Patent ID: 8874765

Claim:
A method comprising: sending, using a first network device, a negotiation message to a second network device, wherein the negotiation message includes information indicating that a simple-refresh mechanism is supported by the first network device, wherein the simple-refresh mechanism is operable to refresh a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) session using a first truncated form of an existing SIP message structure with session description protocol fields removed; responsive to sending the negotiation message, receiving at the first network device a response message from the second network device, wherein the response message (i) includes information indicating whether the simple-refresh mechanism is supported by the second network device and (ii) is in a second truncated form of the existing SIP message structure with the session description protocol fields removed; examining, using the first network device, the response message to determine whether the response message includes information associated with the simple-refresh mechanism; identifying, using the first network device, information associated with the simple-refresh mechanism included in the response message; and based on identifying the information associated with the simple-refresh mechanism included in the response message, determining that the simple-refresh mechanism is supported by the second network device.