Auto bandwidth negotiation, reroute and advertisement

• US 8,107,497 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2008
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zerillo, Anthony J., Stafford, Jeffrey S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elallam, Ahmed
• Application Number:
  US12/178,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20100020822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: 370/231, 370/235, 370/236, 370/468, 370/466, 709/219, 709227-229, 709/232, 709/233
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A bandwidth negotiation system including a first network, a plurality of end user devices in communication with the network, a multiplexing unit communicatively coupled to the network, a second network, and an analyzing unit in communication with a second network. In addition, one of the plurality of end user devices is configured to send a data message to the multiplexing unit via the first network, and the analyzing unit is configured to receive the data message from the multiplexing unit via the second network and to extract a first identifier and a second identifier from the data message.

Claims

1. A bandwidth negotiation system comprising:

a multiplexing unit;

a content storage unit communicatively coupled to the multiplexing unit via a communication network; and

an analyzing unit communicatively coupled to the multiplexing unit via the communication network;

wherein, the multiplexing unit is configured to control the data capacity of a network communication connection between a network data unit and at least one end user device and to transmit a message to the analyzing unit, the network data unit comprising a network communication hardware component for communicating data to the at least one end user device via the communication network;

the analyzing unit is configured to receive the message from the multiplexing unit and to extract an identifier from the message and to transmit the identifier to the content storage unit, and

the content storage unit is configured to match the identifier with a plurality of identifiers stored in a library on the content storage unit and to instruct the multiplexing unit to increase the data capacity of the network upon finding a match, wherein the identifier is a network address of the network data unit that provides data to the at least one end user device.

2. The bandwidth negotiation system of claim 1, further wherein the identifier also includes a network address of an end user device in communication with the network data unit.

3. The bandwidth negotiation system of claim 2, wherein the multiplexer is configured to simultaneously communicate with the content storage unit, the analyzing unit and the network.

4. The bandwidth negotiation system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexing unit, the content storage unit, the analyzing unit, and the network data unit are separate systems, each communicatively coupled to the communication network.

5. The negotiation system of claim 2, wherein the multiplexing unit is configured to increase the data capacity of the network when a data transmission begins over the network.

6. The negotiation system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexing unit is configured to lower the data capacity when the data transmission ends.

7. The negotiation system of claim 1, wherein the identifier is included in a TCP/IP network packet.

8. The negotiation system of claim 2, further comprising:

an advertisement unit communicatively coupled to the multiplexing unit, wherein the advertisement unit is configured to send a message to the multiplexer for transmission over the network.

9. A method of increasing data capacity on a network, the method further comprising the steps of:

receiving message requesting data from an end user device through a multiplexer over a first network, the message requesting that data be communicated to the end user device over the first network;

extracting an identifier from the message, wherein the identifier is representative of a second network address of a second network of a network data device that provides data to at least one end user device;

comparing the identifier to a list of identifiers stored in a memory;

determining if the identifier received from the end user device is included in the list of identifiers stored in the memory; and

increasing the available bandwidth of a network connection with the end user device over the first network in response to the determination that the identifier of the network address of the network data device is in the list of identifiers.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the multiplexer is simultaneously communicatively coupled to the first and second networks.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting data over the second network after the data capacity of the communication connection between the network data device and the end user device is increased.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein data is transmitted from the end user device to the network data device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein data is transmitted from the network data device to the end user device.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

retrieving a message from an advertisement server after the data capacity of the communication connection is increased between the end user device and the network data device;

transmitting the message from the advertisement server to the end user device; and

displaying the message on the end user device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein

the first and second networks communicate using different network protocols, and

the multiplexer is configured to convert messages between the first network protocol and the second network protocol.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the multiplexing unit is configured to increase the data capacity of the communication link between the user device and network data unit when a data transmission begins between the user device and network data unit.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the multiplexing unit is configured to lower the data capacity between the user device and the network data unit when the data transmission ends.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the identifier is included in a TCP/IP network packet.