Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-30
2003-06-24
Marcelo, Melvin (Department: 2663)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C709S226000, C709S229000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06584097
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to an advanced intelligent network system that provides reservation services for Internet Service subscribers.
2. Background of the Invention
Over the last ten years, use of the Internet has grown rapidly. A large segment of this growth stems from an increase in individual dial-up subscribers. These dial-up subscribers use the public switched telephone network (“PSTN”) to establish connections to their Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”).
FIG. 1
is a schematic diagram illustrating how these dial-up subscribers, or users, connect to their ISPs using PSTN
10
. To support multiple connections, ISPs must maintain numerous telephone lines connected to modems. Rather than advertising a different telephone number for each telephone line, ISPs generally advertise a limited number of telephone access numbers. Each telephone access number corresponds to one or more telephone lines. These telephone lines may be made up of, e.g., individual POTS lines, one or more T
1
lines, or Primary Rate ISDN (“PRI”) lines. For simplicity, the figures and discussion herein show the connection to be made up of PRI lines
21
, as shown in FIG.
1
.
PRI lines
21
lead to the ISP
20
where they are connected to multi-line hunt group (“MLHG”)
22
as shown in FIG.
1
. MLHG
22
is a modem pool allowing multiple simultaneous connections and is controlled by access server
23
. MLHG
22
takes incoming subscriber calls and routes them to the first open modem in the modem pool. When caller
30
dials the telephone access number for ISP
20
(using computer
31
, modem
32
and subscriber line
33
), PSTN
10
processes the call like any other call. That is, the call is routed between caller
30
and called party (in this case, ISP
20
) through one or more switches. If the ISP's lines are all busy, or “off-hook”, i.e., there are no voice communications paths available, the caller gets a busy-signal, which is provided by the PSTN. On the other hand, if lines are available, the ISP's switch will terminate the call and it is the ISP's responsibility to answer the call, verify the user authorization to access the ISP's system, and setup the caller's connection to the Internet.
From the ISP's point of view, several intervening steps must be accomplished before granting the caller access to the Internet. For example, when a call reaches ISP
20
via PRI lines
21
and MLHG
22
, access server
23
answers the call. After answering the call, access server
23
must determine whether or not the caller should be granted access and if so, to which services. Access server
23
queries caller
30
for information such as a username and password for use in identifying caller
30
and caller
30
's authorized services. The dialog between caller
30
and access server
23
is usually performed automatically between access server
23
and communications software operating on computer
31
.
Generally, ISPs use centralized servers to store and manage their subscriber databases. Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (“RADIUS”) server
24
, having database
24
a
, shown in
FIG. 1
, is functionally connected to access server
23
and provides this centralized management. Thus, access server
23
collects username and password information from caller
30
and passes it on to RADIUS server
24
. After RADIUS server
24
verifies caller
30
's username and password, it provides access server
23
with configuration information specific to caller
30
. Access server
23
uses the configuration information to provide the authorized services to caller
30
. Access servers and RADIUS servers are described in more detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 09/133,299, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Additional information on access servers and RADIUS servers may be found in Rigney et al.,
Remote Authentication Dial
-
In User Service
(RADIUS), Network Working Group, January, 1997, or in Rigney et al., RADIUS Accounting, Network Working Group, April, 1997.
It is well known in the art that not all subscribers connect to their ISPs at the same time. Additionally, not all subscribers connect every day, nor do they connect for the same length of time each session. For this reason, it is not practical or realistic for ISPs to provide a 1:1 ratio of lines to subscribers. ISPs must pay their local telephone service providers for each telephone line maintained. Instead, ISPs have developed formulas to determine the appropriate number of telephone lines required. In general, a telephone line to user ratio of at least 1:10 provides an acceptable level of service. However, as Internet usage continues to grow, it is becoming more difficult to predict the requirements for telephone lines into an ISP.
As discussed above, a significant number of Internet subscribers connect using dial-up connections from their homes. These subscribers typically connect before or after work or school. As a result, there are certain peak times for accessing ISPs via the PSTN. During these peak times, subscribers may not be able to connect to their ISPs because all of the ISP's telephone lines are busy. As described above, ISPs cannot reasonably support every subscriber with simultaneous connections. However, if an ISP does not provide sufficient telephone lines to minimize subscriber frustrations due to failed connections, the ISP could lose current or future subscribers to competing ISPs. Thus, ISPs must balance their need to reduce costs against their subscribers' need for adequate access to the Internet.
One way to balance these competing interests is to obtain flexible access to increased telephone lines from local telephone service providers. Another means of balancing these interests is to provide a system and method for subscribers to reserve time slots with their ISPs. ISPs could create such a reservation by limiting access to reserved subscribers' accounts during peak periods. In such a system, subscribers would reserve a time slot, and the ISP would program its computers to allow log-ins only by those subscribers having reservations.
Such a reservation system may be effective for limiting the number of subscribers trying to access the ISP network. This may reduce the load on the ISP's systems and help ensure adequate processing speed for those subscribers already connected. However, such an ISP-based reservation system does not address the real problem of allocating the ISP's telephone and modem resources. This is true because non-reserved subscribers are not prevented from attempting access to the ISP's system. ISPs generally have no way of monitoring or scheduling telephone access to their systems. Every attempted login ties up a telephone line and modem for as long as it takes the ISP's authentication process to determine that the subscriber does not have a valid reservation. Additionally, significant changes to the existing billing structure employed by ISPs may be required. Thus there is a need for a more efficient reservation system directed to controlling use of the ISP's telephone access resources.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention utilizes an Advanced Intelligent Network (“AIN”) to provide an automated service for scheduling Internet time slots for ISP subscribers. AIN systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,301 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,533 which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
FIGS. 2
a
through
3
show the key components of the AIN used in the present invention.
FIGS. 4 and 5
are flowcharts detailing the two primary stages comprising the present invention: reservation setup and reservation processing. The steps described herein can be performed by computer-readable program code operating on the various AIN components and other computer systems, as described below.
The present invention is an AIN-based system and met
BellSouth Intellectual Property Corporation
Ferris Derrick W.
Marcelo Melvin
Shaw Pittman LLP
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