Critical resource management

• US 7,725,491 B1
• Filed: 08/12/2002
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tumbleweed Holdings LLC (Equitable IP Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lemurta US LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Cleven, Ronald Lynn, Lundberg, James C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pardo; Thuy N
• Application Number:
  US10/217,044
• Time in Patent Office: 2,843 Days
• Field of Search: 707/9, 707/10, 707/7, 707/781, 707/783, 707/785, 707/786, 370/232, 370/468, 370/399, 370/397, 370/448, 370/450, 370/389, 370/235, 709/431, 709/226, 709/207, 709/217, 709/219, 455/507, 455/12.1, 713/201, 718/102, 710/20, 710/116, 345/418
• US Class Current: 707/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Critical resource management is disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided. First, the method detects whether maximum utilization of a critical resource has been reached. For example, the critical resource can be a number of modems within a modem pool of an Internet Server Provider (ISP). Second, the method determines the priority of access to this critical resource for each of a plurality of clients. For example, such clients can be end-user computers attempting to dial into the modem pool of the ISP. Third, the method denies access to at least one of the clients that have the lowest priority of access to the critical resource. For example, this can mean that a client currently connected to the ISP via a modem of the model pool is disconnected, or can mean that a client attempting to dial into the ISP is refused access.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

(a) providing, using a computing device, rights to a plurality of subscribers to use an Internet-related service, each subscriber being associated with a priority quantity of the Internet-related service and an actual usage quantity of the Internet-related service;

(b) restricting, using the computing device, rights of one or more of the subscribers to the Internet-related service, with each of the one or more subscribers being selected based on the priority quantity of the Internet-related service for the subscriber and the actual usage quantity of the Internet-related service, step (b) further comprising;

(b1) determining, using the computing device, an access priority for at least two of the subscribers currently using the Internet-related service based on the priority quantity and the actual usage quantity, and

(b2) restricting, using the computing device, the access of at least the one of the two subscribers having a lower determined access priority than the other;

(c) associating, using the computing device, a first subset of the subscribers with a first service plan for the Internet-related service, wherein the priority quantity of each subscriber in the first subset is a first particular priority quantity associated with the first service plan; and

(d) associating, using the computing device, a second subset of the subscribers with a second service plan for the Internet-related service, wherein the priority quantity of each subscriber in the second subset is a second particular priority quantity associated with the second service plan.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet-related service is Internet access.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) comprises establishing one or more Internet connections, with each Internet connection associated with a respective one of the plurality of subscribers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual usage quantity of Internet-related service is a measured quantity of Internet access associated with the subscriber.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether usage of the Internet-related service satisfies criteria regarding its usage prior to step (b).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second particular priority quantity is less than the first particular priority quantity to permit different priority usage of the service by one or more subscribers of the first service plan.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the priority quantity of each subscriber of the second service plan is zero.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein step (a) further comprises providing Internet access through a plurality of modems, a plurality of server connections, or a plurality of bandwidth portions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b1) further comprises:

determining the actual usage quantity for a given time period;

determining the priority quantity for the given time period; and

subtracting the actual usage quantity for the given time period from the priority quantity for the given time period.

10. An Internet service structure for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) including a computer having a processor and a memory, comprising:

at least one guaranteed Internet-connection plan for a plurality of first subscribers, wherein the ISP is configured to provide for each first subscriber guaranteed rights to access the Internet through the ISP regardless of the total number of subscribers connected to the Internet through the ISP when each first subscriber initiates a request for Internet access;

at least one connection plan for a plurality of second subscribers, wherein the ISP is configured to provide for each second subscriber rights to connect to the Internet through the ISP, with the rights of each second subscriber being subject to intermittent restriction to permit connections by subscribers of the guaranteed-connection plan,

wherein the ISP is configured to provide for each second subscriber a priority quantity of Internet access and an actual usage quantity of Internet access, wherein the ISP is configured to determine for each second subscriber an access priority based on the priority quantity and the actual usage quantity, and wherein the ISP is configured to select a subscriber from the plurality of subscribers for intermittent restriction of the subscriber'"'"'s rights based on the access priority.

11. The Internet service structure of claim 10, wherein each of the first subscribers pay a higher fee for Internet access through the ISP than each of the second subscribers.

12. The Internet service structure of claim 10, wherein the first and second subscribers connect to the Internet through a common pool of dial-up modems.

13. The Internet service structure of claim 12, wherein the access priority is determined for each second subscriber by subtracting each second subscriber'"'"'s actual usage quantity from the priority quantity.

14. An Internet service structure for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) including a computer having a processor and a memory, comprising:

a first Internet-service plan for one or more first subscribers, wherein the ISP is configured to provide for each first subscriber an associated first priority quantity of access to an Internet-related service through the ISP; and

at least one second Internet-service plan for one or more second subscribers, wherein the ISP is configured to provide for each second subscriber an associated second priority quantity of access through the ISP, wherein the ISP is configured to intermittently restrict the rights of each second subscriber to permit access to the Internet-related service by one or more of the first subscribers of the first Internet-service plan, and wherein the ISP is configured to determine for each second subscriber an access priority based on the priority quantity and an actual usage quantity, and wherein the ISP is configured to intermittently restrict the rights of each second subscriber to permit access to the Internet-related service based on the access priority.

15. A system comprising:

at least one server associated with an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the server including a processor and memory;

one or more first subscribers to the ISP, wherein the server is configured to assign each first subscriber an assigned first priority quantity of access to the Internet through the ISP; and

one or more second subscribers to the ISP, wherein the server is configured to assign each second subscriber an assigned second priority quantity of access to the Internet through the ISP, wherein the server is configured to intermittently restrict the rights of each second subscriber to permit access to the Internet by the one or more first subscribers, wherein the server is configured to determine for each second subscriber an access priority based on the priority quantity and an actual usage quantity, and wherein the server is configured to intermittently restrict the rights of each second subscriber to permit access to services of the ISP based on the access priority.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the access priority is based on a function of the priority quantity and the actual usage quantity.