Nomadic computing with personal mobility domain name system

• US 6,751,459 B1
• Filed: 04/20/1999
• Issued: 06/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Homayoun, Fred, Basu, Kalyan K., Lee, Hee C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gary, Erika
• Application Number:
  US09/295,030
• Time in Patent Office: 1,883 Days
• Field of Search: 455/445, 455/432.1, 455/435.1, 455/433, 455/414.1, 455/456.1, 455/432.2, 455/432.3, 370/351, 370/352, 370/409, 709/245
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method and apparatus for updating information in a personal mobility database server with information concerning a user'"'"'s nomadicity. When the user travels from one place to another, the user registers with PMDNS server at an IP port for computing communications. PMDNS takes user'"'"'s terminal personalization, together with usage profile, session characteristics into account to map a party'"'"'s identifier to a terminal'"'"'s identifier. The IP address of the user'"'"'s current location is used in concert with the terminal'"'"'s identifier, which is itself an IP address, to route incoming computing communications connection requests to the current location of the user. This information will be returned by the PMDNS directory server to the access network for the setup of the communications.

Claims

1. A personal mobility system for nomadic computing, wherein the personal mobility system determines a terminal address based on a personal identifier of the nomadic user, the personal mobility system comprising:

a network server;

a memory contained within the network server;

a user database stored in the memory within the network server, wherein the user database indexes a plurality of users by each user'"'"'s personal identifier,

the user database further indexes a plurality of terminal identifiers to at least;

one personal identifier;

the user database further indexes a nomadic terminal identifier to at least one terminal identifier; and

an access port for accessing the network server for recovering the nomadic terminal identifier associated with the user, wherein the user database further comprises a network usage profile for the user, wherein recovering the nomadic terminal identifier associated with the user is performed in alter of traversing the network usage profile for the user.

2. The personal mobility system of claim 1, wherein the nomadic terminal identifier is bound to one of the plurality of terminal identifiers indexed to at least one personal identifier.

3. The personal mobility system of claim 1, wherein the personal mobility system serves a plurality of heterogeneous networks selected from the group consisting of Internet Protocol networks, Public Switched Telephone Networks, cellular wireless networks, wireless satellite networks, local area networks, and wide area networks.

4. A personal mobility system for nomadic computing, wherein the personal mobility system determines a terminal address based on a personal identifier of the nomadic user, the personal mobility system comprising:

a network server;

a memory contained within the network server;

a user database stored in the memory within tho network server, wherein the user database indexes a plurality of users by each user'"'"'s personal identifier;

the user database further indexes a plurality of terminal identifiers to at least one personal identifier;

the user database further indexes a nomadic terminal identifier to at least one terminal identifier; and

an access port for accessing the network server for recovering the nomadic terminal identifier associated with the user, wherein the user record further comprises a historical usage table for the user, wherein recovering the nomadic terminal identifier associated with the user is performed in alter of traversing the historical usage table for the user.

5. The personal mobility system of claim 4, wherein the historical usage table is generated over tinge based upon the user'"'"'s normal usage of the terminals identified in the user database.

6. A personal mobility system for nomadic computing, wherein the personal mobility system determines a terminal address based on a personal identifier of the nomadic user, the personal mobility system comprising:

a personal mobility server application including a plurality of user records;

each user record being respective to a user and indexed by a respective personal identifier, and each user record including a plurality of terminal records, each of the terminal records including a respective terminal address, at least one terminal address including nomadic terminal address field for binding a nomadic terminal address to a terminal address; and

the personal mobility server application accessing the user record for the called user based upon the personal identifier, selecting the nomadic terminal record indexed to the called user of the plurality of terminal records and returning the nomadic terminal address bound to the terminal address indexed to the called user to the personal mobility user application, wherein the user record further includes a network usage profile for the user, wherein returning the nomadic terminal identifier associated with the user is performed in alter of traversing the network usage profile for the user.

7. The personal mobility system of claim 6, wherein personal mobility server application traverses the plurality of terminal records, including respective terminal addresses, by prioritizing the nomadic terminal address field.

8. A method of determining a terminal address corresponding to a nomadic user based upon a personal identifier of the nomadic user, the method comprising:

storing a nomadic user record, wherein the nomadic user record includes a personal identifier, and a plurality of terminal records, each of the terminal records including a respective terminal address;

receiving a request from a caller, the request including the personal identifier of the nomadic user;

accessing the nomadic user record by the nomadic user personal identifier;

determining if one of the plurality of terminal records in the nomadic user record contains a nomadic terminal address; and

on the basis of one of the plurality of terminal records in the nomadic user record containing a nomadic terminal address, returning the nomadic address to the caller, wherein the nomadic user record further includes a network usage profile for a nomadic user, wherein returning the nomadic address is performed in alter of traversing the network usage profile for the nomadic user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of storing a nomadic user record further comprises:

storing a historical usage table for the nomadic user; and

using the historical usage table to create the network usage profile for the nomadic user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the historical usage table is generated over time based upon the nomadic user'"'"'s usage of the terminals identified.

11. A personal mobility system for nomadic computing, wherein the personal mobility system determines a terminal address corresponding to a called user based upon a personal identifier of the called user, the personal mobility system comprising:

storing means for storing a nomadic user record, wherein the nomadic user record includes a personal identifier, and a plurality of terminal records, each of the terminal records including a respective terminal address;

receiving means for receiving a request from a caller, the request including the personal identifier of the nomadic user;

accessing means for accessing the nomadic user record by the nomadic user personal identifier;

determining means for determining if one of the plurality of terminal records in the nomadic user record contains a nomadic terminal address; and

returning means for returning the nomadic address to the caller on the basis of one of the plurality of terminal records in the nomadic user record containing a nomadic terminal address, wherein the nomadic user record further includes a network usage profile for a nomadic user, wherein returning the nomadic address is performed in alter of traversing the network usage profile for the nomadic user.