Method and apparatus for announcement for session

• US 8,036,209 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2008
• Issued: 10/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Liu, Zhenhua
• Primary Examiner(s): MEHRPOUR, NAGHMEH
• Application Number:
  US11/970,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20080108320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,372 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/338, 370/466, 370/353, 370/400, 370/315, 370/232, 370/218, 370/351, 370/389, 370/392, 370/390, 370/402, 370/256, 370/410, 370/408, 370/85, 379/201.12, 379/201.01, 379/229, 379/373.02, 379/202.01, 379/67, 379/200, 379/211, 379/89, 379/207, 379/112, 379/114, 379/100, 379/94, 379/91, 379/93.01, 455/406, 705/7, 705/8, 705/9, 705/11, 705/1, 705/27, 705/26, 709/104, 709/223, 709/226
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1043 Gateway controllers, e.g. media gateway control protocol [MGCP] controllers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355

Abstract

A method for an announcement for a session includes: adding at least one playing termination in a context of a session; setting up a topology descriptor between a playing termination and a termination which is about to listen to the announcement in the context; and playing the announcement by the playing termination to the termination connected to the playing termination. An apparatus for an announcement for a session includes a playing termination setting unit, a topology descriptor setting unit and an announcement-playing unit. The present invention ensures that a user can always hear complete announcement even when a termination operable for playing an announcement is deleted or removed from the context and thus cannot play the announcement any more.

Claims

1. A method for an announcement for a session, the method comprising:

adding at least one playing termination into a context of a session to play an announcement;

setting up a topology descriptor between a playing termination and a termination which is about to listen to the announcement from the playing termination in the context; and

playing, by the playing termination, the announcement to the termination topologically connected to the playing termination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein different playing terminations are topologically isolated.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising one of:

deleting the playing termination when the announcement is completed; and

modifying the topology descriptor between the playing termination and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement in the context when the announcement is completed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein modifying the topology descriptor between the playing termination and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement in the context comprises one of:

changing the topology descriptor into topological isolation; and

adding a topology descriptor with another termination.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the topology descriptor between the playing termination and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement is one of:

a oneway topology descriptor from the playing termination to the termination which is about to listen to the announcement; and

a bothway topology descriptor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the playing termination is a logical termination occupying no egress resource.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the playing termination is set as a logical termination occupying no egress resource by:

predetermining an identifier index value for identifying a termination occupying no egress resource; and

setting an identifier index of the playing termination as the identifier index value to indicate that the playing termination is a logical termination occupying no egress resource.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein playing the announcement by the playing termination to the termination connected to the playing termination comprises:

generating, by the playing termination, an announcement media stream corresponding to an announcement signal set in the playing termination; and

playing the announcement to the termination topologically connected to the playing termination by sending the announcement media stream to the termination.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

modifying the announcement signal in the playing termination;

changing the topology descriptor between the playing termination with the modified announcement signal and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement before modified to be isolated; and

adding a topology descriptor between the playing termination with the modified announcement signal and a termination which is about to listen to the modified announcement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the playing termination is a physical termination occupying egress resources.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein playing the announcement by the playing termination to the termination connected to the playing termination comprises:

generating, by the playing termination, an announcement media stream corresponding to an announcement signal set in the playing termination; and

playing the announcement to the termination topologically connected to the playing termination by sending the announcement media stream to the termination.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

modifying the announcement signal in the playing termination; and

changing the topology descriptor between the playing termination with the modified announcement signal and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement before modified to be isolated; and

adding a topology descriptor between the playing termination with the modified announcement signal and a termination which is about to listen to the modified announcement.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein playing the announcement by the playing termination to the termination connected to the playing termination comprises:

transmitting, by a third party announcement source, an announcement media stream to the playing termination, wherein a bearer connection is set up between the third party announcement source and the playing termination; and

playing, by the playing termination, the announcement to the termination topologically connected to the playing termination by forwarding the announcement media stream to the termination.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the third party announcement source is set within the context or outside the context.

15. An apparatus for an announcement for a session, the apparatus comprising:

a playing termination setting unit, operable for adding at least one playing termination into a context of a session to play an announcement;

a topology descriptor setting unit, operable for setting up a topology descriptor between a playing termination and a termination which is about to listen to an announcement from the playing termination; and

an announcement-playing unit, operable for triggering the playing termination to play the announcement to the termination which is topologically connected to the playing termination and is about to listen to the announcement from the playing termination.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the topology descriptor setting unit comprises at least one of:

a oneway topology descriptor setting subunit, operable for setting up a one-way topology descriptor from the playing termination to the termination which is about to listen to the announcement; and

a bothway topology descriptor setting subunit, operable for setting up a bothway topology descriptor between the playing termination and the termination which is about to listen to the announcement.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the playing termination setting unit comprises at least one of:

a first setting subunit, operable for setting the playing termination as a logical termination occupying no egress resource; and

a second setting subunit, operable for setting the playing termination as a physical termination occupying egress resources.