Patents by Inventor Frank M. Alfano

Frank M. Alfano has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8787159
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and apparatuses are provided for throttling wireless traffic during congestion in radio access networks. Embodiments are provided that may assist service providers to reduce new requests for network resources during congestion and allow existing lower priority traffic to be pre-empted with a backoff time to allow a new request with higher priority traffic to be served. In response to a request for an additional connection to a radio access network from a terminal device that has one or more existing connections in the radio access network, an access network controller will compare a priority level of a requested connection to a priority level of other existing connections in the radio access network. The access network controller may reject or grant the request based on the comparison and send the terminal device a backoff time value and a congestion indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Deborah L. Barclay, Frank M. Alfano
  • Publication number: 20130007196
    Abstract: An example method is executed on at least one of Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), an enhanced SGSN (eSGSN), a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN), Serving Gateway (SG), or a computer network node and includes receiving a data message from a connectionless device, the data message comprising at least one of a device class identifier and an application class identifier. The method further includes forwarding the data message to an application wherein the data message is forwarded based on at least one of the device class identifier and application class identifier.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2011
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Deborah L. Barclay
  • Patent number: 8346268
    Abstract: A method in one example has: establishing communication between two mobile terminals in a base station routing architecture network; and optimizing routing between the two mobiles terminals without requiring all traffic to traverse an anchor point in the base station routing architecture network. An IP base station transceiver architecture utilizes network controlled mobility to provide a transparent connection between a mobile terminal and an anchor point in the network. This transparency hides the mobility associated with changing IP base station transceivers from the mobile terminal and reduces over-the-air signaling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Alcatel Lucent
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Peter Bosch, Peter J. McCann, Patrick J. Walsh
  • Publication number: 20120263036
    Abstract: Exemplary methods and apparatuses are provided for throttling wireless traffic during congestion in radio access networks. Embodiments are provided that may assist service providers to reduce new requests for network resources during congestion and allow existing lower priority traffic to be pre-empted with a backoff time to allow a new request with higher priority traffic to be served. In response to a request for an additional connection to a radio access network from a terminal device that has one or more existing connections in the radio access network, an access network controller will compare a priority level of a requested connection to a priority level of other existing connections in the radio access network. The access network controller may reject or grant the request based on the comparison and send the terminal device a backoff time value and a congestion indicator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Inventors: Deborah L. Barclay, Frank M. Alfano
  • Patent number: 7860072
    Abstract: An exemplary method implements route optimization in an IP telecommunication network that supports wireless mobile stations (MSs). IP address information related to packet flow for MSs is identified and stored in records at a local mobility anchor point (LMAP). The records are compared to determine matching pairs, i.e. records that represent that a first MS is engaged in a communication session with a second MS. First and second points of attachment nodes are determined that support the first and second MS, respectively, based on IP address information contained in a matching pair of records associated with the first and second MS. A route optimization (RO) message is transmitted to the first and second point of attachment nodes, where the RO message includes an IP address of the other point of attachment node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Peter J. McCann, Patrick J. Walsh
  • Patent number: 7551604
    Abstract: A method is provided for controlling communications to and from an access terminal during a hand off period. A smart packet filter is used to identify a packet flow, apply a first treatment to a packet flow based on its destination, and transmit the first treated packet flow along a first route to the access terminal. During a hand off, the packet stream is duplicated, a second treatment is applied to the packet flow and the second treated duplicate packet flow is transmitted to the access terminal via a second route.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.
    Inventors: Peter James McCann, Richard P. Ejzak, Michael F. Dolan, Frank M. Alfano
  • Patent number: 7436766
    Abstract: An apparatus in one example may have a functionality of a policy decision function divided into two parts; one part representing a home network application function and the other part representing visited network bearer resources and local policies. The one part of the policy decision function supports communications with the application function, and represents the home network and application in a request for QoS control to the visited network. The other part of the policy decision function supports visited network interactions with a policy enforcement function, and represents visited network local policy related to resource utilization and roaming agreement-based policy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Peter J. McCann, Thomas T. Towle
  • Publication number: 20080159241
    Abstract: An exemplary method implements route optimization in an IP telecommunication network that supports wireless mobile stations (MSs). IP address information related to packet flow for MSs is identified and stored in records at a local mobility anchor point (LMAP). The records are compared to determine matching pairs, i.e. records that represent that a first MS is engaged in a communication session with a second MS. First and second points of attachment nodes are determined that support the first and second MS, respectively, based on IP address information contained in a matching pair of records associated with the first and second MS. A route optimization (RO) message is transmitted to the first and second point of attachment nodes, where the RO message includes an IP address of the other point of attachment node.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Peter J. McCann, Patrick J. Walsh
  • Publication number: 20080117845
    Abstract: A method in one example has: establishing communication between two mobile terminals in a base station routing architecture network; and optimizing routing between the two mobiles terminals without requiring all traffic to traverse an anchor point in the base station routing architecture network. An IP base station transceiver architecture utilizes network controlled mobility to provide a transparent connection between a mobile terminal and an anchor point in the network. This transparency hides the mobility associated with changing IP base station transceivers from the mobile terminal and reduces over-the-air signaling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2006
    Publication date: May 22, 2008
    Inventors: Frank M. Alfano, Peter Bosch, Peter J. McCann, Patrick J. Walsh