System and method for routing calls in a wireless network using a single point of contact

• US 7,512,090 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2004
• Issued: 03/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Verma, Kamal K., Benitez Pelaez, Mariana, Halsell, Victoria M., Verma, Charu
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan; Wing F
• Assistant Examiner(s): Scheibel; Robert C
• Application Number:
  US10/827,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20050232225A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,807 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/385 Uniform resource identifier for session initiation protocol [SIP URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2066 Call type detection of indication, e.g. voice or fax, mobile of fixed, PSTN or IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13178 Control signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13196 Connection circuit/link/trunk/junction, bridge, router, gateway
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13248 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13251 Restricted service, class of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A system and method of routing calls made to a called party Subscriber Universal Destination Identifier (SUDI) in a wireless communications network is provided. The method includes determining the call type, selecting a call-type-specific destination identifier for the call from a plurality of called party destination identifiers based on the call type, and routing the call to the called party using the selected call-type-specific destination identifier. The step of determining the call type can include determining the call protocol, determining the media type, and determining the call type from the call protocol and the media type. The system includes functionality for determining the call type, selecting a call-type-specific destination identifier for the call from a plurality of called party destination identifiers based on the call type, and routing the call to the called party using the selected call-type-specific destination identifier.

Claims

1. A system for routing calls having different call types in a 3GPP/3GPP2 wireless communications network made to a called party single point of contact comprising:

an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Call Session Control Function (CSCF) network entity receiving Subscriber Universal Destination Identifier (SUDI) call requests from a calling party multimedia enabled mobile phone via a radio area network, each SUDI call request corresponding to a different call made to a called party single point of contact, at least some of the SUDI call requests including a session identifier and a SUDI defining a single point of contact for calls having different call types made to a called party and a media descriptor defining the type of media to be transferred by the call and an indicator of the originating host, the OSOF network entity executing call setup and call session control for each call and determining a call type for each call from the corresponding SUDI call request including;

determining if a protocol for the SUDI call request can support multiple call types, wherein if the SUDI call request protocol cannot support multiple call types then determining the call type from the SUDI call request protocol, and wherein if the SUDI call request protocol can support multiple call types then determining the call type from the media descriptor in the SUDI call request;

means for determining a call type for each call; and

means for selecting a call-type-specific destination identifier for each call from a plurality of called party destination identifiers based on the call type, wherein the CSCF network entity routes the calls to the called party using the selected call-type-specific destination identifiers.

2. The system defined in claim 1 wherein at least some of the SUDIs are Uniform Resource Identifiers and at least one of the SUDIs is a telephone number.

3. The system defined in claim 1 wherein a SUDI is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

4. The system defined in claim 1 wherein a SUDI is a Uniform Resource Name (URN).

5. The system defined in claim 1 wherein a SUDI is a telephone number.

6. A method of routing calls having different call types in a 3GPP/3GPP2 wireless communications network made to a called party single point of contact comprising:

receiving Subscriber Universal Destination Identifier (SUDI) call requests at an Internet Protocol Multimedia subsystem (IMS) Call Session Control Function (CSCF) network entity executing call setups and call sessions control from a calling party multimedia enabled mobile phone via a radio area network, each SUDI call request corresponding to a different call made to a called party single point of contact, at least some of the SUDI call requests including a session identifier and a SUDI defining a single point of contact for calls having different call types made to a called party and a media descriptor defining the type of media to be transferred by the call and an indicator of the originating host;

determining a call type for each call from the corresponding SUDI call request including;

determining if a protocol for the SUDI call request can support multiple call types, wherein if the SUDI call request protocol cannot support multiple call types then determining the call type from the SUDI call request protocol, and wherein if the SUDI call request protocol can support multiple call types then determining the call type from the media descriptor in the SUDI call request;

selecting a call-type-specific destination identifier for each call from a plurality of called party destination identifiers based on the call type;

executing call setup for each call; and

routing each call to the called party using the selected call-type-specific destination identifier.

7. The method defined in claim 6 wherein at least some of the SUDIs are Uniform Resource Identifiers and at least one of the SUDIs is a telephone number.

8. The method defined in claim 6 further comprising:

the CSCF network entity sending a Location_Info_Request to an IMS Home Subscriber Server (HSS) maintaining subscriber user profiles and containing call-type-specific destination identifiers associated with the called party, the Location_Info_Request including the call type, the originating host and the SUDI; and

the CSCF network entity receiving a Location_Info_Answer from the HSS including the call-type-specific destination identifier for the call.

9. The method defined in claim 8 further comprising:

the called party providing a plurality of different call-type-specific destination identifiers for a plurality of different call types corresponding to the single point of contact for the called party for storage at the HSS.

10. The method defined in claim 8 wherein the HSS contains Home Location Register (HLR) functionality and user location information for user registration and locating.

11. The method defined in claim 6 wherein a SUDI call request is a SIP INVITE message.

12. The method defined in claim 11 further comprising:

the determining includes determining the call type for the SIP INVITE call request to be a SIP audio call; and

the selecting includes selecting a telephone number as the call-type-specific destination identifier.

13. The method defined in claim 12 wherein the determining includes determining the call type for the SIP INVITE call request to be a SIP audio G711 call.

14. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the SUDI is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).

15. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the SUDI is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

16. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the SUDI is a Uniform Resource Name (URN).

17. The method defined in claim 6 wherein the SUDI is a telephone number.