Methods and apparatus to control a flash crowd event in a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) network

• US 8,363,641 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jackson, James, Yasrebi, Mehrad
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Application Number:
  US12/044,479
• Publication Number:
  US 20090225746A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/237, 370/242, 370/244, 370/412, 370/235
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to control a flash crowd event in a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) network are disclosed. An example method comprises receiving at a VoIP border element a VoIP registration response message having a field representing a priority assigned to a VoIP endpoint, receiving a message from the VoIP endpoint at the VoIP border element, detecting whether a network congestion condition exists, and placing the message received from the VoIP endpoint into one of a plurality of queues based on the priority when the congestion condition is detected.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a voice over Internet protocol border element a voice over Internet protocol registration response message having a field representing a priority assigned to a voice over Internet protocol endpoint;

receiving a message from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint at the voice over Internet protocol border element;

detecting whether a network congestion condition exists;

placing the message received from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint into one of a plurality of queues based on the priority when the network congestion condition is detected; and

placing the message received from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint into a default queue when the network congestion condition is not detected.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising querying a database based on an Internet protocol address associated with the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to retrieve the priority.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of queues communicatively couple a network processor and a signaling processor of the voice over Internet protocol border element, and the signaling processor is to process a second message from a highest priority queue before processing a third message from a lower priority queue.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a registration request message from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint; and

sending the registration request message to a session initiation protocol registrar, wherein the registration response message is received from the session initiation protocol registrar.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the registration response message comprises a session initiation protocol 200 OK message.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the message received from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint comprises a session initiation protocol INVITE message.

7. A voice over Internet protocol border element comprising:

a signaling processor to receive a voice over Internet protocol registration response message having a field to represent a priority assigned to a voice over Internet protocol endpoint; and

a network processor communicatively coupled to the signaling processor via a plurality of queues, the network processor to receive a protocol message from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint, and to place the protocol message into one of the plurality of queues based on the priority when a network congestion condition is present, and when the network congestion condition is not detected, the network processor is to place the protocol message into a default queue.

8. A voice over Internet protocol border element as defined in claim 7, wherein the signaling processor is to provide the priority to the network processor via a command channel.

9. A voice over Internet protocol border element as defined in claim 7, wherein the network processor comprises:

a database to store the priority in association with a voice over Internet protocol endpoint identifier; and

a queuer to query the database to obtain the priority based on the voice over Internet protocol endpoint identifier assigned to the voice over Internet protocol endpoint, and to place the protocol message into one of the plurality of queues based on the obtained priority.

10. A voice over Internet protocol border element as defined in claim 9, wherein the voice over Internet protocol endpoint identifier comprises an Internet protocol address.

11. A voice over Internet protocol border element as defined in claim 7, wherein the signaling processor is to processes a second message from a highest priority queue before processing a third message from a lower priority queue.

12. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

receiving at a voice over Internet protocol border element a voice over Internet protocol registration response message having a field representing a priority assigned to a voice over Internet protocol endpoint;

receiving a message from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint at the voice over Internet protocol border element;

detecting whether a network congestion condition exists;

placing the message received from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint into one of a plurality of queues based on the priority when the network congestion condition is detected; and

placing the message received from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint into a default queue when the network congestion condition is not detected.

13. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to query a database based on an Internet protocol address associated with the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to retrieve the priority.

14. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the plurality of queues communicatively couple a network processor and a signaling processor of the voice over Internet protocol border element, and the signaling processor is to process a second message from a highest priority queue before processing a third message from a lower priority queue.

15. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 12, wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to:

receive a registration request message from the voice over Internet protocol endpoint; and

send the registration request message to a session initiation protocol registrar, wherein the registration response message is received from the session initiation protocol registrar.

16. A method comprising:

receiving a voice over Internet Protocol device registration request message from a voice over Internet protocol endpoint;

querying a database to obtain a priority corresponding to the voice over Internet protocol endpoint, wherein the priority assigns the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to a particular signaling processor queue of a voice over Internet protocol border element based on the priority and a network congestion condition;

assigning the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to a default signaling processor queue of the voice over Internet protocol border element when the network congestion condition is not detected; and

sending a registration response message having a field representing the priority to the voice over Internet protocol endpoint.

17. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the priority is high, medium or low.

18. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the priority is high if the voice over Internet protocol endpoint is associated with an emergency service location.

19. A method as defined in claim 17, wherein the priority is low if the voice over Internet protocol endpoint is associated with a first tier consumer.

20. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the registration request message comprises a session initiation protocol REGISTER message.

21. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the registration request message comprises a session initiation protocol 200 OK message comprising the priority.

22. An apparatus comprising:

a session initiation protocol registrar to receive a voice over Internet protocol device registration request message from a voice over Internet protocol endpoint; and

a querier to query a database to obtain a priority corresponding to the voice over Internet protocol endpoint, the priority is to assign the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to a particular signaling processor queue of a voice over Internet protocol border element during a flash crowd event, and the priority is to assign the voice over Internet protocol endpoint to a default signaling processor queue of the voice over Internet protocol border element when a status of the flash crowd event is unknown, wherein the session initiation protocol registrar is to send a registration response message having a value to represent the priority to the voice over Internet protocol endpoint.

23. An apparatus as defined in claim 22, further comprising a home subscriber server, wherein the querier is to query the home subscriber server to obtain the priority.

24. An apparatus as defined in claim 22, wherein the voice over Internet protocol device registration request message comprises a session initiation protocol REGISTER message.

25. An apparatus as defined in claim 22, wherein the registration response message comprises a session initiation protocol 200 OK comprising a priority header to represent the priority.