Managing interaction constraints

Inventors: Alex Hockey (London, GB); Matthew Williams (London, GB); Robert Day (London, GB)

Assignee: Metaswitch Networks Ltd

H04L65/1016 H04L65/105 H04L65/1006 H04L65/1053 H04L65/1063 H04L65/1069 H04L65/1073 H04L67/2842

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,244,004
App. No.: 15/274,932
Granted: Mar 26, 2019
Kind: B2

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Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide methods for providing a non-registering endpoint with non-registration services (such as the ability to make a call) in an IMS network without requiring the non-registering endpoint to register. A request for a non-registration service is received and processed by an entity in the IMS network that is configured to handle such requests. The entity requires information about the non-registering endpoint itself before it can process the request. Since the non-registering endpoint is part of the network, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) knows some information about the non-registering endpoint, but can only provide this information to the entity if the non-registering endpoint is registered or being registered by the entity. Consequently, in embodiments, the entity makes it look like the non-registering endpoint is registering, in order for the entity to obtain the information from the HSS.

Claims (78)

1. A method for providing a non-registering endpoint with services in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the method comprising acts of:

receiving, at at least one Call Session Control Function (CSCF) server in the IMS network configured to process requests, a non-registration request for an IMS service from the non-registering endpoint, wherein the non-registration request is received via a proxy server configured to receive requests from endpoints in the IMS network;

requesting, by the at least one CSCF server, of a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) a set of credentials for the non-registering endpoint;

receiving, at the at least one CSCF server, the set of credentials from the HSS;

transmitting, using the at least one CSCF server, an authentication challenge to the non-registering endpoint;

receiving, at the at least one CSCF server, a response to the authentication challenge from the non-registering endpoint;

determining if the received response matches an expected response;

authenticating, responsive to the determining, the non-registering endpoint if the received response matches the expected response; and

routing, using the at least one CSCF server, the received non-registration request in the IMS network to provide the authenticated non-registering endpoint with the requested IMS service,

wherein the act of receiving the request for a service at the at least one CSCF server, from the proxy server, comprises:

determining, at the proxy server, whether the proxy server has configuration data associated with the non-registering endpoint, the configuration data comprising a public identity of the non-registering endpoint;

forwarding, responsive to the determining, the request for the IMS service and the public identity to the HSS to determine a server to be used to process the request; and

transmitting the request to the server to be used to process the request,

wherein the act of requesting of the set of credentials comprises simulating, using a S-CSCF server, registration of the non-registering endpoint to enable the HSS to provide the set of credentials to the S-CSCF server, and further comprises:

associating, at the HSS, the S-CSCF server with the non-registering endpoint; and

providing the S-CSCF server with information needed to process all subsequent requests received from the associated non-registering endpoint,

wherein the simulating comprises sending a Multimedia-Auth-Request (MAR) to a Cx interface of the HSS, and wherein associating the S-CSCF server with the authenticated non-registering endpoint comprises storing data in the HSS to associate the S-CSCF server which sent the MAR with the non-registering endpoint.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the requesting of the set of credentials is performed in parallel with the transmitting of the authentication challenge to the non-registering endpoint.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the transmitting of the authentication challenge comprises transmitting a 407 Proxy Authentication challenge to the non-registering endpoint.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the act of transmitting the request to the server to be used to process the request comprises forwarding the request to a Serving-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) server for processing the request.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising:

adding challenge data, using the proxy server, to the request for the service from the non-registering endpoint, the challenge data specifying that the request is to be challenged by the S-CSCF server; and

transmitting, using the proxy server, the request for the service and the challenge data to the S-CSCF server.

6. A method for providing a non-registering endpoint with services in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, the method comprising acts of: