Enhancing visibility in a heterogeneous network
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsJerome Henry, Mark Allen Webb, Indermeet Singh Gandhi, John Martin Graybeal
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Abstract
A method for providing enhanced visibility in heterogeneous network. The method comprises receiving, at a networking device housing a cellular base station and a WLAN access point, cellular network traffic from an electronic device. The method further comprises receiving, at the networking device, WLAN traffic from the electronic device and encapsulating, at the networking device, the cellular network traffic and the WLAN traffic using a common protocol. The method further comprises transmitting the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a controller.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- obtaining, at a networking device housing a cellular base station and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point, cellular network traffic of a cellular network from an electronic device;
- obtaining, at the networking device, WLAN traffic from the electronic device;
- encapsulating, at the networking device, the cellular network traffic and the WLAN traffic using a common protocol to produce encapsulated cellular traffic and encapsulated WLAN traffic;
- providing the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a traffic controller configured to provide the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a policy controller configured to determine a traffic policy based on the encapsulated cellular traffic, the encapsulated WLAN traffic, a priority of the encapsulated cellular traffic, and a priority of the encapsulated WLAN traffic, wherein the traffic policy includes instructions relating to authentication of the electronic device, and wherein the traffic controller resides at a control node of a core network of the cellular network and a WLAN controller co-located with the control node;
- obtaining the traffic policy at the networking device from the traffic controller;
- and
- applying the traffic policy at the networking device.
A networking device comprising:
- a cellular base station configured to obtain cellular network traffic of a cellular network from an electronic device;
- and
- a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point configured to obtain WLAN traffic from the electronic device, wherein the networking device is configured to:
- encapsulate the cellular network traffic and the WLAN traffic using a common protocol to produce encapsulated cellular traffic and encapsulated WLAN traffic;
- provide the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a traffic controller configured to provide the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a policy controller configured to determine a traffic policy based on the encapsulated cellular traffic, the encapsulated WLAN traffic, a priority of the encapsulated cellular traffic, and a priority of the encapsulated WLAN traffic, wherein the traffic policy includes instructions relating to authentication of the electronic device, and wherein the traffic controller resides at a control node of a core network of the cellular network and a WLAN controller co-located with the control node;
- obtain the traffic policy from the traffic controller;
- and
- apply the traffic policy.
A non-transitory memory storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors of a networking device, cause the networking device to:
- obtain cellular network traffic of a cellular network from an electronic device;
- obtain WLAN traffic from the electronic device;
- encapsulate, at the networking device, the cellular network traffic and the WLAN traffic using a common protocol to produce encapsulated cellular traffic and encapsulated WLAN traffic;
- provide the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a traffic controller configured to provide the encapsulated cellular traffic and the encapsulated WLAN traffic to a policy controller configured to determine a traffic policy based on the encapsulated cellular traffic, the encapsulated WLAN traffic, a priority of the encapsulated cellular traffic, and a priority of the encapsulated WLAN traffic, wherein the traffic policy includes instructions relating to authentication of the electronic device, and wherein the traffic controller resides at a control node of a core network of the cellular network and a WLAN controller co-located with the control node;
- obtain, from the traffic controller, the traffic policy;
- and
- apply the traffic policy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.