Media session between network endpoints

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10158679-B2
Application number	US-201514945280-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2015
Priority date	Nov 18, 2015
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

A media session is established between a first endpoint and a second endpoint via a communication network based on connectivity checks performed by the endpoints. Depending on whether or not at least one of a set of one or more reduced connectivity check criteria is determined to be met, a full or a reduced set of candidate pairs is generated, each candidate pair of whichever set is generated comprising a first network address available to the first endpoint and a second network address available to the second endpoint. Connectivity checks are not performed for any candidate pair in the full candidate pair set that is not also in the reduced candidate pair set if it is determined that at least one of the reduced connectivity check criteria is met.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of establishing a media session between a first endpoint and a second endpoint via a communication network based on connectivity checks performed by the endpoints, the method comprising performing operations by the first endpoint, comprising:
determining by at least the first endpoint, before determining candidates to establish the media session, whether at least one of a set of one or more reduced connectivity check criteria is met, wherein the reduced connectivity check criteria is determined based on characteristics of the communication network operable between the first endpoint and the second endpoint;
if it is determined by the first endpoint that none of the reduced connectivity check criteria is met for the characteristics of the communication network: performing a full candidate pairing procedure, the full candidate pairing procedure including performing connectivity checks from the first endpoint with a full set of candidate pairs, each pair comprising a first candidate network address available to the first endpoint and a second candidate network address available to the second endpoint, and the full set of candidate pairs determined by exchanging candidate network addresses between the first and second endpoints;
if it is determined by the first endpoint that at least one of the reduced connectivity check criteria is met for the characteristics of the communication network: performing a reduced candidate pairing procedure, the reduced candidate pairing procedure including performing connectivity checks from the first endpoint with a reduced set of fewer candidate pairs than the full set of candidate pairs; and
establishing the media session using a candidate pair of the generated candidate pair set determined to be valid by the endpoints performing connectivity checks for at least one candidate pair of the generated candidate pair set to determine whether or not the candidate pair is valid,
wherein connectivity checks are not performed for any candidate pair in the full candidate pair set that is not also in the reduced candidate pair set if it is determined that at least one of the reduced connectivity check criteria is met.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the full candidate pairing procedure is performed in accordance with the Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE) protocol.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the reduced connectivity check criteria is:
a network topology criterion pertaining to at least one of the endpoints, or
a historical network usage criterion pertaining to at least one of the candidate pairs, or
a network capability criterion pertaining to the networking capabilities of at least one of the endpoints, or
a network conditions criterion pertaining to the networking conditions experienced by at least one of the endpoints.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein at least one of the criteria is a network topology criterion that is met only if at least one of the endpoints is behind a firewall or network address translator.

5. A method according to claim 4 , wherein one of the criteria is a first network topology criterion that is met only if the first endpoint is configured to operate as a server and is behind a firewall or network address translator;
wherein if the first network topology criterion is determined to be met, at least one candidate pair of the full candidate pair set whose first candidate network address is a host candidate network address of the first endpoint is excluded from the reduced set, whereby connectivity checks are not performed for that candidate pair in that event.

6. A method according to claim 4 , wherein one of the criteria is a second network topology criterion that is met only if both of the endpoints are behind respective firewalls or network address translators;
wherein if the second network topology criterion is determined to be met, at least one candidate pair of the full candidate pair set whose first or second candidate network address is a host candidate network address of the first endpoint or a host candidate network address of the second endpoint respectively is excluded from the reduced set, whereby connectivity checks are not performed for that candidate pair in that event.

7. A method according to claim 3 , wherein one of the criteria is a third network topology criterion that is met only if the first endpoint is configured to operate as a publicly reachable server of the public Internet;
wherein if the third network topology criterion is determined to be met, at least one candidate pair of the full set whose first candidate network address is a relay candidate network address available to the first endpoint is excluded from the reduced set, whereby connectivity checks are not performed for that candidate pair in that event.

8. A method according to claim 3 , wherein one of the criteria is a first historical network usage criterion that is met only if a historical usage metric determined for at least one of the candidate pairs is below a historical usage threshold, wherein that candidate pair is excluded from the reduced candidate pair set if the first historical usage criterion is met, whereby connectivity checks are not performed for that candidate pair in that event.

9. A method according to claim 3 , wherein each candidate pair additionally denotes a respective one of a plurality of network protocols;
wherein at least one of the criteria is a first network capability criterion that is met only if both of the endpoints are capable of operating according to a preferred one of the network protocols, wherein if the first network capability criterion is determined to be met at least one candidate pair of the full set that does not denote the preferred network protocol is excluded from the reduced set, whereby connectivity checks are not performed for that candidate pair in that event.

10. A method according to claim 9 , wherein the first network capability criterion is met if one of the candidate pairs denotes the preferred protocol and both the first and the second network addresses of that candidate pairs are relay candidate network addresses.

11. A method according to claim 10 , wherein the plurality of network protocols comprises User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), wherein the preferred network protocol is one of UDP or TCP, wherein at least one candidate pair denoting the other of UDP or TCP is excluded from the reduced candidate pair set if first network capability criterion is determined to be met; or
wherein the plurality of network protocols comprises IPv4 and IPv6, wherein the preferred network protocol is one of IPv4 or IPv6, wherein at least one candidate pair denoting the other of IPv4 or Ipv6 is excluded from the reduced candidate pair set if first network capability criterion is determined to be met.

12. A method according to claim 3 , wherein one of the criteria is a first network conditions criterion that is met if at least one of the endpoints is connected to the network by a connection having an available bandwidth below a bandwidth threshold.

13. A method according to claim 1 , wherein if it is determined that at least one of the reduced connectivity check criteria does apply, in response the first endpoint transmits to the second endpoint a reduced connectivity check message to the second endpoint.

14. A method according claim 13 , wherein the reduced connectivity connect message causes the second endpoint to transmit to the first endpoint a reduced number of candidate network messages in said exchange.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Moore Timothy Mark
• Qian Tin
• Gunnalan Rajesh

Classifications

• H04L61/2575

  using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN] · CPC title

• H04L61/2589

  over a relay server, e.g. traversal using relay for network address translation [TURN] · CPC title

• H04L67/104

  Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks · CPC title

• H04L65/1069 Primary

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L61/251 Primary

  between different IP versions · CPC title