Method and system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network

• US 7,107,342 B1
• Filed: 01/26/2001
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Holur, Balaji S., Davidson, Kenneth W., Derrick, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): VU, VIET DUY
• Application Number:
  US09/771,257
• Time in Patent Office: 2,055 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229, 709/237, 709/238, 709/250, 370/230, 370/231
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

A method for providing service trigger management in a wireless network is provided. The method includes generating at an application of a mobile unit a current request for a network session. Allowability of the session is determined based on a service agreement without accessing external resources.

Claims

1. A method for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

generating an application request for access to a network resource from a mobile unit; and

determining allowability of the application request without accessing external resources, based on session allowability data stored in the mobile unit indicating allowability of a previous request;

wherein allowability of the previous request is determined through an out-of-band communication carried in a vendor-specific extension of a discovery message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining allowability of the application request further comprises determining whether the previous request was allowed or rejected based on the stored session allowability data when a determination is made that session allowability data has been stored.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining allowability of the application request based on a service agreement by accessing external resources when a determination is made that session allowability data has not been stored.

4. The method of claim 1, the discovery messages comprising an agent solicitation messages, the vendor-specific extension comprising the application request.

5. The method of claim 4, the discovery messages further comprising an agent advertisement message, the vendor-specific extension comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the application request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network resource is a specified web-site.

7. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

means for generating an application request for access to a network resource from a mobile unit; and

means for determining allowability of the application request without accessing external resources, based on session allowability data stored in the mobile unit indicating allowability of a previous request;

wherein allowability of the previous request is determined through an out-of-band communication carried in a vendor-specific extension of a discovery message.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein means for determining allowability of the application request further comprises means for determining whether the previous request was allowed or rejected based on the stored session allowability data when a determination is made that session allowability data has been stored.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising means for determining allowability of the application request based on a service agreement by accessing external resources when a determination is made that session allowability data has not been stored.

10. The system of claim 7, the discovery messages comprising an agent solicitation message, the vendor-specific extension comprising the application request.

11. The system of claim 10, the discovery messages further comprising an agent advertisement message, the vendor-specific extension comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the application request.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein the network resource is a specified web-site.

13. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

a computer-processable medium; and

logic stored on the computer-processable medium, the logic operable to;

generate an application request for access to a network resource from a mobile unit; and

determine allowability of the application request without accessing external resources, based on session allowability data stored in the mobile unit indicating allowability of a previous request;

wherein allowability of the previous request is determined through an out-of-band communication carried in a vendor-specific extension of a discovery message.

14. The system of claim 13, the logic further operable to determine allowability of the application request by determining whether the previous request was allowed or rejected based on the stored session allowability data when a determination is made that session allowability data has been stored.

15. The system of claim 13, the logic further operable to determine allowability of the application request based on a service agreement by accessing external resources when a determination is made that session allowability data has not been stored.

16. The system of claim 13, the discovery messages comprising an agent solicitation message, the vendor-specific extension comprising the application request.

17. The system of claim 16, the discovery message further comprising an agent advertisement message, the vendor-specific extension comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the application request.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the network resource is a specified web-site.

19. A mobile unit operable to provide service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

an application operable to generate an application level signaling message associated with a network session, wherein the message is communicated to a serving node such that the serving node is made aware of session activity of the mobile unit; and

a service access manager operable to determine allowability of the session without accessing external resources, based on session allowability data stored in the mobile unit indicating allowability of a previous request;

wherein allowability of the previous request is determined through an out-of-bound communication carried in a vendor-specific extension of a discovery message.

20. The mobile unit of claim 19, further comprising a service access table operable to store the session allowability data.

21. The mobile unit of claim 20, the service access manager further operable to determine allowability of the session by determining whether the previous request was allowed or rejected based on the stored session allowability data when a determination is made that session allowability data has been stored in the service access table.

22. The mobile unit of claim 20, the service access manager further operable to determine allowability of the session based on a service agreement by accessing external resources when a determination is made that session allowability data has not been stored in the service access table.

23. The mobile unit of claim 19, the discovery message comprising an agent solicitation message, the vendor-specific extension comprising the signaling message.

24. The mobile unit of claim 23, the discovery message further comprising an agent advertisement message, the vendor-specific extension comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the signaling message.

25. The mobile unit of claim 24, the service access table further operable to store session allowability data for the signaling message, the session allowability data comprising the acceptance or the rejection of the signaling message.

26. The mobile unit of claim 19, the network session comprising access to a specified web-site.

27. A method for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

receiving a first out-of-band communication from a mobile unit at a foreign agent of a serving node, the first out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying a request for a network session;

determining whether the request is allowable; and

sending a second out-of-band communication from the foreign agent to the mobile unit, the second out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable.

28. The method of claim 27, determining whether the request is allowable comprising comparing the request to a service agreement for the mobile unit.

29. The method of claim 27, the first out-of-bound communication comprising agent solicitation messages and the second out-of-bound communication comprising agent advertisement messages.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising generating an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises a rejection of the request when the request is determined to be unallowable.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising generating an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable.

33. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

determining whether a trigger is indicated for a specified server when the request is determined to be allowable; and

sending the trigger to the specified server when the trigger is determined to be indicated.

32. A method for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

receiving out-of-band communication from a mobile unit at a foreign agent of a serving node, the received out-of-band communication comprising a request for a network session;

determining whether the request is allowable;

sending out-of-band communication from the foreign agent to the mobile unit, the sent out-of-band communication comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable, wherein the received and sent out-of-band communication comprises discovery messages, and wherein the discovery messages comprises agent solicitation messages and agent advertisement messages, the agent solicitation messages comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor-specific extension comprising the request;

when the request is determined to be allowable, determining whether the request is conditionally allowable such that the request is allowable after specified unmet conditions have been met;

generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable and when the request is not determined to be conditionally allowable;

attempting to meet the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable;

generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have been met; and

generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request and comprising the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have not been met.

34. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

means for receiving a first out-of-band communication from a mobile unit at a foreign agent of a serving node, the first out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying a request for a network session;

means for determining whether the request is allowable; and

means for sending a second out-of-band communication from the foreign agent to the mobile unit, the second out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable.

35. The system of claim 34, the means for determining whether the request is allowable comprising means for comparing the request to a service agreement for the mobile unit.

36. The system of claim 34, the first out-of-bound communication comprising agent solicitation messages and the second out-of-bound communication comprising agent advertisement messages.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising means for generating an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises a rejection of the request when the request is determined to be unallowable.

38. The system of claim 36, further comprising means for generating an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable.

40. The system of claim 34, further comprising:

means for determining whether a trigger is indicated for a specified server when the request is determined to be allowable; and

means for sending the trigger to the specified server when the trigger is determined to be indicated.

39. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

means for receiving out-of-band communication from a mobile unit at a foreign agent of a serving node, the received out-of-band communication comprising a request for a network session;

means for determining whether the request is allowable;

means for sending out-of-band communication from the foreign agent to the mobile unit, the sent out-of-band communication comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable, wherein the received and sent out-of-band communication comprises discovery messages, and wherein the discovery messages comprises agent solicitation messages and agent advertisement messages, the agent solicitation messages comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor-specific extension comprising the request;

when the request is determined to be allowable, means for determining whether the request is conditionally allowable such that the request is allowable after specified unmet conditions have been met;

means for generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable and when the request is not determined to be conditionally allowable;

means for attempting to meet the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable;

means for generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have been met; and

means for generating an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request and comprising the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have not been met.

41. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

a computer-processable medium; and

logic stored on the computer-processable medium, the logic operable to receive a first out-of-band communication from a mobile unit, the first out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying a request for a network session, to determine whether the request is allowable, and to send a second out-of-band communication to the mobile unit, the second out-of-band communication comprising a vendor-specific extension carrying an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable.

42. The system of claim 41, the logic further operable to determine whether the request is allowable by comparing the request to a service agreement for the mobile unit.

43. The system of claim 41, the first out-of-bound communication comprising agent solicitation messages and the second out-of-bound communication comprising agent advertisement messages.

44. The system of claim 43, the logic further operable to generate an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises a rejection of the request when the request is determined to be unallowable.

45. The system of claim 43, the logic further operable to generate an agent advertisement message wherein the vendor-specific extension comprises an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable.

47. The system of claim 41, the logic further operable to determine whether a trigger is indicated for a specified server when the request is determined to be allowable and to send the trigger to the specified server when the trigger is determined to be indicated.

46. A system for providing service trigger management in a wireless network, comprising:

a computer-processable medium;

logic stored on the computer-processable medium, the logic operable to receive out-of-band communication, the received out-of-band communication comprising a request for a network session, to determine whether the request is allowable, and to send out-of-band communication from the foreign agent to the mobile unit, the sent out-of-band communication comprising an acceptance or a rejection of the request based on the determination of whether the request is allowable, wherein the received and sent out-of-band communication comprises discovery messages, and wherein the discovery messages comprises agent solicitation messages and agent advertisement messages, the agent solicitation messages comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor-specific extension comprising the request;

when the request is determined to be allowable, to determine whether the request is conditionally allowable such that the request is allowable after specified unmet conditions have been met;

to generate an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be allowable and when the request is not determined to be conditionally allowable;

to attempt to meet the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable;

to generate an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have been met; and

to generate an agent advertisement message comprising a vendor-specific extension, the vendor specific extension comprising an acceptance of the request and comprising the specified unmet conditions when the request is determined to be conditionally allowable and when the specified unmet conditions have not been met.