Maintaining sessions for seamless push-to-talk services
Embodiments include a system, method, and computer program product for providing seamless PTT services to a user. In an embodiment, a push-to-talk (PTT) component provides, to the user, PTT services with a talk group through connectivity to a data channel in a mobile network. A voice monitoring component monitors attributes of data connectivity on the data channel to determine when a voice quality falls below a threshold. When the voice quality is determined to fall below the threshold, a connectivity component requests the user to switch the connectivity to a voice channel. Then, the connectivity component dials a telephone number through the voice channel to access a voice conference bridge that provides the PTT services. To provide the PTT services, the voice conference bridge sets up a routing path to a session initiation protocol (SIP) session for the talk group, and routes voice communication through the SIP session.
1. A system for a multimedia application server, comprising:
a memory;
one or more processors coupled to the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive a first request from a voice conference bridge comprising an automatic number identification (ANI) identifying a computing device that supports a push to talk (PTT) client application;
determine one or more talk groups associated with the ANI;
set up one voice session initiation protocol (SIP) session per talk group of the one or more talk groups associated with the ANI, wherein a first PTT voice communication associated with a first talk group of the one or more talk groups is routed through a first voice SIP session via the voice conference bridge;
receive, via an Internet Protocol (IP) network, a second request from a second PTT client application to access the first talk group; and
responsive to the second request from the second PTT client application, establish a multimedia SIP session that corresponds to the first talk group with the second PTT client application, while maintaining the first voice SIP session.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
transmit instructions that include the first talk group and the first voice SIP session to the voice conference bridge; and
receive a voice communication via the voice SIP session associated with the first talk group.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second request comprises a second PTT voice communication in a packetized form.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive a second PTT voice communication associated with the first talk group; and
transmit the second PTT voice communication via the first voice SIP session and the multimedia SIP session.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
receive a third request from a video conference bridge to terminate the first voice SIP session associated with the first talk group; and
transmit a termination acknowledgement to the video conference bridge.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
maintain the multimedia SIP session to provide PTT services over the IP network using Voice over IP (VOIP) technology.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the PTT services comprise half-duplex or full duplex communications.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first PTT voice communication associated with the first talk group is routed from the computing device to the voice conference bridge over a public switched telephone network (PSTN) via a circuit-switched design.
9. A method for a multimedia application server, comprising:
receiving a first request from a voice conference bridge comprising an automatic number identification (ANI) identifying a push to talk (PTT) client application;
determining one or more talk group associated with the ANI;
setting up one voice session initiation protocol (SIP) session per talk group of the one or more talk groups associated with the ANI, wherein a first PTT voice associated with a first talk group of the one or more talk groups is routed through a first voice SIP session;
receiving, via an Internet Protocol (IP) network, a second request from a second PTT client application to access the first talk group; and
responsive to receiving the second request from the second PTT client application, establishing a multimedia SIP session that corresponds to the first talk group with the second PTT client application, while maintaining the first voice SIP session.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting instructions that include the first talk group and the first voice SIP session to the voice conference bridge; and
receiving a voice communication via the voice SIP session associated with the first talk group.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second request comprises a second PTT voice communication in a packetized form.
12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a second PTT voice communication associated with the first talk group; and
transmitting the second PTT voice communication via the first voice SIP session and the multimedia SIP session.
13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a third request from a video conference bridge to terminate the first voice SIP session associated with the first talk group; and
transmitting a termination acknowledgement to the video conference bridge.
14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
maintaining the multimedia SIP session to provide PTT services over the IP network using Voice over IP (VOIP) technology.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the PTT services comprise half-duplex or full duplex communications.
16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first electronic device, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving a first request comprising an automatic number identification (ANI) identifying a push to talk (PTT) client application;
determining one or more talk group associated with the ANI;
setting up one voice session initiation protocol (SIP) session per talk group of the one or more talk groups associated with the ANI wherein a first PTT voice communication request from the PTT client application is routed through a first voice SIP session;
receiving, via an Internet Protocol (IP) network, a second request from a second PTT client application to access the first talk group; and
responsive to receiving the second request, establishing a multimedia SIP session with the second PTT client application.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
transmitting instructions that include the first talk group and the first voice SIP session to the voice conference bridge; and
receiving a voice communication via the voice SIP session associated with the first talk group.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving a second PTT voice communication associated with the first talk group; and
transmitting the second PTT voice communication via the first voice SIP session and the multimedia SIP session.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving a third request from a video conference bridge to terminate the first voice SIP session associated with the first talk group; and
transmitting a termination acknowledgement to the video conference bridge.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , further comprising:
maintaining the multimedia SIP session to provide PTT services over the IP network using Voice over IP (VOIP) technology.