Using reachability information to facilitate peer-to-peer communications

• US 20070025270A1
• Filed: 07/26/2005
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Sylvain, Dany
• Granted Patent: US 7,769,017 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

The present invention allows originating endpoints to obtain reachability information from a directory service, which collects contact and related information from available users. When initiating a peer-to-peer communication session to an endpoint of a destination user, the originating endpoint will access the directory service to obtain reachability information for the destination user. The reachability information may contain one or more addresses, one of which will be a peer-to-peer communication session address. From the reachability information, the originating terminal will determine an appropriate address to initiate communications with the destination user. The reachability information may identify multiple addresses, where only certain of the addresses may be peer-to-peer communication addresses and other addresses may be used to establish other types of sessions through disparate types of networks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining reachability information for a destination user from a directory service, the reachability information comprising at least one peer-to-peer communication address associated with the destination user; and

initiating a peer-to-peer communication session using the at least one peer-to-peer communication address.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reachability information comprises a plurality of addresses, including the at least one peer-to-peer communication address, associated with the destination user and further comprising:

determining a primary address and an alternate address from the plurality of addresses;

initiating a first communication session using the primary address, and if the first communication session is not established, initiating a second communication session using the alternate address, wherein either the first or second communication session is the peer-to-peer communication session.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the reachability information comprises a plurality of addresses, including the at least one peer-to-peer communication address, associated with the destination user and further comprising:

determining a first and second address from the plurality of addresses; and

substantially simultaneously initiating a first and second communication session using the first and second addresses.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the reachability information comprises a plurality of addresses, including the at least one peer-to-peer communication address and a non-peer-to-peer communication address, associated with the destination user and further comprising initiating first and second communication sessions using the at least one peer-to-peer communication address and the non-peer-to-peer communication address.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the second communication session initiated using the non-peer-to-peer communication address is initiated via cellular communications.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the first communication session initiated using the peer-to-peer communication address is initiated using local wireless communications.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the reachability information comprises selection indicia and a plurality of addresses, including the peer-to-peer communication address, associated with the destination user and further wherein selecting at least one of the plurality of addresses to use for initiating a communication session with the destination user is based on the selection indicia.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein selecting the at least one of the plurality of addresses further comprises selecting a plurality of addresses to use for initiating communication sessions with the destination user based on the selection indicia.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein selecting the at least one of the plurality of address further comprises selecting a plurality of addresses to use for initiating communication sessions with the destination user based on the selection indicia, and determining an order in which the communication sessions are initiated, if multiple initiation attempts are necessary.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the selection indicia comprises status information bearing on a state or location of the destination user or at least one endpoint associated with the destination user.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the selection indicia comprises preference information providing address selection criteria defined by the destination user, such that selecting at least one of the plurality of addresses to use for initiating a communication session with the destination user is based on the selection criteria.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein at least one of the plurality of addresses is a directory number associated with a cellular or public switched telephone device.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein at least one of the plurality of addresses is an address associated with a gateway, which facilitates circuit-switched communications with a device associated with the destination user.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the peer-to-peer communication session is initiated to a first device and further comprising:

receiving a response including an alternate address from the first device; and

initiating a second communication session using the alternate address.

15. A method comprising:

initiating a peer-to-peer communication session using a peer-to-peer communication address for a first device of a destination user;

receiving a response including an alternate address from the first device; and

initiating a second communication session using the alternate address.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the second communication session is directed to a second device associated with the destination user.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the second communication session is directed to the first device via a data portion of a cellular network and the peer-to-peer communication session is directed to the first device via a voice portion of the cellular network.

18. A method comprising:

receiving from an originating endpoint a session initiation message for initiating a peer-to-peer communication session using a peer-to-peer communication address associated with a destination user;

determining an alternate address for initiating an alternate communication session for communications with the destination user; and

sending the alternate address to the originating endpoint, which will use the alternate address to initiate the alternate communication session.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising establishing the alternate communication session with the originating endpoint.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the alternate communication session is directed to another device associated with the destination user.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the alternate communication session is initiated via a data portion of a cellular network and a communication session bearer path is initiated via a voice portion of the cellular network.