GROUP CALL CAPABILITY QUERY

• US 20080279119A1
• Filed: 05/09/2008
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Holm, Jan, Stille, Mats Ola
• Granted Patent: US 8,295,207 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/261
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1877 Measures taken prior to transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A system and method for handling multimedia conference calls in a telecommunication network. To determine the capabilities of the other terminals in a group, a first terminal sends a query message to a group server. The group server sends further query messages to the other terminals and collects their responses containing their capabilities. The group server analyzes the capabilities to determine a common set of capabilities. The group server then sends the common set of capabilities in a response to the first terminal.

Claims

1. A method in a telecommunication network for determining multimedia capabilities supported by a plurality of multimedia terminals constituting a group, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving in a group server, a first service enquiry message from a first multimedia terminal in the group;

sending a second service enquiry message to at least one of the other multimedia terminals in the group;

receiving as a response to the second service enquiry message, a first service response message from each of the other multimedia terminals to which the second service enquiry message was sent;

analyzing the received capabilities in the first service response messages to determine a common set of capabilities; and

sending as a response to the first service enquiry message, a second service response message from the server to the first multimedia terminal, said second service response message including the common set of capabilities.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of analyzing the received capabilities in the first service response messages includes applying a policy to determine a common set of capabilities.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the policy is selected from a group consisting of:

a system policy;

a group policy; and

a subscriber policy.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising storing the received capabilities in the server.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a third service enquiry message from a second multimedia terminal;

sending a fourth service enquiry message to the first multimedia terminal;

receiving as a response to the fourth service enquiry message, a third service response message from the first multimedia terminal;

analyzing the received capabilities in the third service response message together with the stored capabilities for the other multimedia terminals;

determining a second common set of capabilities; and

sending as a response to the third service enquiry message, a fourth service response message to the second multimedia terminal comprising the second common set of capabilities.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the service enquiry messages are SIP OPTIONS requests, and the service response messages are SIP 200 OK responses.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the multimedia terminals in the group are engaged in a multimedia conference call.

8. A multimedia application server in a telecommunication network for determining multimedia capabilities supported by a plurality of multimedia terminals constituting a group, said server being accessible from the group, said server comprising:

means for receiving in a group server, a first service enquiry message from a first multimedia terminal in the group;

means for collecting capabilities from other multimedia terminals in the group;

means for analyzing the collected capabilities to determine a common set of capabilities; and

means for returning to the first multimedia terminal, a service response message including the common set of capabilities.

9. The multimedia application server as recited in claim 8, further comprising a memory area for storing the collected capabilities.

10. The multimedia application server as recited in claim 9, wherein the means for analyzing includes means for applying a policy when determining the common set of capabilities.

11. The multimedia application server as recited in claim 10 wherein the means for analyzing includes means for analyzing the collected capabilities together with capabilities previously stored in the memory area.

12. The multimedia application server as recited in claim 8, further comprising means for connecting to at least one other multimedia application server.

13. A system in a telecommunication network for determining multimedia capabilities supported by a plurality of multimedia terminals constituting a group, said servers being accessible from the group, said system comprising:

a plurality of multimedia application servers in communication with each other, each of said servers comprising;

means for receiving a first service enquiry message from a first multimedia terminal in the group;

means for collecting capabilities from other multimedia terminals in the group;

means for analyzing the collected capabilities to determine a common set of capabilities; and

means for returning to the first multimedia terminal, a service response message including the common set of capabilities.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein the servers are connected to each other in a configuration depending on an application.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein one server is an ad hoc server, and the other servers are sub-servers connected to the ad hoc server, wherein the ad hoc server includes means for aggregating service response messages received from the sub-servers.