Patent Application
20120198046
Generally described, computing devices and communication networks facilitate the collection and exchange of information. Utilizing a communication network and relevant communication protocols, a computing device can engage in data communications with a wide variety of computing devices. In accordance with a telecommunications-based environment, telecommunications-based devices, such as mobile terminals, establish communications with gateway computing devices via a wireless communication network. The gateway computing devices provide data communication to data networks, such as the local area network or wide area networks (e.g., the Internet).
Typically, a service provider maintains the wireless access communication network and gateway computing device for telecommunications-based devices that are associated with subscribers/customers of the service provider, often referred to as a home network. Additionally, multiple service providers have business relationships that allow telecommunications-based devices that are not associated with subscribers/customer of the particular service provider to use a foreign/visitor radio access network to access other data networks. The non-subscribers telecommunications-based devices are often referred to as roaming telecommunications-based devices from the perspective of the service provider and the wireless communication network are often referred to as visiting networks/foreign networks from the perspective of the non-subscriber telecommunications-based device.
Subscriber telecommunications-based devices are often configured with software applications, configurations, or other settings that may specify various aspects of usage of the communication networks, including an identification which gateway computing devices will be utilized to provide communications and data usage policies. For example, a service provider may have different pricing plans for subscribers that dictate amounts of data that may be transmitted via the service provider's network. In another example, the service provider can provide different guaranteed levels of service, such as throughput rates, based on pricing plans and amounts of data transmitted via the service provider's network.
The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of the present disclosure will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Generally described, aspects of the present disclosure relate to the management of communications related to telecommunications-based devices. In an illustrative embodiment, gateway computing devices corresponding to a radio communication network can modify the policies associated with telecommunications-based devices as a function of the usage of the radio communication network. In an illustrative embodiment, the modification of the policies corresponds to monitoring of telecommunications-based device data usage and comparing the monitored data usage with data usage thresholds. In another illustrative embodiment, the modification of the policies corresponds to monitoring telecommunications-based device data usage and adjusting data usage quotas. The resulting modification can limit the throughput of data, prevent additional data requests, or modify different aspect of the data communications via the radio communication network.
Although aspects of the present disclosure will be described with regard to an illustrative telecommunication environment and component interactions, communication protocols and flow diagrams, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the disclosed embodiments are illustrative in nature and should not be construed as limiting. The systems and methods in the present disclosure may utilize various communication protocols, including various addressing protocols. Additionally, although the term telecommunication device is used in this document, the term represents any type of device having a component for communicating with one or more other devices via one or more communication paths. Such communication paths can include wireless communication paths (via infra-red, RF, optical, terrestrial, or satellite communication media) and wired communication paths. Still further, although the present disclosure references a telecommunications-based device, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that a telecommunications-based device may also be referred to as a wireless computing device, a mobile communication device, a mobile terminal, or a computing device. Examples of telecommunication devices are described below with regard to
With reference now to
With continued reference to
In an illustrative embodiment, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 can maintain data, such as in the form of data tables, that facilitate the static provisioning of specific gateway computing devices, such as access gateway devices, to telecommunications-based devices 102. The mobility management anchor computing device 106 can also maintain security data that facilitates the authentication and authorization of telecommunications-based devices 102. Specifically, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 can maintain one or more subscriber profile data stores 108 for maintaining the data provisioning gateway computing devices and the security data associated with the telecommunications-based devices 102. The subscriber profile data stores 108 may correspond to a single data store or a set of data stores, maintain either locally or in a distributed manner. Still further, at least some portion of the subscriber profile data stores 108 may correspond to service provider home networks.
The telecommunication device communication environment 100 can further include one or more access gateway computing devices 110 that facilitate, or otherwise provider, data connectivity to the communication network 112. Illustratively, the access gateway computing device 110 can corresponds to Gateway GPRS Support Node (“GGSN”) in accordance with the GPRS and UMTS air interface standards. In another example, the access gateway computing device 110 can correspond to the Packet Data Gateway (“PDN”) for the LTE air interface standards. However, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the mobility management anchor computing device 106 is not limited to any specific structure or component of any one air interface protocol.
With continued reference to
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In an illustrative embodiment, the telecommunication device communication environment 100 can include a number of additional components, systems and/or subsystems for facilitating communications with the telecommunications-based devices 102 and/or the mobility management anchor computing device 106, or other devices. The additional components can facilitate wireless communication network 104, such as a cellular radio access network, a wireless network based on the family of IEEE 802.11 technical standards (“WiFi”), a wireless network based on IEEE 802.16 standards (“WiMax”), a converged wireless telecommunication network such as Unlicensed Mobile Access (“UMA”), or General Access Network (“GAN”), and other wireless networks. The operation of mobile communication networks, such as wireless communication network 104 are well known and will not be described in greater detail. Additionally, although the wireless communication network 104 is illustrated as a single communication network, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the communication network can be made up of any number of public or private communication networks and/or network connections.
With reference now to
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Upon receipt of the communication request, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 processes the communication request via information maintained by the subscriber profile data store 108. In one aspect, the subscriber profile data store 108 can provide security information or authentication information utilized by the mobility management anchor computing device 106. In another aspect, the subscriber profile data store 108 can provide the identification of a static list of one or more gateway computing devices, such as access gateway devices 112, that have been previously been associated with the telecommunications-based device 102. The subscription information, including the static list of the one or more gateway computing devices, is maintained by the mobility management anchor computing device 106 for use in processing subsequent communications from the telecommunications-based device 102. For example, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 may verify that any gateway computing devices identified in a subsequent communication request match a gateway computing device identified in the static list. The mobility management anchor computing device 106 then transmits a confirmation or rejection notification to the requesting telecommunications-based device 102
Upon receipt of the notification from the mobility management anchor computing device 106, the telecommunications-based device 102 transmits a second communication request to the mobility management anchor computing device 106 to establish a communication context. In this second request, the telecommunications-based device 102 specifies the identity of one of the gateway communication devices identified subscription information or otherwise configured on the telecommunications-based device 102. Illustratively, the telecommunications-based device 102 is configured with information that identifies one or more gateway computing devices that can be requested.
The mobility management anchor computing device 106 processes the context communication request to determine the network address of the appropriate gateway computing device identified in the context request. For example, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 can verify that the requested gateway computing device matches the list of one or more gateway computing devices the telecommunications-based device 102 can request. If the requested gateway computing device is appropriate for the quest, the mobility management anchor computing device 106 can then utilize the domain name service 110 to resolve the IP address of the identified gateway computing device. Once the mobility management anchor computing device 106 obtains the appropriate information, the mobility management anchor computing device forwards the context request to the appropriate gateway computing device to facilitate communications between the gateway computing device and the telecommunications-based device 102.
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In an illustrative embodiment, the data usage accumulator components 114 can process incoming data usage records as they are received to obtain additional information, remove information or modify the measured usage. For example, the data usage accumulator components 114 can filter out any data usage records relating to data in which a subscribe would not be charged or considered against the plan, often referred to as “whitelist” resources. Illustratively, the data usage accumulator components 114 can continue to collect the data records on a per session basis before further processing. Alternatively, the data usage accumulator components 114 can process each data usage record individually. Thereafter, the data usage accumulator components 114 aggregates one or more data usage records over a defined period of time (e.g., a calendar-based period or billing cycle-based period) representative of the cumulative data use for the subscriber. The data usage accumulator components 114 then processes the aggregated data usage records against one or more thresholds maintained by the data usage accumulator components 114. Illustratively, the thresholds may correspond to a service plan/subscription plan associated with the subscriber in which one or more data limits have been defined.
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In an illustrative embodiment, the data usage accumulator components 114 can process incoming data usage information to obtain additional information, remove information or modify the measured usage. For example, the data usage accumulator components 114 can filter out any data usage records relating to data in which a subscribe would not be charged or considered against the plan, often referred to as “whitelist” resources. Illustratively, the data usage accumulator components 114 can processes each data usage information individually as the information is provided by the access gateway computing device 110. In this illustrative embodiment, the data usage accumulator components 114 then processes the aggregated data usage information against one or more data usage quotas maintained by the data usage accumulator components 114. Illustratively, the quotas may correspond to blocks/chunks of authorized data transmissions that are debited for with the reported data usage information.
With reference now to
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At block 504, the data usage accumulator components 114 processes the data usage records. In one aspect, the data usage accumulator components 114 can maintain incoming data usage records on a per session basis such that the data usage accumulator components 114 considers all data usage records associated with a particular data session at the same time. In another aspect, the data usage accumulator components 114 can filter or omit data usage records related to whitelist communications. Additionally, the data usage accumulator components 114 can apply any type of criteria that facilitates the filtering of data usage records according to address (e.g., IP address), content or the like.
At block 506, the data usage accumulator components 114 aggregates the data usage records over a defined time period. Examples of time period can be based on calendar, billing cycles, projects, events, and the like. Additionally, the data usage accumulator components 114 can aggregate the data usage records multiple times to create multiple pieces of aggregated data usage information. For example, the data usage accumulator components 114 can generate or updated aggregated weekly data usage information, monthly data usage information, project-based data usage information and yearly data usage information from the same incoming data usage records.
At decision block 508, a test is conducted to determine whether one or more data usage thresholds have been exceeded. As previously discussed, the data usage thresholds can corresponds to one or more data usage thresholds associated with specific subscribers, groups of subscribers, all users, and the like. If no data usage thresholds have been exceed, the routine 500 terminates at block 510. Alternatively, if at least one data usage threshold has been exceeded, at block 512, the data usage accumulator components 114 process the exceeded threshold. An illustrative sub-routine for processing exceeded thresholds will be described with regard to
Turning now to
At block 608, the policy service 118 (as caused by the data usage accumulator components 114) modifies the data processing policies associated with the subscriber. In one embodiment, the data processing policies can be modified to modify the throughput of any future data communications associated with the subscriber plan for a period of time. In another embodiment, the data processing policies can be modified to deny/reject any subsequent data requests, for at least a period of time, or until some additional action is made by the subscriber. In a further embodiment, the data processing policies can be modified such that the telecommunications-based device 102 will be associated with a different access gateway computing device 110 for future data communications (e.g., a access gateway computing device 110 configured with a different level/quality of service. At block 610, the policy service 118, access gateway computing device 110, mobility management anchor computing device 106, or other gateway computing device can cause the application of the updated data processing policy. In an illustrative embodiment, the gateway computing device can cause the telecommunications-based device 102 to request a re-establishment of the communication context (or the generation of a new communication context request). With the re-establishment, the access gateway computing device 110 can implement the updated data processing policy. At block 612, the sub-routine returns.
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At block 704, the data usage accumulator components 114 processes the data usage information. In one aspect, the data usage accumulator components 114 can filter or omit data usage information related to whitelist communications. Additionally, the data usage accumulator components 114 can apply any type of criteria that facilitates the filtering of data usage information according to address (e.g., IP address), content or the like. At block 706, the data usage accumulator components 114 debit the data usage information from one or more allocation data usage quotas. Illustratively, the data usage accumulator components 114 can debit the data usage information multiple times against multiple allocated data usage quotas. For example, the data usage accumulator components 114 can debit an allocated weekly data usage quota, an allocated monthly data usage quota, a group data usage quota, and the like.
At decision block 708, a test is conducted to determine whether one or more data usage quotas have been depleted. As previously discussed, the data usage quotas can corresponds to one or more data usage quotas associated with specific subscribers, groups of subscribers, all users, and the like. If no data usage quotas have been depleted, the routine 700 terminates at block 710. Alternatively, if at least one data usage quota has been depleted, at block 712, the data usage accumulator components 114 process the depleted data usage quota. An illustrative sub-routine for processing depleted usage quotas was previously described with regard
All of the processes described herein may be embodied in, and fully automated via, software code modules executed by one or more general purpose computers or processors. The code modules may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. Some or all the methods may alternatively be embodied in specialized computer hardware. In addition, the components referred to herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof. As such, reference in the disclosure to actions performed by a module or component relates to the execution of executable instructions by a processing device, or devices, to cause the referenced action to be preformed.
Conditional language such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, are otherwise understood within the context as used in general to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.
Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow diagrams described herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or elements in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments described herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executed out of order from that shown, or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved as would be understood by those skilled in the art.
It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to be understood as being among other acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
