System for provisioning service data utilizing the IMS defined Sh interface's transparent data

• US 9,503,528 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Raether, Helmut L., Rudolph, Michael Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Bengzon, Greg C
• Application Number:
  US10/867,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20050278447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,544 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709217-219, 709230-231, 709/236, 709/246, 709/200, 455/433, 4554141-4144, 370/389, 370/395.5, 370464-467
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation

Abstract

Embodiments of the method and apparatus utilizes a conventional provisioning interface to the IMS HSS and the Sh interface from the HSS to a generic application to provision service data on the application at the other end of the Sh interface. One embodiment may have the steps of: interfacing a provisioning system with an HSS with a Sh interface; and using the Sh interface as a provisioning interface.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning application server data from a provisioning system for an IMS network to an IMS application server, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the application server data, for the IMS application server, at the IMS HSS from the provisioning system over a common provisioning path for a plurality of IMS application servers, wherein the common provisioning path comprises a predetermined interface from the provisioning system to the IMS HSS, wherein the application server data comprises non-transparent data, which is understood syntactically and semantically by the IMS HSS and transparent data, which is understood syntactically but not semantically by the IMS HSS;

storing the non-transparent data with known attributes thereof at the IMS HSS in a non-transitory computer-readable medium;

storing the transparent data as a data block in the non-transitory computer-readable medium of the IMS HSS for service of the one IMS application server;

receiving one or more subscription parameters at the IMS HSS from the provisioning system over the predetermined interface, wherein the one or more subscription parameters are for a subscribe/notify protocol between the IMS HSS and the IMS application server and comprise a subscription request type, a service indication, and an identity of the one IMS application server, wherein the subscribe/notify protocol is a Sh interface;

subscribing, by the IMS HSS using the one or more subscription parameters for the subscribe/notify protocol received from the provisioning system, the one IMS application server to the transparent data of the application server data on the IMS HSS;

pushing the transparent data to the one IMS application server by the IMS HSS via the subscribe/notify protocol;

wherein a single service may be provisioned with transparent data with a single service-indication, multiple services for a same subscriber may be provisioned with transparent data with multiple service-indications.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

extracting, by the one IMS application server to support the subscribe/notify protocol, an envelope from the transparent data, parsing notifications of data changes, and applying the data changes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving the one or more subscription parameters comprises the step of:

receiving the one or more subscription parameters within the application server data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

unsubscribing the one IMS application server from the transparent data, by the IMS HSS, after the transparent data has been pushed to the one IMS application server;

deleting the transparent data from the IMS HSS after the transparent data has been pushed to the one IMS application server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of subscribing comprises the step of:

subscribing the IMS application server to receive notifications of changes in the transparent data stored in the data block in the IMS HSS.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computing device, causes the processor to perform a method of provisioning application server data from a provisioning system for an IMS network to an IMS application server, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the application server data, for the IMS application server, at the IMS HSS from the provisioning system over a common provisioning path for a plurality of IMS application servers, wherein the common provisioning path comprises a predetermined interface from the provisioning system to the IMS HSS, wherein the application server data comprises non-transparent data, which is understood syntactically and semantically by the IMS HSS and transparent data, which is understood syntactically but not semantically by the IMS HSS;

storing the non-transparent data with known attributes thereof at the IMS HSS;

storing the transparent data for this IMS application server service as a data block in the IMS HSS for service of the one IMS application server;

receiving one or more subscription parameters at the IMS HSS from the provisioning system over the predetermined interface, wherein the one or more subscription parameters are for a subscribe/notify protocol between the IMS HSS and the IMS application server and comprise a subscription request type, a service indication, and an identity of the one IMS application server, wherein the subscribe/notify protocol is a Sh interface;

subscribing, by the IMS HSS using the one or more subscription parameters for the subscribe/notify protocol received from the provisioning system, the one IMS application server to the transparent data of the application server data on the IMS HSS;

pushing the transparent data to the one IMS application server by the IMS HSS via the subscribe/notify protocol;

wherein a single service may be provisioned with transparent data with a single service-indication, multiple services for a same subscriber may be provisioned with transparent data with multiple service-indications.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 6, wherein the subscribing step further comprises:

subscribing the IMS application server to receive notifications of changes in the transparent data stored in the data block in the IMS HSS.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 6, further comprising the step of:

extracting, by the one IMS application server to support the subscribe/notify protocol, an envelope from the transparent data, parsing notifications of data changes, and applying the data changes.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 6, wherein the step of receiving the one or more subscription parameters comprises:

receiving the one or more subscription parameters within the application server data.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 6, further comprising:

unsubscribing the one IMS application server from the transparent data, by the IMS HSS, after the transparent data has been pushed to the one IMS application server; and

deleting the transparent data from the IMS HSS after the transparent data has been pushed to the one IMS application server.