ADAPTIVE INTELLIGENT ROUTING IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20120166618A1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: DAHOD, Ashraf M., CHOWDHURY, Kuntal, SCHWARTZ, Leonard, HARPER, Matthew H., GIBBS, Andrew, SCHOENER, Anthony, VIRGILE, Kenneth E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,565,117 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a system and method for routing data packets adaptively in a communication system. As the proliferation of data rich content and increasingly more capable mobile devices has continued, the amount of data communicated over mobile operator'"'"'s networks can continue to exponentially increase. One way to accommodate increased data traffic and provide high quality data communication services to end users is by utilizing network resources efficiently. This disclosure provides systems and methods for efficiently utilizing network resources by providing adaptive intelligence to data packet routing systems.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

implementing a client at a mobile device, wherein operation of the client is transparent to other applications running on the mobile device and the client is configured to communicate with an network access server and a router in a packet data network;

receiving a policy, at the client, from a network access server and enforcing the policy for data communication by the mobile device with the packet data network;

initiating, at the mobile device, a plurality of packet data network (PDN) connections with the network access server according to the policy maintained by the client running on the mobile device; and

communicating, using the client, control plane transactions through the network access server to initiate communication with the packet data network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy is received over one of the plurality of PDN connections using an Open Mobile Alliance-Device Management (OMA-DM) protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second policy from the network access server and implementing the second policy at the client, wherein the policy is implemented for communicating a first type of data and the second policy is implemented for communicating a second type of data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first PDN connection is anchored at the network access server and the second PDN connection is anchored at a router.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising establishing at the network access server a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol-user (GTP-U) bearer plane context for the first PDN connection using a GTP-C signaling with a mobile backhaul, and establishing at the router a GTP-U bearer plane context for the second PDN connection using a GTP-C signaling with the mobile backhaul.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the control plane transactions include communicating protocols and mechanisms for establishing and maintaining data communication with the packet data network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the client communicates with the network access server and the router via a WiFi access point and an interworking gateway.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy is selected by the network access server based on one or more of the following factors:

an end user subscription type, a communication network type, an access point name type, a lawful intercept status, a cost structure, a quality of experience (QoE) and service level agreement (SLA), and a mobile device type.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is implemented as a firmware of the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is updated during a network update.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy includes instructions to coordinate and adjust network resources for the mobile device.

12. A user equipment comprising:

an interface that is configured to provide communication with an network access server and a router;

a memory that is configured to store policy;

a client running on the user equipment, wherein the client is transparent to other applications running on the user equipment;

the client configured to initiate a plurality of PDN connections with a network access server over the interface and to perform control plane transactions over the interface through the network access server; and

the client further configured to receive the policy from the network access server over the interface and to implement the policy for communicating with a packet data network through the plurality of PDN connections in accordance with the policy.

13. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the client is implemented as a firmware of the user equipment.

14. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the policy include instructions to coordinate and adjust network resources for the mobile device.

15. A method comprising:

establishing, at a router, a communication channel with a network access server;

maintaining, at the router, session information associated with a mobile device communicating with a packet data network, wherein the mobile device is running a client that implements a first policy for communicating with the packet data network;

receiving from the network access server over the communication channel a second policy, wherein the second policy includes instructions for monitoring the client;

monitoring the client in accordance with the second policy to determine that the client is communicating in accordance with the first policy;

monitoring at the router call events and data flow events associated with the mobile device to generate analytics data; and

transmitting the analytics data to the network access server over the communication channel.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the analytics data includes one or more of a call detail record (CDR), a usage detail record (UDR), an event detail record (EDR), and data flow events including a detection of communication inconsistencies, cached data packets, and service disruption records.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining at the router that a communication inconsistency has occurred during communication with the mobile device and reporting the communication inconsistency to the network access server.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the communication inconsistency includes a use of an invalid IP address by the client and a use of an invalid access technology type (ATT) by the client.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing communication between the mobile device and the packet data network bypassing the network access server.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the router is co-located with a broadband network gateway (BNG).

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising bridging a local peer-to-peer communication between a first session having a first IP address and a second session having a second IP address by delivering data packets from the first session to the second session.

22. A router comprising:

an interface that is configured to provide communication with a network access server and a mobile device, wherein the mobile device is running a client that implements a first policy for communicating with a packet data network;

a memory that is configured to maintain session information associated with the mobile device and maintain a second policy including instructions for monitoring the client;

a processor that is configured monitor the client in accordance with the second policy to determine that the client is communicating with the packet data network in accordance with the first policy, to monitor call events and data flow events associated with the mobile device to generate analytics data, and to transmit the analytics data to the network access server.

23. The router of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to determine that a communication inconsistency has occurred during communication with the mobile device and to report the communication inconsistency to the network access server.

24. The router of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to provide communication between the mobile device and the packet data network bypassing the network access server.

25. The router of claim 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause a session bridge module to bridge a local peer-to-peer communication between a first session having a first IP address and a second session having a second IP address by directly delivering data packets from the first session to the second session.