CONNECTING DEVICES IN A PEER-TO-PEER NETWORK WITH A SERVICE PROVIDER

• US 20080005056A1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya LLC (Avaya Incorporated), Avaya Management L.P. (Avaya Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Canada Corp. (Avaya Incorporated)
• Inventors: Stelzig, James Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,468,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks

Abstract

Communication between a service provider and a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network are enabled. One of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network is selected for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from the service provider. The selected device transmits a registration message to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent. The unique address is associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider. Another one of the plurality of devices is selected in place of the selected device to receive subsequent invitations for media session upon detection of a reselection condition.

Claims

1. A method for enabling communication between a service provider and a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network, said method comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from the service provider;

transmitting a registration message to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider; and

selecting another one of the plurality of devices, in place of the selected device, to receive subsequent invitations for media session upon detection of a reselection condition.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said selecting one of the plurality of devices comprises performing a selection algorithm to determine the selected device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said performing a selection algorithm comprises communicating with others of the plurality of devices to select the selected device according to selection criteria.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the selection criteria comprises at least one of device capabilities, historical statistics, location of device in a routing table, location of device in the network, and device status.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said performing a selection algorithm comprises identifying one of the plurality of devices to be the selected device according to a predetermined ordering of the plurality of devices.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique address of the selected device is an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the format “

name@domain”

, the name representing an second identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices where the second identifier is used by devices external to the service provider to send invitations to the at least one of the plurality of devices identified by the second identifier through the service provider, the domain representing an identity of the service provider.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said transmitting a registration message comprises periodically transmitting a registration message to the service provider.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said selecting another one of the plurality of devices comprises performing a selection algorithm to determine the selected another device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said performing a selection algorithm comprises communicating with others of the plurality of devices to select the another select device.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein said performing a selection algorithm comprises identifying another one of the plurality of devices to be the another selected device according to a predetermined ordering of the plurality of devices

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said reselection condition is a receipt of an invitation for a media session.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein said reselection condition is exceeding a predestined threshold of consumed resources at the selected device.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an invitation for a media session destined for one of the plurality of devices;

processing the invitation to determine the destination device; and

routing the invitation to the destination device.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said processing and said routing are performed by an auto-attendant.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein said routing comprises routing the invitation through the selected device where the selected device is a Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA) and the selected device remains in a communications path of the invitation and subsequent communications between the destination device and the service provider.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein said routing comprises transmitting a redirect message to the service provider indicating a unique address for the destination device to enable the service provider to send the invitation directly to the destination device.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 1 further comprising:

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to receive an invitation for a media session destined for one of the plurality of devices;

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to process the invitation to determine the destination device; and

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to route the invitation to the destination device.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 36 wherein said code means for causing computer to route comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to routing the invitation through the selected device where the selected device is a Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA) and the selected device remains in a communications path of the invitation and subsequent communications between the destination device and the service provider.

38. The article of manufacture of claim 36 wherein said code means for causing a computer to route comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to transmitting a redirect message to the service provider indicating a unique address for the destination device to enable the service provider to send the invitation directly to the destination device.

7. The method of claim 7 wherein the service provider is in communication with a public switch telephone network (PSTN) and said media session is a voice over IP call

19. A method for enabling communication between a service provider and a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network, said method comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from the service provider;

transmitting a first registration message from the selected device to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider;

selecting another one of the plurality of devices, in place of the selected device, to receive subsequent invitations for media session upon detection of a reselection condition;

transmitting a second registration message from the another selected device to the service provider indicating a unique address of the another selected device to which subsequent invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with the first identifier by the service provider;

wherein the association of the another selected device'"'"'s unique address second registration message replaces the association of the selected device'"'"'s unique address.

20. A device on communication with a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network comprising:

a selection component for selecting one of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from a service provider, the selection component being activated for selecting one of the plurality of devices when there is not a previous selection and upon detection of a reselection condition;

a registration component for transmitting a registration message to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider;

a receiving component for receiving and processing an invitation for a media session destined for one of the plurality of devices; and

a system manager for scheduling and managing the device.

21. The device of claim 20 further comprising a communication component for enabling communication with others of the plurality of devices, the communication component cooperating with the selection component for communicating with the others of the plurality of devices to select the selected device according to a selection algorithm.

22. The device of claim 20 wherein the registration component comprises a registration maintenance component for periodically transmitting a registration message to the service provider.

23. The device of claim 20 wherein the receiving component comprises a routing component for routing the invitation to the destination device.

24. The device of claim 20 wherein the receiving component further comprises an reselection component for detecting a reselection condition and activating the selection component upon detection of the reselection condition, the reselection condition being a receipt of an invitation for a media session or detecting an exceeding a predestined threshold of consumed resources at the selected device.

25. The device of claim 20 further comprising a monitoring component for monitoring the status of at least another one of the plurality of devices to detect an inactive status and activating one of the selection component and the registration component upon detection of the inactive status.

26. The device of claim 20 further comprising an auto-attendant for processing and routing the invitation to the destination device.

27. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing enablement of communication between a service provider and a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising;

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to select one of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from the service provider;

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to transmit a registration message to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider; and

computer readable program code means for causing a computer to select another one of the plurality of devices, in place of the selected device, to receive subsequent invitations for media session upon detection of a reselection condition.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 27 wherein said code means for causing a computer to select one of the plurality of devices comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm to determine the selected device.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein said code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to communicate with others of the plurality of devices to select the selected device according to selection criteria.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein said code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to identify one of the plurality of devices to be the selected device according to a predetermined ordering of the plurality of devices.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 27 wherein the service provider is in communication with a public switch telephone network (PSTN) and said media session is a voice over IP call, wherein the unique address of the selected device is an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and wherein said first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of the format “

name@domain”

, the name representing an second identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices where the second identifier is used by devices external to the service provider to send invitations to the at least one of the plurality of devices identified by the second identifier through the service provider, the domain representing an identity of the service provider.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 27 wherein said code means for causing a computer to transmit a registration message comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to periodically transmit a registration message to the service provider.

33. The article of manufacture of claim 27 wherein the reselection condition being a receipt of an invitation for a media session or detecting an exceeding a predestined threshold of consumed resources at the selected device and wherein said code means for causing a computer to select another one of the plurality of devices comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm to determine the selected another device.

34. The article of manufacture of claim 33 wherein said code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to communicate with others of the plurality of devices to select the another select device.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 33 wherein said code means for causing a computer to perform a selection algorithm comprises computer readable program code means for causing a computer to identify another one of the plurality of devices to be the another selected device according to a predetermined ordering of the plurality of devices

39. A computer program product comprising:

a memory having computer readable code embodied therein for execution by a processor, for enabling of communication between a service provider and a plurality of devices on a peer-to-peer network, the code comprising;

code means for selecting one of the plurality of devices on the peer-to-peer network for receiving invitations for media sessions with any of the plurality of devices from the service provider;

code means transmitting a registration message to the service provider indicating a unique address of the selected device to which invitations are to be sent, the unique address being associated with a first identifier for at least one of the plurality of devices by the service provider; and

code means for selecting another one of the plurality of devices, in place of the selected device, to receive subsequent invitations for media session upon detection of a reselection condition.