Method and a system for using relays for network optimization in IP-based communication networks

1. A method for using relays for network optimization in IP-based communication networks, comprising:

negotiating, via a signaling server, a communication session between first and second peers connected to the Internet, wherein the first peer has data traffic restrictions and requires a relayed route to connect with the second peer;

determining that the first peer has data traffic restrictions that require the first peer to use a relayed route to communicate with the second peer by accessing a register that lists IP addresses of peers having data traffic restrictions;

filtering out one or more candidate contact address that are not relayed candidate contact addresses from a previously identified plurality of candidate contact addresses to provide a list of relayed candidate contact addresses, wherein each candidate contact address comprises an IP address, a port and a communication protocol; and

establishing a connection between the first and second peers via one relayed candidate contact address of the list of relayed candidate contact addresses using a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filtering out is performed by the first peer having data traffic restrictions.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filtering out is performed by the signaling server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the negotiation is performed using an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communication session comprises a RTP session using WebRTC.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a plurality of candidate contact addresses, wherein the identification of the candidate contact addresses comprises using Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN) and TURN protocols.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signaling server uses the communication protocol based on either TCP or UDP.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second peer is a media server acting as a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) or as a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU).

9. A first peer computing device comprising at least one processor that is configured to communicate with a second peer computing device over a data network, wherein the first peer is configured to negotiate a communication session with the second peer by:

identifying a plurality of candidate contact addresses that each include an IP address, a port and a communication protocol that the first peer can send to the second peer and that the second peer can use to connect to the first peer;

determining that the first peer has data traffic restrictions that require the first peer to use a relayed route to communicate with the second peer by accessing a register that lists IP addresses of peers having data traffic restrictions;

filtering out any candidate contact addresses that are not relayed candidate contact addresses from the identified plurality of candidate contact addresses to generate a list of relayed candidate contact addresses; and

establishing a communication session with the second peer via a signaling server using one of the relayed candidate contact addresses using a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server.

10. The peer computing device of claim 9 , wherein the signaling server is adapted to use an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol to help establish the communication session between the first and second peers.

11. The peer computing device of claim 9 , wherein the communication session comprises a RTP session using WebRTC.

12. The peer computing device of claim 9 , wherein the first peer identifies the plurality of the candidate contact addresses using the Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN) and TURN protocols.

13. The peer computing device of claim 9 , wherein the signaling server is adapted to use the communication protocol based on either TCP or UDP.

14. The peer computing device of claim 9 , wherein the second peer is a media server configured to act as a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) or as a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU).

15. A signaling server that is configured to help establish a communication session between a first peer computing device and a second peer computing device, wherein the signaling server is configured to help establish the communication session by:

receiving, from the first peer, a plurality of candidate contact addresses that each include an IP address, a port and a communication protocol and that the second peer can use to connect to the first peer;

consulting a register that identifies peers having data traffic restrictions to determine that the first peer has data traffic restrictions that require the first peer to use a relayed route to communicate with the second peer;

filtering out any candidate contact addresses that are not relayed candidate contact addresses from the plurality of candidate contact addresses to generate a list of relayed candidate contact addresses; and

helping to establish a communication session between the first peer and the second peer using one of the relayed candidate contact addresses using a Traversal Using Relays around NAT (TURN) server.

16. The signaling server of claim 15 , wherein the signaling server is adapted to use an Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol to help establish the communication session between the first and second peers.

17. The signaling server of claim 15 , wherein the signaling server is adapted to use the communication protocol based on either TCP or UDP.

18. The signaling server of claim 15 , wherein the second peer is a media server configured to act as a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) or as a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU).