Methods and apparatus for enhancing the scalability of IMS in VoIP service deployment

1. A method for establishing an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session having a predetermined quality of service comprising:

receiving a request to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session between a calling party and a called party;

allocating resources for the communication session based on predetermined configuration information related to the calling party and the called party, the predetermined configuration information based on prior peering business agreements pertaining to codecs and media both the calling party and the called party support and a predetermined quality of service for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session; and

determining a signal path for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session,

wherein the request to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session is received from user equipment associated with the calling party, the allocating resources is in response to receiving the request from the user equipment associated with the calling party, the user equipment associated with the calling party is configured to not respond to messages from user equipment associated with the called party with messages indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session, and the user equipment associated with the called party is configured to not expect a response from the user equipment associated with the calling party indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session to the called party.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising receiving a response from the called party indicating that the called party accepts the request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising establishing the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session over the determined signal path utilizing the resources.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising releasing resources allocated for the communication session in response to an indication that the called party does not accept the request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined configuration information is located on hardware a home subscriber server is stored.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the predetermined configuration information is located on hardware an application server is stored.

8. A method for establishing an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session having a predetermined quality of service comprising:

receiving a request to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session between a calling party and a called party;

allocating resources associated with a calling party network for the communication session based on predetermined configuration information related to the calling party, the predetermined configuration information based on prior peering business agreements pertaining to codecs and media both the calling party and the called party support and a predetermined quality of service for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session;

determining a signal path for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session,

wherein the request to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session is received from user equipment associated with the calling party, the allocating resources is in response to receiving the request from the user equipment associated with the calling party, the user equipment associated with the calling party is configured to not respond to messages from user equipment associated with the called party with messages indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session, and the user equipment associated with the called party is configured to not expect a response from the user equipment associated with the calling party indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising forwarding the request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session to the called party.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving a response from the called party indicating that the called party accepts the request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising allocating resources associated with a called party network in response to an indication that the called party accepts the request to establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising establishing the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session over the signal path utilizing the resources in response to an indication that the called party accepts the request to establish a communication session.

13. The method of claim 9 further comprising releasing resources associated with the calling party network allocated for the communication session in response to an indication that the called party will not establish the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the request to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session between the calling party and the called party comprises an session initiation protocol invite message.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the session initiation protocol invite message includes a session description protocol message comprising information related to a media stream to be used for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

16. The method of claim 8 wherein the session initiation protocol invite message includes a session description protocol message comprising information related to a codec to be used for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.

17. A method for establishing an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session having a predetermined quality of service comprising:

receiving a request from user equipment associated with a calling party to establish an internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session between a calling party and a called party;

allocating resources associated with the calling party network for the communication session based on information contained in the request from the user equipment associated with the calling party, the request comprising predetermined configuration information based on prior peering business agreements pertaining to codecs and media both the calling party and the called party support and a predetermined quality of service for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session;

determining a signal path for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session;

forwarding the request from user equipment associated with the calling party to user equipment associated with the called party;

receiving a response from user equipment associated with the called party,

wherein the allocating resources is in response to receiving the request from the user equipment associated with the calling party, the user equipment associated with the calling party is configured to not respond to messages from user equipment associated with the called party with messages indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session, and the user equipment associated with the called party is configured to not expect a response from the user equipment associated with the calling party indicating the type of codec and media for use during the communication session.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

allocating resources associated with the called party network in response to receiving a response from user equipment associated with the called party indicating that the called party accepts the request to establish the communication session;

forwarding the response from user equipment associated with the called party indicating that the called party accepts the request to the user equipment associated with the calling party;

receiving an acknowledge message from the user equipment associated with the calling party;

forwarding the acknowledge message from the user equipment associated with the calling party to the user equipment associated with the called party.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

releasing the resources associated with the calling party network for the communication session in response to receiving a response from the user equipment associated with the called party indicating that the called party rejects the request to initiate a communication session; and

transmitting a signal to the user equipment associated with the calling party indicating that resources allocated for the communication session should be released.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the request from the user equipment associated with the calling party comprises an session initiation protocol invite request.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the session initiation protocol invite request comprises a session description protocol message containing information related to resources required for the internet protocol multimedia subsystem communication session.