Control procedure for simultaneous media communications within a talk group in communication networks for public safety
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus are provided for a set of procedures that a push-to-talk (PTT) server can use to control multiple simultaneous media streams within a talk group. The present invention provides floor control messages and protocols for identifying, transmitting, and distributing the simultaneous media streams. The invention may be used with any real-time protocol (RTP) payload format as long as the encoding allows a receiver of the packets means to distinguish between the transmitting clients. Although the present invention provides server-based control of multiple transmissions, end-point-based transmission control procedures are supported.
1. A method of controlling simultaneous media streams from multiple clients in a Push-to-Talk (PTT) network, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving, simultaneously, requests to transmit media streams from one or more clients to other members of a PTT talk group;
designating, upon receipt of the requests, a first media stream from one of the one or more clients as preferred media and each remaining media stream as non-preferred media;
dynamically determining a destination for the non-preferred media based on an application specified treatment of the non-preferred media; and
delivering the preferred media to the other members and the non-preferred media to the destination simultaneously.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the media streams are selected from the group consisting of audio, data, video and images.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of informing the one or more clients of received and processed requests.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of instructing the one of the one or more clients to broadcast the preferred media to all active recipients in the PTT talk group.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of instructing the one or more clients to transmit the non-preferred media to the destination determined based on the dynamically determining step.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting PTT control messages and media in separate User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets.
7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting PTT control messages over a logical connection distinct from a RTP connection carrying media connection.
8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting PTT control messages over a RTP connection carrying media connection.
9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of identifying the one or more clients associated with each of the received media streams.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the identifying step further comprises the step of determining the identity of the one or more clients based on a) information contained in each RTP packet payload of the received media streams or b) a synchronization source (SSRC) field in each RTP packet header of the received media streams or c) a unique pair of source and destination User Datagram Protocol ports in an Internet Protocol header of a packet.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of instructing the one or more clients on the characteristics of the media stream to be transmitted by the one or more clients.
12. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of instructing a receiving client on different treatments for the media streams.
13. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of enabling or disabling the use of simultaneous media for the one of the one or more clients when requested by the one of the one or more clients.
14. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of instructing a transmitter of one of the one or more clients to send only one media of a multi-media stream.
15. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more clients are connected to a commercial wireless network.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more clients are connected to a public safety wireless network.
17. An apparatus for controlling simultaneous media streams from multiple clients in a Push-to-Talk (PTT) network, comprising:
means for receiving, simultaneously, requests to transmit media streams from one or more clients to other members of a PTT talk group;
means for designating, upon receipt of the requests, a first media stream from one of the one or more clients as preferred media and each remaining media stream as non-preferred media;
means for dynamically determining a destination for the non-preferred media based on an application specified treatment of the non-preferred media; and
means for delivering the preferred media to the other members and the non-preferred media to the destination simultaneously.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the media streams are selected from the group consisting of audio, data, video and images.
19. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for informing the one or more clients of received and processed requests.
20. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for instructing the one of the one or more clients to broadcast the preferred media to all active recipients in the PTT talk group.
21. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for instructing the one or more clients to transmit the non-preferred media to the dynamically determined destination.
22. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for transmitting PTT control messages and media in separate User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets.
23. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for transmitting PTT control messages over a logical connection distinct from a RTP connection carrying media connection.
24. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for transmitting PTT control messages over a RTP connection carrying media connection.
25. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for identifying the one or more clients associated with each of the received media streams.
26. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for enabling or disabling the use of simultaneous media for the one of the one or more clients when requested by the one of the one or more clients.
27. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for instructing a transmitter of one of the one or more clients to send only one media of a multi-media stream.
28. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the one or more clients are connected to a commercial wireless network.
29. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the one or more clients are connected to a public safety wireless network.
30. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for instructing the one or more clients on the characteristics of the media stream to be transmitted by the one or more clients.
31. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising means for Instructing a receiving client on different treatments for the media streams.
32. A server operable to receive, simultaneously, requests to transmit one or more multi-media streams from one or more clients to other members of a PTT talk group, wherein the server dynamically determines a destination for at least one of the one or more multi-media streams based on an application specified treatment of the at least one of the one or more multi-media streams, and wherein the server delivers preferred media of the one or more multi-media streams to the other members and the at least one of the one or more multi-media streams to the destination simultaneously.
33. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of identifying the one or more clients associated with each of the received media streams based on information contained in each RTP packet payload of the received media streams.
34. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of identifying the one or more clients associated with each of the received media streams based on a unique pair of source and destination User Datagram Protocol ports in an Internet Protocol header of a packet.
35. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising the step of disabling the use of simultaneous media for the one of the one or more clients when requested by the one of the one or more clients.