SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POLICY-ENABLED MOBILE SERVICE GATEWAY

• US 20090228954A1
• Filed: 05/07/2008
• Published: 09/10/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Figurelle, Terry, Hu, Q. James, Britt, Michael, Eng, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,607,304 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/43 Billing software details
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/204 UMTS; GPRS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A policy-enabled service gateway contains a gateway function and a local policy engine containing policies related to the functionality of the associated gateway function. New or updated policies may be provided to the local policy engine from a centralized policy server. The policies within the local policy engine are functionally related to the gateway function and provide for policy and/or charging enforcement associated with the gateway function. If the local policy engine does not contain a particular policy, it may request the policy from the centralized policy server. The local policy engine may choose to store the requested policy for future use.

Claims

1. A communication network comprising:

a communication link to accept user traffic arriving at the communication network;

an access gateway coupled to the communication link and configured to receive user traffic thereon and to control user access to the communication network;

a policy enforcement engine associated with the access gateway to enforce policy rules for the user traffic;

a first gateway function communicatively coupled to the access gateway and configured to provide a selected service to a user when the user traffic includes a request for the selected service associated with the first gateway function;

a local policy engine associated with the first gateway function to enforce policy rules associated with the selected service; and

a service gateway associated with the first gateway function and configured to permit user access to the first gateway function based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service and enforced by the local policy engine.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a policy server communicatively coupled to the policy enforcement engine and the local policy engine to serve as a centralized source of policy rules.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the policy server is configured to download policy rules to the policy enforcement engine.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the policy server is configured to download policy rules, related to the selected service provided by the service gateway, to the local policy engine.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a second gateway function associated with the service gateway to permit user access to a user-requested service having enforcement policies related to the enforcement policies associated with the first gateway function.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the second gateway function associated with the service gateway is configured to permit user access to the user-requested service provided by the second gateway function based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service provided by the second gateway function and enforced by the local policy engine.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the service gateway receives a user request for a selected function and the local policy engine does not have an applicable rule for the user service request, the local policy engine being further configured to send a request for the applicable rule to a remote source of policy rules.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the local policy engine receives the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules and applies the rule to the user service request.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the local policy engine discards the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules after applying the rule to the user service request.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the local policy engine retains the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules after applying the rule to the user service request.

11. A communication network comprising:

a communication link to accept user traffic arriving at the communication network;

an access gateway coupled to the communication link and configured to receive user traffic thereon and to control user access to the communication network;

a policy enforcement engine associated with the access gateway to enforce policy rules for the user traffic;

a plurality of gateway functions communicatively coupled to the access gateway, each of the plurality of gateway functions being configured to provide a selected service to a user when the user traffic includes a request for the selected service associated with the one of the plurality of gateway functions;

a plurality of local policy engines associated with respective ones of the plurality of gateway functions to enforce policy rules associated with the selected service; and

a plurality of service gateways associated with respective ones of the plurality of gateway functions and configured to permit user access to the first gateway function based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service and enforced by the local policy engine.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a policy server communicatively coupled to the policy enforcement engine and the plurality of local policy engines to serve as a centralized source of policy rules.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the policy server is configured to download policy rules to the policy enforcement engine.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the policy server is configured to download policy rules, related to the selected service provided by ones of the plurality of service gateways, to respective ones of the plurality of local policy engines.

15. The system of claim 11, further comprising a second gateway function associated with a selected one of the plurality of service gateways to permit user access to a user-requested service having enforcement policies related to the enforcement policies associated with the gateway function associated with the selected one of the plurality of service gateways.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the second gateway function associated with the selected service gateway is configured to permit user access to the user-requested service provided by the second gateway function based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service provided by the second gateway function and enforced by the local policy engine.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein a selected one of the plurality of service gateways receives a user request for a selected function and the local policy engine associated with the selected one of the plurality of service gateways does not have an applicable rule for the user service request, the local policy engine selected one of the plurality of service gateways being further configured to send a request for the applicable rule to a remote source of policy rules.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the local policy engine associated with the selected one of the plurality of service gateways receives the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules and applies the rule to the user service request.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the local policy engine associated with the selected one of the plurality of service gateways discards the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules after applying the rule to the user service request.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the local policy engine associated with the selected one of the plurality of service gateways retains the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules after applying the rule to the user service request.

21. A method for operating a communication network comprising:

receiving user traffic arriving at an input of the communication network;

controlling user access to the communication network at an access gateway coupled to the communication network input;

enforcing policy rules for the user traffic at the access gateway;

providing a selected service to a user at a first gateway function when the user traffic includes a request for the selected service associated with the first gateway function;

enforcing policy rules using a local policy engine associated with the first gateway function; and

controlling user interaction with the first gateway function for the requested selected service based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service and enforced by the local policy engine.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the local policy engine associated with the first gateway function contains policies associated with the selected service.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising downloading policy rules to the access gateway from a centralized source of policy rules to permit enforcing policy rules for the user traffic at the access gateway.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising downloading policy rules to the local policy engine from a centralized source of policy rules to permit enforcing policy rules by the local policy engine associated with the first gateway function.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising providing a selected service to a user at a second gateway function when the user traffic includes a request for the selected service associated with the second gateway function.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein controlling user interaction with the second gateway function for the requested selected service is based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service and enforced by the local policy engine.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein controlling user interaction with the second gateway function for the requested selected service is based on enforcement of the policy rules associated with the selected service and enforced by a local policy engine associated with the second gateway function and different from the local policy engine associated with the first gateway function.

28. The method of claim 21 wherein the local policy engine associated with the first gateway function has no policies applicable to the request for the selected service associated with the first gateway function, the method further comprising requesting the applicable rule from a remote source of policy rules.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising receiving the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules and enforcing policy rules using the local policy engine associated with the first gateway function.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising discarding the applicable rule received from the remote source of policy rules after applying the rule to the user service request.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising retaining the applicable rule from the remote source of policy rules.