Systems and methods for emergency call route failover

• US 10,716,018 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2020
• Issued: 07/14/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mufti, Shujaur Rehman, Hooker, William Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Fang, Pakee
• Application Number:
  US16/749,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20200162946A1
• Time in Patent Office: 174 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A system and method for performing an emergency call route failover between an Emergency Call Session Control Function (E-CSCF) and multi-homed remote end-point functions such as Border Gateway Control Function (BGCF)/Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) or Interconnection Border Control Function (IBCF) in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) uses Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and/or Domain Name System (DNS) methods. The E-CSCF and/or a DNS server monitors the availability of the remote end-points to create a peer list of route options. The E-CSCF or the DNS server selects a route option from the peer list to route an emergency call to an appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). In the event that the route option fails, the E-CSCF fails over to the next available route option to route the emergency call.

Claims

1. At least one machine-readable medium, excluding transitory signals, having stored thereon instructions, which when executed by at least one machine, implements redundancy in routing emergency calls via gateway nodes in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network by causing the at least one machine to:

receive a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request associated with an emergency call;

create a dynamic peer list including gateway nodes that successfully respond to a SIP OPTIONS request;

select a gateway node from the dynamic peer list;

initiate a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the selected gateway node to deliver the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

detect a failover condition when the selected gateway node fails to respond to the SIP INVITE request within a time period; and

in response to the failover condition, continue to select a new gateway node from the dynamic peer list and initiate a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the new gateway node until a successful response to the SIP INVITE request is received by the E-CSCF.

2. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further determine, based on presence or absence of information relating to Interconnection Border Control Function (IBCF) or Session Border Controller (SBC), whether to dynamically create the dynamic peer list including IBCF servers as gateway nodes or Border Gateway Control Function (BGCF) servers or Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) servers as gateway nodes.

3. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further:

obtain, from a location server, routing information for the PSAP, wherein the routing information for the PSAP includes routing information for a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) PSAP or an Internet Protocol (IP) PSAP, and

wherein the routing information for the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP includes an Emergency Service Routing Key (ESRK) that is used by the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP to request location information associated with the emergency call.

4. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the dynamic peer list is updated based on responses from the gateway nodes.

5. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further:

determine a failed status when a gateway node from the multiple gateway nodes fails to provide a response to the SIP OPTION message within a set time period; and

generate a request timeout error when no response is received from the selected gateway node.

6. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the gateway node is selected from the dynamic peer list based on:

round-robin scheduling,

geographical scheduling,

area code/Automatic Number Identification (“

ANI”

), or

any combination thereof.

7. A computer-implemented method for implementing redundancy in routing emergency calls via nodes in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the method comprising:

receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request associated with an emergency call;

creating a dynamic peer list including nodes that successfully respond to a SIP OPTIONS request;

selecting a node from the dynamic peer list;

initiating a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the selected node to deliver the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP),

detecting a failover condition when the selected node fails to respond to the SIP INVITE request within a time period; and

in response to the failover condition, continuing to select a new node from the dynamic peer list and initiate a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the new node until a successful response to the SIP INVITE request is received by the E-CSCF.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining, based on presence or absence of information relating to Interconnection Border Control Function (IBCF) or Session Border Controller (SBC), whether to dynamically create the dynamic peer list including IBCF servers as gateway nodes or Border Gateway Control Function (BGCF) servers or Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) servers as gateway nodes.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

obtaining, from a location server, routing information for the PSAP, wherein the routing information for the PSAP includes routing information for a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) PSAP or an Internet Protocol (IP) PSAP, and

wherein the routing information for the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP includes an Emergency Service Routing Key (ESRK) that is used by the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP to request location information associated with the emergency call.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the dynamic peer list is updated based on responses from the nodes.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 further comprising:

determining a failed status when a node from the dynamic peer list fails to provide a response to the SIP OPTION message within a set time period; and

generating a request timeout error when no response is received from the selected node.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the node is selected from the dynamic peer list based on:

round-robin scheduling,

geographical scheduling,

area code/Automatic Number Identification (“

ANI”

), or

any combination thereof.

13. A system for implementing redundancy in routing emergency calls via gateway nodes in an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the system comprising:

at least one hardware processor;

at least one non-transitory memory, coupled to the at least one hardware processor and storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one hardware processor, perform a process, the process comprising;

receiving a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request associated with an emergency call;

creating a dynamic peer list including gateway nodes that successfully respond to a SIP OPTIONS request;

selecting a gateway node from the dynamic peer list;

initiating a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the selected gateway node to deliver the emergency call to a public safety answering point (PSAP);

detecting a failover condition when the selected gateway node fails to respond to the SIP INVITE request within a time period; and

in response to the failover condition, continuing to select a new gateway node from the dynamic peer list and initiate a SIP INVITE request associated with the emergency call towards the new gateway node until a successful response to the SIP INVITE request is received by the E-CSCF.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further determine, based on presence or absence of information relating to Interconnection Border Control Function (IBCF) or Session Border Controller (SBC), whether to dynamically create the dynamic peer list including IBCF servers as gateway nodes or Border Gateway Control Function (BGCF) servers or Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF) servers as gateway nodes.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further:

obtain, from a location server, routing information for the PSAP, wherein the routing information for the PSAP includes routing information for a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) PSAP or an Internet Protocol (IP) PSAP, and

wherein the routing information for the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP includes an Emergency Service Routing Key (ESRK) that is used by the PSTN PSAP or the IP PSAP to request location information associated with the emergency call.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the dynamic peer list is updated based on responses from the gateway nodes.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further:

determine a failed status when a gateway node from the multiple gateway nodes fails to provide a response to the SIP OPTION message within a set time period; and

generate a request timeout error when no response is received from the selected gateway node.