System and method for sharing a SIP communication service identifier
A method for providing a user agent (UA) with service identification data. The method includes an application server (AS) transmitting Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) data. The SIP data comprises an identifier of the AS and a service identifier for at least one service supported by the AS. The method further includes the UA receiving the SIP data.
1. A method for indicating that an application server (AS) that is included on a signaling route between a first user agent (UA) and a second UA different than the first UA is capable of providing a particular service, the method comprising:
receiving, at the AS via a communication network, a first Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request from the first UA;
generating, at the AS, a second SIP request based on the first SIP request received from the first UA, the second SIP request including a SIP header comprising a token that identifies at least one service supported by the AS that is included in the signaling route and the second SIP request further including a uniform resource identifier (URI) comprising an address of the AS;
responsive to generating the second SIP request, transmitting by the AS, the second SIP request via the communication network towards the second UA different than the first UA; and
transmitting, by the AS, a SIP response via the communication network to the first UA, the SIP response including the token.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the URI is a Globally Routable UA URI (GRUU).
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the token indicates whether the at least one service is provided by the AS as an originating AS or a terminating AS.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the token is an IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Communication Service Identifier (ICSI).
5. The method of claim 4 wherein a URI parameter in the URI is set equal to an ICSI value for a particular service provided by the AS.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the URI parameter is a g.3gpp.app_ref tag.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the URI is included in one of:
a Record-Route header;
a Record header;
a Via header; and
a Contact address.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first SIP request that the AS receives from the first UA is a SIP INVITE message.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the token is associated with the at least one service by one of:
a hard coding of the association; and
execution of an algorithm that performs the association.
10. A network component that is included on a signaling route between a first user agent (UA) and a second UA different than the first UA, the network component comprising a processor configured to:
receive, at the network component via a communication network, a first Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request from the first UA, wherein the network component is an application server (AS);
generate, at the AS, a second SIP request based on the first SIP request received from the first UA, the second SIP request including a SIP header comprising a token that identifies at least one service supported by the AS, the second SIP request further including a uniform resource identifier (URI) comprising an address of the AS;
responsive to generating the second SIP request, transmit by the AS, the second SIP request via the communication network towards the second UA different than the first UA; and
transmit, by the AS, a SIP response via the communication network to the first UA, the SIP response including the token.
11. The network component of claim 10 wherein the URI is a Globally Routable UA URI (GRUU).
12. The network component of claim 10 wherein the URI contains a ‘gr’ parameter.
13. The network component of claim 10 wherein the token is an IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Communication Service Identifier (ICSI).
14. The network component of claim 13 wherein a URI parameter in the URI is set equal to the ICSI.
15. The network component of claim 14 wherein the URI parameter is a g.3gpp.app_ref tag.
16. The network component of claim 10 wherein the URI is included in one of:
a Record-Route header;
a Record header;
a Via header; and
a Contact address.
17. The network component of claim 16 wherein the first SIP request that the AS receives from the first UA is a SIP INVITE message.
18. The network component of claim 17 wherein a user portion of the URI identifies at least one of:
a user agent that originated the SIP INVITE message; and
a user agent that terminates the SIP INVITE message.
19. The network component of claim 17 wherein the AS is a telephony application server.
20. The network component of claim 10 wherein the token is associated with the at least one service by one of:
a hard coding of the association; and
execution of an algorithm that performs the association.