Endpoint configuration for a communication session

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10992729-B2
Application number	US-201715490631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2017
Priority date	Apr 18, 2017
Publication date	Apr 27, 2021
Grant date	Apr 27, 2021

Abstract

Techniques for endpoint configuration for a communication session are described. According to various implementations, a cloud-based connectivity service maintains network path information that identifies routing paths for routing communication sessions across different networks. The connectivity service is also able to determine configuration information for configuring endpoint devices to participate in a communication session. According to various implementations, configuration information is determined based on a packet quality of a routing path. Thus, an endpoint device can apply the configuration information to attempt to increase packet quality across a routing path, and thus increase media quality for a communication session at the endpoint device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a connectivity service device, the connectivity service device comprising at least one hardware processor, and
one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one hardware processor, cause the hardware processor of the connectivity service device to perform operations including:
receiving, by the connectivity service device, a query for a network path for routing a communication session for an endpoint device that is separate from the connectivity service device;
identifying a candidate path for routing the communication session for the endpoint device based on a quality attribute of the candidate path;
determining, based on one or more attributes of the endpoint device, a data rate at which the endpoint device is generating data;
determining by the connectivity service device and based on a group policy associated with a predefined group of devices that include the endpoint device, the quality attribute of the candidate path for routing the communication session for the endpoint device, and the data rate at which the endpoint device is generating data, configuration information for the endpoint device indicating a change to the data rate at which the endpoint device is generating data, wherein the group policy defines a set of configuration rules that apply to each device of the predefined group of devices; and
communicating, by the connectivity service device, a notification that includes path information that identifies the candidate path and the configuration information to cause the communication session to be routed over the candidate path and to cause the endpoint device to be configured according to the configuration information.

2. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the query is received and the notification is communicated prior to initiation of the communication session.

3. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the query is received from the endpoint device.

4. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the connectivity service device runs a connectivity service that stores information for routing paths based on historical applications and services that were routed through the routing paths, and the query is received by the connectivity service.

5. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein a connectivity service executes on the connectivity service device, and the configuration information is determined by the connectivity service which stores one or more attributes of the candidate path and one or more attributes of the endpoint device, and wherein the configuration information is configured by the connectivity service to improve media quality of the communication session at the endpoint device.

6. A system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising determining that the candidate path has an error condition, and wherein the configuration information is configured by the connectivity service device to mitigate an effect of the error condition on a packet quality of the communication session at the endpoint device.

7. A system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising determining, by a connectivity service executing on the connectivity service device, that the candidate path has an error condition, and wherein the configuration information indicates that a data rate of a codec of the endpoint device is to be reduced.

8. A system as recited in claim 1 , the operations further comprising determining, by a connectivity service executing on the connectivity service device, that the candidate path has an error condition, and wherein the configuration information indicates that error correction of an error correction functionality of the endpoint device is to be increased.

9. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the configuration information is determined by a connectivity service executing on the connectivity service device which stores one or more attributes of the candidate path and one or more attributes of the endpoint device, the one or more attributes of the candidate path indicate that the candidate path has an error condition, the one or more attributes of the endpoint device indicate a data rate of a codec of the endpoint device, and wherein the configuration information indicates that the endpoint device is to reduce the data rate of the codec.

10. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the communication session includes the endpoint device and a different endpoint device, and where said determining the configuration information comprises:
ascertaining, by the connectivity service device, based on the group policy that the endpoint device has a higher priority than the different endpoint device; and
generating, by the connectivity service device, the configuration information to prioritize a media quality at the endpoint device over a media quality at the different endpoint device.

11. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the operations further include:
receiving an indication that a packet quality of the communication session is decreasing;
generating reconfiguration information that specifies one or more of an updated setting for a codec of the endpoint device, and updated setting for an error correction functionality of the endpoint device, or an indication of the decreasing packet quality of the communication session; and
communicating a further notification that includes the reconfiguration information to cause the endpoint device to be reconfigured according to the reconfiguration information.

12. A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the communication session includes the endpoint device and a different endpoint device, and where said determining the configuration information comprises:
receiving an indication that a packet quality of the communication session is decreasing;
generating reconfiguration information for reconfiguring the endpoint device, the reconfiguration information being generated based on the group policy specifying that the endpoint device has a higher priority than the different endpoint device such that the reconfiguration information is generated to prioritize media quality at the endpoint device over media quality at the different endpoint device; and
communicating a further notification that includes the reconfiguration information to cause one or more of the endpoint device or the different endpoint device to be reconfigured according to the reconfiguration information.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the endpoint device and a second endpoint device are communication peers and communicate with each other to maintain the communication session, wherein each of the endpoint device and second endpoint device are endpoints in the communication session.

14. The system of claim 13 , the operations further comprising communicating, by a communications service device, the notification to a second endpoint device of the communication session, the notification including configuration instructions for the second endpoint device to configure itself for the communication session.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a connectivity service device comprising at least one hardware processor, a query for a network path for routing a communication session for an endpoint device that is separate from the connectivity service device;
identifying, by the connectivity service device, a candidate path for routing the communication session for the endpoint device based on a quality attribute of the candidate path;
determining, by the connectivity service device and based on one or more at

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Hassan Amer Aref
• Moore Timothy Mark
• Bridges Gareth L E
• Leeb Gunter

Classifications

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• H04L45/08

  Learning-based routing, e.g. using neural networks or artificial intelligence · CPC title

• H04L67/14

  Session management (for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066) · CPC title