Method and system for efficient use of a telecommunication network and the connection between the telecommunications network and a customer premises equipment

• US 9,332,579 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2011
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
• Original Assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
• Inventors: Scherer, Christoph, Ebling, Holger
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzlo, John
• Application Number:
  US13/805,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20130100913A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,778 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/389, 370/386, 370/392, 370/397
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2887 characterised by the offered subscriber services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method for efficient establishing or configuring a connection between a telecommunications network and a customer premises equipment (CPE) via an access node includes: establishing a physical communication channel between the access; node of the telecommunications network and the CPE; providing a public or private Internet Protocol (IP) address to the CPE for use by the CPE to communicate with an IP Edge node of the telecommunications network; initially assigning a first functionality level to the public or private IP address; and assigning a second functionality level to the public or private IP address, when the telecommunications network is able to federate a network access related identification information to a contract related identification information.

Claims

1. A method for efficiently establishing or configuring a connection between a telecommunications network and a customer premises equipment (CPE) via an access node, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a physical communication channel between the access node of the telecommunications network and the CPE, the physical communication channel being assigned to a network access-related identification information related to the access node;

providing, by the telecommunications network, a public or private Internet Protocol (IP) address to the CPE for use by the CPE to communicate with an IP Edge node of the telecommunications network, the IP address being associated with the network access-related identification information and an IP session or connection realizing a logical communication channel being initiated between the IP Edge node of the telecommunications network and the CPE, wherein the IP Edge node is a routing device having a plurality of access and permission rules regarding different IP addresses on different virtual interfaces, wherein the logical communication channel corresponds to the IP session or connection;

initially assigning, by the telecommunications network, a first functionality level to the public or private IP address; and

assigning, by the telecommunications network, a second functionality level to the public or private IP address, when the telecommunications network is able to relate the network access-related identification information to a contract-related identification information, wherein the network access-related identification information is a port ID information and/or a line ID information and wherein the contract-related identification information corresponds to a user, and wherein relating the network access-related identification information to the contract-related identification information comprises an authentication based on a Network Attachment Subsystem (NASS) of an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) of the telecommunications network, wherein the authentication uses the NASS of the telecommunications network for authenticating an application session.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the logical communication channel is established by using at least one piece of authentication information, the at least one piece of authentication information being a trusted information existing within the telecommunications network.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the authentication based on a NASS comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications network comprises the IP Edge node and a control function, wherein the control function is realized by a centralized authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) function or an associated AAA node, and wherein the contract-related identification information to enable the second functionality level is sent to the control function after relating the network access-related identification information to the contract-related identification information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein a token or a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) linked to the token is used during the authentication.

6. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the IP Edge node controls the communication between the CPE and the IP Edge node via the access node of the telecommunications network according to the first or second functionality level, wherein the IP Edge node controls which IP addresses and functions are accessible by the CPE on Layer 3 and Layer 4 of the OSI-Model, and wherein based on information received from the control function, the functionality level associated with the network access-related identification information is changed.

7. A telecommunications network provided for efficient establishment or configuration of a connection between the telecommunications network and a customer premises equipment (CPE) via an access node, the telecommunications network comprising:

a plurality of network nodes; and

a physical communication channel between the access node of the telecommunications network and the CPE, the physical communication link being associated to a network access-related identification information related to the access node;

wherein the telecommunications network is configured to provide a public or private Internet Protocol (IP) address to the CPE for use by the CPE to communicate with an IP Edge node of the telecommunications network, the IP address being associated with the network access-related identification information and an IP session or connection realizing a logical communication channel being initiated between the IP Edge node and the CPE), wherein the IP Edge node is a routing device having a plurality of access and permission rules regarding different IP addresses on different virtual interfaces, wherein the logical communication channel corresponds to the IP session or connection;

wherein the telecommunications network is configured to initially assign a first functionality level to the public or private IP address; and

wherein the telecommunications network is configured to assign a second functionality level to the public or private IP address when the telecommunications network is able to relate the network access-related identification information to a contract-related identification information, wherein relating the network access-related identification information to the contract-related identification information comprises an authentication based on a Network Attachment Subsystem (NASS) of an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) of the telecommunications network, wherein the authentication uses the NASS of the telecommunications network for authenticating an application session.

8. The telecommunications network according to claim 7, wherein the logical communication channel is established by using at least one piece of authentication information, the at least one piece of authentication information being a trusted information existing within the telecommunications network.

9. The telecommunications network according to claim 7, wherein the telecommunications network comprises an IP Edge node and a control function, wherein the control function is realized by a centralized authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) function or an associated AAA node, and wherein the telecommunications network is configured such that the contract-related identification information to enable the second functionality level is sent to the control function after relating the network access-related identification information to the contract-related identification information.

10. The telecommunications network according to claim 7, wherein the contract-related identification information is a user ID, wherein the IMS of the telecommunications network is configured to retrieve or determine a service profile automatically, wherein the service profile is associated with a local part address of a port of the CPE, Wherein in the telecommunications network the service profile is stored as being related to the user ID.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for controlling an access node or a control function of a telecommunications network, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, causing the following steps to be performed:

establishing a physical communication channel between the access node of the telecommunications network and a customer premises equipment (CPE), the physical communication channel being assigned to a network access-related identification information related to the access node;

providing, by the telecommunications network, a public or private Internet Protocol (IP) address to the CPE for use by the CPE to communicate with an IP Edge node of the telecommunications network, the IP address being associated with the network access-related identification information and an IP session or connection realizing a logical communication channel being initiated between the IP Edge node of the telecommunications network and the CPE, wherein the IP Edge node is a routing device having a plurality of access and permission rules regarding different IP addresses on different virtual interfaces, wherein the logical communication channel corresponds to the IP session or connection;

initially assigning, by the telecommunications network, a first functionality level to the public or private IP address; and

assigning, by the telecommunications network, a second functionality level to the public or private IP address, when the telecommunications network is able to relate the network access-related identification information to a contract-related identification information, wherein the network access-related identification information is a port ID information and/or a line ID information and wherein the contract-related identification information corresponds to a user, and wherein relating the network access-related identification information to the contract-related identification information comprising an authentication based on a Network Attachment Subsystem (NASS) of an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) of the telecommunications network, wherein the authentication uses the NASS of the telecommunications network for authenticating an application session.