Method and system for ensuring service continuity in case of a proxy profile gateway failure or interruption

• US 9,264,922 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2008
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mobileum, Incorporated fka Roamware
• Original Assignee: Mobileum, Incorporated fka Roamware
• Inventors: Gillot, David, Jiang, John Yue Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Chuck
• Application Number:
  US12/270,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20090190468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,651 Days
• Field of Search: 455/432.3, 455/426.1, 455/424, 455/423
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/30 Network data restoration; Network data reliability; Network data fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention relate to methods, systems and computer products that guarantee the availability of basic services to subscribers during the failure of a Proxy-Profile Gateway. An independent module equipped with monitoring probes for tracking the actual location of the end-customer, an interface for controlling the Gateway availability, and an active SS7 signaling interface are also provided, in order to initiate the recovery procedures, along with a database for storing the relevant information necessary to apply the restoration procedures.

Claims

1. A method for ensuring restoration of Mobile-Originated (MO) and Mobile-Terminated (MT) services to an end-user of a network operator upon failure of a Proxy Profile Gateway, the method comprising:

determining a failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway, the failure rendering the Proxy Profile Gateway unavailable;

tracking, by a Proxy Saver, an actual location of the end-user by monitoring roaming signaling links between the Proxy Profile Gateway and all network end nodes;

removing, based on the tracking, the end-user from a list of end-users identified for restoration of MO and MT services when the restoration is no longer necessary based on a mobile-initiated procedure;

initiating restoration of MT and MO services to the end-user based on refreshing the actual location of the end-user in a stored profile at the Proxy Profile Gateway; and

monitoring the initiated restoration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway is detected via a handshake mechanism.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the initiated restoration further comprises:

upon detecting restoration failure, re-initiating the restoration.

4. A system for ensuring restoration of Mobile-Originated (MO) and Mobile-Terminated (MT) services to an end-user of a network operator upon failure of a Proxy Profile Gateway, the system comprising:

means for determining a failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway, the failure rendering the Proxy Profile Gateway unavailable;

means for tracking, by a Proxy Saver, an actual location of the end-user by monitoring roaming signaling links between the Proxy Profile Gateway and all network end nodes;

means for removing, based on the tracking, the end-user from a list of end-users identified for restoration of MO and MT services when the restoration is no longer necessary based on a mobile-initiated procedure;

means for initiating restoration of MT and MO services to the end-user based on refreshing the actual location of the end-user in a stored profile at the Proxy Profile Gateway; and

means for monitoring the initiated restoration.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway is detected via a handshake mechanism.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the means for monitoring the initiated restoration further comprises:

upon detecting restoration failure, re-initiating the restoration.

7. A system for ensuring restoration of Mobile-Originated (MO) and Mobile-Terminated (MT) services to an end-user of a network operator upon failure of a Proxy Profile Gateway, the system comprising:

a processor;

a user interface functioning via the processor; and

a repository accessible by the processor;

wherein a profile of the end-user is stored in the data repository; and

wherein the processor is configured to;

determine a failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway, the failure rendering the Proxy Profile Gateway unavailable;

track an actual location of the end-user by monitoring roaming signaling links between the Proxy Profile gateway and all network end nodes;

remove, based on the tracking, the end-user from a list of end-users identified for restoration of MO and MT services when the restoration is no longer necessary based on a mobile-initiated procedure;

initiate restoration of MT and MO services to the end-user based on refreshing the actual location of the end-user in the stored profile; and

monitor the initiated restoration.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is housed on a terminal.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the terminal is selected from a group consisting of a personal computer, a minicomputer, a main frame computer, a microcomputer, a hand-held device, and a telephonic device.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the processor is housed on a server.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the repository is housed on a server.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the server is coupled to a network.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the network is the Internet.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer-executable program tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium therein for causing a computer to ensure restoration of Mobile-Originated (MO) and Mobile-Terminated (MT) services to an end-user of a network operator upon failure of a Proxy Profile Gateway, the control logic comprising:

first computer-readable program code for detecting failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway, the failure rendering the Proxy Profile Gateway unavailable;

second computer-readable program code for tracking, by a Proxy Saver, an actual location of the end-user by monitoring roaming signaling links between the Proxy Profile Gateway and all network end nodes;

third computer-readable program code for removing, based on the tracking, the end-user from a list of end-users identified for restoration of MO and MT services when the restoration is no longer necessary based on a mobile-initiated procedure;

fourth computer-readable program code for initiating restoration of MT and MO services to the end-user based on refreshing the actual location of the end-user in a stored profile at the Proxy Profile Gateway; and

fifth computer-readable program code for monitoring the initiated restoration.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the failure of the Proxy Profile Gateway is detected via a handshake mechanism.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the fifth computer-readable program code for monitoring the initiated restoration further comprises:

upon detecting restoration failure, re-initiating the restoration.