Exchange of signalling messages in an internet protocol communications network between entities applying object oriented processing of signalling messages

1. A method of exchanging signaling messages in an Internet Protocol (IP) communications network, the IP communications network comprising a chain of at least two entities configured to process object oriented signaling messages, the method comprising:

at a first network entity in the chain:

receiving a signaling message, wherein the signaling message comprises one of a text-based signaling message and an object-oriented based signaling message comprising serialized object classes of an object oriented programming language;

responsive to the signaling message being a text-based signaling message, converting the signaling message to the object-oriented based signaling message;

responsive to the signaling message being an object-oriented based signaling message, processing the signaling message without parsing the signaling message; and

transmitting the object-oriented based signaling message from the first network entity in the chain to a second network entity in the chain causing the second network entity to process the object-oriented based signaling message without parsing the object-oriented based signaling message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the object classes of the object oriented programming language are JAVA object classes.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to transmitting the object-oriented based signaling message to the second entity in the chain, serializing the object classes of the object-oriented based signaling message.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the object-oriented based signaling message sent to the second network entity comprises a designation string indicating that the object-oriented based signaling message comprises the serialized object classes of the object oriented programming language.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein processing the signaling message without parsing the signaling message comprises:

de-serializing the received serialized object classes of the object oriented programming language; and

applying object oriented processing of to the de-serialized object classes of the object oriented programming language.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising exchanging, with the second network entity prior to receiving the first signaling message, a parameter indicating whether one or both of the first and second network entities are configured to exchange object classes of an object oriented programming language.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising exchanging a parameter with the second network entity indicating whether one or both of the first and second network entities are configured to exchange object classes of an object oriented programming language.

8. The method of claim 6 :

wherein the first and second network entities of the chain operate in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and exchange Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling messages; and

wherein the parameter is exchanged in at least one of a SIP Register, a SIP Invite, and a SIP Response signaling message.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the parameter comprises at least one of:

a first port number for exchanging signaling messages comprising the object classes of the object oriented programming language; and

a second port number for exchanging signaling messages not comprising the object classes of the object oriented programming language.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second network entities of the chain operate in an IP communications network supporting Voice over IP (VoIP) communications.

11. A network entity comprising:

one or more processing circuits operable as a signaling circuit and configured to:

receive a signaling message, wherein the signaling message comprises one of a text-based signaling message and an object-oriented based signaling message comprising serialized object classes of an object oriented programming language;

responsive to the signaling message being a text-based signaling message, convert the signaling message to an object-oriented based signaling message;

responsive to the signaling message being an object-oriented based signaling message, process the signaling message without parsing the signaling message; and

transmit the object-oriented based signaling message from the first network entity in the chain to a second network entity in the chain causing the second network entity to process the object-oriented based signaling message without parsing the object-oriented based signaling message.

12. The entity of claim 11 , wherein the object classes of the object oriented programming language are JAVA object classes.

13. The entity of claim 11 :

wherein the one or more processing circuits comprise a transmission circuit configured to:

serialize the object classes of the object oriented programming language for transmission to the second network entity; and

responsive to the signaling message being the object-oriented based signaling message, de-serialize the serialized object classes of the object oriented programming language received at the first network entity.

14. The entity according to claim 11 , wherein the one or more processing circuits are further configured to exchange object oriented programming version information in the IP communications network.

15. An Internet Protocol (IP) communications system comprising:

at least first and second network entities configured to:

communicate signaling messages with each other, wherein each signaling message comprises one of a text-based signaling message and an object-oriented based signaling message comprising serialized object classes of an object oriented programming language;

for each signaling message that is a text-based signaling message, convert the signaling message to an object-oriented based signaling message;

for each signaling message that is an object-oriented based signaling message, process the signaling message without parsing the signaling message; and

transmit the object-oriented based signaling message from the first network entity in the chain to a second network entity in the chain causing the second network entity to process the object-oriented based signaling message without parsing the object-oriented based signaling message.