System and method for initiating push-to-talk sessions between outside services and user equipment

• US 20070142073A1
• Filed: 11/16/2006
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonim Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sonix Technology Company Limited (Fortive Corp.)
• Inventors: Idnani, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 7,499,720 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• 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

Abstract

Methods of establishing a push-to-talk (PTT) session between a user equipment that is part of a push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) system and an outside service are presented including: subscribing to an outside service by the user equipment; for a user initiated request, sending a request to establish the PTT session with the outside service by the user equipment to a service capability server (SCS), the SCS configured to communicate with the outside service; for an outside service initiated request, sending a request to establish the PTT session with the user equipment by the outside service to the SCS the SCS further configured to communicate with the user equipment; sending an invitation to initiate the PTT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the SCS to the PoC system; and establishing the PTT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the PoC system.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a push-to-talk (PTT) session between a user equipment that is part of a push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) system and an outside service comprising:

subscribing to an outside service by the user equipment;

for a user initiated request, sending a request to establish the PTT session with the outside service by the user equipment to a service capability server (SCS), the SCS configured to communicate with the outside service;

for an outside service initiated request, sending a request to establish the PTT session with the user equipment by the outside service to the SCS the SCS further configured to communicate with the user equipment;

sending an invitation to initiate the PTT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the SCS to the PoC system; and

establishing the PT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the PoC system.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after the establishing the PTT session, sending a request to join the PIT session by the SCS to at least one additional user, and

joining the at least one additional user equipment with the PTT session.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the user equipment is configured to communicate with the PoC system over an internet multimedia subsystem (IMS) core, wherein the IMS core is configured to provide SIP signaling between the user equipment and the PoC system.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

after sending the request, sending pre-session data by the outside service to the SCS.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the pre-session data includes pre-fetched media and metadata.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the pre-fetched media includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a recorded voice message, a pre-recorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message, a text message meeting reminder, a wake-up call, and an alarm sound wherein the alarm sound includes radio and MP3 audio.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the metadata includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

meeting attendee names, scheduling information, content information, duration information, a session condition, content format for media, traffic routes, and location information.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

after sending the pre-session data, readying the invitation in accordance with the metadata.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the outside services are selected from the group consisting of:

a mail server, a traffic server, a MICROSOFT OUTLOOK™

server,

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the SCS includes:

a subscription engine for subscribing the user equipment with the outside service;

a PoC service initiator for initiating a PTT session on the PoC system; and

an application program interface (API) for providing communication between the SCS and an outside service application server that provides the outside service; and

a media gateway for moving media from the outside service application server to the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the media is selected from the group consisting of:

a prerecorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message meeting reminder, an alarm sound, a radio station stream, an MP3 stream, an online data stream, and a wake-up call.

12. The method of claim 3 wherein the IMS core comprises:

a service call session control function (S-CSCF) for regulating call session by sending and receiving a plurality of SIP messages to and from the PoC system;

a home subscriber server (HSS) for providing a database corresponding to a carriers cellular network.

13. A method of establishing a user initiated push-to-talk (PIT) session between a user equipment that is part of a push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) system and an outside service comprising:

requesting the outside service by the user equipment to an outside service application server;

sending a session initiation protocol uniform resource indicator (SIP URI) by a service capability server (SCS) to the user equipment in response to the requesting, wherein the SIP URI is mapped to an identifier utilized by the outside service;

sending a subscription message to indicate readiness to utilize the outside service by the user equipment to the SCS;

sending pre-session data to the SCS by the outside service in response to the SUBSCRIBE message;

sending an invitation message by the SCS to the PoC system in accordance with the pre-session data; and

establishing the PTT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the PoC system.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

after the establishing the PTT session, sending a request to join the PIT session by the SCS to at least one additional user; and

joining the at least one additional user equipment with the PTT session.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the subscription message is an SIP SUBSCRIBE message and the invitation message is an SIP INVITE message.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the pre-session data includes pre-fetched media and metadata.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the pre-fetched media includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a recorded voice message, a pre-recorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message, a text message meeting reminder, a wake-up call, and an alarm sound wherein the alarm sound includes radio and MP3 audio.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the metadata includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

meeting attendee names, scheduling information, content information, duration information, a session condition, content format for media, traffic routes, and location information.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the outside services are selected from the group consisting of:

a mail server, a traffic server, a MICROSOFT OUTLOOK server,

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the SCS includes:

a subscription engine for subscribing the user equipment with the outside service;

a PoC service initiator for initiating a PTT session on the PoC system;

an application program interface (API) for providing communication between the SCS and an outside service application server that provides the outside service; and

a media gateway for moving media from the outside service application server to the user equipment.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the media is selected from the group consisting of:

a prerecorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message meeting reminder, an alarm sound, a radio station stream, an MP3 stream, an online data stream, and a wake-up call.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the subscription message is an SIP SUBSCRIBE message and the invitation message is an SIP INVITE message.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the pre-session data includes pre-fetched media and metadata.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the outside services are selected from the group consisting of:

a mail server, a traffic server, a MICROSOFT OUTLOOK server,

29. The method of claim 21 wherein the SCS includes:

a subscription engine for subscribing the user equipment with the outside service;

a PoC service initiator for initiating a PTT session on the PoC system;

an application program interface (API) for providing communication between the SCS and an outside service application server that provides the outside service; and

a media gateway for moving media from the outside service application server to the user equipment.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the media is selected from the group consisting of:

a prerecorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message meeting reminder, an alarm sound, a radio station stream, an MP3 stream, an online data stream, and a wake-up call.

22. A method of establishing an outside service initiated push-to-talk (PIT) session between a user equipment that is part of a push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) system and an outside service comprising:

requesting the outside service by the user equipment to an outside service application server;

sending a subscription message to indicate readiness to provide the outside service for the user equipment by the outside service to the SCS;

sending pre-session data to the SCS by the outside service;

sending an invitation message by the SCS to the PoC system in accordance with the pre-session data; and

establishing the PTT session between the user equipment and the outside service by the PoC system.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

after the establishing the PTT session, sending a request to join the PTT session by the SCS to at least one additional user; and

joining the at least one additional user equipment with the PTT session.

26. The method of claim 22 wherein the pre-fetched media includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

a recorded voice message, a pre-recorded voice message, a traffic report, a text message, a text message meeting reminder, a wake-up call, and an alarm sound wherein the alarm sound includes radio and MP3 audio.

27. The method of claim 22 wherein the metadata includes at least one selected from the group consisting of:

meeting attendee names, scheduling information, content information, duration information, a session condition, content format for media, traffic routes, and location information.

31. A service capability server (SCS) in communication with a push-to-talk network, the SCS configured to establish a push-to-talk (PIT) session with a user equipment, the SCS comprising:

means for subscribing the user equipment with an outside service application server; and

means for initiating the PTT session on the PTT network, wherein in response to a message requesting to establish the PIT session at a predetermined time received by the means for subscribing, the means for subscribing makes a request to the means for initiating to initiate the PTT session, and wherein in response to the request, the means for initiating causes the PIT network to establish the PTT session.

32. The SCS of claim 31 further comprising:

means for sending a request to at least one additional user equipment to join the PTT session by the SCS after the PTT session is established; and

means for joining the at least one additional user equipment with the PTT session.

33. The SCS of claim 31, further comprising:

a first communications channel for transmitting messages between the outside service application server and the SCS; and

a second communications channel for transmitting messages between the PTT network and the SCS.

34. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the SCS communicates with the outside service application server via an application program interface (API).

35. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the PTT communications network is a cellular network.

36. The SCS of claim 35, wherein SIP is used as a signaling protocol and RTP is used as a data transmissions protocol;

and wherein the means for subscribing is configured to receive a SUBSCRIBE message.

37. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the means for initiating is configured to cause the PTT network to establish a PT session by generating an INVITE message.

38. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the predetermined time is immediately upon receipt of the message received by the means for subscribing.

39. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the predetermined time is at a time subsequent to receipt of the message received by the means for subscribing.

40. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the message received by the means for subscribing originates From the user equipment.

41. The SCS of claim 31, wherein the message received by the means for subscribing originates from the outside service application server.

42. The SCS of claim 31, further comprising:

means for obtaining metadata from the outside service application server prior to initiating the PTT session pertaining to the PTT session.