METHODS, SYSTEMS AND DEVICES FOR PIPELINE PROCESSING

• US 20120158993A1
• Filed: 12/01/2011
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Inventors: McNamee, Alan, Dunne, Cameron Ross, McCann, Fergus, O'Sullivan, Michael, Hogan, Joe, Byme, Niall
• Granted Patent: US 8,943,221 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing

Abstract

Methods, servers and systems for communicating signaling information in a telecommunications signaling network implement methods that include receiving a first message encoding signaling information from a source component and processing the message using a fixed pipeline having a plurality of modules, each module having at least one procedure for performing a specific set of tasks. Application level routing operations may be performed to identify a suitable destination component. Information contained in the first message may be used to generate a second message encoding signaling information, which is sent to the identified destination component.

Claims

1. A method of communicating signaling information in a telecommunications signaling network, comprising:

receiving, in a first processor, a first message encoding signaling information from a source component;

decoding the received first message into an internal representation;

processing the internal representation of the message via a pipeline having a plurality of stages, each stage containing one or more procedures for performing a specific set of tasks;

performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component;

encoding the signaling information contained in the internal representation into a second message; and

sending the second message encoding the signaling information to the identified destination component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component comprises using at least one pipeline stage to make a routing decision using a discrete number of configurable procedures.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipeline type is one of a request handler pipeline, a response handler pipeline, a failover handler pipeline, or a redirect handler pipeline.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipeline type and instance is selected on a per message type or on a per application basis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the pipeline has a plurality of stages that include at least one stage from the group consisting of a realm routing lookup stage, a session lookup stage, a gather data stage, a routing core stage, a prepare attribute value stream (AVS) stage, a filter stage, a dispatcher stage, a session update stage, and a redirect stage.

7. The server of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component comprises using at least one pipeline stage to make a routing decision using a discrete number of configurable procedures.

8. The server of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the pipeline type is one of a request handler pipeline, a response handler pipeline, a failover handler pipeline, or a redirect handler pipeline.

9. The server of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the pipeline type and instance is selected on a per message type or on a per application basis.

10. The server of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the pipeline has a plurality of stages that include at least one stage from the group consisting of a realm routing lookup stage, a session lookup stage, a gather data stage, a routing core stage, a prepare attribute value stream (AVS) stage, a filter stage, a dispatcher stage, a session update stage, and a redirect stage.

12. The non-transitory server-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the stored server-executable instructions are configured to cause a server to perform operations such that performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component comprises using at least one pipeline stage to make a routing decision using a discrete number of configurable procedures.

13. The non-transitory server-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the stored server-executable instructions are configured to cause a server to perform operations such that the pipeline type is one of a request handler pipeline, a response handler pipeline, a failover handler pipeline, or a redirect handler pipeline.

14. The non-transitory server-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the pipeline type and instance is selected on a per message type or on a per application basis.

15. The non-transitory server-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the stored server-executable instructions are configured to cause a server to perform operations such that the pipeline has a plurality of stages that include at least one stage from the group consisting of a realm routing lookup stage, a session lookup stage, a gather data stage, a routing core stage, a prepare attribute value stream (AVS) stage, a filter stage, a dispatcher stage, a session update stage, and a redirect stage.

6. A server configured for use in a telecommunications signaling network, comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a first message encoding signaling information from a source component;

decoding the received first message into an internal representation;

processing the internal representation of the message via a pipeline having a plurality of stages, each stage containing one or more procedures for performing a specific set of tasks;

performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component;

encoding the signaling information contained in the internal representation into a second message; and

sending the second message encoding the signaling information to the identified destination component.

11. A non-transitory server-readable storage medium having stored thereon server-executable instructions configured to cause a server to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first message encoding signaling information from a source component;

decoding the received first message into an internal representation of the message;

processing the internal representation of the message via a pipeline having a plurality of stages, each stage containing one or more procedures for performing a specific set of tasks;

performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the internal representation to identify a destination component;

encoding the signaling information contained in the internal representation into a second message; and

sending the second message encoding the signaling information to the identified destination component.