Methods, systems, and computer program products for inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP server

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/835,487, filed Aug. 4, 2006; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The subject matter described herein relates to management of message traffic distribution and processing among a plurality of terminating servers. More particularly, the subject matter described herein relates to methods, systems, and computer program products for forwarding or inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP server.

The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) is a new type of network through which multimedia communications can be established between users and between users and applications. In the IMS network, session initiation protocol or SIP is the signaling protocol used to establish communication sessions. The entities involved in establishing a communication session in an IMS network include call session control functions (CSCFs) that communicate with each other using the SIP protocol.

One problem with the conventional call setup scenarios in an IMS network occurs when a terminating SIP server or call session control function becomes unavailable. When an originating SIP server or call session control function receives a request to establish a communication, the originating SIP server may attempt to contact a terminating SIP server. If the terminating SIP server is unavailable, the originating SIP server may be required to wait for a timeout period defined by SIP call processing before attempting to contact an alternate server. The originating SIP server typically does not store state information for terminating SIP servers. As a result, when a second communication setup request arrives at the originating SIP server, the originating SIP server may again attempt to contact the failed terminating SIP server. Repeated attempts to contact a failed terminating SIP server and the associated time out periods waste resources of the originating SIP server and delay call establishment.

Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer program products for inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP server.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP server are disclosed. According to one method, at least one list of SIP servers accessible by a call session control function (CSCF) is maintained at an originating CSCF. The list includes at least one of availability and unavailability status information for the terminating SIP servers. A request is received to contact a destination accessible via a one of the terminating SIP servers. The list is indexed and a first terminating SIP server is identified. If the first terminating SIP server is determined to be unavailable based on information in the list, a second terminating SIP server is identified using the list.

As used herein, the term “available server” refers to a message server with sufficient operating capacity to accept and process new messages. As used herein, the term “unavailable server” refers to a message server that has either failed or has entered a processing overload state and consequently is not capable of accepting and processing a new message.

As used herein, the term “normal status” refers to the operating status of an available terminating SIP message server.

As used herein, the term “congested status” refers to the operating status of an unavailable terminating SIP message server that, while operational, does not have sufficient internal resources to accept and process a new message.

As user herein, the term “failed status” refers to the operating status of an unavailable terminating SIP message server that has failed to properly receive, process, and provide a valid status response in response to a received message.

As used herein, the term “S-CSCF” refers to an IMS serving call session control function. The S-CSCF function may maintain a list of registered user equipment, associated status information, and associated capabilities.

As user herein, the term “I-CSCF” refers to an IMS interrogating call session control function. The I-CSCF function may provide a terminating subscriber location function for a message received from a P-CSCF server and forward the received message to either a S-CSCF server in the network or to an message server in an adjacent network though a network interconnect function.

As used herein, the term “P-CSCF” refers to an IMS proxy call session control function. The P-CSCF function may process a message received from a SIP device and forward the processed message to an I-CSCF server in the network. Processing the message may include compressing and/or encrypting the received message.

As used herein, the term “CSCF” refers to an IMS call session control function that implements any one or more of the above referenced S-CSCF, I-CSCF, or P-CSCF functions.

As used herein, the term “server list” refers to a list of terminating SIP message servers to which an originating SIP message server may forward message traffic. The server list may be stored at the originating SIP message server in any format suitable to the originating server.

As used herein, the term “server exception list” refers to a list including one or more unavailable terminating SIP message servers, as detected by an originating SIP message server in response to forwarding a first message. The server exception list may be stored at the originating SIP message server in any format suitable to the originating server.

As used herein, the term “originating SIP server” refers to any SIP server capable of performing an IMS function. An originating SIP server may be an S-CSCF, an I-CSCF, or a P-CSCF.

As used herein, the term “terminating SIP server” refers to any SIP server capable of performing an IMS function, including any of an S-CSCF, an I-CSCF, or a P-CSCF.

The subject matter described herein may be implemented using a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium. Exemplary computer-readable media suitable for implementing the subject matter described herein include chip memory devices, disk memory devices, programmable logic devices, and application specific integrated circuits. In addition, a computer-readable medium that implements the subject matter described herein may be located on a single device or computing platform or may be distributed across multiple physical devices and/or computing platforms.

Preferred embodiments of the subject matter described herein will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary SIP/IMS call processing architecture in which embodiments of the subject matter described herein may be implemented;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary P-CSCF server cluster and an exemplary I-CSCF server cluster according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3A is a diagram of an exemplary global server list that may be maintained by a DNS server in a SIP/IMS call processing architecture according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3B is a diagram of an exemplary server list that may be maintained by a CSCF according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 3C is a diagram of an exemplary server exception list that may be maintained by a CSCF according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an exemplary process for inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP message server according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method for inhibiting routing of messages to unavailable terminating SIP servers using a server exception list according embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are flow charts illustrating exemplary steps for maintaining a server exception list according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary method for load balancing messages among terminating SIP servers using DNS according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary P-CSCF server that includes a terminating SIP server database according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein.

In view of the problems described above, the subject matter described herein provides methods for forwarding or inhibiting message traffic to a terminating SIP server. FIG. 1 illustrates an SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 in which embodiments of the subject matter described herein may be implemented. In FIG. 1 , SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 includes a plurality of SIP/IMS call control elements, including a serving call session control function (S-CSCF) server cluster S-CSCF 1 102 , an interrogating call session control function (I-CSCF) server cluster I-CSCF 1 104 , a DNS server 105 and a plurality of proxy call session control function (P-CSCF) server clusters P-CSCF 1 106 and P-CSCF 2 108 . P-CSCF 1 106 and P-CSCF 2 108 may provide control interface and message transfer operations for a plurality of SIP devices 110 - 116 . SIP devices may be any user equipment capable of establishing multimedia sessions using SIP, including mobile and fixed terminals.

In order to establish a communication, an originating SIP device 110 may send a request message to P-CSCF 1 106 . P-CSCF 1 106 may query DNS server 105 to identify the IP address corresponding to an I-CSCF, which represents the point of contact into the destination subscriber's network. DNS server 105 may return the identifier or IP address of more than one I-CSCF server in an I-CSCF cluster. Rather than blindly contacting each server until an available server is located, a P-CSCF server according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein may store at least one of availability and unavailability information for SIP servers that it is capable of contacting and may use this information to inhibit the forwarding of message traffic to unavailable servers.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary P-CSCF server cluster 106 and an exemplary I-CSCF server cluster 104 according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. In FIG. 2 , P-CSCF 1 server cluster 106 may include a network identifier 202 and a plurality of P-CSCF servers P 1 204 , P 2 206 , P 3 208 , and P 4 210 . Each server may be operable to implement P-CSCF functions for SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 , including message compression and/or message security encryption.

P-CSCF 1 server cluster 106 may include one or more servers 204 , 206 , 208 , and 210 that are operable to perform IMS proxy CSCF functions, such as serving as the point of contact for user equipment in an IMS network. A server in P-CSCF 1 server cluster 106 not designated as active may be placed in a standby state, ready to process one or more SIP messages in the future. For example, servers P 1 204 , P 2 206 , and P 3 208 may be configured as active, with server P 4 210 configured in a standby state. P-CSCF 1 server cluster 106 may transition server P 4 210 to the active state in response to one of the active servers P 1 204 , P 2 206 , or P 3 208 becomes unavailable.

I-CSCF 1 server cluster 104 may include a network identifier 212 and a plurality of servers I 1 214 , I 2 216 , and I 3 218 . Each server may be operable to implement I-CSCF functions for SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 , including providing a terminating subscriber location function.

Servers 214 , 216 , and 218 may be active and operable to process SIP messages received from either P-CSCF 1 server cluster 106 or S-CSCF 1 server cluster 102 . A server in I-CSCF 1 server cluster 104 not designated to be active may be placed in a standby state, ready to process one or more SIP messages in the future. I-CSCF 1 server cluster 104 may distribute message processing tasks among the active servers in the cluster using a suitable load balancing algorithm.

FIG. 3A illustrates an exemplary global server list 300 that may be maintained by DNS server 105 for the servers illustrated in FIG. 2 . In FIG. 3A , global server list 300 may include a list of server clusters in SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 with a list of servers configured in each cluster. For example, list 300 may include one or more P-CSCF server clusters, one or more I-CSCF server clusters, and one or more S-CSCF server clusters, each identified with a suitable domain name identifier. A copy of global list 300 may be stored at each server cluster and/or in a central server in SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 , using any format compatible with the server storing the table.

According to another aspect, each P-CSCF server illustrated in FIG. 1 may maintain a list of terminating SIP servers through which call destinations may be reached. FIG. 3B illustrates an exemplary terminating server list 302 that may be maintained by a P-CSCF according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. In FIG. 3B , server list 302 may include an entry for each terminating server that the originating server is capable of accessing in SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 and may further include an IP address or other network identifier suitable to SIP/IMS call processing architecture 100 for each terminating server in the server list. For example, P-CSCF server P 1 204 may store a server list 302 including I-CSCF servers I 1 214 , I 2 216 , and I 3 218 in I-CSCF 1 server cluster 104 .

According to yet another aspect of the subject matter described herein, each P-CSCF server may maintain an exception list including servers accessible by the P-CSCF server that are currently unavailable. FIG. 3C illustrates an exemplary server exception list 304 that may be maintained by a P-CSCF according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. In FIG. 3C , server exception list 304 may include a list of accessible servers identified in server list 302 that are currently unavailable. Each entry in server exception list 304 may include an identifier for the unavailable server, a status indication, and a retry interval value. The status indication stored in server exception list 304 may be of any form suitable to the originating SIP message server. For example, the status indication may be SIP status response code 503 , representing a congested terminating server, or SIP status response code 408 , representing a failed terminating server. The retry interval may be a time period after which an originating server can reattempt to contact the failed terminating server. After the retry interval, the entry may age out of server exception list 304 . Server exception list 304 may be stored in a database maintained by the originating P-CSCF.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for inhibiting message traffic to an unavailable terminating SIP server using a server exception list according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. Referring to FIG. 4 , in step 400 , at least one list of terminating SIP servers accessible by a P-CSCF is maintained. The list indicates at least one of availability and unavailability information for each server in the list. Step 400 may be performed by a P-CSCF server, such as P-CSCF server P 1 204 illustrated in FIG. 2 . In response to call setup requests during normal call processing, P-CSCF server P 1 204 may send SIP request messages to each terminating server, such as an I-CSCF, that it is capable of contacting. Exemplary SIP request messages include an INVITE message, an ACK message, a BYE message, a CANCEL message, an OPTIONS message, and a REGISTER message. If the destination server responds with a SIP 503 or SIP 408 retry message, P-CSCS server P 1 204 may determine that the server is unavailable and may mark the status of the server as unavailable in its exception list. As stated above, entries may age out of exception list based on the retry interval associated with an exception list. Once an entry ages out of the exception list, the corresponding server can be retried for normal communications. The request messages used to build the exception list may be generated in response to normal communications between originating and terminating parties. In an alternate implementation, each terminating SIP server may communicate heartbeat messages with the P-CSCF at predetermined time intervals. Failure to receive a heartbeat message within a predetermined time interval may cause the P-CSCF mark a terminating SIP server as unavailable.

In step 402 , the originating P-CSCF server receives a request to contact a destination accessible via one or more destination SIP servers. In step 404 , P-CSCF P 1 204 indexes the SIP server list and locates a destination SIP server to which the communication should be directed. Step 404 may be performed using any suitable indexing method. In one example, step 404 may include randomly indexing a SIP server list corresponding to a destination. In an alternate implementation, SIP servers may be contacted according to a predetermined order of preference, as will be described in more detail below.

In step 406 , P-CSCF P 1 204 determines whether the server is available. Step 406 may be accomplished by reading the status information for the SIP server in the list. If the server is not available, control proceeds to step 408 where a new index is computed, and steps 404 and 406 are repeated to contact the new server. If the server is available, control proceeds to step 410 where the message is routed to the server.

Thus, in the example illustrated in FIG. 4 , rather than blindly sending messages to unavailable SIP servers and waiting for timeouts, server availability or unavailability status is stored and used to immediately determine whether a proposed terminating server is unavailable. If the terminating server is unavailable, an alternate server can be selected without requiring communication with the unavailable server. These steps are believed to significantly reduce connection establishment time over implementations where a communication timeout is required to trigger reindexing of a SIP server list.

FIG. 5 is a network diagram illustrating a message routing example according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. Referring to FIG. 5 , P-CSCF server P 1 204 receives a SIP request message. The SIP request message may originate from another domain or from a terminal associated with P-CSCS P 1 204 . The SIP request message may include the domain EAST-POP.I-CSCF.OPERATOR-A.COM. In this example, it is assumed that server 204 does not cache the corresponding IP address information. Accordingly, server 204 queries DNS server 105 to resolve the domain name. DNS server 105 resolves the domain name into IP addresses for I-CSCF servers I 1 214 , I 2 216 , and I 3 218 .

In this example, it is assumed that server 204 did not previously store status information for servers I 1 214 , I 2 216 , and I 3 218 . Accordingly, server P 1 204 sends request messages to servers I 1 214 , I 2 216 , and I 3 218 to determine their respective statuses. Server I 1 214 is unavailable and does not respond. Server I 2 216 responds with a retry message indicating that it is congested. Server I 3 218 responds with a 200 OK message indicating that it is available. Accordingly, server P 1 204 updates exception list 304 to indicate the unavailable of servers I 1 214 and I 2 216 .

Server P 1 204 then computes an index into its server list, which includes servers I 1 214 , server I 2 216 , and server I 3 218 . In this example, it is assumed that the first index corresponds to server I 1 214 . Server P 1 204 then determines whether terminating server I 1 214 is in the exception list. Because server I 1 214 is in the exception list, server P 1 214 may refrain from sending message traffic to server I 1 214 during its retry interval and compute a new index. In this example, it is assumed that the new index corresponds to server I 3 218 . Since server I 3 218 is not in the exception list, the SIP request message gets routed to server I 3 218 , as indicated by message 1 i in FIG. 5 .

Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 5 , server unavailability information may be used to reduce the time for completing communications when one or more servers are unavailable. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5 , the availability status information of the destination servers is determined in response to a request message received by an originating server. As stated above, in an alternate example, the originating server may store this information in advance of receiving a request, eliminating the need for determining availability status before completing a call. In addition, the timeout period for non-receipt of a response to a status request may be set to less than that of conventional SIP call processing to reduce the time required to determine unavailability of a destination server.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are flow charts illustrating exemplary processes for maintaining a server exception list according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. More particularly, FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary process by which status information is obtained for a terminating SIP server, and FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary process by which entries are removed from a server exception list according to an embodiment of the subject matter described herein. In FIG. 6 , it is assumed that an originating server periodically tests terminating servers with which it has contact. Referring to FIG. 6 , in step 600 , a message is sent to a terminating SIP server. The message query may be any suitable SIP message, such as a SIP request message. The request message may be a “dummy” message that prompts the terminating SIP server to return its status. In step 602 , it is determined whether a response to the message has been received within a timeout period for the query. The timeout period may be set to less than that of conventional SIP call processing to reduce call processing delay. If the timeout period expires before a response is received, control proceeds to step 604 where the entry is added to the server exception list. Control then proceeds to step 606 where the next server maintained in the originating SIP server is exception list is tested. Steps 600 - 604 may be repeated for the next server.

In step 602 , if a response is received within the timeout period, control proceeds to step 608 where it is determined whether the status code in the message indicates that the destination server is unavailable. If the status code indicates that the server is unavailable, control proceeds to step 604 where the server is added to the exception list. Steps 606 - 608 may be repeated for the next server.

In step 608 , if the status code indicates that the server is available, the server is not added to the exception list. Control then proceeds to step 610 where the next server in the server list is determined. Steps 600 - 608 may then be repeated for the next server.

Referring to FIG. 7 , a separate process may execute to determine when to remove entries from the exception list. Referring to FIG. 7 , in step 700 , an entry in the exception list is examined. In steps 702 and 704 , it is determined whether a retry timeout for the entry has expired. The retry timeout may define the time period during which an exception list entry is valid. Once an entry is no longer valid, it may be removed from the exception list. Accordingly, in step 704 , if it is determined that the timeout has expired, control proceeds to step 706 where the entry is removed from the exception list. In step 708 , the next entry is accessed. Steps 700 - 706 may be repeated for the next entry.

In step 704 , if it is determined that the retry timeout has not expired, control proceeds to step 710 , where the entry is maintained in the exception list. Control then proceeds to step 712 where the next entry is accessed. Steps 700 - 710 may be repeated for the next entry. Thus, using the process of FIG. 7 , entries in the exception list are aged out. When considered in combination with the process illustrated in FIG. 6 , entries may be added and aged out to maintain a current exception list and to present servers from being maintained perpetually in the exception list.

Although the examples described above illustrate maintaining a server list containing all servers and maintaining a separate exception list, the subject matter described herein is not limited to maintaining two separate lists. A single list that includes both available and unavailable servers may be maintained without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein.

According to another aspect, the subject matter described herein may include a method for using DNS to load balance among terminating SIP servers. FIG. 8 illustrates this concept. Referring to FIG. 8 , a SIP server 204 may initiate a DNS request to resolve the domain name EAST-POP.I-CSCF.OPERATOR-A.COM. In response to the request, DNS server 105 may return IP addresses in the order of I 1 , I 2 , I 3 , representing servers 214 , 216 , and 218 in order of preference. Server 204 may attempt to contact servers 214 , 216 , and 218 in the order specified by DNS server 105 . Accordingly, in the illustrated example, server P 1 204 may contact server I 1 214 first, as illustrated by message 1 D.

When server P 3 208 receives a SIP request message for the same domain, server P 3 208 sends a DNS request to DNS server 105 . DNS server 105 returns servers I 2 , I 3 , and I 1 in a different order of preference from that given in response to the previous DNS query by server P 1 204 . Server P 3 208 receives the server contact list and attempts to contact the server of the highest order of preference in the list. In this example, the server of the highest order of preference is server I 2 216 .

For each successive DNS request, DNS server 105 may return a different order of priority to the requesting server. Since each requesting server uses the order of priority specified by DNS server 105 to contact a terminating server and the order changes, messages will be load balanced equally over time among the destination servers. If one of the destination servers fails and is added to the exception list of the originating servers, messages will be load balanced among the remaining servers.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture for P-CSCF 204 . Referring to FIG. 9 , P-CSCF 204 includes a terminating SIP server database 900 for storing the list of available and unavailable SIP servers as described above. P-CSCF 204 may also include a SIP communications routing module 902 for communicating with terminating SIP servers to maintain the availability and/or unavailability status information in database 900 . SIP communications routing module 902 may also communicate with DNS server 105 for obtaining IP addresses corresponding to terminating SIP server domain names. SIP communications routing module 902 may also route communications based on information stored in terminating SIP server database 900 , as described above.

It will be understood that various details of the subject matter described herein may be changed without departing from the scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the foregoing description is for the purpose of illustration only, and not for the purpose of limitation, as the subject matter described herein is defined by the claims as set forth hereinafter.