Third-party session modification

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method, system, client device, conference server device and computer program product of controlling media composition in a multi-party conversation involving a central control point ( 50 ). At a participant ( 10 ) of said multi-party conversation, a scope information (SoM) which specifies members of said multi-party conversation is selected and added to a session modifying request. The session modifying request is transmitted to the central control point ( 50 ) which initiates a media modification at the specified members in response to the scope information (SoM). Thereby, a client can control whether media modification is applied to the whole conference, selected participants or only between the client itself and the conference server.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving scope information at a client device participating in a multi-party conversation session, wherein the scope information identifies one or more parties participating in the multi-party conversation session for whom a modification of a media type is to be applied;   generating, by the client device, a session modifying request based on the scope information; and   determining, by the client device, to transmit the session modifying request from the client device to a central control point to apply the modification of the media type identified by the scope information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scope information is a header parameter or an attribute of the session modifying request. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media type comprises push to talk over cellular (PoC) audio, instant messaging, full-duplex audio, full-duplex video, or some combination thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scope information is specified within the session modifying request as a session description protocol (SDP) attribute. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the scope information is specified within the session modifying request as an a-line value. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modification of the media type is applied only between the client device and the central control point without affecting other parties of the multi-party conversation session. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising adding a list of addresses of all parties to whom the modification of the media type is to be applied. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the list of addresses includes a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource indicator (URI) list. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the list of addresses includes at least one uniform resource indicator (URI) of the session initiation protocol (SIP). 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the session modifying request is a re-INVITE request of a session initiation protocol (SIP). 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the session modifying request identifies a recipient to contact a third party using the scope information. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the session modifying request includes a header parameter used to inform the central control point that an existing dialog is to be modified, instead of creating a new dialog. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the session modifying request includes a callee capability information which indicates in which way the existing dialog is to be modified. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the scope information is added as an address list. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the address list comprises at least one uniform resource indicator (URI) of a session initiation protocol (SIP). 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one memory including computer program code;   wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, direct the apparatus to perform at least the following:
 receive scope information at the apparatus while the apparatus is participating in a multi-party conversation session, wherein the scope information identifies one or more parties participating in the multi-party conversation session for whom a modification of a media type is to be applied; 
 generate a session modifying request based on the scope information; and 
 determine to transmit the session modifying request from the apparatus to a central control point to apply the modification of the media type identified by the scope information. 
   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , wherein the scope information is a header parameter or a message attribute of the session modifying request. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the message attribute is a session initiation protocol (SIP) attribute, and the scope information is added as an a-line value. 
     
     
         19 . A tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, direct an apparatus to:
 receive scope information corresponding to a multi-party conversation session, wherein the scope information identifies one or more parties participating in the multi-party conversation session for whom a modification of a media type is to be applied;   generate a session modifying request based on the scope information; and   determine to transmit the session modifying request to a central control point to apply the modification of the media type identified by the scope information.   
     
     
         20 . The computer-readable storage medium of  claim 19 , wherein the apparatus is directed to provide a user agent for a client device.