Abstract:
A system comprising a first network element, a second network element and a communication device. The first network element is communicatively coupled to the second network element and the communication device. The communication device sends multimedia session information to the first network element. The first network element analyzes the multimedia session information for urgent emergency circumstances. The first network element forwards the multimedia session information to a destination on the second network element if urgent emergency circumstances are found in the multimedia session information.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention is directed to a method and system for IMS support for multimedia session, recording, analysis and storage. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In recent years, subscribers&#39; use of cell phones has become more common. People carry their cell phones most everywhere they go. At the same time the capabilities of cell phones have markedly increased. Cell phones can now pass data, photographs, video, as well as other media. Subscribers commonly use their phones to send pictures and videos of events as they happen. 
     In a different arena, government agencies at the national and local levels are under increased pressure to reduce costs and maintain public services to taxpayers. Additionally, in the post 9/11 era, local law enforcement and homeland security agencies rely upon ordinary citizens to observe and report suspicious behavior or circumstances. Given the need for heightened security and the pressure to meet budget constraints, law enforcement and homeland security agencies would benefit from citizens participation in identifying threats as they occurred. Although a voice description of suspicious activities is good, the information provided by video, pictures and voice would be of greater assistance to local law enforcement authorities. Video and photographs provide an actual objective view of a perceived threat as opposed to a third person&#39;s voice interpretation of the threat. By analyzing recently obtained video, law enforcement officials may be able to decipher and immediately act upon real threats. Furthermore, multimedia phones may be used to capture municipal repair needs that may go unnoticed. For example, a motorist on a remote road may be able to provide to authorities immediate video evidence of a dangerous situation, such as, a large pothole, a downed power line or a fallen tree blocking a road. Authorities may be able to act promptly to rectify problem. Once again, authorities will have a picture or video of the problem that will provide authorities with greater information than a third person&#39;s description of the problem. 
     Thus a need exists for a way to provide mobile subscribers a way to inform local police, security, and municipal authorities of real-time events using video, pictures and/or voice. 
     SUMMARY 
     A system comprising a first network element, a second network element and a communication device. The first network element is communicatively coupled to the second network element and the communication device. The communication device sends multimedia session information to the first network element. The first network element analyzes the multimedia session information for urgent emergency circumstances. The first network element forwards the multimedia session information to a destination on the second network element if urgent emergency circumstances are found in the multimedia session information. 
     A method in another application, the method comprising the steps of handling a session initiation protocol invite message, receiving multimedia session information, analyzing the multimedia session information, sending the multimedia session information to a municipal security video monitoring storage archive facility, and archiving the multimedia session information. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Features of example implementations of the invention will become apparent from the description, the claims and the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram of a system that may be used to provide IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. 
         FIG. 2  is a sample call flow of messages that may be sent in support of IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. 
         FIG. 3  is a representation of one implementation of a method that may be used to provide IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture specifies an open architectural framework designed to provide Internet Protocol (IP) multimedia services support for mobile devices. The open architecture is meant to provide a development environment where non-standard IP applications may be created. The IMS open architecture may support applications that provide video, picture, text, voice, as well as other types of media between end users. Thus the IMS open architecture may be used as an platform for IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. 
     Turning to  FIG. 1 , which is a network diagram  100  of a network architecture that may be based on an IMS open architecture and may provide IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. The network  100  may be composed of many elements or nodes that are used to gather and store information obtained in a multimedia session that may be related to report suspicious or dangerous activities to authorities. 
     A part of the network  100  is the user equipment (UE), mobile device or communication device  105 . A communication device  105  may be a cell phone, a personal communication device, a landline phone, or any other equipment that may be used to establish a communication session with another communication device. In the network  100 , the communication device  105  may establish a multimedia connection using session initiation protocol (SIP) signaling. 
     The SIP signaling initiated by the communication device  105  may be routed through the network  100  via an IMS session control (IMS-SC) node  110 . The IMS-SC  110  may act as a SIP signaling entry into the network  100 . The communication device  105  may send SIP signaling messages that are routed to the IMS-SC  110 . The IMS-SC  110  may then further route these messages into the network  100 . 
     The IMS-SC  110  may be communicatively coupled with a service broker  115 . The IMS-SC  110  may send SIP signaling messages to the service broker  115 . The service broker  115  may perform service capability interaction and provide blended services in the network  100 . The service broker  115  may also be communicatively coupled with a presence/location server  120  and a home subscriber server (HSS)  125 . The presence/location server  120  may provide geo-location information of the location of the communication device  105 . The HSS  125  may maintain a unique service profile for each end user. An end user&#39;s service profile may store all of the user service information and preferences related to the end user in a central location. 
     The service broker  115  may also be communicatively coupled with a telephony application server (TAS)  130 . The TAS  130  may act as a SIP user agent that maintains a call state. The TAS  130  may contain service logic that provides basic call processing services. The TAS  130  may communicate with the service broker  115  using SIP signaling. 
     The TAS  130  may also be communicatively coupled to a multimedia analysis and storage application server (MASAS or MAS)  135 . The MASAS  135  may support a multimedia session with the communication device  105  to capture multimedia session information. This support may entail performing SIP signaling to set up a bearer channel with the communication device  105 . The MASAS  135  may also have the capability to communicate with the communication device  105  over a bearer channel. Bearer capabilities between the MASAS  135  and communication device  105  may need to support include voice, audio, video, data, unrestricted digital, etc. Video capabilities may take the form of H.264, H.263, VC-1, or any other video compression standards that may be run over a protocol that may support video, such as, for example, the real time protocol (RTP). 
     The MASAS  135  may also be communicatively coupled with a charging collection function (CCF)  140  and a municipal security video monitoring center and archive facility or monitoring and archive facility (MAF)  145 . The interface between the MASAS  135  and CCF  140  may be a RADIUS interface commonly used in wireless billing. The CCF  140  may process, correlate, consolidate and record billing information concerning activity occurring in the network  100 . The MAF  145  may have two main functions, the MAF  145  may be used to store multimedia session information, and the MAF  145  may be further comprised of a live monitoring center. The archive facility may be used to store multimedia session information, such as, for example, video clips, photographs, voice recordings, or any other storable multimedia information. The stored multimedia sessions may be retrieved at a later time via communication portals the archive facility may support. The live monitoring center may be comprised of authorities that may analyze multimedia session information that is received by the MASAS  135 . The authorities may further act upon the received communications sessions by alerting other authorities or take action themselves. 
     The interface between the MAF  145  and the MASAS  135  may be an interface that allows the MASAS  135  to establish a connection with the MAF  145  and push or send data to the MAF  145 . This interface may be a proprietary interface, HTML, SIP, FTP, SNMP, or any other type of interface that allows the MASAS  135  to establish a connection with the MAF  145  and send or push information to the MAF  145 . The MASAS  135  may use this interface to send information to the MAF  145  that may be stored and retrieved at a later time. The interface of the MAF  145  may also be used to retrieve multimedia session information from the archive facility of the MAF  145  based on timestamp, geo-location, or subscriber identification number, such as for example, a mobile identification number. The MASAS  135  may be able to establish separate connections with the archive facility and live monitoring facility of the MAF  145 . 
     The MASAS  135  and MAF  145  may be network elements. A network element may be a node in the network  100 , a computing board that is part of a node in the network  100 , or a process that runs on a board that is part of a node in the network  100 . Thus the MASAS  135  and MAF  145  may reside on a same network node, or the MASAS  135  and MAF  145  may reside in separate nodes in the network  100 . 
     The MASAS  135  and the MAF  145  may serve a particular region. A region in this context may be a neighborhood, a city, a county, region of a state, or any other geographical region. A network may be configured such that all multimedia session information that originates from a particular region goes to a particular MASAS and MAF. In an embodiment, the configuration may be such that the MASAS  135  and MAF  145  serve the same region. In alternative embodiments the MASAS  135  or the MAF  145  may serve larger or smaller regions. In an embodiment where a MASAS  135  and MAF  145  serve different sized regions, a MAF may be communicatively coupled to more than one MASAS, or a MASAS may be communicatively coupled to more than one MAF. 
     As described, the communication device  105  may have to establish a bearer channel with the MASAS  135  to send video to the MASAS  135 . The communication device  105  may establish the bearer channel using a SIP signaling protocol when communicating with MASAS  135 . 
     The system  100  in one example comprises a plurality of components such as one or more of computer software components. A number of such components can be combined or divided in the system  100 . An example component of the system  100  employs and/or comprises a set and/or series of computer instructions written in or implemented with any or a number of programming languages, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The system  100  in one example comprises a vertical orientation, with the description and figures herein illustrating one example orientation of the system  100 , for explanatory purposes. 
     The system  100  in one example employs one or more computer-readable signal-bearing media. The computer-readable signal-bearing media store software, firmware and/or assembly language for performing one or more portions of one or more implementations of the invention. The computer-readable signal-bearing medium for the system  100  in one example comprise one or more of a magnetic, electrical, optical, biological, and atomic data storage medium. For example, the computer-readable signal-bearing medium comprise floppy disks, magnetic tapes, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, hard disk drives, and electronic memory. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 2 , a sample flow diagram of SIP signaling that may be performed to establish a bearer channel that the communication device  105  may use to send multimedia session information to a MASAS  135 . A subscriber carrying a communication device may see suspicious or illegal activity and wish to report and show the activity to local authorities. Likewise, the subscriber may see a dangerous situation, such as a downed power line, and the subscriber may wish to immediately provide municipal authorities with a picture or video of the situation. The subscriber may dial an emergency code, such as, 711, or push an icon that represents the action of notifying local authorities. In such a situation, the communication device  105  may initiate a multimedia SIP session by sending a first SIP Invite message to the IMS-SC  110 . Initial filter criteria of the IMS-SC  110  may be set such that when the IMS-SC  110  receives a first SIP Invite message with a dialed code of 711, the IMS-SC  110  may route the first SIP Invite message to the service broker  115 . 
     The service broker  115  may determine that this is a multimedia emergency call based on the on dialed code. The service broker  115  may then query the presence location server  120  to retrieve geo-location information concerning the location of the communication device  105  that sent the first SIP Invite message. Geo-location information may include GPS coordinates, connection location, self-disclosed information, or any other information that may be used to locate the position of the communication device  105 . The service broker  115  may also query the HSS  125  to determine communication device  105  capabilities. The communication device  105  capabilities may include information, such as, whether the communication device  105  can support video, whether the communication device  105  is camera enabled, whether the communication device  105  supports color and any other information the HSS  125  may store concerning the capabilities of the communication device  105 . The service broker  115  may also get a time stamp, i.e., the current time. 
     The service broker  115  may place the geo-location information, mobile device capabilities and time stamp in SIP private headers. One of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that a SIP private header is an optional field in a SIP message. Private headers may be used by an IMS application developer to add information to a SIP message. The IMS application developer defines the content and length of the private header. In this case, the private headers may contain geo-location information, mobile device capabilities information and a time stamp. The service broker  115  may send a second SIP Invite message to the TAS  130  where the second SIP invite message is comprised of the first SIP Invite message and the SIP private headers. The second SIP private header may contain geo-location information, mobile device capabilities and a time stamp. 
     The TAS  130  may forward the second SIP Invite with the private headers to the MASAS  135 . The MASAS  135  may store the geo-location, mobile device capabilities and time stamp contained in the private headers of the second SIP Invite. The communication device  105  and MASAS  135  may engage in options negotiations. Since the MASAS  135  now has the address of the communication device  105 , the MASAS  135  may address option negotiation messages to the communication device  105 . Since the option negotiation messages are addressed to the communication device  105 , the other intermediate components in the path of the option negotiation messages may simply route, or pass through, the messages to the next component until the messages get to the communication device  105 . Thus the TAS  130 , service broker  115  and IMS-SC  110  may pass the option negotiation messages through to the communication device  105 . 
     During options negotiations the communication device  105  and the MASAS  135  may send messages back and forth containing their respective bearer channel capabilities until the MASAS  135  and communication device  105  agree on bearer channel capabilities. Once options negotiations have completed, the MASAS  135  may send a 200 OK message to the communication device  105 . At this point, the bearer path may be established. The communications device  105  and the MASAS  135  may now communicate over the bearer channel. In particular, the communication device  105  may send multimedia session information, such as a video of the suspicious activity to the MASAS  135 . This may be a one-way communication session where the communication device  105  is sending multimedia session information to the MASAS  135 . Once the subscriber is done downloading or sending information to the MASAS  135 , the bearer channel may be released. 
     Once the communication session has ended, the MASAS  135  may send system utilization information related to the call to the CCF  140 . System utilization information may include, for example, amount of time spent on a voice channel, the number of bytes sent on a packet channel, or information concerning any type of system resources the subscriber may have used. The CCF  140  may perform further billing analysis on the resource utilization information. 
     Upon receipt of the multimedia session information the MASAS  135  may heuristically analyze the multimedia session information. As an example of heuristic analysis, the MASAS  135  may perform computer pattern recognition and image analysis on the multimedia session information. Results of the analysis may indicate that urgent emergency circumstances exist. For example, heuristic analysis may indicate that a weapon appears in the video or picture, or the geo-location information, may indicate that the communication session originated in a high crime area. If urgent emergency circumstances exist, the MASAS  135  may forward the multimedia session information to the live monitoring center of the MAF  145  for immediate further analysis by authorities. If heuristic analysis did not find any reason for immediate concern, the MASAS  135  may store multimedia session information at the archive facility located on the MAF  145 . 
     Turning now to  FIG. 3 , which is a flow chart illustrating a method  300  of IMS support for multimedia session recording, analysis and storage. The method  300  may reside on an element in a IMS network, such as, the MASAS  135 , or the method  300  may be distributed amongst other elements in an IMS network. 
     The method  300  begins in a state where it is ready to receive messages  305 . Upon receipt of a SIP Invite message, the method  300  handles the SIP Invite message  310 . Handling the SIP Invite message  310  may involve storing geo-location information, mobile device capabilities and a time stamp received in the SIP Invite message. The method  300  may negotiate bearer channel capabilities by exchanging SIP options negotiation messages with the communications device  105 . Once a bearer channel is established, the method  300  may receive multimedia session information  315  from the communications device  105 . The multimedia session information may include video clips, photographs, voice messages, or any other type of information that may be sent over a bearer channel. The multimedia session information may be related to suspicious activity seen by a subscriber, which the subscriber wants to report to local authorities. 
     The method  300  may heuristically analyze the multimedia session information  320  to determine if urgent emergency circumstances exist  325 . If urgent emergency circumstances exist, the method may establish a connection to authorities at the live monitoring center and forward the multimedia session information to authorities at the live monitoring center  330 . Authorities at the live monitoring center may further analyze the multimedia session information and act upon the information. Simultaneously or subsequently, the multimedia session information may be stored in the archive facility  335 . The method  300  may then perform billing functions  340  and continue waiting for SIP Invite messages  310 . In performing billing functions, the method  300  may send system utilization information to the CCF  140 . The CCF  140  may perform further billing analysis on the resource utilization information. 
     If the urgent emergency circumstances do not exist, the method may store the multimedia session information in the archive facility  335 . The method may then continue waiting for SIP Invite messages. 
     The steps or operations described herein are just for example. There may be many variations to these steps or operations without departing from the spirit of the system and method. For instance, the steps may be performed in a differing order, or steps may be added, deleted, or modified. 
     Although example implementations of the system and method have been depicted and described in detail herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications, additions, substitutions, and the like can be made without departing from the spirit of the method and these are therefore considered to be within the scope of the system and method as defined in the following claims.