DETECTING QUALITY OF SERVICE FOR UNIFIED COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION (UC&C) ON INTERNETWORKS

• US 20140136718A1
• Filed: 11/09/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Menezes, Pascal, Yahyaoui, Wajih, Barkley, Warren
• Granted Patent: US 9,413,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/41 by acting on aggregated flows or links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures

Abstract

QoS support is detected during discovery of potential media paths between a source and a destination by examining the markings of each available media path and selecting a more suitable media candidate based on a set of QoS prioritization rules. Optionally, each endpoint may update a UC&C monitoring service with the QoS results of the candidate list discovery process so that any automated diagnostic and auditing systems can be alerted to any misconfigured Network Elements.

Claims

1. A method at least partially executed on a computing device for facilitating communication sessions in a uniform communication and collaboration (UC&

C) aware network, the method comprising;

detecting a request for a communication session;

during a discovery of potential media paths between a source and a destination for facilitating the communication session, detecting whether each discovered potential media path supports Quality of Service (QoS);

if one or more potential media paths support QoS, prioritizing the media paths that support QoS; and

if a potential media path does not support QoS, designating that media path as a last resort media path.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting one of the prioritized potential media paths; and

facilitating the requested communication session over the selected media path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting whether a discovered potential media path supports the QoS by examining markings of each available media path.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting whether a discovered potential media path supports the QoS during Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE).

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a UC&

C monitoring service with QoS detection results such that one or more automated diagnostic and auditing systems are alerted to misconfigured Network Elements (NEs).

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

performing one or more trace route functions for NEs along each discovered media path.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the QoS is based on one or more standards including Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11e, Ethernet IEEE 802.1p, and IP IETF Diff Serv.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling communication traffic onto outbound trunks employing one or more of Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ) and Weighted Round Robin (WRR) at each outbound queue.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

discovering a remote UC&

C client connected to the Internet based on the UC&

C client being directly connected to a private IP address subnet where a second hop NE is on a public IP address space.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prioritizing the media paths based on one or more of, QoS support, cost, bandwidth availability, one or more modalities of the requested communication session, and a port configuration.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication session is at least one from a set of:

an audio call, an application sharing session, a data sharing session, a whiteboard sharing session, a video conference, and a collaboration exchange.

12. A computing device acting as a uniform communication and collaboration (UC&

C) control server for facilitating communication sessions in a UC&

C aware network, the computing device comprising;

a memory;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor executing a UC&

C control application in conjunction with instructions stored in the memory, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

detect a request for a communication session;

determine potential media paths between a source endpoint and a destination endpoint for facilitating the communication session;

sort the potential media paths by prioritization based on one or more metrics including Quality of Service (QoS);

select one of the prioritized potential media paths; and

enable facilitation of the requested communication session over the selected media path.

13. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

for media paths not supporting QoS, discover misconfigured intermediate nodes using trace route; and

update a UC&

C monitoring service with media paths not supporting QoS except for known non-QoS scenarios.

14. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

employ a signaling exchange in the control plane to discover, to set up, and to secure two or more endpoints before the media is exchanged.

15. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

upon establishing the initial connection between the endpoints, enable the media to bypass the UC&

C control server and be routed directly between the endpoints.

16. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

detect which ports of each NE along a potential path are configured for communication; and

determine if a configured port is optimal for audio/video communication.

17. The computing device of claim 12, wherein the UC&

C control application is configured to;

store selected media path information for future use.

18. A computer-readable memory device with instructions stored thereon for facilitating communication sessions in a uniform communication and collaboration (UC&

C) aware network, the instructions comprising;

detecting a request for a communication session;

during a discovery of potential media paths between a source endpoint and a destination endpoint for facilitating the communication session, detecting whether each discovered potential media path supports Quality of Service (QoS) by examining markings of each available media path;

if one or more potential media paths support QoS, prioritizing the media paths that support QoS;

if a potential media path does not support QoS, designating that media path as a last resort media path;

selecting one of the prioritized potential media paths; and

facilitating the requested communication session over the selected media path.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise:

prioritizing the media paths based on one or more of, QoS support, cost, bandwidth availability, one or more modalities of the requested communication session, and a port configuration, wherein the communication session is at least one from a set of;

an audio call, an application sharing session, a data sharing session, a whiteboard sharing session, a video conference, and a collaboration exchange.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 18, wherein one of Real time Transport Protocol (RTP) and Secure RTP (SRTP) is used for audio and video media exchange, and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is used for signaling.