Generalized interconnection apparatus for delivering services based on real time performance requirements

• US 7,933,205 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2006
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shaw, Venson, Hu, Q. James
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye, Saba
• Application Number:
  US11/479,754
• Time in Patent Office: 1,762 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/230.1, 370/232, 370/233, 370/235, 370/252, 370/389, 370/391, 370/395.4, 370/395.42, 370/395.43
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/786 Mapping reservation between domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/821 Prioritising resource allocation or reservation requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals

Abstract

A system for interconnecting network operators with each other based on class of service is provided, taking real-time performance requirement(s) for each service into consideration. As a result, services can be sent or received in real time, with greater guarantee of network resources. In one non-limiting embodiment, the delivery path for service traffic is based on the real-time performance requirement categories assigned to each service during a pre-processing step. Thus, services having the highest real-time performance demands can be delivered faster using greater network resources, whereas the services without any real-time performance requirements are processed/delivered using fewer network resources.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a request for service from a first network to a second network, comprising:

receiving and preprocessing the request for service that is transmitted from the first network to the second network, wherein the first network and the second network are operated by disparate service providers;

classifying the request for service as a real-time or a non real-time service request based in part on a real-time performance requirement associated with handling the request for service, the real-time performance requirement determined by the first network based in part on a configuration provided by a service provider of the first network;

determining a subcategory of the classified request for service based in part on at least one network policy of the first network that depends on at least one of a geographical location or geographical area associated with the service, wherein the determining includes determining disparate subcategories for the classified request for service in disparate geographic locations or geographic areas; and

forwarding the request for service to the second network along with at least one of the classification or the subcategory, the second network utilizes the at least one of the category or the subcategory to facilitate allocation of a resource of the second network to process the request for service.

2. The method of claim 1, further including

allocating resources from the second network to process the request for service based on said subcategory of real-time performance requirement determined by the first network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the allocating resources includes allocating greater resources for requests for services classified as having high real-time performance requirements and allocating fewer resources for requests for services classified as having no or few real-time performance requirements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the forwarding includes storing the request for service in a buffer associated with the subcategory prior to handling the request for service by the second network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving and preprocessing request for service includes receiving and preprocessing a stream of Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and the method is applied to classify each packet of the stream of IP packets.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining includes identifying at least one subcategory of real-time performance requirement associated with the request for service including a very high real-time performance requirement category, a high real-time performance requirement category, a medium real-time performance requirement category or a low real-time performance requirement category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining includes identifying at least one subcategory of non real-time performance requirement including a subcategory for services having interactive performance requirements.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the classifying includes classifying the request for service to determine at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for services having a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the classifying includes classifying the request for service to determine at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for a service having a particular service ID or a selected subset of service IDs supported by the second network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, post-processing the request for service including the at least one subcategory of real-time performance requirement along with other requests for services and associated categories in order to schedule processing of the request for service and the other requests for services according to one or more algorithms based on real-time performance requirements.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving and preprocessing includes receiving and preprocessing the request for service that is transmitted from the first network that is operated by at least one of a wireless wide area network (WAN) operator, a wireline network operator or an Internet service provider, and receiving and preprocessing the request for service that is transmitted to the second network that is operated by at least one of a wireless wide area network (WAN) operator, a wireline network operator or an Internet service provider.

12. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for configuring a request for service from a first network to a second network, said instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving and preprocessing the request for service that is transmitted from the first network to the second network, the first and second networks are operated by disparate network service providers;

instructions for determining a category of real-time performance requirement associated with handling the request for service according to a configuration provided by a network service provider of the first network and a network service provider specified policy based on at least one of a geographical location or geographical area associated with the service, wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for identifying different categories of real-time performance requirement for the service in different geographic locations or geographic areas; and

instructions for forwarding the request for service to the second network along with the category of real-time performance requirement for facilitating resource allocation of the second network based on the category.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions for determining a number of resources from the second network to be allocated for processing the request for service based on said category of real-time performance requirement determined by the first network.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions for determining a number of resources include instructions for allocating greater resources for the request for service classified as having high real-time performance requirements as compared to the request for service classified as having no or few real-time performance requirements.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for forwarding include instructions for storing the request for service in a buffer associated with the category of real-time performance requirement prior to handling the request for service by the second network.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for receiving and preprocessing the request for service include instructions for receiving and preprocessing a stream of Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and further comprising instructions for classifying each packet of the stream of IP packets.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for determining at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a very high real-time performance requirement category, a high real-time performance requirement category, a medium real-time performance requirement category or a low real-time performance requirement category.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for determining at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for services having interactive performance requirements.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for determining at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for services having a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for determining include instructions for determining at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for a service having a particular service ID or a selected subset of service IDs supported by the second network.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising, instructions for post-processing the request for service including the at least one category of real-time performance requirement along with other requests for services and associated categories in order to schedule processing of the request for service and the other requests for services according to one or more algorithms based on real-time performance requirements.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the post-processing instructions schedule processing of the request for service and the other requests for services according to the one or more algorithms that schedule services with high real-time performance requirements before services with low real-time performance requirements.

23. A network component for configuring a request for service from a first network to a second network, said network component comprising:

means for receiving and preprocessing the request for service that is transmitted from the first network to the second network operated by disparate network service providers;

means for classifying the request for service to determine at least one category of real-time performance requirement associated with handling the request for service according to a configuration provided by a network service provider of the first network and based in part on at least one of a geographical location or geographical area associated with the service, wherein the means for classifying identifies different categories of real-time performance for the service in different geographic locations or geographic areas; and

means for forwarding the request for service to the second network along with the at least one category of real-time performance requirement for facilitating resource allocation in the second network based on the at least one category.

24. The network component of claim 23, further comprising means for allocating resources from the second network to process the request for service based on said at least one category of real-time performance requirement.

25. The network component of claim 24, wherein the means for allocating resources allocates a greater number of resources for the request for service if classified as having high real-time performance requirements and allocates a fewer number of resources for the request for service if classified as having no or few real-time performance requirements.

26. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for forwarding includes means for storing the request for service associated with the at least one category of real-time performance requirement prior to handling of the request for service by the second network.

27. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for receiving and preprocessing at least one of receives or preprocesses a stream of Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and the means for classifying categorizes each packet of the stream of IP packets.

28. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for classifying determines the at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a very high real-time performance requirement category, a high real-time performance requirement category, a medium real-time performance requirement category or a low real-time performance requirement category.

29. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for classifying determines the at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for services having interactive performance requirements.

30. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for classifying determines the at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for services having a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement.

31. The network component of claim 23, wherein the means for classifying determines the at least one category of real-time performance requirement including a category for a service having a particular service ID or a selected subset of service IDs supported by the second network.

32. The network component of claim 23, further comprising, means for post-processing the request for service including the at least one category of real-time performance requirement along with other requests for services and associated categories in order to schedule processing of the request for service and the other requests for services according to an algorithm based on real-time performance requirements.

33. The network component of claim 32, wherein the means for post-processing schedules processing of the request for service and the other requests for services according to the algorithm that schedule services with high real-time performance requirements before services with low real-time performance requirements.