Understanding the SIP Protocol

of the biloxi.com proxy server and forwards, or proxies, the INVITE request there. Before forwarding the request, the atlanta.com proxy server adds an additional Via header field value that contains its own address (the INVITE already contains Caller A's address in the first Via). The biloxi.com proxy server receives the INVITE and responds with a 100 (Trying) response back to the atlanta.com proxy server to indicate that it has received the INVITE and is processing the request. The proxy server consults a database, generically called a location service, that contains the current IP address of Caller B. The biloxi.com proxy server adds another Via header field value with its own address to the INVITE and proxies it to Caller B's SIP phone.

Caller B's SIP phone receives the INVITE and alerts Caller B to the incoming call from Caller A so that Caller B can decide whether to answer the call, that is, Caller B's phone rings. Caller B's SIP phone indicates this in a 180 (Ringing) response, which is routed back through the two proxies in the reverse direction. Each proxy uses the Via header field to determine where to send the response and removes its own address from the top. As a result, although DNS and location service lookups were required to route the initial INVITE, the 180 (Ringing) response is returned to the caller without lookups or without state being maintained in the proxies. This also has the desirable property that each proxy that sees the INVITE also sees all responses to the INVITE.

When Caller A's softphone receives the 180 (Ringing) response, it passes this information to Caller A, perhaps using an audio ringback tone or by displaying a message on Caller A's screen.

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