SIP Capability Store for Device Identity Segmentation

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Solution Overview

Problem

In telecommunications networks, especially with IMS and SIP protocols, the inability to accurately recognize the capabilities of multiple devices sharing a common user identifier leads to inefficient communication sessions, as only one device's capabilities are stored, causing unsuccessful attempts and wastage of network resources when different devices with varying capabilities attempt to communicate.

Innovation Solution

A method and system where capability information is sent from a second user terminal and stored at a first user terminal with an element indicative of the terminal's identity, allowing for accurate recognition of device capabilities through a SIP-based capability store, enabling efficient communication sessions by distinguishing between devices with different capabilities.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of energy

If capability information is assigned to a telephone number (user identifier), then network efficiency is improved by reducing traffic, but accuracy of device capability recognition deteriorates when users have multiple devices

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork trafficVSAvoiddevice capability recognition accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The capability information is segmented by associating it with a unique device identifier (such as IMEI or device-specific URI) rather than grouping it under a common user identifier. This segmentation allows each device's capabilities to be individually recognized and stored, resolving the contradiction by maintaining both network efficiency (through caching) and accuracy (through device-specific identification).

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A capability store acts as an intermediary component that stores and manages capability information. This intermediary enables accurate device capability recognition by maintaining a mapping between unique device identifiers and their respective capabilities, while also allowing efficient retrieval to reduce network traffic during subsequent communications.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If capability information is resent every time a communication session is established, then device capability recognition accuracy is maintained, but network resource efficiency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedevice capability recognition accuracyVSAvoidnetwork resource consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

Capability information is exchanged and stored in advance during the initial communication session or device registration. This preliminary action allows the capability store to cache device capabilities, enabling accurate recognition in future sessions without requiring repeated exchange of capability information, thus reducing network resource consumption while maintaining accuracy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Quantity of substance

If only one device's capability information is stored per user identifier, then storage efficiency is improved, but communication reliability deteriorates when multiple devices are used

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestored capability information volumeVSAvoidcommunication session success rate
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The capability information storage is segmented by unique device identifier rather than user identifier. This allows multiple capability records to be maintained for different devices belonging to the same user, each with its own unique identifier. The segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling accurate matching of capability information to the specific device being used, thereby improving communication reliability without excessive storage overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP1720324B1Data transmission in a telecommunications network
Publication Date: 2009.03.11 VODAFONE LTD
  • EP1720324B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP1720324B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP1720324B1 patent drawingFigure 4~5

AI summary

A method of operating a telecommunications network (33) with which a plurality of users are registered and are each addressed by a publicly available user identifier (MSISDN) is disclosed. Each user has one or more telecommunications devices (30,53,55). The method includes sending from a first user's device (55) to a second user's device (30) a message containing information about the capabilities of the first user's device (55); storing on the second user's device (30) the capability information in a capability store (67) together with an element (65) indicative of the identity of the first user's device (55), and, when establishing a communication session between the first user's device (55) and the second user's device (30), sending an element indicative of the identity of the first user's device (55) so that the second user's device (30), in response thereto, is able to retrieve the capability information of the first user's device (55) from the capability store (67) so that the second user's device is aware of the capabilities of the first user's terminal (55) which may be used during the communication session.