Method of push-to-talk service

1. A method of providing a Push-to-Talk service within one or more telecommunication networks, wherein the method comprises the steps of: requesting one or more concurrent PTT connections between subscribers of the PTT service; setting up a virtual connection per PTT connection by means of a gateway-server providing the PTT service within a circuit-switched telecommunication network, whereby each virtual connection provides information about the terminals participating in the PTT connection, the service type to reach each terminal, and the connection status of each terminal; generating media streams by a terminal of one of the subscribers of the PTT connection and sending the media streams to the gateway-server; determining the virtual connection corresponding to the received media streams by the gateway-server; sending out the media streams to one or more of the other terminals participating in the PTT connection according to the determined virtual connection; and monitoring a telecommunication connection of one of the terminals participating in the PTT connection for an incoming call and indicating the incoming call to the terminal; transmitting a control command to the PTT gateway-server; interrupting the media streams from/to the terminal upon receiving the control command by the PTT gateway-server; putting through the incoming call to the terminal; and resuming the media streams from/to the terminal upon completion of the call.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the further step of processing and storing the media streams and/or the information provided by the virtual connection by the gateway-server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

automatically establishing a connection between the gateway-server and a terminal when a subscriber of the PTT service takes off a handset of the terminal or presses a programmed button on the terminal;

executing a subscriber authentication procedure;

providing the terminal with a voice enabled menu for choosing other subscribers of the PTT service and/or for selecting a virtual connection out of two or more concurrent virtual connections assigned to the terminal; and

determining media streams from the terminal by Voice Activity Detection or by means of indicators at the start and end of the media streams.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway-server provides the PTT service within two or more telecommunication networks based on different technologies, in particular between radio access telecommunication networks and fixed wire-line telecommunication networks or between circuit-switched telecommunication networks and packet-switched telecommunication networks.

5. A gateway-server for providing a Push-to-Talk (PTT) (—PTT˜service, wherein the gateway-server comprises: an interface to a circuit-switched telecommunication network; and a control unit for setting up a virtual connection per PTT connection upon a request for one or more concurrent PTT connections between subscribers of the PTT service, whereby each virtual connection provides information about the terminals participating in the PTT connection, the service type to reach each terminal, and the connection status of each terminal, for determining the virtual connection corresponding to media streams received from a terminal of one of the subscribers of the PTT connection, and for sending out the media streams to one or more of the other terminals participating in the PTT connection according to the determined virtual connection; wherein the control unit is adapted to allow individual navigation within the media streams of one or more PTT connections assigned to the subscriber's terminal by assigning individual markers to a sequence of the media streams according to requests received from the subscriber's terminal.

6. The gateway-server of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is adapted to handle multiple concurrent PTT connections per subscriber's terminal.

7. The gateway-server of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is adapted to allow individual navigation within the media streams of one or more PTT connections assigned to the subscriber's terminal by skipping a sequence of the media streams and/or replaying a sequence of the media stream and/or assigning individual markers to a sequence of the media streams according to requests received from the subscriber's terminal.

8. The gateway-server of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is adapted to log and store the media streams provided by the virtual connection as long as a subscriber's terminal is not actively participating in the PTT connection.

9. The gateway-server of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is adapted to store the media streams of the PTT connection with a digital signature of one or more of the PTT subscribers participating in the PTT connection, the digital signature indicating the authenticity of the media streams.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the further steps of:

automatically establishing a connection between the gateway-server and a terminal when a subscriber of the PTT service takes off a handset of the terminal or presses a programmed button on the terminal;

executing a subscriber authentication procedure; and

determining media streams from the terminal by means of Voice Activity Detection.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the determining the media streams from the terminal further comprises using a defined voice pre-pause and voice hangover time.

12. A method of providing a Push-to-Talk service within one or more telecommunication networks, wherein the method comprises the steps of: requesting one or more concurrent PTT connections between subscribers of the PTT service; setting up a virtual connection per PTT connection by means of a gateway-server providing the PTT service within a circuit-switched telecommunication network, whereby each virtual connection provides information about the terminals participating in the PTT connection, the service type to reach each terminal, and the connection status of each terminal; generating media streams by a terminal of one of the subscribers of the PTT connection and sending the media streams to the gateway-server; determining the virtual connection corresponding to the received media streams by the gateway-server; sending out the media streams to one or more of the other terminals participating in the PTT connection according to the determined virtual connection; automatically establishing a connection between the gateway-server and a terminal when a subscriber of the PTT service takes off a handset of the terminal or presses a programmed button on the terminal; executing a subscriber authentication procedure; and determining media streams from the terminal by means of indicators provided by the terminal at the start and end of the media streams; and wherein the indicators are a DTMF signal.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the further step of processing and storing the media streams provided by the virtual connection by the gateway-server.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising the gateway-server simultaneously receiving a plurality of voice data streams from PTT participants.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the gateway-server storing the simultaneously received voice data streams and sending them out to the respective destination participants according to the receive time of each stream.

16. The gateway-server of claim 8 , wherein the control unit is adapted to log and store the information provided by the virtual connection as long as a subscriber's terminal is not actively participating in the PTT connection.

17. The gateway-server of claim 8 further comprising the gateway-server sending the stored media streams to the subscriber's terminal after it rejoins the PTT connection.