ESTABLISHING ONLINE COMMUNICATION SESSIONS BETWEEN CLIENT COMPUTING DEVICES

• US 20110252146A1
• Filed: 09/20/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wood, Justin, Vyrros, Andrew H., Werner, Jeremy, Abuan, Joe, Gates, Patrick, Santamaria, Justin, Tung, Berkat S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,725,880 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/234 for tracking messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0057 Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for assisting in establishing an online communication session between client computing devices. An online communication session invite request message is received from an initiating client computing device, the message includes connection data of the initiating computing device and an online communication session endpoint identifier for an intended recipient. A set of one or more push tokens that are associated with the identifier is determined, where each of the push tokens identifies a client computing device. An online communication session invite message that includes the connection data of the initiating client computing device is transmitted to a set of intended recipient client computing devices that correspond with the set of push tokens. An invite accepted message is received from at least one of the set of intended recipient client computing devices that includes connection data of that computing device. An invite accepted message is transmitted to the initiating computing device that includes the connection data of each accepting computing device to allow the initiating computing device and each accepting computing device to establish a direct peer-to-peer online communication session.

Claims

1. A method for assisting in establishing an online communication session between client computing devices, comprising:

receiving from an initiating client computing device an invite request message for an online communication session that includes connection data of the initiating computing device and an online communication session endpoint identifier for an intended recipient;

determining a set of one or more push tokens that are associated with the online communication session endpoint identifier, wherein each of the set of push tokens identifies a client computing device;

transmitting an online communication session invite message that includes the connection data of the initiating client computing device to a set of one or more intended recipient client computing devices that correspond with the set of one or more push tokens;

receiving an invite accepted message from at least one of the set of intended recipient client computing devices that includes connection data of that accepting computing device; and

transmitting an invite accepted message to the initiating computing device that includes the connection data of each accepting computing device to allow the initiating computing device and each accepting computing device to establish a direct peer-to-peer online communication session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the online communication session endpoint identifier is selected from the group comprising:

a phone number, an email address, a username, and any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each push token allows a push notification service to locate and transmit push notification messages to the corresponding intended recipient client computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the invite message for the online communication session is a blind invite such that a user at the initiating client computing device does not know whether the intended recipient is online.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection data of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices includes a public IP (Internet Protocol) address, NAT (Network Address Translation) type of a NAT device, and a public port number of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices respectively.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish, and performing the following;

identifying network information associated with a relay service, the network information usable by the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to establish a connection through the relay service, and

transmitting the network information, or portions thereof, to the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to allow them to establish an online communication session through the relay service.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish includes receiving an indication from at least one of the client computing devices that the peer-to-peer connection attempt was unsuccessful.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the network information associated with the relay service includes a first relay host address to be used by the initiating client computing device and a second relay host address to be used by the accepting intended recipient client computing devices.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions that, when executed by a processor, will cause said processor to perform operations for assisting in establishing an online communication session between client computing devices, the operations comprising:

receiving from an initiating client computing device an invite request message for an online communication session that includes connection data of the initiating computing device and an online communication session endpoint identifier for an intended recipient;

determining a set of one or more push tokens that are associated with the online communication session endpoint identifier, wherein each of the set of push tokens identifies a client computing device;

transmitting an online communication session invite message that includes the connection data of the initiating client computing device to a set of one or more intended recipient client computing devices that correspond with the set of one or more push tokens;

receiving an invite accepted message from at least one of the set of intended recipient client computing devices that includes connection data of that accepting computing device; and

transmitting an invite accepted message to the initiating computing device that includes the connection data of each accepting computing device to allow the initiating computing device and each accepting computing device to establish a direct peer-to-peer online communication session.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the online communication session endpoint identifier is selected from the group comprising:

a phone number, an email address, a username, and any combination thereof.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein each push token allows a push notification service to locate and transmit push notification messages to the corresponding intended recipient client computing device.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the invite message for the online communication session is a blind invite such that a user at the initiating client computing device does not know whether the intended recipient is online.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the connection data of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices includes a public IP (Internet Protocol) address, NAT (Network Address Translation) type of a NAT device, and a public port number of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices respectively.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish, and performing the following;

identifying network information associated with a relay service, the network information usable by the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to establish a connection through the relay service, and

transmitting the network information, or portions thereof, to the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to allow them to establish an online communication session through the relay service.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish includes receiving an indication from at least one of the client computing devices that the peer-to-peer connection attempt was unsuccessful.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the network information associated with the relay service includes a first relay host address to be used by the initiating client computing device and a second relay host address to be used by the accepting intended recipient client computing devices.

17. An apparatus for assisting in establishing online communication sessions between client computing devices, comprising:

a memory to store program code;

a processor coupled with the memory to process the program code to perform the operations of;

receiving from an initiating client computing device an invite request message for an online communication session that includes connection data of the initiating computing device and an online communication session endpoint identifier for an intended recipient;

determining a set of one or more push tokens that are associated with the online communication session endpoint identifier, wherein each of the set of push tokens identifies a client computing device;

transmitting an online communication session invite message that includes the connection data of the initiating client computing device to a set of one or more intended recipient client computing devices that correspond with the set of one or more push tokens;

receiving an invite accepted message from at least one of the set of intended recipient client computing devices that includes connection data of that accepting computing device; and

transmitting an invite accepted message to the initiating computing device that includes the connection data of each accepting computing device to allow the initiating computing device and each accepting computing device to establish a direct peer-to-peer online communication session.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the online communication session endpoint identifier is selected from the group comprising:

a phone number, an email address, a username, and any combination thereof.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each push token allows a push notification service to locate and transmit push notification messages to the corresponding intended recipient client computing device.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the invite message for the online communication session is a blind invite such that a user at the initiating client computing device does not know whether the intended recipient is online.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the connection data of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices includes a public IP (Internet Protocol) address, NAT (Network Address Translation) type of a NAT device, and a public port number of the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices respectively.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising additional program code which, when executed, cause the processor to perform the operations of:

determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish, and performing the following;

identifying network information associated with a relay service, the network information usable by the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to establish a connection through the relay service, and

transmitting the network information, or portions thereof, to the initiating client computing device and the accepting intended recipient client computing devices to allow them to establish an online communication session through the relay service.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein determining that the direct peer-to-peer online communication session failed to establish includes receiving an indication from at least one of the client computing devices that the peer-to-peer connection attempt was unsuccessful.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the network information associated with the relay service includes a first relay host address to be used by the initiating client computing device and a second relay host address to be used by the accepting intended recipient client computing devices.