Data communication system to direct a user equipment to re-originate a media session invite having a wireless priority service (WPS) prefix over a long term evolution (LTE) network

• US 10,361,953 B1
• Filed: 02/16/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Bonn, Mark J., Asghari, Abdolreza, Kirby, James D., Mangiardi, Dominick, Susbilla, John Tayag
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Xavier Szewai
• Application Number:
  US15/044,819
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/12 using signalling between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

An Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) receives a media session invite having a Wireless Priority Service (WPS) prefix over a non-Long Term Evolution (LTE) network for a User Equipment (UE). The IMS identifies the WPS prefix and adds a Resource Priority Header (RPH) indicating that the media session invite is for a WPS call. The IMS transfers an authentication request to a WPS Application Server to authenticate the UE for the WPS call based on a UE identifier and receives an authentication response indicating that the UE is authenticated. The IMS determines that the media session invite was transferred over the non-LTE network and transfers an instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite over the LTE network. The UE receives the instruction and transfers the media session invite having the WPS prefix to the IMS over the LTE network.

Claims

1. A method of operating a data communication system having a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, a non-LTE network, and an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), the method comprising:

the IMS receiving a media session invite having a Wireless Priority Service (WPS) called number prefix over the non-LTE network for a User Equipment (UE);

the IMS identifying the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and adding a Resource Priority Header (RPH) to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for a WPS call;

the IMS transferring an authentication request for the media session invite for delivery to a WPS Application Server to authenticate the UE for the WPS call based on a UE identifier and responsively receiving an authentication response transferred by the WPS Application Server indicating that the UE is authenticated for the WPS call;

the IMS processing a source Internet Protocol (IP) address to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network and in response, transferring an instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network;

the UE receiving the instruction indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network and responsively transferring the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix for delivery to the IMS over the LTE network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS transferring the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) transferring a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) re-invite request to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS transferring the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) transferring a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) re-invite request to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS transferring the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) transferring a Mobile Terminated (MT) Short Message Service (SMS) message to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS transferring the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) transferring a Mobile Terminated (MT) Short Message Service (SMS) message to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS identifying the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and adding the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) identifying the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and adding the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS identifying the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and adding the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) identifying the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and adding the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the IMS processing the source IP address to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network further comprises the IMS processing a source port number to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, in response to receiving the instruction indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network, the UE registering with the LTE network and responsively transferring the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix for delivery to the IMS over the LTE network.

10. A data communication system having a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, a non-LTE network, and an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), the data communication system comprising:

the IMS configured to receive a media session invite having a Wireless Priority Service (WPS) called number prefix over the non-LTE network for a User Equipment (UE);

the IMS configured to identify the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and add a Resource Priority Header (RPH) to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for a WPS call;

the IMS configured to transfer an authentication request for the media session invite for delivery to a WPS Application Server to authenticate the UE for the WPS call based on a UE identifier and receive an authentication response transferred by the WPS Application Server indicating that the UE is authenticated for the WPS call;

the IMS configured to processing a source Internet Protocol (IP) address to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network and in response, transfer an instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network;

the UE configured to receive the instruction indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network and responsively transfer the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix for delivery to the IMS over the LTE network.

11. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to transfer the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) configured to transfer a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) re-invite request to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

12. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to transfer the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) configured to transfer a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) re-invite request to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

13. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to transfer the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) configured transfer a Mobile Terminated (MT) Short Message Service (SMS) message to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

14. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to transfer the instruction to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) configured to transfer a Mobile Terminated (MT) Short Message Service (SMS) message to the UE indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network.

15. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to identify the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and add the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call comprises a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) configured to identify the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and add the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call.

16. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to identify the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and add the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call comprises a Session Boarder Controller (SBC) configured to identify the WPS called number prefix in the media session invite and add the RPH to the media session invite indicating that the media session invite is for the WPS call.

17. The data communication system of claim 10 wherein the IMS configured to processing the source IP address to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network further comprises the IMS configured to process a source port number to determine that the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix was transferred over the non-LTE network.

18. The data communication system of claim 10 further comprising, in response to receiving the instruction indicating that the UE should re-originate the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix over the LTE network, the UE configured to register with the LTE network and responsively transfer the media session invite having the WPS called number prefix for delivery to the IMS over the LTE network.