Patent ID: 8195212

Claim:
A packet-based communication system comprising: a first network element that receives a first compressed request message from an originating communication device to initiate a push-to-talk communication session between the originating communication device and a terminating communication device, said first compressed request message has a length of less than 30 bytes, and said first network element decompresses the first compressed request message to generate a first decompressed request message for transmission to a communication server; said communication server supports a push-to-talk communication protocol and receives said first decompressed request message and processes said first decompressed request message to identify a group identifier for use in initiating a push-to-talk communication session, and said communication server generates a second decompressed request message based on said first decompressed request message for transmission to said first network element; and said first network element receives said second decompressed request message from the communication server to transmit to a second network element that compresses the second decompressed request message to generate a second compressed request message to transmit to said terminating communication device for initiation of the push-to-talk communication session.