Embodiments of methods and systems for peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers are presented. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a session controller, a request for access to a target communication device, the target communication device being communicatively coupled to a foreign service provider network. The method may also include referencing a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network from a database of available routes. Additionally, the method may include identifying, in a peer-to-peer interconnect controller, a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes. In one embodiment, the method also includes establishing a peer-to-peer communication session from a peering point to the target communication device over the path.
|
21. A tangible computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a computer system, causes the computer system to:
receive a request from a requesting communication device separate from the computer system for access to a target communication device, the target communication device being communicatively coupled to a foreign service provider network;
reference a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network;
identify a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes; and
establish a peer-to-peer communication session directly between a peering point associated with and separate from the requesting device in a home service provider network and a peering point in the foreign service provider network associated with and separate from the target communication device, over the path.
11. A system, comprising:
a session controller node configured to receive a request for access to a target communication device, the target communication device being communicatively coupled to a foreign service provider network;
a peer-to-peer interconnect controller node coupled to the session controller node and separate from a requesting device, the peer-to-peer interconnect controller node configured to:
reference a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network maintained by the foreign service provider network; and
identify a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes; and
a peering point separate from the requesting device and coupled to the session controller and configured to establish a direct peer-to-peer communication session with a peering point in the foreign service provider network associated with, and separate from, the target communication device, over the path.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a session controller in a home service provider network, a request for access to a target communication device, the target communication device being communicatively coupled to a foreign service provider network;
referencing a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network from a database of available routes maintained by the foreign service provider network;
identifying, in a peer-to-peer interconnect controller node in the home service provider network and/or the foreign service provider network, the peer-to-peer interconnect controller node separate from the requesting device, a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes; and
establishing a peer-to-peer communication session from a peering point in the home service provider network associated with, and separate from, the requesting device, directly to a peering point in the foreign service provider network associated with, and separate from, the target communication device, over the path.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
10. The method of
12. The system of
13. The system of
14. The system of
15. The system of
16. The system of
17. The system of
18. The system of
19. The system of
20. The system of
|
This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/841,185, entitled “Determining Peer-to-Peer Communication Paths between Service Providers,” filed on Mar. 15, 2013, and Ser. No. 13/840,072, entitled “Direct Routing of Communication Sessions for Mobile IP Communication End Points,” filed on Mar. 15, 2013, each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
This disclosure relates generally to telecommunications, and more specifically, to methods and systems for peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers.
The following discussion sets forth the inventors' own knowledge of certain technologies and/or problems associated therewith. Accordingly, this discussion is not an admission of prior art, and it is not an admission of the knowledge available to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The telecommunications market includes many different service providers, each typically offering compatible communications services. Compatibility is often required so that customers of one service provider can communicate with friends, family, or other end users who may be customers of another service provider. Although service providers typically offer services that are compatible with other service provider networks, there has not conventionally been a direct connect option between users of diverse service provider networks.
One prior solution for handling interfaces between different service provider networks is conventionally handled by a third party intermediary. The third party intermediary would typically establish an interconnect agreement with many different service providers, and then provide connection services between users of the different service provider networks.
In certain situations, a communication will hop between multiple third parties or across multiple carriers in order to find an agreed path between communication endpoints. In some situations, it is possible to employ direct interconnect between carriers, but it typically requires interconnect agreements to be in place and systems to be configured in advance. In legacy systems, a call may be routed through several carriers before connecting between the end users. Each connection may include connection and/or termination fees. These prior systems become very complex and expensive.
Embodiments of methods and systems for peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers are presented. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, at a session controller, a request for access to a target communication device, the target communication device being communicatively coupled to a foreign service provider network. The method may also include referencing a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network from a database of available routes. Additionally, the method may include identifying, in a peer-to-peer interconnect controller, a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes. In one embodiment, the method also includes establishing a peer-to-peer communication session from a peering point to the target communication device over the path.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Embodiments disclosed herein are directed generally to methods and systems for peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers.
The term “telecommunications,” as used herein, is intended to encompass voice communications or telephony, as well as other forms of communications (e.g., video communications, videoconferencing, instant messaging or IM, Short Messaging Service or SMS, emails, etc.) that may take place electronically, for example, over wireless networks, circuit-switched networks, packet-switched networks, or any combination thereof.
Beneficially, such an embodiment may enable the first communication device 106 to initiate, negotiate, and carry out communications with the second communication device 108 without requiring a central route lookup function or an administrator. More specifically, certain embodiments may eliminate use of centralized or third-party interconnection sources, and the associated expenses of routing and relating number lookup information. Thus, use of such centralized or third-party interconnection sources by the service providers 102,104 is not required for enabling communication between devices 106,108. Further benefits may include elimination of class 4 interconnection elements in existing network infrastructures.
Peer-to-peer interconnect control 202 may be configured to access and query active subscribers database 206 and available routes database 208. In one embodiment, each of the first service provider network 102 and the second service provider network 104 each maintain an active subscribers database 206a,b and an available routes database 208a,b respectively for storing connectivity information for the local network. For example, an identifier associated with first communication device 106 may be stored in active subscribers database 206a, which is maintained by first service provider network 102. Similarly, available routes database 208a may store a listing of available connection routes for accessing first communication device 106. Likewise, the active subscribers database 206b and available routes database 208b maintained by second service provider network 104 may include information for connecting to second communication device 108.
Peer-to-Peer interconnect control 202a may handle coordination of peer-to-peer communication routing for all devices on first service provider network 102. In one embodiment, peer-to-peer interconnect control 202a may be a communication interface to second service provider network 104 and other service provider networks. Session controller 204a may be in communication with peer-to-peer control 202a, and may serve as an internal interface to first communication device 106. Peering point 210a may handle device-to-device communication between the first communication device 106 and the second communication device 108 once the peer-to-peer link has been negotiated and routed by peer-to-peer interconnect control 202a.
Thus, in a simplified view, the peer-to-peer interconnect control 202a negotiates and routes peer-to-peer communication links between service provider networks, session controller 204a handles intra-network interfaces between devices, and peering point 210a handles content communication between service provider networks once the link has been established by peer-to-peer interconnect control 202a. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that each of the corresponding devices in the second service provider network have a similar and corresponding function.
In one embodiment, DICSDS 302 may be a common DNS system among service providers and E.164 providers. In one embodiment, DNS name resolution data may be controlled by the owning service provider via their local segment of the DICSDS 302. In one embodiment, DICSDS 302 may facilitate address lookup for interface nodes within service provider networks. For example, peer-to-peer interconnect control 202a on the first service provider network 102 may query DICSDS 302 to determine an address for P2P interconnect control 202b on the second service provider network 104 in order to initiate P2P route negotiations.
ENUM database 306 may contain a commonly accessible list of ENUM identifiers, which DICSDS 302 may access in response to a query from a P2P interconnect control 202. ENUM database 306 enables E.164 number to Service Provider mapping via DNS. DNS root node 304 enables the first service provider 102 and the second service provider 104 to create a common DNS system, such that both service providers have access to common address data.
In one embodiment, the peer-to-peer interconnect controller 202a may reference a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network as shown in block 404. For example, session controller 204a may forward the request to P2P interconnect control 202a, which contacts P2P interconnect control 202b on the second service provider network and request access to available route information for accessing second communication device 108.
Additionally P2P interconnect control 202a may identify a path for communication with the target communication device in response to the list of available routes as shown at block 406. For example, P2P interconnect control 202b may forward available communication routes to P2P interconnect control 202a. The available communication routes may include one or more communication paths to second communication device 108, which are stored in available routes database 208b on the second service provider network 104.
In one embodiment, peering point 210a may establish a peer-to-peer communication session with the target communication device over the path as shown in block 408. For example, once a communication path to second communication device 108 is identified and a P2P link is negotiated, peering point 210a may interface peering point 210b on the second service provider network 104 and communicate content between the first communication device 106 and the second communication device 108.
At state 504, P2P interconnect control 202a may perform an ENUM query to look up the identity of the second service provider 104. Additionally, as shown at state 506, the P2P interconnect control 202a may query the DNS route server to obtain the Name Server address where the address of P2P interconnect control 202b for second service provider network 104 can be obtained and obtain the node address for P2P interconnect control 202b.
At state 508, P2P interconnect control 202a of the first service provider network 102 may contact P2P interconnect control 202b of the second service provider network 104 to confirm that P2P interconnect services are supported by second service provider network 104. Additionally, P2P interconnect control 202a may obtain any redirect information due to roaming through query of Active Subscriber Database and provide the route record of the closest peering point to the subscriber. If, in one embodiment, it is determined that the service provider of the called party does not support certain embodiments, then the system may fall-back to traditional routing.
At state 510, P2P interconnect control 202b to may query available routes database 208b to identify available routes to second communication device 108 and return the available routes to P2P interconnect control 202a on the first service provider network 102. At state 512, P2P interconnect control 202a may use the available route information to select a route to peering point 210b, which may render a Session Detail Record (SDR) for accounting use at the end of the session. At state 514, session controller 204a may establish signaling between peering point 210a and remote peering point 210b using the selected route. At state 516, a media path may be established between peering point 210a and peering point 210b, which enables the first communication device 106 to communicate content with second communication device 108.
As noted above, embodiments of peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers may be implemented or executed, at least in part, by one or more computer systems. One such system is illustrated in
In various embodiments, computer system 600 may be a single-processor system including one processor 610A (e.g., processor 201 shown in
System memory 620 may be configured to store program instructions (e.g., algorithms for querying databases, accessing foreign service provider networks, etc.) and/or data accessible by processor(s) 610A-N. In various embodiments, system memory 620 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. As illustrated, program instructions and data implementing certain operations such as, for example, those described in connection with
In an embodiment, I/O interface 630 may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic between processor(s) 610A-N, system memory 620, and any peripheral devices in the device, including network interface 640 or other peripheral interfaces, such as input/output devices 650. In some embodiments, I/O interface 630 may perform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations to convert data signals from one component (e.g., system memory 620) into a format suitable for use by another component (e.g., processor(s) 610A-N). In some embodiments, I/O interface 630 may include support for devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/O interface 630 may be split into two or more separate components, such as a north bridge and a south bridge, for example. In addition, in some embodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface 630, such as an interface to system memory 620, may be incorporated directly into processor(s) 610A-N.
Network interface 640 may be configured to allow data to be exchanged between computer system 600 and other devices attached to a network (e.g., telecommunications network 104 of
Input/output devices 650 may, in some embodiments, include one or more display terminals, keyboards, keypads, touchpads, scanning devices, RFID readers, NFC readers, voice or optical recognition devices, or any other devices suitable for entering or retrieving data by one or more computer system 600. Multiple input/output devices 650 may be present in computer system 600 or may be distributed on various nodes of computer system 600. In some embodiments, similar input/output devices may be separate from computer system 600 and may interact with one or more nodes of computer system 600 through a wired or wireless connection, such as over network interface 640.
As shown in
A person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that computer system 600 is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure described herein. In particular, the computer system and devices may include any combination of hardware or software that can perform the indicated operations. In addition, the operations performed by the illustrated components may, in some embodiments, be performed by fewer components or distributed across additional components. Similarly, in other embodiments, the operations of some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or other additional operations may be available. Accordingly, systems and methods described herein may be implemented or executed with other computer system or processor-based configurations.
Although certain embodiments are described herein with reference to specific examples, numerous modifications and changes may be made in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within their scope. Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims. Furthermore, it should be understood that the various operations described herein may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. The order in which each operation of a given technique is performed may be changed, and the elements of the systems illustrated herein may be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc. It is intended that the embodiments described herein embrace all such modifications and changes and, accordingly, the above description should be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The term “coupled” is defined as “connected” and/or “in communication with,” although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless stated otherwise. The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a system, device, or apparatus that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more elements possesses those one or more elements but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Similarly, a method or process that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more operations possesses those one or more operations but is not limited to possessing only those one or more operations.
Kemmerer, Jr., Frederick C., Gray-Preston, Carroll L., Fuller, Jeremy
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
10270643, | Mar 15 2013 | RIBBON COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING COMPANY, INC | Peer-to-peer interconnection between service providers |
Patent | Priority | Assignee | Title |
7313631, | Sep 06 1999 | BRISTOL, UNIVERSITY OF | DNS updating in communication network |
20030007482, | |||
20080162637, | |||
20100091707, | |||
20140269537, | |||
WO9917506, |
Executed on | Assignor | Assignee | Conveyance | Frame | Reel | Doc |
Mar 15 2013 | Genband US LLC | (assignment on the face of the patent) | / | |||
Mar 15 2013 | GRAY-PRESTON, CARROLL L | Genband US LLC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 030716 | /0770 | |
Mar 15 2013 | KEMMERER, FREDERICK C , JR | Genband US LLC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 030716 | /0770 | |
May 12 2013 | FULLER, JEREMY | Genband US LLC | ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 030716 | /0770 | |
Jul 01 2016 | Genband US LLC | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT PATENT NO 6381239 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 039269 FRAME: 0234 ASSIGNOR S HEREBY CONFIRMS THE PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT | 041422 | /0080 | |
Jul 01 2016 | Genband US LLC | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT | 039269 | /0234 | |
Dec 21 2017 | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | Genband US LLC | TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT | 044986 | /0303 | |
Dec 29 2017 | SONUS NETWORKS, INC | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | SECURITY INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 044978 | /0801 | |
Dec 29 2017 | Genband US LLC | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | SECURITY INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 044978 | /0801 | |
Dec 20 2019 | Genband US LLC | RIBBON COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING COMPANY, INC | MERGER SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 053223 | /0260 | |
Mar 03 2020 | RIBBON COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING COMPANY, INC | CITIZENS BANK, N A , AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | SECURITY INTEREST SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 052076 | /0905 | |
Mar 03 2020 | SILICON VALLEY BANK, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT | RIBBON COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING COMPANY, INC F K A GENBAND US LLC AND SONUS NETWORKS, INC | TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT AT R F 044978 0801 | 058949 | /0497 | |
Jun 20 2024 | CITIZENS BANK, N A | RIBBON COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING COMPANY, INC F K A GENBAND US LLC AND SONUS NETWORKS, INC | RELEASE BY SECURED PARTY SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS | 067822 | /0433 |
Date | Maintenance Fee Events |
Aug 23 2019 | M1551: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 4th Year, Large Entity. |
Aug 23 2023 | M1552: Payment of Maintenance Fee, 8th Year, Large Entity. |
Date | Maintenance Schedule |
Feb 23 2019 | 4 years fee payment window open |
Aug 23 2019 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 23 2020 | patent expiry (for year 4) |
Feb 23 2022 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 4) |
Feb 23 2023 | 8 years fee payment window open |
Aug 23 2023 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 23 2024 | patent expiry (for year 8) |
Feb 23 2026 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 8) |
Feb 23 2027 | 12 years fee payment window open |
Aug 23 2027 | 6 months grace period start (w surcharge) |
Feb 23 2028 | patent expiry (for year 12) |
Feb 23 2030 | 2 years to revive unintentionally abandoned end. (for year 12) |