Technique for managing sessions with entities in a communication network

• US 20080032691A1
• Filed: 08/01/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kyzivat, Paul
• Granted Patent: US 9,258,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A technique for managing sessions in a communication network that does not subscribe to registration events immediately after an entity in the network is registered but rather delays subscribing to these events until a time that such notification would be normally used, such as after a revocable session has been established with the entity. An entity registers to enable sessions to be established with other entities in the communication network. After a session is established, a check is performed to determine if a subscription to be notified of events that warrants revoking the session already exists. If not, a subscription is established to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session. If during the session a notification is received indicating that an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred, the session is revoked.

Claims

1. A method for managing sessions with entities in a communication network, the method comprising:

registering an entity in the communication network; and

delaying establishing a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration until a time that a session is to be established with the entity.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

establishing a session between entities in the communication network; and

establishing a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration.

3. A method as defined in claim 2 further comprising:

determining if the established session is revocable; and

if the session is revocable, establishing a subscription to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session.

4. A method as defined in claim 3 further comprising:

receiving a notification that an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred; and

revoking the session in response to the notification.

5. A method as defined in claim 4 wherein the notification is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) NOTIFY message.

6. A method as defined in claim 3 wherein an event associated with revoking the session includes deregistering an existing registration of an entity associated with the session.

7. A method as defined in claim 3 wherein the subscription to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session is established with a server.

8. A method as defined in claim 2 further comprising:

delaying establishing the subscription until after a period of time has expired.

9. A method as defined in claim 2 further comprising:

sending a subscription message to a server to establish the subscription.

10. A method as defined in claim 9 wherein the subscription message is a SIP SUBSCRIBE message.

11. A method as defined in claim 2 wherein the session is associated with a telephone call between two User Agents (UA) in the network.

12. An entity in a communication network comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to;

(1) register an entity in the communication network, and

(2) delay establishing a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration until a time that a session is to be established with the entity.

13. An entity as defined in claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to:

(1) establish a session between entities in the communication network; and

(2) establish a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration.

14. An entity as defined in claim 13 wherein the processor is further configured to:

(1) determine if the established session is revocable, and

(2) if the session is revocable, establish a subscription to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session.

15. An entity as defined in claim 14 further comprising:

a network interface coupled to the communication network, the network interface configured to receive a notification that indicates an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred, and

wherein the processor is further configured to revoke the session in response to receiving the notification.

16. An entity as defined in claim 12 wherein the entity is an intermediate node.

17. An entity as defined in claim 12 wherein the entity is a user equipment (UE).

18. An apparatus for managing sessions with entities in a communication network, the apparatus comprising:

means for registering an entity in the communication network; and

means for delaying establishing a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration until a time that a session is to be established with the entity.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 18 further comprising:

means for establishing a session between entities in the communication network; and

means for establishing a subscription to be notified of events that affect the entity'"'"'s registration.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19 further comprising:

means for determining if the established session between entities in the communication network is revocable; and

means for establishing a subscription to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session, if the session is revocable.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 20 further comprising:

means for receiving a notification that an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred; and

means for revoking the session in response to the notification.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 18 further comprising:

means for delaying establishing the subscription until after a period of time has expired.