Method and system for fast setup of group voice over IP communications

• US 7,529,200 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2004
• Issued: 05/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhigu Holdings Limited
• Original Assignee: 3e Technologies International, Inc. (Ultra Electronics Holdings PLC)
• Inventors: Schmidt, Christopher M., Foy, Patrick J., BECKER, Daniel L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): King, Simon
• Application Number:
  US10/897,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20050073964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 709/246, 709/203, 455/519, 455/509, 455/515
• US Class Current: 370/260
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4046 with distributed floor control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

A method and system for fast setup of group Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications. The method and system provide a lower VoIP signaling overhead and a faster setup-time of group calls such as N-way audio and/or audio-video conference calls. Multi-party VoIP connections are quickly set-up over one or more virtual communications channels established between plural network devices using a session layer application, one or more group transport layer ports and a broadcast destination network address.

Claims

1. A method for providing multi-party connections over a communications network, comprising:

establishing a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection to a first transport layer group port from an application layer on a first network device, wherein the first transport layer group port and a second transport layer group port are obtained from a session layer application when the first network device initiates a multi-party VoIP connection between the first network device and a plurality of other network devices over the communications network, wherein the session layer application includes a group dispatch session application executing in the session layer that securely tunnels into one or more VoIP applications executing in the application layer using a pre-determined tunneling protocol and wherein the first transport layer group port and a second transport layer group port use a pre-determined transport layer security protocol;

sending one or more control data packets to via the first transport layer group port to a network layer;

transmitting the one or more control data packets from the network layer to a broadcast destination network address for the multi-party connection thereby establishing a first virtual communications channel over the communications network;

receiving voice information on the first network device;

changing a status of the second transport layer group port to busy;

compressing and digitizing the voice information into a plurality of data packets;

sending the plurality of data packets via the second transport layer group port to the network layer; and

transmitting the plurality of data packets from the network layer to the broadcast destination network address for the multi-party VoIP connection thereby establishing a second virtual communications channel over the communications network, and

thereby establishing the multi-party VoIP connection over the first and second virtual communications channels between the first network device and the plurality of other network devices over the communications network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising a computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a processor to execute the steps of the method.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the communications network includes an Internet Protocol (IP) data network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast destination network address includes a broadcast Internet Protocol (IP) destination address.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second transport layer group ports include group User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-determined transport layer security protocol includes Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-party Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection includes an audio conference multi-party connection or an audio-video conference multi-party connection.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first virtual channel includes a virtual control channel and the second virtual channel includes a virtual traffic channel.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the first virtual channel is a Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) control channel and the second virtual channel is a VoIP virtual traffic channel.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the pre-determined tunneling protocol includes Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP).

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the multi-party VoIP connection information includes a session layer application version, a group identifier, a call type, a callee identifier, a voice compression indicator, a video compression indicator, an encryption indicator, a transport layer group port control channel port, a transport layer group port traffic channel port or data packet sequence information.

12. A system for providing multi-party Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connections over a communications network, comprising in combination:

means for establishing a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection to a first transport layer group port from an application layer on a first network device, wherein the first transport layer group port and a second transport layer group port are obtained from a session layer application when the first network device initiates a multi-party VoIP connection between the first network device and a plurality of other network devices over the communications network, wherein the session layer application includes a group dispatch session application executing in the session layer that securely tunnels into one or more VoIP applications executing in the application layer using a pre-determined tunneling protocol and wherein the first transport layer group port and a second transport layer group port use a pre-determined transport layer security protocol and sending one or more control data packets to via the first transport layer group port to a network layer, for transmitting the one or more control data packets from the network layer to a broadcast destination network address for the multi-party connection thereby establishing a first virtual communications channel over the communications network; and

means for receiving voice information on the first network device, changing a status of the second transport layer group port to busy, compressing and digitizing the voice information into a plurality of data packets, sending the plurality of data packets via the second transport layer group port to the network layer and for transmitting the plurality of data packets from the network layer to the broadcast destination network address for the multi-party VoIP connection thereby establishing a second virtual communications channel over the communications network and thereby establishing the multi-party VoIP connection over the first and second virtual communications channels between the first network device and the plurality of other network devices over the communications network.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the pre-determined tunneling protocol includes Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP).

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the pre-determined transport layer security protocol includes Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.