Method and system for providing directory based services

• US 20040249951A1
• Filed: 04/08/2003
• Published: 12/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valtrus Innovations Limited (f/k/a Dolya Holdco 9 Limited) (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: 3Com Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Grabelsky, David, Homeier, Michael, Tripathi, Anoop, Ramakrishna, Sudhakar
• Granted Patent: US 7,480,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• 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 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for providing directory based services is provided. The directory service may process an ambiguous destination identifier from a call-session request to multiple database entries in a directory server, and return an appropriately constructed response that can be interpreted by a user as a prompt for additional input to refine the destination identifier. The possible matches could be sent as a list of possible choices. The user can then select the desired match from the list and send a follow-on request including the selection to the directory server. Based on the selection, the directory server will then either send additional possible matches to the user or obtain a contact address corresponding to the selection. After resolving the ambiguous match to a unique destination identifier, a call can then be established.

Claims

1. A method of resolving a call-session request comprising:

receiving a call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier;

determining possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier; and

sending a response, the response containing at least a portion of a list of the possible matches of destination identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the call-session request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the SIP message is selected from the group consisting of an INVITE message, an OPTIONS message, a NOTIFY message, an ACK message, a BYE message, a CANCEL message, and a REGISTER message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial destination identifier is an incomplete destination identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial destination identifier is an ambiguous destination identifier that has more than one possible match.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial destination identifier includes information indicative of a username and a domain.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the call-session request includes a search request and the partial destination identifier, wherein the partial destination identifier is a search term.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the search term is in a form selected from the group consisting of an extensible markup language (XML) and a voice extensible markup language (VXML).

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a follow-on request that includes a second search term; and

based on the second search term, sending a follow-on response that includes information indicative of the given entry.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial destination identifier in the call-session request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) request uniform resource identifier (URI).

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier comprises matching names within the SIP request-URI to names within a database.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier comprises matching domains within the SIP request-URI to domains within a database.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the list further comprises corresponding contact addresses of the possible matches of destination identifiers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the contact addresses are IP addresses.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the response includes an IP address of the desired destination identifier.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein an entry in the list is recognized as a request for sending a second portion of the list of the possible matches of destination identifiers.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is executed within an application selected from the group consisting of a white pages application, a yellow pages application, and an interactive voice recognition unit.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a follow-on request that includes a selection of a given entry from the list; and

sending a follow-on response that includes information indicative of the given entry.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving subsequent follow-on requests; and

responsively sending subsequent follow-on responses,

wherein a given follow-on request includes a selection of an entry from a portion of the list that was sent in a previous follow-on response, and a given follow-on response includes information indicative of an entry from a previous follow-on request.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the information indicative of the given entry is a contact address.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein an entry in the list exactly matches the desired destination identifier.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the selection corresponds to the entry in the list that exactly matches the desired destination identifier.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is executed during a call.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is executed before establishing a call.

25. A method of resolving a call-session request comprising:

receiving a call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier and a search term, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier and the search term being indicative of additional information relating to the partial destination identifier;

determining possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier; and

using the search term, selecting a destination identifier from the possible matches of destination identifiers.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the call-session request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the SIP message is selected from the group consisting of an INVITE message, an OPTIONS message, a NOTIFY message, an ACK message, a BYE message, a CANCEL message, and a REGISTER message.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the partial destination identifier is a session initiation protocol (SIP) request uniform resource identifier (URI).

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the search term is in a form selected from the group consisting of an extensible markup language (XML) and a voice extensible markup language (VXML).

30. The method of claim 25, wherein selecting the destination identifier comprises:

matching the search term to a corresponding destination identifier; and

selecting the corresponding destination identifier.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein selecting the destination identifier comprises selecting the desired destination identifier.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising selecting an IP address corresponding to the destination identifier.

33. The method of claim 25, further comprising establishing a call.

34. A method of resolving a session initiation protocol (SIP) destination identifier comprising:

receiving an initial request that includes an ambiguous request-uniform resource identifier (URI), the ambiguous request-URI being insufficient to fully define a desired request-URI;

determining possible matches of request-URIs to the ambiguous request-URI; and

sending an initial response, the initial response including at least a portion of information indicative of the possible matches of request-URIs.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the initial response is a SIP 3XX response.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the portion of information indicative of the possible matches of request-URIs comprises a portion of a list of possible matches of request-URIs.

37. The method,of claim 36, wherein an entry in the list is determined to be a request for sending a second portion of the list of possible matches of request-URIs.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the initial request includes a SIP header which indicates that a search is requested

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the ambiguous request-URI indicates that a message body of the ambiguous request-URI contains search criteria.

40. The method of claim 34, wherein the ambiguous request-URI has an associated tag that contains search criteria.

41. The method of claim 34, wherein the initial request includes a tag to indicate what type of search is requested.

42. The method of claim 34, wherein a message body of the initial request is implemented with a service discovery protocol (SDP).

43. The method of claim 34, wherein a message body of the initial request is a voice extensible markup language (VXML) message body that contains encoded audio for voice-activated lookup.

44. The method of claim 34, wherein the portion of information indicative of the possible matches of request-URIs is a list of contact addresses corresponding to the possible matches of request-URIs, wherein each contact address has an associated tag that specifies a corresponding request-URI.

45. The method of claim 34, further comprising receiving a follow-on request that includes a selection of a given possible match to the ambiguous request-URI.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the follow-on request is recognized as a request for sending an additional portion of information indicative of the possible matches of request-URIs.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein sending the additional portion comprises sending a subsequent sub-list of possible matches of request-URIs.

48. The method of claim 45, further comprising sending a follow-on response that includes information indicative of the given possible match to the ambiguous request-URI.

49. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

receiving subsequent follow-on requests; and

responsively sending subsequent follow-on responses,

wherein a given follow-on request includes a selection of an entry from a portion of the information that was sent in a previous follow-on response, and a given follow-on response includes information indicative of an entry from a previous follow-on request.

50. A method of resolving a call-session request comprising:

sending a call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier;

receiving a response, the response containing at least a portion of a list of possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier;

sending a follow-on request that includes a selection of a given entry from the list; and

receiving a follow-on response that includes information indicative of the given entry.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the call-session request is a SIP method.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the SIP method is selected from the group consisting of an INVITE message, an OPTIONS message, a NOTIFY message, an ACK message, a BYE message, a CANCEL message, and a REGISTER message.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein the information indicative of the given entry is a contact address.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the contact address is an IP address.

55. The method of claim 50, wherein the follow-on request is recognized as a request for a second portion of the list of possible matches of destination identifiers.

56. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

sending subsequent follow-on requests; and

responsively receiving subsequent follow-on responses,

wherein a given follow-on request includes a selection of an entry from a portion of the list that was sent in a previous follow-on response, and a given follow-on response includes information indicative of an entry from a previous follow-on request.

57. The method of claim 50, wherein the method is executed within an application selected from the group consisting of a white pages application, a yellow pages application, and an interactive voice recognition unit.

58. A method of establishing a session initiation protocol (SIP) based multimedia connection comprising:

sending a call-session request to a directory server, the call-session request including an ambiguous request-uniform resource identifier (URI) and a search term, the ambiguous request-URI being insufficient to fully define a desired request-URI and the search term being indicative of additional information relating to the desired request-URI; and

connecting to a device having a destination identifier as defined by the desired request-URI.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the call-session request is a SIP method.

60. The method of claim 59, wherein the SIP method is selected from the group consisting of an INVITE message, an OPTIONS message, a NOTIFY message, an ACK message, a BYE message, a CANCEL message, and a REGISTER message.

61. The method of claim 58, wherein the search term more fully defines the desired request-URI.

62. The method of claim 61, wherein the search term is in a form selected from the group consisting of an extensible markup language (XML) and a voice extensible markup language (VXML).

63. The method of claim 58, wherein the SIP based multimedia connection is selected from the group consisting of an Internet telephone call, a videoconference, and a multicast session.

64. The method of claim 58, wherein before connecting to the device, the method further comprises:

receiving a response from the directory server, wherein the response contains at least a portion of a list of possible matches of request-URIs to the ambiguous request-URI; and

sending a follow-on request that includes a selection of a given entry from the list,

wherein the given entry indicates the destination identifier of the device.

65. A directory server comprising:

a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface operable to receive a SIP call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier; and

a redirect server coupled to the SIP interface and operable to access a database for possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier, the redirect server further being operable to send a response that contains at least a portion of a list of the possible matches of destination identifiers.

66. The directory server of claim 65, wherein in response to receiving a follow-on request that includes a selection of a given entry from the list, the redirect server sends a follow-on response that includes information indicative of the given entry.

67. The directory server of claim 66, wherein the information indicative of the given entry is a contact address.

68. The directory server of claim 66, wherein the redirect server is operable to send subsequent follow-on requests and the SIP interface is operable to receive subsequent follow-on responses, wherein a given follow-on request includes a selection of an entry from a portion of the list that was sent in a previous follow-on response, and a given follow-on response includes information indicative of an entry from a previous follow-on request.

69. The directory server of claim 65, wherein the redirect server further responds to requests to write to the database.

70. The directory server of claim 65, wherein the redirect server updates entries in the database in response to receiving an update request.

71. The directory server of claim 65, further comprising a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) interface.

72. A user-agent application comprising:

a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface operable to send a call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier, the SIP interface further operable to receive a response that contains at least a portion of a list of possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier; and

a user interface for receiving a selection of a given entry from the list by a user and to direct the SIP interface to send the selection to request additional information of the given entry.

73. The user-agent application of claim 72, wherein the user agent application resides within a device selected from the group consisting of a SIP end station, a SIP network phone, a SIP network mobile phone, a personal computer, and a network application server.

74. The user-agent application of claim 72, wherein the selection requests a contact address corresponding to the given entry.

75. The user-agent application of claim 72, wherein the selection requests a second portion of the list of possible matches of destination identifiers.

76. The user-agent application of claim 72, wherein the user interface is operable to present the list of possible matches of destination identifiers to the user in order to receive the selection of a given entry from the list.

77. The user-agent application of claim 72, wherein the user interface is operable to prompt the user for an input based on a type of a response received.

78. The user-agent application of claim 72, further comprising an audio input interface.

79. A system comprising:

a directory server operable to receive a session initiation protocol (SIP) call-session request that includes a partial destination identifier, the partial destination identifier being insufficient to fully define a desired destination identifier, the directory server further operable to search a database for possible matches of destination identifiers to the partial destination identifier and to send a response that contains at least a portion of a list of the possible matches of destination identifiers;

a user-agent application operable to receive the response and to send a selection of a given entry from the list to the directory server using the SIP; and

a session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling link between the directory server and the user-agent application.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein the SIP signaling link includes components selected from the group consisting of an access network and a data network.