Method for service provisioning a broadband modem

• US 6,636,505 B1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Issued: 10/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: 3Com Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Ray, Shieh, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Steven
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, DUC CHI
• Application Number:
  US09/322,515
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/236, 370/395.1, 370/254, 370/399, 370/352, 370/395.2, 370/395.6, 370/401, 370/412, 370/465, 370/466, 370/469, 370/421, 370/426, 370/410, 370/437, 370/468, 370/463, 375/222, 709/227, 709/203, 709/217, 709/220, 709/222, 709/228, 714/749, 379/93.06, 713/201, 713/202
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/289 Single service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5606 Metallic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/561 Star, e.g. cross-connect, concentrator, subscriber group equipment, remote electronics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5626 Network management, e.g. Intelligent nets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/062 using different frequency bands for speech and other data

Abstract

A method for automatically provisioning a broadband communication service to a subscriber having a broadband modem. The method includes the step of transmitting a service request from the broadband modem to a central office, which is associated with a network service provider. The network is configured for service in response to the service request. The method further includes automatically configuring the broadband modem by transmitting a configuration signal from the central office to the subscriber. The configuration signal may be transmitted to the broadband modem over a POTS subchannel. Alternatively, the configuration signal may be transmitted to the broadband modem over a subchannel in a broadband service, such as a DMT subchannel for ADSL service.

Claims

1. A transparent end-to-end asymmetric digital subscriber line system, including a subscriber'"'"'s ADSL modem for delivering differentiated broadband services to a local area network, comprising in combination:

a dial-up application on customer premise equipment for providing a user interface for a user that requests ADSL service allowing the user to select services for connection to specify communication parameters;

an asymmetric network access protocol for establishing and terminating communications on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system;

a service specific convergence sub-layer for providing a network transport service for virtual point-to-point connections and virtual multi-point connections;

a communications driver for providing low level peer-to-peer reliable communications; and

an address server for providing an optional network address resolution service for establishing a switched virtual circuit.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the dial-up application includes a dial-up application for any of the Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT operating systems.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the asymmetric network access protocol provides any of:

checking syntax for communication messages according to a type of network being used;

processing multiple communication requests and assigning communication request reference numbers;

or

providing a reliable transport over an Ethernet local area network for communications messages.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the service specific convergence sub-layer includes network transport services for:

managing control queues and priority queues; and

maintaining an address table matching an asynchronous transport mode virtual path identifier or an asynchronous transport mode virtual channel identifier and a call connection identifier.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the communications driver includes:

multiplexing and de-multiplexing capabilities to support simultaneous communication requests including multiple Point-to-Point protocol sessions with multiple Internet Protocol addresses.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the address server can be located in either an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Transmission Unit—

Central Office (ATU-C) device or an ADSL Transmission Unit—

Remote (ATU-R) device.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the asymmetric network protocol includes a plurality of connection control messages, management messages and payload messages.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the connection control messages include a Permanent Virtual Circuit (PVC) upload request, PVC upload response, PVC update, PVC service request, PVC service response, get network address, network address response, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Q.2931, Frame Relay Q.931, Switched Virtual Circuit (SVC) call response, ACK, and NAK messages.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the management messages includes a new, query, query response, release request and release confirm message.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the payload messages include an Ethernet frame and an Ethernet-Subnetwork Access Protocol (Ethernet-SNAP) frame message.

11. A method for delivering differentiated broadband services to a local area network from transparent end-to-end asymmetric digital subscriber line system, comprising the steps of:

sending a first broadcast message with an asymmetric network access protocol from an individual network device on a local area network, to a plurality of other network devices on the local area network, wherein first broadcast message includes a network address for the individual network device on the local area network;

sending a first request message with an asymmetric network access protocol from the individual network device to a first asymmetric network device to obtain a service profile on the individual network device from the first asymmetric network device, wherein the service profile is used to a private virtual circuit on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system;

receiving a first response message with an asymmetric network access protocol on the individual network device from the first asymmetric network device, wherein the first response message includes a service profile for the individual network device;

sending a second request message with an asymmetric network access protocol from the individual network device to the first asymmetric network device to request use of a communications service on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system, wherein the communications service includes a one-to-one or a one-to-many connection service; and

receiving a second response message with an asymmetric network access protocol on the individual network device from the first asymmetric network device, wherein the second response message includes a connection identifier for the individual network device.

12. A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for causing a central processing unit to execute the method of claim 11.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sending a first broadcast message includes sending a NEW message from a set of connection control messages that identifies the individual network device to the local area network.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sending a first broadcast message includes sending a Medium Access Protocol address of the individual network of device as the network address in the first broadcast message.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the individual network device is a personal computer and the asymmetric network device is an asymmetric digital subscriber line ATU-R device.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the asymmetric network protocol includes a plurality of connection control messages, management messages, and payload messages.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sending a first request message includes sending a PVC upload request message from a set of connection control message from an asymmetric network access protocol to obtain a PVC service profile.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of receiving a first response message includes receiving a first response message with a service profile comprising automatic transparent service provisioning information.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the automatic transparent service provisioning information in the service profile includes any of a virtual path identifier, a virtual circuit identifier, a type of communication service, a quality-of-service category, a traffic descriptor, a service domain name or a status.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of sending a second request message includes sending any of a PVC service request message, an ATM Q.2931, or a Frame Relay Q.931 message from a set of connection control messages from an asymmetric network access protocol.

21. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of receiving a second response message includes receiving service response message from a set of connection control messages from an asymmetric network access protocol.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of receiving a second response messages includes receiving a connection identifier from an asymmetric digital subscriber line ATU-R device to establish a one-to-one Point-to-Point Protocol session between the individual network device and the an asymmetric digital subscriber line ATU-R device, wherein the connection identifier is used to associate a virtual channel connection on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system to the individual network device.

23. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of receiving a second response messages includes receiving a plurality of connection identifier from an asymmetric digital subscriber line ATU-R device to establish many-to-one session between the individual network device and the plurality of other network devices on the local area network, wherein the plurality of connection identifiers are used to associate a virtual channel connection to a multiple-Point-to-Point Protocol session on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system to the individual network device and the plurality of other network devices on the local area network.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein an asymmetric network device comprising an asymmetric digital subscriber line ATU-R device uses either Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) or High Level Data Link Control (HDLC) to carry the multiple-Point-to-Point Protocol session over a single virtual channel connection.

25. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

sending a third request message with an asymmetric network access protocol from the individual network device to the first asymmetric network device to request use of a communications channel on the asymmetric digital subscriber line system; and

receiving a receiving a third response message with an asymmetric network access protocol on the individual network device from the first asymmetric network device, wherein the second response message includes a connection identifier for the individual network device.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of sending a third request message includes sending a switched virtual circuit request message including any of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Q.2931 message or a Frame Relay Q.931 message with a destination network address, a desired quality-of-service parameters and traffic descriptors.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the step of receiving a third response message includes receiving a SVC call response message from a set of connection control messages from an asymmetric network access protocol, wherein the SVC call response message includes a connection identifier for a virtual channel connection between the individual network device and the asymmetric network device.