Wireless network facilitator and monitor

• US 20060168128A1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Rover, Jeremy, Sistla, Amber, Keddy, Asha
• Granted Patent: US 7,593,366 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

Techniques are presented for facilitating and monitoring wireless network connections. Clients and intermediate nodes are configured to interact with one another via network connections. Initially, the clients wirelessly connect to a select one of the intermediate nodes. Tests may be periodically issued to the clients and to the intermediate nodes to measure and track performance and quality of the network connections. Billing records may also be recorded and billing policies verified for client activities occurring during the network connections.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

configuring a client device to access a desired network provider for the client device;

configuring intermediate nodes, which may interact with the client device, to facilitate a connection of the client device through the intermediate nodes to the desired network provider; and

monitoring a billing record, if the connection for the client device is established, wherein the client device initially wirelessly establishes the connection with a select one of the intermediate nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, tracking metrics associated with the connection once established.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein tracking further includes acquiring the metrics from at least one of the client device, the intermediate nodes, and the network provider.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein tracking further includes creating a monitoring identification for the connection to track the metrics.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein tracking further includes acquiring network packet logs from at least one of the intermediate nodes and the network provider in response to the monitoring identification.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, periodically submitting one or more tests to at least one of the client device, the intermediate nodes, and the network provider to track performance of the connection and to track performance of participants in the connection.

7. A method, comprising:

issuing a test to a client device and to one or more intermediate nodes associated with a network connection, wherein the client device initially wirelessly establishes the network connection with a select one of the one or more intermediate nodes;

processing, by the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes, the test over the network connection; and

receiving metrics associated with the test from at least one of the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising, scoring a performance associated with each of the one or more intermediate nodes in response to the metrics.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising, reporting failures detected in the metrics to at least one of the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein issuing further includes defining the test as an end-to-end authentication test to authenticate the client device to a destination node through the network connection and to authenticate each of the one or more intermediate nodes to one another through the network connection to the destination node.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, downloading one or more certificates or other identifying information to the client device and to each of the one or more intermediate nodes during initialization of the test.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein issuing further includes defining the test as a billing record test where a billing record is passed through the one or more intermediate nodes to a billing service.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein issuing further includes defining the test as a bandwidth and response test, wherein bandwidth and response times are tracked through the network connection.

14. A machine accessible medium having associated instructions, which when processed, result in a machine performing:

issuing configuration information to a client device and to one or more intermediate nodes for the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes to interact with one another via network connections, wherein with each network connection the client device initially wirelessly connects to a select one of the one or more intermediate nodes; and

periodically submitting tests to the client device and to the one or more intermediate nodes to process the tests with at least some of the network connections.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further include gathering metrics from tests that are processed.

16. The medium of claim 14, wherein issuing further includes instructions for defining, within the configuration information, a recordation policy for recording a variety of types of information through the network connections.

17. The medium of claim 14, wherein periodically submitting further includes instructions for submitting a number of the tests to measure at least one of performance and quality associated with actions taken with the network connections, and wherein the actions include at least one of performing end-to-end authentication from the client device through the one or more intermediate nodes to a destination node, and performing a data transfer from or to the client device through the one or more intermediate nodes.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

a network node having;

a plug-and-play module adapted to processing on the network node;

a device configuration module adapted to process on the network node; and

tests adapted to reside in memory or storage associated with the network node;

wherein the plug-and-play module is adapted to interact with the device configuration module to configure a client device and one or more intermediate nodes to interact with one another in network transactions, and wherein the plug-and-play module is further adapted to acquire and to selectively submit a number of the tests to the client device and to the one or more intermediate nodes, and wherein the client device initially wirelessly connects to a select one of the intermediate nodes to establish the network transactions; and

a network interface device adapted to communicate the network node with a network.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the network node further includes a network sniffer adapted to monitor the network transactions between the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the network node further includes a traffic generator adapted to interact with the plug-and-play module to generate the tests on the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the network node further includes network tools adapted to collect and analyze metrics generated with the network transactions occurring between the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

22. A system, comprising:

a network node having;

a plug-and-play module adapted to processing on the network node;

a device configuration module adapted to process on the network node; and

tests adapted to reside in memory or storage associated with the network node;

wherein the plug-an-play module is adapted to interact with the device configuration module to configure a client device and one or more intermediate nodes to interact with one another in network transactions, and wherein the plug-an-play module is further adapted to acquire and to selectively submit a number of the tests to the client device and to the one or more intermediate nodes and wherein the client device initially wirelessly connects to a select one of the intermediate nodes to establish the network transactions;

a network interface device adapted to communicate the node with a network; and

a printer adapted to print metrics generated by traffic that occurs between the client device and the one of more intermediate nodes.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the network node further includes, a plurality of network protocol mappings residing in the memory of the storage of the network node and adapted to identify supported protocols for the client device and each of the one or more intermediate nodes.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the network node further includes a billing monitor adapted to process within the network node and further adapted to enforce billing policies for traffic associated with the client device and the one or more intermediate nodes.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the client device is at least one of a phone, a personal digital assistant, a computer, and an intelligent appliance.