FR2853181A1 - CONNECTED / DISCONNECTED STATUS INDICATOR OF A TERMINAL TO A PACKET NETWORK - Google Patents

Abstract

A change of state interface (CE) is linked to an allocator (AL) allocating a network address (IP1) to a terminal (T1) during the preparation of a session in response to a first identifier (I1a) of the first terminal transmitted by the access network (R1) thereof. The interface sets an indicator (ET1) of the terminal to first and second states when the terminal is connected to, respectively disconnected from, an Internet type packet network (RP). A database server (GE, BE, DE) stores at least a second identifier (I1b), such as domain name, and the status indicator (ET1) of the terminal (T1) transmitted by the interface ( CE) each time the indicator (ET1) of the terminal (T1) is changed so that any second terminal (T2) receives the status indicator of the first terminal (T1) by broadcast or on demand.

Description

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Status indicator connected / disconnected from a terminal to a packet network
The present invention relates generally to the accessibility of user terminals by an access gateway to a packet network of any type, for example such as the Internet.

More particularly, it relates to the indication of a change of state connected / disconnected from a first terminal to the packet network to any second terminal which wishes to transmit a message and in general to communicate with the first terminal when the latter is connected to the packet network.

 A packet network access network, of the GSM, GPRS or UMTS cellular radio network type or of the PSTN switched telephone network type or of any other type of access network, communicates with a packet network through a gateway which is linked to an address allocator to dynamically allocate an address to the very first terminal which requests a connection to the packet network via the access network. A third party user through a second terminal who wishes to quickly communicate a message to the first terminal, is unable to know with certainty whether the first terminal T1 is in the connected state. In addition, it ignores the address of the first terminal which is allocated randomly to the first terminal by the address allocator at each start of connection with the packet network.

 Furthermore, it is known in a switched telephone or radiotelephone network that a calling terminal receives, by appropriate signaling signals, the state of a called telephone or radiotelephone terminal. Through

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 example, the telephone or radiotelephony network transmits to the calling terminal a ringing tone when the called terminal is available, a busy ringing when the called terminal is busy, or a fault ringing, or an announcement message when the called terminal is in trouble, or when the telephone number of the called terminal is no longer or is not assigned.

 For example, for the establishment of communications between terminals via an internet-type packet network, it is currently impossible to know whether a terminal is connected to or disconnected from the packet network. Software-based solutions, consisting of integrating at the terminal level an application communicating the state of the connected / disconnected terminal to a server of the packet network have been implemented. These solutions have the drawbacks of requiring the installation of specific software for indicating the status in the terminal, of not operating on an existing fleet of terminals which do not have the specific software and of being easily inhibited by the terminal user. In addition, status indication software is offered by various manufacturers and is therefore incompatible with each other, which complicates the implementation of such solutions.

 There is therefore a need to report the connected state or the disconnected state of a first terminal to a second terminal which wishes to transmit messages to the first terminal, compared to a call ringtone or a busy ringtone in a telephone network. or radiotelephone.

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 The objective of the invention is therefore to satisfy this need so that the calling user of the second terminal, for example, turns to another medium to communicate with the called user of the first terminal when the latter is disconnected from the network. packets.

 The invention more particularly aims to provide a device, not requiring any additional software implementation in the first terminal, to indicate that the first terminals connected to a packet network through an access network are each in one of the states connected and disconnected to the packet network so that second terminals are aware of the connected and disconnected states of the first terminals respectively.

 To achieve this objective, a device is provided for indicating the connected and disconnected states of the first terminals connected to a packet network through an access network. Each first terminal is in a connected state as soon as the first terminal establishes a connection with the packet network and in a disconnected state as soon as the first terminal breaks the connection with the packet network. An allocator allocates a network address to the first terminal to prepare a connection with the packet network in response to a first identifier of the first terminal transmitted by the access network and corresponding to a second identifier specific to the packet network. The device is characterized in that it comprises a state change means for setting a state indicator of each first terminal to a first state when the first terminal is in the connected state and to a second state when the first terminal is at

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 the disconnected state, and a database management means accessible via the packet network for storing the second identifier and the state indicator of the first terminal which are transmitted by the state change means each time the status indicator of the first terminal is modified.

 Thanks to the consultation of a database, the user of a second terminal becomes aware of the connected or disconnected state of a first terminal and thus decides to transmit a message to the first terminal when the latter is in use. 'connected state. The means of access of the first terminal to the packet network can thus signal to the first terminal the transmission of the message from the second terminal.

The user of the first terminal can decide to mask the first state by the second state of the status indicator when the first terminal is connected to the packet network so as not to be disturbed during a connection. When the state indicator of the first terminal is in the first or second state, the user of the second terminal can orient himself or will be oriented by another means of personal telecommunications to the user of the first terminal.

 When the second terminal, for example a mailing server, wishes to transmit a message by mailing to several first terminals, thanks to the invention it knows the connected and disconnected states of the first terminals and dispenses with interrogating the access means of the first terminals in the packet network, which is a tedious and long operation according to the prior art, cluttering the packet network.

 In addition, the database management means is implemented in a server accessible through

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 the packet network at any second terminal or some of the second terminals, and not at least in part in any second terminal, which facilitates the management of the status indication service according to the invention and the security of this service.

 The database management means in the device according to the invention makes second identifiers of second terminals correspond to lists of second identifiers relating to the first terminals so that information associated with the first terminals is read and transmitted by the management means database to second terminals automatically or on demand.

 According to a first variant corresponding to an automatic broadcast, the database management means comprises means for transmitting to a second terminal the second identifier and the status indicator of a first terminal of which the second identifier belongs to a list corresponding to the second identifier of the second terminal each time the status indicator of the first terminal is changed.

 According to a second variant corresponding to transmission on demand, the database management means according to the invention comprises means for transmitting to a second terminal the second identifiers and the status indicators of the first terminals of the respective list in response to a request from the second terminal designating the respective list with a list identifier. If the list includes only a first terminal, the list identifier can be confused with the second identifier of the first terminal.

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 Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of several preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the corresponding appended drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a block diagram of the implementation a state indicator device according to the invention, in a telecommunications system, in particular between two terminals; and - Figure 2 is a schematic state change and management algorithm for recording the connected or disconnected state of the first terminal in the state indicator device.

 With reference to FIG. 1, first user terminals Tl are connected to a high speed packet network RP, such as the Internet, through an access network R1 and an access gateway P1. In order not to overload Figure 1, only a first terminal T1 is illustrated.

 It is assumed that the first terminals are mobile radiotelephones and the first GSM type RI access network is composed of two RR and RA networks. The RR network is at least part of a digital cellular radio network on which the first terminals depend. The RA network is a PSTN switched telephone network or a packet switched network with mobility management and access by GPRS radio (General Packet Radio Service). As a variant, the access network R1 is of the UMTS type, or simply composed of a switched telephone network when the terminal T1 is a fixed telephone terminal.

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 The access gateway P1 constitutes an access server which transmits, as client, requests according to the transport and TCP / IP network protocols (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) and which receives responses according to the TCP protocols / IP, via the RP packet network. For example, the access gateway P1 is a gateway node GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) of a GPRS access network to the packet network.

 The first terminals Tl thus access the packet networks RP through the access gateway Pl. The first terminals Tl select a packet network from among the available packet networks RP, for example by dialing its GPRS identifier called APN (Access Point Name ). For example, thanks to a web browser application implemented in each first terminal T1, the user thereof accesses via the gateway P1 to any platform or portal for web services available on the available RP packet network.

 The access of the first terminals to the packet network RP is controlled, as is known, by a dynamic address allocator AL such as a RADIUS server (Remote Authentication Dial In User Service) connected to the access gateway Pl. The allocator AL assigns a first available address IP1, for example an IP address (Internet Protocol) standardized by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), to the first terminal Tl in response to a first identifier Ila transmitted to the allocator AL by the access network R1 via the gateway P1 when the first terminal Tl establishes a connection with the packet network RP. The first Ila identifier is in this realization the telephone number of the

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 first terminal Tl, called MSISDN (Mobile Station ISDN Number), identifying the first terminal Tl in the access network Ri. The correspondence between the identifier 11a and the assigned address IP1 is recorded in the allocator AL.

 A state indicator device according to the invention comprises, on the one hand, in addition to the address allocator AL, a state change identification interface CE which is implemented with the address allocator AL in a platform which can be connected or integrated to the access gateway P1, on the other hand a state management interface GE, a state database BE and a state broadcasting interface DE which are all three implemented in a server connected to the RP packet network.

 The indicator device according to the invention is described in detail below also with reference to steps E1 to E9 of the change and state management algorithm shown in FIG. 2.

 The role of the state change identification interface CE is to detect changes of address IP1 in the address allocator AL, that is to say the beginnings and ends of connections with the relative RP network. at the first terminals T1, for example by periodically interrogating the address allocator AL according to the LDAP protocol (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) standardized by the IETF.

The interface CE deduces therefrom a binary indicator ET1 representative of the connected or disconnected state of each terminal Tl in order to signal the change of address and therefore the change of state to the state base BE which is accessible to any second terminal

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 T2, subject to authorization of access via the RP packet network. Within the meaning of the invention, the second terminal T2 can be a fixed terminal, a mobile radiotelephone or else a server for example.

 Following a request to open a connection with the packet network RP transmitted by the terminal Tl to the access gateway P1, in step El, the address allocator AL dynamically allocates to the terminal Tl a selected IPl address among addresses available in the associated database, in step E2. At the CE interface, the status indicator ET1 of the first terminal Tl changes to a first logic state "1" representative of a connected state, also called active state, of the terminal Tl indicating that the latter is connected to the network RP in step E3.

 Concomitantly with the change of state of the indicator ET1, the state change identification interface CE translates in step E3 the first identifier Ila, such as the number MSISDN, into a second identifier Ilb. The identifier Ilb constitutes a domain name of the terminal Tl.

The interface CE translates the first identifier Ila into the second respective identifier Ilb for example by means of a correspondence table from the first identifier Ila to the second identifier Ilb, or else by means of a computer program whose execution with as input parameter the first identifier Ila gives the second identifier Ilb as a result.

 At this stage, the state change identification interface CE has a correspondence between the second identifier Ilb, the address IP1 and the state indicator ET1 of the first terminal Tl which all form a triplet. In step E4,

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 the CE interface transmits the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1] to the state management interface GE via a dedicated link LI. Preferably, the triplet between the CE and GE interfaces is transmitted according to the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) which is well suited to a network of Internet-type RP packets.

 In the server managing the database BE, the state management interface GE transfers in step E5 the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1] to the database BE for an update of the latter. The transfer of the triplet between the GE interface and the BE database is also preferably carried out according to the LDAP protocol, like the transmission between the CE and GE interfaces, or by any other protocol solution proposed by the database designer. BE.

 In response to the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1], the BE database updates the last two fields of the triplet containing the IP1 address and the ET1 status indicator corresponding to the second identifier Ilb of the terminal Tl at step E6. This update takes place each time the state change identification interface CE detects a change in the IP1 address allocated to the terminal T1 by the allocator AL, including a deletion of IP1 address allocation on the first terminal T1 at the end of a connection, as indicated by steps E11, E21 and E31 similar to steps El, E2 and E3 in FIG. 2.

 At the end of a connection of the terminal Tl with the packet network RP resulting from a request for the end of connection transmitted by the terminal Tl to the gateway Pl in step E11, the allocated address IP1 to

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 terminal T1 is deleted in step E21. This deletion is concomitant with the passage of the indicator ET1 to a second logic state "0" representative of the disconnected state of the first terminal Tl, also called inactive state, when the latter is disconnected from the packet network RP in step E31. The transition from state "1" to "0" of the indicator ET1 reflects an "absence" of the user of the terminal Tl in the network RP as opposed to a "presence" of the user of the terminal Tl when this the latter is connected to the RP packet network.

 The database BE preferably comprises management rules RG1 in association with the second identifier Ilb of each first terminal Tl to manage the connected and disconnected states of the terminal Tl, that is to say the presence and absence of the user in front of the terminal Tl.

 For example, one of these management rules consists in hiding the connected state of the terminal T1 by a disconnected state, that is to say in hiding the first state "1" of the state indicator ET1 by the second state "0" of this indicator, independently of the actual state of the indicator ET1, that is to say whatever the presence or absence of the first terminal Tl in the packet network RP. This masking allows the user to dissuade any second terminal T2 from sending a message to the terminal T1 when it is being connected and thus not to disturb the user with unwanted messages, in particular advertising notifications, during a session of the terminal T1 with the packet network RP, particularly during standby periods of the first terminal T1.

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 According to another rule, if the state indicator ET1 of the first terminal Tl is at a predetermined one of the first and second states, the database BE directs the user to a second terminal T2 wishing to communicate with the user from the terminal Tl to at least one or more means of telecommunications, known as personal media to the user of the terminal Tl. The personal media can be for example a fax machine, and / or a voicemail, or else a forum server frequented by the user of the terminal T1. The orientation towards the media can be carried out by transmitting the addresses of the media by the database BE to the terminal T2, or by terminating the communication with the terminal T2 by the server of the database BE and communication to be established with a media priority or with unified media messaging.

 Also in association with the second identifier Ilb of each first terminal T1, the database BE preferably contains additional information IS1 which is added to the other parameters IP1, ET1 and RG1. The additional information IS1 which is optional contains personal information on a profile of the user of the terminal Tl and / or on characteristics of the terminal Tl. This profile includes for example preferences on the use of certain services by the user, such as hours and durations of consultation, categories of service, age group, region of the user, etc. The profile is used to program transmission of messages from second terminals T2, for example to send information from a club to members, or an advertisement, to the first terminal T1.

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 The state broadcasting interface DE has the essential role of transmitting the status indicators ET1 of the first terminals Tl read in the database BE, automatically or on demand to second terminals T2 according to the first or second variant described below with reference to steps E7 and E8-E9 shown in Figure 2.

 The state broadcasting interface DE in practice transmits the triplet [IP1, ET1, IS1] in correspondence with the second identifier Ilb constituting the domain name of the first terminal Tl in the packet network RP, for example according to the LDAP protocol .

 In the first variant, the users of second terminals T2 have subscribed to a service for automatic dissemination of status indicators ET1 of first terminals Tl stated in respective lists L2. For example, for a second terminal T2, the state broadcasting interface DE has stored a list L2 containing at least the second identifier Ilb of the first terminal Tl, in correspondence with the identifier I2b of the second terminal T2, that is that is to say in correspondence with the network address of the terminal T2 and the second identifier of the second terminal T2, for example a domain name of the terminal T2, which has been assigned by the operator of an access network R2 connected to an access gateway P2 and interconnecting the second terminal T2 to the packet network RP, as shown in FIG. 1. As a variant, the terminal T2 is served by the same access network R1 as the first terminal Tl. L the state broadcasting interface DE monitors the changes in state of the status indicators ET1 corresponding to the identifiers Ilb included in the list L2 associated with the identifier I2b of the second terminal T2, in the database BE. As soon as

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 the indicator ET1 of the terminal T1 is modified and therefore updated in step E6, the state broadcasting interface DE automatically broadcasts the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1] in a message MES, possibly with the additional information IS1 to the second terminal T2, and more generally towards all the second terminals which contain in their lists the identifier Ilb, in step E7. The users of the second terminals T2 are thus immediately informed that the first terminal T1 is ready or not to receive messages through the packet network RP according to the status indicator ET1.

 In the second variant, a second terminal T2 interrogates in step E8 the state broadcasting interface DE by a request RQ including the identifier I2b of the source terminal T2 and at least the second identifier Ilb of a first terminal Tl or the identifier of a list L2 of the second identifiers Ilb of first terminals Tl for which the user of the second terminal T2 is authorized to know the status indicators. On receipt of the request RQ, the interface DE controls the access rights of the user of the second terminal T2 to access the information in the database BE corresponding to the identifier I2b of the second terminal T2. If the information corresponding to the identifier Ilb or to the list L2 contained explicitly or implicitly in the request RQ is authorized to be read in the database BE by the terminal T2, the state broadcasting interface DE establishes and transmits in step E9 a response RES including the indicator ETl representative of the connected / disconnected state of the terminal Tl and the identifier Ilb, or the indicators representative of the states of the terminals Tl

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 identified in the list L2 by the second identifiers Ilb, and more precisely one or more triples [Ilb, IP1, ET1] possibly supplemented by respective additional information IS1.

 According to other variants, the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1] is reduced to a doublet [Ilb, ET1] to be introduced into a broadcast message MES or a response RES via the interface DE since the network address IP1 does not is not essential at terminal T2 to communicate with terminal Tl.

 According to a practical example, when the user terminal Tl requests a connection (step E1) to the packet network RP through the access gateway P1 of the access network R1, the allocator AL identifies the user of the terminal Tl thanks to an identifier Ila which is communicated to the access gateway P1 by the access network R1 and which is for example Ila = "0607080910" in the case of an access network of GPRS type. The allocator AL allocates to the first terminal T1 an IP1 address, for example of the IP type equal to "10.10.10.10" (step E2). The state change identification interface CE detects the allocation of the IP1 address and changes the state indicator ET1 from the second state "0" to the first state "1" (step E3). Depending on the first identifier Ila received, for example the MISDN number equal to "0607080910", the state change identification interface CE deduces the second identifier Ilb from the terminal Tl which is for example of the type "zedyfezud @ orange. com ", where" orange.com "designates the access provider of the first Tl terminal. The CE interface then contains the triplet [Ilb, IP1, ET1] equal to [zedyfezud@orange.com, 10. 10.10.10,

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 "1"], or the doublet [Ilb, ET1] equal to [zedyfezud@orange.com, "1"]. This triplet or doublet is transmitted by the interface CE to the state management interface GE (step E5) which writes them to the database BE in order to update the information on the first terminal T1 (step E6).

 Another user in front of the second terminal T2 transmits a request RQ on the connected or disconnected state of the first terminal T1 to the state broadcasting interface DE, by specifying in the request RQ the second identifier Ilb of the first terminal equal to " zedyfezud@orange.com "(step E8).

The state broadcast interface DE verifies that the user of the second terminal T2 has the rights to read the connected or disconnected state of the first terminal T1. If this is the case, the state broadcast interface DE transmits to the second terminal T2 the response [Ilb, IP1, ET1, IS1] equal to [zedyfezud@orange.com, 10.10.10.10, "1", IS1] (step E9).

 The user of the second terminal T2 is thus informed of the connected or disconnected state of the first terminal T1 and has all the information necessary to communicate directly with the first terminal T1, that is to say to address at least one message, to the first terminal T1 which is notified of this message transmission so that the user of the first terminal T1 decides to download this message. If the user of the second terminal T2 finds that the status indicator ET1 is in the disconnected state "0", the user of the second terminal T2 can then attempt a communication by another medium to another terminal linked to the user of the terminal Tl, for example a fixed terminal or a

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 fax or messaging from the user of the Tl terminal.

 When the identifier I2b of the second terminal T2 is associated with a list of identifiers Ilb of the first terminals Tl, the state broadcasting interface DE can transmit only the quadruplets [Ilb, IP1, EP1, IS1] in which the the status indicator is in the connected state "1" so that the terminal T2 transmits a mailing only to all the first terminals Tl which are currently connected to the packet network RP and which belong to the list L2.

Claims (10)

1 - Device for indicating the connected and disconnected states of first terminals (Tl) connected to a packet network (RP) through an access network (RI), each first terminal being in a connected state as soon as the first terminal establishes a connection with the packet network (RP) and in a disconnected state as soon as the first terminal breaks the connection with the packet network, an allocator (AL) allocating a network address (IP1) to the first terminal to prepare a connection with the packet network in response to a first identifier (Ila) of the first terminal transmitted by the access network (RI) and corresponding to a second identifier (Ilb) specific to the packet network, characterized in that it comprises means change of state (CE) to set a state indicator (ET1) of each first terminal (T1) to a first state when the first terminal is in the connected state and to a second state when the first terminates l is in the disconnected state, and a database management means (GE, BE, DE) accessible via the packet network (RP) for storing the second identifier (Ilb) and the status indicator (ET1 ) of the first terminal (Tl) which are transmitted by the state change means (CE) each time the status indicator (ET1) of the first terminal (Tl) is changed.  2 - Device according to claim 1, wherein the database management means (GE, BE, DE) matches second identifiers (I2b) of second terminals (T2) respectively to lists of second <Desc / Clms Page number 19>  identifiers (I2b) relating to the first terminals (Tl), and comprises means (DE) for transmitting (MES) to a second terminal (T2) the second identifier (Ilb) and the status indicator (ET1) of a first terminal (T1) whose second identifier belongs to a list corresponding to the second identifier (I2b) of the second terminal each time the status indicator (ET1) of the first terminal is modified.  3 - Device according to claim 1, wherein the database management means (GE, BE, DE) matches second identifiers (I2b) of second terminals (T2) respectively to lists (L2) of second identifiers (Ilb) relating to the first terminals (Tl), and comprises means (DE) for transmitting (RES) to a second terminal (T2) the second identifiers (Ilb) and the status indicators (ET1) of the first terminals (Tl ) of the respective list (L2) in response to a request (RQ) from the second terminal (T2) designating the respective list.  4 - Device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the state change identification means (CE) transmits to the database management means (GE, BE, DE) also an address of network (IP1) allocated to the first terminal (Tl) by the allocator (AL) when the first terminal enters the connected state.  5 - Device according to claim 4 when it depends on claim 2 or 3, wherein the means for transmitting (DE) also transmits the network address (IP1) of the first <Desc / Clms Page number 20>  terminal (Tl) with the second identifier (Ilb) from the first terminal to the second terminal (T2).  6 - Device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the database management means (GE, BE, DE) comprises in association with the second identifier (Ilb) of each first terminal (Tl) management rules (RG1) managing states connected and disconnected from the first terminal.  7 - Device according to claim 6, wherein one of the management rules consists in masking the first state of the state indicator (ET1) of the first terminal (Tl) by the second state.  8 - Device according to claim 6, wherein one of the management rules is that the database management means (GE, BE, DE) directs the user of the second terminal (T2) to at least a means of personal telecommunications to the user of the first terminal (T1) when the state indicator (ET1) of the first terminal is at a predetermined one of the first and second states.  9 - Device according to any one of claims 1 to 8 when they depend on claim 2 or 3, wherein the database management means (BE, GE, DE) contains in association with the second identifier ( Ilb) of each first terminal (Tl) additional information (IS1) on the first terminal (Tl) and / or the user of the first terminal (Tl), so that the means for transmitting (DE) transmits the additional information (IS1 ) with the second <Desc / Clms Page number 21>  identifier (Ilb) from the first terminal (Tl) to the second terminal (T2).  10 - Device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the database management means (GE, BE, GE) is implemented in a server accessible through the packet network (RP), and the state change means (CE) is implemented with the allocator (AL) in a platform connected to or integrated in an access means (P1) of the first terminals (Tl) to the packet network (RP).