METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MANAGE BANDWIDTH IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20080117836A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meng, Kevin, Savoor, Raghvendra Gurudath, Ou, Canhui
• Granted Patent: US 7,924,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/563 of the wireless resources

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to manage bandwidth in a wireless network are disclosed. For a wireless network that includes a wireless access point supporting a private service set identifier (SSID) and a public SSID, a disclosed example apparatus comprises a policy interface to receive a value representative of a permissible public bandwidth accessible via the public SSID, and a bandwidth allocator to control usage of the permissible public bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth allocator and the policy interface are physically separate from the wireless access point.

Claims

1. For a wireless network that includes a wireless access point supporting a private service set identifier (SSID) and a public SSID, an apparatus comprising:

a policy interface to receive a value representative of a permissible public bandwidth accessible via the public SSID; and

a bandwidth allocator to control usage of the permissible public bandwidth, wherein the bandwidth allocator and the policy interface are physically separate from the wireless access point.

2. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the policy interface is configured to allow an operator of the access point to configure the value.

3. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein when an available public bandwidth is substantially zero, the bandwidth allocator is configured to notify a user device of the wireless access point that access to public bandwidth via the access point is blocked.

4. An apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein when access to the public bandwidth is blocked, the bandwidth allocator is to notify the user device that access to the wireless communication system using the public SSID may occur via a second access point of the wireless communication system.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 3, further comprising a transmission control protocol (TCP) splitter to enable the user device to respond to disconnection from the access point by re-connecting to the wireless communication system via a second access point without having to re-configure an Internet protocol (IP) address utilized at the user device.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the bandwidth allocator controls usage of the permissible public bandwidth based on utilization of a private bandwidth.

7. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein usage of the permissible public bandwidth is enforced at a broadband remote access server (BRAS), communication sessions utilizing the public and the private SSIDs occur via a shared communication path between the wireless access point and the BRAS, and the permissible public bandwidth represents a portion of the shared communication path allocated to the public SSID.

8. An apparatus as defined in claim 6, wherein a first communication session utilizing the public SSID is transported in first virtual local area network (LAN) and a second communication session utilizing the private SSID is transported in a second virtual LAN.

9. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, further comprising an activity logger to record an access to a service via the public SSID.

10. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the policy interface is configured to allow the operator to configure a content screening parameter for the public SSID.

11. An apparatus as defined in claim 1, wherein the permissible public bandwidth is associated with data transmitted by the wireless access point to a user device.

12. A method comprising:

receiving at a policy manager a policy for a public service set identifier (SSID) for one or more wireless access points; and

configuring one or more bandwidths for one or more communication paths between a broadband remote access server (BRAS) and respective ones of the one or more wireless access points based upon the policy.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the one or more communication paths are from the BRAS to the one or more wireless access points.

14. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein the policy defines at least one of a committed information rate or a peak information rate for the one or more communication paths.

15. A method as defined in claim 12, further comprising terminating a communication session utilizing the public SSID to a first of the one or more access points based upon the policy.

16. A method as defined in claim 15, wherein the communication session is associated with a user device, and further comprising notifying the user device of a second of the one or more access points that may be used to re-establish the communication session utilizing the public SSID.

17. An article of manufacture storing machine accessible instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

receive at a policy manager a policy for a public service set identifier (SSID) for one or more wireless access points; and

configure one or more bandwidths for one or more communication paths between a broadband remote access server (BRAS) and respective ones of the one or more wireless access points based upon the policy.

18. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein the policy defines at least one of a committed information rate or a peak information rate for the one or more communication paths.

19. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein the machine accessible instructions, when executed, cause the machine to terminate a communication session utilizing the public SSID to a first of the one or more access points based upon the policy.

20. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 19, wherein the communication session is associated with a user device, wherein the machine accessible instructions, when executed, cause the machine to notify the user device of a second of the one or more access points that may be used to re-establish the communication session utilizing the public SSID.

21-53. -53. (canceled)