QUALITY OF SERVICE FOR DEVICE ASSISTED SERVICES

• US 20130107706A1
• Filed: 12/18/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Headwater Research LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,247,450 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]

Abstract

A method for implementing a service policy on a device by obtaining, from a user interface (UI) or a network interface, a quality of service (QoS) activity map of an application identifier to a QoS policy, wherein the QoS policy is determined at least in part by an access state qualifier, the access state qualifier characterizing an aspect of access network resources; identifying a device service usage in association with the application identifier; applying the QoS policy from the QoS activity map to the device service usage, wherein a QoS service activity, including the device service usage, falls within a class of activities associated with the application identifier and governed by the QoS policy; and processing the device service usage in accordance with the QoS policy.

Claims

1. A method for implementing a service policy on a device, the method comprising:

obtaining, from a user interface (UI) or a network interface, a quality of service (QoS) activity map of an application identifier to a QoS policy, wherein the QoS policy is determined at least in part by an access state qualifier, the access state qualifier characterizing an aspect of access network resources;

identifying a device service usage in association with the application identifier;

applying the QoS policy from the QoS activity map to the device service usage, wherein a QoS service activity, including the device service usage, falls within a class of activities associated with the application identifier and governed by the QoS policy; and

processing the device service usage in accordance with the QoS policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a guaranteed state qualifier is associated with a guaranteed rate, and further comprising controlling guaranteed access in accordance with the QoS policy.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a streaming state qualifier associated with a streaming rate, and further comprising controlling streaming access in accordance with the QoS policy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes an interactive state qualifier associated with an interactive rate, and further comprising controlling interactive access in accordance with the QoS policy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a best effort state qualifier associated with a best effort rate, and further comprising controlling interactive access in accordance with the QoS policy.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a network type qualifier associated with a cellular network access state or a Wi-Fi network access state, and further comprising controlling cellular or Wi-Fi access in accordance with the QoS policy.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a roaming state qualifier associated with a home network access state or a roaming network access state, and further comprising controlling home or roaming access in accordance with the QoS policy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a background state qualifier associated with a background access state or a foreground access state, and further comprising controlling foreground or background access in accordance with the QoS policy.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling application access according to a network type when an application associated with the application identifier is in background mode.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling application access according to a network state when an application associated with the application identifier is in background mode.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a qualifier selected from the group consisting of a time period, a time window, network capacity, and a combination of these.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the access state qualifier includes a qualifier selected from the group consisting of a network performance level, a network QoS availability level, and a combination of these.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the QoS policy includes a policy to allow access, prioritize access, or restrict access in combination with a criterion selected from the group consisting of:

for a given time window, for a given time, for a given network congestion level, for a given network capacity, for a given performance level, for a given QoS availability level, for a given network type, for a given home or roaming status, for a given foreground or background status, for a given device type, for a given user group, for a given user standing, for a given user reward points, and a combination of these.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input over the UI that specifies the QoS policy by the access state qualifier in association with the application identifier.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising notifying a user of a level of QoS services available on a network to which a device of the user is operationally connected.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting through the UI a QoS offer to indicate that an application may benefit from a given QoS level; and

receiving a response to the QoS offer indicating a selection of a QoS level for the application or including a request for the given QoS level for the application.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

establishing a secure link to a network element;

obtaining the activity map over the secure link; and

storing the activity map in secure memory.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, in association with the QoS service activity, a traffic flow including one or more related data transfers communicated through the network interface;

tagging the traffic flow, the tagging configured to assist in maintaining the association of the traffic flow with the application identifier as the traffic flow is processed by one or more processing functions;

maintaining an association of the QoS policy with the application identifier associated with the QoS service activity using the tagging of the traffic flow.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

mapping, in accordance with a QoS routing function that implements the activity map, the QoS service activity to QoS processing specified in the QoS policy.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting access network resources for a QoS session associated with the QoS service activity.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying QoS for device assisted services is (DAS) is implementing the QoS policy for the QoS service activity.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a QoS router on the device on which the QoS policy is applied to the QoS service activity.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a QoS application programming interface (API) configured to communicate application access policy information to and from applications, wherein the application access policy information includes a message intended to cause one or more of the applications to assist in implementing a priority for the QoS service activity.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing an aspect of the QoS policy from an interaction with one or more applications within a particular application set.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the QoS service activity as being of a particular application set, the QoS service activity associated with an attempted or successful network access, the particular application set comprising one or more application programs capable of running on a device on which the QoS policy is applied and a subset of all application programs capable of running on the device.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing, prioritizing, or restricting access in association with the QoS service activity in accordance with the QoS policy.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the QoS policy comprises a policy selected from the group consisting of:

prioritize over other traffic, ask for enhanced priority channel from network, and a combination of these.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the QoS policy comprises a policy selected from the group consisting of:

block, reduce traffic control priority, reduce queuing priority, throttle, delay, reduce access allowance, turn off, reduce for a group of devices, traffic control according to an adaptive throttling policy, reduce transmission control protocol (TCP) is acknowledgement return rate, and a combination of these.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

directing the QoS service activity to a QoS channel in accordance with the QoS policy.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

determining device standing for the QoS policy;

determining QoS availability; and

provisioning the QoS channel to support a QoS session including the QoS service activity in accordance with the device standing and the QoS availability.

31. A wireless device, comprising:

means for obtaining a quality of service (QoS) activity map, of an application identifier to a QoS policy, from a user interface or a network interface, wherein the QoS policy is determined at least in part by an access state qualifier, the access state qualifier characterizing an aspect of access network resources;

means for identifying a device service usage in association with the application identifier;

means for applying the QoS policy from the QoS activity map to the device service usage, wherein a QoS service activity, including the device service usage, falls within a class of activities associated with the application identifier and governed by the QoS policy; and

means for processing the device service usage in accordance with the QoS policy.

32. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program code for causing a computer to perform the steps of:

obtaining, from a user interface (UI) or a network interface, a quality of service (QoS) activity map, of an application identifier to a QoS policy, wherein the QoS policy is determined at least in part by an access state qualifier, the access state qualifier characterizing an aspect of access network resources;

identifying a device service usage in association with the application identifier;

applying the QoS policy from the QoS activity map to the device service usage, wherein a QoS service activity, including the device service usage, falls within a class of activities associated with the application identifier and governed by the QoS policy; and

processing the device service usage in accordance with the QoS policy.