SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FOR OPERATOR SERVICES AND INTERNET

• US 20130155851A1
• Filed: 02/09/2012
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Koodli, Rajeev, Gibbs, Andrew S.
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes providing a multi-radio connectivity service to a mobile subscriber, and managing the multi-radio connectivity service for the mobile subscriber. The managing can include: providing admission control; providing privileged subscriber access at a plurality of WiFi access points; providing signaling for quality of service (QoS) equivalence across a WiFi network and a mobile network; and distributing certain traffic based on a policy.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a multi-radio connectivity service to a mobile subscriber that attaches to a mobile network via a local access network (LAN) technology, wherein the multi-radio connectivity service includes;

providing admission control;

providing privileged subscriber access at a plurality of WiFi access points;

providing signaling for quality of service (QoS) equivalence across a WiFi network and the mobile network; and

providing a common mobile network bearer for traffic associated with the mobile subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile subscriber can attach to the mobile network via a WiFi protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the common mobile network bearer is an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the common mobile network bearer is a packet data protocol (PDP) context.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

multiplexing Wi-Fi traffic onto the common mobile network bearer based on a communication with a network element.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

signaling Wi-Fi subscriber parameters to the network element, wherein the parameters include a selected one or more of a Wi-Fi subscriber International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) prefix, an IPv4 address, a service set identifier (SSID), and geographical location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating a policy in order to determine an Internet protocol (IP) address to assign to a particular Wi-Fi subscriber, wherein the IP address assignment is initiated based, at least, on signaled information related to a particular attachment, which involved connecting to a particular network via a particular common mobile network bearer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing prevailing network configuration information to a mobile network gateway; and

receiving traffic routing rules associated with managing subscriber traffic for a plurality of subscribers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing traffic routing rules as a set of new parameters in a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol, wherein the traffic routing rules are provided to a particular instance of user equipment (UE) as a set of dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) options or as IPv6 neighbor discovery options.

10. Logic encoded in non-transitory media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations, comprising:

providing a multi-radio connectivity service to a mobile subscriber that attaches to a mobile network via a local access network (LAN) technology, wherein the multi-radio connectivity service includes;

providing admission control;

providing privileged subscriber access at a plurality of WiFi access points;

providing signaling for quality of service (QoS) equivalence across a WiFi network and the mobile network; and

providing a common mobile network bearer for traffic associated with the mobile subscriber.

11. The logic of claim 10, wherein the mobile subscriber can attach to the mobile network via a WiFi protocol.

12. The logic of claim 10, wherein the common mobile network bearer is an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer.

13. The logic of claim 10, wherein the common mobile network bearer is a packet data protocol (PDP) context.

14. The logic of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

multiplexing Wi-Fi traffic onto the common mobile network bearer based on a communication with a network element.

15. The logic of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

signaling Wi-Fi subscriber parameters to the network element, wherein the parameters include a selected one or more of a Wi-Fi subscriber International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), an Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) prefix, an IPv4 address, a service set identifier (SSID), and a geographical location.

16. The logic of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

evaluating a policy in order to determine an Internet protocol (IP) address to assign to a particular Wi-Fi subscriber, wherein the IP address assignment is initiated based, at least, on signaled information related to a particular attachment, which involved connecting to a particular network via a particular common mobile network bearer.

17. A network element, comprising:

a memory element;

a processor operable to execute instructions such that the network element is configured for;

providing a multi-radio connectivity service to a mobile subscriber that attaches to a mobile network via a local access network (LAN) technology, wherein the multi-radio connectivity service includes;

providing admission control;

providing privileged subscriber access at a plurality of WiFi access points;

providing signaling for quality of service (QoS) equivalence across a WiFi network and the mobile network; and

providing a common mobile network bearer for traffic associated with the mobile subscriber.

18. The network element of claim 17, wherein the network element is further configured for:

multiplexing Wi-Fi traffic onto the common mobile network bearer.

19. The network element of claim 17, wherein the network element is further configured for:

evaluating a policy in order to determine an Internet protocol (IP) address to assign to a particular Wi-Fi subscriber, wherein the IP address assignment is initiated based, at least, on signaled information related to a particular attachment, which involved connecting to a particular network via a particular common mobile network bearer.

20. The network element of claim 17, wherein the network element is further configured for:

providing traffic routing rules as a set of new parameters in a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol, wherein the traffic routing rules are provided to a particular instance of user equipment (UE) as a set of dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) options or as IPv6 neighbor discovery options.