BFCP Floor Control Server Query Extension

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Solution Overview

Problem

The Binary Floor Control Protocol (BFCP) does not provide a method to obtain floor information about all participants in a conference, relying on inefficient XML-based SIP Event Package for Conference State, which is not suitable for low-bandwidth interfaces like mobile networks.

Innovation Solution

An extension to BFCP is introduced to support requests for floor information, allowing floor participants or chairs to send a general query message to a floor control server, receiving a general status message with information about all participants, utilizing existing BFCP operations and primitives like UserQuery and UserStatus, or new messages to efficiently gather participant data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If XML-based SIP Event Package for Conference State is used to obtain floor information, then floor information can be retrieved, but the bandwidth requirement increases and efficiency decreases for low-bandwidth interfaces

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefloor information retrievalVSAvoidbandwidth consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the data format parameter from XML-based SIP Event Package to binary BFCP messages. This parameter change reduces the message size and bandwidth consumption while maintaining the ability to retrieve floor information about all participants in the conference.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the XML-based SIP Event Package mechanism with a binary BFCP message mechanism. This substitution eliminates the need for complex XML parsing and reduces processing overhead, making the system more efficient for low-bandwidth mobile network interfaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Adaptability or versatility

If BFCP is extended to support general query messages for all participants, then floor information retrieval is enabled, but protocol complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefloor information retrieval capabilityVSAvoidprotocol complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the BFCP UserQuery and UserStatus primitives universal by enabling them to query information about any participant, including all participants simultaneously. This is achieved by setting the beneficiary-id parameter to a special value (such as 0 or -1) that indicates a query for all participants, thus extending the existing primitives without adding new message types.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent merges the functionality of querying single participant information with querying all participant information by using the same BFCP UserQuery and UserStatus primitives. The floor control server interprets the beneficiary_id parameter to determine whether to return information for a single participant or all participants, thus combining multiple functions into a single primitive set.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Data Source

PatentEP2116036B1Identifying participants in a conference

Publication Date: 2013.04.03 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

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AI summary

A method of obtaining data about all the participants in a Binary Floor Control Protocol (BFCP) conference is provided. The method comprises sending a query message from a floor participant or floor chair to a floor control server, the query message requesting information about all of the participants in the conference, and sending at least one status message from the floor control server to the floor participant, the at least one status message including information about all of the participants in the conference. These operations are performed within BFCP.