Regulating network service levels provided to communication terminals through a LAN access point
First Claim
1. A method of regulating network services provided by network access points to a plurality of communication terminals, the method comprising:
- maintaining, by at least one network service provider system, subscriber information defining which of a plurality of network service levels is allocated to the communication terminals;
regulating network service levels provided by the network access points to the communication terminals in response to the subscriber information; and
determining that a communication terminal is roaming by receiving from the communication terminal an access request at a network access point of a first network subscriber who has registered with the at least one network service provider system to receive a first network service level;
determining that the communication terminal is associated with a second network subscriber who has registered with the at least one network service provider system and is allocated a second network service level;
obtaining information identifying the second network service level from subscriber information maintained by the second network service provider system; and
regulating the network access point of the first network subscriber to provide the second network service level to the communication terminal, comprising allocating excess bandwidth that is not otherwise used by one or more home communication terminals of the second network subscriber.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Network services provided by network access points to a plurality of communication terminals are regulated. Subscriber information that defines which of a plurality of network service levels is allocated to the communication terminals is maintained by at least one network service provider system. Network service levels that are provided by the network access points to the communication terminals are regulated in response to the subscriber information. A network access point may thereby be regulated to provide different levels of network service to different communication terminals. Moreover, a communication terminal may obtain a level of network service that may be based upon that provided by a home network service provider with which it is registered while the communication terminal is roaming through a different network service provider.
41 Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A method of regulating network services provided by network access points to a plurality of communication terminals, the method comprising:
-
maintaining, by at least one network service provider system, subscriber information defining which of a plurality of network service levels is allocated to the communication terminals; regulating network service levels provided by the network access points to the communication terminals in response to the subscriber information; and determining that a communication terminal is roaming by receiving from the communication terminal an access request at a network access point of a first network subscriber who has registered with the at least one network service provider system to receive a first network service level; determining that the communication terminal is associated with a second network subscriber who has registered with the at least one network service provider system and is allocated a second network service level; obtaining information identifying the second network service level from subscriber information maintained by the second network service provider system; and regulating the network access point of the first network subscriber to provide the second network service level to the communication terminal, comprising allocating excess bandwidth that is not otherwise used by one or more home communication terminals of the second network subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A local area network access point comprising:
-
a registration controller that is configured to receive access requests from communication terminals, to communicate the access requests to a first network service provider system, and to receive network service level information from the first network service provider system in response to the access requests, wherein the registration controller is further configured to determine that a communication terminal, which is requesting access to the local area network access point is not registered with the first network service provider system, and, in response to the determination, to request network service level information from a second network service provider system via the first network service provider system; a bandwidth allocation controller that is configured to allocate different levels of maximum communication bandwidth to different communication terminals communicating with the local area network access point in response to the network service level information, wherein the bandwidth allocation controller is further configured to obtain information identifying a network service level for the communication terminal from subscriber information maintained by the second network service provider system, and to regulate the network access point to provide the network service level to the communication terminal, comprising allocating excess bandwidth that is not otherwise used by one or more home communication terminals of a network subscriber associated with the communication terminal; and a bandwidth enforcement controller that is configured to constrain communications between the local area network access point and each of the communication terminals to no more than the allocated levels of maximum communication bandwidth, wherein the local area network access point is a subscriber of the first network service provider system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
Specification