Tiered subscriber service with advanced header compression methods in a VOIP system
View Patent ↗One or more computer readable media, methods and systems that allow phone calls involving a mobile telephone to be to be conducted using VOIP technology with header compression of the voice packets and dynamically adjustable tiered subscriber service. A dynamic, tiered-subscriber service allows the bandwidth allotted to users subscribing to different levels of service to be adjusted between sessions to accommodate changing network conditions. Header compression involves compressing the voice packet header into a reduced number of bites. Embodiments of the present invention enable simultaneous header compression and dynamic tiered-subscriber service through a new call flow set up that includes a new policy. The new policy is given preference over the other installed policies and includes new attribute value pairs that enables both header compression and dynamic bandwidth adjustments.
1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed performs a method of setting up a wireless telephone call utilizing VOIP technology with dynamically adjustable bandwidth allocation based on tiered subscriber service, the method comprising:
during setup of the wireless telephone call including a mobile-communication device as at least one endpoint of the wireless telephone call, installing, on a gateway, a header compression policy governing a flow of voice packets between the mobile-communication device and a radio access network, the header compression policy including:
(1) a first attribute-value pair that defines header compression parameters for the voice packets, and
(2) a second attribute-value pair that instructs the gateway to allocate bandwidth for the wireless telephone call according to a subscriber service level associated with the mobile-communication device;
installing a static policy on the gateway;
installing a signaling policy on the gateway; and
installing a bearer policy on the gateway, wherein the header compression policy is installed after the bearer policy, the signaling policy, and the static policy are installed on the gateway, wherein the header compression policy is installed after a media flow is set up, wherein the bearer policy and the signaling policy are installed in conjunction with a signaling flow setup, and wherein the static policy is installed in conjunction with a main connection set up.
2. The non-transitory media of claim 1 , wherein the header compression parameters include a header compression mode.
3. The non-transitory media of claim 2 , wherein the header compression parameters include an activation status of a header compression function.
4. The non-transitory media of claim 1 , wherein the header compression policy further includes:
a precedence value that causes the header compression policy to be given precedence over all other policies installed on the gateway; and
a filter rule that designates a port in the gateway to transmit the voice packets with compressed headers.
5. The non-transitory media of claim 1 , wherein the header compression technology is one or more of robust header compression, IPHR, and LLA-HR.
6. The non-transitory media of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
after the wireless telephone call is terminated, uninstalling the header compression policy from the gateway;
after the header compression policy is uninstalled, uninstalling the bearer policy from the gateway;
after the bearer policy is uninstalled, uninstalling the signaling policy from the gateway; and
after the signaling policy is uninstalled, uninstalling the static policy from the gateway.
7. The non-transitory media of claim 6 , wherein the bearer policy governs transmission of the voice packets and includes the first attribute value pair and the second attribute value pair.
8. The non-transitory media of claim 7 , wherein the signaling policy governs signaling traffic associated with the wireless telephone call.
9. A communication system for enabling a wireless VOIP phone call that utilizes header compression of voice packets and allocates bandwidth for the phone call based on a subscriber service level associated with a mobile-communication device that is an endpoint for the phone call, the system comprising:
a radio access network for transmitting data between the mobile-communication device and a gateway, wherein the radio access network is communicatively coupled to the gateway;
the gateway for establishing a data flow between the radio access network and another end point of the phone call;
a policy implementation component for pushing a header compression policy to the gateway that is communicatively coupled to the gateway, wherein the header compression policy instructs the gateway to
(1) compress a voice packet header, and
(2) allocate bandwidth to the phone call based on a subscriber class associated with the mobile-communication device, and
for transmitting a bearer policy to the gateway, wherein the bearer policy instructs the gateway to:
(1) compress the voice packet header, and
(2) to allocate bandwidth to the phone call based on the subscriber class associated with the mobile-communication device, and
wherein the bearer policy specifies a range of ports on the gateway, and wherein the bearer policy has a lower precedence that the header compression policy.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the header compression policy has a preference level that is greater than preference levels associated with other policies installed on the gateway that are related to the phone call, and wherein the preference level is used by the gateway to determine which policy governs the phone call.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the header compression policy specifies a mode of compression to be used by the gateway.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the header compression policy includes a filter rule that specifies a port on the gateway to be used to compress the voice packet header.
13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media with computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that when executed performs a method of setting up a wireless telephone call utilizing VOIP technology with dynamically adjustable bandwidth allocation based on tiered subscriber service, the method comprising:
establishing a media connection between a mobile-communication device and a different communication device participating in the wireless telephone call, wherein the media connection carries voice traffic as voice packets;
installing a bearer policy on the gateway that provides a traffic-flow-template for the voice traffic, wherein the bearer policy specifies a bandwidth allocation based on a subscriber class associated with the mobile-communication device, and wherein the bearer policy instructs the gateway to perform header compression on the voice packets;
installing a header compression policy on the gateway that assigns bandwidth based on the subscriber class associated with the mobile-communication device, and marks flow of the voice packets for header compression, thereby completing a setup of the wireless telephone call, and
dynamically adjusting bandwidth allocation of the voice packets from the gateway to the mobile-communication device based on the installed bearer policy.
14. The non-transitory media of claim 13 , and wherein the bearer policy specifies a range of ports on the gateway.
15. The non-transitory media of claim 13 , wherein the bearer policy has a lower precedence that the header compression policy.
16. The non-transitory media of claim 13 , wherein the header compression policy has a preference level that is greater than preference levels associated with other policies installed on the gateway that are related to the phone call, and wherein the preference level is used by the gateway to determine which policy governs the phone call.
17. The non-transitory media of claim 16 , wherein the preference level is used by the gateway to determine which policy governs the phone call.
18. The non-transitory media of claim 13 , wherein the header compression technology is one or more of robust header compression, IPHR, and LLA-HR.