Traffic differentiated network services

• US 7,979,564 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Breau, Jeremy R., Santharam, Arun, Bertz, Lyle T., Rogers, Frederick C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky; Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US11/949,498
• Publication Number:
  US 20090144433A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/228, 709200-203, 709217-227, 370/331, 370/351, 370/395.3, 455/432.1, 455/433, 455/435.1
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/30 Network data restoration; Network data reliability; Network data fault tolerance

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable medium are provided for efficiently providing network services to client devices based on the network traffic to be communicated between the device and the network. A system is provided that includes a number of home agents configured to provide network services to mobile nodes. The system is configured in such a way that at least one of the mobile nodes may be served by more than one of the home agents. Thereby, for example, a certain mobile node may be provided voice service via one home agent and email messages via another.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having computer-usable instructions embodied thereon for performing a method of enabling network sessions between a client device and a network, the method comprising:

transmitting a network registration request message to the network to initiate a first network session, wherein the network registration request message includes an indication of a particular class of network traffic to be transmitted over the first network session and utilized by the network to assign a first home agent to support the first network session, wherein classes of network traffic are distinguished by packet transmission characteristics of each class of network traffic, wherein the first home agent is optimized to efficiently handle a first class of network traffic, and wherein the first home agent is selected based on a correspondence between the first class of network traffic and the particular class of network traffic indicated in the network registration request message; and

receiving a network registration response message from the network.

2. The media of claim 1, the method further comprising:

transmitting a second network registration request message to the network to initiate a second network session, wherein the second network registration request message includes an indication of a second particular class of network traffic to be transmitted over the second network session concurrently with the particular class of network layer traffic being transmitted over the first network session, wherein the second particular class of network traffic is different than the particular class of network traffic; and

receiving a second network registration response message from the network, wherein a second home agent is assigned to support the second network session for the client device concurrently with the first home agent that supports the first network session for the client device, wherein the second home agent is specialized to efficiently handle a second class of network traffic, and wherein the second home agent is selected based on a correspondence between the second class of network traffic and the second particular class of network traffic indicated in the network registration request message.

3. The media of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises determining that the second network session between the client device and the network is desirable based on the second particular class of network traffic to be transmitted over the second network session.

4. The media of claim 3, wherein the network comprises an IP network.

5. The media of claim 3, wherein the client device comprises a mobile node.

6. The media of claim 5, wherein at least one of said first network session and said second network session comprises a Mobile IP session.

7. A computer implemented method for enabling network sessions between a mobile node and a network, the method comprising:

receiving a network registration request from the mobile node to initiate a network session, wherein the network registration request includes an indication of a particular type of application layer traffic to be transmitted over the network session, wherein types of application layer traffic are classified by one or more of

(A) a type of application that resides on the mobile node and uses the application layer traffic, or

(B) a type of media used by an application that resides on the mobile node and uses the application layer traffic;

selecting a first home agent by trial and error by

(A) sending the network registration request to one of a plurality of home agents, wherein each of said plurality of home agents is specialized to efficiently handle a type of application layer traffic associated with that home agent, wherein

(i) if the one home agent is not specialized to efficiently handle the particular type of application layer traffic, the one home agent rejects the network registration request, and

(ii) if the one home agent is specialized to efficiently handle the particular type of application layer traffic, the one home agent accepts the network registration request, and

(B) when the one home agent rejects the registration request, then sending the registration request to one or more other of the plurality of home agents until one of the other home agents that is specialized to efficiently handle the particular type of application layer traffic accepts the registration request;

receiving a network registration response from the first home agent indicating that the network registration request is accepted; and

transmitting the network registration response to the mobile node.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the indication of the particular type of network traffic comprises a MIME Type.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 7, the method further comprising:

receiving a second network registration request from the mobile node, wherein the second network registration request includes an indication of a second particular type of application layer traffic to be transmitted over a second network session concurrently with the particular type of application layer traffic being transmitted over the first network session, wherein the second particular type of application layer traffic is different than the particular type of application layer traffic;

selecting a second home agent from the plurality of home agents, wherein each of said plurality of home agents is specialized to efficiently handle a different type of application layer traffic than the other home agents in said plurality of home agents, and wherein the second home agent is selected at least because the type of application layer traffic the second home agent is specialized to efficiently handle corresponds to the second particular type of application layer traffic that is indicated in the second network registration request;

assigning the second home agent to support the second network session;

transmitting the second network registration request to the second home agent;

receiving a second network registration response from the second home agent; and

transmitting the second network registration response to the mobile node.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least one of said indication of the particular type of application layer traffic and said indication of the second particular type of application layer traffic comprises a MIME Type.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least one of said first network session and said second network session comprises a Mobile IP session.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the network registration request further comprises an indication of a version of a client application intending to communicate with the network;

and

wherein the method further comprises

(A) determining that a newer version of the client application is available, and

(B) transmitting an upgrade notification message, indicating that the newer version of the client application is available.