Apparatus and method providing push to talk over cellular (PoC) dynamic service options

• US 8,385,848 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2012
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Albertsson, Henrik, Holm, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, HAI V
• Application Number:
  US13/405,959
• Publication Number:
  US 20120157087A1
• Time in Patent Office: 365 Days
• Field of Search: 455/90.2
• US Class Current: 455/90.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/08 Trunked mobile radio systems

Abstract

A method and server for establishing a push to talk type service such as push to talk over cellular (PoC). The server receives a message from Client A indicating one or more media types that Client A will accept in defined circumstances in a push to talk type session. When the server receives a message from Client B inviting Client A to establish a push to talk type session for one or more proposed media types, the server determines whether the media type(s) proposed by Client B are acceptable to Client A. If at least one proposed media type is acceptable, the server forwards the invitation to Client A with a list of the acceptable media types. Thereafter the session is established.

Claims

1. A method for use in a push to talk over cellular (PoC) server, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a message from a second terminal, Client B, inviting a first terminal, Client A, to establish a PoC session, wherein the received message comprises a list of media types that Client B offers to send to Client A during the PoC session;

receiving media type preferences information for Client A, the media type preferences information specifying, for each media type Client A is capable of receiving, in what circumstances Client A would accept that media type in a PoC session;

comparing Client B'"'"'s list of offered media types to Client A'"'"'s media type preferences information to eliminate any media types that Client A would not accept from Client B under current circumstances, thereby creating a modified list; and

forwarding the message with the modified list to Client A when there is at least one media type from the list that is acceptable to Client A;

wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from Client A in a PUBLISH message of the Session Initiation Protocol; and

wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from an external PoC XML Document Management server (ES) in the form of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising, if it is determined from the media type preferences information that there are no media types being offered by Client B that Client A would accept, not forwarding the message to Client A and sending a message to Client B rejecting the session invitation.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a response message sent from Client A accepting the session and confirming as acceptable the media types from the modified list; and

forwarding the response message to Client B.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising setting up the session based on the media types confirmed as acceptable in the response message.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the response message is a 200 OK message of the Session Initiation Protocol.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from the external PoC XML Document Management Server on request by the server.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising acknowledging the PUBLISH message with a 200 OK message of the Session Initiation Protocol.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising sending at least some of the media type preferences information from the external PoC XML Document Management Server.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising determining at least some of the media type preferences information for use in the reviewing step based on at least one predetermined characteristic of Client A.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein one of the at least one predetermined characteristic of Client A relates to the type of the PoC service that Client A is operating.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the media type preferences information specifies, for at least one media type, whether or not Client A would accept that media type in a PoC session based not only on the media type itself but also on at least one other predetermined criterion.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein one predetermined criterion relates to the identity of the inviting terminal and/or its user.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the media type preferences information specifies, for at least one media type, whether or not Client A would accept that media type in a PoC session based only on the media type itself.

14. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a default policy is referred to for any media type not specified in the media type preferences information.

15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the message inviting Client A to establish a PoC session is an Invite message of the Session Initiation Protocol.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein Session Description Protocol parameters are used to specify the list of media types.

17. An apparatus for use in a push to talk over cellular (PoC) server, comprising:

means for receiving a message from a second terminal, Client B, inviting a first terminal, Client A, to establish a PoC session, wherein the received message comprises a list of media types that Client B offers to send to Client A during the PoC session;

means for forwarding the message to Client A when there is at least one media type acceptable to both Client A and Client B;

means for receiving media type preferences information for Client A, the information specifying, for each media type Client A is capable of receiving, in what circumstances Client A would accept that media type in a PoC session, wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from the first terminal in a PUBLISH message of the Session Initiation Protocol, and at least some of the media type preferences information is received from an external PoC XML Document Management server (ES) in the form of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document;

means for comparing Client B'"'"'s list of offered media types to the Client A'"'"'s media type preferences information to eliminate any media types that Client A would not accept from Client B, thereby creating a modified list; and

means for forwarding the message with the modified list to Client A when there is at least one media type from the list that is acceptable to Client A.

18. An operating program stored on a non-transitory memory, which when run on a processor of an apparatus for use in a push to talk over cellular (PoC) server, causes the apparatus to perform the steps of:

receiving a message from a second terminal, Client B, inviting a first terminal, Client A, to establish a PoC session, wherein the received message comprises a list of media types that Client B offers to send to Client A during the PoC session;

receiving media type preferences information for Client A, the information specifying, for each media type Client A is capable of receiving, in what circumstances Client A would accept that media type in a PoC session;

comparing Client B'"'"'s list of offered media types to Client A'"'"'s media type preferences information to eliminate any media types that Client A would not accept from Client B, thereby creating a modified list; and

forwarding the message to Client A when there is at least one media type from the list that is acceptable to Client A;

wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from Client A in a PUBLISH message of the Session Initiation Protocol; and

wherein at least some of the media type preferences information is received from an external PoC XML Document Management server (ES) in the form of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document.