Method and system to enhance performance of a session initiation protocol network and its elements

• US 20070226361A1
• Filed: 03/23/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Inventors: Chokshi, Jayesh, Kumarasamy, Parameswaran, Pande, Vinay, Shaikh, Mohammed
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365

Abstract

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, a communication apparatus includes a communication unit configured to send and receive messages on a network. Each message has a message header configured to include a plurality of header fields, where the message header includes a suppression header field that indicates a request to suppress at least one header field in at least one subsequently sent or received message. The communication apparatus is configured to establish a suppressed header field message exchange session with a peer on the network so that at least one subsequent message exchanged between the communication apparatus and the peer is free of at least one suppressible header field.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus including a communication unit configured to send and receive messages on a network, each message having a message header configured to include a plurality of header fields, the message header including a suppression header field indicating a request to suppress at least one header field in at least one subsequent message, the communication apparatus being configured to establish a suppressed header field message exchange session with a peer on the network so that at least one subsequent message exchanged between the communication apparatus and the peer is free of at least one suppressible header field.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suppressed header field message exchange session is configured to communicate Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1,

wherein the suppressed header field message exchange session corresponds to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard defining each message header field to include a header field name and zero or more header field values, and

wherein the header field name of the suppressible header field is selected from the group consisting of Via, Date, Supported, User-Agent, Allow, Max-Forwards, Contact, Expires, Allow-Events, Content-Type, Content-Disposition, and Content-Length.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a suppressible header field includes a suppressible Session Description Protocol (SDP) parameter that is selected from the group consisting of v, o, s, c, t, m, a, and i.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the suppressible header field is equivalent to the last corresponding unsuppressed header field having the same header field name.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the suppression header field includes the preferred form herein shown in quotes “

Header-suppression;

true”

.

7. A method of establishing a suppressed header message exchange session, comprising the operations of:

asserting a session request message on a network, the session request message including a message header configured to include a plurality of header fields, the session request message including a header suppression request header field comprising a request to establish a suppressed header field message exchange session;

asserting a session response message including a corresponding header suppression response acknowledging the header suppression request; and

establishing a suppressed header field message exchange session wherein at least one subsequent message is free from at least one suppressible message header field.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the suppressed header message exchange session provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication.

9. The method of claim 7,

wherein the suppressed header field message exchange session corresponds to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard defining each message header field to include a header field name and zero or more header field values, and

wherein the header field name of the suppressible header field is selected from the group consisting of Via, Date, Supported, User-Agent, Allow, Max-Forwards, Contact, Expires, Allow-Events, Content-Type, Content-Disposition, and Content-Length.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a suppressible header field includes a suppressible Session Description Protocol (SDP) parameter is selected from the group consisting of v, o, s, c, t, m, a, and i.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the header suppression request includes a text string with the preferred form herein shown in quotes “

Header-suppression;

true”

.

12. A network communication apparatus, comprising:

a communication unit configured to send outgoing messages and receive incoming messages on a network, each message having a message header configured to include a plurality of header fields, the message header configured to include a suppression header field indicating a request to suppress at least one header field in at least one subsequent message, the communication apparatus being configured to establish a suppressed header field message exchange session with a peer on the network according to a session protocol so that at least one subsequent message exchanged between the communication apparatus and the peer is free of at least one suppressible header field;

a memory unit configured to store and retrieve information; and

a processing unit configured to parse an incoming message header to determine the presence of a suppressible header field, the processing unit being configured to generate a header field record based on the suppressible header field, the header field record being stored in the memory unit, the processing unit being configured to generate an outgoing message header using the stored header field record.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the received suppressible header field is stored in the memory unit.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein one of:

the network communication apparatus participates in a first session with a first peer and a second session with a second peer, the first session being a suppressed header field message exchange session, the second session being an unsuppressed header field message exchange session.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein an outgoing unsuppressed message header field is based on a suppressed incoming message header field.

16. A method of processing message headers, comprising the operations of:

receiving a first message header including a suppressible header field;

building a header field record based on the suppressible header field;

receiving a second message header free of the suppressible message header field; and

generating a third message header in response to the received second message header, the third message header being based on the header field record.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

storing the suppressible header field in a memory.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

storing the header field record in a memory.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

parsing the first message header to detect the presence of the suppressible message header field.

20. The method of claim 16,

establishing a suppressed header message exchange session,

wherein the suppressed header message exchange session corresponds to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) standard defining each message header field to include a header field name and zero or more header field values, and

wherein the header field name of the suppressible header field is selected from the group consisting of Via, Date, Supported, User-Agent, Allow, Max-Forwards, Contact, Expires, Allow-Events, Content-Type, Content-Disposition, and Content-Length.

21. A network communication apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a first message header including a suppressible header field;

means for building a header field record based on the suppressible header field;

means for receiving a second message header free of the suppressible message header field; and

means for generating a third message header in response to the received second message header, the third message header being based on the header field record.