# US 8,570,872 B2 · System and method for selecting network ingress and egress

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- Number: US 8,570,872 B2
- Document ID: US8570872B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/450,149
- Filed: 2012-04-18
- Published: 2012-08-09
- Granted: 2013-10-29
- Earliest claimed: 2006-06-30
- Assignees: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC
- Applicants: William L. Wiley; Michael K. Bugenhagen
- Inventors: William L. Wiley; Michael K. Bugenhagen
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8570872B2

## CPC

- H04L 65/1069: Session establishment or de-establishment
- H04L 43/0829: Packet loss
- H04L 43/0852: Delays
- H04L 43/50: Testing arrangements
- H04L 45/22: {Alternate routing}
- H04L 45/28: using route fault recovery
- H04L 45/304: {Route determination for signalling traffic}
- H04L 47/10: Flow control; Congestion control
- H04L 47/12: Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
- H04L 47/32: by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
- H04L 47/805: {QOS or priority aware}
- H04L 65/1104: Session initiation protocol [SIP]
- H04L 65/80: Responding to QoS
- H04M 3/2218: {Call detail recording}
- H04M 7/0057: {Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network}
- H04M 7/006: {Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer (H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42)}
- H04M 7/0066: {Details of access arrangements to the networks (where the access arrangement is a PSTN/ISDN access H04M7/122)}
- H04M 7/0075: {Details of addressing, directories or routing tables}
- H04W 40/02: Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
- H04L 41/0631: using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

A system and method for selecting communications routing. Network performance information is gathered from a communications network using performance information packet data packets. A network connection including an ingress packet path and an egress packet path offering the best quality of service is selected between the communications network and an outside network based on the network performance information. The network connection is established between the communications network and the outside network for routing communications.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for selecting communications routing comprising:
gathering, by an outside network, network performance information from a communications network using performance information packet (PIP) data packets, wherein the communications network is configured with permissions to allow the outside network to obtain network performance information from within the communications network, wherein the permissions includes limitations on types of network performance information that the outside network is able to obtain;
selecting a network connection including an ingress packet path and an egress packet path offering the best quality of service between the communications network and an outside network based on the network performance information, wherein selecting the network connection includes determining, using the network performance information, whether a connection path is used primarily by the outside network to route communications between the outside network and the communications network, and responsive to a determination that the connection path is used primarily by the outside network to route communications between the outside network and the communications network, configuring network permissions to enable the outside network to modify operations affecting at least one node segments along the connection path to establish the best quality of service between the communications network and the outside network; and
establishing the network connection between the communications network and the outside network for routing communications.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the outside network is either of a publicly switched telephone network or a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the network performance information for each of one or more network entities is attached to an end of a performance information payload of the PIP data packets.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises:
selecting the network connection from a plurality of egress packet paths and a plurality of ingress packet paths.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises:
choosing the network connection from a plurality of network connections, wherein the network connection least negatively affects the performance of the remainder of the communications network.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises:
avoiding network devices that are experiencing problems to establish the network connection.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method according to claim 6, wherein the network devices are any of a gateway, access point, connection admission control engine, server, and network-to-network interface.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the network performance information includes historical information for the communications network.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting:
rating a plurality of network connections to establish the network connection with the best quality of service.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method according to claim 9, wherein the rating is performed for one or more network entities based on any of latency, jitter, packet loss, percentage of real-time traffic, and real-time bandwidth.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method according to claim 9, wherein the rating is performed based on weighted ratings for the plurality of network connections.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The method according to claim 9, further comprising:
switching from the network connection to a second network connection in response to determining the second network connection provides the best quality of service.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
sending a performance information packet (PIP) data packet to an application causing network performance issues, wherein the PIP data packet corrects the network performance issues.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, further comprising:
compiling network performance information for a plurality of communicating networks; and
sharing the network performance information among the plurality of communicating networks.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method according to claim 1, wherein the network performance information is received in real-time.

### Claim 16

A communication system for selecting network egress comprising:
a processor configured to execute a set of instructions;
a memory configured to store the set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions when executed by the processor causes the communication system to:
gather network performance information from one or more communications networks using PIP data packets, wherein the one or more communications networks are configured with permissions to allow the communication system to obtain network performance information from within the one or more communications networks, wherein the permissions includes limitations on types of network performance information that the communication system is able to obtain;
select a network connection including an ingress packet path and an egress packet path offering the best quality of service between a communications network and an outside network based on the network performance information, wherein selecting the network connection includes determining, using the network performance information, whether a connection path is used primarily by the outside network to route communications between the outside network and the communications network, and responsive to a determination that the connection path is used primarily by the outside network to route communications between the outside network and the communications network, configuring network permissions to enable the outside network to modify operations affecting at least one node segments along the connection path to establish the best quality of service between the communications network and the outside network; and
route communications from a customer access point to the outside network through the network connection.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The communications system according to claim 16, wherein the PIP data packet includes a command for configuring a network element in the communications network to improve the quality of service, and wherein the network performance information for each of one or more network entities is attached to an end of a performance information payload of the PIP data packets.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

The communications system according to claim 16, wherein the network performance information for the one or more communications networks is stored in a central resources for access by the one or more communications networks, and wherein historical performance information is utilized to select the network connection.

### Claim 19 (depends on 16)

The communications system according to claim 16, wherein the communications network is a VoIP network and the outside network is a publicly switched telephone network.