METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRIORITIZING VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL SIGNALING MESSAGES

• US 20100067519A1
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: MANG, XIAOWEN, Johnson, Carolyn Roche
• Granted Patent: US 8,305,890 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/367 Traffic or load control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0093 signalling arrangements in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 of the traffic information

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network are disclosed. For example, the method receives at least one signaling message, and classifies each of the at least one signaling message. The method schedules each of the at least one signaling message for processing, and discards selectively one or more signaling messages that have been scheduled under an overload condition.

Claims

1. A method for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising:

receiving at least one signaling message;

classifying each of said at least one signaling message;

scheduling each of said at least one signaling message for processing; and

discarding selectively one or more signaling messages that have been scheduled under an overload condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said communication network is a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of said at least one signaling message is classified into at least one of:

a high priority, a non-provisional priority, or a provisional priority.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of said at least one signaling message is classified based on a customer type and a signaling message type by a User Agent Client (UAC) or a User Agent Server (UAS).

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said scheduling comprises:

placing each said at least one signaling message into one of a plurality of class processing queues;

scheduling all signaling messages classified as high priority to be processed before signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority; and

scheduling signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority, using a first in first out (FIFO) order.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said discarding comprises:

discarding a newly received signaling message if said newly received signaling message is a provisional signaling message;

discarding a scheduled signaling message that is a provisional signaling message from a tail of a provisional queue if said provisional queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received;

discarding a scheduled signaling message from said non-provisional message queue using a time expiration discard method if said provisional queue is empty and said non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received;

discarding a scheduled signaling message from said non-provisional message queue using a head drop trigger discard method if said provisional queue is empty and said non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly recevied;

or

discarding said newly received signaling message if both of said provisional and said non-provisional message queues are empty.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said time expiration discard method comprises;

discarding a scheduled non-provisional signaling message from a head of said non-provisional message queue if a waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has exceeded a predetermined expiration time threshold;

discarding a scheduled non-provisional signaling message from a tail of said non-provisional message queue if said waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has not yet exceeded said predetermined expiration time threshold and said newly received message is a high priority message;

or

discarding said newly received message if said waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has not yet exceeded said predetermined expiration time threshold and said newly received message is a non-provisional message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said head drop trigger discard method comprises:

discarding a non-provisional signaling message from a head of the non-provisional message queue if a dropping zone is set to a head dropping zone;

or

discarding said non-provisional signaling message from a tail of the non-provisional message queue if said dropping zone is set to a tail dropping zone.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said head drop trigger discard method comprises:

initializing a dropping zone to a tail dropping zone and a dropping counter to zero when said head drop trigger discard method has not previously been initialized;

setting the dropping zone to a head dropping zone if said dropping counter has exceeded a predetermined head drop trigger threshold; and

setting the dropping zone to a tail dropping zone if said dropping counter has returned to zero.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

incrementing said dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the tail of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the tail dropping zone; and

decrementing said dropping counter by one every time a signaling message is dropped from the head of the non-provisional message queue when the dropping zone is set to the head dropping zone.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said signaling messages are Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling messages.

12. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of a method for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising:

receiving at least one signaling message;

classifying each of said at least one signaling message;

scheduling each of said at least one signaling message for processing; and

discarding selectively one or more signaling messages that have been scheduled under an overload condition.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein each of said at least one signaling message is classified into at least one of:

a high priority, a non-provisional priority, or a provisional priority.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein each of said at least one signaling message is classified based on a customer type and a signaling message type by a User Agent Client (UAC) or a User Agent Server (UAS).

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein said scheduling comprises:

placing each of said at least one signaling message into a plurality of class processing queues;

scheduling all signaling messages classified as high priority to be processed before signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority; and

scheduling signaling messages classified as non-provisional priority, or as provisional priority, using a first in first out (FIFO) order.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein said discarding comprises:

discarding a newly received signaling message if said newly received signaling message is a provisional signaling message;

discarding a scheduled signaling message that is a provisional signaling mess from a tail of a provisional queue if said provisional queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received;

discarding a scheduled signaling message from said non-provisional message queue using a time expiration discard method if said provisional queue is empty and said non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly received;

discarding a scheduled signaling message from said non-provisional message queue using a head drop trigger discard method if said provisional queue is empty and said non-provisional message queue is not empty when a high priority message or a non-provisional signaling message is newly recevied;

or

discarding said newly received signaling message if both of said provisional and said non-provisional message queues are empty.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein said time expiration discard method comprises;

discarding a scheduled non-provisional signaling message from a head of said non-provisional message queue if a waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has exceeded a predetermined expiration time threshold;

discarding a scheduled non-provisional signaling message from a tail of said non-provisional message queue if said waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has not yet exceeded said predetermined expiration time threshold and said newly received message is a high priority message;

or

discarding said newly received message if said waiting time of the signaling message at the head of the non-provisional message queue has not yet exceeded said predetermined expiration time threshold and said newly received message is a non-provisional message.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein said head drop trigger discard method comprises:

discarding a non-provisional signaling message from a head of the non-provisional message queue if a dropping zone is set to a head dropping zone;

or

discarding said non-provisional signaling message from a tail of the non-provisional message queue if said dropping zone is set to a tail dropping zone.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein said head drop trigger discard method comprises:

initializing a dropping zone to a tail dropping zone and a dropping counter to zero when said head drop trigger discard method has not previously been initialized;

setting the dropping zone to a head dropping zone if said dropping counter has exceeded a predetermined head drop trigger threshold; and

setting the dropping zone to a tail dropping zone if said dropping counter has returned to zero.

20. An apparatus for enabling prioritization of signaling messages in a communication network, comprising:

means for receiving at least one signaling message;

means for classifying each of said at least one signaling message;

means for scheduling each of said at least one signaling message for processing; and

means for discarding selectively one or more signaling messages that have been scheduled under an overload condition.