Application intermediation gateway

• US 20050021818A1
• Filed: 03/17/2003
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: July Systems, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Abraham, Dax, Lal, Vishal, Singhal, Umesh, Reddy, Rajesh Ts, Chakravorty, Jyothirmoy, Krishnan, Badrinarayanan
• Granted Patent: US 7,076,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The present invention provides a system, method and computer program product for implementing application level policies in an operator network, while managing the exchange of data packets between users and service providers during the provisioning of premium data services. The present invention intermediates between a user and a service provider (who may be an enterprise, content provider, an application provider or a partner portal). The present invention enforces access control, prompting, redirection and inline context injection dynamically while the service is being delivered, and generates metering records for billing purposes. Prompting enables notifications and taking inputs from the user while the user accesses chargeable content or when the sharing of user data (profile or choice) occurs between the network and service provider. Inline context injection allows sharing of information regarding the users preference and profile, and capabilities of the devices between the users and the service provider.

Claims

1. A system for implementing application level policies on data packets in a network, the application level policies managing the exchange of data packets between users and service providers, the system comprising:

a. a system kernel for receiving and inspecting the data packets;

b. a plurality of application handlers for implementing the application level policies;

c. an enforcement engine for enforcing policy decisions;

the policy decisions being decisions taken according to policy; and

d. a context engine for context collection and context update.

2. A system for implementing application level policies on data packets in a network, the application level policies managing the exchange of data packets between users and service providers, the system comprising:

a. a system kernel for receiving and inspecting the data packets;

b. a plurality of application handlers for implementing application level policies on the data packets;

a data parser for parsing data packets received by the application handlers;

d. an enforcement engine for enforcing policy decisions, the policy decisions being decisions taken according to a policy;

a policy component for obtaining the policy decisions; and

f. a context engine for context collection and context update.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the system further comprises a metering record generator for generating the records of the session for billing the user.

4. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the system kernel comprises a kernel hook, the kernel hook implementing kernel rules.

5. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the policy component comprises a local policy decision store for caching the policy decisions.

6. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the context engine comprises a local context store for caching the context.

7. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the application handlers are specific to each type of application.

8. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the application handlers receive the data packets from a user through the system kernel and forward them to the corresponding service provider.

9. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the application handler receives a response from the service provider and forwards the response to the user.

10. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the application handler performs inline context injection in the data packets.

11. A method for implementing application level policies on data packets in a network, the application level policies managing the exchange of data packets between users and service providers, the method comprising:

a. receiving data packets from a user and forwarding data packets to an application handler on the basis of application information in data packet;

b. injecting context in data packets wherein the context comprises device profile, network details and subscriber profile;

c. enforcing policy decisions on data packets, the policy decisions being decisions taken according to a policy; and

d. forwarding data packets to the service provider having the destination address.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the step of enforcing the policy decisions on data packets comprises prompting the user to receive an input.

13. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the step of enforcing the policy decisions on data packets further comprises redirecting the user to an alternate destination address.

14. A method for facilitating the provision of data services by service providers to a user over a network, the method comprising:

a. providing access control to the service providers for data services being provided by the service providers;

b. prompting the user for receiving an input;

c. redirecting the user to an alternate source; and

d. injecting context inline for passing the information to the service providers, the context comprising information of device details, network details and the user profile.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the step of redirecting the user to an alternate source is done for:

a. denying a service or application to the user on the basis of a licensing agreement;

b. providing a service to the user on the basis of a licensing agreement; and

c. upgrading or downloading an application from a different destination.

16. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for implementing application level policies on data packets in a network, the application level policies managing the exchange of data packets between users and service providers, the computer program code performing the steps of:

a. receiving data packets from a user;

b. forwarding data packets to an application handler on the basis of application information in the data packet;

c. injecting context in data packets wherein the context comprises device profile, network details and subscriber profile;

d. enforcing policy decisions on data packets, the policy decisions being decisions taken according to a policy; and

e. forwarding data packets to the service provider having the destination address.

17. The computer program product as recited in claim 16 wherein the step of enforcing the policy decisions on data packets comprises prompting the user to receive an input.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 16 wherein the step of enforcing the policy decisions on data packets further comprises redirecting the user to an alternate destination address.

19. A computer program product for use with a computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein for facilitating the provision of data services by service providers to a user over a network, the computer program code performing the steps of:

a. providing access control to service providers for data services being provided by the service providers;

b. prompting the user for receiving an input;

c. redirecting the user to an alternate source; and

d. injecting context inline for passing the information to the service providers, the context comprising information of device details, network details and the user profile.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 19 wherein the step of redirecting the user to an alternate source is done for:

a. denying a service or application to the user on the basis of a licensing agreement;

b. providing a service to the user on the basis of a licensing agreement; and

c. upgrading or downloading an application from a different destination.