Service provisioning in a communication system

• US 20040153547A1
• Filed: 04/18/2003
• Published: 08/05/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Trossen, Dirk
• Application Number:
  US10/418,313
• Publication Number:
  US 20040153547A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• 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 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The present invention relates to provision of information for assisting making of subscriptions to services provided by means of an event server in a communication system. In the method a query message is sent from a user equipment to the event server. A response is then created to the query message, said response including information about event packages that are supported by the event server. The response is transported to the user equipment where after descriptive information regarding said event packages is obtained based on the content of the response. A service is then selected at the user equipment based on said descriptive information, and a service subscription message is sent for the selected service.

Claims

1. A method of subscribing to services provided by means of an event server in a communication system, the method comprising:

sending from a user equipment a query message to the event server;

creating at the event server a response to the query message, said response including information about event packages that are supported by the event server;

transporting the response to the user equipment;

obtaining descriptive information regarding said event packages based on the content of the response;

selecting at the user equipment a service based on said descriptive information; and

sending a service subscription message for the selected service based on the response.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of obtaining descriptive information comprises obtaining descriptive information included in the response.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response contains a pointer to a database, and the method further comprises a step of retrieving said descriptive information by the user equipment using the pointer from the database.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining descriptive information comprises obtaining descriptive information included in a description of event packages.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the event packages in accordance with a session initiation protocol event protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the query message comprises an OPTIONS message in accordance with a session initiation protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises an ‘

200 OK’

message in accordance with a session initiation protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining descriptive information comprises obtaining descriptive information about the semantics of the event packages.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, based on the obtained descriptive information, whether any of the service packages meets requirements of a service application running at the user equipment, and wherein the selecting step is performed based on the results of said determining step.

10. A method of subscribing to services provided by means of event servers in a communication system, the method comprising:

storing, at a service discovery entity of the communication system, descriptive information regarding event packages supported by the event servers;

sending, from a user equipment, a service query message to the service discovery entity;

selecting, at the service discovery entity, at least one service matching the service query message;

generating a response including information regarding the selected at least one service, associated event packages and the event servers supporting said associated event packages;

transporting the response to the user equipment;

sending a service subscription message from the user equipment based on information obtained from the response.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of generating the response comprises generating the response including descriptive information regarding the selected event packages.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of generating the response comprises generating the response including contact points for the event servers supporting the selected services.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of storing comprises storing the descriptive information including a description of event packages.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprises providing the event packages are provided in accordance with a session initiation protocol event protocol.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the query message comprises a SUBSCRIBE message in accordance with a session initiation protocol.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the response comprises a ‘

NOTIFY’

message in accordance with a session initiation protocol.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending of descriptive information regarding event packages supported by an event server from the event server by means of a ‘

REGISTER’

message in accordance with the session initiation protocol.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending of descriptive information regarding event packages supported by an event server from the event server by means of a ‘

PUBLISH’

message in accordance with the session initiation protocol.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of storing comprises storing the descriptive information about the semantics of the event packages.

20. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining, based on the stored descriptive information, whether any of the service packages meets requirements of a service application running at the user equipment, and selecting at least one service based on the results of said determining step.

21. An event server arranged for operation in a communication system in accordance with a session initiation protocol event protocol, the event server being adapted to support at least one event service and to communicate information associated with a provision of said at least one event service, the event server comprising means for communicating an event package description to another entity connected to the communication system.

22. A service discovery system for responding to queries regarding services available in a communication system, comprising:

a storage medium for storing descriptive information regarding event packages supported by event servers;

a selector for selecting at least one service based on information in a service query message and said descriptive information stored in the storage medium; and

a processor for generating a response including information regarding the selected at least one service, associated event packages and the event servers supporting said associated event packages.

23. A service discovery system for subscribing to services provided by means of an event server in a communication system, comprising:

first sending means for sending from a user equipment a query message to the event server;

creating means for creating at the event server a response to the query message, said response including information about event packages that are supported by the event server;

transporting means for transporting the response to the user equipment;

obtaining means for obtaining descriptive information regarding said event packages based on the content of the response;

selecting means for selecting at the user equipment a service based on said descriptive information; and

sending means for sending a service subscription message for the selected service based on the response.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein said obtaining means comprises means for obtaining descriptive information included in the response.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the response contains a pointer to a database, and the system further comprises means for retrieving said descriptive information by the user equipment using the pointer from the database.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein said obtaining means comprises means for obtaining descriptive information included in a description of event packages.

27. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for providing the event packages in accordance with a session initiation protocol event protocol.