Controlling quality of service and access in a packet network based on levels of trust for consumer equipment

• US 20060007936A1
• Filed: 07/07/2004
• Published: 01/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2004
• 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: Aaron, Jeffrey A., Shrum, Edgar Vaughan Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,406 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.210
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests

Abstract

A level of trust is determined for a consumer equipment. Based on the determined level of trust, a level of QoS is controlled for information packets that are associated with the consumer equipment and communicated through a packet switched network and/or access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network is controlled. The consumer equipment may be selectively allowed to communicate through the packet switched network based on the determined level of trust and based on available resources of the packet switched network. Access to the packet switched network and allowed QoS for information packets communicated there through may thereby be based on a level of trust of the associated consumer equipment.

Claims

1. A method of communicating information packets, the method comprising:

determining a level of trust for a consumer equipment; and

controlling based on the determined level of trust at least one of a level of Quality of Service (QoS) for information packets associated with the consumer equipment that are communicated through a packet switched network and access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling at least one of a level of Quality of Service (QoS) and access by the consumer equipment comprises controlling Quality of Service (QoS) for information packets communicated with the consumer equipment through the packet switched network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling at least one of a level of Quality of Service (QoS) and access by the consumer equipment comprises controlling access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling a level of QoS comprises:

selecting a QoS level from among at least two QoS levels based on the determining level of trust; and

communicating information packets associated with the consumer equipment through the packet switched network based on the selected QoS level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling a level of QoS comprises:

comparing the determined level of trust to at least one threshold value; and

selectively granting based on the comparison one of a high QoS level, a low QoS level, or one of a plurality of pre-defined intermediate QoS levels for information packets associated with the consumer equipment that are communicated through the packet switched network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network comprises selectively allowing the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network based on the determined level of trust and based on available resources of the packet switched network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling a level of QoS comprises controlling at least one of capacity in the packet switched network that is allowed to be used to communicate information packets associated with the consumer equipment, communication delay in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment, loss rate in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment, and priority in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein controlling a level of QoS comprises:

receiving a QoS level request from the consumer equipment; and

granting a QoS level based on the determined level of trust.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein controlling a level of QoS comprises:

maintaining a history of at least some earlier determined levels of trust for the consumer equipment; and

controlling the level of QoS based on the determined level of trust and based on the history of the at least some earlier determined levels of trust.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a level of trust for consumer equipment comprises determining the level of trust based on whether information in the consumer equipment has changed.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a level of trust for consumer equipment comprises:

first hashing the information to generate a first hash value;

second hashing the information in a memory of the consumer equipment to generate a second hash value;

determining the level of trust for the consumer equipment based on the first hash value and the second hash value.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a level of trust for the consumer equipment comprises:

generating a trust profile for the consumer equipment based on at least one of an account subscription level that is associated with the consumer equipment, credit information associated with a subscriber who is associated with the consumer equipment, law enforcement records associated with the subscriber, presence of children in a household of the subscriber, ages of children in the household of the subscriber, and earlier trust levels determined for the consumer equipment; and

determining the level of trust for the consumer equipment based on the trust profile.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a level of trust for the consumer equipment comprises authenticating the consumer equipment to determine the level of trust for the consumer equipment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a level of trust for the consumer equipment comprises:

receiving a plurality of trust indications for the consumer equipment; and

combining the plurality of trust indications to determine the level of trust for the consumer equipment.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a QoS level request from each of a plurality of consumer equipment;

determining a level of trust for each of the plurality of consumer equipment;

ranking the QoS level requests based on the determined level of trust for each of the plurality of consumer equipment; and

controlling QoS for information packets associated with the plurality of consumer equipment that are communicated through the packet switched network based on the ranked QoS level requests.

16. A packet switched network comprising:

a trust determination system that is configured to determine a level of trust for consumer equipment, and is configured to control based on the determined level of trust at least one of a level of Quality of Service (QoS) for information packets associated with the consumer equipment that are communicated through a packet switched network and access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network.

17. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to select a QoS level from among at least two QoS levels based on the determined level of trust, and further comprising a network QoS application interface (API) that is configured to communicate information packets associated with the consumer equipment through the packet switched network based on the selected QoS level.

18. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to compare the determined level of trust to a threshold value, and configured to selectively grant based on the comparison one of a high QoS level, a low QoS level, or one of a plurality of pre-defined intermediate QoS levels for information packets associated with the consumer equipment that are communicated through the packet switched network.

19. The packet switched network of claim 16, further comprising a network connection admission control that is configured to selectively allow the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network based on the determined level of trust and based on available resources of the packet switched network.

20. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to control at least one of capacity in the packet switched network that is allowed to be used to communicate information packets associated with the consumer equipment, communication delay in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment, loss rate in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment, and priority in the packet switched network for information packets associated with the consumer equipment.

21. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to determine the level of trust based on whether information in the consumer equipment has changed.

22. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to request a hash value from the consumer equipment that is based on a hashing of information in the consumer equipment, and is configured to determine the level of trust based on the hash value from the consumer equipment.

23. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to generate a trust profile for the consumer equipment based on at least one of an account subscription level that is associated with the consumer equipment, credit information associated with a subscriber who is associated with the consumer equipment, law enforcement records associated with the subscriber, presence of children in a household of the subscriber, ages of children in the household of the subscriber, and earlier trust levels determined for the consumer equipment, and is configured to determine the level of trust for the consumer equipment based on the trust profile.

24. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to authenticate the consumer equipment to determine the level of trust for the consumer equipment.

25. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to receive a plurality of trust indications for the consumer equipment, and is configured to combine the plurality of trust indications to determine the level of trust for the consumer equipment.

26. The packet switched network of claim 16, wherein the trust determination system is configured to receive a QoS level request from each of a plurality of consumer equipment, configured to determine a level of trust for each of the plurality of consumer equipment, configured to rank the QoS level requests based on the determined level of trust for each of the plurality of consumer equipment, and configured to control QoS for information packets associated with the plurality of consumer equipment that are communicated through the packet switched network based on the ranked QoS level requests.

27. Consumer equipment comprising:

a controller that is configured to communicate information packets through a packet switched network at a Quality of Service (QoS) that is defined by the packet switched network, configured to generate trust indications and to communicate the trust indications to the packet switched network for use in determining a level of trust for the consumer equipment and controlling at least one of the QoS for communications therewith and access by the consumer equipment to communicate through the packet switched network.

28. The consumer equipment of claim 27, wherein the consumer equipment further comprises a memory that is configured to at least temporarily store information, and wherein the controller is configured to carry out at least one of hashing information in a memory based on a verification request from the packet switched network, and generating a response to a verification request from the packet switched network.