Dynamic CSCF assignment

• US 9,986,414 B1
• Filed: 04/12/2007
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Mangal, Manish, Breau, Jeremy R., Rogers, Frederick C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gao, Jing
• Application Number:
  US11/734,568
• Time in Patent Office: 4,065 Days
• Field of Search: 370330
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1095 Inter-network session transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server

Abstract

Ways for performing servicing a service request from a communications device that is normally associated with a first domain are disclosed. An illustrative method includes dynamically assigning a CSCF (Call Session Control Function) associated with a second domain to receive service requests from the device in an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) networking environment, receiving the requests by way of the dynamically assigned CSCF.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of servicing a service request from a communications device that is normally associated with a home network of a user where the user is subscribed to a first IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) networking environment, the method comprising:

establishing an IP connectivity with a local network that is not the user'"'"'s home network;

determining a roaming condition for the communications device;

dynamically assigning a Serving Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) associated with the local network by receiving a request to establish data connectivity with the local network;

determining a profile for the communications device that includes access credentials associated with the local network from a plurality of profiles stored within the communications device, wherein each profile in the plurality of profiles is associated with a respective network that is not the communications device'"'"'s home network;

discovering the S-CSCF;

registering the communications device with a subscriber server associated with the local network that indicates a set of services available to the communications device through the local network;

receiving service requests from the communications device by way of the dynamically assigned S-CSCF in a second IMS networking environment of the local network, wherein the communications device is subscribed to services of the home network for provision of services in the first IMS networking environment and, wherein the communications device is connecting to the local network in the second IMS networking environment; and

servicing the requests of the communications device by utilizing the dynamically assigned S-CSCF of the local network.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein discovering the S-CSCF comprises receiving a request for an IP address of the S-CSCF.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 2, wherein the request for the IP address is received at a domain name server (DNS) that can receive a request in at least two formats, and where the at least two formats include:

an unqualified domain name that does not include an express indication of a certain domain; and

a fully qualified domain name that does include an express indication of the certain domain.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 3, further comprising:

providing an IP address of a local S-CSCF incident to receiving a request that includes an unqualified domain name even if the local S-CSCF is foreign with respect to the home network.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 3, further comprising:

providing an IP address of an S-CSCF that is associated with a specific domain incident to receiving a request that includes a fully qualified domain name even if that S-CSCF is associated with the home network as well as if that S-CSCF is associated with another network.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating to the communications device an indication of one or more applications that the communications device is authorized to access.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 1, wherein servicing the requests comprises:

determining whether requests can be serviced by the dynamically assigned S-CSCF, and if not, then identifying another S-CSCF that can service the requests, and directing the requests to the another S-CSCF.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of servicing a service request from a communications device that is subscribed to a home carrier, the method comprising:

determining a foreign network from a preferred roaming list (PRL) stored within the communications device;

establishing data connectivity with the foreign network, wherein the foreign network is one or more of a network of a local carrier or a network that provides access to the local carrier that is not the communications device'"'"'s home network;

determining a suitable roaming profile for accessing the foreign network from a plurality of roaming profiles stored within the communications device, wherein each roaming profile in the plurality of roaming profiles is associated with a respective foreign network;

utilizing the suitable roaming profile to receive an indication of a dynamically assigned Call Session Control Function (CSCF) associated with the local carrier;

utilizing the dynamically assigned CSCF to receive service requests from the communications device in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networking environment of the foreign network;

receiving the service requests by way of the dynamically assigned CSCF; and

servicing the service requests by way of the dynamically assigned CSCF, wherein the CSCF prioritizes local servers of the local carrier over servers of the home carrier when both the local servers of the local carrier and the servers of the home carrier are available to satisfy the service requests.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 8, wherein determining a suitable roaming profile comprises the communications device searching a memory component of the communications device to determine whether the suitable roaming profile is present.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 9, wherein utilizing the suitable roaming profile to receive an indication of a dynamically assigned CSCF comprises:

identifying an IP address of a local Domain Name Server (DNS) to determine a DNS IP address;

utilizing the DNS IP address to query the local DNS for an IP address of the CSFC to determine a CSCF IP address; and

discovering the CSCF based on the CSCF IP address.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 10, wherein communication with the DNS and the CSCF is accomplished by utilizing a protocol defined in the suitable roaming profile.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 11, further comprising registering with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) that is associated with the dynamically assigned CSCF.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 12, wherein registering with the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) includes:

receiving by way of the CSCF, HSS-address information that indicates an address associated with the HSS; and

providing information within the suitable roaming profile to the HSS so that the HSS can help satisfy aspects of the service request.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 13, wherein the service request includes one or more of:

a request for telephony service;

a request to receive or transfer a data file;

a request to facilitate a video call;

a request to send or receive a text message;

a request to access the Internet;

a request to facilitate a data-streaming session; and

/or

a request to receive location information.

15. One or more non-transitory computer-storage media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of servicing a service request from a communications device that is subscribed to a home carrier, the method comprising:

determining a local carrier from a preferred roaming list (PRL) stored within the communications device, wherein the local carrier is not the communications device'"'"'s home carrier;

determining that the communications device is capable of communicating with a network of the local carrier more efficiently than with a network of the communications device'"'"'s home carrier;

establishing an IP connectivity with the local carrier;

determining a roaming profile associated with the local carrier from a plurality of profiles stored within the communications device, wherein each of the profiles in the plurality of profiles are mapped to respective realms, such that there is one profile per realm;

receiving a request to be associated with a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) associated with the local carrier in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networking environment;

automatically assigning a CSCF based on the determined roaming profile;

receiving service requests from the communications device by way of the automatically assigned CSCF; and

servicing the service requests of the communications device by utilizing the automatically assigned CSCF of the local carrier.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 15, wherein determining that the communications device is capable of communicating with the network of the local carrier more efficiently than with the network of the home carrier includes determining whether the communications device includes a profile that includes information describing how to communicate with the network of the local carrier.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 15, wherein automatically assigning the CSCF includes receiving a request at a domain name server (DNS) for an address of a CSCF, wherein a domain of the CSCF is not specified in the request.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-storage media of claim 17, wherein an IP address of the domain of the CSCF of the local carrier is included in response to receiving the request at the DNS with no indication of a specific domain.