Method for updating services in communication networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9270762-B2
Application number	US-52070003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2003
Priority date	Jul 8, 2002
Publication date	Feb 23, 2016
Grant date	Feb 23, 2016

Abstract

A communication network containing components which use and provide services in the communication network, a plurality of components capable of providing the identical service. In one embodiment, one component determines the services provided by other components in the communication network. If the same services are provided by two components, information relating to the output state of the software controlling the services is compared by one of the components. A software update is initialized if the output states differ. If a defined service is activated in a second component by means of a first component, but the service cannot be provided by means of the software of the second component although the second component has the necessary hardware requirements therefore, said service is made available by downloading or updating the software of the second component.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for providing communication services, which provides a service to a client, in a packet switching communication network, comprising:
providing a first communication component and a second communication component each of which includes a communication software to facilitate communication between the communication components,
the first communication component includes a first service software, which provides a first service to the client, the first communication component includes a first hardware capable of operating the first service, and
the second communication component excludes the first service software, the second communication component includes a second hardware capable of operating the first service;

initiating, by the first communication component, an activation of the first service software on the second communication component which excludes the first service;
searching for the first service software on the first communication component by the second communication component in response to the initiating;
determining if a hardware of the second communication component meets a requirement for operating the first service software; and
when determining the second communication component meets the requirement activating the first service software in the second communication component by downloading the first service software from the first communication component to the second communication component.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first communication component has been provided with a most up-to-date release of the first service software.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first service software controls a service selected from the group consisting of: a gateway functionality enabling communication between the packet switching communication network and a component in a circuit switching network; a voicemail server service, and an address server service.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching repeated at settable time intervals.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the searching is initiated in response to the client requesting the first service.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the client is a telephony device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the client is a VOIP telephone.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the communication components determines which service software is included by the respective component.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second hardware are the same.

10. A method for updating a service software, which provides a service to a client, in a communication network comprising:
providing a first communication component, a second communication component and a third communication component each of which includes a communication software to facilitate communication between the communication components,
the first and the second communication components include an identical service software which provides a service to the client, the first and second communication components each include a hardware capable of operating the identical service software, and
the third communication component excludes the identical service software and includes a different service software;

searching, by the first communication component, the second and third communication components to identify which of the searched communication components includes the identical service software;
comparing release information of the identical service software of the first communication component with each release information of the identified communication components to determine a more-up-to date identical service software; and
when the comparing indicates that the more-up-to-date identical service software is not the first communication component, initiating a software update of identical service software at the first communication component with the more-up-to date identical service software.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the searching and the comparing is repeated at settable time intervals.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the searching and the comparing are initiated in response to the client requesting the service.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the client is a telephony device.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the client is a VOIP telephone.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the identical service software is selected from the group consisting of: a gateway functionality enabling communication between a packet switching communication network and a component in a circuit switching network; a voicemail server service, and an address server service.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the communication components determines which service software is included by the respective component.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the searching includes:
initiating a search message, which includes information regarding the identical service software, to be sent to the second and the third communication components, and
receiving, by the first communication component, a response from the only the second communication component being a communication component including the identical service software.

Assignees

• Neuhaus Ralf
• Uecker Rainer
• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Neuhaus Ralf
• Uecker Rainer

Classifications

• H04L67/16 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L29/06

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L69/329

  in the application layer [OSI layer 7] · CPC title

• H04L67/51 Primary

  Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services · CPC title

• H04L9/40

  Network security protocols · CPC title