Systems and methods for facilitating communications destined for a non-terrestrial network

• US 9,716,542 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogo Business Aviation LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Gogo LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Inventors: Lauer, Bryan Adrian, Wang, Kathy, LaMarca, Tony, Kanabar, Paresh, Bangole, Premkumar, Walsh, Pat
• Primary Examiner(s): Mohebbi, Kouroush
• Application Number:
  US14/292,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20150349875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

Embodiments are provided for facilitating text- and voice-based communications that are destined for an electronic device connected to a non-terrestrial network. According to certain aspects, the electronic device can be previously registered with a data center and can have an active service or product with the data center. A data center receives a communication request that is intended for the electronic device. The data center examines the communication request to identify the electronic device, and modifies the communication request to indicate an identification of the electronic device. The data center transmits the modified communication request to an on-board communications network system for delivery to the destination device.

Claims

1. A method of processing, by a registration server, communication requests intended for a destination electronic device connected to an on-board communications network of a vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving a communication request that is (1) initiated by an electronic device connected to a terrestrial network and (2) intended for the destination electronic device, the communication request including a short message service (SMS) message and a subscription identification associated with the destination electronic device;

determining, based on the subscription identification of the destination electronic device, that there is an active product or service associated with communications capability of the destination electronic device on the vehicle;

in response to the determining, retrieving a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that was previously associated with the subscription identification of the destination electronic device during a registration by the destination electronic device with the registration server;

converting the SMS message into a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message using the URI of the destination electronic device; and

transmitting, to the on-board communications network for delivery to the destination electronic device, the SIP message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the short message service (SMS) message comprises body text data, and wherein converting the SMS message into the SIP message comprises:

appending the body text data to the SIP message, wherein the body text data is configured to be presented to a user of the destination electronic device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification of the destination electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI) and the subscription identification is a mobile subscriber integrated services for digital network (MSISDN) number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the SIP message comprises:

establishing a transport layer security (TLS) protocol session with the destination electronic device; and

transmitting the SIP message via the TLS protocol session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication request is a voice communication request, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, from a service provider network associated with the destination electronic device, a request for a routing number; and

providing the routing number to the service provider network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the communication request

receiving a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite request from an SIP trunk provider via a mobile switching center (MSC), wherein the SIP invite request comprises the routing number.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the identification of the destination electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI), and wherein modifying the communication request to indicate the identification of the destination electronic device comprises:

replacing, in a destination field of the communication request, the routing number with the IMSI.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting, to the destination electronic device, the communication according to the communication request that was modified comprises:

forwarding the session initiation protocol (SIP) invite request to the on-board communications network for delivery to the destination electronic device; and

receiving an SIP okay response from the on-board communications network, the SIP okay response indicating that a user of the destination electronic device has accepted the SIP invite request.

9. A system for processing communication requests intended for a destination electronic device connected to an on-board communications network of a vehicle, comprising:

a communication module configured to send and receive data; and

a data center comprising a memory and a processor, and communicatively connected to the communication module, wherein the data center is configured to;

receive, via the communication module, a communication request that is (1) initiated by an electronic device connected to a terrestrial network and (2) intended for the destination electronic device, the communication request comprising a subscription identification associated with the destination electronic device,

determine, based on the subscription identification of the destination electronic device, that there is an active product or service associated with communications capability of the destination electronic device on the vehicle,

in response to the determining, retrieve a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that was previously associated with the subscription identification of the destination electronic device during a registration by the destination electronic device with the registration server,

convert the SMS message into a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) message using the URI of the destination electronic device, and

transmit, to the on-board communications network via the communication module for delivery to the destination electronic device, the SIP message.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the short message service (SMS) message comprises body text data, and wherein the data center is further configured to:

append the body text data to the SIP message, wherein the body text data is configured to be presented to a user of the destination electronic device.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the identification of the destination electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI) and the subscription identification is a mobile subscriber integrated services for digital network (MSISDN) number.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the data center is further configured to:

establish a transport layer security (TLS) protocol session with the destination electronic device, and

transmit the SIP message via the TLS protocol session.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the communication request is a voice communication request, and wherein the data center is further configured to:

receive, via the communication module from a service provider network associated with the destination electronic device, a request for a routing number, and

provide the routing number to the service provider network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the communication request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) invite request, wherein the data center receives the SIP invite request from an SIP trunk provider via a mobile switching center (MSC), and wherein the SIP invite request comprises the routing number.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the identification of the destination electronic device is an international mobile subscriber identify (IMSI), and wherein the data center is further configured to:

replace, in a destination field of the communication request, the routing number with the IMSI.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the data center is further configured to:

forward the session initiation protocol (SIP) invite request to the on-board communications network for delivery to the destination electronic device, and

receive an SIP okay response from the on-board communications network, the SIP okay response indicating that a user of the destination electronic device has accepted the SIP invite request.