Method and device for realizing IP multimedia subsystem disaster tolerance

• US 8,069,365 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2009
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2006
• 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: Liang, Feng, Shen, Linfei, Wen, Kai, Gu, Jiongjiong, Shi, Shufeng
• Primary Examiner(s): MASKULINSKI, MICHAEL C
• Application Number:
  US12/428,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20090210743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/4.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method for realizing an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) disaster tolerance includes the steps as follows. An S-CSCF receives a user registration, and backs up necessary data which is required when a user service processing is restored on a storage entity in a network. An I-CSCF of user'"'"'s home domain receives a service request of the user, and if it is found that the S-CSCF currently providing a service for the user fails, assigns a new S-CSCF to the user, and forwards the service request to the newly assigned S-CSCF. The newly assigned S-CSCF interrogates and acquires subscription data of the user and the necessary data backed up by the original S-CSCF from the storage entity, and then restores the user service processing according to the subscription data and the backup data. A device for realizing an IMS disaster tolerance is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for realizing an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) disaster tolerance, comprising:

receiving, by a serving call session control function (S-CSCF), a user registration, and backing up necessary data which is required when a user service processing is restored on a storage entity in a network;

receiving, by an interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) of the user'"'"'s home domain, a service request of the user, and if it is found that the S-CSCF currently providing a service for the user fails, assigning a new S-CSCF to the user, and forwarding the service request to the newly assigned S-CSCF; and

interrogating and acquiring, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, subscription data of the user and the necessary data backed up by the original S-CSCF from the storage entity, and then restoring the user service processing according to the subscription data and the necessary data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the S-CSCF sends a register success message carrying an S-CSCF address and an I-CSCF address to the user after receiving the user registration, and the service request of the user is a session setup request from the user;

and

the receiving, by the I-CSCF, the service request of the user, and if it is found that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails, assigning a new S-CSCF to the user further comprises;

sending, by the user, the session setup request to a proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) according to the register success message, and the session setup request carries the S-CSCF address and the I-CSCF address which is acquired from the register success message in the session setup request;

forwarding, by the P-CSCF, the session setup request to the I-CSCF according to the I-CSCF address in the session setup request;

inspecting, by the I-CSCF, the status of the S-CSCF with which the user currently registers according to the S-CSCF address in the session setup request, and interrogating and acquiring an address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user from the storage entity after finding that the S-CSCF with which the user currently registers fails; and

inspecting, by the I-CSCF, the status of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and starting to assign the new S-CSCF to the user after finding that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service request of the user is a session setup request sent to the user;

and receiving, by the I-CSCF, the service request of the user, and if it is found that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails, assigning the new S-CSCF to the user further comprises;

interrogating and acquiring, by the I-CSCF, the address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user from the storage entity; and

determining, by the I-CSCF, that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and then starting to assign the new S-CSCF to the user.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the determining, by the I-CSCF, that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity further comprises at least one of:

inspecting, by the I-CSCF, the status of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and determining that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to an inspection result; and

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the S-CSCF according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and determining that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails when no response is received from the S-CSCF after a certain time period.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the assigning a new S-CSCF to the user further comprises at least one of:

interrogating, by the I-CSCF of the user'"'"'s home domain, a requirement on the capability of the S-CSCF during a subscription of the user from the storage entity, and assigning the new S-CSCF to the user according to the capability requirement; and

assigning, by the I-CSCF of the user home domain, the new S-CSCF to the user according to a pre-configured local S-CSCF redundancy relation table.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the newly assigned S-CSCF interrogates and acquiring the subscription data of the user and the necessary data backed up by the original S-CSCF from the storage entity, the newly assigned S-CSCF carries an address of the newly assigned S-CSCF itself, and the storage entity records the address of the newly assigned S-CSCF as the address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the restoring, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, the user service processing further comprises:

receiving, by the I-CSCF of the user home domain, the service request of the user once again, and interrogating and acquiring an address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user from the storage entity if it is found that the S-CSCF with which the user registers fails;

sending, by the storage entity, the address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user to the I-CSCF;

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user; and

processing, by the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user, the service request of the user;

or

receiving, by the I-CSCF of the user home domain, the service request sent to the user once again, and interrogating and acquiring an address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user from the storage entity;

sending, by the storage entity, the address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user to the I-CSCF;

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user; and

processing, by the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user, the service request of the user.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the newly assigned S-CSCF further comprises:

carrying a disaster tolerance restoring indicator in the service request to represent that this service request is a disaster tolerance restoring service request, and forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the newly assigned S-CSCF.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the interrogating and acquiring, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, the subscription data of the user and the necessary data backed up by the original S-CSCF from the storage entity further comprises:

determining, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, that this service request is a disaster tolerance restoring request according to the disaster tolerance restoring indicator after receiving the service request, requesting the subscription data and the necessary data from the storage entity, and carrying an address of the newly assigned S-CSCF itself with the disaster tolerance restoring indicator.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the storage entity records the address of the newly assigned S-CSCF with the disaster tolerance restoring indicator as the address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein a registration timer is set on the user side, and between the S-CSCF receiving the user registration and the I-CSCF receiving the service request of the user, the method further comprises:

triggering a re-registration when the registration timer on the user side is overtime, and sending a register request to the I-CSCF;

interrogating and acquiring, by the I-CSCF, an address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user from the storage entity;

determining, by the I-CSCF, that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, then starting to assign the new S-CSCF to the user, and forwarding the register request to the newly assigned S-CSCF; and

receiving, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, the user registration, and ending a current flow.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the determining, by the I-CSCF, that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity further comprises at least one of:

inspecting, by the I-CSCF, the status of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and determining that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails according to an inspection result; and

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the service request to the S-CSCF according to the address of the S-CSCF returned by the storage entity, and determining that the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails when no response is received from the S-CSCF after a certain time period.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein a registration timer is set on a user side, and after the newly assigned S-CSCF restores the user service processing according to the subscription data and the necessary data, the method further comprises:

triggering a re-registration when the registration timer on the user side is overtime, and sending a register request to the I-CSCF;

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, the register request to the newly assigned S-CSCF; and

receiving, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, the user registration.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein a disaster tolerance restoring timer is set on the S-CSCF, and after the newly assigned S-CSCF restores the user service processing according to the subscription data and the necessary data, the method further comprises:

starting, by the newly assigned S-CSCF, the restoring timer and judging whether a register request from the user is received or not before the restoring timer is overtime;

accepting the user registration if the register request of the user is received;

otherwise, performing a network deregistration on the user.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

starting, by the I-CSCF, an acknowledgement timer for a failed S-CSCF after finding that the S-CSCF fails;

forwarding, by the I-CSCF, a service request to the S-CSCF and adding a disaster tolerance restoring indicator parameter in the service request when the I-CSCF receives the service request sent to the S-CSCF and the acknowledgement timer started for the S-CSCF is not overtime, after the failed S-CSCF restores to a normal status;

otherwise, adding no disaster tolerance restoring indicator parameter in the service request; and

interrogating and acquiring, by the S-CSCF, the subscription data of the user and the necessary data from the storage entity and restoring the user service processing if it is found that the correlative user is not registered on present S-CSCF and the service request contains the disaster tolerance restoring indicator parameter after receiving the service request.

16. An interrogating call session control function (I-CSCF), comprising a detecting module, an assigning module and a session setup request processing module, wherein:

the detecting module is adapted to judge, according to a received session setup request, whether a serving CSCF (S-CSCF) currently providing a service for a user fails or not;

instruct the assigning module to assign a new S-CSCF for the current user if the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user fails, or instruct the session setup request processing module to forward the session setup request to the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user if the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user does not fail;

the assigning module is adapted to assign the new S-CSCF to the user according to an instruction from the detecting module, and instruct the session setup request processing module to forward the session setup request to the newly assigned S-CSCF after finishing assigning the new S-CSCF; and

the session setup request processing module is adapted to forward the session setup request according to an instruction from the detecting module or the assigning module.

17. The I-CSCF according to claim 16, wherein the session setup request processing module further comprises:

an instruction judgment sub-module, adapted to judge whether an instruction of forwarding the session setup request is sent from the detecting module or the assigning module, directly forward the session setup request if the instruction is sent from the detecting module, or carry a disaster tolerance restoring indicator in the session setup request if the instruction is sent from the assigning module.

18. The I-CSCF according to claim 16, wherein the assigning module comprises at least one selected from the following sub-modules:

an interrogating sub-module, adapted to interrogate a capability requirement on S-CSCFs in subscription data of the user from a storage entity in a network, and assign the new S-CSCF to the user according to the capability requirement; and

a redundancy relation storing sub-module, adapted to store an S-CSCF redundancy relation group, select one S-CSCF from the corresponding redundancy relation group according to an address of the S-CSCF currently providing the service for the user, and assign the S-CSCF to the user.

19. A serving call session control function (S-CSCF), comprising a register request processing module, a session setup request processing module and a user information processing module, wherein:

the register request processing module is adapted to send a self address and an address of an interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) of a current domain to a user when a user registration is accepted, store service data of the user in the user information processing module, and instruct the user information processing module to back up necessary data which is required when a user service processing is restored on a storage entity in a network;

the session setup request processing module is adapted to process a received session setup request according to user information; and

the user information processing module is connected to the register request processing module and the session setup request processing module, and is adapted to store the service data, and interact with the storage entity in the network so as to back up and acquire the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored.

20. The S-CSCF according to claim 19, wherein the session setup request processing module comprises a service data interrogating sub-module and a session setup request forwarding sub-module, wherein:

the service data interrogating sub-module is adapted to interrogate whether the user information processing module has the service data or not; and

send the session setup request to the session setup request forwarding sub-module if the user information processing module has the service data, and instruct the user information processing module to acquire the service data from the storage entity in the network if the user information processing module has not the service data; and

the session setup request forwarding sub-module is adapted to forward the session setup request according to the service data.

21. The S-CSCF according to claim 19, wherein the user information processing module further comprises:

a backup sub-module, adapted to back up the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored on the storage entity in the network according to an instruction from the register request processing module, and send an address of the S-CSCF to the storage entity in the network; and

an interrogating sub-module, adapted to acquire the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored from the storage entity in the network according to an instruction from the session setup request processing module.

22. The S-CSCF according to claim 19, further comprising:

a disaster tolerance restoring timer, connected to the user information processing module, and adapted to count the time after being started; and

instruct the user information processing module to perform a network deregistration on the user, that is, to delete data of the user if the user does not initiate a registration flow before the disaster tolerance restoring timer is overtime; and

the user information processing module further comprising;

a timer starting sub-module, adapted to start the disaster tolerance restoring timer after acquiring the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored.

23. The S-CSCF according to claim 19, wherein the session setup request processing module comprises a service data interrogating sub-module, a disaster tolerance restoring indicator interrogating sub-module, an error response processing sub-module and a session setup request forwarding sub-module, wherein:

the service data interrogating sub-module is adapted to interrogate whether the user information processing module has the service data or not, and send the session setup request to the session setup request forwarding sub-module if the user information processing module has the service data, or send the session setup request to the disaster tolerance restoring indicator interrogating sub-module if the user information processing module has not the service data;

the disaster tolerance restoring indicator interrogating sub-module is adapted to judge whether the session setup request has a disaster tolerance restoring indicator or not, and instruct the user information processing module to send a disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request to the storage entity in the network and acquire the service data if the session setup request has the disaster tolerance restoring indicator, or instruct the user information processing module to send an unregistered user interrogation request to the storage entity in the network and acquire the service data if the session setup request does not have the disaster tolerance restoring indicator;

the error response processing sub-module is adapted to judge whether an error response contains the service data or not after receiving the error response sent from the storage entity in the network, and instruct the user information processing module to send the disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request to the storage entity in the network and acquire the service data when the error response does not contain the service data and the S-CSCF itself is restored from a failure; and

the session setup request forwarding sub-module is adapted to forward the session setup request according to the service data.

24. The S-CSCF according to claim 23, wherein the user information processing module further comprises:

a backup sub-module, adapted to back up the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored on the storage entity in the network according to an instruction from the register request processing module, and send an S-CSCF address to the storage entity in the network; and

an interrogating sub-module, adapted to acquire the necessary data which is required when the user service processing is restored from the storage entity in the network according to an instruction from the session setup request processing module, and send an address of the S-CSCF with the disaster tolerance restoring indicator to the storage entity in the network when the disaster tolerance restoring indicator interrogating sub-module instructs to send the disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request to the storage entity in the network and acquires the service data.

25. A home subscriber server (HSS), comprising a user data storing module adapted to store subscription data of a user, necessary data which is required when a user service is restored and a registered serving call session control function (S-CSCF), or further comprising an interrogation request processing module, wherein the interrogation request processing module comprises an S-CSCF interrogation request determination sub-module, a disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request processing sub-module and an unregistered user interrogation request processing sub-module, wherein:

the S-CSCF interrogation request determination sub-module is adapted to judge whether an interrogation request from the S-CSCF is a disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request or an unregistered user interrogation request, send the request to the disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request processing sub-module for being processed if the interrogation request is the disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request, and send the request to the unregistered user interrogation request processing sub-module for being processed if the interrogation request is the unregistered user interrogation request;

the disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request processing sub-module is adapted to extract a corresponding information from the user data storing module according to the interrogation request and return the corresponding information to the S-CSCF; and

the unregistered user interrogation request processing sub-module is adapted to judge whether the user is registered or not according to the S-CSCF with which the user registers, and extract the corresponding information from the user data storing module and return the corresponding information to the S-CSCF if the user is not registered, or return an error response to the S-CSCF if the user is registered.

26. The HSS according to claim 25, wherein if the user is registered, the unregistered user interrogation request processing sub-module extracts the corresponding information from the user data storing module, carries the corresponding information in the error response, and returns the error response to the S-CSCF.

27. A method for realizing an Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) disaster tolerance, comprising:

receiving, by a serving call session control function (S-CSCF), a user registration, saving service data of a user, and backing up necessary data which is required when a user service processing is restored on a storage entity in a network; and

accepting, by the S-CSCF, a service request of the user after the service data of the user is lost, interrogating and acquiring subscription data of the user and the backup necessary data from the storage entity, and then processing the service request of the user according to the subscription data and the backup necessary data.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the interrogating and acquiring, by the S-CSCF, the subscription data of the user and the backup necessary data from the storage entity further comprises:

sending, by the S-CSCF, an unregistered user interrogation request to the storage entity;

determining, by the storage entity, that the user is registered according to the subscription data of the user, and returning an error response to the S-CSCF; and

sending, by the S-CSCF, a disaster tolerance restoring interrogation request to the storage entity according to the error response so as to acquire the subscription data of the user and the backup necessary data;

or sending, by the S-CSCF, an unregistered user interrogation request to the storage entity; and

determining, by the storage entity, that the user is registered according to the subscription data of the user, returning an error response to the S-CSCF, and carrying the subscription data of the user and the backup necessary data in the error response.