Method and apparatus for floor control in a communication system

• US 20070036093A1
• Filed: 08/04/2005
• Published: 02/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Keller, Matthew, Newberg, Donald, Bekiares, Tyrone
• Granted Patent: US 8,588,210 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1043 Gateway controllers, e.g. media gateway control protocol [MGCP] controllers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

Methods for enabling floor control are performed in an endpoint terminal (140, 142, 146) and a session controller (106). The session controller: receives (410) a message requesting a session that includes an SDP packet with a requested floor control profile having a requested set of floor control parameters or a requested list of potential floor owners; accepts (410) the session; determines (420) a final floor control profile having a final set of floor control parameters and a final list of potential floor owners; and communicates at least a portion of the floor control profile within a system (100). The endpoint terminal: communicates a message requesting a session that includes an SDP packet with a requested floor control profile; and receives a message having an SDP packet with a final floor control parameter. The final floor control profile may be the same as or different from the requested floor control profile.

Claims

1. A method for enabling floor control in a communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first message requesting a session, the first message comprising a communication description protocol packet, the communication description protocol packet comprising a first floor control profile, the first floor control profile comprising at least one of a first set of floor control parameters and a first list of potential floor owners;

accepting the session;

determining a second floor control profile corresponding to the accepted session, the second floor control profile comprising a second set of floor control parameters; and

communicating at least a portion of the second floor control profile.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is received using a transactional protocol.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transactional protocol is a Session Initiation Protocol (“

SIP”

).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication description protocol is a Session Description Protocol (“

SDP”

).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second floor control profile is different from the first floor control profile.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second floor control profile is communicated in a communication description protocol packet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication description protocol is a Session Description Protocol (“

SDP”

).

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second floor control profile is communicated using at least one of a transactional protocol and a broadcast protocol.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transactional protocol is a Session Initiation Protocol (“

SIP”

) and the broadcast protocol is a Session Announcement Protocol (“

SAP”

).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second floor control profile further comprises a second list of potential floor owners.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of causing communication resources to be reserved for each potential floor owner on the second list.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein communication resources are denied during the accepted session to any user that is not on the second list of potential floor owners.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second list of potential floor owners is different from the first list of potential floor owners.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of floor control parameters further comprises at least one of a floor control protocol, a floor control algorithm, an Internet Protocol address for a floor controller, a multicast address for communicating floor control announcements, and a unicast receive port for communicating floor control announcements.

15. Apparatus for enabling floor control in a communications system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory storing instructions executable by the processor, the instructions comprising the steps of;

receiving a first message requesting a session, the first message comprising a communication description protocol packet, the communication description protocol packet comprising a first floor control profile, the first floor control profile comprising at least one of a first set of floor control parameters and a first list of potential floor owners;

accepting the session;

determining a second floor control profile corresponding to the accepted session, the second floor control profile comprising a second set of floor control parameters; and

communicating at least a portion of the second floor control profile.

16. A method for enabling floor control in a communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

communicating a first message requesting a session, the first message comprising a communication description protocol packet, the communication description protocol packet comprising a first floor control profile, the first floor control profile comprising at least one of a first set of floor control parameters and a first list of potential floor owners;

receiving a second message responsive to the first message, the second message comprising a communication description protocol packet, the communication description protocol packet comprising a second floor control profile, the second floor control profile comprising a second set of floor control parameters.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the first and the second floor control profile is associated with a predefined name corresponding to a predetermined set of floor control parameters.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the predefined name and predetermined set of floor control parameters is one of:

learned using an off-line procedure; and

learned during a second session.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the second set of floor control parameters further comprises at least one of a floor control protocol, a floor control algorithm, an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address for a floor controller, a multicast address for communicating floor control announcements, and a unicast receive port for communicating floor control announcements, the method further comprising the steps of;

extracting the second floor control profile from the second message; and

taking at least one action based on the extracted second floor control profile.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one action comprises at least one of:

enabling at least one of a button and a switch on a device;

disabling at least one of a button and a switch on the device;

enabling at least one indicator on the device;

performing the floor control protocol;

communicating using the unicast receive port;

communicating using the multicast address; and

communicating using the IP address.