Transparent service adaptation in heterogeneous environments

• US 20060034222A1
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson), Toyota Infotechnology Center Co., Ltd. (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Chennikara-Varghese, Jasmine, Chen, Wai, Tanna, Harshad, Suwa, Yoshihisa, Cai, Shengwei, Altintas, Onur
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,611 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00 Hand-off or reselection arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method of tailoring data streams transmitted to networked user devices is disclosed in which environment information associated with each device is stored at an agent located on those devices. This environment information may include information related to the hardware, interface and application capabilities of the particular device. In another embodiment, this environment information is transmitted and stored at an agent at a local network gateway. And in another embodiment, the environment information is then stored at a mirror agent located in a backbone network of a service provider. By referring to this environment information, a service provider can tailor the transmission of data streams, such as multimedia streams, to a device based on the capabilities of the device and the associated network.

Claims

1. A user device for use in a local network which is connected to an access network, said access network connected to a backbone network via a gateway in said backbone network, said user device comprising:

a local network adaptation agent adapted to maintain configuration information associated with a plurality of devices in said local network; and

a network interface for transferring said configuration information associated with said plurality of devices to an environment mirror agent at said gateway.

2. The user device of claim 1 wherein said configuration information comprises at least one of hardware configuration, network interface and application configuration information.

3. The user device of claim 1 further comprising:

means for updating said configuration information for each device in said plurality of devices upon the detection of a change to said information.

4. The user device of claim 1 wherein said local network is a network in a vehicle.

5. A method for operation of a device comprising:

detecting the configuration of a plurality of devices in a local network;

storing configuration information for each device in said plurality;

transmitting said configuration information for each device in said plurality of devices to an environment mirror agent at a gateway in a backbone network.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

detecting a change in the configuration of at least one device in said plurality of devices;

updating said configuration information; and

transmitting updated configuration information to said gateway.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein said configuration information comprises at least one of hardware configuration, network interface and application configuration information.

8. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving a transmission from said gateway, said transmission addressed to a first device in said plurality of devices,

wherein said transmission is a function of said configuration information for said first device.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said parameter comprises the data rate of said transmission.

10. A method for transferring an active communication session with a first device to a second device, wherein configuration information of said first device and said second device is stored at a gateway in a backbone network, said method comprising:

determining that a transfer of said active communication session from said first device to said second device is desired; and

transferring said communication session to said second device as a function of said stored configuration information for said second device.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein said configuration information for said first device and said configuration information for said second device comprise a device profile, an interface profile and an application profile.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of modifying a first parameter of said communication session as a function of said configuration information for said second device.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said first parameter comprises the data rate of said communication session.

14. A gateway interfacing an access network with a backbone network, said gateway comprising:

an environment mirror agent adapted to maintain configuration information associated with a plurality of devices in a local network, said local network connected to said access network; and

a network interface for receiving said configuration information associated with said plurality of devices from a local network agent at said first gateway.

15. The gateway of claim 14 wherein said configuration information comprises at least one of hardware configuration, network interface and application configuration information.

16. An apparatus for transferring an active communication session with a first device to a second device, said apparatus comprising:

a first storage device for storing configuration information for said first device;

a second storage device for storing configuration information for said second device;

means for determining that a transfer of said active communication session from said first device to said second device is desired; and

means for transferring said communication session to said second device as a function of said stored configuration information for said second device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said configuration information for said first device and said configuration information for said second device comprise a device profile, an interface profile and an application profile.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said means for transferring comprises means for transmitting said configuration information for said first device and said configuration information for said second device to a second gateway.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said means for modifying modifies a first parameter of said communication session as a function of said configuration information for said second device.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said first parameter comprises the data rate of said communication session.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said first storage device and said second storage device comprise the same storage device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said same storage device comprises a database stored in computer memory.