Patent Application: US-5004302-A

Abstract:
in a telecommunication system , adapted to provide subscriber related services , a layered architecture including on a service layer a network side service executor and a user terminal service handler is employed . a call is triggered through a user interface provided by the service handler , which conveys a call set - up request and information to the service executor . the service executor communicates directly with a corresponding service executor at a service layer of a destination system and exchanges service information to detect a service interaction problem . a requested call can be established by other signalling and media handler functions when no essential service interaction problem is detected .

Description:
in the following the invention will be explained in more detail , by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings . referring to fig2 instead of starting call from the signalling layer and through the media layer as is common according to current solutions as illustrated in fig1 in a solution according to the invention the call is started at the service layer . this means that the service layer on the user side and the service layer on the network side will communicate directly . it will then be the service layer on the network side that informs the signalling handler on the signalling layer on the network side to establish the call . after the service executor on the originating side has been informed about the destination of the call and has performed applicable local services , it routes the call to the service executor on the destination side . when the destination side service executor has finished executing it &# 39 ; s services , dependent upon network architecture , either the originating side service executor or the destination side executor will inform the media executor to start the call . in reference numeral order , in the following is given a detailed explanation of the various items shown in fig2 . as different call path scenarios can exist in a solution according to the present invention , it should be noted that the order in which of the references numerals appear only give an indication of one of a number of possible call path flows , that is likely to occur : 1 : the services are configured by a network operator , and possibly also by an end user 2 : the call is triggered at the user side and the associated service executor on the network side is informed 3 : the service executor communicates with the service configuration part in order to download available information , such as e . g . information on available services . 4 : the service information can be flooded to the terminating ( destination ) side ( i . e . the “ reflected ” side .) it should be noted , that , in a solution according to the invention , the signalling handlers and generators are eliminated on the network side as well as on the user side . they are not needed because call routing and transport of service information is done on the service layer . although the signalling handler , the media generator and the media handler shown in fig2 are depicted by dotted lines , they are still present . they are , however , involved in the service execution . when one or more services are executed at the service executors , the service executors inform the signalling handler at the network side to initiate the call ( point 4 in fig2 ), but the rest of the call set - up follows the normal procedure as described in the applicable standard call control protocol ( e . g . h . 323 or sip ). accordingly , in the actual call handling between , the difference between the solutions indicated by fig1 and 2 , respectively , is that in fig2 it is only the signalling handler at the network side that is allowed to initiate calls , such as e . g . sending q . 931 “ set - up ” according to h . 323 or “ sip - invite ” according to sip . further , with reference to fig2 after the service executor has informed the signalling handlers to initiate the call in step 4 , the signalling handlers at the network side initiate the call towards the signalling handler at the user side ( step 5 in fig2 ). the signalling protocol can be of any standard type ( e . g . h . 323 or sip ), adapted such that the call initiation is only allowed from the network side . when the signalling is complete , the signalling handler informs the media handler that it is able to receive or send information , as indicated in step 6 . both the network and the user side are now ready to receive media , as indicated in step 7 . referring to the solution illustrated in fig2 and comparing it with the known solution illustrated in fig1 it can be seen that the novel solution further represents an extension represented by a service handler . as depicted , the service handler represents the users access to the network , and represents the point at which the user will initiate a call . because a call , in the novel solution , is considered equal to any other service , and hence is separated from the actual signalling that is used to establish calls , a requirement for this is that the service handler is able to communicate with the network side service handler over a simple standard protocol , such as for example http ( hypertext transport protocol ). accordingly , the service handler at the user side does not communicate with the signalling handler at the user side . the service executor at the network side in a solution according to the invention , of which an exemplary model representation is illustrated by fig2 can be seen to differ in two ways from the service executor shown in fig1 : a ) the service executor ( shown in fig2 ) receives service - triggering information directly from a service handler located at the user side instead of a triggering service from the signalling handler at the network side . that means that the service executor at the network side must have support for a protocol that is understood by the service handler at the user side . a simple protocol like http should be used . b ) the service executor at one network talks directly with a service executor in another network ( in this context and at this point , the meaning of network is the service executor handling services for a different user or domain ), instead of communicating indirectly through the standard call control signalling ( as shown in fig1 ). the protocol used between the different service executors should be optimised according to the services that are supported . because most of the information sent on this communication link is data related , a data protocol will be used , where xml ( extended mark - up language ) over http could be one example of such a protocol . in fig2 the new scenario in a solution according to the invention is drawn by solid lines . however , the novel way of invoking services may still invoke “ old ” services of existing solutions , which can be included , as shown , by the features illustrated in fig2 by dotted lines . if “ old ” services are invoked , the service executor preferably is designed with a backend and different frontends , depending on which protocol to interface to . if several networks provided by different network providers or isps are involved , there must exist some standard protocols on the service layer ; see reference numeral 3 in fig2 . the protocols used for configuring the services as well as on the service execution layer typically can advantageously be http . eliminates the need for standardising the way originating and terminating services are “ talking ” to each other , as they communicate directly and not via the media layer . eliminates the need for a special and often quite complex call handling protocol . ip internet protocol isp internet service provider lan local area network pstn public switched telephone network vpn virtual private network wan wide area network wap wireless application protocol wml wireless mark - 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