System and method for prioritizing session initiation protocol messages

• US 20070206620A1
• Filed: 03/01/2006
• Published: 09/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cortes, Mauricio, Walid, Anwar, Nithi, Nachi
• Granted Patent: US 7,660,321 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/56 implementing delay-aware scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/58 Changing or combining different scheduling modes, e.g. multimode scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for prioritizing session initiation protocol (“SIP”) messages. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided a method of prioritizing SIP messages in a network, the method comprising receiving SIP messages in a first order from one or more other servers of the network, wherein each of the received SIP messages comprises one or more priority indicators, scheduling the received SIP messages into a second order based on one or more of the priority indicators, and processing the scheduled SIP messages in the second order.

Claims

1. A method of prioritizing SIP messages in a network, the method comprising:

receiving SIP messages in a first order from one or more other servers of the network, wherein each of the received SIP messages comprises one or more priority indicators;

scheduling the received SIP messages into a second order based on one or more of the priority indicators; and

processing the scheduled SIP messages in the second order.

2. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein scheduling the received SIP messages comprises scheduling the received SIP messages based a priority indicator stored in a header field of each of the received SIP messages.

3. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the received SIP messages is associated with a type of service and wherein the scheduling comprises scheduling the received SIP messages for transmission based on the type of service associated with the received SIP message.

4. The method, as set forth in claim 1, wherein each of the received SIP messages is associated with one or more priority values and wherein the scheduling comprises scheduling the received SIP messages based on the priority values.

5. The method, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the priority value for SIP messages associated with a first application server is different than the priority value for SIP messages associated with a second application server.

6. The method, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the priority value for SIP messages of a BYE message type have a different priority value than SIP messages of an INVITE message type.

7. The method, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the scheduling comprises scheduling the received SIP messages based on a time-weighted priority value calculated from both a network age and the priority value of each of the received SIP messages.

8. The method, as set forth in claim 1, comprising:

scheduling the processed SIP messages into a third order based on the priority indicators; and

transmitting the processed SIP messages to another server in the third order.

9. A server comprising:

a SIP scheduling module, wherein the SIP scheduling module is configured to;

receive SIP messages in a first order from one or more other servers of a network, wherein each of the received SIP messages comprises one or more priority indicators;

schedule the received SIP messages into a second order based on one or more of the priority indicators; and

process the scheduled SIP messages in the second order.

10. The server, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the server comprises a SIP proxy server.

11. The server, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the SIP scheduling module is configured to schedule the received SIP messages based on a priority value associated with each of the received SIP messages.

12. The server, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the SIP scheduling module is configured to schedule the received SIP messages based on a grade of service value associated with each of the received SIP messages.

13. The server, as set forth in claim 11, wherein the SIP scheduling module is configured to schedule the received SIP messages based on a quality of service value associated with each of the received SIP messages.

14. The server, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the server is configured to adjust a timestamp stored in the received SIP message based on a priority value associated with each of the received SIP messages.

15. The server, as set forth in claim 9, wherein the SIP scheduling module is configured to schedule the received SIP messages based on a time-weighted priority value calculated from both a network age and a priority value of each of the received SIP messages.

16. A method comprising:

receiving an incoming SIP message;

determining a priority for the incoming SIP message;

ranking the incoming SIP message amongst other SIP messages in a SIP message queue based on the determined priority; and

inserting the incoming SIP message into the SIP message queue based on its ranking.

17. The method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein ranking the incoming SIP message comprises ranking the incoming SIP message based on a priority value associated with the incoming SIP message.

18. The method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein inserting the incoming SIP message into the SIP message queue comprises inserting the incoming SIP message into the SIP message queue of a SIP proxy server.

19. The method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein determining a priority for the incoming SIP message comprises determining a priority for a processed SIP message awaiting transmission from a SIP proxy server.

20. The method, as set forth in claim 16, wherein ranking the incoming SIP message amongst other SIP messages comprises ranking the incoming SIP message based at least partially on a utilization level of a SIP server.