P2P Address Discovery via SIP Intermediary
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Establishing communication dialogs between IP-capable end points using a peer-to-peer architecture is challenging due to difficulties in address discovery, especially in mobile environments with frequent address changes and network address translation (NAT) and firewall issues, leading to performance problems.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a session initiation protocol (SIP) transaction with an intermediary server to send a SIP message containing a recipient identifier and candidate lists of possible communication addresses, followed by provisional and final responses to determine suitable addresses for establishing a communication dialog using a P2P architecture, facilitating direct communication between end points without central servers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a peer-to-peer architecture is used for address discovery, then scalability and direct communication are improved, but address discovery becomes more complex and unreliable due to NAT and firewall issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server as an intermediary to facilitate address discovery in P2P networks. The SIP server receives discovery messages from initiating devices, determines target device addresses, and returns candidate address lists. This mediator enables reliable address discovery in P2P architecture by handling NAT and firewall traversal, allowing devices to establish direct connections without compromising scalability.
2Ease of operation
If traditional SIP proxy/registrar servers are used for address discovery, then address discovery is simplified, but scalability is limited due to central server dependency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized SIP server functionality into distributed components across multiple devices in the P2P network. Instead of a single central server handling all address discovery, the system distributes discovery operations among peer devices that can independently perform address determination and return candidate lists. This segmentation maintains operational simplicity while enabling horizontal scaling across the network.
3Adaptability or versatility
If address discovery is performed in mobile environments with frequent address changes, then communication flexibility is improved, but performance deteriorates due to repeated discovery operations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having devices pre-determine and cache candidate address lists during discovery operations. When a device needs to establish communication, the SIP server returns a pre-computed list of candidate addresses that can be used immediately without repeating full discovery procedures. This preliminary preparation significantly reduces the time and overhead for subsequent dialog establishments in mobile environments where addresses may change.
Data Source
AI summary
A device and method are described for establishing a dialog between Internet Protocol (IP) end points using a peer-to-peer (P2P) architecture. The device, method and computer readable memory utilize servers to determine one or more possible addresses to attempt the dialog establish using. The device and methods described allow for an early discovery of an end point address which can be used for the dialog establishment.