System and method for providing premium transport in a DOCSIS-compliant cable network

1. A system for providing premium transport over a network comprising:

a cable modem (CM), a customer premises equipment (CPE), and a cable modem termination system (CMTS),

wherein the CPE is connected to the CM and the CM communicates with the CMTS and wherein the CM comprises instructions for:

receiving upstream service flow parameters from an operator of the network that define a standard upstream service flow;

receiving preferred content provider (PCP) matching criteria;

receiving packets from the CPE;

extracting packet identifying information from a packet IP header of a packet;

determining if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria;

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the CMTS over a premium upstream service flow; and

if the packet identifying information does not match the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the CMTS over the standard upstream service flow.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the packet identifying information comprises a packet destination IP address.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored source IP address.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a destination port number.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet IP address and a stored packet port number.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a type-of-service identifier.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet source IP address and a type of service identifier.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a preferred packet statistics log configured to:

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then receive the packet identifying information and billing information.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein billing information comprises the premium service classifier, a packet destination IP address, and a date and time the packet was routed from the CM to the CMTS.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the PCP matching criteria are associated with a PCP identifier and wherein the billing information further comprises the PCP identifier.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein a PCP is a provider of content selected from the group consisting of games, web pages, video content, audio content, photographic content, news content, packet telephony service, and data content.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the premium upstream service flow comprises parameters indicative of a maximum upstream burst rate, a traffic priority, and a maximum upstream latency.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the CM instruction for directing the packet to the CMTS over a premium upstream service flow comprises modifying the packet IP header to receive a premium service classifier indicative of premium transport.

14. A method for providing premium transport over a network comprising:

receiving upstream service flow parameters from an operator of the network that define a standard upstream service flow;

receiving at a cable modem (CM) preferred content provider (PCP) matching criteria;

receiving at the CM packets from a customer premises equipment (CPE);

extracting packet identifying information from a packet IP header of a packet;

determining if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria;

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the CMTS over a premium upstream service flow; and

if the packet identifying information does not match the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the CMTS over the standard upstream service flow.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the packet identifying information comprises a packet destination IP address.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored destination IP address.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a packet destination port number.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet IP address and a stored packet port number.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a packet type-of-service identifier.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet IP address and a stored type-of-service identifier.

21. The method of claim 14 , wherein the premium upstream service flow comprises parameters indicative of a maximum upstream burst rate, a traffic priority, and a maximum upstream latency.

22. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then sending the packet identifying information and billing information to a preferred packet statistics log.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein sending billing information to the preferred packet statistics log comprises sending the premium service classifier, a packet destination IP address, and a date and time the packet was routed from the CM to the CMTS.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the PCP matching criteria are associated with a PCP identifier and wherein the billing information further comprises the PCP identifier.

25. The method of claim 14 , wherein a PCP is a provider of content selected from the group consisting of games, web pages, video content, audio content, photographic content, news content, packet telephony service, and data content.

26. The method of claim 14 , wherein directing the packet to the CMTS over a premium upstream service flow comprises modifying the packet IP header to receive a premium service classifier indicative of premium transport.

27. A method for providing premium transport to a preferred content provider (PCP) over a network comprising:

extracting packet identifying information from an IP header of a downstream packet;

determining if the packet identifying information matches a PCP matching criteria;

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then modifying the downstream packet IP header to receive a premium service classifier and directing the downstream packet downstream over a premium upstream service flow;

storing a measure indicative of premium transport usage by the PCP;

billing the PCP based on the premium transport usage.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the packet identifying information comprises a packet source IP address.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored source IP address.

30. The method of claim 28 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a packet source port number.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet IP address and a stored packet port number.

32. The method of claim 28 , wherein the packet identifying information further comprises a type-of-service identifier.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein the PCP matching criteria comprise a stored packet IP address and a stored type-of-service identifier.

34. The method of claim 27 , wherein determining if the packet identifying information matches a PCP matching criteria is performed at an edge server.

35. The method of claim 27 , wherein determining if the packet identifying information matches a PCP matching criteria is performed at a cable modem termination system.

36. The method of claim 27 , wherein directing the downstream packet downstream over a premium upstream service flow comprises:

receiving the downstream packet at a cable modem termination system;

determining whether the packet IP header comprises the premium service classifier;

if the packet IP header comprises the premium service classifier, then:

selecting a downstream premium service flow; and

directing the downstream packet to a subscriber using the selected premium service flow.

37. The method of claim 36 , wherein the premium downstream service flow comprises parameters indicative of a minimum reserved traffic rate, a traffic priority, and a maximum downstream latency.

38. The method of claim 27 , wherein the measure indicative of premium transport usage by the PCP comprises packet volume.

39. The method of claim 27 , wherein the measure indicative of premium transport usage by the PCP comprises a session time.

40. The method of claim 27 , wherein a PCP is a provider of content selected from the group consisting of games, web pages, video content, audio content, photographic content, news content, packet telephony service, and data content.

41. A system for providing premium transport over a network comprising:

a subscriber access device, a customer premises equipment (CPE), and a network access node,

wherein the CPE is connected to the subscriber access device and the subscriber access device communicates with the network access node and wherein the subscriber access device comprises instructions for:

receiving upstream service flow parameters from an operator of the network that define a standard upstream service flow;

receiving preferred content provider (PCP) matching criteria;

receiving packets from the CPE;

extracting packet identifying information from a packet IP header of a packet;

determining if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria;

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the network access node over a premium upstream service flow; and

if the packet identifying information does not match the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the network access node over the standard upstream service flow.

42. A method for providing premium transport over a network comprising:

receiving upstream service flow parameters from an operator of the network that define a standard upstream service flow;

receiving at a subscriber access device preferred content provider (PCP) matching criteria;

receiving at the subscriber access device packets from a customer premises equipment (CPE);

extracting packet identifying information from a packet IP header of a packet;

determining if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria;

if the packet identifying information matches the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the network access node over a premium upstream service flow; and

if the packet identifying information does not match the PCP matching criteria, then directing the packet to the network access node over the standard upstream service flow.