Caching of announcements at the edge of a packet switched telecommunication network
First Claim
1. A method of sending an announcement to user equipment, by an access server operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, the method comprising:
- sending, to a media source, a first instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement;
receiving the announcement from the media source operating in the packet switched network;
receiving a caching indication associated with the announcement from the media source, the caching indication instructing the access server to initialize caching of the announcement;
caching the announcement in a caching unit associated with the access server in response to receiving the caching indication and the announcement;
sending, to the media source, an indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit;
sending, to the media source, a second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement;
in response to sending the second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement, and based on the indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit, receiving, from the media source, a third instruction instructing the access server to retrieve the announcement from the caching unit, the third instruction comprising an announcement identifier uniquely identifying the cached announcement but not including an associated embedded cached announcement;
retrieving the cached announcement from the caching unit; and
sending the retrieved cached announcement towards the user equipment.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an access server operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, such as a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, for distributing an announcement to user equipment. The method comprises receiving an announcement from a media source, receiving a caching indication from the media source to allow caching of the announcement and sending the received announcement to the user equipment. The access server can cache the announcement in a caching unit associated with the access server on receipt of the caching indication and the announcement. Furthermore a method and a media source cooperating with the access server for generating an announcement and a caching indication to allow the access server to cache the announcement.
8 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of sending an announcement to user equipment, by an access server operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, the method comprising:
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sending, to a media source, a first instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement; receiving the announcement from the media source operating in the packet switched network; receiving a caching indication associated with the announcement from the media source, the caching indication instructing the access server to initialize caching of the announcement; caching the announcement in a caching unit associated with the access server in response to receiving the caching indication and the announcement; sending, to the media source, an indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit; sending, to the media source, a second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement; in response to sending the second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement, and based on the indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit, receiving, from the media source, a third instruction instructing the access server to retrieve the announcement from the caching unit, the third instruction comprising an announcement identifier uniquely identifying the cached announcement but not including an associated embedded cached announcement; retrieving the cached announcement from the caching unit; and sending the retrieved cached announcement towards the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An access server for distributing an announcement to user equipment operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, the access server comprising:
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processing unit; a memory for cooperating with the processing unit, the memory storing a set of instructions which are executable by the processing unit to cause the processing unit to; send, to a media source, a first instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement; receive the announcement from the media source operating in the packet switched network; receive a caching indication associated with the announcement from said media source, the caching indication instructing the access server to initialize caching of the announcement; cache the announcement in a caching unit associated with the access server in response to the caching indication and the announcement from the access server; send, to the media source, an indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit; send, to the media source, a second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement; in response to sending the second instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement, and based on the indication of the announcement being available in the caching unit, receive, from the media source, a third instruction instructing the access server to retrieve the announcement from the caching unit, the third instruction comprising an announcement identifier uniquely identifying the cached announcement but not including an associated embedded cached announcement; retrieve the cached announcement from the caching unit; and send the retrieved cached announcement towards the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of sending an announcement to user equipment, by an access server, the access server in use operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, the method comprising:
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caching a plurality of announcements in a caching unit associated with the access server, each of the plurality announcements being associated with a unique identifier; determining that an announcement should be transmitted to a user equipment; in response to determining that the announcement should be transmitted to the user equipment, sending, to a media source, a first instruction to provide the announcement, the first instruction including a list of each unique identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of announcements cached in the caching unit associated with the access server; in response to sending the first instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement, and based on the list, receiving, from the media source, a response identifying a particular announcement identifier that uniquely identifies a particular one of the plurality of announcements cached in the caching unit associated with the access server, the response not including the particular one of the plurality of announcements associated with the particular announcement identifier; in response to receiving the particular announcement identifier from the media source, retrieving the particular one of the plurality of cached announcements that is associated with the announcement identifier from the caching unit; and sending the particular one of the cached announcements towards the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An access server for distributing an announcement to user equipment operating in a packet switched telecommunication network, the access server comprising:
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processing unit; a memory for cooperating with the processing unit, the memory storing a set of instructions which are executable by the processing unit to cause the processing unit to; cache a plurality of announcements in a caching unit associated with the access server, each of the plurality announcements being associated with a unique identifier; determine that an announcement should be transmitted to a user equipment; in response to determining that the announcement should be transmitted to the user equipment, send, to a media source, a first instruction to provide the announcement, the first instruction including a list of each unique identifier associated with a respective one of the plurality of announcements cached in the caching unit associated with the access server; in response to sending the first instruction instructing the media source to provide the announcement, and based on the list, receive, from the media source, a response identifying a particular announcement identifier that is associated with uniquely identifies a particular one of the plurality of announcements cached in the caching unit associated with the access server, the response not including the particular one of the plurality of announcements associated with the particular announcement identifier; in response to receiving the particular announcement identifier from the media source, retrieve the particular one of the plurality of cached announcements that is associated with the announcement identifier from the caching unit; and send the particular one of the cached announcements towards the user equipment. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification