Methods, systems, and computer program products for providing presence gateway functionality in a telecommunications network

• US 20050266859A1
• Filed: 03/11/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Defenderfer, Joe E., Ravishankar, Venkataramaiah, Schaedler, Richard E., Tejani, Aziz A., Slate, Larry Gene, Baldwin, Patricia A., Kennedy, Richard Nolan Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,933,608 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.400
• 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 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers

Abstract

A method for providing presence gateway functionality includes deriving presence information for subscribers in a first set of subscribers based on telecommunications signaling messages. The first set of subscribers includes at least one subscriber who is not a subscribed-to presentity. The method also includes determining whether presence status information for a subscriber in the first set of subscribers has changed. In response to detecting a change in presence status, it is determined whether the subscriber is a subscribed-to presentity. If the subscriber is a subscribed-to presentity, a presence server is notified of the change in status of the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining and delivering presence information regarding telecommunications network subscribers, the method comprising:

(a) deriving presence information for a first set of telecommunications network subscribers based on telecommunications signaling messages relating to communications to or from members of the first set of subscribers, the first set of subscribers including at least one subscriber who is not currently subscribed to in a presence database;

(b) determining whether presence status associated with a first subscriber in the first set of subscribers has changed based on the presence information derived for the first subscriber;

(c) in response to determining that the presence status associated with the first subscriber has changed, determining whether the first subscriber is a subscribed-to presentity; and

(d) in response to determining that the first subscriber is a subscribed-to presentity, notifying a presence server of the change in presence status of the first subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein deriving presence information comprises:

(a) receiving telecommunications signaling messages associated with a plurality of subscribers;

(b) identifying predetermined signaling messages from which presence information may be derived;

(c) from the predetermined signaling messages, identifying messages that contain identifying information associated with subscribers in the first set of subscribers; and

(d) based on the signaling messages containing identifying information associated with subscribers in the first set of subscribers, generating presence status events for the subscribers in the first set of subscribers.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying predetermined signaling messages from which presence information may be derived includes identifying predetermined PSTN call signaling messages.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying predetermined signaling messages from which presence information may be derived includes identifying predetermined mobile signaling messages.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying predetermined signaling messages includes identifying predetermined IP telephony signaling messages.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying predetermined signaling messages includes identifying GSM and GPRS signaling messages and wherein generating presence status events includes generating the presence status events based on the GSM and GPRS signaling messages.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying signaling messages includes collecting signaling messages that do not traverse a signal transfer point (STP) and wherein generating presence status events includes generating the presence status events for the signaling messages that do not traverse the STP.

8. The method of claim 2 wherein identifying signaling messages includes collecting signaling messages destined for a plurality of different network elements and wherein generating presence status events includes generating presence status events based on the collected call signaling messages.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein generating presence status events includes generating a registration event for a mobile subscriber in response to receiving a mobile call signaling message indicating registration of the mobile subscriber.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein generating presence status events includes generating a roaming event in response to receiving a mobile signaling message indicating that a mobile subscriber is roaming.

11. The method of claim 2 wherein generating presence status events includes generating a handset off event in response to receiving a signaling message indicating that a mobile subscriber has deactivated a mobile handset.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein deriving presence information for a first set of telecommunications network subscribers includes maintaining a first database of potential presentities and continuously deriving and storing presence information for the potential presentities.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining whether the first subscriber is a subscribed-to presentity includes maintaining a second database of subscribed-to presentities representing a second set of subscribers different from the first set of subscribers and determining whether the first subscriber is present in the second database.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein maintaining a first database of potential presentities includes maintaining a plurality of identities for at least one of the potential presentities.

15. A method for deriving high-level presence information based on received signaling messages, the method comprising:

(a) receiving a plurality of signaling messages;

(b) screening, from the signaling messages, at least one of call setup and call tear down messages regarding a subscribed-to presentity;

(c) deriving, from the at least one of call setup and call tear down messages regarding the subscribed-to presentity, network location and voice communication availability information; and

(d) forwarding the network location and voice communication availability information to a presence server.

16. A method for storing presence information on behalf of a presence server, the method comprising:

(a) deriving presence information for a subscriber based on signaling messages relating to the subscriber;

(b) storing the presence information for the subscriber in a database separate from a presence server;

(c) determining whether a change in presence status has occurred for the subscriber; and

(d) in response to determining that a change in presence status has occurred, communicating the presence information for the subscriber to the presence server.

17. A method for communicating presence information to a presence server, the method comprising:

(a) deriving presence information for a subscriber based on signaling messages concerning the subscriber;

(b) receiving a subscription request from a presence server for obtaining presence information regarding the subscriber; and

(c) in response to the subscription request, communicating the presence information to the presence server.

18. The method of claim 17 comprising continuously deriving presence information for the subscriber and automatically updating the presence server in response to detecting changes in the presence information.

19. A presence server gateway comprising:

(a) a presence gateway correlator for receiving telecommunications signaling messages, for determining whether the telecommunications signaling messages are associated with subscribers in a first group of subscribers, the first group of subscribers including at least one subscriber who is not currently subscribed to in a presence database and for generating presence status events based on the signaling messages associated with the subscribers in first group of subscribers; and

(b) an event manager operatively associated with the presence gateway correlator for receiving the presence status events from the message correlator, for determining whether the presence status events are associated with subscribed-to presentities, and, in response to determining that the events are associated with subscribed-to presentities, for communicating the presence status events to a presence server.

20. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to continuously derive presence information for subscribers in the first group of subscribers based on PSTN call signaling messages received for subscribers in the first group of subscribers.

21. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to continuously derive presence information for subscribers in the first group of subscribers based on mobile signaling messages relating to subscribers in the first group of subscribers.

22. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to generate registration events in response to detecting registration of a subscriber in the first group of subscribers.

23. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the event manager is adapted to generate a roaming event in response to detecting roaming of a subscriber in the first group of subscribers.

24. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the message correlator is adapted to generate handset off event in response to detecting deactivation of a handset of a subscriber in the first group of subscribers.

25. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to receive GSM and GPRS messages regarding subscribers in the first group and to generate a presence status event based on the GSM and GPRS messages.

26. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to receive signaling messages that do not traverse a signal transfer point (STP) and to generate the events based on the signaling messages that do not traverse the STP.

27. The gateway of claim 19 wherein the presence gateway correlator is adapted to receive signaling messages destined for a plurality of different network nodes and to generate the presence information based on the signaling messages received from the different network nodes.

28. The gateway of claim 19 comprising a potential presentities database accessible by the message correlator for identifying members of the first group of subscribers.

29. The gateway of claim 28 wherein the potential presentities database includes at least one entry storing multiple identities for a subscriber.

30. The gateway of claim 19 comprising a subscribed-to presentities database accessible by the event manager for storing information usable by the event manager for indicating whether a presence status event is associated with a subscribed-to presentity.

31. A system for communicating presence information to a presence server, the system comprising:

(a) a plurality of probes for collecting signaling message regarding a subscriber; and

(b) a presence gateway for receiving the signaling message, for deriving presence information for the subscriber based on the signaling messages concerning the subscriber, for receiving a subscription request from a presence server for obtaining presence information regarding the subscriber, and, in response to the subscription request, for communicating the presence information to the presence server.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the presence gateway is adapted to continuously derive presence information for the subscriber and to automatically update the presence server in response to detecting changes in the presence information.

33. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions embodied in a computer readable medium for performing steps comprising:

(a) analyzing a plurality of telecommunications signaling messages;

(b) from the signaling messages, identifying messages concerning subscribed-to presentities and non-subscribed-to presentities;

(c) deriving presence status information regarding the subscribed-to presentities based on the signaling messages identified as concerning the subscribed-to presentities and communicating the presence status information to a presence server; and

(d) deriving presence status information for the non-subscribed-to presentities based on the signaling messages identified as concerning the non-subscribed-to presentities and storing the presence status information in a database separate from the presence server.

34. The computer program product of claim 33 comprising receiving a subscribe message from a presence server for subscribing to one of the non-subscribed-to presentities, and, in response:

(a) extracting presence status information from the database for the presentity identified in the subscribe message; and

(b) communicating the presence status information to the presence server.