Diameter Protocol and SH Interface Support for SIP Server Architecture

• US 20080127232A1
• Filed: 05/17/2007
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Langen, Anno R., Connelly, David, Wilkiewicz, Jaroslaw, Cosmadopoulos, Ioannis, Khan, Rao Nasir
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,697 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4588 containing mobile subscriber information, e.g. home subscriber server [HSS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A SIP server can be distributed over a cluster network and handle the processing of various SIP communications. A Diameter protocol web application can be deployed on the engine tier of the SIP server for enabling communication between the SIP server and an HSS. A profile service API can be provided that allows applications running on the SIP server to access user profile data stored on the HSS. The applications can also be allowed to subscribe to notifications about changes to the user profile data on the HSS. An Sh interface provider can be deployed on the SIP server for generating and responding to Diameter command codes. SIP servlets can access the user profile data in the form of an XML document.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system, comprising:

a session initiation protocol (SIP) server distributed over a cluster network and having an application deployed thereon for handling SIP communications with a client;

a home subscriber server (HSS) that stores user profile data about the client; and

a profile service on the SIP server for allowing the application to query and update the user profile data on the HSS and to subscribe and receive notifications when the user profile data changes on the HSS.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Diameter base protocol web application deployed on the SIP server for enabling Diameter base protocol message types to be exchanged between the SIP server and the HSS.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

an Sh interface provider deployed on the SIP server wherein the Sh interface provider transparently generates and responds to the Diameter command codes.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

an application programming interface (API) for allowing SIP servlets to manage the user profile data as an extensive markup language document.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an extensive markup language (XML) document for maintaining user profile data and for allowing the application to manage the user profile data using standard DOM methods.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the application manages the user profile data by explicitly requesting user profile documents from the user profile service.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the SIP server container manages the user profile data by maintaining a document set for all SIP servlets that are registered to process a specific SIP message.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an engine tier distributed over the cluster network and having one or more engine nodes; and

one or more relay nodes connected to the cluster network wherein the relay nodes receive user profile data requests and transmit the requests to the HSS.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the relay nodes receive responses from the HSS and forward the responses to the engine nodes.

10. A computer implemented method, comprising:

maintaining an engine node connected to a cluster network and having an application deployed thereon for processing SIP communications with a client;

maintaining an HSS server for storing user profile data associated with the client;

maintaining a relay node coupled to the cluster network for reducing a number of open connections to the HSS server;

transmitting a request for the user profile data by the application to the relay node;

transmitting the request by the relay node to the HSS server;

receiving a response from the HSS server by the relay node; and

transmitting the response to the engine node by the relay node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting a request for subscribing to notifications about changes to the user profile data stored on the HSS wherein the request is transmitted to the HSS server via the relay node.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

modifying the user profile data on the HSS by an external entity; and

transmitting a notification by the HSS server to the engine node via the relay node.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing a Diameter base protocol web application for allowing Diameter base protocol messages to be exchanged between the engine node and the HSS server.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

providing a Sh interface provider deployed on the engine node wherein the Sh interface provider transparently generates and responds to the Diameter command codes.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing an application programming interface (API) for allowing SIP servlets to manage the user profile data as an extensive markup language document.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing an extensive markup language (XML) document for maintaining user profile data and for allowing the application to manage the user profile data using standard DOM methods.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein the application manages the user profile data by explicitly requesting user profile documents from the Sh provider application.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein a SIP server container manages the user profile data by maintaining a document set for all SIP servlets that are registered to process a specific SIP message.

19. A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon which when executed by one or more processors cause a system to:

maintain an engine node connected to a cluster network and having an application deployed thereon for processing SIP communications with a client;

maintain an HSS server for storing user profile data associated with the client;

maintain a relay node coupled to the cluster network for reducing a number of open connections to the HSS server;

transmit a request for the user profile data by the application to the relay node;

transmit the request by the relay node to the HSS server;

receive a response from the HSS server by the relay node; and

transmit the response to the engine node by the relay node.