A location reporting paging communication system comprising space satellites, ground stations and a remote receiving unit adapted to resolve a global position from signals transmitted from a communication transmitter. The subscriber in possession of the remote receiving unit updates the paging network with global positioning information. A caller paging a subscriber in possession of the remote receiving unit may request the global location of the remote receiving unit. The paging network could divulge or block such information from a caller depending on the requirements of the subscriber.

Location reporting satellite paging system with optional blocking of location reporting

A network device including a plurality of communication interfaces, including a telephone line interface, a computer data interface, and a broadband network interface; a processor; a machine-readable storage medium which during use stores a call processing application and service profiles, and which stores executable instructions to mediate communications between the plurality of communication interfaces, the instructions causing the network device to detect network signaling events or trigger points in a telephone call and invoke the call processing application in response to the detected network signaling events or trigger points, the call processing application operating according to parameters defined in the service profiles.

Distributed edge switching system for voice-over-packet multiservice network

A system for the assessment of network performance criteria, and applying this criteria to the classification of network addresses into appropriate ranges, using these ranges to consolidate performance measurements for the associated addresses, and applying these metrics toward the optimization of the network towards performance or policy objectives.

Method and apparatus for the assessment and optimization of network traffic

A telecommunications system uses software applications called user agents, that are preferably Internet-based and that operate on behalf of users in a telecommunications hosting server to control call connections under control of a telecommunications network server that interfaces with the telecommunications hosting server as well as a connection-based public-telephone network. The telecommunications hosting server operates on a computer network on behalf of the user agents to provide call signaling in support of many advanced calling and telecommunications services. The functionality and, performance (e.g., execution) of the user agent(s) preferably takes place primarily within the telecommunications hosting server, though user client computers can provide some and possibly all of the user agent functionality, depending upon the particular implementation chosen.

Methods and apparatus for providing communications services between connectionless and connection-oriented networks

Method and apparatus for facilitating inter-cell connections, such as during a forward handover or radio link failure (RLF), are disclosed. A user terminal such as a UE may store identity information associated with a source cell, and use this information in accessing target or other cells subsequent to radio link failure so as to facilitate access to context information of the user terminal. A base station may be configured to improve handover performance by associating context information with a newly assigned terminal identity. Handover performance may be enhanced by facilitating connection processing in the event of inability to retrieve user terminal context from a source cell.

Methods and apparatus for facilitating robust forward handover in long term evolution (lte) communication systems

DNS in its native form cannot identify a good or best server. Traditional Service Providers deploy a centralised approach to global traffic management based on enhancements to DNS, but do have the capability to augment this with edge-based server selection because they do not own/operate an edge network. Their resolution of DNS requests is typically restricted to identifying candidate servers within an edge domain rather than selecting the “best” server. The invention proposes a method of handling Internet resource requests whereby a local lookup server receiving a request searches for a best server able to satisfy the resource request. The local lookup server finds the best server by searching a database for a resource record associated with the best server, and then uses the resource record to retrieve an identifier of a series of executable instructions that are executed to locate the best server. The resource requests and responses may hold additional information relating to operational characteristics which may used to determine the best server. The invention proposes a DNS record type comprising a user-defined field for conveying this additional information in the resource request and in the response. The invention also proposes architecture for handling the resource request comprising a network server that provides the requested resource using the best server, as well as a communications network comprising this architecture.

Apparatus and method for managing internet resource requests

A communication system typically comprises a number of interconnected broadband-narrowband interfaces (304, 402-404) that together interact to provide a communication resource (400) that can support a call across the system At a time when the communication resource (or a portion thereof) is apparently in place, a terminating node of a broadband-narrowband interface sends a verify-request message (452) backwards across the communication resource. A connection broker (322), coupled to both ends of the communication resource in a particular broadband-narrowband interface (404), is aware of the issuance of the verify-request message, and is therefore able to assess and report, principally, on path connectivity of the communication resource (either within the broadband-narrowband interface or between adjacent interfaces). More particularly, the connection broker expects the arrival of a path connectivity message (454, 460) issued from an end of the broadband-narrowband network responsive to the verify-request message and, as such, can provide an appropriate report (458, 470, 480) upon the timely receipt, or not, of the path connectivity message. Indeed, the verify-request message may also function to confirm path continuity.

Communication system architecture and a connection verification mechanism therefor

There is presently no single accepted scheme to support Quality of Service guarantees for IP based applications, although RSVP is the prevailing standard for network resource reservation. Thus, providing end-to-end Quality of Service guarantees for content delivery across the Internet presents a challenge for Service Providers. Typically load balancing algorithms are used for picking the best server, with respect to server capacity for satisfying a request, but they can not guarantee Quality of Service for the whole duration of the network transaction. The invention proposes a method of distributing server load in an IP network, comprising building an association between a subscriber edge device and a server controller using a packet switched network Quality of Service mechanism. A fair share of server bandwidth is offered out to the subscriber edge device, and a resource request from the client is directed, via the subscriber edge device and through a server controller, to a server having an amount of server bandwidth required by the client. The required fair share of server bandwidth is then reserved for meeting the client's resource request. The invention also proposes a subscriber edge device, a data center device, and a communications network comprising each. The subscriber edge device comprises, a resource requester for sending a request to the server controller associated with the source location of the requested resource, a resource reserver that reserves an amount of bandwidth using a Quality of Service mechanism and releases any unneeded bandwidth, and a resource returner that returns the requested resource to the client. The data center device comprises, a resource allocator that allocates fair shares of server bandwidth to the network, and a server controller that offers fair shares of server bandwidth using a Quality of Service mechanism.

Method and apparatus for optimizing network service

A method of providing secure multicast over a local access network by means of a network access unit having a channel request vetting function and a permitted channel list. Channel requests from a subscriber are vetted with respect to the permitted channel list and forwarded only if permitted. The permitted list may be dynamically updated under headend control to allow users to subscribe to, and unsubscribe from, services upon request.

Access control enhancements for delivery of video and other services

A border gateway protocol (BGP) management system (10) dynamically determines an optimum or preferred data route (12) from wireline networks (18) into a satellite communication system (11). Multiple gateways (16, 30-34) provide access points to the wireline networks. The management system includes a connectivity matrix which processes (74) information, such as bandwidth availability and route congestion, and then generate a BGP update that is communicated (80) into at least one of the gateways. The BGP update promotes preferred gateways and so identifies a preferred access path to the satellite system. Specifically, the BGP update instruction contains a metric altering a weighting of an identified route data route, which metric effects path selection at a gateway receiving IP datagrams. The metric is derived from information pertaining to a connectivity matrix associated with the satellite system.

Julian Frank Barry Cable

Papers

Apparatus and method for managing internet resource requests

Communication system architecture and a connection verification mechanism therefor

Method and apparatus for optimizing network service

Access control enhancements for delivery of video and other services

Border gateway protocol manager and method of managing the selection of communication links