Secured remote management of a home network

• US 8,874,741 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Hassan, Omar, Hodroj, Samir M., Velusamy, Senthil Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US12/692,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20110125898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,740 Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A home router and remote service provider configured to establish a network tunnel and utilize the network tunnel to remotely manage the home router are disclosed herein. The home router and remote service provider may also utilize the network tunnel to remotely manage at least one other device that is locally connected or coupled to the home router.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

establishing a network tunnel between a home router and a remote service provider;

sending a schema with home network information from the home router to the remote service provider, the schema including diagnostic information associated with a malfunction of the home router or at least one other device that is locally connected to the home router or locally coupled to the home router; and

in response to sending the schema, receiving via the network tunnel remote management of the home router and the at least one other device, wherein the remote management includes a repair of the malfunction of the home router or the at least one other device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote management further includes at least one of maintaining, updating, configuring, provisioning, or analytics.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the network tunnel by sending a request from the home router to the remote service provider.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising performing the initiating in response to receiving an activation of a control associated with the home router.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising performing the initiating in response to receiving a message from the remote service provider.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a status report from the home router to the remote service provider.

7. A home router comprising:

a processor;

a physical control communicatively coupled to the processor for initiating a network tunnel between the home router and a remote service provider; and

a plurality of executable instructions communicatively coupled to the control and operated by the processor to configure the home router to perform operations including;

initiating the network tunnel with the remote service provider in response to an activation of the control;

establishing the network tunnel between the home router and the remote service provider;

sending a schema with home network information from the home router to the remote service provider; and

receiving via the network tunnel at least one of commands or data from the remote service provider for management of the home router and at least one other device that is locally connected or coupled to the home router, wherein the commands or data for management include repairs, updates, configurations, maintenance, provisioning, and analytics.

8. The home router of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise sending a status report from the home router to the remote service provider.

9. The home router of claim 7, wherein the home router and the at least one other device form a home network.

10. The home router of claim 7, further comprising additional executable instructions operated by the processor to configure the home router to initiate the network tunnel with the remote service provider in response to receiving a message from the remote service provider.

11. The home router of claim 10, wherein the remote service provider includes a remote management service and a messaging service, the remote management service directing the messaging service to transmit the message to the home router.

12. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon and configured to program a home router to perform operations comprising:

establishing a network tunnel between a home router and a remote service provider;

sending a schema with home network information from the home router to the remote service provider, the schema including diagnostic information associated with a malfunction of the home router or at least one other device that is locally connected to the home router or locally coupled to the home router; and

in response to sending the schema, receiving via the network tunnel remote management of the home router and the at least one other device, wherein the remote management includes a repair of the malfunction of the home router or the at least one other device.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the remote management further includes at least one of maintaining, updating, configuring, provisioning, or analytics.

14. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise initiating the network tunnel by sending a request from the home router to the remote service provider.

15. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise performing the initiating in response to receiving an activation of a control associated with the home router.

16. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise performing the initiating in response to receiving a message from the remote service provider.

17. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the remote service provider includes a remote management service and a messaging service, the remote management service directing the messaging service to transmit the message to the home router.

18. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise sending a status report from the home router to the remote service provider.

19. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein the home router and the at least one other device form a home network.