Session border controller with dynamic reporting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11895195-B2
Application number	US-202217699007-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 18, 2022
Priority date	Jan 27, 2022
Publication date	Feb 6, 2024
Grant date	Feb 6, 2024

Abstract

In various examples there is a session border controller, SBC, connected between two communications networks. The SBC comprises a store holding statistics of events in the networks. The SBC also has an ingress receiving messages from the first communications network, the ingress having a memory storing an ingress message manipulation function MMF comprising a plurality of rules. The SBC has a session border controller processing unit connected to the ingress and receiving the messages from the ingress. The SBC has an egress connected to the session border controller processing unit, the egress receiving the messages from the session border controller processing unit and forwarding the messages, to the second communications network, the egress having a memory storing an egress message manipulation function MMF comprising a plurality of rules. At least some of the rules of the ingress MMF or egress MMF are for computing and storing the statistics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A session border controller (SBC) communicatively coupled to a first communications network and a second communications network, the SBC comprising:
a storage configured to store data indicative of statistics for events that are specific to the first and second communications networks;
an ingress configured to receive messages from the first communications network, the ingress having a memory storing an ingress message manipulation function (MMF) comprising a plurality of rules;
a SBC processing unit connected to the ingress and configured to receive the messages from the ingress; and
an egress connected to the SBC processing unit, the egress configured to receive the messages from the SBC processing unit and forward the messages to the second communications network, the egress having a memory storing an egress MMF comprising a plurality of rules;
wherein at least some of the rules of the ingress MMF or egress MMF are for accumulating, computing and storing the statistics, wherein the plurality of rules are modifiable to change the statistics that are accumulated and computed and modifiable while the SBC is in operation between the first communications network and the second communications network.

2. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the rules for computing statistics are received at the SBC from a service provider node and implemented at the SBC during live operation of the SBC.

3. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein the rules for computing statistics comprise a condition specifying details of an event in the communications networks and also comprise an action for incrementing a statistic of a given name.

4. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein the rules for computing statistics are operable to generate debugging data.

5. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the rules for computing statistics comprise a condition and an action for incrementing a statistic having a global scope.

6. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the rules of the ingress MMF and at least some of the rules of the egress MMF are operable for computing and storing the statistics.

7. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein the SBC processing unit comprises a command line interface for displaying the statistics.

8. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein the SBC processing unit uses simple network management protocol (SNMP) to make the statistics available to other tools.

9. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein others of the rules of the ingress MMF or egress MMF are operable for modifying messages.

10. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein at least some of the rules of the ingress MMF or egress MMF are for operable modifying messages and for computing and storing the statistics.

11. The SBC of claim 1 , wherein the SBC processing unit is configured to monitor at least one of the statistics with respect to a threshold and to take an action when a value of the statistic reaches the threshold.

12. The SBC of claim 11 , wherein the action is any of: triggering an alert or dropping a packet.

13. A method performed by a session border controller (SBC) connected between a first communications network and a second communications network, the method comprising:
receiving, at an ingress of the SBC, a first message from the first communications network;
receiving, by a SBC processing unit connected to the ingress, the message from the ingress;
based on the message and an ingress message manipulation function (MMF) stored at a memory of the ingress, the ingress MMF comprising a first plurality of rules, accumulating and computing first statistics of events that are specific to the first communications network and wherein the first plurality of rules are modifiable to change the first statistics that are accumulated and computed while the SBC is in operation between the first communications network and a second communications network;
receiving, by an egress connected to the SBC processing unit, the message from the SBC processing unit;
forwarding, by the egress, the message to the second communications network; and
based on the message and an egress MMF stored at a memory of the egress, the egress MMF comprising a second plurality of rules, accumulating and computing second statistics of events that are specific to the second communications network and wherein the second plurality of rules are modifiable to change the second statistics that are accumulated and computed while the SBC is in operation between the first communications network and a second communications network.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein one or more of the first or second plurality of rules are received at the SBC from a service provider node and implemented at the SBC during live operation of the SBC.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first or second plurality of rules comprise a condition specifying details of an event in the first or second communications networks and comprise an action for incrementing a statistic of a given name.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the first or second plurality of rules are operable to generate debugging data.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein one or more of the first or second plurality of rules comprise a condition and an action for incrementing a statistic of a global scope.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein at least some of the first plurality of rules of the ingress MMF and at least some of the second plurality of rules of the egress MMF are for computing and storing the statistics.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the SBC processing unit is configured to monitor at least one of the statistics with respect to a threshold and take an action when a value of the statistic reaches the threshold.

20. A system comprising a processor and memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving a first message from a first communications network;
based on the first message and an ingress message manipulation function (MMF) comprising a first plurality of rules, accumulating and computing first statistics of events that are specific to the first communications network and wherein the first plurality of rules are modifiable to change the first statistics that are accumulated and computed while the system is in operation between the first communications network and a second communications network;
forwarding the message to a second communications network; and
based on the message and an egress MMF comprising a second plurality of rules, accumulating and computing second statistics of events that are specific to the second communications network and wherein the second plurality of rules are modifiable to change the second statistics that are accumulated and computed while the system is in operation between the first communications network and a second communications network.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Pierrepont Timothy James

Classifications

• H04L67/141 Primary

  Setup of application sessions (admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L43/0817

  by checking functioning · CPC title

• H04L43/0829

  Packet loss · CPC title

• H04L67/146

  Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding · CPC title