System and method for providing broadband content to high-speed access subscribers

• US 6,286,049 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2000
• Issued: 09/04/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: GC Pivotal LLC (GTT Communications, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Covad Communications Group Incorporated
• Inventors: Wetzel, Gregory F., Rajakarunanayake, Yasantha N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US09/535,047
• Time in Patent Office: 529 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/203, 709/206, 709/212, 709/216, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/223, 709/227, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5672 Multiplexing, e.g. coding, scrambling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing broadband content to high-speed access subscribers with layer 4-7 switching are disclosed. The system generally comprises an enhanced services complex (ESC) having at least one content server having Internet content stored or cached therein and a broadband access gateway (BAG) in communication with the ESC and to at least one Internet service provider (ISP), where the BAG is configured to transmit and receive data traffic to and from a client premise equipment (CPE) at a client premise, respectively. The BAG is configured to selectively route data traffic received from the CPE to an ESC content server or the ISP based on multiple instances of the content destination address. The method generally comprises routing client data packets from a CPE to a BAG in communication with at least one ISP and an ESC having at least one content server, selectively routing each client data packet from the BAG to the ESC or the Internet, and routing content data packets from the Internet content or the content server to the CPE.

Claims

1. A method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers, comprising:

routing client data packets from a client premise equipment at a client premise to a broadband access gateway, said broadband access gateway being in communication with at least one Internet service provider and an enhanced services complex having at least one content server;

selectively routing each client data packet from the broadband access gateway to one of the Internet via said Internet service provider and said enhanced services complex;

routing the client data packet to an Internet content in communication with the Internet where the client data packet is selectively routed to the Internet via said Internet service provider;

routing the client data packet to one of the at least one content server having Internet content stored therein where the client data packet is selectively routed to said content server via said enhanced services complex; and

routing content data packets from one of said Internet content and said content server to said client premise equipment.

2. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said routing client data packets from the client premise equipment to the broadband access gateway is via switches in a network.

3. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 2, wherein the network is selected from the group consisting of wireless network, DSL network, and cable network.

4. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said selectively routing each client data packet from the broadband access gateway to one of the Internet and said enhanced services complex includes determining the routing of the client data packet based upon a destination address of the client data packet and upon a destination address filter.

5. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said selectively routing each client data packet from the broadband access gateway to one of the Internet and said enhanced services complex includes destination redirection of the client data packet where the client data packet is routed to said enhanced services complex.

6. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said selectively routing each client data packet from the broadband access gateway to one of the Internet and said enhanced services complex includes translation of a destination address of the client data packet to a substitute destination address where the client data packet is routed to said enhanced services complex.

7. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 6, wherein said destination address translation utilizes layer 4 switching.

8. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 6, wherein said substitute destination address is address of the content cached in said content server.

9. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said broadband access gateway is in communication with a plurality of said Internet service provider, each client data packet is associated with one of said Internet service providers, said broadband access gateway having at least one router corresponding to each Internet service provider.

10. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 9, wherein at least one of said broadband access gateway routers is a virtual router.

11. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 9, wherein said routing the client data packet to the content server includes translating a client source address of the client data packet to a substitute client source address for facilitating routing of said content data packet from said enhanced services complex to the client premise equipment via the broadband access gateway router corresponding to the Internet service provider associated with said client data packet.

12. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 11, wherein said routing said content data packets from said content server to said client premise equipment includes translating said substitute client equipment address of the client data packet to the client equipment address to identify the Internet service provider with which said client data packet is associated.

13. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 12, wherein said translating the substitute client equipment address of the client data packet to the client equipment address is performed by layer 4-7 switches of said enhanced services complex.

14. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said routing each client data packet from said broadband access gateway to the Internet via said Internet service provider comprises providing a virtual circuit between each Internet service provider and a corresponding one of at least one functionally divided virtual gateway of the broadband access gateway.

15. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said routing the client data packets from the client premise equipment to the broadband access gateway comprises providing a virtual circuit between each client premise equipment and a corresponding one of at least one functionally divided virtual gateway of the broadband access gateway.

16. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said selective routing of each client data packet from the broadband access gateway to the enhanced services complex comprises providing connectivity between each of at least one functionally divided virtual gateway of the broadband access gateway and at least a portion of the content servers corresponding to the virtual gateway.

17. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein said routing the client data packet to the content server is via routers and layer 4-7 switches of the enhanced services complex.

18. The method for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers of claim 1, wherein content server stores at least one of content cached from the Internet and content unique thereto.

19. A network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers, comprising:

an enhanced services complex having at least one content server having Internet content cached therein; and

a broadband access gateway in communication with said enhanced services complex and to at least one Internet service provider, said broadband access gateway is configured to transmit and receive data traffic to and from a client premise equipment at a client premise, respectively;

wherein said broadband access gateway is configured to selectively route data traffic received from the client premise equipment to one of the at least one content server at the enhanced services complex and the Internet service provider based on multiple instances of the content destination address.

20. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, further comprising a network of switches in communication with said broadband access gateway, said data traffic to and from the client premise equipment being directed through said network of switches.

21. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 20, where in the network is selected from the group consisting of wireless network, DSL network, and cable network.

22. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 20, wherein said network of switches is an ATM network of switches.

23. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 20, further comprising a gateway-client virtual circuit extending between the broadband access gateway and the client premise equipment via said network of switches, said client-gateway virtual circuit being configured to transmit data traffic between said broadband access gateway and the client premise equipment.

24. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, wherein said enhanced services complex further includes switches in communication with the at least one content server and routers in communication with the switches and the broadband access gateway, said switches being configured to execute switching utilizing any of layers 4-7.

25. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 24, wherein said layer 4-7 are transport, session, presentation and application layers, respectively.

26. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, further comprising a gateway-Internet service provider link extending between the broadband access gateway and the Internet service provider, said gateway-Internet service provider virtual circuit being configured to transmit data traffic between the broadband access gateway and the Internet service provider.

27. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, further comprising a gateway-content server connection extending between the broadband access gateway and the at least one content server, said gateway-content server connection being configured to transmit data traffic between the broadband access gateway and the at least one content server.

28. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, further comprising an access multiplexer in communication with the client premise equipment and the network of switches, said access multiplexer being configured to switch data traffic between the client premise equipment and the broadband access gateway.

29. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 28, wherein said access multiplexer is a digital subscriber line access multiplexer.

30. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 19, wherein said broadband access gateway comprises a first and a second virtual gateway, said network further comprising:

a first gateway-Internet service provider connection extending between the first virtual gateway and the first Internet service provider and configured to transmit data traffic between the first virtual gateway and the first Internet service provider; and

a second gateway-Internet service provider connection extending between the second virtual gateway and the second Internet service provider and configured to transmit data traffic between the second virtual gateway and the second Internet service provider.

31. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 30, wherein said enhanced services complex comprises a plurality of said content servers, said network further comprising:

a first set of gateway-content server connections extending between the first virtual gateway and each of a first subset of the plurality of content servers, each of said first gateway-content server connections being configured to transmit data traffic between the first virtual gateway and a corresponding one of the first subset of the content servers; and

a second set of gateway-content server connections extending between the second virtual gateway and each of a second subset of the plurality of content servers, each of said second gateway-content server connections being configured to transmit data traffic between the second virtual gateway and a corresponding one of the second subset of the content servers.

32. The network for providing broadband content to high speed subscribers according to claim 31, wherein said first subset of said content servers correspond to the first Internet service provider and said second subset of said content servers correspond to the second Internet service provider.