One-to-one communication
First Claim
1. A method for establishing a one-to-one voice communication in a communications system having different control plane and user-plane logical entities, comprising the steps of starting a one-to-one call by call setup signaling embedded in a user-plane traffic sent from a calling subscriber to one of said user-plane logical entities, said embedded signaling identifying a called subscriber, establishing, in response to said embedded call setup signaling, a logical call path between the ones of said user-plane entities which are to be involved in routing of the call related user-plane traffic, assigning a call identifier to said call, and forwarding any subsequent user-plane traffic relating said call and containing said call identifier over said call path from said calling subscriber to said called subscriber.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A packet mode (e.g. IP) communication service layer is provided on top of a standard mainstream cellular radio network. Conceptually, the communication layer comprises a pair of basic logical entities, an application bridge and a call processing server (CPS). The bridge and the CPS run packet mode communication service applications, which communicate with packet mode communication service application(s) in a mobile station MS over the IP connections provided by the radio network. The CPS is responsible for control plane management of communications. Embedded user-plane signaling is used for connecting call parties for a packet mode speech two-party (one-to-one) communication. Embedded signaling in the user-plane'"'"'s bearer makes it unnecessary to reserve another bearer for the control plane'"'"'s signaling, which saves network resources and allows to achieve a short connection setup time.
116 Citations
47 Claims
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1. A method for establishing a one-to-one voice communication in a communications system having different control plane and user-plane logical entities, comprising the steps of
starting a one-to-one call by call setup signaling embedded in a user-plane traffic sent from a calling subscriber to one of said user-plane logical entities, said embedded signaling identifying a called subscriber, establishing, in response to said embedded call setup signaling, a logical call path between the ones of said user-plane entities which are to be involved in routing of the call related user-plane traffic, assigning a call identifier to said call, and forwarding any subsequent user-plane traffic relating said call and containing said call identifier over said call path from said calling subscriber to said called subscriber.
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8. A method for establishing a one-to-one voice communication in a communications system having different control plane and user-plane logical entities, said method comprising the steps of
starting a packet-mode voice communication by sending a user-plane leader packet from a calling user to a first user-specific logical user-plane network entity serving said calling user, said leader packet containing identifier of said sending user and a receiving user, creating, in response to receiving said user-plane leader packet from said calling user, a logical user-plane channel between said first user-plane entity and a second user-specific logical user-plane network entity serving said called user, assigning a call identifier to said call, sending a user-plane leader packet from said second user-plane entity to said called user, said leader packet containing said call identifier, notifying said call identifier to the calling user by a user-plane communication, sending user-plane voice packets provided with said call identifier from said calling user to said first user-plane entity, forwarding said user-plane voice packets to said called user over said logical channel and via said second user-plane entity.
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24. A communications system, comprising
logical control plane network entities, logical user-plane network entities, user terminals supporting packet-mode one-to-one voice communication, each of said user terminals having a one-to-one call setup mechanism sending call setup signaling embedded in a user-plane traffic to one of said user-plane logical entities, said embedded user-plane signaling identifying a called user terminal, a first mechanism establishing, in response to receiving said embedded user-plane call setup signaling, a logical call path between the ones of said user-plane entities which are to be involved with routing of user-plane traffic related to said call, and said logical user-plane entities having a second mechanism forwarding any subsequent user-plane traffic relating to said call over said call path from said calling subscriber to said called subscriber.
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27. A communications system, comprising
logical control plane network entities, at least first and second user terminal supporting packet-mode one-to-one voice communication, a dedicated user-specific logical user-plane network entity for each user terminal, each user terminal having a one-to-one call setup mechanism sending a user-plane leader packet to a respective one of said first user-plane network entities in order to start a one-to-one voice call, said leader packet containing identifier of a calling user I and a called user, means responsive to receiving said user-plane leader packet from said calling user for creating a logical user-plane channel between a user-plane network entity of a calling user terminal to a user-plane network entity of a called user terminal, means for assigning a call identifier for said call, means for notifying said call identifier to the calling user terminal, means at said user-plane network entity of said called user for sending a user-plane leader packet from said user-plane network entity of said called user terminal to said called user terminal, said leading packet containing said call identifier, means at said first and second user-plane network entities for forwarding user-plane voice packets sent by said calling user terminal and provided with said call identifier to said called user terminal over said logical user-plane channel.
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41. A network element for a communication system, said network element comprising a dedicated user-plane logical network entity for at least one user terminal supporting a one-to-one voice communication, said user-plane network entity comprising
(i) means for receiving a user-plane leader packet sent by a calling user terminal in order to start a one-to-one voice call, said leader packet containing identifier of a calling user and a called user, (ii) means for creating a logical channel to a user-plane network entity of said called user terminal in response to receiving said user-plane leader packet, (iii) means for assigning a call identifier, (iv) means for notifying the calling user terminal of said call identifier by a user-plane communication, (v) means for sending a user-plane leader packet from said second user-plane entity to said called user, said leader packet containing said call identifier, (vi) means for forwarding user-plane voice packets sent by said calling user terminal and provided with said call identifier to said user-plane network entity of said called user terminal over said logical channel.
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42. A user terminal for communications system, said user terminal comprising
a one-to-one call setup mechanism sending a user-plane leader packet to a user-specific logical user-plane network entity in order to start a one-to-one voice call, said leader packet containing identifier of a calling user and a called user, means for starting to send user-plane voice packets to said user-plane network entity in response to receiving a user-plane call setup acknowledgement packet containing a call identifier, said voice packets containing said call identifier.
Specification