METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY ALLOCATING SERVICES FOR SUBSCRIBERS DATA TRAFFIC

• US 20110282996A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Flash Networks, Ltd. (Constellation Software Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Flash Networks, Ltd. (Constellation Software Incorporated)
• Inventors: ZAHAVI, YORAM, Pessach, Eyal, Benedic, Assaf
• Granted Patent: US 8,886,805 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/033 by updating distance vector protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT

Abstract

Access services are dynamically allocated for processing received data traffic by creating routing information for data traffic associated with a particular subscriber, subscriber equipment and/or network address information. The routing information identifies services that the data traffic can be subjected to and the order in which the services are provided. When an attached request is received, appropriate services for the requesting subscriber are retrieved from a database based on particular identifying information which may include the identification of the subscriber, subscriber equipment, network address or other information. The services are organized in a routing path and the allocated network address and the routing path are transferred to a smart router. Data traffic, associated with the allocated network address is then routed through servers to provide the identified services.

Claims

1. A method that allocates access services for a subscriber requesting to attach to an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the method comprising the actions of:

obtaining identification information of a subscriber and an IP address which was assigned to the subscriber;

identifying based at least in part on the identification information, one or more access services associated with the identification information;

creating a routing path that includes one or more access service servers in which data traffic associated with the subscriber is passed through for providing the identified one or more of access services; and

associating the routing path with the assigned IP address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the action of transferring the routing path and the assigned IP address into a smart router.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of obtaining an IP address which was assigned to the subscriber further comprising obtaining a port number.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of obtaining an IP address which was assigned to the subscriber further comprising obtaining a public IP address.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the action of routing received packets that include the assigned IP address through the one or more of access service servers included in the routing path.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the routing path includes ordering information and the action of routing received packets further comprises routing the received packets in accordance with the ordering information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the action of identifying the one or more access services further comprises receiving real-time information and including the real-time information in the identification action.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein real-time information comprises the time-of-day and the action of identifying access services further comprises identifying access services that are applicable for the received time-of-day.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identification information comprises an International Mobile Subscriber Identity for a subscriber and the action of identifying access services further comprises identifying access services that are associated, at least in part, with that particular International Mobile Subscriber Identity.

10. A method that transfers data traffic of a subscriber to one or more access services that are available to the subscriber, the method comprising actions of:

obtaining a routing plan that is associated with an assigned IP address, wherein the routing plan identifies one or more access services; and

routing packets that includes the assigned IP address through one or more access services servers that provide the one or more access services in an order identified within in the routing plan.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the action of obtaining a routing plan further comprising obtaining a routing plan wherein the assigned IP address is a public IP address.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the routing plan depends on real-time information and further comprising the action of receiving real-time information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein real-time information comprises one or more information elements including a location of subscriber equipment associated with the data traffic, the time-of-day, the day-of-the-week and the identification of a subscriber utilizing the subscriber equipment.

14. A service-orchestration server (SOS) that is associated with an access network operator premises, the SOS creates a routing path for a data packets associated with a particular subscriber wherein the routing path identifies one or more access services available to the subscriber, the SOS comprising:

a network interface to the access network operator premises which connects the SOS to an access gateway and to an access services database;

a smart router controller configured to obtain through the network interface identification information associated with the particular subscriber and an assigned IP address, and based at least in part on the identification information, is configured to determine a set of access services available for the data packets and then creates a routing path for the particular subscriber'"'"'s data packets, associates the routing path with the assigned IP address and transfers the routing path; and

a smart-router interface configured to receive the routing plan associated with the assigned IP address from the smart router controller, and to process it according to an API used by a smart router and transfer the processed routing plan associated with the assigned IP address to the smart router;

wherein the smart router is communicatively coupled to the one or more access services servers that can provide the access services.

15. The SOS of claim 14, wherein the assigned IP address is a public IP address.

16. The SOS of claim 14, wherein the SOS communicates with the access network operator premises via a local area network.

17. The SOS of claim 14, wherein the access gateway comprises a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN).

18. The SOS of claim 14, wherein the routing path depends on real-time information.

19. The SOS of claim 18, wherein the real-time information comprises the time-of-day.

20. The SOS of claim 14, wherein the data packets are based on the Internet Protocol and the data packets that are received from the subscriber and, the data packets that are sent toward the subscriber are subjected to access-services according to the routing table.

21. The SOS of claim 14, wherein one of the one or more access services servers provides a deep packet inspection (DPI) access service and the server is configured to modify the routing path according to information received from server providing the DPI access service.

22. A system, comprising:

a service-orchestration server; and

a smart router;

wherein the service-orchestration server creates a routing path based at least in part on identification information related to a particular subscriber requesting access to an IP network via one or more access services the subscriber is entitled to utilize, associates the routing path with an allocated IP address associated with the particular subscriber and sends the routing path with and information regarding the association with the allocated IP address toward the smart router; and

wherein the smart router routes subsequently received IP data traffic associated with the allocated IP address through one or more servers configured to provide the one or more of access services servers according to the routing path.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the IP address is a public IP address.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the service-orchestration server and the smart router communicate via an API.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the smart router is configured to route IP packets via the one or more of servers one after the other according to the routing path.