Virtual CPE Policy Management for Cross-Location Service Consistency

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) systems lack a mechanism to ensure consistency in service management when users access vCPE from locations other than their home, leading to challenges in providing guaranteed communication quality and usage-based charging models.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of a policy acquisition part within the vCPE that identifies terminals moving between customer premises equipment and acquires communication policies from a policy management server to provide services that satisfy defined conditions, ensuring consistent service delivery and usage-based charging.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If vCPE is disposed in the network to enable remote access from outside home, then service accessibility is improved, but service management consistency deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveservice accessibilityVSAvoidservice management consistency

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a policy management server as an intermediary between the vCPE and the user terminal. This server stores communication policies for multiple terminals and mediates the service provision process by providing appropriate policies to the vCPE based on terminal identification, thereby maintaining service management consistency even when users access from different locations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-storing communication policies for multiple terminals in the policy management server before actual service access. When a terminal seeks service through vCPE, the system quickly retrieves the pre-prepared policy information, ensuring consistent service management without real-time complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Device complexity

If communication policy management is performed per line (CPE) rather than per terminal, then device complexity is reduced, but service adaptability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvepolicy management complexityVSAvoidservice provision flexibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the policy management system into two parts: the policy management server that stores detailed terminal-specific policies, and the vCPE that executes service provision. This segmentation allows the system to manage per-terminal policies without increasing the complexity burden on the vCPE device, while still providing flexible service adaptability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The policy management server serves multiple functions: storing policies for multiple terminals, identifying active terminals, and providing appropriate policies to vCPE. This multi-functionality allows the system to handle per-terminal policy management centrally without requiring each vCPE to have complex policy management capabilities.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Reliability

If vCPE refers to communication policy table of the relevant line only, then service reliability is improved, but service adaptability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveservice guarantee accuracyVSAvoidcross-location service capability

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The policy management server acts as an intermediary that dynamically determines which terminal's policy should be applied. When service is requested through vCPE, the server identifies the terminal and provides the appropriate policy, ensuring both service guarantee accuracy and cross-location capability without the vCPE needing to manage multiple policy tables.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS11190452B2Virtual customer premises equipment, policy management server and service providing method

Publication Date: 2021.11.30 NEC CORP

AI summary

Virtual customer premises equipment includes: policy acquisition part configured to acquire, from predetermined policy management server that manages communication policies of users of the virtual customer premises equipment, communication policy that includes condition for providing service to be provided to a terminal that performs access via first customer premises equipment; and service providing part configured to provide a communication service to the terminal by referring to the communication policy. The policy acquisition part identifies a terminal that has moved to the first customer premises equipment from second customer premises equipment different from the first customer premises equipment, and acquires from the predetermined policy management server a communication policy including the condition for providing a service to be provided to the identified terminal; and the service providing part provides a communication service so as to satisfy the condition for providing a service defined in the communication policy of the identified terminal.