System and method for providing service-agnostic network resources

• US 20060133405A1
• Filed: 12/07/2005
• Published: 06/22/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: MCI Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Fee, John A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,913,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/005 Personal communication services, e.g. provisions for portability of subscriber numbers

Abstract

System and method for providing service-agnostic network resources is provided. An embodiment receives an indication that a user is requesting services at a new location, retrieves an access profile, which includes service parameters for services to which the user subscribes, and causes the access network and the programmable network to be reconfigured to provide to the user'"'"'s services at the new location. The indication may be generated automatically or manually. A network control database that stores network topology information and/or configuration instructions may be used to reconfigure the network resources. In this manner, the access network and the programmable network may be reconfigured to allow the user to move from location to location and from device to device and continue to receive a consistent set of transport services, even involving multiple forms of transport.

Claims

1. A method for providing a service-agnostic network resource for communications supporting a plurality of forms of transport, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a user is coupled to a point of access to the service-agnostic network resource and is requesting a set of transport services corresponding to one or more of the different forms of transport;

retrieving an access profile, the access profile including service parameters for transport services to be made available to the user; and

causing an access network and a programmable network to be configured to provide the set of transport services at the point of access in accordance with the access profile.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of different forms of transport.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of forms of transport conforming to different OSI layer 2 communication protocols.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of different forms of transport, with at least one form of transport involving packet data and another form of transport involving time-division multiplexed signals.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access network is a packet access network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user requests services via a new terminal device different from that previously used by the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication identifies a specific user or a specific terminal device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user requests transport services via a first terminal device upon moving the terminal device to a new location from a previous location and wherein the service-agnostic network resource automatically, based upon identification of the terminal device or identification of the user, establishes the same set of transport services at the new location as were provided at the previous location.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the programmable network comprises a plurality of transport networks, at least two of which employ differing forms of transport.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the service-agnostic network resource automatically, based upon identification of the terminal device or identification of the user, establishes virtual private network connectivity at the new location as was provided at the previous location.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing includes retrieving network information from a network control database.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the network information includes network topology.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the network information includes configuration instructions or parameters.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the access profile is retrieved from an access profile database.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the causing is performed by causing a network control database to issue instructions to one or more network elements.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the service-agnostic network resource comprises a plurality of programmable networks interconnected by one or more inter-network gateways and wherein the providing the set of transport services involves configuring communications from the user to be carried by a plurality of the programmable networks via the inter-network gateways.

28. The system of claim 11, wherein the network information includes network topology.

29. The system of claim 11, wherein the network information includes configuration instructions or parameters.

17. A system for providing a service-agnostic network resource for communications supporting a plurality of forms of transport, the system comprising:

a controller communicatively coupled to one or more programmable networks;

an access profile database communicatively coupled to the controller; and

a network control database communicatively coupled to the controller;

wherein the controller is configured to

receive an indication that a user is coupled to a point of access to the service-agnostic network resource and is requesting a set of transport services corresponding to one or more of the different forms of transport;

retrieve an access profile, the access profile including service parameters for transport services to which the user subscribes; and

cause a programmable network to be configured to provide the set of transport services at the point of access in accordance with the access profile.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of different forms of transport.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of forms of transport conforming to different OSI layer 2 communication protocols.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of transport services comprises a mixture of different forms of transport, with at least one form of transport involving packet data and another form of transport involving time-division multiplexed signals.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the access network is a packet access network.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the user requests services via a new terminal device different from a terminal device previously used by the user.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the indication identifies a specific user or a specific terminal device.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the user requests transport services via a first terminal device upon moving the terminal device to a new location from a previous location and wherein the controller directs the programmable networks to automatically, based upon identification of the terminal device or identification of the user, establish the same set of transport services at the new location as were provided at the previous location.

25. The system of claim 17 wherein the programmable network comprises a plurality of transport networks, at least two of which employ different forms of transport.

26. The system of claim 17 wherein the service-agnostic network resource automatically, based upon identification of the terminal device or identification of the user, establishes virtual private network connectivity at the new location as was provided at the previous location.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more programmable networks are configured based on network information retrieved from the network control database.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the access profile is retrieved from the access profile database.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein the causing is performed by causing the network control database to issue instructions to one or more network elements.

32. The system of claim 17, further comprising a plurality of programmable networks interconnected by one or more inter-network gateways.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller causes the programmable network to be reconfigured by retrieving network topology from the network control database and issuing reconfiguration commands to one or more network elements.

34. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller is communicatively coupled to one or more access networks coupled to the programmable networks and wherein the controller is configured to control the access networks in accordance with the access profile.