US 8,301,782 B2Granted

Stateless gateways having remote dialog store

AssigneeYahoo! Inc.

InventorsJayarama K. Kota, Rajanikanth Vemulapalli, Ming J. Lu

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Abstract

Gateway apparatus for facilitating communications using a stateful protocol (e.g., SIP or SIP/SIMPLE protocol). The gateway apparatus includes a plurality of gateway devices and a remote dialog store, wherein each of the plurality of gateway devices comprises export logic for causing dialog information associated with a first received message (e.g., a request or response) to be communicated to the dialog store, and retrieval logic for causing a lookup of the dialog information in response to a second received message, the second received message associated with the first received message. In one example the gateway devices are stateless, thereby relying on the dialog store for validating and routing messages. In another example, the gateway devices are stateful and rely on the dialog store for backup (e.g., if a gateway device crashes). The gateway devices may be configured for receiving and processing messages according to SIP protocol or SIP/SIMPLE protocol.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An apparatus comprising:

a dialog store;
and
a plurality of gateway devices located remotely to the dialog store and connected to the dialog store via a first network, each device gateway comprising:
a respective processor;
a respective storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:
export logic for causing dialog information associated with a first received message to be communicated to the dialog store, such that the first received message initiates a dialog, the dialog comprising a stateful communication session between a first end point in the first network and a second end point in a second network, and such that the dialog information comprises state information of the dialog;
retrieval logic for accessing the dialog information in response to a second received message subsequent to the first received message and associated with the first received message and the dialog;
validation logic for validating and routing the second received message based on the dialog information;
a timer located remotely to the dialog store and the plurality of gateway devices connected to the plurality of gateway devices and the dialog store via the first network for:
tracking dialog information for a plurality of dialogs, each dialog of the plurality of dialogs being associated with a respective gateway device of the plurality of gateway devices, the dialog information comprising call-leg expirations for the respective dialog;
and
for each dialog of the plurality of dialogs, causing the termination or renewal of the respective dialog by signaling the dialog store and the respective gateway device of the plurality of gateway devices with which the respective dialog is associated;
and
a session manager device connected to the plurality of gateway devices via the first network, session manager device comprising:
a processor;
a storage medium for tangibly storing thereon program logic for execution by the processor, the program logic comprising:
routing logic for routing the first received message to a first gateway device of the plurality of gateway devices and routing the second received message to a second gateway device of the plurality of gateway devices, the second gateway device being a different gateway device from the first gateway device, the second message being routed to the second gateway device based on a load of the first gateway device and a load of the second gateway device.

14 more elements

A method comprising:

routing a first message to a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices;
receiving, using the first computing device of a plurality of computing devices associated with a first network, the first message and dialog information associated with a state of a dialog initiated by the first message, such that the dialog comprises a stateful communication session between a first end point in the first network and a second end point in a second network;
storing, using the first computing device, the dialog information with a remote storage;
routing a second message associated with the first message to a second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second computing device being a different computing device from the first computing device, the second message being routed to the second computing device based, in part, on a load of the first computing device and a load of the second computing device;
receiving, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second message associated with the first message and the dialog, the second computing device being a different computing device from the first computing device;
accessing, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the dialog information from the remote storage;
validating and routing, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second message based on the dialog information;
tracking, using a remote timer, call-leg expirations for the dialog;
and
based on tracking call-leg expirations for dialog, signaling, using the remote timer, the first computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices and the remote storage to perform an action selected from the list:
terminate the dialog and renew the dialog.

8 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for tangibly storing thereon computer readable instructions for a method comprising:

routing a first message to a first computing device of a plurality of computing devices;
receiving, using the first computing device of a plurality of computing devices associated with a first network, the first message and dialog information associated with a state of a dialog initiated by the first message, such that the dialog comprises a stateful communication session between a first end point in the first network and a second end point in a second network;
storing, using the first computing device, the dialog information with a remote storage;
routing a second message associated with the first message to a second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second computing device being a different computing device from the first computing device, the second message being routed to the second computing device based, in part, on a load of the first computing device and a load of the second computing device;
receiving, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second message associated with the first message and the dialog, the second computing device being a different computing device from the first computing device;
accessing, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the dialog information from the remote storage;
validating and routing, using the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second message based on the dialog information;
tracking, using a remote timer, call-leg expirations for the dialog;
and
based on tracking call-leg expirations for dialog, signaling, using the remote timer, the first computing device of the plurality of computing devices, the second computing device of the plurality of computing devices and the remote storage to perform an action selected from the list:
terminate the dialog and renew the dialog.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.