Subscriber management system for a communication network

• US 8,126,428 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2008
• Issued: 02/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clearwire Ip Holdings LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Clearwire Corporation (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Gelbman, Peter, Sewell, Jeffrey, Winter, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): MILLER, BRANDON J
• Application Number:
  US12/186,451
• Publication Number:
  US 20090042537A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,302 Days
• Field of Search: 455405-408, 455/414.1, 455418-420, 455/426.1, 455410-411, 370/338, 370/328, 370/352, 370/230, 370354-356
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1425 involving dedicated fields in the data packet for billing purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1428 Invoice generation, e.g. customization, lay-out, database processing, algorithms for calculating the bill or formatting invoices as WWW pages invoicing in general G06Q30/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks

Abstract

A subscriber management system for a communication system having a radio access network coupled to by a gateway node to a packet switched network. The system consolidates three prior art subscriber management system components, a DPI device, a QoS Policy Manager 40, and an Application Manager 28, into a DPI platform. The system also relocates functions to the DPI platform that were previously provided by the gateway node in prior art networks. Specifically, an Accounting Client 34, a Hotlining function 36, and a QoS SFA function 44 are located to the DPI platform. By consolidating network components and relocating functions to the DPI platform, the number of control interfaces in the network can be reduced. Further, network components produced by different vendors may be integrated more easily. A method of implementing hotlining in the system is also provided.

Claims

1. A communication system comprising:

a packet switched network comprising an accounting server, and a deep packet inspection (“

DPI”

) platform, the packet switched network being configured to provide an accounting interface between the accounting server and the DPI platform; and

a radio access network coupled to the packet switched network by a gateway node, the radio access network being configured to provide wireless access to the packet switched network to a plurality of mobile stations, the packet switched network comprising a first data interface between the gateway node and the DPI platform,

the DPI platform comprising a DPI function configured to examine data packets received from the gateway node over the first data interface and to detect accounting triggers in the data packets examined, the DPI platform further comprising an accounting client function configured to transmit accounting messages based on the accounting triggers detected to the accounting server over the accounting interface, the accounting server being configured to receive the accounting messages transmitted over the accounting interface and generate billing information based on the accounting messages received.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the gateway node does not have any control interfaces with the accounting server.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the bandwidth usage report is generated for each of the plurality of mobile stations based on how many data packets where transmitted over the first data interface between the gateway node and the DPI platform by the mobile station.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting client function is further configured to generate a bandwidth usage report and transmit the bandwidth usage report to the accounting server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the data packets transmitted over the first data interface has a type, and the accounting client function is further configured for each of the plurality of mobile stations, to determine a quantity of each type of packet transmitted over the first data interface over a predetermined time period and to inform the accounting server over the accounting interface of the quantity of each type of packet determined.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the accounting server is further configured to generate billing information for each of the plurality of mobile stations based on the quantity of each type of packet transmitted over the first data interface over the predetermined time period.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a duration is required to transmit each of the data packets over the first data interface, each of the data packets has a type, and the accounting client function is further configured for each of the plurality of mobile stations, to determine a total duration required to transmit the packets of each type over the first data interface over a predetermined time period and to inform the accounting server over the accounting interface of the total duration required to transmit the packets of each type.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the accounting server is further configured to generate billing information for each of the plurality of mobile stations based on the total duration required to transmit the packets of each type over the first data interface.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the packet switched network further comprises a core router configured to route data packets on the packet switched network, and a second data interface between the DPI platform and the core router, the DPI function being further configured to examine data packets received from the core router over the second data interface.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting triggers comprise accounting messages generated by the gateway node and transmitted thereby in data packets over the first data interface.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting server comprises a user profile associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations,

each of the plurality of mobile stations is configured to send a service request to the DPI platform via the gateway node and the first data interface, and

the DPI platform further comprises a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) Policy Manager configured to receive the user profile associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations from the accounting server and for each of the plurality of mobile stations, use the user profile associated therewith to evaluate the service request sent by the mobile station and based on the evaluation, to implement service flow authorization with respect to the service request.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting server comprises a user profile associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations,

each of the plurality of mobile stations is configured to send a service request to the DPI platform via the gateway node and the first data interface,

the DPI platform is configured to receive the service requests and transmit them to the accounting server over the accounting interface,

the accounting server is configured to analyze the service requests, and based on the analysis, identify particular ones of the plurality of mobile stations for hotlining, and

the DPI platform further comprises a hotlining function configured to hotline the particular ones of the plurality of mobile stations identified to a predetermined destination address.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication system is coupled to an external packet switched network by a second data interface coupled between the external packet switched network and the DPI platform, and

the DPI function is configured to examine data packets transmitted over the second data interface.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the packet switched network further comprises a plurality of application servers and the DPI platform further comprises an Application Manager configured to manage communications between the plurality of mobile stations and the plurality of application servers.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the accounting server comprises a user profile associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations,

each of the plurality of mobile stations is configured to send a service request to the DPI platform via the gateway node and the first data interface,

the packet switched network further comprises a plurality of application servers,

the DPI platform further comprises an Application Manager configured to manage communications between the plurality of mobile stations and the plurality of application servers, and

the DPI platform further comprises a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) Policy Manager configured to receive the user profile associated with each of the plurality of mobile stations from the accounting server and for each of the plurality of mobile stations, use the user profile associated therewith to evaluate the service request sent by the mobile station and based on the evaluation, and to inform the Application Manager of a level of service to implement with respect to communications related to each of the service requests, the Application Manager being configured to implement the level of service with respect to communications related to each of the service requests.

16. A communication system for use with a mobile station comprising:

a radio access network comprising a gateway node configured to couple the radio access network to a packet switched network, the radio access network being wirelessly coupled to the mobile station, the gateway node of the radio access network being configured to receive an access request message from the mobile station; and

the packet switched network comprising an accounting server, a deep packet inspection (“

DPI”

) platform, and a core router, the packet switched network comprising a first data interface between the gateway node of the radio access network and the DPI platform, the gateway node being configured to transmit the access request message to the DPI platform over the first data interface,

the DPI platform comprising a DPI function configured to examine data packets received from the gateway node over the first data interface, and a Network-Access-Server (“

NAS”

) configured to receive the access request message and transmit the access request message to the accounting server, the accounting server being configured to receive the request and in response to receiving the request, determine whether to hotline the mobile station,

when the determination is made to hotline the mobile station, the accounting server being configured to transmit an accept message to the NAS, the accept message including an attribute ignored by the NAS, the NAS being configured to allow the mobile station to use of the packet switched network, the DPI function being configured to use the attribute ignored by the NAS to determine permissible network destinations for the mobile station and to inform the core router of the permissible network destinations, and the core router being configured to implement Service Flow Enforcement (“

SFE”

) by routing the mobile station to only the permissible network destinations.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the gateway node does not have any control interfaces with the accounting server.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the gateway node does not have any control interfaces with the core router.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the DPI platform includes a Service-Flow-Authorization (“

SFA”

) function configured to inform the core router of the permissible network destinations for implementing SFE.

20. The system of claim 16 for use with a mobile station configured to request access to an internet address using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“

HTTP”

), wherein when the determination is made to hotline the mobile station, and the mobile station requests access to an internet address using HTTP, the permissible network destinations include a policy-defined portal web page.

21. The system of claim 20 for use with a mobile station further configured to successfully complete an account authorization using the policy-defined portal web page, wherein following successful completion of the account authorization by the mobile station, the accounting server is configured to inform the DPI platform that the mobile station is authorized to use the packet switched network, and the DPI is further configured to inform the core router that the mobile station is authorized to use the packet switched network.

22. The system of claim 16 for use with a mobile station configured to request access to an internet address using a protocol other than Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“

HTTP”

), wherein the accounting server determines whether to hotline the mobile station based on whether the mobile station is authorized to use the packet switched network, and

when the mobile station is not authorized to use the packet switched network, and the mobile station requests access using the protocol other than HTTP, the core router is configured to allow the request to time out.

23. A communication system for use with a mobile station comprising:

a radio access network comprising a gateway node, the radio access network being configured to communicate wirelessly with the mobile station,

a packet switched network comprising a deep packet inspection (“

DPI”

) platform, a first data interface between the gateway node of the radio access network and the DPI platform, and an accounting server comprising a user profile associated with the mobile station, the DPI platform comprising a DPI function configured to examine data packets received from the gateway node over the first data interface to identify a service request transmitted by the mobile station via the gateway node, and a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) Policy Manager configured to receive the user profile associated with the mobile station from the accounting server and use the user profile to evaluate the service request and based on the evaluation, to implement service flow authorization with respect to the service request.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is configured to implement service flow authorization locally on the DPI platform.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is configured to receive the user profile associated with the mobile station from the accounting server by downloading the user profile from the accounting server when the mobile station initiates a session with the packet switched network.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the gateway node does not have any control interfaces with the accounting server.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is further configured to based on the evaluation of the user profile, determine a level of service to implement with respect to the service request.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is configured to implement the level of service with respect to the service request.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is configured to implement the level of service with respect to the service request locally on the DPI platform.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the packet switched network further comprises a plurality of application servers and the DPI platform further comprises an Application Manager configured to implement service flow authorization with respect to the service request by managing communications between the mobile station and the plurality of application servers.

31. The system of claim 23, wherein the QoS Policy Manager is further configured to based on the evaluation of the user profile, determine a level of service to implement with respect to the service request,

the packet switched network further comprises a plurality of application servers, and

the DPI platform further comprises an Application Manager configured to implement the level of service determined with respect to the service request by managing communications between the mobile station and the plurality of application servers.

32. The system of claim 31 for use with a plurality of different mobile stations coupled to the radio access network and communicating with the packet switched network via the gateway node and the first data interface, wherein the DPI platform further comprises an Application Manager configured to implement the level of service determined with respect to the service request by managing communications between the plurality of different mobile stations and the plurality of application servers.