Data Compression for Communications Signalling

• US 20170163694A1
• Filed: 12/03/2015
• Published: 06/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Belenko, Andrey, Kumar, Namendra, Moore, Timothy Mark, Skuratovich, Uladzimir A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,193,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields

Abstract

A communication event is established between an initiating device and a responding device under the control of a remote communications controller. In a pre-session establishment phase: a compression dictionary or a dictionary link that identifies an addressable memory location, at which a compression dictionary is held, is received at the initiating device. The received compression dictionary or the received dictionary link is stored in electronic storage of the initiating device. In response to a communication event establishment instruction received at the initiating device after the dictionary or the dictionary link has been received and stored at the initiating device, a session is established between the initiating device and the communications controller by the initiating device transmitting an initial session establishment message—compressed using the dictionary—to the communications controller to establish the communication event.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a communication event between an initiating device and a responding device under the control of a remote communications controller, the method comprising implementing by the initiating device the following steps:

in a pre-session establishment phase;

receiving at the initiating device a compression dictionary or a dictionary link that identifies an addressable memory location, at which a compression dictionary is held;

storing the received compression dictionary or the received dictionary link in electronic storage of the initiating device;

generating an initial session establishment request message for transmission to the communications controller;

applying compression to the initial session establishment request message to reduce its size based on the compression dictionary, using the stored compression dictionary or by using the stored dictionary link to access the compression dictionary; and

in response to a communication event establishment instruction received at the initiating device after the dictionary or the dictionary link has been received and stored at the initiating device, establishing a session between the initiating device and the communications controller by the initiating device transmitting the compressed initial session establishment message to the communications controller;

wherein a communication event is established between the initiating device and the responding device based on the established session between the initiating device and the communications controller.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the communication event establishment instruction is instigated by a user of the initiating device, whereby the dictionary or dictionary link is received before the user has instigated the communication event establishment instruction.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the call establishment instruction is instigated by the user of the initiating device:

selecting an option on a display of the initiating device to call the responding device and/or a user of the responding device, or providing a voice or gesture input to the initiating device denoting the responding device and or the user of the responding device.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the initial session establishment request message identifies the responding device, whereby transmitting it to the communications controller causes the communications controller to transmit a communication event invite to the responding device identified therein.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the initial session establishment request message comprises a device identifier of the responding device, and/or a user identifier of a user of the remote device, and/or or a network address of the responding device, and thereby identifies the responding device.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the session is established without transmitting any uncompressed message from the initiating device to the communications controller.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the dictionary link is a URI.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the compressed initial session establishment message is transmitted to the communications controller according to a preferred transport protocol only if the compressed initial session establishment request can be encapsulated in a single packet of the preferred transport protocol, wherein the initiating device is configured to otherwise transmit the initial session establishment request to the communications controller according to a non-preferred transport protocol.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the preferred transport protocol is an unreliable transport protocol and the non-preferred transport protocol is a reliable transport protocol.

10. A network device according to claim 9, wherein the preferred transport protocol is UDP and the non-preferred transport protocol is TCP.

11. An initiating device for establishing a communication event between the initiating device and a responding device under the control of a remote communications controller, the initiating device comprising:

a network interface;

electronic storage holding executable code;

a processor configured connected to the electronic storage and configured to execute the code, wherein the code is configured when executed on the processor to implement the following steps;

in a pre-session establishment phase;

receiving at the initiating device a compression dictionary or a dictionary link that identifies an addressable memory location, at which a compression dictionary is held;

storing the received compression dictionary or the received dictionary link in the electronic storage;

generating an initial session establishment request message for transmission to a communications controller;

applying compression to the initial session establishment request message to reduce its size based on the compression dictionary, using the stored compression dictionary or by using the stored dictionary link to access the compression dictionary; and

in response to a communication event establishment instruction received at the initiating device after the dictionary or the dictionary link has been received and stored at the initiating device, establishing a session between the initiating device and the communications controller by transmitting the compressed initial session establishment message to the communications controller via the network interface, wherein a communication event is established between the initiating device and the responding device based on the established session between the initiating device and the communications controller.

12. A device according to claim 11, comprising a user interface, wherein the communication event establishment instruction is instigated by a user of the initiating device via the user interface, whereby the dictionary or dictionary link is received before the user has instigated the communication event establishment instruction.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the call establishment instruction is instigated by the user of the initiating device:

selecting an option on a display of the user interface to call the responding device and/or a user of the responding device, or providing via the user interface a voice or gesture input to the initiating device denoting the responding device and or the user of the responding device.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the initial session establishment request message identifies the responding device, whereby transmitting it to the communications controller causes the communications controller to transmit a communication event invite to the responding device identified therein.

15. A method according to claim 14, wherein the initial session establishment request message comprises a device identifier of the responding device, and/or a user identifier of a user of the remote device, and/or or a network address of the responding device, and thereby identifies the responding device.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein the session is established without transmitting any uncompressed message from the initiating device to the communications controller.

17. A method according to claim 11, wherein the dictionary link is a URI.

18. A method according to claim 11, wherein the code is configured to transmit the compressed initial session establishment message to the communications controller according to a preferred transport protocol only if the compressed initial session establishment request can be encapsulated in a single packet of the preferred transport protocol, wherein the code is configured to otherwise transmit the initial session establishment request to the communications controller according to a non-preferred transport protocol.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the preferred transport protocol is an unreliable transport protocol and the non-preferred transport protocol is a reliable transport protocol.

20. A computer program product comprising executable code stored on a computer readable storage medium and configured when executed on a processor of an initiating device to establish a communication event between an initiating device and a responding device under the control of a remote communications controller by implementing the following steps:

in a pre-session establishment phase;

receiving at the initiating device a compression dictionary or a dictionary link that identifies an addressable memory location, at which a compression dictionary is held;

storing the received compression dictionary or the received dictionary link in electronic storage of the initiating device;

generating an initial session establishment request message for transmission to the communications controller;

applying compression to the initial session establishment request message to reduce its size based on the compression dictionary, using the stored compression dictionary or by using the stored dictionary link to access the compression dictionary; and

in response to a communication event establishment instruction received at the initiating device after the dictionary or the dictionary link has been received and stored at the initiating device, establishing a session between the initiating device and the communications controller by the initiating device transmitting the compressed initial session establishment message to the communications controller;

wherein a communication event is established between the initiating device and the responding device based on the established session between the initiating device and the communications controller.