Technique for managing sessions with entities in a communication network

• US 9,258,367 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2006
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kyzivat, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yu, Xiang
• Application Number:
  US11/497,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20080032691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,479 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 455/435.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A technique for managing sessions in a communication network that does not subscribe to registration events immediately after an entity in the network is registered but rather delays subscribing to these events until a time that such notification would be normally used, such as after a revocable session has been established with the entity. An entity registers to enable sessions to be established with other entities in the communication network. After a session is established, a check is performed to determine if a subscription to be notified of events that warrants revoking the session already exists. If not, a subscription is established to be notified of events that warrant revoking the session. If during the session a notification is received indicating that an event that warrants revoking the session has occurred, the session is revoked.

Claims

1. A method for managing, by a proxy server, communication sessions between entities in a communication network, the method comprising:

registering an entity with a session control server in order for the entity to participate in communication sessions in the communication network;

after registering the entity, conveying messages between the entity and the session control server that establish a communication session between the entity and the at least one other entity in the communication network;

in response to establishment of the communication session, establishing a subscription between the proxy server and the session control server that enables the proxy server to be notified of events relating to a registration status of the entity, such that establishing the subscription is delayed relative to registering the entity; and

after establishing the subscription, revoking the communication session between the entity and the at least one other entity in response to being notified of an event relating to the registration status that warrants revoking the communication session.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the notification is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) NOTIFY message.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein an event associated with revoking the communication session includes deregistering an existing registration of an entity associated with the communication session.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein establishing the subscription comprises sending a subscription message to the session control server to establish the subscription.

5. A method as defined in claim 4 wherein the subscription message is a SIP SUBSCRIBE message.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the communication session is a telephone call between the entity and the at least one other entity, each comprising User Agents (UA).

7. A server in a communication network comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to;

(1) register an entity with a session control server in order for the entity to participate in communication sessions in the communication network;

(2) after registration of the entity, convey messages between the entity and the session control server that establish a communication session between the entity and at least one other entity in the communication network;

(3) in response to establishment of the communication session, establish a subscription between the proxy server and the session control server that enables the proxy server to be notified of events relating to a registration status of the entity, such that establishment of the subscription is delayed relative to registration of the entity; and

(4) after establishment of the subscription, revoke the communication session between the entity and the at least one other entity in response to being notified of an event relating to the registration status that warrants revocation of the communication session.

8. A server as defined in claim 7 wherein the entity is an intermediate node.

9. A server as defined in claim 7 wherein the entity is a user equipment (UE).

10. An apparatus for managing communication sessions with entities in a communication network, the apparatus comprising:

means for registering a user equipment device in order for the user equipment device to participate in communication sessions in the communication network;

means for conveying messages between the entity and the session control server, after registration of the entity, that establish a communication session between the entity and at least one other entity in the communication network;

means for establishing a subscription between the proxy server and the session control server in response to establishment of the communication session, the subscription enabling the proxy server to be notified of events relating to a registration status of the entity, such that establishing the subscription is delayed relative to registering the entity; and

means for revoking the communication session between the entity and the at least one other entity, after establishing the subscription, in response to being notified of an event relating to the registration status that warrants revoking the communication session.