Dynamic adjustment of bandwidth for providing increased bandwidth during business hours

• US 8,565,263 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2010
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: Scarborough, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUO, ANTHONY L
• Application Number:
  US12/824,689
• Publication Number:
  US 20110317717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 370/468, 370/259, 370/235, 370/389, 370/226, 370/338, 370/477, 709/203, 705/1, 724/29, 724/95, 375/240
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

Providing increased bandwidth to business subscribers during business hours. A determination is made whether a subscriber is eligible for application of a business boost. Business boost to the subscriber is activated when the subscriber is eligible for business boost. An increased bandwidth is provided to the activated subscriber during business hours to provide the business boost to the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method for providing increased bandwidth to business subscribers during business hours, comprising:

providing a plurality of bandwidth tier subscription plans having a plurality of increasing bandwidths, wherein a subscriber has a first bandwidth tier subscription plan having a first bandwidth;

determining whether the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is eligible for application of a business boost during business hours;

if the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is not eligible for application of the business boost during business hours, upgrading the subscriber to a second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost and having a second bandwidth; and

if the subscriber is upgraded to the second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost, activating business boost to the subscriber when the subscriber is eligible for the business boost during business hours and provisioning an increased bandwidth to the subscriber during business hours to provide the business boost to the subscriber,

wherein activating business boost comprises;

loading MAC address of the eligible subscriber into a bandwidth-on-demand server prior to a start time, scheduling the increased bandwidth to the eligible subscriber having the MAC address continuously during business hours, deloading the MAC address of the eligible subscriber from the bandwidth-on-demand server at a stop time, and re-scheduling the eligible subscriber having the MAC address deloaded back to the second bandwidth.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein activating business boost comprises setting the start time and the stop time for provisioning the increased bandwidth to the elgible subscriber.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the setting the start time and the stop time further comprises setting the start time for the elgible subscriber to receive the increased bandwidth at 7:

00 a.m. and setting the stop time for the elgible subscriber to revert back to contracted bandwidth at 7;

00 p.m.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth to the subscriber during business hours comprises provisioning the subscriber with a first downstream/upstream profile having the first bandwidth with the business boost to provide a second downstream/upstream profile having the second bandwidth during business hours, wherein the second bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth further comprises applying the increased bandwidth to all business boost subscribers across all time zones where the elgible subscriber is located.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth further comprises provisioning the increased bandwidth without any customer notification.

7. A system for providing increased bandwidth to business subscribers during business hours, comprising:

memory for storing data; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured;

to providing a plurality of bandwidth tier subscription plans having a plurality of increasing bandwidths, wherein a subscriber has a first bandwidth tier subscription plan having a first bandwidth,

to determine whether the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is eligible for application of a business boost,

if the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is not eligible for application of the business boost during business hours, to upgrade the subscriber to a second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost and having a second bandwidth, and

if the subscriber is upgraded to the second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost, to activate the business boost to the subscriber when the subscriber is eligible for the business boost and to provision the increased bandwidth to the subscriber during business hours to provide the business boost to the subscriber,

wherein activating business boost comprises;

loading MAC address of the eligible subscriber into a bandwidth-on-demand server prior to a start time, scheduling the increased bandwidth to the eligible subscriber having the MAC address continuously during business hours, deloading the MAC address of the eligible subscriber from the bandwidth-on-demand server at a stop time, and re-scheduling the eligible subscriber having the MAC address deloaded back to the second bandwidth.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the processor activates business boost by setting the start time and the stop time for provisioning the increased bandwidth to the subscriber.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor sets the start time and the stop time by setting the start time for the subscriber to receive the increased bandwidth at 7:

00 a.m. and by setting the stop time for the subscriber to revert back to contracted bandwidth at 7;

00 p.m.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth further comprises applying the increased bandwidth to all business boost subscribers across all time zones where the elgible subscriber is located.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth further comprises provisioning the increased bandwidth without any customer notification.

12. A system for providing increased bandwidth to business subscribers during business hours, comprising:

a cable modem for providing a first bandwidth for communication of data across a network according to a first configuration file stored therein that is associated with a first bandwidth tier subscription plan having the first bandwidth; and

a service provider, coupled to the cable modem, for providing the network and for controlling access to data across the network, the service provider further including a policy server for applying business rules for determining whether the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is eligible for business boost during business hours and a bandwidth-on-demand server that controls bandwidth increases for an eligible subscriber by providing the cable modem with a second configuration file associated with a second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost to provide a second, increased bandwidth during business hours for providing the business boost to the cable modem,

wherein providing the business boost comprises;

loading MAC address of the eligible subscriber into the bandwidth-on-demand server prior to a start time, scheduling the increased bandwidth to the eligible subscriber having the MAC address continuously during business hours, deloading the MAC address of the eligible subscriber from the bandwidth-on-demand server at a stop time, and re-scheduling the eligible subscriber having the MAC address deloaded back to the first bandwidth.

13. The system of claim 12 further comprises a cable modem termination system device, coupled to the policy server, for performing admission control and network resource management.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the policy server is further configured to manage relationships between application managers and the cable modem termination system device.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the policy server is further configured to act as a policy decision point and as a policy enforcement point.

16. A memory including executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, provides an increased bandwidth to business subscribers by:

providing a plurality of bandwidth tier subscription plans having a plurality of increasing bandwidths, wherein a subscriber has a first bandwidth tier subscription plan having a first bandwidth;

determining whether the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is eligible for application of a business boost during business hours;

if the first bandwidth tier subscription plan is not eligible for application of the business boost during business hours, upgrading the subscriber to a second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost and having a second bandwidth; and

if the subscriber is upgraded to the second bandwidth tier subscription plan supporting the business boost, activating business boost to the subscriber when the subscriber is eligible for the business boost during business hours and provisioning the increased bandwidth to the subscriber during business hours to provide the business boost to the subscriber,

wherein activating business boost comprises;

loading MAC address of the eligible subscriber into a bandwidth-on-demand server prior to a start time, scheduling the increased bandwidth to the eligible subscriber having the MAC address continuously during business hours, deloading the MAC address of the eligible subscriber from the bandwidth-on-demand server at a stop time, and re-scheduling the eligible subscriber having the MAC address deloaded back to the second bandwidth.

17. The memory of claim 16, wherein activating business boost comprises setting the start time and the stop time for provisioning the increased bandwidth to the subscriber.

18. The memory of claim 17, wherein the setting the start time and the stop time further comprises setting the start time for the subscriber to receive the increased bandwidth at 7:

00 a.m. and setting the stop time for the subscriber to revert back to contracted bandwidth at 7;

00 p.m.

19. The memory of claim 16, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth to the subscriber during business hours comprises provisioning the subscriber with a first downstream/upstream profile having the first bandwidth with the business boost to provide a second downstream/upstream profile having the second bandwidth during business hours, wherein the second bandwidth is greater than the first bandwidth.

20. The memory of claim 16, wherein the provisioning the increased bandwidth further comprises applying the increased bandwidth to all business boost subscribers across all time zones where the elgible subscriber is located.