Internet service provider management platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10142172-B2
Application number	US-201514806352-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 22, 2015
Priority date	Jul 22, 2015
Publication date	Nov 27, 2018
Grant date	Nov 27, 2018

Abstract

Some embodiments include an internet service provider (ISP) system capable of delegating network policy configuration tasks to ISP franchisee accounts. For example, the ISP system can establish, via a backhaul channel, a network tunnel from an access point hosting a local area network (LAN) to a gateway server connected to a wide area network (WAN). The ISP system can authenticate an ISP franchisee account operating a mobile device. The ISP franchisee account can configure, from the mobile device, a network usage policy associated with using the network tunnel, the gateway server, and/or application services available through the gateway server. The ISP system can authenticate a subscriber account operating a subscriber device to connect with the WAN from the LAN. The ISP system can enforce, at the gateway server, the network usage policy when the customer device is using the access point to access the WAN through the gateway server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
maintaining, at an Internet Service Provider (ISP) platform system for each of a plurality of Internet service providers, a franchisee account, wherein:
each of the plurality of Internet service providers has an access point hosting a local area network (LAN) to which a plurality of subscribers of the Internet service provider connect; and
the ISP platform system comprises a gateway server connected to a wide area network (WAN);

maintaining, at the ISP platform system for each of the plurality of Internet service providers, a plurality of subscriber accounts representing the plurality of subscribers of the Internet service provider;
establishing, via a backhaul channel, a secure network tunnel between the gateway server and the access point of one of the plurality of Internet service providers;
authenticating, at the ISP platform system using the franchisee account of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers, a first computing device connected to the access point of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers as belonging to the one of the plurality of Internet service providers;
enabling, at the ISP platform system, the one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure, via the first computing device, a network usage policy that controls implementation of at least one usage constraint that should be applied at the gateway server when one or more of the plurality of subscribers of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers accesses the WAN via the secure network tunnel;
authenticating, at the ISP platform system using one of the plurality of subscriber accounts maintained for the one of the plurality of Internet service providers, a second computing device connected to the access point of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers as belonging to a subscriber of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers; and
enforcing, at the gateway server while the second computing device accesses the WAN via the secure network tunnel, the at least one usage constraint controlled by the network usage policy.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the access point of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers provides a Wi-Fi network, a cellular network, or a combination thereof, to establish the LAN.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein enabling the one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure the network usage policy is performed at least in part at the gateway server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein enabling the one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure the network usage policy includes enabling the one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure the network usage policy at the access point of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers and propagating the configured network usage policy to the gateway server thereafter.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing, via a second backhaul channel, an additional secure network tunnel between the gateway server and the access point of a second one of the plurality of Internet service providers;
authenticating, at the ISP platform system using the franchisee account of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers, a third computing device connected to the access point of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers as belonging to the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers;
enabling, at the ISP platform system, the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure, via the third computing device connected to the access point of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers, an additional network usage policy that controls implementation of at least one additional usage constraint that should be applied at the gateway server when one or more of the plurality of subscribers of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers accesses the WAN via the additional secure network tunnel;
authenticating, at the ISP platform system using one of the plurality of subscriber accounts maintained for the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers, a fourth computing device connected to the access point of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers as belonging to a subscriber of the second one of the plurality of Internet service providers; and
enforcing, at the gateway server while the fourth computing device accesses the WAN via the additional secure network tunnel, the at least one additional usage constraint controlled by the additional network usage policy.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling the second computing device to access an application service in an external device or another destination in the WAN.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring network usage at the gateway server.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising
presenting a subscriber captive portal to the second computing device from a web tier server, in response to authenticating the second computing device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the subscriber captive portal provides access to free basic services, a subscriber account portal, or any combination thereof.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the web tier server implements a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) to determine, in real-time, an accounting of charges associated with using the web tier server according to the network usage policy.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to authenticating the first computing device, displaying an ISP manager captive portal at the first computing device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein the ISP manager captive portal provides a subscriber list panel, a subscriber management panel, a franchisee account balance management panel, a network monitor panel, an ISP setting panel, or any combination thereof.

13. An Internet Service Provider (ISP) platform system comprising:
a franchisee account database configured to maintain, for each of a plurality of Internet service providers, a franchisee account, wherein each of the plurality of Internet service providers has an access point hosting a local area network (LAN) to which a plurality of subscribers of the Internet service provider connect;
a subscriber account database configured to maintain, for each of the plurality of Internet service providers, a plurality of subscriber accounts representing the plurality of subscribers of the Internet service provider;
a network backhaul system configured to establish, via a backhaul channel, a secure network channel between the access point of one of the plurality of Internet service providers and a gateway server connected to a wide area network (WAN);
a franchisee management system configured to:
authenticate, using the franchisee account of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers, a first computing device connected to the access point of the one of the plurality of Internet service providers as belonging to the one of the plurality of Internet service providers; and
enable the one of the plurality of Internet service providers to configure, via the first computing device, a network usage policy that controls implementation of at least one usage constraint that should be applied at the gateway s

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Poosala Viswanath
• Bohannon Philip Lewis
• Kamenetsky Maksim
• Hester Debra Vaughn
• Daniels Christopher Andrew

Classifications

• H04L47/20

  Traffic policing · CPC title

• H04L41/0893

  Assignment of logical groups to network elements · CPC title

• H04M15/52

  for operator independent billing system · CPC title

• H04M15/51

  for resellers, retailers or service providers · CPC title

• H04M15/66

  Policy and charging system · CPC title