Methods and apparatus for providing network based services to non-registering endpoints

#The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is a data network with an open and standardized architecture for converged fixed and mobile communications services. IMS enables service providers to expand their offerings to their customers by integrating voice and multimedia communications, such as video, text, images and instant messages, and delivering them into new environments. It is well known that IMS is emerging as a viable architecture that potentially may enable the convergence of various forms of communication, including voice and data, fixed and mobile services, public hot spot and enterprise WLAN, into an immersive system to provide the user with a seamless experience across various access networks.

#When the IMS standard was originally designed, all subscribers needed to register with the network before they could obtain services from the IMS network. As defined in the 3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) IMS standard, service providers for the IMS network may use the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Public User Identity (PUID) as the identifier to recognize the subscriber. SIP is a signaling protocol, widely used for setting up and tearing down multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over the Internet. A PUID enables a network to establish a route to a device that serves the subscriber. An example of information contained in a PUID may include a telephone number or a user@domain. The PUID may be contained in the P-Asserted Identity (PAI) header in SIP INVITE messages and the TO header in SIP registration messages. A SIP INVITE message indicates that the user or service is being invited to participate in a session. The body of the SIP INVITE message includes a description of the session to which the called party is being invited.

#Several key issues face service providers who offer services to endpoints via the IMS network. One issue involves the identification records of a calling party. Certain types of endpoints may not have the ability to register with the IMS core network. The calling party identification, such as the originating telephone number and subscriber name, may not be preserved when a call is routed to the IMS network. An endpoint is any user device that is connected to a network. Endpoints can include, for example, a personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular phone, a landline telephone, a facsimile machine and an aggregate endpoint (AEP). An AEP is an endpoint that has multiple subtending users, but appears as a single SIP User Agent. Examples of aggregate endpoints are IP PBXs, enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) gateways, and IP trunk interfaces to other VoIP networks where end-users on those other networks are not known by the IMS. An AEP may also include customer premises equipment for business wholesale customers. The IMS standard is defined with the concept that a user is registered to the IMS core so that the user can initiate and receive calls from the network. Examples of endpoints that do not have the ability to register with the IMS network includes legacy Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Private Branch Exchange (PBX) that access an Internet Protocol (IP) network through a VoIP gateway and routers that enable PBX equipment to access to the IMS. Endpoints that do not have the ability to register with the IMS core are referred to as non-registering endpoints (NRE).

#FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a network in which an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented;

#FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the steps involved in the provisioning and registration of the non-registering endpoint onto the data network;

#FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the call origination from a non-registering endpoint;

#FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a network in which an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented. The data network 104 is a packet-based Internet Protocol network that is capable of merging voice and data communication onto a single network. An example of a data network is an IMS/VoIP Core Network. The Operations Support System (OSS) module 100 provides system performance monitoring, security management, diagnostic functions, configuration and user provisioning for network elements within the data network.

#The Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 102 is a database for the data network. The HSS 102 stores information such as authentication profiles and user identities for the support, establishment and maintenance of calls and sessions originated by and terminated to subscribers. The Serving-Call Session Control Function (S-CSCF) is a network element that provides session control for subscribers accessing services within the IMS network. The S-CSCF1 106 and S-CSCF2 108 have responsibility for interacting with the HSS 102.

#The Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) is an IMS network element that forwards Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages from the user equipment. The P-CSCF1 110 and P-CSCF2 112 serve as the initial point of contact for the aggregate endpoint/non-registering endpoint (AEP/NRE) 114 into the data network 104. AEP/NRE 114 does not have the ability to register with the IMS network. An example of an AEP/NRE is a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Private Branch Exchange (PBX). A PBX is a telephone system within an enterprise that switches calls between enterprise users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines. A TDM PBX is a PBX that transmits multiple signals simultaneously over a single transmission path. The non-registering endpoint (NRE) 116 is a device that does not have the ability to register with the IMS network. The NRE 116 may be connected to AEP/NRE 114, as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, an NRE may directly connect to the data network. An example of a non-registering endpoint is a plain old telephone service (POTS) telephone. A POTS telephone service is the basic form of residential and small business services connection to the telephone network in most parts of the world. The application server AS 118 provides originating and/or terminating services to the endpoint. It provides services to the endpoint that is served by the S-CSCF1 106 and S-CSCF2 108. It also interfaces to the HSS 102 to get endpoint/subscriber data if necessary.