Dynamic Federations

• US 20110317688A1
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Acme Packet Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Acme Packet Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Penfield, Robert, Gray, David, MeLampy, Patrick J., Kuenzel, Kenneth, Benitez Pelaez, Mariana, Kaplan, Hadriel, Koss, Ryan, Commerford, Peter, Timmons, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 8,767,715 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1036 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1053 IP private branch exchange [PBX] functionality entities or arrangements circuit switched PBXs H04M3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1056 Multi-site
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

Systems and methods of establishing IP telephony sessions between enterprises are disclosed. A first enterprise requests an association with a second enterprise. Both enterprises and the second enterprise belong to the same federation. The association request is accepted, to establish an association between the first and second enterprises. In response to the acceptance, a direct routed path is established between the first enterprise and the second enterprise. One of the associated enterprises requests activation of an IP telephony service. If the request to activate references the association, an IP telephony session is established using the direct routed path.

Claims

1. A method of establishing IP telephony sessions between enterprises, the method comprising:

receiving an association request by a first enterprise to associate with a second enterprise, the first enterprise and the second enterprise both belonging to a federation;

accepting the association request on behalf of the second enterprise to establish an association between the first enterprise and the second enterprise;

responsive to the acceptance, establishing a direct routed path between the first enterprise and the second enterprise;

receiving a request by one of the enterprises to activate an IP telephony service; and

if the request to activate references the association, establishing an IP telephony session using the direct routed path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting is conditional upon a user instruction indicating acceptance of the association request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting occurs automatically if a user configurable option indicates automatic acceptance of requests for association between enterprises.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the accepting occurs automatically if a user configurable option indicates automatic acceptance of requests for association between the first enterprise and the second enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying media packets of the IP telephony session over the directed routed path.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying media packets of the IP telephony session over the directed routed path in a manner which avoids traversing a PSTN gateway.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

conveying both media packets of the IP telephony session and signaling packets of the IP telephony session over the directed routed path.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a subscription from the second enterprise for notification of new associations; and

responsive to the association request, notifying the second enterprise of the association request through the subscription.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the notifying the second enterprise of the association request through the subscription occurs after the association is confirmed.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the association request is received over a non-SIP channel and the subscription is received over a SIP trunk.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a subscription from the second enterprise for configuration of the first enterprise;

receiving a subscription from the first enterprise for configuration of the second enterprise; and

notifying the second enterprise of the configuration of the first enterprise; and

notifying the first enterprise of the configuration of the second enterprise.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, over an HTTP channel, a request for an initial enterprise session border controller (SBC) configuration; and

providing an initial configuration for a specific service to the enterprise SBC in response to the received request for the initial enterprise SBC configuration.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the specific service is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunk.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving from the second enterprise an acceptance of the association request,

wherein the accepting the association request on behalf of the second enterprise is performed in response to the receiving from the second enterprise the acceptance of the association request.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the accepting the association request on behalf of the second enterprise is performed automatically in response to receiving the association request by the first enterprise.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request by the first enterprise to join the federation, the request by the first enterprise including a first profile describing the first enterprise;

receiving a request by the second enterprise to join the federation, the request by the second enterprise including a second profile describing the second enterprise;

publishing the first profile in response to receiving the request to join by the first enterprise; and

publishing the second profile in response to receiving the request to join by the second enterprise.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each of the join requests is received over an HTTP channel.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

creating the first profile to include directory information for the first enterprise and a description of at least one communication service provided by the first enterprise for use by another enterprise.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a plurality of user-defined profiles, each of the user-defined profiles describing a different set of services provided by the first enterprise for use by one or more other enterprises.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

making the first profile visible to another enterprise based on a setting provided by a user in the first enterprise.

21. A system for establishing IP telephony sessions between enterprises, the system comprising:

a dynamic federation system;

a pair of service provider session border controllers (SBCs), each service provider SBC communicatively coupled to the dynamic federation system; and

a pair of enterprise SBCs, each enterprise SBC communicatively coupled to a respective one of the service provider SBCs via a corresponding SIP trunk;

wherein a first one of the enterprise SBCs is configured to send an association request, to the dynamic federation system via a first one of the SIP trunks, to associate with a second one of the enterprise SBCs,

wherein the dynamic federation system is configured to establish an association between the first one of the enterprise SBCs and the second one of the enterprise SBCs in response to the association request and then establish a direct routed path between the first one of the enterprise SBCs and the second one of the enterprise SBCs, and

wherein one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send a request, to the dynamic federation system via one of the SIP trunks, to activate an IP telephony service, and

wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to establish an IP telephony session using the direct routed path if the request to activate references the association.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the system is further configured to convey both media packets of the IP telephony session and signaling packets of the IP telephony session over the directed routed path.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the system is further configured to convey media packets of the IP telephony session over the directed routed path in a manner which avoids traversing a PSTN gateway.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the second one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send, to the dynamic federation system via a second one of the SIP trunks, a subscription for new association notification, and

wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to notify the second one of the enterprise SBCs of the association request through the subscription responsive to the association request.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the association request is received over a non-SIP channel and the subscription is received over a SIP trunk.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the second one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send to the dynamic federation system a subscription for new association notification,

wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to notify the second one of the enterprise SBCs of the association request through the subscription responsive to the association request,

wherein the second one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send to the dynamic federation system an acceptance for the association request, and

wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to accept the association request on behalf of the second one of the enterprise SBCs in response to receiving from the second one of the enterprise SBCs the acceptance for the association request.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to accept the association request on behalf of the second enterprise is performed automatically in response to receiving the association request by the first enterprise.

28. The system of claim 21, wherein the first one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send a join request to the dynamic federation system, the join request by the first one of the enterprise SBCs including a first profile describing the first enterprise,

wherein the second one of the enterprise SBCs is further configured to send a join request to the dynamic federation system, the request by the second one of the enterprise SBCs including a second profile describing the second enterprise, and

wherein the dynamic federation system is further configured to publish the first profile in response to receiving the request to join by the first one of the enterprise SBCs and to publish the second profile in response to receiving the request to join by the second one of the enterprise SBCs.

29. The system of claim 21, wherein the wherein each of the join requests is sent over an HTTP channel.