Session Management and Notification Mechanisms for Push-to-Talk (PTT)

• US 20160226937A1
• Filed: 02/02/2016
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kodiak Networks (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kodiak Networks (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kandula, Ramu, Patel, Krishnakant M., Negalaguli, Harisha Mahabaleshwara, Vempati, Brahmananda R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,362,074 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1045 Proxies, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services

Abstract

An embodiment method includes receiving, by a notification service running on a processor, a notification from a first component of a push-to-talk (PTT) platform. The notification is for transmission to a PTT client. The method further includes determining, by the notification service, an access transport type used by the PTT client to communicate with the PTT platform, and selecting, by the notification service, a second component to transmit the notification to the PTT client. Selecting the second component is in accordance with the access transport type used by the PTT client. The method further includes transmitting, by the notification service, the notification to the second component.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a notification service running on a processor, a notification from a first component of a push-to-talk (PTT) platform, wherein the notification is for transmission to a PTT client;

determining, by the notification service, an access transport type used by the PTT client to communicate with the PTT platform;

selecting, by the notification service, a second component to transmit the notification to the PTT client, wherein selecting the second component is in accordance with the access transport type used by the PTT client; and

transmitting, by the notification service, the notification to the second component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the access transport type of the PTT client comprises looking up the PTT client in a database.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprises storing, by a session initiation protocol (SIP) registrar running on a processor, the access transport type of the PTT client in the database when the PTT client registers with the PTT platform.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client is an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network, and wherein selecting the second component comprises selecting a session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy at a same deployment site as the first component to transmit the notification to the PTT client over the IMS network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client is an unsolicited internet protocol (IP) network connection, and wherein selecting the second component comprises selecting a session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy at a same deployment site as the first component to transmit the notification to the PTT client using a user datagram (UDP) transport protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client is not over an IMS network, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client does not allow unsolicited internet protocol (IP) traffic, and wherein selecting the second component comprises selecting a first gateway maintaining a first notification channel with the PTT client to transmit the notification to the PTT client.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first gateway is located at a same deployment site of the PTT platform or a different deployment site of the PTT platform as the first component.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein a primary notification channel between the PTT client and a second gateway of the PTT platform is unreachable, wherein the first notification channel is a redundant notification channel between the PTT client and the first gateway, and wherein the method further comprises including an indication the primary notification channel is unreachable in the notification.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein first gateway is deployed as part of the PTT platform, and wherein the first gateway is located at a different deployment site of the PTT platform than the second gateway.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first gateway is deployed at a third party deployment site independent from the PTT platform.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising transmitting the notification to the PTT client using a mobile operating system (OS) platform-specific notification service.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising transmitting the notification to the PTT client using messaging queue telemetry transport (MQTT) as a transport protocol.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client is an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network or an unsolicited internet protocol (IP) network connection, and wherein failure of a deployment site of the PTT platform does not change a notification method for transmitting notifications to the PTT client.

14. A notification service comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the one or more processors, the programming including instructions to;

receive a notification from a first component of a push-to-talk (PTT) platform, wherein the notification is for transmission to a PTT client on a client device;

determine an access transport type used by the PTT client to communicate with the PTT platform, wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client is stored in a database;

select a second component to transmit the notification to the PTT client, wherein selecting the second component is in accordance with the access transport type used by the PTT client; and

transmit the notification to the second component.

15. The notification service of claim 14, wherein the database provides information on the access transport type of the PTT client to a plurality of notification services in the PTT platform, wherein each of the plurality of notification services is deployed at a geographically different deployment site of the PTT platform.

16. The notification service of claim 14, wherein the instructions to select the second component comprise further instructions to:

select a session initiation protocol (SIP) proxy at a same deployment site as the first component to transmit the notification to the PTT client over an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network when the access transport type is the IMS network; and

select the SIP proxy at the same deployment site as the first component to transmit the notification to the PTT client using a user datagram (UDP) transport protocol when the access transport type is an unsolicited IP network.

17. The notification service of claim 16, wherein the PTT client does not maintain a redundant notification path with the PTT platform when the access transport type is the IMS network or the unsolicited IP network.

18. The notification service of claim 14, wherein the instructions to select the second component comprise further instructions to select first gateway maintaining a first notification channel with the PTT client to transmit the notification to the PTT client when the access transport type is not over an IMS network or when the access transport type used by the PTT client does not allow unsolicited internet protocol (IP) traffic.

19. The notification service of claim 14, wherein the access transport type is not over an IMS network, and wherein the access transport type used by the PTT client does not allow unsolicited internet protocol (IP) traffic, wherein a primary notification channel between the PTT client and the PTT platform is unreachable, and wherein the instructions to select the second component to transmit the notification comprises further instructions to select a first gateway maintaining a redundant notification channel with the PTT client.

20. The notification service of claim 19, wherein the PTT client established the primary notification channel with a second gateway of the PTT platform, wherein the first gateway maintaining the redundant notification channel with the PTT client is:

deployed as part of the PTT platform at a different deployment site of the PTT platform than the second gateway;

deployed at a third party deployment site independent from the PTT platform;

or

deployed as part of a mobile operating system (OS) platform-specific notification service.

21. The notification service of claim 19, wherein the PTT client is a web browser based PTT client, a PTT client provided by a third party independent from a provider of the PTT platform, or a combination thereof.

22. A push-to-talk (PTT) platform comprising:

a database;

one or more processors; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the one or more processors, the programming including instructions to;

provide a session initial proxy (SIP) registrar, wherein the SIP registrar is configured to store an access transport type of a PTT client in the database;

provide a PTT application service to a PTT client on a client device; and

provide a notification service, wherein the notification service is configured to;

receive a notification from the PTT application service, wherein the notification is addressed to the PTT client;

determine the access transport type of the PTT client;

select a component to transmit the notification to the PTT client, wherein selecting the component is in accordance with the access transport type of the PTT client; and

transmit the notification to the component.

23. The PTT platform of claim 22, wherein the component is a SIP proxy of the PTT platform located in a same deployment site as the PTT application service.

24. The PTT platform of claim 22, wherein the component is a WebSocket gateway of the PTT platform.

25. The PTT platform of claim 22, wherein the component is deployed at a third party deployment site independent from the PTT platform or deployed as part of a mobile operating system (OS) platform-specific notification service.