Replenishing a user account with more access resources needed for accessing network services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9727849-B2
Application number	US-201314058850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2013
Priority date	Mar 21, 2003
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A network access server (NAS) determines the status of availability (e.g., how much more quota is unused) of an access resource, and sends a notification embedded in a point-to-point protocol (PPP) packet. The format of the packet is chosen such that definition/use of higher layers (e.g., HTTP) is not required to communicate the status to a client system. As a result, the user may be notified even if software such as web browser is not being executed on the client system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving a notification associated with access resources available to a client system, wherein the notification is provided in a Link Control Protocol (LCP) packet formatted according to a point-to-point protocol (PPP) and wherein the notification comprises a first and a second byte identifying an LCP packet type, a third byte set to an unused value that identifies one or more remaining bytes of the notification, a fourth byte identifying an access resource type that needs to be replenished and four additional bytes identifying, at least in part, a remaining amount of the access resource type that needs to be replenished;
providing a confirmation from a user of the client system in response to the notification, wherein the confirmation is embedded in one or more PPP packets; and
receiving additional access resources based on the confirmation, wherein the client system does not use a web browser to replenish the additional access resources based on a format of the notification.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation specifies that additional access resources have been purchased through an agent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation specifies only that additional access resources have been purchased and does not include payment information.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the confirmation specifies whether a user has checked a field indicating that additional resources have been purchased through an agent.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
checking the confirmation from the user with a billing server to determine whether the billing server indicates availability of the additional access resources for which the confirmation was received.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the four additional bytes further include an identifier field that includes a character string identifying a specific network service related to the access resource type that needs to be replenished.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the character string includes a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the specific network service.

8. A client system, comprising:
a network interface;
a memory for storing data; and
a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory cooperate such that the client system is configured for:
receiving a notification associated with access resources available to a client system, wherein the notification is provided in a Link Control Protocol (LCP) packet formatted according to a point-to-point protocol (PPP) and wherein the notification comprises a first and a second byte identifying an LCP packet type, a third byte set to an unused value that identifies one or more remaining bytes of the notification, a fourth byte identifying an access resource type that needs to be replenished and four additional bytes identifying, at least in part, a remaining amount of the access resource type that needs to be replenished;
providing a confirmation from a user of the client system in response to the notification, wherein the confirmation is embedded in one or more PPP packets; and
receiving additional access resources based on the confirmation, wherein the client system does not use a web browser to replenish the additional access resources based on a format of the notification.

9. The client system of claim 8 , wherein the confirmation specifies that additional access resources have been purchased through an agent.

10. The client system of claim 8 , wherein the confirmation specifies only that additional access resources have been purchased and does not include payment information.

11. The client system of claim 8 , wherein the confirmation specifies whether a user has checked a field indicating that additional resources have been purchased through an agent.

12. The client system of claim 8 , wherein the client system is further configured for:
checking the confirmation from the user with a billing server to determine whether the billing server indicates availability of the additional access resources for which the confirmation was received.

13. The client system of claim 8 , wherein the four additional bytes include an identifier field that includes a character string identifying a specific network service related to the access resource type that needs to be replenished.

14. The client system of claim 13 , wherein the character string includes a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the specific network service.

15. Software instructions encoded in non-transitory media for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations, comprising:
receiving a notification associated with access resources available to a client system, wherein the notification is provided in a Link Control Protocol (LCP) packet formatted according to a point-to-point protocol (PPP) and wherein the notification comprises a first and a second byte identifying an LCP packet type, a third byte set to an unused value that identifies one or more remaining bytes of the notification, a fourth byte identifying an access resource type that needs to be replenished and four additional bytes identifying, at least in part, a remaining amount of the access resource type that needs to be replenished;
providing a confirmation from a user of the client system in response to the notification, wherein the confirmation is embedded in one or more PPP packets; and
receiving additional access resources based on the confirmation, wherein the client system does not use a web browser to replenish the additional access resources based on a format of the notification.

16. The software instructions of claim 15 , wherein the confirmation specifies that additional access resources have been purchased through an agent.

17. The software instructions of claim 15 , wherein the confirmation specifies only that additional access resources have been purchased and does not include payment information.

18. The software instructions of claim 15 , wherein the confirmation specifies whether a user has checked a field indicating that additional resources have been purchased through an agent.

19. The software instructions of claim 15 , further comprising:
checking the confirmation from the user with a billing server to determine whether the billing server indicates availability of the additional access resources for which the confirmation was received.

20. The software instructions of claim 15 , wherein the four additional bytes further include an identifier field that includes a character string identifying a specific network service related to the access resource type that needs to be replenished and wherein the character string includes a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the specific network service.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Sethi Aseem
• Tiwari Pranav Kumar

Classifications

• G06F17/30067

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L43/0817

  by checking functioning · CPC title

• H04L69/16

  Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] · CPC title

• H04L12/1453

  Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network · CPC title

• G06F21/6272 Primary

  by registering files or documents with a third party · CPC title