, size\n (in terms of data transferred), and depth (in terms of messages sent) of\n sessions.\n\nT\n---\n\ntraffic limit\n: The number of conversations the agent can initiate per user per month based on\n the reputation level.\n\nU\n---\n\nUniversal Profile\n: A common set of configuration parameters and functionality for RCS deployments,\n which is published by the GSMA and accepted by Google and intended to be the\n single global implementation for RCS.\n\nW\n---\n\nWebhook\n: A partner-specified URL where the RBM platform posts\n [messages](/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/guides/build/messages/receive)\n and\n [events](/business-communications/rcs-business-messaging/guides/build/events)."]]