Scalable policy deployment architecture in a communication network

• US 10,164,834 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2016
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Qingmin, Eng, Douglas, Figurelle, Terry, McKnight, Jie
• Primary Examiner(s): Vostal, O. C.
• Application Number:
  US15/293,536
• Publication Number:
  US 20170033998A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: 709223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/56 Packet switching systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5077 wherein the managed service relates to simple transport services, i.e. providing only network infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/14 Routing performance; Theoretical aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/782 Hierarchical allocation of resources, e.g. involving a hierarchy of local and centralised entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/084 using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage

Abstract

Aspects describe using a Policy Access Gateway that can facilitate scalability within a communication network and that can provide a solution to deploy an enhanced policy gateway. The Policy Access Gateway can enhance standard defined Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) functions with session binding mechanisms. Further, the Policy Access Gateway is scalable and can be deployed in a very large network that supports hundreds of millions of users. Further, the Policy Access Gateway can provide additional policy information to enable policy information consolidation and caching capabilities.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, network policy data from a first network device of network devices, wherein the first network device performs a function;

associating, by the system, the network policy data with a related traffic service zone;

consolidating, by the system, the network policy data into consolidated policy data;

based on tracking a service activity associated with the traffic service zone, mapping, by the system, the network policy data to the traffic service zone, wherein the mapping comprises tracking a voice call associated with a first internet protocol throughput and tracking an instant message associated with a second internet protocol throughput; and

based on the network policy data and the mapping, conveying, by the system, the consolidated policy data for deployment by the first network device and a second network device, of the network devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the system, state information related to a service associated with the traffic service zone.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network policy data is first network policy data further comprising:

facilitating, by the system, a routing of second network policy data of the second network device associated with the traffic service zone.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

managing, by the system, the first network device and the second network device, and wherein the first network device is determined to be located in a data center storage device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the second network device performs a policy enforcement function.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second Internet protocol throughput comprises a data stream that represents bits for the instant message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the service activity is a first service activity, and wherein the tracking the service activity comprises tracking the first service activity for a first service and tracking a second service activity for a second service different from the first service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic service zone is applicable to additional mobile devices added to the mobile devices of the traffic service zone without an additional policy decision engine other than the policy decision engine.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the traffic service zone comprises a policy and charging rules function.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving network related policies comprising rules from network operator devices;

associating the network related policies with a related service zone;

consolidating the network related policies into a consolidated policy;

based on tracking a service activity associated with the service zone, mapping the network related policies to the traffic service zone, wherein the mapping comprises tracking a voice call associated with a first internet protocol throughput and tracking a text message associated with a second internet protocol throughput; and

based on the mapping, conveying the consolidated policy for deployment by a first network device and a second network device of the network devices.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

configuring session information data related to a service associated with the related service zone.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

tracking an Internet browsing session between the second network device and a user device.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the network related policies are matched to the user device.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the receiving comprises tracking a first activity of the first network device and a second activity of the second network device.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the tracking, storing data related to the Internet browsing session.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving network policy data associated with network devices of a wireless communication network;

associating the network policy data with a related service zone;

consolidating the network policy data, resulting in consolidated network policy data;

in response to tracking a service activity associated with the related service zone, mapping, the network policy data to the related service zone, wherein the mapping comprises tracking a voice call associated with a first internet protocol throughput and tracking a multimedia messaging service message associated with a second internet protocol throughput; and

based on the related service zone and the mapping, conveying the consolidated network policy data for deployment by a policy decision engine.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the conveying comprises conveying the network policy data for implementation by the policy decision engine.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the network policy data comprises service data representing the service activity provided to the network devices.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the mapping further comprises mapping the network policy data to a traffic service zone associated with the network devices.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the service activity comprises the voice call.