Intelligent peripheral concentrator
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
InventorsWesley A. Brush, Jiayu Chen, Edite M. Hanlon, Christopher J. Hefele, Steven M. Michelson, Azeem A. Timmapuri
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention provides a method for the use of an Intelligent Peripheral Concentrator (IPC) in a network that enables more efficient use of intelligent peripheral (IPe) resources. In particular the present invention discloses a method of managing intelligent peripherals, where the IPC receives at least one request for an IPe service from at least one network element, determines necessary IPe resources to satisfy the request(s) and establishes at least-one connection between at least one intelligent peripheral and at least one network element based on the necessary resources.
Claims9
A method for assigning peripheral resources within a communication network, comprising:
- receiving, in an intelligent peripheral concentrator, a request for a specific intelligent peripheral service from a requesting element within the network;
- identifying a plurality of dis-associated intelligent peripheral resources capable of performing the specific service contained in to the request;
- selecting an intelligent peripheral resource from the plurality of dis-associated intelligent peripheral resources based upon efficient intelligent peripheral resource utilization within the communication network;
- and
- assigning the selected intelligent peripheral resource through the intelligent peripheral concentrator to the requesting element within the communication network.
A concentrator for connecting a plurality of separate, dis-associated intelligent peripherals capable of performing the same services to a communication network, comprising
- at least one intelligent peripheral interface that connects to the plurality of intelligent peripherals;
- at least one network interface;
- and
- at least one routing device coupled between the at least one intelligent peripheral interface and the at least one network interface for selectively directing information from the network to a selected intelligent peripheral from the plurality of separate, dis-associated intelligent peripherals based upon efficient intelligent peripheral resource utilization within the communication network.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.