FR2865877A1 - Multimedia call establishing method for e.g. computer, involves transmitting incoming call from service number to call establishment gateway through telephone terminal, and indicating call to IP terminal corresponding to call identifier - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves storing a call identifier of an IP terminal (T2) in association with a number determined from a call request, in a table by a server. An incoming call is transmitted from a service number to a call establishment gateway via a telephone terminal (T1). The gateway indicates call characteristics to the server which indicates the call to the terminal (T2) related to the identifier to establish a call between terminals. An independent claim is also included for a device of implementing a method of establishing a multimedia call from a telephone terminal towards a terminal connected to an IP network.

Description

The invention relates to a method for establishing multimedia calls since

  a first telephone terminal to a second terminal connected to an IP network.

  Such a method is known, in which the call establishment from the telephone network to the second terminal is via an IP / PSTN gateway (IP for Internet protocol and PSTN for switched telephone network), which performs the conversion of the telephone signaling to IP signaling, such as for example SIP, H323. The voice channel is then established in a real-time RTP (real-time transmission protocol over packet-switched networks) between the second terminal and the gateway on the one hand, and in a PSTN stream between the first calling terminal and the gateway on the other hand.

  In this known method, the called second terminal has a called telephone number to select it from the first calling terminal and establish the call.

  Therefore, it is new telephone numbers that must be dedicated to the second IP terminals to be able to call from the first terminals.

  These new telephone numbers of IP terminals are added to the existing telephone numbers for the phones and must be expected in large numbers, equal to the number of IP terminals, which has drawbacks.

  Each IP terminal must register its dedicated telephone number, which is complicated and tedious.

  The new telephone numbers of IP terminals must be integrated into the existing numbering plans, which may be encumbered or even unable to integrate them, given their limited numbering capacity (for example currently 10 digits in France) and the number growing numbers of phone numbers to consider.

  The aim of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages of the state of the art by proposing a method and a device enabling the establishment of multimedia calls from a first telephone terminal to a second terminal connected to an IP network, without static assignment. a phone number to the second called terminal.

  For this purpose, a first object of the invention is a method of establishing multimedia calls from a first telephone terminal to a second terminal connected to an IP network, characterized in that to establish a call from the second terminal from the first terminal, - it sends from the first terminal a call request containing a second predetermined identifier of called for the second terminal to a connection server, - upon receipt of the call request, the server of setting relationship temporarily stores in a look-up table the second called identifier in association with a first number determined from the call request, and causes - the first terminal to transmit an incoming call of a second number of determined service terminating at a call establishment gateway, the incoming call having a calling feature for indicating a relationship between the first call uméro and the second service number, - the call establishment gateway signals at least the incoming call received characteristic to the connection server, which determines the associated called second identifier in the correspondence table the first number corresponding to the signaling of the characteristic of the incoming call, so that the connection server reports the incoming call to the second terminal corresponding to the second called called identifier, in order to establish a multimedia communication channel of the latter with the call establishment gateway, which then connects the multimedia communication channel to the incoming call.

  Thanks to the invention, the call of the second terminal is established through a correspondence established temporarily between the identifier of the second terminal, the second service number of the incoming call and the first number. As a result, the number of service numbers that must be available to the call setup service to place incoming calls to the gateway may be limited to a predetermined number, which may even be one, and in any event very less than the number of second terminals. The invention thus dispenses with the static, systematic and definitive assignment of telephone numbers to the second terminals, which avoids having telephone numbers of the same number as these second terminals and exempts them from having to register them for the service. .

  According to other non-limiting features of the invention, the first number and the second service number are telephone numbers; the first telephone terminal is a GPRS mobile telephone terminal; the second telephone terminal has been previously connected to the connection server by a presence management protocol; the second called identifier is selected on the first terminal, the selection of the second called identifier is made possible on the first terminal by the fact that the presence of the second terminal has been detected and signaled by the connection server. at the first terminal; the first number associated in the correspondence table with the second identifier is the telephone number of the first terminal, contained in the call request, and the characteristic of the incoming call to indicate a relation between the first number and the second number of service means the incoming call from the telephone number of the first terminal and to the second service number; or the first associated number in the correspondence table to the second identifier is the telephone number of the first terminal contained in the call request, and the characteristic of the incoming call to indicate a relationship between the first number and the second number. service means the incoming call from the telephone number of the first terminal; or the first number associated in the correspondence table with the second identifier is the second service number, and the characteristic of the incoming call for indicating a relationship between the first number and the second service number designates the second service number, and for example the telephone number of the first terminal is contained neither in the call request nor in the incoming call; the second service number is determined by the connection server among a prerecorded list of service numbers available for the call request and is communicated to the first terminal in an acknowledgment sent by the connection server after the storage; the second called identifier in the correspondence table; the incoming call contains other characteristics of the communication channel to be established, which are also signaled with the incoming call to the connection server and to the second terminal; a first identifier of the first terminal is present in the call request and is stored by the connection server in association with the second called identifier and the first number; the identifier is distinct from a telephone number of the corresponding terminal.

  A second object of the invention is a device for implementing the method of establishing multimedia calls from a first telephone terminal to a second terminal connected to an IP network, as described above, characterized in that it comprises a call establishment gateway between the first and second terminals, a connection server, comprising means for receiving a call request from the first terminal, means for controlling the first terminal for it sending an incoming call from a second determined service number to the call setup gateway, the incoming call having a call feature to indicate a relationship between a first number and the second service number, a storage correspondence table of the second called identifier for the second terminal, contained in the call request in association with the first number determined from the call request, the call establishment gateway having a first means of signaling at least the characteristic of the incoming call to the connection server, the connection server including means for determining the second called identifier, associated in the correspondence table with the first number corresponding to the signaling of the characteristic of the incoming call, a second means of signaling the incoming call to the second terminal corresponding to the second called called identifier, means for triggering establishment of a communication media channel between the second terminal and the call setup gateway, and means for connecting the call setup gateway to the multimedia communication channel; 'incoming call.

  The invention will be better understood on reading the description which will follow, given solely by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the appended drawings, in which: FIG. 1 schematically represents a device implementing the method of FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically a first embodiment of the device according to FIG. 1, involving a routing on the caller, and FIG. 3 schematically represents a second embodiment of the device according to the invention. device according to Figure 1, involving a routing on the called.

  In the figures, a first user seeks to establish a call from his first telephone terminal T1 with a second remote terminal T2 of a second user, connected to an IP network, such as the Internet network. In what follows, the first terminal T1 is typically a mobile telephone terminal GPRS, but can also be a fixed telephone terminal, communicating with a corresponding telephone network. The second remote terminal T2 is for example a computer, fixed or mobile, connected to an IP network and is hereinafter referred to as an IP terminal.

  A common connection infrastructure for GPRS mobile terminal users and second IP terminals is provided for positioning dynamic routing rules prior to the call, which makes it possible to reconcile users called incoming calls in a gateway between the first and second terminals. terminals, such as a PSTN / IP gateway.

  Typically this type of infrastructure may be an IP-based presence management infrastructure, such as those used in instant messaging.

  The second terminal T2 is identified in the connection infrastructure by a second predetermined identifier ID2, for example typically other than a telephone number and for example constituted by an email address of the second terminal T2, such as first name. name@domain.com, where the first and last names are those of the second user. Thus, by the identifier ID2, the identification of the second users by the first users can be made less anonymous than by a telephone number.

  In the figures, this linking infrastructure includes one or more SMR linking servers, hereinafter referred to as the SMR linking server generic term and a matching TC table, which will be described below.

  Thanks to this common connection infrastructure, the first and second users can coexist in the same identification space, the first terminal T1 has a means of contacting the SMR server connection and SMR server connection to means for contacting the second terminal T2. The communication of the first terminal T1 to the server SMR borrows the GPRS telephone network, a GPRS interconnection and the Internet network and vice versa in the other direction. The communication between the SMR server and the second terminal T2 in both directions borrows the Internet network. For example, the second terminal T2 has signaled and previously connected to the server SMR connection, either on the initiative of the second user, or automatically when the second terminal T2 is switched on by a permanent connection, by example by signaling its IP address and the port on which the second terminal T2 can be contacted. The connection to the service is performed through client applications deployed on the second T2 terminals and applications embedded on the first T1 terminals, which applications use IP connectivity to establish a link with the SMR server. Typically, this kind of architecture can be built from elements compatible with the presence management protocols XMPP (presence and messaging protocol or English expandable messaging and presence protocol), SIMPLE (session establishment protocol ( SIP) for extensions allowing instant messaging and presence management (SIP for instant messaging and presence leveraging extensions) or Wireless Village (registered trademark). For example, the connection infrastructure allows the first and second users to each constitute a list of contacts or call recipients (or list of friends), the first terminal T1 will be notified of the presence of the second terminal T2 on the IP network and the second terminal T2 will be notified of the presence of the first terminal T1 on the mobile telephone network.

  To initiate the call and to connect to the service implemented by the invention and to the server SMR, during step 1, the first user selects on his first terminal T1 the second identifier ID2 and controls his first terminal T1 to send it via a communication protocol to the SMR server for linking a DA request or call request containing this second identifier ID2. For example, to do this, the first user himself composes the second identifier ID2 because he knows it, or an application embedded in the first terminal T1 makes it possible to propose to the first user the call of the second user from the second identifier. ID2 of the second terminal T2 in the connection infrastructure, for example by proposing him to select from his list of contacts stored in the terminal T1, the terminal T2, which has been detected as present by the server SMR.

  In step 2, each time the SMR connection server has received a call request DA, it associates with the called ID2 identifier contained therein a first telephone number NT and temporarily stores this association in the correspondence TC table, with possibly further characteristics of the upcoming call. For each call DA request received by the SMR server, the first telephone number NT is determined temporarily and dynamically by it based on the call DA request. This first service number NT is therefore not assigned to the identifier ID2 in a static and definitive manner, but just during the phase of setting up the call, until for example the setting in communication of the first and second terminals T1 and T2 at step 8. Therefore, the associations between the IDs ID2 and the first NT numbers are dynamically recorded in the correspondence table TC.

  In the first embodiment of FIG. 2, the call request DA contains the calling telephone number NI of the first terminal sending it and the second calling identifier ID2. In this case, the first telephone number NT is the calling telephone number NI of the first terminal having issued the call request DA.

  In the second embodiment of FIG. 3, the call DA request does not contain the calling telephone number NI of the first terminal transmitting it and contains the second called ID2 identifier. In this case, the first telephone number NT is a second service number NS determined by the server SMR for the call request DA having the identifier ID2. This service number NS is for example determined by the server SMR from a list LNS (pool) determined service numbers, reserved on the SMR server to pending call requests and is assigned to the request DA call having ID2 identifier. These NS service numbers can therefore be assigned to any ID2 IDs, depending on the arrival of call requests to the SMR server.

  Then, in step 3, after the storage in the TC table of the ID2-NT association, the SMR connection server acknowledges the call DA request from the first terminal T1 that has sent it, by making it to send a corresponding message or signaling ACK.

  The reception of this acknowledgment on the first terminal Ti automatically controls the transmission by the latter, during step 4, of an incoming call AE of the second service number NS, which for example has been communicated to the first terminal T1 in the acquittal. This second service number NS results, thanks to the routing rules previously set up in the telephone network, to the call setup gateway PEA between the first and second terminals T1 and T2. This incoming call AE is transparent to the first user of the first terminal T1.

  The incoming call reaches the PEA gateway through the telephone network and SS7 signaling. In this incoming call AE is a characteristic CAR indicating to the server SMR a relation between the first number NT and the second number NS of service. This characteristic CAR is information enabling the first number NT to carry out a subsequent selection of an association (ID2, NT) among those present in the correspondence table TC.

  In the first embodiment, wherein a call routing is performed from the calling party T1 and its calling party telephone number NI, the second service number NS is therefore different from the first number NT = NI. This service number NS is for example determined by the server SMR from a list LNS (pool) determined service numbers, reserved on the SMR server for pending call requests. The characteristic CAR of the incoming call AE thus consists for example of AE (N1-> NS) to indicate the call of the second service number NS from the first terminal T1 having the telephone number NI.

  In general, the second NS service number or the LNS list of service numbers has been previously reserved by the service provider with the telephone number assignment authority, and the appropriate routing rules have been positioned in the fixed or mobile telephone network so that these service numbers are routed to the PEA gateway dedicated to the service.

  In the second embodiment, in which call routing is performed from the called number NS of the incoming call AE, the second service number NS is therefore equal to the first number NT that has been associated in the table TC ID2 ID. The CAR characteristic of the incoming call AE thus consists, for example, in the single mention AE (NS) of the second service number NS in the incoming call, which then means that the relation between the first number NT and the second number NS of service is NT = NS, and the telephone number NI of the first terminal T1 does not need to be transmitted in the incoming call AE.

  When the incoming call AE of the second service number NS has been received by the gateway PEA, the gateway PEA, in step 5, stores it as a pending incoming call to be connected later to a destination IP terminal and signals the call. incoming AE received to SMR server for example through the Internet. This SAE report transmits the data contained in the incoming call AE, including the second service number NS and the characteristic CAR, that is to say that the transmitted data comprise in the first embodiment the telephone number NI of the first T1 terminal and the second NS service number and the data transmitted in the second embodiment include the second NS service number only. The SAE report could also include only the telephone number NI of the first terminal T1 in the first embodiment.

  When the SMR server has received the SAE signaling of the incoming call AE, the SMR server extracts from this signaling the CAR characteristic of the incoming call AE and queries the records present in the correspondence TC table to determine according to CAR and TC, the associated called identifier in this correspondence TC table. Thus, the server SMR determines the second identifier ID2 called, associated in the TC table of correspondence to the first number NT, which corresponds to the SAE signaling of the characteristic CAR of the incoming call AE.

  In the first embodiment, the server SMR compares the reported characteristic CAR = AE (N1-> NS) or CAR (N1) to the records of the table TC, selects from the reported characteristic CAR = AE (N1 NS) or CAR (N1) the record (ID2, NI) in the TC table and derives therefrom the second identifier ID2 of T2 present in this record (ID2, NI) and associated with the number NI present in the CAR characteristic reported, the NI number d The calling party is the discriminating factor that allows the SMR server to select the record (ID2, NI) in the TC table.

  In the second embodiment, the server SMR compares the reported characteristic CAR = AE (NS) to the records of the table TC, selects from the characteristic reported CAR = AE (NS) the record (ID2, NS) in the TC table and deduces therefrom the second identifier ID2 of T2 present in this record (ID2, NS) and associated with the second service number NS present in the characteristic CAR 2865877 12 reported, the NS service number being the discriminating factor for selecting the registration (ID2, NS) in the TC table.

  The second identifier ID2 of called having thus been determined, the server SMR of connection then reports in step 6 the incoming call AE (incoming call notification) to the second terminal T2 corresponding to this second identifier ID2 of called. This SAE2 signaling of the incoming call AE is sent to this second terminal T2 by the Internet network.

  Then the second terminal T2 having received the SAE2 signaling establishes in step 7 a communication multimedia CC channel, such as voice and / or image and for example voice over IP (VoIP), with the gateway PEA by the Internet network. This communication channel CC is established on the basis of other characteristics provided to the second terminal T2 in the SAE2 signaling, for example from the incoming call AE in step 4 and retransmitted in the SAE signaling. These other characteristics relate for example to the characteristics of the allocated voice over IP channel. Of course, it can be provided on the terminal T2 that the second user can refuse to establish the call which prevents the execution of steps 7 and 8.

  Finally, in the next step 8, the gateway PEA connects the established communication channel CC with the second terminal T2 to the corresponding incoming call AE of the second service number NS, incoming call that it kept pending. The call is thus established end-to-end between the first terminal T1 and the second terminal T2. The first terminal T1 and the second terminal T2 can then communicate with each other via the gateway PEA providing IP / RTC conversion between them and exchange sound and / or images. Of course, the method described can be implemented between other first terminals and other second terminals.

  In step 2, the server SMR can also store in addition, in association with the second identifier ID2 of called or identifier ID2 of the called service, the first identifier ID1 of the caller or identifier ID1 of service of the calling party, that is to say the first calling terminal T1, present in the call DA request.

  For example, this first caller identifier IDI is used by the SMR server to identify that the first terminal T1 is subscribed to the service and to allow the other steps of the service to proceed, when the server SMR has verified that the first identifier IDI present in the service. call DA request belongs to a subscriber file previously registered in the server SMR, and to prevent the progress of the other steps of the service, when the SMR server has verified that the first identifier IDI present in the request DA call does not belong to the subscriber file previously registered in the SMR server. The prevention takes for example the form of the absence of sending of the acknowledgment ACK to the first terminal T1 during step 3. The absence of sending the acknowledgment ACK to the first terminal T1 during the step 3 can also be triggered by the SMR server for other reasons: for example by the fact that the server SMR detects in its database that the credit corresponding to the first IDI identifier of the call DA request is exceeded or exhausted , and / or in that the server SMR detects that there is momentarily no available service number NS for the incoming call AE, because they are all allocated to incoming calls AE at this time and / or in that the SMR server detects that the first IDI ID of the call DA request is in a blacklist managed by the server SMR and indicating a prohibition to call.

  For example, the first caller IDI is also transmitted in the incoming call AE indicated in step 6, for presentation on the second terminal T2 to the second user.

  After the establishment of the call in step 8, the association (ID2, NT) between the second identifier N2 and the first number NT, as well as possibly the other associated information, can be erased by the server SMR in the TC table.

Claims (14)

  1. Method for setting up multimedia calls from a first telephone terminal (T1) to a second terminal (T2) connected to an IP network, characterized in that to establish a call from the second terminal (T2) from the first terminal (T1), - a request (DA) for a call containing a second predetermined identifier (ID2) of called for the second terminal (T2) is sent from the first terminal (T1) to a server (SMR) for setting relationship, - upon receipt of the call request (DA), the connection server (SMR) temporarily stores in a correspondence table (TC) the second identifier (ID2) of called in association with a first number ( NT) determined from the call request (DA), and causes - the transmission by the first terminal (T1) of an incoming call (AE) of a second number (NS) of determined service leading to a gateway (PEA), the incoming call (AE) having a characterist call identifier (CAR) to indicate a relation between the first number (NT) and the second service number (NS), - the call establishment gateway (PEA) signals at least the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call received (AE) to the matching server (SMR), which determines the associated second called identifier (ID2) in the match table (TC) with the first number (NT) corresponding to the report (SAE) the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE), so that the connection server (SMR) signals the incoming call to the second terminal (T2) corresponding to the second identifier (ID2) of called thus determined, in order to establish a multimedia communication channel of the latter with the call setup gateway (PEA), which then connects the communication multimedia channel to the incoming call.   A call setup method according to claim 1, characterized in that the first number (NT) and the second service number (NS) are telephone numbers.   3. call setup method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first telephone terminal (Ti) is a mobile telephone terminal (Ti) GPRS.   4. call establishment method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second telephone terminal (Ti) has been previously connected to the server (SMR) for connection by a presence management protocol .   5. Call establishment method according to claim 4, characterized in that the second called identifier (IO2) is selected on the first terminal (T1), the selection of the second called identifier (ID2) being rendered possible on the first terminal (T1) in that the presence of the second terminal (T2) has been detected and reported by the server (SMR) of connection to the first terminal (T1).   The call setup method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first number (NT) associated in the correspondence table (TC) with the second identifier (ID2) is the telephone number (Ni). the first terminal (Ti), contained in the call request (DA), and the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE) to indicate a relation between the first number (NT) and the second number (NS) of service means the incoming call (AE (N1-NS)) from the telephone number (NI) of the first terminal (Ti) and to the second service number (NS).   The call establishment method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the first number (NT) associated in the correspondence table (TC) with the second identifier (ID2) is the telephone number ( Ni) of the first terminal (Ti), contained in the call request (DA), and the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE) to indicate a relation between the first number (NT) and the second number ( NS) means the incoming call (AE (N1 NS)) from the telephone number (NI) of the first terminal (T1).   The call establishment method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the first number (NT) associated in the correspondence table (TC) with the second identifier (ID2) is the second number. (NS) of service, and the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE) to indicate a relationship between the first number (NT) and the second service number (NS) designates the second service number (NS).   9. Call setup method according to claim 8, characterized in that the telephone number (NI) of the first terminal (T1) is contained neither in the request (DA) call nor in the call (AE) incoming.   The call set-up method as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second service number (NS) is determined by the server (SMR) of connection between a prerecorded list (LNS) of service numbers available for the call request (DA) and is communicated to the first terminal (T1) in an acknowledgment (ACK) sent by the server (SMR) for connection after storage of the second identifier (ID2) of called in the correspondence table (TC).   11. Call set-up method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the incoming call (AE) contains other characteristics of the communication channel (CC) to be established, which are also signaled with incoming call (AE) to the connection server (SMR) and to the second terminal (T2).   12. Call set-up method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a first identifier (ID1) of the first terminal (T1) is present in the call request (DA) and is stored by the server (SMR) for linking in association with the second identifier (ID2) of the called party and the first number (NT).   13. Call set-up method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the identifier (IDI, ID2) is distinct from a telephone number of the terminal (T1, T2) corresponding.   14. Device for implementing the method for establishing multimedia calls from a first telephone terminal (T1) to a second terminal (T2) connected to an IP network according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a call setup gateway (PEA) between the first and second terminals (T1, T2), a connection server (SMR), comprising a request reception means (DA) of calling the first terminal (T1), a means for controlling the first terminal (T1) to send an incoming call (AE) of a second determined number (NS) of service leading to the establishment gateway (PEA); call, the incoming call (AE) having a call characteristic (CAR) for indicating a relation between a first number (NT) and the second service number (NS), a storage correspondence table (TC) of the second identifier (ID2) of called for the second terminal (T2), co stored in the call request (DA) in association with the first number (NT) determined from the call request (DA), the call establishment gateway (PEA) comprising a first call signaling means (DA). at least the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE) to the connection server (SMR), the connection server (SMR) comprising means for determining the second identifier (ID2) of called, associated in the correspondence table (TC) with the first number (NT) corresponding to the signaling (SAE) of the characteristic (CAR) of the incoming call (AE), a second means of signaling the incoming call to the second terminal ( T2) corresponding to the second called identifier (ID2) thus determined, means for triggering establishment of a communication multimedia channel between the second terminal (T2) and the call establishment gateway (PEA), and means for connecting by the call setup gateway (PEA) the multimode channel dia communication with the incoming call.