Method and system for collecting opinions of push-to-talk over cellular participants in push-to-talk over cellular network

• US 20060234745A1
• Filed: 03/22/2006
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Sung-Jin, Jung, Bo-Sun, Sung, Sang-Kyung, Park, Joon-Goo
• Granted Patent: US 7,577,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2230/00 Voting or election arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/08 Trunked mobile radio systems

Abstract

A method and system collect opinions of PoC clients in a PoC network, and provide a PoC system with an opinion voting function capable of collecting the opinions and performing an opinion voting procedure regardless of whether a floor is used when a user collects the opinion. The method includes transmitting a message including a request to use a voting function and content to be voted from an arbitrary user in a group to a session management server, determining whether the voting function is occupied by another user in the group, transmitting the content to be voted to the other users in the group when the voting function is not occupied by another user, and transmitting a response of the content to be voted.

Claims

1. A method for collecting opinions of push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) participants in a PoC network, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a message including a request to use a voting function and content to be voted from an arbitrary user in a group to a session management server;

determining, by the session management server, whether or not the voting function is occupied by another user in the group;

transmitting, by the session management server, the content to be voted to the other users belonging to the group when it is determined that the voting function is not occupied by another user; and

transmitting, by the other group users, a response of the content to be voted.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising informing the user requesting the voting function that the voting function is occupied by another user, when it is determined that the voting function is occupied by another user.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising informing, by the session management server, the group users of vote results, after the step of transmitting the response of the content to be voted.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising collecting, by the session management server, vote result statistics, after transmitting the response of the content to be voted.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message including the request to use the voting function and the content to be voted uses a Talk Burst Control Protocol (TBCP) message of a Real-time Transport Control Protocol Application (RTCP APP) packet.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the TBCP message for providing the request to use the voting function and the content to be voted selects a reserved value of a subtype field of the RTCP APP packet.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the RTCP APP packet has a Synchronization Source (SSRC) field including a source of the user requesting the voting function in order to request use of the voting function.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the content to be voted is recorded in an application-dependent data field of the RTCP APP packet.

9. A method for collecting opinions of push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) clients in a PoC network, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting, by an arbitrary user in a group, a session management server to use a voting function;

determining, by the session management server, whether the voting function is occupied by another user in the group;

informing, by the session management server, the user requesting use of the voting function that the voting function can be used at present when it is determined that the voting function is not occupied by another user in the group;

transmitting, by a user receiving a voting function available signal, the content to be voted to the session management server;

transmitting, by the session management server, the content to be voted to the other users in the group; and

transmitting, by the other group users, a response of the content to be voted.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising informing the user requesting the voting function that the voting function is occupied by another user, when it is determined that the voting function is occupied by another user.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising informing, by the session management server, the group users of vote results, after transmitting the response of the content to be voted.

12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising collecting, by the session management server, vote result statistics, after the step of transmitting the response of the content to be voted.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the message including the request to use the voting function and the content to be voted uses a Talk Burst Control Protocol (TBCP) message of a Real-time Transport Control Protocol Application (RTCP APP) packet.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the RTCP APP packet has a Synchronization Source (SSRC) field including a source of the user requesting the voting function in order to request use of the voting function.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein the content to be voted in the step of transmitting the content to be voted to the session management server after the voting function available signal received is prepared and transmitted in an Extensible Mark-up Language (XML).

16. A system for collecting opinions of push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) clients in a PoC network, the system comprising:

an arbitrary client for making a request to use a voting function;

at least one client for participating in the voting function requested by the arbitrary client; and

a session management server for determining, when the request to use the voting function is transmitted from the arbitrary client, whether the voting function is occupied by another user, and transmitting the content to be voted to the other users belonging to a group when it is determined that the voting function is not occupied by another user.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein, when the voting function is occupied by another user, the session management server informs the user requesting the voting function that the voting function is occupied by another user.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the session management server collects vote result statistics when receiving the response of the content to be voted from the group users, and informs the group users of vote results.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the message including the request to use the voting function and the content to be voted uses a Talk Burst Control Protocol (TBCP) message of a Real-time Transport Control Protocol Application (RTCP APP) packet.

20. The system according to claim 16, wherein the RTCP APP packet has a Synchronization Source (SSRC) field including a source of the user requesting the voting function in order to request use of the voting function.

21. The system according to claim 16, wherein the content to be voted is recorded in an application-dependent data field of the RTCP APP packet.

22. The method according to claim 16, wherein the content to be voted in the step of transmitting the content to be voted to the session management server after the voting function available signal received is prepared and transmitted in an Extensible Mark-up Language (XML).

23. A terminal for requesting a voting function in order to collect opinions of push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) clients in a PoC network, the terminal comprising:

a control part for controlling an overall function of the terminal; and

an opinion voting function request part for requesting opinion voting from a session management server when a request to use the voting function is made.

24. A session management server for providing a voting function in order to collect opinions of push-to-talk-over-cellular (PoC) clients in a PoC network, wherein the session management server:

determines whether the voting function is occupied by another user in a group when a request to use the voting function is transmitted from an arbitrary client in the group, and transmits the content to be voted to the other users belonging to the group when it is determined that the voting function is not occupied by another user in the group.