Method and apparatus for SIP message prioritization

• US 20070253412A1
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Batteram, Harold, Bemmel, Jeroen, Meeuwissen, Hendrik
• Granted Patent: US 7,801,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

The invention includes a method and apparatus for providing SIP message prioritization between network elements along at least a portion of an end-to-end path between a SIP client and a SIP server. The method includes determining a SIP message prioritization policy and distributing the SIP message prioritization policy toward a prioritizing network element adapted to assign message priority levels to respective received SIP messages using the SIP message prioritization policy, process the received SIP messages according to the respective assigned message priority levels, and transmit the prioritized SIP messages toward at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority levels to the at least one network element. The prioritizing network elements include SIP network elements and non-SIP network elements.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a SIP message prioritization policy; and

distributing the SIP message prioritization policy toward a prioritizing network element adapted to assign message priority levels to respective received SIP messages using the SIP message prioritization policy, process the received SIP messages according to the respective assigned message priority levels, and transmit the prioritized SIP messages toward at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority levels to the at least one network element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SIP message prioritization policy is determined using prioritization policy information comprising at least one of network configuration information, network component capability information, network component status information, network status information, or service information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the SIP message prioritization policy at the prioritizing network element; and

applying the SIP message prioritization policy at the prioritizing network element.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein applying the SIP message prioritization policy comprises:

determining the message priority levels of the respective received SIP messages using the SIP message prioritization policy; and

assigning the determined message priority levels to the respective received SIP messages.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the message priority level for each of the received SIP messages comprises:

parsing a portion of a SIP message header of the received SIP message to obtain thereby SIP message prioritization information; and

processing the SIP message prioritization information using the SIP message prioritization policy to determine thereby the message priority level.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein, for each received SIP message, assigning the determined message priority level to the received SIP message comprises one of:

positioning the received SIP message within a queue according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message and a plurality of other message priority levels associated with a respective plurality of other SIP messages within the queue;

queuing the received SIP message within one of a plurality of queues according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message;

assigning the received SIP message to one of a plurality of processing threads according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message;

or

modifying at least a portion of the received SIP message.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

processing the prioritized SIP messages according to the respective assigned message priority levels.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein processing each of the prioritized SIP messages comprises:

parsing at least a portion of a SIP message header of the prioritized SIP message and at least a portion of a SIP message body of the received SIP message to obtain thereby SIP message processing information; and

processing the SIP message processing information to perform at least one function associated with the prioritized SIP message.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the prioritized SIP messages toward the at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority levels to the at least one network element.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, for each prioritized SIP message, transmitting the prioritized SIP message toward the at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority level comprises at least one of:

assigning the prioritized SIP message to one of a plurality of output ports of the prioritizing network element;

assigning the prioritized SIP message to be delivered to one of a plurality of input ports of at least one of the at least one network element;

or

modifying at least a portion of the prioritized SIP message.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

means for determining a SIP message prioritization policy; and

means for distributing the SIP message prioritization policy toward a prioritizing network element adapted to assign message priority levels to respective received SIP messages using the SIP message prioritization policy, process the received SIP messages according to the respective assigned message priority levels, and transmit the prioritized SIP messages toward at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority levels to the at least one network element.

12. A method, comprising:

determining a message priority level associated with a received SIP message according to a SIP message prioritization policy;

assigning the determined message priority level to the SIP message; and

processing the SIP message using the assigned message priority level.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the message priority level comprises:

parsing a portion of a SIP message header of the received SIP message to obtain thereby SIP message prioritization information; and

processing the SIP message prioritization information using the SIP message prioritization policy to determine thereby the message priority level.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the parsing is performed in a manner for minimizing at least one of a size of the parsed portion of a SIP message header and a parsing time during which the SIP message header is parsed.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the SIP message prioritization information comprises at least one of a dialog characteristic, a message characteristic, a source address, a destination address, a customer identifier, a service identifier, or a previously assigned priority level.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein assigning the determined message priority level to the SIP message comprises one of:

positioning the received SIP message within a queue according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message and a plurality of other message priority levels associated with a respective plurality of other SIP messages within the queue;

queuing the received SIP message within one of a plurality of queues according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message;

assigning the received SIP message to one of a plurality of processing threads according to the determined message priority level of the received SIP message;

or

modifying at least a portion of the received SIP message.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein positioning the received SIP message within the queue comprises:

locating an insertion position within the queue according to the assigned message priority level of the SIP message being queued and a plurality of other assigned message priority levels of a respective plurality of other SIP messages previously queued within the message priority queue; and

inserting the SIP message within the located insertion position.

18. The method of claim 12, where processing the SIP message comprises:

parsing at least a portion of a SIP message header of the prioritized SIP message and at least a portion of a SIP message body of the prioritized SIP message to obtain thereby SIP message processing information; and

processing the SIP message processing information to perform at least one function associated with the prioritized SIP message.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein processing the SIP message using the at least one processing parameter and the content comprises at least one of selecting one of a plurality of prioritizing network elements, selecting one of a plurality of output networks, or selecting at least one quality of service parameter.

20. The method of claim 12, where processing the SIP message further comprises:

in response to a load condition, determining, using the assigned message priority level, whether to process, discard, or reject the SIP message.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting the SIP message toward at least one network element in a manner for conveying the message priority level to the at least one network element.

22. The method of claim 21, transmitting the prioritized SIP message toward the at least one network element in a manner for propagating the respective assigned message priority level comprises at least one of:

assigning the prioritized SIP message to one of a plurality of output ports of a prioritizing network element;

assigning the prioritized SIP message to be delivered to one of a plurality of input ports of at least one of the at least one network element;

or

modifying at least a portion of the prioritized SIP message.

23. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving the SIP message prioritization policy from a management system, wherein the SIP message prioritization policy is determined using prioritization policy information;

wherein the prioritization policy information comprises at least one of network configuration information, network component capability information, network component status information, network status information, or service information.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

means for determining a message priority level associated with a received SIP message according to a SIP message prioritization policy;

means for assigning the determined message priority level to the SIP message; and

means for processing the SIP message using the assigned message priority level.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

a prioritization module comprising a first plurality of message processing threads, each message processing thread adapted for parsing a first portion of a SIP message header of a SIP message for assigning a priority level to the SIP message;

a queuing module coupled to the prioritization module, the queuing module adapted for queuing the prioritized SIP message according to the assigned message priority level; and

a processing module coupled to the queuing module, the processing module comprising a second plurality of message processing threads adapted for processing the prioritized SIP message according to the assigned message priority level.