DISTRIBUTED SERVICE NETWORK SYSTEM CAPABLE OF TRANSPARENTLY CONVERTING DATA FORMATS AND SELECTIVELY CONNECTING TO AN APPROPRIATE BRIDGE IN ACCORDANCE WITH CLIENTS CHARACTERISTICS IDENTIFIED DURING PRELIMINARY CONNECTIONS

• US 6,351,771 B1
• Filed: 03/12/1998
• Issued: 02/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Armstrong, Steve Michael, Khuwaja, Ramzan A., Craddock, Arthur Julian Patterson
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Le Hien
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US09/041,128
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709/238, 709/223, 709/217, 709/227, 709/228, 709/250, 709/230, 395/762, 340/825, 370/352
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks

Abstract

A distributed service network provides telecommunications and other services to users transparently of where the user accesses the network and the particular client used to access the network. The network comprises a plurality of regions, each comprising a region manager and one or more region servers. A personal agent is defined for each user and is replicated to remote regions in the network from the user'"'"'s home region as the user connects through those remote regions. The personal agent stores user information including services to which the user is subscribed and preferences set by the user. The region servers include a set of transducers which operate to make services transparent to the actual client used to connect to the network and to the service provider.

Claims

1. A distributed service network comprising a plurality of regions connected by a communications backbone, wherein:

each of said regions comprises a plurality of region servers and a region manager in communication with said region servers;

each of said region servers comprises a plurality of bridges, a plurality of adapters, and a transducer matrix in communication with said bridges and said adapters;

each bridge is arranged to establish a preliminary connection with a client;

said region manager is arranged to identify client characteristics associated with said preliminary connection and transfer said preliminary connection to an appropriate bridge based upon the identified client characteristics, whereby connection to said network is transparent as to where said client connects to said network;

each adapter is arranged to establish a connection with an external service and to determine a service type associated with said service;

each adapter is further arranged to receive data in a first transport protocol associated with said service type and convert said first transport protocol to a protocol understood by a selected one of said region servers; and

said transducer matrix is arranged to convert between data formats associated with said client characteristics identified by said region manager and data formats associated with said service type determined by said adapter.

2. A distributed service network comprising a plurality of regions, wherein:

each region comprises a plurality of regions servers and a region manager;

each server comprises at least one bridge, at least one adapter, and a set of transducers in communication with said bridge and said adapter;

said bridge is arranged to establish a preliminary connection with a client;

said region manager is arranged to identify client characteristics associated with said preliminary connection and transfer said preliminary connection to an appropriate bridge based upon the identified client characteristics, whereby connection to said network is transparent as to where said client connects to said network;

said adapter is arranged to establish a connection with an external service and to determine a service type associated with said service; and

said set of transducers is arranged to convert between data formats associated with said client characteristics identified by said region manager and data formats associated with said service type determined by said adapter.

3. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said adapter is arranged to receive data in a first transport protocol associated with said service type and convert said first transport protocol to a generic protocol understood by a region server.

4. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein:

each of said servers comprises a plurality of adapters;

each of said adapters is arranged to receive data in a first transport protocol and transmit in a second transport protocol; and

each of said adapters is arranged to forward received data to another adapter for retransmission in another transport protocol.

5. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region is arranged to:

verify the identity of said client;

convert said preliminary connection to a complete connection; and

service data access requests from said client upon conversion of said preliminary connection to said complete connection.

6. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 5 wherein said identity of said client is verified through input of a user ID and password.

7. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 5 wherein said identity of said client is verified by identifying information implicit to said client.

8. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 7 wherein said implicit information includes one of an IP address, a pager number, and a cellular equipment identification umber.

9. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region manager is further arranged to transfer said preliminary connection to an alternative bridge as a function of said identified client characteristics.

10. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 9 wherein said alternative bridge is associated with a different region server than said bridge with which said preliminary connection is established.

11. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region manager is further arranged to transfer said preliminary connection to a different region server within said region if said client characteristics associated with said preliminary connection change.

12. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region is arranged to access a user profile associated with said client and wherein said user profile is stored in said network.

13. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region is arranged to access a personal agent associated with said client.

14. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 13 wherein said personal agent is accessed from a database engine associated with said region manager.

15. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 13 wherein said personal agent maintains a user profile associated with said client.

16. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 15 wherein said user profile identifies at least one of services to which said client subscribes, user preferences for various client devices, and billing information associated with said client.

17. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 13 wherein said personal agent is arranged to provide access to services data for user access requests.

18. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 17 wherein said services data includes at least one of e-mail services, passwords, and user identifications.

19. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region is arranged to:

identify a home region associated with said client; and

access a user profile associated with said client from said home region.

20. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region is arranged to:

identify a home region associated with said client; and

replicate in said region a user profile associated with said client from said home region.

21. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said set of transducers is arranged in a transducer matrix and wherein a transducer matrix switch is operative to select at least one transducer in said transducer matrix for conversion between data formats associated with said client characteristics and data formats associated with said service type.

22. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said transducer matrix switch is arranged to select a single transducer for said conversion.

23. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said transducer matrix switch is arranged to select a chain of transducers for said conversion.

24. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said transducer matrix switch is arranged to select parallel transducers for said conversion.

25. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said region is arranged to select transducers from different servers for said conversion.

26. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said region is arranged to select transducers from different regions for said conversion.

27. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 21 wherein said selection of said transducers is determined by accessing an entry in a look-up table, and wherein a first input of said look-up table corresponds to a data format associated with said client characteristics and a second input of said look-up table corresponds to a data format associated with said service type.

28. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 27 wherein said region is arranged to update entries in said look-up table as new transducers are added.

29. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said adapter is arranged to perform encryption and decryption.

30. A distributed service network as claimed in claim 2 wherein said region manager maintains an availability list arranged to enable identification of under utilized components throughout said network.