Dynamic IP addressing and quality of service assurance
First Claim
1. A method for allocating an address and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers seeking access to a communications network, the method comprising:
- assigning a user profile to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate;
selecting a first source address using said pool identifier, assigning said first source address to the subscriber, and forwarding a packet transmitted by the subscriber at the corresponding forwarding rate, if the subscriber successfully obtains network access to the communication network.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An address is allocated to a host device which is selected to obtain network access from any access point within a given communications system, while maintaining a network bandwidth management scheme that is consistently applied to a user'"'"'s network bandwidth usage regardless of the access point used by the user. This is accomplished using a communications network having a at least one access point coupled to a first router which is configured to forward packets at a forwarding rate based on a source address contained in each of the packets. A user profile is assigned to each subscriber belonging to an access point. Each user profile includes a pool identifier which corresponds to a forwarding rate used by the router for packets corresponding to the subscriber. If a subscriber attempts to log-on to an access point, a source address is selected using the address pool identifier, the source address is assigned to the subscriber, and each packet is forwarded at a forwarding rate based on the source address contained within each of the packets. The communications system may also include a global memory which contains all of the user profiles stored for the communications system. The global memory provides the pertinent user profile to any access point from which a subscriber seeks to obtain access when the subscriber does not have a user profile contained within the local memory of the access point, such as in the case of a roaming subscriber.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
1. A method for allocating an address and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers seeking access to a communications network, the method comprising:
-
assigning a user profile to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate; selecting a first source address using said pool identifier, assigning said first source address to the subscriber, and forwarding a packet transmitted by the subscriber at the corresponding forwarding rate, if the subscriber successfully obtains network access to the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A communications system comprising:
-
an access point associated with a client; a protocol gateway coupled to said client; a local memory having a user profile table containing at least one user profile, said user profile including a home PoP identifier and a pool identifier corresponding to a subscriber, and said pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate service level agreement created for said subscriber; a router configured to forward packets at the forwarding rate; a global memory configured for storing user profiles of users which are subscribed to said access point, including said user profile; and wherein, in response to said subscriber'"'"'s attempt to log-on to the communications system through said client, an address is selected using said pool identifier obtained from said user profile and transmitted to said subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. An Access point for allocating addresses and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers belonging to a communications network regardless of the log-on location of the subscribers, said communications network having a router which is configured to forward packets at a forwarding rate based on a source address contained in each of said packets, at least one client responsive to a subscriber'"'"'s attempt to log-on to said communications network, said access point comprising:
-
a protocol gateway; a local memory coupled to said protocol gateway; a user profile table containing at least one user profile corresponding to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to the subscriber, and said pool identifier assigned according to a service level agreement created for said subscriber; and a configuration server coupled to said protocol gateway, said configuration server responsive to said protocol gateway by providing an address to said protocol gateway which corresponds to said pool identifier. - View Dependent Claims (15)
-
-
16. A method of allocating addresses and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers belonging to a communications network regardless of the log-on location of the subscribers, the communications network having an access point coupled to a router which is configured to forward packets at a forwarding rate based on a source address contained in said packets, said method comprising:
-
receiving a log-on request from a subscriber; determining whether a user profile corresponding to said subscriber exits within a local memory associated with the access point, said user profile including a pool identifier which corresponds to a forwarding rate to be used by the router; requesting and receiving said user profile from a second memory if said user profile is determined not to exist within said first memory; and assigning a source address to said subscriber by using said pool identifier to select said source address. - View Dependent Claims (17)
-
-
18. An apparatus for allocating an address and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers seeking access to a communications network, the apparatus comprising:
-
a local memory holding a user profile assigned to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate; and a protocol gateway coupled to said local memory configured to select a first source address using said pool identifier, assigning said first source address to the subscriber, and forward a packet transmitted by the subscriber at the corresponding forwarding rate, if the subscriber successfully obtains network access to the communications network. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. An apparatus for allocating an address and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers seeking access to a communications network, the apparatus comprising:
-
means for assigning a user profile to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate; means for selecting a first source address using said pool identifier, assigning said first source address to the subscriber, and forwarding a packet transmitted by the subscriber at the corresponding to a forwarding rate minimum rate, if the subscriber successfully obtains network access to the communication network. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
-
-
29. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method for allocating an address and providing a pre-assigned Quality of Service level for subscribers seeking access to a communications network, the method comprising:
-
assigning a user profile to a subscriber, said user profile including a pool identifier corresponding to a forwarding rate; selecting a first source address using said pool identifier, assigning said first source address to the subscriber, and forwarding a packet transmitted by the subscriber at the corresponding to a forwarding rate a minimum rate, if the subscriber successfully obtains network access to the communication network.
-
Specification