Abstract:
A system and method for providing mobile assisted, fixed line communication. A device connectable to a mobile network coordinates with a session gateway device that is connected to a fixed line network in order to establish a connection to another gateway device. Signaling over a cellular or other non-fixed line network is used to establish connection parameters relating to a fixed line session. The established connection parameters are transmitted to the respective session gateway devices. Based upon these parameters, the session gateway devices can directly communicate with each other over the Internet or other fixed line network.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to the field of session establishment. More particularly, the present invention relates to the establishment and maintenance of video communications within a combined environment of mobile and fixed line networks.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     Over past years, the level of technology in the field of video conferencing has advanced significantly. In recent years video conferencing has become very common in business settings, permitting meetings to take place in an interconnected manner in multiple locations around the world. Developments have also been made in the area of “video” telephone calls. However, although video conferencing and video calling have improved recently, they still suffer from several drawbacks.  
         [0003]     In the Internet, it is difficult to make point-to-point connections between individual users and/or user devices. The main reason for this difficulty is the fact that there are currently no global identifiers for users within the Internet that can be utilized to create a connection. For example, electronic mail addresses are global, but they do not identify a current user of a device. Although internet protocol (IP) addresses are used in the Internet, IP addresses are not always static in nature. Instead, parts of IP address space are allocated dynamically, which means that IP addresses are of limited use for identifying network nodes. Also, IP addresses serve as location information for machines, not for users. Additionally, there are currently no directory services available in the Internet that enable a person or a device to request an IP address of a specific individual person. Furthermore, video calls also currently often require that the two call participants use the same service provider, and the participants&#39;communication parameters and firewall arrangements must be precisely prepared before a working session can be established. Therefore, even though there is sufficient bandwidth on the Internet to allow the making of video calls over the Internet, it is difficult to use the Internet for such calls due to this lack of addressability.  
         [0004]     On the other hand, within telecommunication networks, there are globally reachable addresses available to users. These addresses currently take the form of telephone numbers according to the ITU-T E. 164 standard and, in the future, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addresses will also be available. The Session Initiation Protocol is an Internet engineering Task Force standard protocol for establishing, modifying and tearing down interactive sessions that involve multimedia elements such as audio, video, instant messaging, or other real time data communications.  
         [0005]     The availability of telephone numbers and SIP addresses enables telecommunication users to establish sessions, such as voice calls, or to send messages, such as short messaging system (SMS) messages or instant messages (IMs) between users. However, in mobile networks, there is usually not enough bandwidth to conduct high quality, real time sessions for video calls. Furthermore, even if sufficient bandwidth was readily available, such as in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) networks, the cost of such bandwidth sessions could be prohibitive.  
         [0006]     Another problem related to video calls in mobile devices is the small display size. In most mobile devices currently available, there are not enough pixels on the display screen to show high quality video, and the physical size of the display adversely affects usability and the impressiveness of the video call.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     The present invention provides for an improved system and method for enabling communication between terminals by taking advantage of the best aspects of both fixed line Internet networks and mobile networks. Devices connectable to a mobile network are used to establish connections between devices connected to a fixed line network. Telecommunications signaling is used in the first phase of the connection process between two users. This signaling is used to negotiate connection parameters relating to a fixed line session. A second phase involves the communication of the parameters to the respective devices that are connected to the Internet or other fixed line system. Based upon these parameters, the device that is connected to the Internet or other fixed line network can establish a session with the other endpoint connected to the Internet or other fixed line network.  
         [0008]     The present invention provides for a number of benefits to users of the system. The present invention eliminates the issue of a lack of globally routable IP addresses associated with the Internet, while also taking advantage of the Internet&#39;s high-bandwidth capabilities.  
         [0009]     These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention, together with the organization and manner of operation thereof, will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like elements have like numerals throughout the several drawings described below. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a generic system within which the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a system exhibiting one embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a mobile telephone that can be used in the implementation of the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a schematic representation of the telephone circuitry of the mobile telephone of  FIG. 3 ; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing the implementation of one embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0015]     The present invention provides an improved system and method for enabling video calling between users by taking advantage of the benefits inherent in both mobile networks and fixed line networks such as the Internet.  
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a representation of a generic system within which the present invention may be implemented. The system of  FIG. 1  includes a video session gateway device  100 , also referred to as a video telephony gateway device, with a broadband connection  140  associated therewith. The video session gateway device  100  has Internet connectivity and is configured so as to be capable of establishing a video session with another video session gateway device  100  over the broadband connection  140  using, for example SIP signaling, and normal video codecs.  
         [0017]     The video session gateway device  100  communicates with a mobile telephone  110  or other mobile device over a local link. The local link can take a variety of forms, such as a Bluetooth connection, a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection, a cable connection or others. The video session gateway device  100  captures a video stream from a video capture device  160 , such as a camera or other data capturing device, or signals the session parameters to the video capture device  160 . The video session gateway device  100  also includes a video output for transferring video to be shown on a display device  170 , such as an integrated display, or a similar data rendering device. It should also be noted that, in a case where a user does not have a separate video session gateway device  100 , the mobile telephone  110  or other mobile device can serve as the video session gateway device  100 .  
         [0018]     The broadband connection  140  can take the form of an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) or some other type of Internet connection that enables a high quality video connection. The video capture device  160  serves as the camera for the video call. The video capture device  160  can be connected to the video session gateway device as an accessory, it can be part of the video session gateway device  100 , or it can be a standalone web-cam connected to internet.  
         [0019]     The display device  170  is used to show the video call. The display device  170  can take a variety of forms. For example, the display device  170  can be a regular television, a dedicated display, or an integrated display. A variety of audio input/output devices  150  can also be connected to the video session gateway device  100 .  
         [0020]     The mobile device  110  includes a session establishment application  120  to set up the preliminary connection between users using signaling systems, such as SMS, multimedia message service (MMS), SIP or others, over the cellular network  130  of the mobile device  110 . The mobile device  110  communicates with the video session gateway device  100  over the local link. In other words, the mobile device transmits video session parameters to the video session gateway device  100  after the session parameters have been preliminarily negotiated between mobile devices.  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a system that shows additional detail of one embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 2  shows the video session gateway device  100  connected to the Internet  180  via a broadband connection  140 . A local connection  190  connects the video session gateway device  100  to a mobile telephone  110 . The mobile telephone  110  transmits session invitations to a potential recipient via its respective cellular network  130  through the use of session invitations  200 . A camera/video capture device  160  and a display  170  are also operatively connected to the video session gateway device  100 .  
         [0022]      FIGS. 3 and 4  show one representative mobile telephone  110  within which the present invention may be implemented. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not intended to be limited to one particular type of mobile telephone  110  or other electronic device. For example, the present invention can be incorporated into a combination personal digital assistant (PDA) and mobile telephone, a PDA, an integrated messaging device (IMD), a desktop computer, and a notebook computer. The mobile telephone  110  of  FIGS. 1 and 2  includes a housing  30 , a display  32  in the form of a liquid crystal display, a keypad  34 , a microphone  36 , an ear-piece  38 , a battery  40 , an infrared port  42 , an antenna  44 , a smart card  46  in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) according to one embodiment of the invention, a system clock  43 , a card reader  48 , radio interface circuitry  52 , codec circuitry  54 , a controller  56  and a memory  58 . A motion sensor  60  is also operatively connected to the controller  56 . Individual circuits and elements are all of a type well known in the art, for example in the Nokia range of mobile telephones.  
         [0023]     The communication devices may communicate using various transmission technologies including, but not limited to, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), e-mail, Instant Messaging Service (IMS), Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, etc.  
         [0024]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart showing the steps involved in one implementation of the present invention. At step  500 , a first user initiates a session establishment application in his or her mobile telephone  110  or other terminal. At this time, the first user should be in a location so that the first user&#39;s terminal and the first user&#39;s video session gateway device  100  are in the same general vicinity. At this point, the establishment application displays the first user&#39;s phonebook entries. At step  510 , the first user selects a phonebook entry for a second user. At step  520 , the selection triggers a specific invitation message to be sent to the second user&#39;s terminal. The specific invitation message can take a variety of forms, including, but not limited to a SMS message. This invitation can also include address information or other parameters for the first user&#39;s video session gateway device  100 . At step  530 , the second user&#39;s terminal receives the invitation and, at step  540 , a session establishment application is initiated. The session establishment application informs the second user that there is a video call invitation from the first user.  
         [0025]     At step  550 , the second user accepts the invitation. At step  560 , the second user&#39;s terminal requests communication parameters from its video session gateway device  100  over the local link and builds a specific reply message to be sent to the first user&#39;s mobile telephone. This reply includes the requested communication parameters, which include, for example, an IP address, DNS name, or protocol- and application-level information such as TCP/UDP port or codec version. The second user&#39;s terminal can also include its own communication parameters in the reply message in a situation where the second user desires that the video connection is to be transmitted directly to the second user&#39;s terminal. The reply message is transmitted at step  570 . At step  580 , the first user&#39;s mobile telephone informs the first user that the second user has accepted the call. At step  590 , the first user&#39;s mobile telephone transfers the communication parameters to its video session gateway device  100  over the respective local link. At this point, the first and second users are ready to start an actual video session between the respective video session gateway devices using the received communication parameters. The session can be established using, for example, SIP signaling and normal video codecs. A television or other display device can be used for the received video. At this point, if both the first and second users are using video session gateway devices, the respective mobile terminals are no longer necessary for the call to proceed. Alternatively, it is also possible that a portion of the media is continued to be transmitted over the cellular network, while the rest of the media is transmitted over the fixed line network. For example, it is possible for the fixed line network to carry the video transmission between the parties, while the cellular network carries the audio transmission.  
         [0026]     In the video telephony case, it should be noted that many of the functionalities of the present invention can be combined as necessary or desired. For example, the gateway functionality can be incorporated into a mobile telephone  110 . As an example only, a the mobile telephone can include WLAN and TV-out interfaces, permitting the mobile telephone to serve as the video system gateway device. Other arrangements are also possible for combining various functionalities.  
         [0027]     Furthermore, it should also be noted that the present invention is not strictly limited to communication involving video telephony, but instead can be for virtually any type of mobile-assisted session establishment. For example, the present invention can also be used to establish video gaming sessions and other types of sessions.  
         [0028]     The present invention is described in the general context of method steps, which may be implemented in one embodiment by a program product including computer-executable instructions, such as program code, executed by computers in networked environments.  
         [0029]     Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Computer-executable instructions, associated data structures, and program modules represent examples of program code for executing steps of the methods disclosed herein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions or associated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts for implementing the functions described in such steps.  
         [0030]     Software and web implementations of the present invention could be accomplished with standard programming techniques with rule-based logic and other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps, correlation steps, comparison steps and decision steps. It should also be noted that the words “component” and “module” as used herein, and in the claims, is intended to encompass implementations using one or more lines of software code, and/or hardware implementations, and/or equipment for receiving manual inputs.  
         [0031]     The foregoing description of embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise form disclosed, and modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the present invention. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application to enable one skilled in the art to utilize the present invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.