Establishing a connection for a video call

• US 8,917,311 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2014
• Issued: 12/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Abuan, Joe S., Yang, Yan, Jansen, Thomas, Jeong, Hyeonkuk
• Primary Examiner(s): El-Zoobi, Maria
• Application Number:
  US14/231,171
• Time in Patent Office: 267 Days
• Field of Search: 348 1401- 1416, 370/259, 370/260, 370/261, 709/228, 709/230
• US Class Current: 348/14.12
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/148 Interfacing a video terminal to a particular transmission medium, e.g. ISDN

Abstract

A system and method for conducting a video call between an originating device and a terminating device by establishing a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection between the devices. The originating and terminating devices exchange candidate information through a P2P server, except that the candidate information for the terminating device is altered before arriving at the originating device. The altering includes changing the IP address and corresponding port for each candidate. The originating device uses the altered candidate information to derive new candidate pairs that are sent to the terminating device, which uses the new candidate pairs to also derive a second candidate list. If the candidate pairs match, a P2P connection is established between the devices.

Claims

1. A method, performed in a system that includes

an originating device,

a first network address translation (NAT) device that performs NAT for the originating device,

a terminating device,

a second NAT device that performs NAT for the terminating device,

a videotelephony server, and

a push notification server,

the method comprising:

sending, by the originating device via the first NAT device, a first message to the videotelephony server that includes first candidate information, wherein the first candidate information has a unique identifier and includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a port number;

sending, by the videotelephony server to the push notification server, the first message including the first candidate information;

sending, by the push notification server via the second NAT device, the first message including the first candidate information to the terminating device;

generating, by the terminating device, a first list of candidate pairs based on the first candidate information in the first message and second candidate information, wherein the second candidate information has a unique identifier and includes an IP address and a port number;

sending, by the terminating device via the second NAT device, a second message to the videotelephony server including the second candidate information;

adjusting, by the videotelephony server, the IP address and the port number in the second candidate information to create an adjusted second candidate information, such that, in the adjusted second candidate information, the IP address and the port number are 0.0.0.0;

0;

sending, by the videotelephony server, a third message to the push notification server including the adjusted second candidate information;

sending, by the push notification server via the first NAT device, the third message to the originating device including the adjusted second candidate information;

sending, by the terminating device, a binding request to the originating device, the binding request including the first list of candidate pairs;

generating, by the originating device, a second list of candidate pairs based on the first candidate information and the adjusted second candidate information; and

determining, by the originating device, if the binding request is received within a predetermined amount of time after the third message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the binding request is received within the predetermined amount of time, the method further comprises:

determining, by the originating device, if any of the candidate pairs from the first list match any of the candidate pairs from the second list;

when there is no match between the candidate pairs from the first list and the second list, deriving, by the originating device, a first new candidate related to the terminating device based on a source address and port number included in the binding request;

generating, by the originating device, a first new candidate pair based on the first new candidate and the first candidate information;

generating, by the originating device, a binding response including the first new candidate pair and a derivation indication, wherein the derivation indication indicates to the terminating device that a second new candidate is to be derived;

sending, by the originating device, the binding response to the terminating device;

determining, by the terminating device, that the binding response includes the derivation indication;

deriving, by the terminating device, a second new candidate related to the terminating device based on a destination address and port number of the first new candidate of the first new candidate pair included in the binding response;

generating, by the terminating device, a second new candidate pair based on the second new candidate and the first candidate information;

sending, by the originating device, a second binding request to the terminating device including the first new candidate pair;

comparing, by the terminating device, the second new candidate pair to the first new candidate pair;

when the second new candidate pair matches the new candidate pair, sending, by the terminating device, a second binding response including the second new candidate pair and the new candidate pair; and

establishing a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection between the originating device and the terminating device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first NAT device implements a full cone NAT protocol.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein each candidate pair includes a local candidate and a remote candidate with respect to the terminating device and the originating device and wherein the new candidate is a remote candidate with respect to the originating device and the second new candidate is a local candidate with respect to the terminating device.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining if any of the candidate pairs from the first list match any of the candidate pairs from the second list comprises:

comparing the unique candidate identifier of each candidate of the candidate pairs in the first list and the second list; and

comparing the respective IP address and port numbers of each candidate of the candidate pairs in the first list and the second list.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the IP address and corresponding port for the new candidate is identical to at least one candidate in the second candidate information without having an identical unique identifier.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the derivation indication is a flag that is set in a payload of the binding response.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, when the binding request is not received within the predetermined amount of time, the method further comprises:

sending, by the originating device, a session setup message to a relay server;

sending, by the relay server, the session setup message to the terminating device;

establishing a relay connection between the originating device and the terminating device based on the session setup message;

sending, by the originating device, a second binding request to the relay server including the first candidate information related to the originating device;

sending, by the relay server, the second binding request to the terminating device;

sending, by the terminating device, a second binding response to the relay server including second candidate information related to the terminating device;

sending, by the relay server, the second binding response to the originating device;

establishing a videotelephony call between the originating device and the terminating device via a connection through the relay server;

establishing a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection between the originating device and the terminating device based on the first and second candidate information;

terminating the connection through the relay server; and

continuing the videotelephony call via the P2P connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first NAT device implements a port restricted NAT protocol.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first NAT device implements a symmetric NAT protocol.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first candidate information includes a first candidate based on an IP address and port for the originating device that is internal to the first NAT device and a second candidate based on an IP address and port for the originating device that are external to the first NAT, wherein the second candidate information includes a third candidate based on an IP address and port for the terminating device that is internal to the second NAT device and a fourth candidate based on an IP address and port for the terminating device that are external to the second NAT device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique candidate identifier is a four (4) byte code.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first candidate information is included in the first message as a binary large object.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the binding request is an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) binding request.

15. A method, comprising:

at an originating device;

receiving, from a network address translation (NAT) device associated with the originating device, first candidate information related to the originating device, wherein each candidate of the first candidate information has a unique identifier and includes a respective Internet Protocol (IP) address and corresponding port number;

sending a message including the first candidate information, wherein the message is bound for a terminating device with which the originating device is attempting to establish a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection, the message being routed through a videotelephony server and a push notification server;

receiving second candidate information related to the terminating device, wherein each candidate of the second candidate information includes altered IP address and corresponding altered port number, wherein the altered IP address and altered port number is different from an actual IP address and port number for each candidate, wherein the altered IP address and corresponding altered port number are 0.0.0.0;

0;

generating a first list of candidate pairs based on the first candidate information and the second candidate information;

receiving a binding request including a second list of candidate pairs from the terminating device within a predetermined period of time from receiving the second candidate information;

determining if any of the candidate pairs from the first list match any of the candidate pairs from the second list;

when there is no match between the candidate pairs from the first list and the second list, deriving a new candidate related to the terminating device based on a source address and port number included in the binding request;

generating a new candidate pair based on the new candidate and the first candidate information;

generating a binding response including the new candidate pair and a derivation indication, wherein the derivation indication indicates to the terminating device that a second new candidate is to be derived;

sending the binding response to the terminating device;

sending a second binding request to the terminating device including the new candidate pair;

receiving a second binding response from the terminating device including the new candidate pair; and

establishing the peer-to-peer (P2P) connection with the terminating device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

at the originating device, when the binding request is not received within the predetermined period of time, the method further comprises;

sending a session setup message to a relay server to establish a relay connection with the terminating device;

sending a relay binding request to the terminating device via the relay server, the relay binding request including the first candidate information related to the originating device;

receiving, from the terminating device via the relay server, a relay binding response including second candidate information related to the terminating device;

establishing a videotelephony call with the terminating device via a connection through the relay server;

establishing the P2P connection with the terminating device based on the first and second candidate information;

terminating the connection through the relay server; and

continuing the videotelephony call with the terminating device via the P2P connection.

17. A method, comprising:

at a terminating device;

receiving, from a network address translation (NAT) device associated with the terminating device, first candidate information related to the terminating device,

receiving second candidate information related to an originating device that is attempting to establish a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection with the terminating device, wherein each candidate of the first and second candidate information has a unique identifier and includes a respective Internet Protocol (IP) address and corresponding port number;

sending a message including the first candidate information, wherein the message is bound for the originating device, the message being routed through a videotelephony server that alters the IP address and corresponding port number or each candidate of the first candidate information such that the altered IP address and corresponding altered port number are 0.0.0.0;

0;

generating a first list of candidate pairs based on the first candidate information and the second candidate information;

sending a binding request including the first list of candidate pairs to the originating device;

receiving a binding response from the originating device, the binding response including a second list of candidate pairs and a derivation indication, wherein one of the candidate pairs of the second list includes a new candidate derived by the originating device, wherein the derivation indication indicates to the terminating device that a second new candidate is to be derived by the terminating device;

deriving the second new candidate related to the terminating device based on an IP address and port number of the new candidate of the one of the candidate pairs of the second list;

generating a new candidate pair based on the second new candidate and the second candidate information;

receiving a second binding request from the originating device including the new candidate pair;

sending a second binding response including the new candidate pair; and

establishing the peer-to-peer (P2P) connection with the originating device.