UNIFIED SESSION SIGNALING SYSTEM FOR USE IN MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20090245233A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ittiam Systems Pte Ltd
• Original Assignee: Ittiam Systems Pte Ltd
• Inventors: Nori, Srikanth Viswanath, Prasad, Vikas K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,477,761 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0072 Speech codec negotiation H04L65/1069 takes precedence

Abstract

A design for a unified session signaling system for use in multimedia communications is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes interfacing, via an application interface, with an associated application and a session, tracking, via a call state/session manager, a call state and session properties across multiple calls associated with the session, managing, via a server interoperation module, registration and proxying services associated with the session, managing, via a basic SIP services module using a third party SIP stack, a basic set of SIP services associated with the application and the session, and determining and advertising, via a media negotiator module, media capabilities of devices associated with the session. The method may also include managing, via an additional SIP services module using the third party SIP stack, a set of additional services associated with the session.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

interfacing, via an application interface, with an associated application and a session;

tracking, via a call state/session manager, a call state and session properties across multiple calls associated with the session;

managing, via a server interoperation module, registration and proxying services associated with the session;

managing, via a basic SIP services module using a third party SIP stack, a basic set of SIP services associated with the application and the session; and

determining and advertising, via a media negotiator module, media capabilities of devices associated with the session.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

managing, via an additional SIP services module using the third party SIP stack, a set of additional services associated with the session.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of additional services comprises at least one of transferring call, forwarding call, sending instant message, receiving instant message, sending presence information, and receiving presence information.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling, via the media negotiator module, sending and receiving session description parameters via at least one of a stand alone SDP module and an SDP module associated with a third party SIP stack vendor.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing, via an NAT traversal system module, at least one method of an NAT device traversal transparent to a user and the application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one method of an NAT device traversal comprises at least one of sending keep alive packets, UPnP, TURN, ICE and STUN.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application interface comprises:

enabling, via a configuration and control interface, call control functionality via at least one SIP stack-independent interface; and

indicating, via an event notification interface, SIP events to the application.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the basic set of SIP services comprises at least one of making a call, receiving a call, setting calls on hold, setting calls off hold, and registering with at least one of a SIP registrar and a SIP proxy server.

9. The method of claim 1 in a form of a machine-readable medium embodying a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A system, comprising:

an application interface to interface with an associated application and a session;

a call state/session manager to track a call state and session properties across multiple calls associated with the session;

a server interoperation module to manage registration and proxying services associated with the session;

a basic SIP services module to manage, using a third party SIP stack, a basic set of SIP services associated with the application and the session; and

a media negotiator module to determine and advertise media capabilities of devices associated with the session.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an additional SIP services module to manage, using the third party SIP stack, a set of additional services.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of additional services comprises at least one of transferring call, forwarding call, sending instant message, receiving instant messages, sending presence information, and receiving presence information.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the media negotiator module further enables sending and receiving Session Description Parameters via at least one of a stand alone SDP module and an SDP module associated with a third party SIP stack vendor.

14. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an NAT traversal system module to implement at least one method of an NAT device traversal transparent to a user and the application.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one method of an NAT device traversal comprises at least one of sending keep alive packets, UPnP, TURN, ICE and STUN.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the application interface comprises:

a configuration and control interface to enable call control functionality via at least one SIP stack-independent interface; and

an event notification interface to indicate SIP events to the application.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the basic set of SIP services comprises at least one of making a call, receiving a call, setting calls on hold, setting calls off hold, and registering with at least one of a SIP registrar and a SIP proxy server.

18. An article, comprising:

a storage medium having instructions that, when executed by a computing platform, result in execution of a method of a SIP user agent associated with an application and a session, comprising;

interfacing, via an application interface, with the associated application and the session;

tracking, via a call state/session manager, a call state and session properties across multiple calls associated with the session;

managing, via a server interoperation module, registration and proxying services associated with the session;

managing, via a basic SIP services module using a third party SIP stack, a basic set of SIP services associated with the application and the session; and

determining and advertising, via a media negotiator module, media capabilities of devices associated with the session.

19. The article of claim 18, further comprising:

managing, via an additional SIP services module using the third party SIP stack, a set of additional services associated with the session;

enabling, via the media negotiator module, sending and receiving Session Description Parameters via at least one of a stand alone SDP module and an SDP module associated with a third party SIP stack vendor; and

implementing, via an NAT traversal system module, at least one method of an NAT device traversal transparent to a user and the application.

20. The article of claim 18, wherein the application interface comprises:

enabling, via a configuration and control interface, call-control functionality via at least one SIP stack-independent interface; and

indicating, via an event notification interface, SIP events to the application.