Generic provisioning of voice over internet protocol (VoIP)

• US 8,134,999 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2005
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ong, Piu Piu, Brenes, Manrique, Chang, Ray, Dang, Luan, Gutman, Andrew M., Koh, Yutai T., Willis, Edward Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Joseph J
• Application Number:
  US11/099,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20060221940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,534 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/389, 370/401, 370/222, 379/355.02, 379/88.2, 379/88.19, 379/88.21, 379/127.06, 379/207.15
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2874 Processing of data for distribution to the subscribers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0087 Network planning or provisioning

Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a provisioning method for establishing a telecommunications service including the operations of sending a resynchronization message to a user terminal unit, redirecting the resynchronization message to a customer premises equipment (CPE) unit, acquiring the configuration server network address from the resynchronization message, connecting the CPE unit through the network to a configuration server specified in the configuration server network address, receiving subscriber configuration data from the configuration server; and initializing the CPE unit with the received subscriber configuration data to establish service between the CPE unit and the telecommunications service provider.

Claims

1. A customer premises equipment (CPE) apparatus, comprising:

a first communications unit adapted to send and receive messages over a public wide area network (WAN), including the Internet, the first communications unit being adapted to;

establish a transport layer security (TLS) connection with an initialization server using optional TLS functions to send the initialization server a non-generic CPE device certificate, wherein

the non-generic CPE device certificate includes extended information that uniquely identifies the particular CPE apparatus; and

the non-generic CPE device certificate is issued by the CPE supplier;

send a first request message to the initialization server at an initialization server address over the public WAN,

receive a first response message from the initialization server over the public WAN comprising a configuration server address,

send a second request message to a configuration server at the configuration server address over the public WAN, and

receive a second response message from the configuration server over the public WAN comprising a subscriber configuration data;

a memory unit adapted to store and retrieve information including the initialization server address, the initialization server address being stored in the memory unit prior to sending the request message to the initialization server; and

a processing unit adapted to;

control the sending and receiving of messages through the first communications unit,

retrieve the initialization server address from the memory unit wherein the processing unit automatically retrieves the initialization server address from the memory unit after connection of the CPE apparatus to the public WAN, and wherein;

according to a scenario termed voice-service-provider (VSP)-locked-provisioned-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the initialization server,

acquires the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-locked-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

notifies a user that connection to the initialization server is rejected,

acquires the configuration server address from a resynchronization message from a provisioning server to a user terminal that redirects the resynchronization message to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires an updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-provisioned-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider; and

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires the updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the exchange of messages between the CPE apparatus and the initialization server establishes a secure connection between the CPE apparatus and the initialization server over the public WAN.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the memory unit of the CPE apparatus includes a CPE encryption certificate for exchange with the initialization server to establish the secure connection between the CPE apparatus and the initialization server over the public WAN.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the processing unit of the CPE apparatus authenticates an initialization server encryption certificate to establish the secure connection between the CPE apparatus and the initialization server over the public WAN.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the public WAN conforms to Internet Protocol (IP) for sending and receiving messages over the public WAN.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a terminal adapter configured to convert signals from a user interface into messages that are sent through the CPE apparatus over the public WAN and to convert messages received from the public WAN through the CPE apparatus into signals to the user interface.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the service provider is a voice service provider (VSP), and wherein the user interface includes a telephone.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the service provider is an Internet based service carrier, and wherein the user interface is a computer.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the user interface includes a video monitor for receiving a video signal input and producing one of a visual and an auditory output.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a camera operatively connected to the terminal adapter, the camera capturing a visual image and producing a video signal output, the terminal adapter receiving the video signal output and producing at least one message for sending over the network.

11. A method of establishing service between a customer premises equipment (CPE) unit and a service provider, comprising:

connecting the CPE unit to a public wide area network (WAN), including the Internet;

automatically retrieving an initialization server network address from a local memory unit that identifies the network location of a service provider initialization server;

establishing a transport layer security (TLS) connection with the initialization server using optional TLS functions to send the initialization server a non-generic CPE device certificate, wherein

the non-generic CPE device certificate includes extended information that uniquely identifies the particular CPE apparatus; and

the non-generic CPE device certificate is issued by the CPE supplier;

accessing the initialization server over the public WAN using the retrieved initialization server network address;

according to a scenario termed voice-service-provider (VSP)-locked-provisioned-new-subscriber;

acquiring the configuration server address from the initialization server,

acquiring the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-locked-new-subscriber;

notifying a user that connection to the initialization server is rejected,

acquiring the configuration server address from a resynchronization message from a provisioning server to a user terminal that redirects the resynchronization message to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquiring an updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-provisioned-new-subscriber;

acquiring the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquiring the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider; and

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-new-subscriber;

acquiring the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquiring the updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the service provider is a voice service provider (VSP).

13. A customer premises equipment (CPE) apparatus, comprising:

a first communications unit adapted to send and receive messages over a public wide area network (WAN), including the Internet, the first communications unit being adapted to receive a resynchronization message including a configuration server address over the public WAN, send a request message to a configuration server at a configuration server address over the public WAN, and receive a response message from the configuration server comprising a configuration data over the public WAN;

a second communications unit adapted to send and receive messages with the first communications unit and over a local area network (LAN), the second communications unit receiving the resynchronization message from the first communications unit and passing the resynchronization message to a user terminal, the second communications unit receiving the resynchronization message redirected from the user terminal;

a processing unit adapted to;

control the sending and receiving of messages through the first communications unit and the second communications unit, the processing unit initializing the CPE apparatus with the configuration data to establish service with a service provider, wherein the processing unit automatically retrieves an initialization server address from the memory unit after connection of the CPE apparatus to the public WAN, the processing unit establish a transport layer security (TLS) connection with an initialization server using optional TLS functions to send the initialization server a non-generic CPE device certificate, wherein the non-generic CPE device certificate includes extended information that uniquely identifies the particular CPE apparatus; and

the non-generic CPE device certificate is issued by the CPE supplier, and the processing unit sends a request message to the initialization server through the first communications unit; and

wherein;

according to a scenario termed voice-service-provider (VSP)-locked-provisioned-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the initialization server,

acquires the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-locked-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

notifies a user that connection to the initialization server is rejected,

acquires the configuration server address from a resynchronization message from a provisioning server to a user terminal that redirects the resynchronization message to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires an updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-provisioned-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider; and

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-new-subscriber, the processing unit;

acquires the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquires the updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializes the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider; and

a memory unit adapted store and retrieve information including the initialization server address, the initialization server address being stored in the memory unit prior to sending the request message to the initialization server.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the service provider is a voice service provider (VSP).

15. A method of establishing service between a customer premises equipment (CPE) unit and a service provider, comprising:

at the CPE unit, connecting the CPE unit to a public wide area network (WAN), the CPE unit configured to send and receive messages over the public WAN;

at the CPE unit, automatically executing an internal operation to retrieve a stored network address for a service provider initialization server when the CPE unit is connected to the public WAN;

at the CPE unit, establishing a transport layer security (TLS) connection with the initialization server using optional TLS functions to send the initialization server a non-generic CPE device certificate, wherein

the non-generic CPE device certificate includes extended information that uniquely identifies the particular CPE apparatus; and

the non-generic CPE device certificate is issued by the CPE supplier;

at the CPE unit, accessing the service provider initialization server;

according to a scenario termed voice-service-provider (VSP)-locked-provisioned-new-subscriber, at the CPE unit;

acquiring the configuration server address from the initialization server,

acquiring the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-locked-new-subscriber, at the CPE unit;

notifying a user that connection to the initialization server is rejected,

acquiring the configuration server address from a resynchronization message from a provisioning server to a user terminal that redirects the resynchronization message to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal, and

acquiring an updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address;

initializing the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider;

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-provisioned-new-subscriber, at the CPE unit;

acquiring the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquiring the subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider; and

according to a scenario termed VSP-portal-new-subscriber, at the CPE unit;

acquiring the configuration server address from the resynchronization message from the provisioning server redirected to the CPE apparatus from the user terminal,

acquiring the updated subscriber configuration data from the configuration server using the configuration server address; and

initializing the CPE apparatus with the updated subscriber configuration data to establish service with a service provider.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the service provider is a voice service provider (VSP).

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the user terminal and the CPE communicate over a local area network (LAN).

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

detecting whether the public network is active; and

opening a secure connection with the initialization server.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein opening a secure connection further comprises:

exchanging security certificates including encrypted information, a CPE security certificate including device specific information to allow a service provider initialization server to verify whether a specific CPE is authorized; and

mutually authenticating the validity of the exchanged security certificates,

wherein the secure connection with the initialization server is closed if one of the CPE unit and the initialization server fail in mutual authentication.