Patent ID: 7730192

Claim:
A method performed by a computer system for managing parallel processing of requests in a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) communications environment including devices that support either parallel or serial processing of requests, comprising: enqueing a request message that is to be sent to a recipient computing device, the request message containing a conversation identifier but without specifying or requesting parallel processing of request messages; sending the request message to the recipient computing device; receiving a response from the recipient computing device; determining from the received response whether it contains the conversation identifier; if the received response contains the conversation identifier, determining that the recipient computing device supports parallel processing of request messages; and if the received response does not contain the conversation identifier, determining that the recipient computing device supports serial processing of request messages; if the recipient supports parallel processing of request messages, sending subsequent request messages to the recipient computing device without awaiting a response to a previously sent request message; and if the recipient supports serial processing of request messages, sending a subsequent request message to the recipient computing device after receiving a response to a previously sent request message; wherein request messages and received responses are exchanged using SIP.