The present invention describes a system and method for communicating voice and data over a packet-switched network that is adapted to coexist and communicate with a legacy PSTN. The system permits packet switching of voice calls and data calls through a data network from and to any of a LEC, a customer facility or a direct IP connection on the data network. The system includes soft switch sites, gateway sites, a data network, a provisioning component, a network event component and a network management component. The system interfaces with customer facilities (e.g., a PBX), carrier facilities (e.g., a LEC) and legacy signaling networks (e.g., SS7) to handle calls between any combination of on-network and off-network callers. The soft switch sites provide the core call processing for the voice network architecture. The soft switch sites manage the gateway sites in a preferred embodiment, using a protocol such as the Internet Protocol Device Control (IPDC) protocol to request the set-up and tear-down of calls. The gateway sites originate and terminate calls between calling parties and called parties through the data network. The gateway sites include network access devices to provide access to network resources. The data network connects one or more of the soft switch sites to one or more of the gateway sites. The provisioning and network event component collects call events recorded at the soft switch sites. The network management component includes a network operations center (NOC) for centralized network management.

Voice over data telecommunications network architecture

The present invention provides a firewall that achieves maximum network security and maximum user convenience. The firewall employs “envoys” that exhibit the security robustness of prior-art proxies and the transparency and ease-of-use of prior-art packet filters, combining the best of both worlds. No traffic can pass through the firewall unless the firewall has established an envoy for that traffic. Both connection-oriented (e.g., TCP) and connectionless (e.g., UDP-based) services may be handled using envoys. Establishment of an envoy may be subjected to a myriad of tests to “qualify” the user, the requested communication, or both. Therefore, a high level of security may be achieved. The usual added burden of prior-art proxy systems is avoided in such a way as to achieve fall transparency-the user can use standard applications and need not even know of the existence of the firewall. To achieve full transparency, the firewall is configured as two or more sets of virtual hosts. The firewall is, therefore, “multi-homed,” each home being independently configurable. One set of hosts responds to addresses on a first network interface of the firewall. Another set of hosts responds to addresses on a second network interface of the firewall. In one aspect, programmable transparency is achieved by establishing DNS mappings between remote hosts to be accessed through one of the network interfaces and respective virtual hosts on that interface. In another aspect, automatic transparency may be achieved using code for dynamically mapping remote hosts to virtual hosts in accordance with a technique referred to herein as dynamic DNS, or DDNS.

Firewall providing enhanced network security and user transparency

In a mobile communications system that provides packet data services, a packet data connection is established between a mobile station and a radio access network. The state of the connection is used to specify one of plural different types of radio channels bearing the connection over the radio interface. The connection state preferably also may specify other parameters including, for example, one of plural different mobility management schemes tailored to the selected channel type or channel bit rate(s). The connection is dynamically adapted to an optimal state based on one or more conditions relating to the connection. For example, one or more traffic parameters are determined for the connection and may be used to predict a future value of that parameter. Based on the predicted parameter value or values, an optimal connection state is determined and implemented. If the predicted parameter value changes later in the connection, another connection state may be dynamically selected that is better suited in accordance with the newly predicted parameter value. One example embodiment is based on the amount of data in queue for a packet data connection. Comparison is made with one or more thresholds to decide which type of radio channel should bear the connection. Other factors, parameters, and conditions may be employed along with threshold comparisons to select the optimal radio channel type.

Method and apparatus for dynamically adapting a connection state in a mobile communications system

In advanced digital networks for providing selective point-to-point communications between subscribers terminals and broadband server equipment operated by a plurality of independent information service providers, routing through the network is controlled by functionality identified as a Level 1 Gateway. The Level 1 Gateway will perform a variety of functions including communications port management of transmissions of information between subscribers and servers, processing of billing information and session management. The Level 1 Gateway generates menus of providers, either as a function of providers available through a particular portion of the network or in a customized fashion specified by individual subscribes. The Level 1 Gateway may also provide a PIN number functionality, e.g. to permit parents to limit which providers their children can access. The Level 1 Gateway is itself an interactive device in that subscribers can input information and receive display information from the Gateway to define or modify their own video dial tone service through the network.

Level 1 gateway for video dial tone networks

A video distribution network having an architecture that distributes video services over a greater serving area. The broadcast consolidation section receives broadband data from a plurality of information providers, preferably as compressed, digital signals using asynchronous transfer mode ATM transport. The broadcast consolidation section combines the ATM streams from different information providers and outputs a consolidated signal onto a transport ring. The broadcast ring supplies the consolidated broadcast signal to a plurality of video network hubs, each of which downloads the consolidated broadcast data, converts the consolidated broadcast data to motion picture experts group MPEG data on an RF carrier, and combines the RF signal with other RF signals before transmission by optical fiber to a plurality of local video access nodes. Each local video access node combines the RF broadcast data from the corresponding video network hub with downstream interactive multimedia television IMTV traffic supplied by an ATM backbone subnetwork. The combined RF signals are output from the local video access nodes to the access subnetwork servicing these subscribers. The architecture of the present invention provides sufficient allocation of resources, while at the same time providing efficient transport of signaling traffic and interactive data. In addition, the network control is centralized for more efficient management of resources.

Full service network having distributed architecture

A digital switching network for providing simultaneous connections among user processors of processor-based communications equipment. The user processors act as originators and destinations of data communications packets. Packet data connections are through node controllers, which communicate with gateways, which are connected to a switching network via packet links. Control messages are communicated between node controllers, gateways, and an interchange control subsystem via various control message links. All control message processing and packet data transmissions are synchronized with a packet frame synchronization signal, and processing tasks performed by each of the network subsystems are pipelined so that they occur simultaneously. Service requests are queued in a central queue in the interchange control system. The synchronization and queueing simplify the control messages that are required to set up and release the connections.

Grant Elwyn Everett

Papers

Interprocessor switching network

Inter processor switching network

Vermittlungsnetz zwischen Prozessoren.