Communications Infrastructure for Content Delivery Using Edge Servers
First Claim
1. A communications infrastructure comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, the local support node and the gateway support node being arranged for interconnection by a point-to-point tunnel over a core network for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, wherein a control element and one or more edge servers are associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network and the control element being interposed in the core network between the local support node and the gateway support node and arranged in operation to (i) extract from the tunnel and redirect packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and (ii) to route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node associated with the support element.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications infrastructure, such as a public land mobile network (PLMN) complying with the GPRS standards, is described comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, which may be an IP network such as the public internet. The local support node and the gateway support node are arranged for interconnection by a point to point tunnel, a GTP tunnel in the case of GPRS via for instance an IP network, for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network. A control element and one or more edge servers are associated with the local support node. The edge servers are each associated with respective addresses on the external network and the control element is interposed between the local support node and the gateway support node. The control element is arranged in operation to extract from the tunnel packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses and redirect the extracted packets to corresponding ones of the edge servers. Finally, the control element is arranged route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node.
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Citations
24 Claims
- 1. A communications infrastructure comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, the local support node and the gateway support node being arranged for interconnection by a point-to-point tunnel over a core network for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, wherein a control element and one or more edge servers are associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network and the control element being interposed in the core network between the local support node and the gateway support node and arranged in operation to (i) extract from the tunnel and redirect packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and (ii) to route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node associated with the support element.
- 16. A routing area subsystem for a communications infrastructure, the subsystem comprising a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals, the local support node being arranged for interconnection over a core network with a gateway support node by a point to point tunnel for packet stream communication with an external network, the point to point tunnel carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, the subsystem comprising a control element and one or more edge servers associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network and the control element being interposed between the local support node and the gateway support node and arranged to extract from the tunnel and redirect packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and to route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node.
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18. A method for operating a communications infrastructure comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, the local support node and the gateway support node being arranged for interconnection over a core network by a point to point tunnel for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, the method comprising:
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providing one or more edge servers associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network; extracting packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses from the tunnel and redirecting said extracted packets to corresponding ones of the edge servers; and
to routing packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A communications infrastructure comprising at least a local element for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway element for packet stream communication with an external network, the local element and the gateway element being arranged for interconnection by a point-to-point tunnel over a core network for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, wherein a control element and one or more edge servers are associated with the local element, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network and the control element being interposed in the core network between the local element and the gateway element and arranged in operation to (i) extract from the tunnel and redirect packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and (ii) to route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local element associated with the support element.
- 21. A control element for use in a communications infrastructure comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, the local support node and the gateway support node being arranged for interconnection by a point-to-point tunnel over a core network for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, wherein and one or more edge servers are associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network, the control element being arranged in operation to (i) extract from the tunnel and redirect packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and (ii) to route packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node associated with the support element.
- 23. A computer program product for use in a communications infrastructure comprising at least a local support node for packet stream communication with a plurality of terminals and a gateway support node for packet stream communication with an external network, the local support node and the gateway support node being arranged for interconnection by a point-to-point tunnel over a core network for carrying packets between each terminal and addressed servers on the external network, wherein and one or more edge servers are associated with the local support node, the edge servers being each associated with respective addresses on the external network, the program product comprising program code elements for (i) extracting from the tunnel and redirecting packets destined for a predeterminable set of external network addresses to corresponding ones of the edge servers and (ii) routing packets received from said edge servers to a corresponding terminal via the local support node associated with the support element.
Specification