System and method for conditionally attempting an emergency call setup

• US 8,041,331 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Issued: 10/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Sokondár, Enikö
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang; Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elhag; Magdi
• Application Number:
  US11/620,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20080166989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,747 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/412.2, 455/420
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A system and method are provided for a communications device to conditionally attempt an emergency call setup. The communications device maintains at least one condition for attempting emergency call setups. Upon receiving a message prompting an emergency call setup, the communications device attempts the emergency call setup only if any of the at least one conditions is satisfied. The at least one condition is defined such that the communications device does not erroneously attempt to establish an emergency call when there is no emergency. The at least one condition might for example include whether the message prompting the emergency call setup indicates a message source that is trusted by the user of the mobile device. A system and method are also provided for a communications network to block at least some of the messages from being delivered to their target communications device.

Claims

1. A method in a communications system comprising a network and a mobile communications device, the method performed by the mobile communications device comprising:

maintaining a configuration of whether a message received by the mobile telecommunications device is permitted to trigger an emergency call setup, the configuration being non-configurable by the user of the mobile telecommunications device;

sending a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the network comprising a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF);

receiving the message prompting an emergency call setup from a message source, the message being an alternative service message and including identification of the message source, the message having a body in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) including an <

alternative service>

element with the <

type>

child element set to “

emergency”

;

when the received message is a response to the INVITE request, determining whether the message source is a trusted source based on the configuration and the identification of the message source in the response message; and

attempting the emergency call setup only when the message source is a trusted source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the message source is a trusted source comprises:

maintaining an identification of a trusted source; and

comparing the identification of the message source with the identification of the trusted source.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative service message is a redirection message sent in response to the SIP INVITE request message from the communications device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the message source is the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the attempting the emergency call setup occurs over the circuit-switched (CS) domain.

6. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor of a communications device so as to implement the method of claim 1.

7. A communications device comprising:

a processor; and

an emergency call set-up function coupled with the processor and configured to;

maintain a configuration of whether a message received by the mobile telecommunications device is permitted to trigger an emergency call setup, the configuration being non-configurable by the user of the communications device;

send a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request to the network comprising a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF);

receive the message as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message from a message source prompting the device to attempt an emergency call setup, the message being an alternative service message and including identification of the message source, the message having a body in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) including an <

alternative service>

element with the <

type>

child element set to “

emergency”

;

when the received message is a response to the INVITE request, determine whether the message source is a trusted source based on the configuration and the identification of the message source in the response message; and

attempt the emergency call setup only when the message source is a trusted source.

8. The communications device of claim 7, wherein to determine whether the message source is a trusted source, the emergency call function is configured to:

maintain an identification of a trusted source; and

compare the identification of the message source with the identification of the trusted source.

9. The communications device of claim 7, wherein the alternative service message is a redirection message sent in response to the SIP INVITE request message from the communications device.

10. The communications device of claim 7, wherein the communications device is a mobile device comprising a wireless access radio.

11. A method in a communications system comprising a network and a communications device, the method performed by the communications device comprising:

maintaining an identification of a trusted source of messages, the identification being non-configurable by the user of the communications device;

sending a request message to the network, the request message being a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request, the network comprising a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF);

receiving a response message prompting an emergency call setup from a message source, wherein the response message was sent in response to the request message, the response message being an alternative service message and including identification of the message source, the message having a body in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) including an <

alternative service>

element with the <

type>

child element set to “

emergency”

;

comparing the message source with the identification of a trusted source; and

attempting the emergency call setup only when the message source is equal to the identification of a trusted source.

12. A mobile communications device comprising:

a processor; and

a function coupled with the processor and configured to;

maintain an identification of a trusted source of messages, the identification being non-configurable by the user of the communications device;

send a request message to the network, the request message being a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request, the network comprising a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF);

receive a response message prompting an emergency call setup from a message source, wherein the response message is received in response to the request message, the response message being an alternative service message and including identification of the message source, the message having a body in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) including an <

alternative service>

element with the <

type>

child element set to “

emergency”

;

compare the message source with the identification of a trusted source; and

attempt the emergency call setup only when the message source is equal to the identification of a trusted source.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor performing a method, comprising:

maintaining an identification of a trusted source of messages, the identification being non-configurable by the user of the communications device;

sending a request message to the network, the request message being a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE request, the network comprising a Proxy Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF);

receiving a response message prompting an emergency call setup from a message source, wherein the response message was sent in response to the request message, the response message being an alternative service message and including identification of the message source, the message having a body in an Extensible Markup Language (XML) including an element with the child element set to “

emergency”

;

comparing the message source with the identification of a trusted source; and

attempting the emergency call setup only when the message source is equal to the identification of a trusted source.