| ALCATEL-LUCENT CANADA, INC. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20130097326 | VISITED PCRF S9 SESSION ID GENERATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network node for generating a S9 session ID, the method including: receiving, at the network node, an attachment request from a user equipment (UE); creating a DIAMETER session ID; attaching a timestamp and UE ID to the DIAMETER session ID resulting in a S9 session ID; and initiating a S9 session with a home PCRN using the S9 session ID. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130097325 | PCRN SESSION ARCHITECTURE FOR ROAMING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a node for creating a virtual IP-CAN session, the method including: receiving, at the network node, a S9 message; creating a S9 session; creating a virtual IP-CAN session associated with the S9 session; persisting the S9 session; and transmitting an answer S9 message. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130095827 | ROAMING SESSION TERMINATION TRIGGERED BY ROAMING AGREEMENT/PARTNER DELETION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) for processing a change in a status of a roaming partner, the method including: receiving, at the PCRN, a message indicating a change in a status of the roaming partner; identifying roaming subscriber sessions associated with the roaming partner; determining home based roaming subscriber sessions among the identified subscriber sessions; marking the determined home based roaming subscriber sessions for termination; and sending a termination message to a policy and charging enforcement node for the determined home based roaming subscriber sessions. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130095826 | PCRN ROAMING AGREEMENT - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) for managing a session for a roaming subscriber. The method may include: defining a roaming agreement associated with at least one roaming partner and including at least one limitation; receiving a session establishment request; extracting a subscription identifier; determining an active roaming partner by comparing the subscription identifier to the roaming partner profile; selecting the roaming agreement including the active roaming partner; and enforcing the at least one limitation when processing the session establishment request. The PCRN may include: a roaming agreement storage; a first interface configured to receive a session establishment request for a roaming subscriber; a roaming manager configured to identify a roaming partner associated with the roaming subscriber and a roaming agreement associated with the roaming partner; and a second interface configured to communicate session information with a roaming partner PCRN. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130095825 | ORGANIZATION OF ROAMING PARTNER REALMS INTO PRIMARY AND SECONDARY - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) of communicating with a roaming partner. The method may include: defining a roaming partner profile including a network identifier and a primary realm; receiving a session establishment request at the PCRN; extracting a subscription identifier from the session establishment request; determining an active roaming partner by comparing the subscription identifier to the network identifier; and establishing an S9 session with the primary realm of the active roaming partner. Another method may include: defining a roaming partner profile including a primary realm and at least one secondary realm; receiving an S9 session establishment request; extracting an origin realm from the S9 session establishment request; determining an active roaming partner by comparing the origin realm to the primary realm and the secondary realms of the roaming partner profile; and responding to the S9 session establishment request. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130095824 | INTEGRATION OF ROAMING AND NON-ROAMING MESSAGE PROCESSING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving a message at the network device from a partner device; translating the message to generate a translated message formed according to a non-roaming protocol; processing the translated message to generate a response message; translating the response message to generate a translated response message formed according to a roaming protocol; transmitting the response message by the network device to the partner device. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130095812 | SUPPORTED FEATURE OVERRIDE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the network device, a message; determining, in response to receiving the message, that a set of supported features should be transmitted to a partner device; determining, based on the partner device, whether a default set of features should be overridden; if the default set of supported features should be overridden, transmitting an alternative set of features to the partner device; and if the default set of supported features should not be overridden, transmitting a standard set of features based on the default set of features to the partner device. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130094521 | NAI SUBSCRIPTION-ID HINT DIGIT HANDLING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of identifying a subscriber at a network node. The method may include: receiving a message including a network access identifier (NAI); removing the first digit from the NAI to form a stripped NAI; determining whether the stripped NAI corresponds to a subscriber; determining whether the NAI corresponds to a subscriber; adding a hint digit to form an extended NAI, and determining whether the extended NAI corresponds to a subscriber; and if any of the NAIs correspond to a subscriber, using the corresponding NAI to identify the subscriber. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a policy and charging rules node including: a subscriber cache including a subscriber identifier; an interface configured to receive a NAI; a NAI modifier configured to form an extended NAI and a stripped NAI; and a subscriber identification module configured to determine whether a NAI is stored in the subscriber cache. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130094520 | PROCESSING MESSAGES CORRELATED TO MULTIPLE POTENTIAL ENTITIES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving a message; determining whether the network device should identify an entity associated with the message using a plurality of entity records, wherein each entity record of the plurality of entity records corresponds to an entity; if the network device should identify an entity associated with the message using the plurality of entity records: extracting at least one identification value; identifying a set of entity records as matching the at least one identification value; determining whether the set of entity records includes more than one entity record; and if the set of entity records includes more than one entity record: identifying a most current entity record that has been most recently modified, and processing the message as being associated with the entity to which the most current entity record corresponds. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130094519 | PROCESSING MESSAGES WITH INCOMPLETE PRIMARY IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the network device, a message associated with an entity; determining that the message lacks at least one primary identification value used to identify the entity associated with the message; extracting at least one secondary identification value from the message; selecting a correlation rule of a plurality of correlation rules that matches the at least one secondary identification value, wherein each correlation rule of the plurality of correlation rules identifies a mapping between secondary identification values and primary identification values; identifying the at least one primary identification value based on the selected correlation; identifying the entity based on the at least one primary identification value. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130094436 | LTE SUBSCRIBER IDENTITY CORRELATION SERVICE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network node for correlating subscriber IDs in a communication network, the method including: receiving a message from another network node that relates to an application function containing information related to a subscriber of the application function; extracting subscriber identification information for the message; determining if the extracted subscriber identification information is found in a correlation object in a correlation object database; if the extracted subscriber identification information is found, then adding the extracted subscriber identification information to the correlation object found in the correlation object database. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130094405 | PCRN HOME NETWORK IDENTITY - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of determining by a network node whether a session establishment request is for a subscriber of a home network. The method may include: defining a home network identity including a network identifier and an emergency access point name (APN); receiving a session establishment request; comparing a called station ID of the session establishment request with the emergency APN; comparing a subscription ID of the session establishment request with the network identifier; and if either the called station ID matches an emergency APN or the subscription ID matches a network identifier: determining that the subscriber is a subscriber of the home network, and fulfilling the session establishment request. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a system for determining the home network of a subscriber. The system may include a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) configured to process a session establishment request. | 04-18-2013 |
| 20130086253 | HIERARCHICAL METERING POLICY ATTRIBUTES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node for managing usage of a subscriber. The method may include: defining a primary metering policy having a first applicability condition and a first quota; defining a secondary metering policy having attributes including a second applicability condition and at least one inherited attribute that references an attribute of the primary metering policy; determining that the second metering policy is applicable when the first applicability condition and the second applicability condition are true; selecting the secondary metering policy as an active metering policy; and managing subscriber usage according to the attributes of the secondary metering policy. In various alternative embodiments, the step of managing subscriber usage includes: measuring subscriber usage according to a rating factor of the secondary metering policy; and charging the measured subscriber usage to both the primary metering policy and the secondary metering policy. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130086252 | FLEXIBLE RULE BASED USAGE METERING POLICIES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of managing usage of a service. The method may include: defining a plurality of metering policies associated with the service; assigning an applicability condition to each of the plurality of metering policies; assigning a quota to each of the plurality of metering policies; selecting an applicable first metering policy for a subscriber session based on the applicability condition; measuring usage of the service according to the first metering policy; comparing the usage against the quota of the first metering policy; and selecting an applicable second metering policy for the subscriber session based on the applicability condition assigned to the second metering policy if the usage exceeds the quota of the first metering policy. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a network node for managing subscriber usage. The network node may include: a metering policy storage; a limit selector; an interface; and a processor. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130086237 | RULES ENGINE EVALUATION FOR POLICY DECISIONS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network policy node. The method may include: translating a policy into a plurality of rule objects, the policy including an applicability condition and one or more action rules; generating a selection rule table based on the applicability condition of one or more policies; generating an action rule table from the one or more action rules of an applicable policy, an action rule including an action condition and an action path; determining a set of applicable policies by evaluating the selection rule table using a rules engine; and selecting an action path by evaluating the action rule table using the rules engine. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a network policy node including a scanner that generates rules objects and rule tables based on one or more policies, a context information storage, and a rules engine that evaluates rule tables. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130086144 | ADAPTIVE PERIOD NETWORK SESSION RESERVATION - The invention is directed to providing communications session management using an adaptive keep-alive reservation technique responsive to network conditions. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130085909 | SY BASED INTEGRATED POLICY AND CHARGING CONTROL - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method for managing subscriber usage in a mobile network by a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) including: receiving a credit control request (CCR) message from a policy and enforcement rules function (PCEF) for an application; determining if a Sy connection to an online charging system (OCS) is necessary to implement the CCR; determining if a Sy session is present; sending an application authorization request (AAR) message to the OCS; binding a counter to the application; determining a policy to apply based upon the application; and sending a credit control answer (CCA) message to the PCEF to effect the policy. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130084826 | USAGE SHARING ACROSS FIXED LINE AND MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method for determining the usage of a subscriber to mobile and fixed line services including: receiving subscriber usage information from a fixed line network; receiving subscriber usage information from a mobile network; computing a usage metric based upon the received subscriber usage information from the fixed line network and the mobile network and rating factor information; comparing the usage metric to a predetermined usage threshold; determining a usage policy action; and transmitting a usage policy action message. | 04-04-2013 |
| 20130063222 | RADIO-FREQUENCY TRANSMITTER, SUCH AS FOR BROADCASTING AND CELLULAR BASE STATIONS - An RF circuit having a transcoupler, a multifunctional RF-circuit element that can operate both as an impedance inverter and as a signal coupler. When connected to a fixed load impedance, the transcoupler can also operate as an impedance transformer. The impedance-transformer/inverter functionality of the transcoupler can be used, e.g., to modulate the load of a power amplifier. The signal coupler functionality of the transcoupler can be used, e.g., to generate a corresponding feedback signal indicative of phase and/or amplitude distortions in the amplifier. The use of various embodiments of the transcoupler in an RF circuit can be advantageous, for example, because the transcoupler has a lower insertion loss than a cascade consisting of a prior-art impedance inverter and a prior-art directional coupler, occupies a relatively small area on the printed circuit board, and helps to reduce the per-unit fabrication and operating costs. | 03-14-2013 |
| 20130063208 | RADIO-FREQUENCY TRANSMITTER, SUCH AS FOR BROADCASTING AND CELLULAR BASE STATIONS - A transmitter that uses a digital pre-distortion (DPD) circuit to mitigate the effects of nonlinearity of a multistage or multi-branch power amplifier. The DPD circuit relies on two or more feedback signals received from an RF-output circuit of the transmitter to generate individually pre-distorted signals for the individual stages/branches of the power amplifier. The use of these individually pre-distorted signals advantageously enables the transmitter to achieve a more efficient suppression of inter-modulation-distortion products than that typically achieved with a comparable prior-art transmitter. | 03-14-2013 |
| 20130062763 | DE-POP ON-DEVICE DECOUPLING FOR BGA - Embodiments of the invention place surface-mount devices such as decoupling capacitors, resistors or other devices directly on the underside of a ball grid array (BGA) electronic integrated circuit (EIC) package, in place of de-populated BGA pads. | 03-14-2013 |
| 20130062762 | IN-GRID ON-DEVICE DECOUPLING FOR BGA - Embodiments of the invention place surface-mount such as decoupling capacitors, resistors or other devices directly on the underside of a ball grid array (BGA) electronic integrated circuit (EIC) package, between BGA pads. | 03-14-2013 |
| 20130061072 | POWER SAVING NODE CONTROLLER - A method and apparatus are provided which allow telecommunication equipment to adjust its power consumption. A controller within a telecommunication node uses data to determine whether to reduce the power consumption of components within the node. The data can be real-time data fed to the node or controller, or data read from storage, or both, depending on the particular implementation. Various examples of data and decision-making are given. | 03-07-2013 |
| 20130054778 | SIGNALING PLANE DELAY KPI MONITORING IN LIVE NETWORK - Embodiments of the invention are directed to providing a method for measuring signaling plane delay in a communication network using a probe session indicator to trigger logging of timestamps at network elements for centralized analysis at a network monitor system. | 02-28-2013 |
| 20130042125 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING POWER CONSUMPTION IN TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method for controlling power consumption in a telecom system. The method includes selecting a power profile command based upon a desired power consumption and performance characteristic, translating the power profile command into at least one subcommand, and initiating at least one power reduction technique in a telecom component based upon the at least one subcommand. | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130039481 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POWERING REDUNDANT COMPONENTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a telecom system. The telecom system may include at least one actively operating telecom component and at least one redundant telecom component. The redundant telecom component may be placed in a low power state based upon a first criteria, and in a high power state based upon a second criteria. | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130039443 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POWER REDUCTION IN REDUNDANT COMPONENTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a telecommunications system. The telecommunications system may include at least one actively operating component and at least one redundant component. The redundant component may include a first subcircuitry for receiving synchronization information and at least one second subcircuitry. The first subcircuitry may be activated independently of the second subcircuitry. | 02-14-2013 |
| 20130031387 | CLOSED-LOOP EFFICIENCY MODULATION FOR USE IN NETWORK POWERED APPLICATIONS - Methods for reducing power dissipation from an input power source in a telecommunications system are disclosed. In one embodiment the method includes: utilizing a first I2C device to monitor an input voltage and input current to a remote unit; providing the input voltage and input current to a main microprocessor for calculating an input power; utilizing a second I2C device to monitor an output voltage and output current from the remote unit; providing the output voltage and output current to the main microprocessor for calculating an output power; calculating a power efficiency of the remote unit at the main microprocessor based on the input power and the output power; utilizing a third I2C device to provide the power efficiency of the remote unit to a digital power manager; and utilizing the digital power manager to control the DA trim output to a DC/DC converter. | 01-31-2013 |
| 20130024483 | DISTRIBUTION OF DATA WITHIN A DATABASE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: retrieving, by the database controller, a record to be stored; identifying a record type associated with the record; identifying at least one storage device of the plurality of storage devices that stores records of the identified record type; and storing the record in a storage device of the plurality of storage devices other than the at least one storage device identified as storing records of the identified record type. Various embodiments additionally include one or more of the following: identifying a record type associated with the record by identifying a record type of at least one other record upon which the record depends. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20120324297 | FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING FAILURES IN OUTBOUND MESSAGES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a policy and charging rules node (PCRN), a request from a requesting node for an establishment of a first service data flow (SDF); generating a first rule set for implementing the first SDF in response to the request; transmitting a first rule of the rule set to a first node for installation of the first rule; waiting for a period of time for a response from the first node; determining from the response whether installation of the first rule at the first node failed or succeeded; and if installation of the first rule succeeded, transmitting a second rule of the first rule set to a second node for installation of the second rule. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20120322406 | PCRF-OCS INTERACTION IN WIRELESS-WIRELINE CONVERGENCE - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for charging an actual subscriber using a single subscriber profile. A Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) may receive a message including a service request and may refer to a subscriber profile to add at least one subscriber identifier (ID) to the message. An Online Charging System (OCS) may thereafter receive a translated message originating from the PCRN and use the at least one subscriber ID included in the translated message to find charging information for the actual subscriber. The OCS may include the charging information in a charged message. A device providing service may then use the charged information to charge the actual subscriber for the requested service. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20120317270 | INTELLIGENT PRESENCE COST MANAGEMENT BASED UPON CONGESTION STATUS AND SUBSCRIBER PROFILE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network platform, the method comprising: receiving a subscriber ID and associated base station ID and application IDs from a user equipment; receiving network congestion information from a network monitor; identifying an application affected by the network congestion; calculating a cost to the identified application due to the network congestion; and notifying the identified application of the calculated cost. | 12-13-2012 |
| 20120317269 | INTELLIGENT NETWORK MANAGEMENT OF NETWORK-RELATED EVENTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the network node, an indication of an event from a network monitor, the event associated with a network element; identifying an applicable rule of a plurality of rules based on the event, the applicable rule specifying at least one action; initiating performance of the at least one action with respect to at least one session associated with the network element. Various embodiments additionally include one or more of the following: identifying a group of sessions associated with the network element; and wherein the steps of identifying an applicable rule and initiating performance of the at least one action are performed for each session of the group of sessions. | 12-13-2012 |
| 20120315893 | INTELLIGENT NETWORK MANAGEMENT OF SUBSCRIBER-RELATED EVENTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the network node, an indication of an event from a network monitor, the event associated with a subscriber; identifying, based on the event, an applicable rule of a plurality of rules, the applicable rule specifying at least one action; and initiating performance of the at least one action with respect to at least one session associated with the subscriber. Various embodiments additionally include one or more of the following: identifying a group of sessions associated with the subscriber, wherein the steps of identifying an applicable rule and initiating performance of the at least one action are performed for each session of the group of sessions. | 12-13-2012 |
| 20120315879 | INTELLIGENT PRESENCE NOTIFICATION SERVICE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a messaging server in a wireless network, the method including: establishing a messaging connection with an intelligent presence server; establishing a messaging connection with a user equipment; receiving a message from the intelligent presence server; and pushing the message to the user equipment. | 12-13-2012 |
| 20120311205 | MESSAGE FLOW REROUTING FOR SELF-DISRUPTING NETWORK ELEMENT - A method, apparatus, and machine readable storage medium is disclosed for establishing a test protocol processor which intercepts success path protocol messages at a network element port buffer and substitutes a failure path message to simulate the introduction of unexpected protocol messages into the protocol message flow from an external source to the network element under test. The disclosed self disrupting network element is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of a network element. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120311178 | SELF-DISRUPTING NETWORK ELEMENT - A method, apparatus, and machine readable storage medium is disclosed for establishing a test protocol processor which identifies and removes messages from a network element port buffer. Subsequent to removal the test protocol processor may perform one of several actions including allowing the message to drop, replacing the message after a delay, replacing the message after altering the payload of the message, and replacing the message after altering the message type. The disclosed self disrupting network element is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of network performance indicators. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120309320 | MESSAGE FLOW REROUTING FOR AUTONOMOUS SELF-DISRUPTING NETWORK ELEMENT - A method, apparatus, and machine readable storage medium is disclosed for establishing a test protocol processor which autonomously intercepts success path protocol messages at a network element port buffer and substitutes a corresponding failure path messages to simulate the introduction of unexpected protocol messages into the protocol message flow from an external source to the network element under test. Subsequent to intercepting messages, the test protocol processor may perform one or more of several actions according to the results of statistical calculations. These actions include allowing the message to drop, replacing the message after a delay, replacing the message after altering the payload of the message, and replacing the message after altering the message type. The disclosed autonomous self disrupting network element is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of network performance indicators under desired statistical conditions. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120307643 | FIELD DEPLOYABLE MESSAGE COMPROMISER - A method and apparatus are disclosed for establishing a field deployable message compromiser which is connected between two network elements and identifies and removes predetermined messages from an incoming message stream. Subsequent to removal the test protocol processor may perform one or more of several actions according to the results of statistical calculations. These actions include allowing the message to drop, replacing the message after a delay, replacing the message after altering the payload of the message, and replacing the message after altering the message type. The disclosed field deployable message compromiser is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of network performance indicators under desired statistical conditions. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120307642 | AUTONOMOUS SELF-DISRUPTING NETWORK ELEMENT - A method, apparatus, and machine readable storage medium is disclosed for establishing a test protocol processor which identifies and removes predetermined messages from a network element port buffer. Subsequent to removal the test protocol processor may perform one or more of several actions according to the results of statistical calculations. These actions include allowing the message to drop, replacing the message after a delay, replacing the message after altering the payload of the message, and replacing the message after altering the message type. The disclosed autonomous self disrupting network element is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of network performance indicators under desired statistical conditions. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120307626 | FIELD-DEPLOYABLE PROTOCOL MESSAGE INTERCEPTOR - A method and apparatus is disclosed for a field-deployable protocol message interceptor for insertion between network elements, to autonomously intercept success path protocol messages from a first network element and substitute corresponding failure path messages for transmission to a second network element, to simulate the introduction of unexpected protocol messages into the protocol message flow from the first network element to the second network. Subsequent to intercepting messages, the test protocol processor may perform one or more of several actions according to the results of statistical calculations. These actions include allowing the message to drop, replacing the message after a delay, replacing the message after altering the payload of the message, and replacing the message after altering the message type. The disclosed field-deployable protocol message interceptor is particularly useful for providing a means to perform in situ field testing of network performance indicators under desired statistical conditions. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20120297074 | PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION IN SCHEDULED TASK PERFORMANCE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining, by the session management node, a next task time for a session; storing the next task time; waiting for a period of time; after waiting, determining whether a task should be performed with respect to the session based on the next task time; and if the task should be performed with respect to the session, sending a message to at least one other node in the subscriber network including an indication that the task should be performed with respect to the session. | 11-22-2012 |
| 20120290713 | MID-SESSION CHANGE SUPPORT IN USAGE MONITORING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a session management node, a usage monitoring report from a usage monitoring node, the usage monitoring report including a reported usage amount for a first monitoring key; updating a current usage amount based upon the reported usage amount; identifying a current monitoring key; and requesting additional monitoring from the usage monitoring node for the current monitoring key. Various exemplary embodiments additionally relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: taking a policy action based on the current usage amount; determining a next threshold based on the current usage amount; determining a second usage amount associated with a second monitoring key; and adding the current usage amount to at least the second usage amount to determine a total usage amount. | 11-15-2012 |
| 20120278472 | USAGE MONITORING AFTER ROLLOVER - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining a session to roll over; determining whether usage monitoring at a usage monitoring node is currently disabled for the session; and if usage monitoring at the usage monitoring node is currently disabled for the session, sending a message from the session management node to the usage monitoring node, wherein the message includes an instruction to enable usage monitoring for the session. Various alternative embodiments additionally include one or more of the following: waiting for a length of time to receive a usage report at the session management node from the usage monitoring node; wherein the step of sending a message from the session management node to the usage monitoring node is only performed when a usage report is not received during the length of time. | 11-01-2012 |
| 20120275304 | HIERARCHICAL PROFILED SCHEDULING AND SHAPING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining, by the network node, that a port of the network node is ready to receive a packet; identifying a packet having a highest packet priority among a plurality of packets received via a plurality of interfaces, wherein the step of identifying includes, for each of a plurality of components at a first hierarchy level: identifying a first level highest priority packet among a plurality of packets available to the component, based on a packet priority associated with each of the plurality of packets available to the component, sharing the packet priority of the first level highest priority packet with at least one component at a second hierarchy level; and transmitting the packet having the highest priority to the port. | 11-01-2012 |
| 20120263074 | TIME OF DAY RULE SCHEDULER - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) for scheduling the operation of the PCRN, the method including: selecting a type of PCRN action to carry out; determining an update time; determining an applicable PCRN action based upon the update time and a timeframe associated with the applicable PCRN action; and performing the applicable PCRN action. | 10-18-2012 |
| 20120257628 | MAPPING PRIVATE AND PUBLIC ADDRESSES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: identifying, at the network node, a packet associated with a first address; determining, at the network node, that an alternate address mapping is unknown to the network node for the first address; generating a request message based on at least a portion of the packet; transmitting the request message to a different node; receiving a response message, the response message including a second address, wherein the second address is an alternative address for the first address; and storing the first address and the second address together as an alternate address mapping. | 10-11-2012 |
| 20120257503 | INTELLIGENT PRESENCE CONGESTION NOTIFICATION SERVICE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network platform, the method including: receiving a subscriber ID and associated base station ID for a user equipment; receiving a congestion alert event message; identifying a user equipment on a congested base station; and notifying the user equipment on the congested base station. | 10-11-2012 |
| 20120250613 | RULES SYSTEM VERSION CLONING - A rules systems version cloning method is disclosed for exporting a rules system version from a first PCRN and importing the rules system version on a second PCRN. The plain text export format is jointly suitable both for review on a display terminal and for data transfer. The rules systems version cloning method is particularly useful for providing a means to propagate a rules system version from a test environment to a working environment, and from a standalone environment to a distributed environment. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120250573 | RULES SYSTEM VERSIONS - A rules systems version coordination method is disclosed for the initiation of a rules system version and the coordination of the rules system version with other rules system versions which may be available. Particularly, the rules system versions are coordinated so that one-and-only-one is in the Active State i.e. the state in which the Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) is deriving its set of policies; rules system versions may only be promoted to the Active State from a Release State; and rules system versions may only be modified when in a Draft State, from which they may be promoted to the Release State. The rules systems version coordination method is particularly useful for providing a buffer state between rules system versions undergoing modification and the rules system version currently in service. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120250536 | ETHERNET-DUAL-ENDED LOSS MEASUREMENT CALCULATION - The invention is directed to a method of preserving accuracy in dual-ended frame loss measurement system between a first node and a second node in a packet switching network, especially by Ethernet routers, switches and bridges supporting ITU-T Y.1731 dual-ended LM functionality by enhancing the behavior of dual-ended frame loss measurement to permit enabling and disabling the loss measurement at each node separately without incurring erroneous errors. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120233335 | AUXILIARY HOST AND SESSIONS - A method for establishing a session between a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) and an auxiliary host, includes: receiving, at the PCRN, an application session request message from a packet data network gateway (PGW); establishing an access session with the packet data network gateway; receiving, at the PCRN, an auxiliary session request message from the auxiliary host; and establishing an auxiliary access session with the auxiliary host corresponding to the access session with the packet data network gateway. | 09-13-2012 |
| 20120224495 | IN-SERVICE THROUGHPUT TESTING IN DISTRIBUTED ROUTER/SWITCH ARCHITECTURES - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of measuring at least one transport link's performance in a communications network. An originating device controlled by a customer may generate testing frames that are transported to a receiving device also controlled by the customer through the at least one transport link that connects the two devices. In some embodiments, the transport links may transfer the testing frames while the transport links are transporting other data traffic. The receiving device may parse incoming frames and, upon identifying the testing frames, may generate echoing response frames. In some embodiments, the echoing response frames may be placed in one of a series of priority-based service queues. The originating device may then receive the response frames through the transport links and may measure the stream of incoming frames to measure and analyze the transport links' performance. | 09-06-2012 |
| 20120221723 | TRANSIENT SUBSCRIPTION RECORDS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the session management node, an initial request message, the initial request message including at least one subscription identifier; determining that the session management node does not have access to a subscription record associated with the at least one subscription identifier; generating a transient subscription record based on the initial request message; and processing the initial request message based on the initial request message and the transient subscription record. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120218888 | GPRS DEFAULT BEARER TRACKING - The invention is directed to providing a method and apparatus for managing and tracking default bearers in an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network while observing the requirements of the GPRS specifications. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120213226 | PROCESSING DATA PACKET TRAFFIC IN A DISTRIBUTED ROUTER ARCHITECTURE - Embodiments of the invention are directed to efficiently processing packet traffic in a system such as a switch or router having a distributed architecture. An internal header is appended to an ingress packet by an ingress packet processing device before the packet is forwarded to a fabric switch of the system. The internal header corresponds to a configuration of an ingress interface over which the packet was received. An egress packet processing device, upon receiving the packet from the switch, processes the packet based on the internal header and a configuration of an egress interface associated with the egress device. Advantageously, some packet tag manipulation operations are performed only at the egress packet processing device; thereby somewhat freeing up ingress packet processing resources. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120213223 | EFFICIENT MULTICASTING IN A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE - Embodiments of the invention are directed to multicasting packets in a system such as a data packet switch or router having a distributed architecture. A first device such as a line card receiving a packet that requires multicasting forwards the packet to a fabric switch where the packet is replicated to obtain one respective packet for each line card of the system. Each line card receives its respective packet from the fabric switch and further duplicates the packet to obtain a duplicate packet for each egress endpoint of a service associated with the packet that is eligible to receive such a duplicate packet. Replication and duplication of packets requiring multicasting performed in this manner efficiently uses bandwidth of the fabric switch and links connecting it to the line cards. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120213182 | PRIMARY SERVING GATEWAY RESOLUTION - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for handling requests from a user device in a wireless communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) attempting to bind an IP-CAN session established in a Packet Data Network gateway (PGW) with a gateway control session established in a serving gateway (SGW). In instances when the IP-CAN session and gateway control session no longer match, the PCRN may wait to receive a subsequent message from the PGW and/or SGW. When the PCRN does not receive the subsequent message containing a matching session, the PCRN may terminate the sessions in all the relevant gateways. This may cause the system to reestablish a new, matching connection instead of remaining in a hanging state. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120213064 | MONITORING RESOURCE CONGESTION IN A NETWORK PROCESSOR - Embodiments of the invention are directed to monitoring resources of a network processor to detect a condition of exhaustion in one or more of the resources over a predetermined time interval and to provide an indication of the condition. Some embodiments periodically sample various resources of a network processor and from the samples calculate utilization of the network processor's memory bus and core processor, and determine if an interworking FIFO packet queue error has occurred. Such information may help network operators and/or support engineers to quickly zero in on the root cause and take corrective actions for network failures which previously could have been attributed to many different causes and that would have required significant time and effort to troubleshoot. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120210006 | SESSION BASED SUPPORT OF MULIPLE 3GPP STANDARDS VERSIONS - Embodiments are disclosed that enable a device such as a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node to operate with other nodes in a long term evolution (LTE) network that are operating at different respective major-minor release combinations of the 3 | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120207170 | VIRTUAL PRIVATE LAN SERVICE PACKET PROCESSING - Embodiments of the invention are directed to processing Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) packets. Each VPLS packet is processed in two stages. In a first stage Layer 2 and Layer 3 headers are parsed from the packet to obtain an Ethernet frame and Traffic management characteristics are determined according to the L3 header. In a second stage a type of Ethernet frame is determined, as either one requiring replication or not, and the Ethernet frame is forwarded in accordance with the TM characteristics based on the determined frame type. This approach allows for a modular implementation which provides enables high performance and efficient utilization of processing resources. | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120207086 | SIMULTANEOUSLY SUPPORTING MULIPLE 3GPP STANDARD VERSIONS - Embodiments are disclosed that enable a device such as a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node to operate with other nodes in a long term evolution (LTE) network that are operating at different respective major-minor release combinations of the 3 | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120177028 | RADIUS GATEWAY ON POLICY CHARGING AND RULES FUNCTION (PCRF) FOR WIRELINE/WIRELESS CONVERGED SOLUTION - A method and apparatus are provided for allowing a single platform to recognize and process both Diameter messages and Radius messages. A gateway is provided for translating Radius messages received from a wireline device into NASReq messages. A Diameter Proxy Agent receives both Diameter messages from a wireless device and the NASReq messages from the gateway. The Diameter Proxy Agent selects a PCRF to which to pass a NASReq message, and upon receipt of a NASReq message the PCRF either creates or updates a NASReq session object. By recognizing and processing Radius messages, wireline services can be offered at the same time as wireless services without requiring the use of a second platform. In addition, use of the PCRF server to support wireline services offers much better scalability than that offered by traditional AAA servers. | 07-12-2012 |
| 20120173889 | Power Saving Hardware - A method and apparatus are provided which allow telecommunication equipment to adjust its power consumption. By replicating the functionality of a standard component for processing traffic on a general purpose CPU, traffic can be routed within the equipment to the general purpose CPU for processing instead of the component under certain conditions. If the maximum bandwidth supported by the functionality on the general purpose CPU is less than the maximum bandwidth supported by the component, then the component can be powered down during times of low traffic and the traffic routed to the general purpose CPU instead. Since the maximum bandwidth supported by the functionality on the general purpose CPU is less than the maximum bandwidth supported by the component, less power is necessary to operate the telecommunication equipment and hence cost is reduced. | 07-05-2012 |
| 20120173660 | Real-Time Power Cost Feed - A method and apparatus are provided in which a new input to a telecommunications node is provided, namely the real-time cost of power. By providing this information, the node may make more informed decisions as to power cost of various options. For example, the node may alter its operating parameters based on the current cost of power to implement various features. The real-time cost of power is provided to the node by the power provider. The real-time cost of the power is provided to the node using any method, such as by packets through a dedicated interface of the node, packets through a UDP port, or as packets over the electricity grid. The telecommunications node is just one example of end user equipment, and the real-time cost of power may be provided to any power-consuming equipment. | 07-05-2012 |
| 20120168216 | 0201 LAND PATTERN FOR 1.0 mm AND .08 mm PITCH ARRAYS - A land pattern for 1 mm and 0.8 mm pitch arrays has been disclosed for placing two port devices. The land pattern includes a ball grid array (BGA) of BGA pads each connected to a respective through hole via, and a pair of rectangular conductive pads electrically connected to a an adjacent pair of through hole vias, wherein each rectangular pad extends out from its via towards the other via of the pair along a line connecting the centers of said adjacent pair vias. A solder mask is located on the rectangular pad side and has apertures over each rectangular conductive pad. The land pattern is particularly useful for locating two port devices directly underneath a BGA device while minimizing the distance from a BGA ball to the two port device lead. | 07-05-2012 |
| 20120166014 | ADAPTIVE COOLING USING SYSTEM CONFIGURATION INFORMATION - A method and system is disclosed for controlling cooling unit operational settings according to a desired useful life target. The method and system includes an adaptive cooling controller which uses system configuration information to associate a particular cooling unit with particular sub-equipment locations, and further uses configuration information to associate cooling unit activity with respective sensors. At a given cooling unit setting, the adaptive cooling controller determines from sensor readings in the associated sub-equipment whether a cooling unit setting change is required according to the configuration information for the sub-equipment in conjunction with a useful life target. The method and system is particularly useful for overcoming the difficulty with accommodating sub-equipment changes of cooling unit controllers known in the art. | 06-28-2012 |
| 20120165100 | CROWD MOBILE SYNCHRONIZATION - The invention is directed to a system and method for providing a synchronized game display to a plurality of mobile communications devices which can be grouped according to one or more attributes. Game display messages are specific to each grouping and comprise dance moves, song lyrics or other instructions to users of the mobile communication devices. A synchronization mechanism is provided to synchronize the displays the groups of mobile devices. | 06-28-2012 |
| 20120160444 | ADAPTIVE COOLING USING SELECTABLE TARGET USEFUL LIFE - A method and system is disclosed for controlling cooling unit operational settings according to a desired useful life target. The method and system includes an adaptive cooling controller which uses system configuration information to associate a particular cooling unit with particular sub-equipment locations, and further uses configuration information to associate cooling unit activity with respective sensors. At a given cooling unit setting, the adaptive cooling controller determines from sensor readings in the associated sub-equipment whether a cooling unit setting change is required according to the configuration information for the sub-equipment in conjunction with a useful life target. The method and system is particularly useful for overcoming the difficulty with accommodating sub-equipment changes of cooling unit controllers known in the art. | 06-28-2012 |
| 20120137295 | METHOD FOR DISPLAYING CPU UTILIZATION IN A MULTI-PROCESSING SYSTEM - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of measuring CPU utilization. The method may include: executing at least one task on a multi-processing system having at least two processors; determining that a task is blocked because a resource is unavailable; starting a first timer for the task that measures the time the task is blocked; determining that the resource is available; resuming processing the task; stopping the first timer for the task; and storing the time interval that the task was blocked. The method may determine that a task is blocked when the task requires access to a resource, and a semaphore indicates that the resource is in use. The method may also include measuring the utilization time of each task, an idle time for each processor, and an interrupt request time for each processor. Various exemplary embodiments relate the above method encoded as instructions on a machine-readable medium. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120137257 | HUMAN READABLE ICONIC DISPLAY - The invention is directed to providing a method for managing a human-readable icon associated with a user for displaying the human-readable icon on one or more target displays in response to a request for a service from the user. A user-operable device is used to transmit a request for the service and additionally to validate a unique human readable icon. The publicly-viewable human-readable icon can provide confirmation to the user for a request for service while providing a level of anonymity. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120137256 | HUMAN READABLE ICONIC DISPLAY SERVER - The invention is directed to providing a method for managing a human-readable icon associated with a user for displaying the human-readable icon on one or more target displays in response to a request for a service from the user. An icon server is used to manage and validate a unique human readable icon. The publicly-viewable human-readable icon can provide confirmation to the user for a request for service while providing a level of anonymity. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120106951 | IN-BAND OPTICAL SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO MEASUREMENT - Various embodiments relate to an in-band measurement of the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of an optical signal in an optically-amplified transmission system. A demodulation device may tap a transmission fiber to receive an optical signal containing a low-frequency signal. A filter may implement first and second passbands to filter portions of an optical channel in the optical signal. Once the filtered channel is converted to first and second target electrical signals, a measurement circuit may take measurements of DC and AC components for each of the target electrical signals. Based on measurements of the two target electrical signals, the demodulation device may calculate the OSNR as a function of the DC and AC components, or as a function of the adjustment factors between first and second passbands of the optical channel represented by the first and second target electrical signals. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106567 | MLPPP OCCUPANCY BASED ROUND ROBIN - Embodiments of the invention are directed to providing a method for selecting a link for transmitting a data packet, from links of a Multi-Link Point-to-Point Protocol (MLPPP) bundle, by compiling a list of links having a minimum queue depth and selecting the link in a round robin manner from the list. Some embodiments of the invention further provide for a flag to indicate if the selected link has been assigned to a transmitter so that an appropriate link will be selected even if link queue depth status is not current. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120087402 | IN-SYSTEM METHOD FOR MEASUREMENT OF CLOCK RECOVERY AND OSCILLATOR DRIFT - Various embodiments relate to an in-system measurement of clock signals in a communications circuit. A circuit may include a central processing unit and at least one phase error counter (PEC) that uses a measurement clock to determine the accuracy of a target signal. In some embodiments, the PEC may include a counter that compares a clock signal produced by a reference oscillator with the signal of the measurement clock by generating an oscillator phase error based the measured difference during a target period. In some embodiments, the PEC may measure the performance of a clock recovery module by measuring a difference between a produced recovered clock signal and the measurement clock signal, which may be the clock recovery phase error between the two signals. The CPU may also use the measured phase errors to determine other values related to the target signal(s). | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120084307 | EFFICIENT DATABASE SEARCH FOR UNIQUE INDENTIFIERS - The invention is directed to providing an improved method of determining available identifiers (IDs) in a database, especially in the context of using available IDs for provisioning services in a telecommunications system. The method performs a database query for a range of IDs and stores candidate IDs in a local pre-fetch ID set. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120081872 | THERMAL WARP COMPENSATION IC PACKAGE - An apparatus and method for temperature induced warpage compensation in an integrated circuit package is disclosed. The apparatus consists of bonded layers of material having different thermal coefficients of expansion. The bonded layers are bonded to the top of the integrated circuit package. By appropriate choice of temperature coefficients the layers of material can compensate for either convex or concave warpage. In some embodiments the layers of material have apertures therein allowing compensation for more complex warpages. As well, in some embodiments the top layer of material does not have a planar cross-section. A method is also disclosed for manufacturing an integrated circuit package assembly. The apparatus and method provide an alternative to methods of dealing with IC package warpage known in the art. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120081871 | WARP REACTIVE IC PACKAGE - An apparatus and method for temperature induced warpage compensation in an integrated circuit package is disclosed. The apparatus consists of a layer of material bonded to the top of the integrated circuit package. The layer of material may have a generally planar-convex or a generally planar-concave cross-section. By appropriate choice of temperature coefficient and degree of concavity or convexity, the layer of material can compensate for either convex or concave warpage. In some embodiments the layer of material has apertures therein allowing compensation for more complex warpages. The apparatus provides an alternative to apparatus for dealing with IC package warpage known in the art. | 04-05-2012 |
| 20120036257 | DIAMETER SESSION AUDITS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining by the network device that an S9 session should be audited; determining that the S9 session is a suspect session; transmitting an S9 message to a partner device, wherein the S9 message includes an innocuous instruction; receiving, at the network device, a response message from the partner device; determining, based on the response message, whether the suspect session is orphaned; and if the suspect session is orphaned, removing an S9 session record associated with the suspect session. | 02-09-2012 |
| 20120023242 | IPv6 GENERATION TO TRIGGER A VIRTUAL LEASED LINE SERVICE - Various embodiments relate to a communications system and related method for determining an address of a service access point (SAP) upon establishment of a service over a packet data network. A customer SAP connected to a provider SAP may request a link-local address for another customer SAP on the far-end of the packet data network. When the service, such as a virtual leased line (VLL) is not yet established, the provider SAP may generate an address for the customer based on another value, such as its own media access control (MAC) address. The generated address may then allow the service to become established, which may allow Neighbor Solicitation and Neighbor Advertisement packets to be sent, analyzed, and extracted. The provider SAP may then replace the generated address with the address extracted from the Neighbor Solicitation or Advertisement packet received after the service was established. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120005629 | TIGHTLY COUPLED LISTS AND FORMS FOR CREATING/VIEWING/EDITING DATA - A graphic user interface is provided for displaying list portlets and form portlets within a perspective, the portlets representing data including entities represented in a database. The portlets have various widgets. Portlets are associated with other portlets, such that selection of a widget or of a name in one portlet may open another portlet. In this way, nested portlets can be easily navigated and entities can be configured easily. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005620 | INTELLIGENT AUTO-CREATION OF NEW PORTLETS - A method is provided for keeping presentation of information to a minimum. A perspective comprises areas, and each area can have one or more portlets which display information. Each area has an associated list of portlet types that can be instantiated within the area. Each portlet can be manually placed into or out of a locked state. Various portlets can also be in a dirty state if they contain unsaved information, such as in a partially completed form. When a new portlet is to be added to the perspective, first an area which supports creation of that type of portlet is selected. The existing portlets within that area are then examined, and if one exists which is not locked and is not dirty, then it is replaced with the new portlet. If no such existing portlet is eligible for replacement, then the new portlet is created and added to the existing portlets. In this way, portlets in which a user is no longer interested may be replaced with newer portlets of more immediate interest, thereby reducing clutter within the perspective view of the information. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005618 | SUBFORMS - A method is provided for displaying subforms in a perspective having areas and portlets. An entity represented by a portlet is configured using a form within the portlet. Sub-entities may require configuration as part of configuring the first entity. When a user configures a sub-entity, a subform is opened presenting means of configuring the sub-entity. The subform overlays most of the parent form, making the parent form inaccessible until configuration of the sub-entity is either accepted or cancelled. Using subforms, it is apparent to a user that configuration of the first entity is not complete until all related sub-entities have also been configured. Use of subforms within a portlet also allows other information necessary for configuration of the entity or sub-entities to be viewed by the user. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005607 | FLOATING WINDOW - A method is provided for creating a floating window in a perspective view of data, such as network management data. The floating window can be moved freely about the perspective and resized, thereby allowing other data of importance which is tied to areas of the perspective to be seen. Portlets, containing aspects of data, can be located in the floating window. The floating window in modal mode is particularly useful for requiring a user to interact with or view data without being able to interact with data in the rest of the perspective. The floating window can also be created in non-modal mode, which allows a user to move portlets from existing areas to the more flexible floating window. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005358 | RETURN OF MULTIPLE RESULTS IN RULE GENERATION - Various embodiments relate to a Policy Charging and Rules Node (PCRN) and a related method and machine-readable medium for retrieving multiple results in response to a message. The PCRN may receive a message and, through handling the received message, may make a policy decision. The policy decision may require the PCRN to retrieve multiple related results. The PCRN may thereafter refer to a data arrangement that includes a rule set with at least one rule with multiple values. Based on the policy decision, the PCRN may retrieve the at least one rule. The PCRN may compile the rule from the rule set and may generate an answer message including at least one of these values included in the rule. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005145 | CACHING OF RULES - A method of exchanging a rules engine decision tree cache is disclosed. The method provides for provision accepting a command to build a replacement rules engine decision tree cache, replacing the existing cache if the decision tree creation process is successful, retaining the existing cache if the decision tree creation process is not successful, and providing specific error messages in the event that the replacement fails. The method allows an network operator to change the rules for the rule engine without disruption of real-time service and allows for a level of error checking prior to provisioning the new decision tree. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20120005144 | OPTIMIZATION OF RULE ENTITIES - A method of optimizing a rules engine rule set is disclosed. The method provides for identifying groups of rule conditions within a rule table that are repetitive; determining a hash function that will effectively summarize in a condensed form the set of criteria, operations and values that distinguish the group for each respective group of the identified groups; calculating hash values per the hash functions for each row of the rule table; storing the derived hash functions, the calculated hash values, and the original rule in memory when loading; and then at run time when the rule engine is invoked: calculating the hash values using the respective hash functions associated with the rule table using the attributes provided at invocation; and skipping all rows whose hash values are different from the calculated invocation hash values. The method of optimizing rule entities is particularly useful for overcoming the longer calculation times associated with un-optimized rule tables known in the art. | 01-05-2012 |
| 20110320858 | MONITORING SOFTWARE THREAD EXECUTION - The invention is directed to monitoring execution of software threads, particularly by detecting a lockup or stall in execution of a software thread and initiating a remedial action in response. Advantageously, some embodiments of the invention automatically detect a lockup or stall in execution of a software thread by periodically sampling information corresponding to the thread, and, in accordance with a determination made using the information, initiate an attempt to recover from such a condition in execution without the need for manual intervention. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320622 | MANAGING INTERNET PROTOCOL CONNECTIVITY ACCESS NETWORK SESSIONS - The invention is directed to managing a subscriber session, particularly an Internet Protocol connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session in the context of LTE networks, responsive to a change in circumstances related to the subscriber such as a change in subscriber profile information, an event trigger, or a usage management trigger. According to embodiments of the invention, such management includes receiving an indication of a change in circumstances relating to a subscriber; identifying a session related to the change; determining if taking an action related to the session is desirable; and taking the action in accordance with the determination. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320620 | METHOD OF AUTHORIZING AF SESSIONS USING EXTERNAL SUBSCRIBER DATABASE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the policy and charging rules node from a requesting entity, a message including a request associated with at least one service data flow (SDF), wherein the request includes at least one requested bandwidth; extracting at least one subscriber identifier from the message; retrieving a subscription record associated with the at least one subscriber identifier; determining whether the request should be fulfilled by performing at least one comparison of the at least one requested bandwidth for the SDF against at least one field of the subscription record; if the request should be fulfilled, establishing the SDF; and if the request should not be fulfilled: generating a response message that indicates that the request was rejected, and transmitting the response message to the requesting entity. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320584 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING A PCC RULE WAITING FOR PCEF ACTION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a policy and charging rules node from a first requesting device, a first message including a first set of information regarding an application request; generating a set of PCC rules for fulfilling the application request based on the first set of information; determining whether the PCRN should wait for a period of time for at least one PCC rule to receive a second message including a second set of information regarding the application request; and if the PCRN should wait for the period of time: waiting for the period of time to receive a second message including a second set of information regarding the application request, determining, after the time has elapsed, whether the second message has arrived, and if the second message has not arrived, initiating a cleanup procedure. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320544 | DIAMETER SESSION AUDITS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) for managing communications sessions. The method may include: determining that a session is suspect of being inactive; sending an innocuous message to a network component that initiated the session; waiting for a response from the network component; if the PCRN receives a response from the network component, determining whether the session is inactive based on the response; and taking at least one management action for the session if the session is inactive. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a PCRN for managing communications sessions. The PCRN may include: one or more interfaces that communicate with network components, one or more PCRN blades that manage communications sessions, and a diameter proxy agent that determines which blade manages a session. Each PCRN blade may include a session manager, a timer and a session data storage. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320438 | RULE SUMMARY - A rule summarizing engine and method is disclosed for traversing functional relations in a telecom database and rendering the functional relations in human readable form. The rule summarizing engine and method obtains a database of rules established by operators using a Graphical User Interface to establish functional relations between conditions and actions in a telecom network device. The rule summarizing engine end method traverses either an indicated portion or the entire database and renders the functional relations hitherto established into a readily readable structured form. The rule summarizing engine and method is particularly useful for assisting error finding in functional relations established in a telecom database over other methods known in the art. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110320323 | PCRF-PCEF-OCS INTERACTION IN WIRELESS-WIRELINE CONVERGENCE - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for charging an actual subscriber using a single subscriber profile. A Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) may receive a message including a service request and may refer to a subscriber profile to add at least one subscriber identifier (ID) to the message. An Online Charging System (OCS) may thereafter receive a translated message originating from the PCRN and use the at least one subscriber ID included in the translated message to find charging information for the actual subscriber. The OCS may include the charging information in a charged message. A device providing service may then use the charged information to charge the actual subscriber for the requested service. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110319054 | SESSION BINDING USING SUBSCRIBER IDENTIFICATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) receiving a plurality of related service requests from different devices. The PCRN may establish a Session Binding Identifier (SBI) for each message received. The SBI may include one or more subscriber IDs. Upon receipt of a message, the PCRN may compare the included subscriber IDs against information included in a subscriber database to match with a specific subscriber profile. The PCRN may use the subscriber profile to determine whether existing established sessions are associated with the same subscriber profile, and may bind the sessions together when they are associated with a common subscriber profile. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317718 | AUTHORIZING QOS PER QCI - The invention is directed to 3GPP-compliant networks wherein a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) node provides a subscriber's maximum allowed Authorized Quality-of-Service (QoS) per QoS Class Identifier (QCI) to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) as the authorized QoS per QCI, such that the PCEF node can then allocate resources and bandwidth over one or more Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) bearers with the same QCI. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317709 | MANAGEMENT OF SERVING GATEWAYS FOR ENHANCED PERFORMANCE - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for managing a connection of a user device to a communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) receiving a user requests through multiple serving gateways. The PCRN may assign one of the serving gateways as a primary serving gateway when the serving gateway sends a Gateway Control Session that binds to an IP-CAN session established in the PCRN. When the PCRN receives a subsequent message from another serving gateway, the PCRN may reassign the new serving gateway as primary when its Gateway Control Session matches. The PCRN may then mark the former serving gateway as pending termination and signal the marked gateway to terminate. After sending rules to serving gateways not pending termination, the PCRN may delete those serving gateways marked for termination. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317558 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING PCC RULES BASED ON SERVICE REQUESTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method of generating a Policy and Control Charging (PCC) rule for managing packet traffic across a network. The method may include: receiving a request message for PCC rules from a requesting network component; authorizing a set of QoS information based on the requested set of QoS information; generating a PCC rule; and transmitting the PCC rule to an enforcing network component. The request message may include a requested set of QoS information and multiple traffic mappings each describing a flow of packets transmitted across the network. The PCC rule may include the authorized set of QoS information and multiple flow descriptions corresponding to each traffic mapping. The PCRN may include: a first interface that receives a request message, a policy engine, a rule generator, and a second interface that transmits the PCC rule to an enforcing network component. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110317557 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AND UPDATING PCC RULES BASED ON SERVICE REQUESTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to method of generating PCC rules for managing packet traffic across a network. The method may include: receiving a request message for PCC rules from a requesting network component, authorizing the first requested bandwidth for a first traffic mapping; authorizing a third bandwidth for at least a second traffic mapping wherein the third authorized bandwidth is less than or equal to a second requested bandwidth minus the first requested bandwidth; generating a first PCC rule comprising: a service flow corresponding to the first traffic mapping and the first authorized bandwidth; and generating a second PCC rule comprising: a service flow corresponding to the second traffic mapping and the third authorized bandwidth. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a Policy and Control Rules Node (PCRN) for generating PCC rules. The PCRN may include an interface, service flow extractor, policy engine, rule generator, rules storage and rules manager. | 12-29-2011 |
| 20110307790 | EXTENDING REVALIDATION-TIME OF DIAMETER SESSIONS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a Policy Charging and Control Node (PCRN) for updating a session associated with a subscriber in response to an event. The method may include receiving at the PCRN an event message indicating that an event has occurred within the session; retrieving subscriber information including at least one incremental value associated with the event for the subscriber; determining an updated value based on the at least one retrieved incremental value and at least one reference value; and responding to the event message with an update message including the updated value. Various exemplary embodiments may further include configuring a subscriber profile repository to include at least one incremental value and terminating the session if the subscriber is not allowed to use incremental updates or no incremental value is defined for the subscriber. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110302458 | FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGING FAILURES IN OUTBOUND MESSAGES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a policy and charging rules node (PCRN), a request from a requesting node for an establishment of a first service data flow (SDF); generating a first rule set for implementing the first SDF in response to the request; transmitting a first rule of the rule set to a first node for installation of the first rule; waiting for a period of time for a response from the first node; determining from the response whether installation of the first rule at the first node failed or succeeded; and if installation of the first rule succeeded, transmitting a second rule of the first rule set to a second node for installation of the second rule. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110302457 | METHOD OF DETERMINING A UNIQUE SUBSCRIBER FRM AN ARBITRARY SET OF SUBSCRIBER ATTRIBUTES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a subscriber profile repository (SPR) for determining a subscriber associated with a set of subscription identifiers. The subscriber profile repository may include: an interface which receives a subscriber profile request including at least one subscription identifier; a subscriber record database that includes a set of subscription identifiers; a subscriber record cache that contains a subset of the records contained in the subscriber record database; and a search manager that queries the subscriber record cache using each subscription identifier and queries the subscriber record database when the subscriber record cache does not contain a record matching a subscription identifier. The SPR may also include a results manager that compares subscriber records and updates the cache when a result is found in the subscriber records database. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by the SPR and a machine-readable medium including instructions for an SPR. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110302027 | COMMUNICATION AVAILABLE TRANSPORT NETWORK BANDWIDTH TO L2 ETHERNET NODES - Various embodiments relate to a communications system and related method of advertising available bandwidth capacities of leased links. After leasing a link to an operator device, a provider or operator may monitor the available capacity of the leased link and generate an advertising frame when the actual available capacity is below the defined leased capacity of the link. The advertising frame may be an L2 Ethernet frame in a form similar to the routing protocol used in the communications network to avoid additional strain and complexity in the network due to additional protocols for traffic engineering. After propagating the new information throughout the network using the advertising frame operator devices may redirect or shape their traffic of data in response to the updated available capacity on the leased link. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110301771 | HIGH-VOLTAGE STEP-CHARGE CONTROL FOR USE IN NETWORK-POWERED APPLICATIONS - An over-current input conditioning limiter is disclosed for remote equipment. The over-current input conditioning limiter includes a current sensing apparatus, a semiconductor switch, and a programmable controller for controlling the peak current drawn from a pair of supply lines. The over-current input conditioning limiter is particularly useful for overcoming voltage collapse and over-current shutdowns of network power supplies feeding remote apparatus known in the art. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110295935 | MINIMIZING PCC RULE INSTANTIATION LATENCY - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method, policy and charging rules node (PCRN) and machine-readable storage medium for creating policy and control charging rules with minimal rule instantiation latency. Embodiments may include one or more of the following: receiving at a PCRN from an application node a first service request message, determining whether the PCRN should wait for a mate message for the service flow, if the PCRN should not wait for a mate message, immediately generating at least one PCC rule, and immediately pushing the first PCC rule to at least one gateway. Various exemplary embodiments may further include using subscriber preferences and/or a record of previous decisions to determine whether the PCRN should wait for a mage message. In various embodiments, the PCRN may disable a timer when it determines it should not wait for a mate message. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110292885 | PRIMARY SERVING GATEWAY RESOLUTION - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for handling requests from a user device in a wireless communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) attempting to bind an IP-CAN session established in a Packet Data Network gateway (PGW) with a gateway control session established in a serving gateway (SGW). In instances when the IP-CAN session and gateway control session no longer match, the PCRN may wait to receive a subsequent message from the PGW and/or SGW. When the PCRN does not receive the subsequent message containing a matching session, the PCRN may kill the sessions in all the relevant gateways. This may cause the system to reestablish a new, matching connection instead of remaining in a hanging state. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110289196 | METHOD OF DISTRIBUTING PCC RULES AMONG IP-CONNECTIVITY ACCESS NETWORK (IP-CAN) BEARERS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and system for distributing policy and charging control (PCC) rules among a plurality of IP-Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) bearers. The method may include one or more of the following: receiving, at a PCRN, an UE request (CCR) message, processing the UE message to generate one or more PCC rules, determining one or more requested service data flows (SDFs) from the UE message, and for each requested SDF, generating a new PCC rule based on the UE message. The method may further include, providing each new PCC rule to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Node (PCEN), controlling distribution of the generated PCC rules among a plurality of IP-CAN bearers, and binding each requested service data flow to select ones of IP-CAN bearers of the plurality of IP-CAN bearers. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110282981 | BEHAVIORAL RULE RESULTS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving a message at a PCRN; determining whether a policy decision should be made with regard to the received message; when a policy decision should be made: identifying a rule of a plurality of rules as applicable to processing the received message, wherein the identified rule specifies an action to be taken in response to the received message, performing the action in response to the received message; and when a policy decision should not be made, processing the received message according to normal procedures. Such action may include one or more of the following: rejecting a request, accepting a request, modifying a request, and performing a predefined routine. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110281554 | EXTENSIBLE DATA DRIVEN MESSAGE VALIDATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method, network component and machine-readable storage medium for validating a message received at a network component. Embodiments may include one or more of the following: receiving a message at the network component, determining a validation scenario, determining a set of validation conditions associated with the determined validation scenario, and determining whether the message passes the validation condition. Various exemplary embodiments may further include extensible condition definitions that include one or more of the following: validation fragments, element validation definitions, and element definitions. Various exemplary embodiments may use XML to define condition definitions. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110276667 | PCRF TRIGGERED RULES CLEANUP - Various embodiments relate to a system and related method of handling a plurality of user messages originating from a user device in a communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy Charging and Rules Node (PCRN) receiving an initial message from a first device, while anticipating a complementary message from a second device. Upon receipt of the complementary message, the PCRN may pair the messages and generate a rule from the paired message. If the PCRN does not receive the complementary message, the PCRN may generate the rule from only the initially-received message or may ignore the message. The PCRN may treat each received message independent from each other so that lack of receipt of a complementary message does not affect the creation of rules from another paired message. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110276530 | MANAGED OBJECT SUPPORT - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining, at a policy and charging rules node, that the policy and charging rules node should perform a policy decision; comparing a criteria portion of at least one rule of a plurality of rules to a set of context information; identifying a rule of the plurality of rules that matches the set of context information; determining that a result portion of the identified rule includes a reference to a first managed object; and using the first managed object as at least part of a result of the policy decision. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110276529 | PCRF INCOMPLETE NOTIFICATION PROCESSING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: receiving a message at the PCRN, the message comprising at least one content element; inferring a message type of the message based on the at least one content element; and responding to the message based on the message type of the message and the at least one content element of the message. Inferring a message type may include applying a set of inference rules to content elements of the message to determine a message type. Various exemplary embodiments further include validating a message received at the PCRN, receiving an incomplete message at the PCRN, and inferring a value of a missing element of an incomplete message. Incomplete messages may include messages where the missing element is a message type element that indicates the type of the message. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110271213 | EVENT BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING APPLICATION - A method and apparatus are provided for event-based sharing of audio/video in real-time along with chat text by anyone capturing or viewing the shared video. An IMS-based server acts as a hub for the shared audio/video and chat text, which is then distributed to all participants. The chat text is conveyed in the data stream associated with the ISO transport stream carrying the audio and video streams. The audio and video streams and the chat text are recorded using a Network Digital Video Recorder, and can be viewed later by a user. During playback of a recorded event, the user can also switch between different recordings of the same event if available, as the IMS server maintains synchronization information for different recorded streams of the event. The method and apparatus provide improved social networking. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110235304 | IC PACKAGE STIFFENER WITH BEAM - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a stiffener for use with and integrated circuit (IC). The stiffener can be attached to the IC, and can utilize a planar portion and one or more beam portions that project from the planar portion at a non-zero angle. The stiffener can alternatively include a frame formed of beam portions that are adjacent the sides of the IC. The stiffener can provide added stiffness to the IC package to resist warping of the IC during soldering. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110235283 | REMOVABLE IC PACKAGE STIFFENING BRACE AND METHOD - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a brace for use with an integrated circuit (IC), and to an IC package with a brace, having a main body portion and a fastening portion for mechanically fastening the main body portion to the IC, by for example clipping or sliding attachment. Other exemplary embodiments relate to a method of stabilizing an IC during an operation carried out on the IC, such as a soldering operation, involving for example steps of attaching a brace to the IC, performing the operation on the IC, and/or removing the brace after performing the operation. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110228776 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORWARDING PACKETS - A forwarder for use within an internetworking system operating over an ATM backbone is provided. The physical internetworking devices within the system are shared to provide the internetworking functions while servicing two or more distinct and isolated user networks. This is accomplished by logically partitioning the devices into distinct sub-elements which provide all or part of the internetworking functions. These sub-elements are uniquely allocated to independent realms which are then assigned to specific user networks. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110225113 | DIVERSE MESSAGE SYNCHRONIZATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium relating to the receipt, association, and synchronization of a plurality of messages from diverse sources. Various embodiments relate to a Policy Charging and Rules Node (PCRN) receiving related messages from at least two sources and acquiring a lock associated with the received message's session binding identifier (SBI). The PCRN may use the lock to prioritize the processing of the related requests that share a common SBI. Various embodiments relate to the PCRN rejecting subsequent related requests unless the subsequent request is of a higher priority. Various other embodiments relate to the PCRN waiting for the receipt of the subsequent request before fully processing the first request. | 09-15-2011 |
| 20110206046 | Source-based queue selection mechanism in the routing environment - The invention is directed to a method and system for selecting queues for source-based queuing in a packet router, requiring only one flow per destination route. The invention stores source interface information for each packet while it is being processed. The invention applies to packet routers including IP routers, Ethernet routers and Label Switched Routers (LSR). | 08-25-2011 |
| 20110202873 | MENU LAUCHING STRUCTURE - A method is provided for acting on a selected menu item. The menu items are defined so as to have associated with them a label, a launch type, and a parameter. Depending on the launch type of a selected menu item, different actions are taken and the parameter is used in different ways. If the launch type indicates that a list or a form is to be presented upon selection of a menu item, then the parameter is passed as an input to a list or form subsystem. If the launch type indicates that an action specific to the selected menu item is to be performed, then a pre-defined function within an object representing the entity indicated by the selected menu item is called, the name of the pre-defined function being determined from the value of the parameter. The method of defining and acting on menu items allows both common functions and functions specific to a menu item to be associated with menu items. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110202865 | PERSPECTIVE VIEW - A method is provided for displaying a graphical user interface to a user. The graphical user interface includes a perspective, which is an arrangement of areas, each area containing at least one portlet which presents one aspect of stored information. The graphical user interface allows a user to easily switch between different perspectives, each perspective presenting a different layout of areas. Within each area, different portlets can be made visible using tabs to switch between the portlets. A new portlet can also be created within an area, as long as that type of portlet is allowed in that particular area. The invention allows a user to easily manage the view of many pieces of information without the clutter usually associated with many windows. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110202660 | DIVERSE SOURCE MESSAGE ASSOCIATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) receiving a plurality of related service requests from different devices. The PCRN may proceed to generate a policy and charging control (PCC) rule based on at least one service request and other information stored in the PCRN if a mate service request does not arrive during the duration of a waiting timer. If the mate service request arrives subsequent to the expiry of the waiting timer, the PCRN may then generate a subsequent PCC rule to replace the previously generated rule, with the new PCC rule incorporating information from both of the mate service requests. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110202635 | POLICY CONTROLLER APPLICATION ENABLEMENT API FOR WIRELINE/WIRELESS CONVERGED SOLUTION - A method and apparatus are provided for allowing relatively simple interaction with a PCRF in an Evolved Packet Core. The PCRF includes an API, and instructions are sent by an application provider in an HTTP format to the API. The API translates these instructions into a diameter format so that they can be recognized by the PCRF. Response messages from the PCRF, in a diameter format, are sent to the API which translates these into a format recognized by the application provider's web browser. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110202491 | POLICY AND CHARGING RULES NODE EXPIRED MESSAGE HANDLING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) receiving a plurality of related service requests from different devices. The PCRN may proceed to generate a policy and charging control (PCC) rule based on at least one service request and other information stored in the PCRN if a mate service request does not arrive during the duration of a waiting timer. If the mate service request arrives subsequent to the expiry of the waiting timer, the PCRN may then generate a subsequent PCC rule to replace the previously generated rule, with the new PCC rule incorporating information from both of the mate service requests. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110202485 | PCC/QOS RULE CREATION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: receiving, at the PCRN, the application request message; determining at least one requested service flow from the application request message; for each requested service flow of the at least one requested service flow, generating a new PCC rule based on the application request message; and providing each new PCC rule to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Node (PCEN). Various exemplary embodiments further include an application request message including at least one media component and at least one media subcomponent and the step of for each media subcomponent, determining a requested service flow from the media subcomponent. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110201303 | METHOD OF HANDLING A CHANGE TO BEARER CONTROL MODE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: receiving, at the PCRN, a request message from an Evolved Packet Core node; determining whether the request message includes a request for a modification to an IP-CAN session; and if the request message includes a request for a modification to the IP-CAN session: determining a current bearer control mode for the IP-CAN session, determining a previous bearer control mode for the IP-CAN session, comparing the current bearer control mode to the previous bearer control mode, and if the current bearer control mode is different from the previous bearer control mode, modifying the IP-CAN session according to the current bearer control mode. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110199903 | METHOD FOR PCRF TO AUTONOMOUSLY RESPOND TO CELL CAPACITY SHORTAGE - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: determining network status; receiving an application request at the PCRN; generating a new PCC rule in response to the application request and network status; and providing the new PCC rule to a PCEN. Various exemplary embodiments further include receiving an event message, determining the network status from received event messages and isolating congestion using previously issued PCC rules and a network topology. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110158111 | BULK SERVICE PROVISIONING ON LIVE NETWORK - The invention is directed to a method and system for bulk provisioning of telecommunications services on a live network and is suited to migrating telecommunications services from a legacy network to another network. Customer service data files can be imported, and validated against customer service rules and against live configuration data of the live network. Actions are logged and can be rolled back when errors are encountered. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110149976 | DISTRIBUTING CELLS ON AN IMA LOGICAL LINK HAVING INACTIVE IMA SUB-LINKS - The invention is directed to a method and system for efficiently distributing Inverse Multiplexing over ATM (IMA) filler cells on IMA logical links having inactive or unusable IMA sub-links. Inactive IMA sub-links are identified during round-robin distribution of ATM data cells to active IMA sub-links. Predefined IMA filler cells are transmitted simultaneously on the identified inactive IMA sub-links when an ATM data cell is transmitted on an active IMA sub-link, thereby reducing the delay between transmitting ATM data cells. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110142079 | NETWORK IMPAIRMENT METRICS FOR TIMING OVER PACKET - The invention is directed to providing a system and method for monitoring a clock synchronization metric in a timing-over-packet system to provide a metric for service-level agreements (SLA), by providing a measure of the stability of the packet transfer delay relative to a representative statistic such as a median or minimum. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110142078 | NETWORK TIMING TOPOLOGY VIA NETWORK MANAGER - The invention is directed to providing a method and system for monitoring and managing from a network management entity, timing-over-packet synchronization performance in a packet switching network having multiple network nodes. The network management entity determines a physical topology and a synchronization topology of the network and monitors synchronization performance by collecting virtual path information. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110142077 | NETWORK SYNC PLANNING AND FAILURE SIMULATIONS - The invention is directed to a method and system for providing synchronization clock performance simulation in a timing-over-packet network having a network management system. The system retrieves information from nodes in a network and determines a timing-over-packet topology in a simulated model of the network, and determines clock stability statistics. The system further accepts simulation inputs such as addition or deletion of nodes in the simulated network, or introduction of failures into in the simulated network. The system provides predicted clock stability performance of an existing network under various simulated conditions without requiring modifications or introduction of failures to the existing network which would be useful for network optimization and network planning. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110082983 | CPU INSTRUCTION AND DATA CACHE CORRUPTION PREVENTION SYSTEM - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a cache corruption prevention system and a related method. A cache memory may contain contents that are susceptible to corruption. A cache controller, with the use of a threshold timer, may employ various operations to flush modified cache contents into a main memory and invalidate cache contents so that they are overwritten. Some operations include periodically flushing and invalidating the whole cache memory, periodically flushing and invalidating modified contents, and periodically flushing and invalidating contents based on the time saved in the cache memory. By overwriting cache contents that might otherwise be constantly stored in the cache memory, the system minimizes the probability of cache contents becoming corrupt. The periodic updating of the main memory may also increase the probability of successfully recovering from potential cache parity errors while still maintaining high performance associated with using a cache memory. | 04-07-2011 |
| 20110074384 | METHOD AND APPARATUS TO MEASURE CURRENT IN POWER SWITCHERS - A method and apparatus to measure current in power switching supplies is disclosed for simplification of in-circuit measurement. The method and apparatus to measure current includes a sensing capacitor which in series with a resistor is placed across the output inductor of the power supply in order to utilize the parasitic resistance of the inductor, in conjunction with a measurement controller which performs initial calibration and temperature compensation. Initial and secondary measurements are performed using an adjustable current sink in order to eliminate thermal effects. The method and apparatus to measure current in power switching supplies is particularly useful for overcoming invasive measurement techniques of for measuring current known in the art. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110047032 | PRIVACY-COUNSCIOUS ADVERTISING - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network element including one or more of the following: receiving a plurality of advertisement messages via the communications network, each advertisement message of the plurality of advertisement messages including a set of meta-information which describes the content of an advertisement associated with the advertisement message; determining whether each advertisement message is relevant to the user by comparing the set of meta-information to a set of user preferences associated with the user, the set of user preferences stored locally on the user node; when an advertisement message is determined to not be relevant to the user, discarding the advertisement message; and when an advertisement message is determined to be relevant to the user, providing the user with access to the advertisement associated with the advertisement message. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110038189 | CLOSED-LOOP EFFICIENCY MODULATION FOR USE IN AC POWERED APPLICATIONS - A system and method for closed-loop efficiency modulation for an AC/DC power system is provided. A boost-buck converter and a DC/DC converter connected in series receive a rectified DC feed signal from a AC input signal and deliver a modified DC output to an active load. A controller receives power data at various stages of the system and uses that data to modify a series of trim voltages provided to the feedback inputs of the respective converters to modify each converters output voltage. The controller modifies each converter's output voltage to maximize power efficiency while monitoring other data in the system to ensure the system is operating correctly and safely. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110032952 | TWO STAGE INTERNET PROTOCOL HEADER COMPRESSION - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network system including one or more of the following: receiving a packet having a header and belonging to a flow; identifying a context identifier (CID) associated with the flow; morphing the header into a pseudo-compressed header, the pseudo-compressed header including the CID associated with the flow; determining whether the packet should be transmitted with a compressed header, a full header, or an uncompressed header; morphing the pseudo-compressed header into a compressed header to form an outgoing packet when the packet should be transmitted with a compressed header; morphing the pseudo-compressed header into a full header to form an outgoing packet when the packet should be transmitted with a full header; restoring the uncompressed header to form an outgoing packet when the packet should be transmitted with an uncompressed header; and transmitting the outgoing packet over the communications network. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20100332918 | Alarm correlation system - An alarm correlation method with rules and model is disclosed for suppression of alarms which will clear when another alarm clears. The alarm correlation method with rules and model includes a list of objects which alarms may be raised, and a list of correlation rules for each of the objects which associates objects which have correlated alarms, and a method of traversing the lists so that correlated alarms may be suppressed. The alarm correlation method with rules and model is particularly useful for overcoming operator overload due to the presence of multiple correlated alarms. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20100332649 | CONFIGURING APPLICATION MANAGEMENT REPORTING IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK - The invention is directed to configuring an application management reporting service for managing a networked application carried over a WAN service without requiring knowledge of a network operator's infrastructure that is providing the WAN service. This capability aims at providing an abstraction from both the architecture of the operator's network and the technical details of its QoS management. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20100329284 | CENTRALIZED NODE CLOCK AUTO RECONFIGURATION - The invention is directed to a method and system for providing centralized automated synchronization clock reconfiguration in packet switched telecommunications networks having network nodes that do not implement Synchronization Status Messaging (SSM) internally. This is especially useful when integrating TDM networks with packet switching network elements having T1 and E1 interfaces. | 12-30-2010 |
| 20100315955 | AUTO VPN TROUBLESHOOTING - The invention is directed to providing a method and system for automatically determining a root cause of a failure in a packet switching telecommunications network using IP/MPLS protocols and having Virtual Private Network (VPN) services such as VLL, VPLS, VPRN. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100315941 | MAINTAINING TIME-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING OVER PSEUDOWIRE CONNECTIONS DURING NETWORK OUTAGES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a provider edge node and a related method. The provider edge node may include a receiver that receives at least one packet transmitted over a TDM pseudowire using a structure-agnostic transmission mechanism. The provider edge node may also include a physical interface configured to output frames to a corresponding customer edge (CE) device and a machine-readable storage medium that stores a TDM framing type corresponding to the physical interface. Finally, the provider edge node may include a circuit emulation engine that, during periods in which a network error has occurred, transmits a plurality of frames to the CE device over the physical interface. A TDM data payload of each frame may include an idle pattern, while a group of framing bits of the plurality of frames may define a framing pattern corresponding to the TDM framing type stored for the physical interface. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100309915 | VIRTUAL LEASED LINE ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL CACHE FOR CUSTOMER EDGE INTERNET PROTOCOL ADDRESSES - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a provider edge node and a method performed on the node including one or more of the following: storing, in a cache on the node, an association between an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the customer edge device and a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the customer edge device; storing, in a backup memory in the node, a copy of the last-known IP address of the customer edge device; removing the stored association from the cache in response to a cache-clearing event, while maintaining the copy of the last-known IP address in the backup memory; sending an address discovery message, the address discovery message requesting an updated MAC address corresponding to the last-known IP address maintained in the backup memory; and updating the cache to reflect the updated MAC address upon receipt of an additional address update message from the customer edge device. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100309907 | CONFIGURING COMMUNICATION SERVICES USING POLICY GROUPS - The invention is directed to configuring services in a packet switching network. Embodiments of the invention group existing service policies configured on network routers into policy groups, thereby enabling better management of service policies and policy overrides. This functionality can be useful for identifying redundant policies that may be eliminated by reconfiguring one or more of the network routers to reduce the overall network-wide number of policies, as well as provisioning new services in a manner that efficiently uses existing policies. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100284302 | AUTO-BINDING SDP RSVP LSP TUNNEL - The invention is directed to an apparatus and method for providing automatic binding of Virtual Private Routed Network (VPRN) over MPLS SDP RSVP LSP tunnels in a provider-managed IP/MPLS network. | 11-11-2010 |
| 20100278078 | CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT OF IP/MPLS ROUTER RINGS - The invention is directed to managing changes to a configuration of routers connected in a ring network architecture. Embodiments of the invention alleviate risks to services carried over a ring of IP/MPLS routers when configuration changes are made to the ring, such as inserting a router into, or removing a router from, the ring. To that end, embodiments of the invention automate some steps of such a configuration change operation that were previously performed manually, and coordinate those steps with other steps of the operation using a procedure stored as instructions on a computer readable media and executed by a computer system in order to effect and validate a correct sequencing of the steps. | 11-04-2010 |
| 20100260048 | APPLICATION-SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT OF HIGH-BANDWIDTH TRANSFERS - Various exemplary embodiments relate to a system and related method for transmission of content over a telecommunications network. The system may include a deep packet inspection (DPI) device configured to perform DPI to identify an application associated with the new flow, determine an amount of bandwidth required for the application, and determine a current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber. The DPI device may then determine a total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber. When the total amount of bandwidth exceeds an amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber, the DPI device may perform a traffic management action on packets belonging to the new flow, such that the total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber does not exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100014518 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORWARDING PACKETS - An internetworking system operating over an ATM backbone. The physical internetworking devices within the system are shared to provide the internetworking functions while servicing two or more distinct and isolated user networks. This is accomplished by logically partitioning the devices into distinct sub-elements which provide all or part of the internetworking functions. These sub-elements are uniquely allocated to independent realms which are then assigned to specific user networks. | 01-21-2010 |
