HK1191471B - Systems and methods for group bandwidth management in a communication systems network - Google Patents

Description

System and method for group bandwidth management in a communication system network

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/433,908, filed on 18/1/2011, but does not claim priority to U.S. patent nos. 6,636,894, 7,194,554, 7,689,716, 7,698,432, and 7,739,383. All of the above patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth herein.

Background

The field of network management of communication systems is widely practiced. In today's global mobile world, network access is virtually a daily living requirement. As the number of people accessing a network continues to increase, the need for reliable mechanisms for network owners to efficiently and effectively manage their resources also increases.

There is a need for network operators to limit the total bandwidth on a per subscriber basis when a subscriber has multiple physical devices. For example, consider a network communication system operating in a hotel. Modern business travelers living in hotels may use laptop computers, tablet computers and smart phones. A business traveler may be able to use each device to access the hotel network, but may require purchasing access for each individual device. Alternatively, a network operator may allow all devices to enter the network using a single subscription, but the operator has no control over the total bandwidth consumed by a single subscriber. In other words, the art does not provide a way for a hotel network communication system operator to limit the bandwidth of a set of devices for a particular subscriber, i.e., a business traveler in this example.

Disclosure of Invention

The present disclosure provides a solution to the above-described problem by allowing a network management system to allocate a session (session) with bandwidth that can be shared among multiple devices. For example, the passenger may purchase a single network subscription that allocates a certain amount of bandwidth to the subscriber. The passenger may then choose to use all of the bandwidth for his laptop, or the passenger may add his other network-enabled device to his subscription and share his allocated bandwidth. The network then manages all of his devices so that the combined bandwidth used by all of the included devices does not exceed the passenger's maximum bandwidth at any given time. The allocation of bandwidth between devices may be performed dynamically by network management, or a network user (e.g., a traveler) may choose to allocate allocated bandwidth between devices on his subscription. In an embodiment, the user may associate multiple devices with the account, such that the next time the user purchases an order, all of his devices will be identified without the need for him to re-authorize each device.

The present disclosure also describes a method for a network operator to limit the total bandwidth allocated to an event (e.g., a meeting, a baseball game) serving multiple subscribers (e.g., participants, season ticket holders). For example, consider a network communication system operating at a convention center. A meeting organizer may wish to provide network access to participants. Like a hotel network operator, a network operator at a convention center may allocate bandwidth to each participant. This solution is often cumbersome, typically involving assigning the same bandwidth to each participant rather than aggregating the bandwidth allocated for the event to a group of subscribers. The present disclosure provides a system for allowing a meeting organizer to group participants together and distribute blocks of bandwidth among the participants. For example, a general participant may be allocated a common and shared block of bandwidth, while the conference host or VIP is allocated a second block of bandwidth, which typically provides more bandwidth per user.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method for managing a communication system network, the method comprising: receiving a signal; associating the signal with a host; identifying a group policy for the host; changing the signal according to a group policy for the host; and signaling according to a group policy for the host.

One embodiment is a method of managing bandwidth performed by a computing system. The system receives user-selected connection parameters associated with a subscriber device. The system associates a network identifier of the subscriber device with a group bandwidth policy based on the user-selected connection parameters. The system stores parameters associated with the group bandwidth policy in association with a network identifier of the subscriber device in a computer-readable storage medium. The system receives network communication data from the subscriber device at the gateway device. The system limits, at the gateway device, bandwidth available to network communication data based on a stored parameter associated with the group bandwidth policy.

In an embodiment, the network identifier comprises a MAC address of the subscriber device.

In an embodiment, the parameters associated with the group bandwidth policy include a group bandwidth policy identifier, an upstream bandwidth, and a downstream bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the system associates a second network identifier of the second subscriber device with the group bandwidth policy. The system limits the bandwidth available to the subscriber device and the second subscriber device based on a stored parameter associated with the group bandwidth policy.

In one embodiment, user-selected connection parameters are received at a web portal page server.

One embodiment is a network system configured to manage bandwidth for a subscriber having a plurality of subscriber devices connected to the network system. The network system includes a gateway device configured to connect a plurality of subscriber devices to an external network. The gateway device includes a computer processor and one or more network ports. The network system includes an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server that stores data related to a group bandwidth policy associated with a subset of the subscriber devices. The gateway device is configured to send an authentication information request to the AAA server upon receiving a communication request from the subscriber device. The request includes a network identifier associated with the subscriber device. The AAA server is configured to determine, in response to the authentication information request, that the subscriber device is associated with a group bandwidth policy based at least in part on a network identifier associated with the subscriber device; the AAA server is further configured to send an authentication response including data related to the group bandwidth policy to the gateway device. The gateway device is further configured to limit the bandwidth available to the subscriber device based on the data related to the group bandwidth policy and further based on bandwidth used by other subscriber devices associated with the group bandwidth policy.

In one embodiment, the gateway device and the AAA server are housed in a single device.

In one embodiment, the gateway device and the AAA server are separate devices.

In an embodiment, the network system further comprises a web portal page server configured to complete a registration (enrollment) process with the subscriber device. The AAA server is configured to determine that the subscriber device is associated with the group bandwidth policy based at least in part on data stored by the web portal page server in response to the registration process.

In one embodiment, the authentication information request comprises a RADIUS or Diameter protocol request and the authentication response comprises a RADIUS or Diameter protocol response.

In an embodiment, the gateway device is further configured to limit the bandwidth available to the subscriber device by queuing and/or dropping one or more packets received from the subscriber device.

One embodiment is a method of associating a set of network-enabled computing devices with a network access subscription. The system associates a device network identifier for each of the plurality of network devices with a single network access subscription. The system allocates a subset of the available bandwidth for a single network access subscription. The system provides network access to a plurality of network devices. The plurality of network devices share the allocated subset of available bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the device network identifier comprises a MAC address.

In an embodiment, the subset of available bandwidth includes a subset of available upstream bandwidth and a subset of available downstream bandwidth.

In an embodiment, the method is performed at a network system comprising a gateway device. A plurality of devices are connected to the network system, and wherein the plurality of network devices share the allocated subset of available bandwidth by delaying and/or dropping transmission of data packets received from the plurality of network devices by the gateway device.

In an embodiment, associating the network device identifier of each of the plurality of network devices with a single network access subscription comprises: the network device identifier of each of the plurality of network devices is stored in the computer-readable memory in association with an identifier of the single network access subscription.

One embodiment is a network system that associates multiple devices with a single network subscription. The system includes one or more device-side interfaces for communicating with a plurality of user devices. The system includes one or more network-side interfaces for communicating with a wide area network. The system includes one or more processors configured to associate at least two user devices of a plurality of user devices with a single network subscription. The network subscription provides a subset of the available bandwidth to be shared by at least two of the plurality of user devices.

In an embodiment, the system further comprises a web portal page server configured to receive data from at least one of the plurality of user devices. The web portal page server is configured to cause the one or more processors to associate at least one of the plurality of user devices with a single network subscription based on the received data.

In an embodiment, the one or more processors are further configured to limit bandwidth of data sent to or received from at least two of the plurality of user devices at the one or more device-side interfaces based at least in part on an indication of a user-selected bandwidth level associated with the single network subscription.

In an embodiment, the one or more processors are further configured to disassociate the user device from the single network subscription in response to determining that the user device has been disconnected.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computing system used in one embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a process for implementing a group bandwidth policy as used in one embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a process of creating a subscriber device session as used in an embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a process of authenticating data sent by a subscriber device as used in an embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of a process of processing data received from a subscriber device as used in an embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a process of processing data directed to a subscriber device received from an external network as used in one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process to manage the recording of group bandwidth policies as used in one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary user interface for selecting group bandwidth registration as used in one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary user interface for enabling group bandwidth policy features according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary user interface for viewing information about subscribers of a group, according to one embodiment.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a network system connecting subscriber devices to a network as used in one embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of a process for associating one or more computers or other computing devices with a network access subscription as used in an embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a computer system as used in one embodiment.

Detailed Description

Details of embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification are set forth herein. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, and the claims.

In one embodiment, "registration" is an instance of the purchased service. Examples of registration include: 1) individual subscribers purchase network access for a selected duration; and 2) purchase network access for an event (e.g., a meeting, baseball game) shared by a group of subscribers.

In one embodiment, a "session" is a single subscriber device authorized to access a network. For example, the registration may: 1) the ability to authorize the creation of multiple sessions for individual subscribers; or 2) authorize a group of subscribers to authenticate using the same credentials.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computing system as used in an embodiment of the present invention. The system may include a gateway device 101, an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server 102, and a web portal page server 103. The system may be connected to one or more networks 108, and one or more subscriber devices 106. The system may further include one or more data sources, such as group bandwidth policy data 104 and registration data 105. In various embodiments, the computing devices (e.g., gateway device 101, AAA server 102, and web portal page server 103) may be housed in a single device or in separate devices, or any combination thereof. Other components may be included, such as an asset management system (PMS) that receives and/or provides user account information.

In an embodiment, the devices of the system are connected by a Local Area Network (LAN) connected to an external network 108, such as the internet, via a gateway device 101. In other embodiments, one or more components of the system may be external to the local area network. For example, web portal page server 103 and/or AAA server 102 may be connected externally via the Internet. Further, in various embodiments, components of the system may operate on different types of networks, such as a wide area network, a virtual private network, an enterprise intranet, and so forth.

Gateway device 101 provides various network services to subscriber devices 106, such as, for example, connecting to external network 108. In various embodiments, the gateway device may comprise a single device or multiple devices. Some of the services that may be provided by the gateway device 101 are described in U.S. patent No. 7,194,554, which is incorporated herein by reference. In an embodiment, any subset of those services or any other services may be provided. In the embodiment of fig. 1, the gateway device is located between the subscriber device 106 and the external network 108. In other embodiments, the gateway device may be arranged in a different network topology and may not be located between the subscriber device 106 and the external network 108. For example, an intermediate network device may be used to connect subscriber device 106 and external network 108, and the intermediate network device may transmit some or all of the network communications to gateway device 101. Thus, the gateway device need not be limited to a "gateway" as understood in the art of computer networks, and need not be limited to a single device. In some embodiments, the gateway functions described herein may be shared by a distributed group of devices or a network system.

In an embodiment, gateway device 101 is configured to limit the bandwidth available to subscriber device 106 according to one or more group bandwidth policies. The "group bandwidth policy" enables a subscriber to purchase or otherwise obtain a user-selected bandwidth or quality of service for a plurality of subscriber devices. For example, a subscriber having one or more network devices (e.g., laptop computer, mobile phone, tablet computer, etc.) may purchase a certain amount of total bandwidth to be allocated to all of the subscriber's devices. The gateway device 101 may employ packet delay, queuing, and/or dropping policies to limit bandwidth as described in particular in U.S. patent No. 7,739,383, which is incorporated herein by reference.

In one embodiment, the bandwidth limit generated by the group bandwidth policy or other bandwidth policy is based on a user selection that may be independent of the total bandwidth available. For example, gateway device 101 may be capable of communicating with network 108 and subscriber devices 106 at 10 Mbps. If there is no bandwidth limitation, subscriber device 106 will be able to communicate with network 108 at full speed 10 Mbps. However, if the subscriber device is associated with a group bandwidth policy that is limited to 2Mbps speed, the subscriber device may be limited to 2Mbps, even if more bandwidth is available.

In an embodiment, if two or more devices are associated with a group bandwidth policy that is limited to 2Mbps, the total bandwidth available to the two devices will be 2Mbps even though more bandwidth is available, so if one device is using 1.5Mbps of bandwidth, the other device will be limited to 0.5 Mbps. In an embodiment, the available bandwidth of the subscriber device associated with the group bandwidth policy may be further limited due to system capacity and constraints. For example, if there are 10 subscriber devices, each associated with a separate bandwidth policy of 2Mbps, and the network is limited to a total of 10Mbps, gateway device 101 or other network system components may determine to allocate 1Mbps to each subscriber device, or assign some other allocation according to the usage of the network, quality of service parameters, the level of service purchased by the user, etc.

Although this disclosure presents implementations that include a group bandwidth policy for managing minimum and maximum upstream bandwidths of a group, it should be understood that the group bandwidth policy is not limited to these features. It is contemplated that the group bandwidth policy may include other qualities of service related to parameters such as fairness weights, priorities, differentiated services code points, etc.

In an embodiment, the gateway device 101 obtains information about the group bandwidth policy to be associated with the subscriber device 106 during an authentication process. Each subscriber device 106 connected to the gateway device 101 may be associated with a group bandwidth policy. Alternatively, the subscriber device 106 may be associated with an individual bandwidth policy or some other policy, or even not associated with any policy at all. Appropriate bandwidth policy information may be obtained by gateway device 101 from AAA server 102. The gateway device may also store information related to the group bandwidth policy in database 104. Other bandwidth information and other subscriber information may be stored in the library 104, which may be internal or external to the gateway device.

AAA server 102 provides authentication and subscriber information data to other components of the system, such as gateway device 101. AAA server 102 may communicate with these components via any number of standard and/or proprietary network protocols. In various embodiments, AAA server 102 communicates with gateway device 101 using the remote user dial-in authentication service (RADIUS) protocol, the Diameter protocol, the XML protocol, and/or other protocols. In this way, gateway device 101 may send a request to AAA server 102 for authentication information related to subscriber device 106. In response, AAA server 102 may provide subscriber information (including group bandwidth policy information) to gateway device 101.

The group bandwidth policy information provided by AAA server 102 may be derived from a data source, such as registration database 105. The database may include information regarding subscriber registrations. For example, in an embodiment, a subscriber may purchase a level of bandwidth or service for a plurality of computing devices used by the subscriber. Information about the service packs purchased by the subscribers may be stored in the registry 105. Thus, the purchase information for a subscriber may be obtained by AAA server 102 and used to determine an appropriate group bandwidth policy for subscriber device 106 associated with a particular subscriber.

In an embodiment, databases 104 and/or 105 may be maintained in memory or other non-volatile computer-readable media such as a storage drive. The data may be formatted, for example, in a relational database or data file (e.g., XML). In an embodiment, databases 104 and/or 105 may have an index set of group bandwidth policies. All subscribers sharing the same group bandwidth policy identifier belong to the same group.

In an embodiment, the system enables a subscriber device to be associated with one or more bandwidth restriction groups, such as a plurality of group bandwidth policies, a group bandwidth policy, and an individual bandwidth policy, among others. Conflicts between multiple groups may be resolved in a configurable manner. For example, the system may be configured to use the lowest bandwidth device of a plurality of groups associated with subscriber devices, it may be configured to prefer a group bandwidth policy over an individual bandwidth policy or vice versa, it may be configured to prompt the user to select a policy, and so on.

Web portal page server 103 may provide authentication and/or registration services for subscribers. For example, a subscriber who wishes to purchase or gain network access may communicate information, such as authentication information, payment information, hotel room information, and the like, to web portal page server 103. Web portal page server 103 may use this information to determine an appropriate service level (e.g., bandwidth level) for the subscriber and store information related to the service level in registry 105.

In one embodiment, subscriber device 106 accesses web portal page server 103 in response to a redirection procedure that occurs when subscriber device 106 attempts to connect to an external network or network location. One such redirection process is described in detail in U.S. patent No. 7,194,554, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Components of the system, such as gateway device 101, AAA server 102, and/or web portal page server 103, may be used to provide an administrative interface so that a system administrator may determine information about system usage. For example, the gateway device 101 may provide an administrative interface 107 to authorize a system administrator. The management interface may provide information such as, for example, group-wide policies saved in the library 104, information about connected subscriber devices 106, information about registrations stored in the library 105, and so on. The management interface 107 may provide data in various forms, such as an HTML interface, an XML data feed, and so forth.

Fig. 2 is a flow diagram of a process for implementing a group bandwidth policy as used in one embodiment. The process may be performed on a system such as that shown in fig. 1.

At block 201, the subscriber device 106 authenticates using the portal page server 103. The authentication information may include identity information and/or billing and payment information, and it may identify the service level selected by the user. The service level may be based on, for example, an individual bandwidth policy or a group bandwidth policy. The selected policy may include selecting a maximum upstream bandwidth and/or a maximum downstream bandwidth. Accordingly, the bandwidth of data transmitted by a subscriber and the bandwidth of data received by a subscriber may be limited differently. In one embodiment, the user may select a particular bandwidth speed, or the user may select from a list of predefined bandwidth options.

At block 202, web portal page server 103 identifies a group bandwidth policy parameter. These parameters are determined based on authentication information or other information provided by the subscriber device at block 201. The authentication information from block 201 may indicate that a new group broadband policy is to be created in conjunction with the new registration. In this case, web portal page server 103 may store the new registration information in database 105 or transmit such policy information to AAA server 102.

In an embodiment, the subscriber selects the group bandwidth policy by providing group identification information (e.g., certificate, group name, group identifier, group password) to the system. In an embodiment, the MAC address of the subscriber device is associated with the group bandwidth policy prior to network access, allowing the device to easily access the network as part of the group bandwidth policy.

In an embodiment, the authentication information from block 201 may indicate that the subscriber device is to be associated with an existing group bandwidth policy. In this case, at block 202, an appropriate policy is identified and information identifying the subscriber device is associated with the policy. Thus, in one embodiment, AAA server 102 has access to information related to the group bandwidth policy and information related to the association between the subscriber device and the group bandwidth policy. The association with the subscriber device may be based on a MAC address, IP address, circuit ID, mobile phone identifier, or the like.

At block 203, the group bandwidth policy parameters from block 202 are sent to the gateway device 101. In various embodiments, the parameters may be sent immediately after they are determined at block 202, or they may be sent in response to a request by the gateway device. The latter embodiment may be used, for example, where gateway device 101 and AAA server 102 communicate via RADIUS or Diameter protocols.

At block 204, the gateway device 101 stores the group bandwidth policy parameters, for example, in the database 104. In one embodiment, the gateway device first determines whether the group bandwidth policy is already stored in the library 104. This may for example be the case when the subscriber connects the second device to the network and the group bandwidth policy is already stored in the repository 104 due to the subscriber's first device. In such a case, in an embodiment, the gateway device may update the group bandwidth policy information stored in the library 104 if any changes are detected to be present. Further, the gateway device 101 may be configured to remove the group bandwidth policy information from the library 104 when the gateway device 101 determines that the information is no longer needed, for example when all subscriber devices associated with a particular group bandwidth policy have been disconnected from the network.

For example, if during system operation, the group bandwidth policy (e.g., a revision to the maximum bandwidth) changes, then updating the group bandwidth policy may be necessary. An example of an event that causes a change is that the subscriber has purchased additional bandwidth for the group. A network operator manually or dynamically changing the bandwidth allocated to the group according to configurable parameters is also an event in example implementations that may cause a change in group policy. In an embodiment, when the group policy changes, the change is communicated to all sessions of the group, e.g., through AAA server 102 or gateway device 101.

At block 205, the gateway device 101 then limits the bandwidth available to the subscriber device 106 according to the group bandwidth policy parameters received at block 203 and saved at block 204. The gateway device may perform this bandwidth limiting using any of a variety of algorithms, such as queuing, delaying, and/or dropping packets. Where multiple subscriber devices are associated with a single group bandwidth policy, in various embodiments, gateway device 101 may apply various policies to allocate the available bandwidth among these devices. For example, the gateway device may employ a "most efficient" policy that treats all data to and from devices associated with a particular policy as data sent to and from a single device and limits the bandwidth accordingly. In other embodiments, the subscriber may be given the option of allocating available bandwidth among the subscriber's devices. For example, the subscriber may choose to allocate bandwidth evenly among the subscriber's devices, or to allocate more bandwidth to one device and less bandwidth to other devices. In another embodiment, gateway device 101 may determine the appropriate or likely bandwidth usage by the various subscriber devices and allocate the bandwidth accordingly. For example, the gateway device 101 may determine that a laptop computer may require more bandwidth than a mobile phone and thus allocate more bandwidth to the mobile phone than the laptop computer.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of a process of generating a session for a subscriber device as used in an embodiment. This process may be performed, for example, at web portal page server 103 shown in FIG. 1. The process of fig. 3 may be performed, for example, when the subscriber device is first connected to the network. Accordingly, this may be performed at block 201 of fig. 2.

At block 301, web portal page server 103 receives a new session request sent by subscriber device 106. The new session request may be sent by the subscriber device in response to a redirection procedure performed when the subscriber device attempts to connect to an external network location. The request may also include information sent from subscriber device 106 to web portal page server 103 via one or more web pages or other network communications after the redirection process. Alternatively, the request may be received when the subscriber device contacts the portal page server directly. In various embodiments, the request may be sent via HTTP or other network protocols.

At block 302, web portal page server 103 determines whether to create a new registration based on the request from block 301. For example, the request may identify an existing registration with which the subscriber device wishes to be associated. Alternatively, the request may include information for creating a new registration if the subscriber has not connected any other device to the network.

If, at block 302, the web portal page server determines that a new registration is to be created, then, at block 303, the web portal page server determines the group width parameter to be associated with the registration. These parameters may be determined based on the group width policy selected at block 301. In an embodiment, the subscriber may select a policy other than a group bandwidth policy, such as an individual bandwidth policy, or no policy at all. In this case, the web portal page server will take appropriate action based on the subscriber's selection.

At block 304, the web portal page server builds a new group bandwidth policy based on the parameters determined at block 303. The new group bandwidth policy may be stored, for example, in registration database 105. Web portal page server 103 then proceeds to associate the new session involving subscriber device 106 with the newly created policy at block 305.

If, at block 302, web portal page server 103 determines that a new registration is not to be created, then, at block 307, web portal page server 103 determines the appropriate group bandwidth policy to be associated with the subscriber device. Web portal page server 103 may determine that no group bandwidth policy is to be associated with the subscriber device, for example, when the subscriber has selected an individual bandwidth policy or no bandwidth policy at all. In these cases, the web portal page server acts accordingly. However, if at block 307 an appropriate group bandwidth policy is determined, then the web portal page server proceeds to block 305 and associates the group bandwidth policy determined by block 307 with the subscriber device 106 in the new session.

At block 306, the web portal page server communicates the group bandwidth policy to the gateway device 101. This may be performed directly or in response to a request from the gateway device. Thus, the gateway device will have information related to the group bandwidth policy and will be able to limit the bandwidth of the subscriber device accordingly.

Although the process of FIG. 3 has been described with respect to web portal page server 103, the process may be performed by a combination of devices. For example, AAA server 102 may execute one or more of the blocks in fig. 3. In one embodiment, the AAA server performs blocks 305 and 306. In one embodiment, the AAA server performs blocks 302-304 and 307.

The registration may be created by a process such as that described in fig. 3, or by other means. For example, an administrator of a network system may create a registration using an associated group bandwidth policy and store it directly in the system. This is useful, for example, in situations where the group bandwidth policy is to be applied to a large meeting (e.g., a meeting or a convention show), where it is desirable to have the group width policy installed and activated prior to the meeting.

Fig. 4 is a flow diagram of a process of authentication data sent by a subscriber device as used in an embodiment. This process may be performed, for example, at gateway device 101 of fig. 1. In an embodiment, the process of fig. 4 is performed when the subscriber device 106 first sends a request directed to an external network location after a session is created according to the process of fig. 3, or each time data is received by the gateway device.

At block 401, gateway device 101 receives data from subscriber device 106. In one embodiment, the data may relate to requests directed to internal or external network locations. The data may be directed to the gateway device or it may be directed to another network component configured to forward such data to the gateway device.

At block 402, the gateway device 101 determines whether the subscriber device 106 requires authentication. This determination may be made, for example, based on whether a group bandwidth policy or other bandwidth policy associated with the subscriber device 106 is present in the database 104, or whether it was previously authenticated. If the gateway device 101 determines that authentication is not required, the data received at block 401 is sent at block 408 according to any set of bandwidth policies or other policies associated with the subscriber device 106. The association between the subscriber device and the group bandwidth policy may be determined, for example, based on an association between the two stored in the gateway device.

If the gateway device 101 determines that the subscriber requires authentication at block 402, the gateway device sends a request to the AAA server 102 at block 403. In one embodiment, the request is in the form of a RADIUS or Diameter protocol request. The request may include information identifying the subscriber device, such as a MAC address, IP address, circuit ID, mobile phone identifier, and the like.

At block 404, gateway device 101 receives a response from AAA server 102 that includes the group bandwidth policy. In an embodiment, the received policy includes a policy identifier, a maximum upstream bandwidth, and a maximum downstream bandwidth. Any subset of this information and/or other information may be included in the group bandwidth policy received from the AAA server. The gateway device may alternatively receive other information at block 404, such as individual bandwidth policy information, no bandwidth policy information, or an indication that the subscriber device has not been authenticated. In the last of these cases, in an embodiment, the gateway device may be configured to redirect the subscriber device to the web portal page server 103 so that the subscriber device may complete the authentication process.

At block 405, the gateway device 101 determines whether the group bandwidth policy received at block 404 has been installed, for example, in the database 104. The gateway device may make this determination based on the group bandwidth policy identifier received at block 404 and/or other forms of referring to the group bandwidth policy (e.g., a pointer to a memory location). If the gateway device determines that the group bandwidth policy has been installed, then at block 406 the gateway device updates the group bandwidth policy if necessary. Otherwise, at block 407, the gateway device installs the group bandwidth policy in the database 104. Finally, at block 408, the gateway device transmits the received data according to the appropriate group bandwidth policy or other policy.

Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of a process of processing data received from a subscriber device as used in an embodiment. This process may be performed by the gateway device 101 shown in fig. 1. This process may be performed, for example, at block 408 of fig. 4, or at other times when data is received by the gateway device.

At block 501, gateway device 101 receives data from subscriber device 106. Based on the received data and information identifying the subscriber device in the data, the gateway device determines a group bandwidth policy for the device at block 502.

At block 504, the gateway device 101 determines the maximum bandwidth based on the group bandwidth policy for the device. In an embodiment, the maximum bandwidth is a maximum upstream bandwidth associated with the set of bandwidth policies.

The gateway device determines whether the maximum bandwidth has been exceeded at block 504. If it has been exceeded, at block 503 the gateway device limits bandwidth by queuing, delaying, supervising, and/or dropping data transfers or by other means. If, however, the maximum bandwidth is not exceeded, then at block 505 the gateway device transmits the received data.

Fig. 6 is a process of processing data directed to a subscriber device received from an external network as used in an embodiment. This process may be performed at gateway device 101 of fig. 1.

At block 601, the gateway device receives data from an external network. The gateway device determines the subscriber device to which the received data is directed and then, at block 602, the gateway device determines a group bandwidth policy for that device.

The gateway device then determines a maximum bandwidth based on the group bandwidth policy at block 604. In one embodiment, the maximum bandwidth is the maximum downstream bandwidth. If, at block 604, the gateway device determines that the maximum bandwidth has been exceeded, then, at block 603, the bandwidth is limited by queuing or delaying data transfer. However, if the maximum bandwidth has not been exceeded, then at block 605 the data received at block 601 is sent to the appropriate subscriber device.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a process to manage the recording of group bandwidth policies as used in one embodiment. This process may be performed at gateway device 101 and group bandwidth policy database 104 of fig. 1.

At block 701, the gateway device 101 determines that the subscriber device has exited the network system. The gateway device may make this determination based on an explicit logout command sent by the subscriber device 106, a session timeout, an idle timeout, a subscriber being deleted by a system administrator, and so forth.

At block 702, the gateway device 101 determines a group bandwidth policy associated with the subscriber device of block 701. If there is no group bandwidth policy associated with the device, the gateway device acts accordingly. If, however, a group bandwidth policy is identified, the gateway device next determines at block 703 whether there are other subscriber devices associated with the same group bandwidth policy. It may, for example, query the database 104 for subscriber devices associated with the same set of bandwidth policies to make the determination.

If, at block 703, the gateway device 101 determines that there are other devices associated with the set of bandwidth policies, the process terminates at block 705. If, however, the gateway device determines that no other subscriber devices are associated with the set of bandwidth policies, then the gateway device next removes the information for the set of bandwidth policies at block 704. For example, this information may be removed from database 104.

The process shown in fig. 7 thus allows the gateway device 101 or other device of the system to manage a record of the group bandwidth policy that has been stored. Other methods may be employed such as, for example, periodically scanning in database 104 and removing group bandwidth policy information not associated with any connected subscribers.

FIG. 8 is an exemplary user interface for selecting group bandwidth registration as used in one embodiment. The interface may be presented to subscriber devices 106 through web portal page server 103. For example, it may be presented during block 301 of FIG. 3.

The user interface enables a user to join an existing group using input element 801. The user may provide identification information associated with the group bandwidth policy, such as a group name and/or password. In various embodiments, different types of identification information may be employed.

The user may also create a new group using interface element 802. In one embodiment, the user may provide information such as group name, password, and bandwidth level selection. In various embodiments, different types of identification information may be employed, such as an access code, a room number, a predefined key provided by a system administrator or other entity, a group security code, and so forth. In an embodiment, the user may also provide payment information using interface element 803. In different embodiments, other information and/or any subset of such information may be requested. In different embodiments, only element 802 or 803 may be included. The user may then submit the contents of the table shown in fig. 8 to web portal page server 103 or another appropriate server, thereby creating a new session and/or registration.

FIG. 9 is an exemplary user interface for enabling group bandwidth policy features according to one embodiment. This interface may be presented by the gateway device 101 as part of the management interface 107 of fig. 1. Installing the group bandwidth policy involves establishing a group bandwidth policy identifier and other communication network system management attributes associated with the group bandwidth policy (e.g., short name of group, description of group, maximum upstream bandwidth, maximum downstream bandwidth, encryption level, group session timeout). In an implementation, the group bandwidth policy is defined through an application interface (e.g., web services, RMI). The application interface may accept, for example, a document (e.g., XML) that includes one or more group bandwidth policy definitions. It should be understood that similar interfaces are also used for maintenance of installed groups.

FIG. 10 is an exemplary user interface for viewing information about subscribers of a group, according to an embodiment. This interface may be presented by the gateway device 101 as part of the management interface 107 of fig. 1. The user interface shows various data including the identity of the device, IP address, port, user name, group policy, bandwidth, throughput, authentication (AAA) status, expiration, idle timeout, send bytes, receive bytes, total bytes, and agent used. In an exemplary implementation, similar interfaces display the same information, but, for example, aggregate at the group level to show all subscribers affiliated with the group.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram of a network system connecting subscriber devices to a network as used in an embodiment. Network system 1101 may be, for example, gateway device 101 of fig. 1, possibly in combination with AAA server 102, web portal page server 103, database 104, database 105, and/or other components.

In an embodiment, the network system 1101 includes a Wide Area Network (WAN) interface 1102, one or more processors 1103, and a Local Area Network (LAN) interface 1104. The WAN interface 1102 may be connected to one or more external networks 1105, such as the internet. LAN interface 1104 may be connected to one or more subscriber devices 1107, possibly through one or more intermediate network devices such as hubs, routers, and/or switches. The LAN may be any type of network such as an ethernet network, a token ring network, a dial-up network, etc., or any combination of networks. The WAN may similarly be any type of network or combination. In an embodiment, the subscriber device 1107 is capable of communicating with the external network 1105 through the network system 1101.

The network system 1101 may be configured to manage the bandwidth available to the subscriber device 1107. In an embodiment, the network system 1101 is in communication with a database 1106, which may be internal or external to the network system. The network system may be configured to associate one or more subscriber devices 1107 with a subscription. For example, as shown in fig. 11, subscriber devices #1 and #2 are associated with subscription a and devices #3 and #4 are associated with subscription B. In the database 1106, the subscription may be identified by a subscription identifier (e.g., a unique integer) and the subscriber device may be identified by a device identifier (e.g., a MAC address or other identifier).

The processor 1103 or other processor or system may be configured to create, modify, and/or remove associations between subscriptions and subscriber devices in the database 1106. The processor 1103 may additionally or alternatively be configured to manage network communications to and from the subscriber device 1107 based on bandwidth information associated with subscriptions in the database 1106.

FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of a process for associating one or more computers or other computing devices with a network access subscription as used in an embodiment. The method may be performed, for example, by one or more of the computing systems described in fig. 1 and 11 or other computing systems.

At block 1201, multiple computing devices are associated with a single network access subscription. The network access subscription may be a registration, a group bandwidth policy, etc. The association may be stored in a computer readable storage medium for later retrieval.

At block 1202, a subset of available bandwidth is allocated to a network access subscription. The allocated bandwidth may be determined based on parameters associated with the network access subscription, data stored or encoded in the network system, currently available bandwidth, quality of service indicators, and the like.

At block 1203, network access is provided to a plurality of computing devices. The bandwidth available to these computing devices may then be limited at block 1204. The limit may be based on the subset of available bandwidth determined at block 1202. The allocated bandwidth may be shared among the computing devices based on a most efficient allocation, a user defined allocation, a system computing allocation, or other allocation scheme. Bandwidth may be limited by queuing, delaying, and/or dropping network communication packets or other means described herein.

Exemplary System architecture

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computing system to implement the systems and methods described herein. In the FIG. 13 embodiment, computing device 1301 communicates with user 1302 and optional third party data source 1303 via network 1304. In an embodiment, computing device 1301 receives data from one or more data sources 1303. Computing device 1301 may then perform the analysis and prepare the information for presentation to user 1302. Gateway device 101, AAA server 102, web portal page server 103, network system 1101, and/or any other computing system described herein may include the same or similar components as computing device 1301. Similarly, computing device 1301 may be used to implement any of the methods discussed herein.

Network 1304 may include any communication network or combination of communication networks, such as one or more of the Internet, a LAN, a WAN, a MAN, or the like. In the embodiment of FIG. 13, computing device 1301 comprises a computing system having one or more computing devices (computers). Computing device 1301 may include, for example, a single computing device, a computer server, an intelligent storage unit, or a combination of one or more computing devices and/or computer servers. In accordance with this embodiment, components illustrated in computing device 1301 may be distributed among multiple devices, such as over a local area network or other network connection. In other embodiments, computing device 1301 may include fewer and/or more components than shown in fig. 13.

Exemplary computing device 1301 may be a general purpose computer using one or more microprocessors, such as, for exampleA processor,II a processor,A Pro processor,An IV processor,A D processor,Kurui food^TMProcessors, xx86 processors, 8051 processors, MIPS processors, Power PC processors, SPARC processors, Alpha processors, and so forth. Computers may run various operating systems that perform standard operating system functions (e.g., opening, reading, writing, and closing files). It should be appreciated that other operating systems may be used, such as, for example, Windriver VxWorks,3.X、Windows98、2000、NT、CE、ME、XP、7、Palm Pilot OS、DiskOperating System(DOS)、UNIX、IRIX、Solaris、SunOS、FreeBSD、OrAnd (4) operating the system. In other embodiments, computing device 1301 may be controlled by a proprietary operating system. Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer running processes, perform storage management, provide file systems, networking, I/O services, and provide user interfaces such as Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), for example.

Computing device 1301 includes one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) 1305, which may each include one or more conventional or special purpose microprocessors. Computing device 1301 may also include one or more memories 1306, such as a Random Access Memory (RAM) for temporarily storing information, a read-only memory (ROM) for permanently storing information, and/or a mass storage device 1307, such as a hard disk, magnetic disk, or optical media storage device. The memory 1306 may store software code or instructions for execution by the processor 1305 to cause the computing device to perform certain operations, such as collecting sensor-related data, processing data using statistical and/or predictive models, formatting data for a user device or other presentation, transmitting data, or other operations described or used herein.

The methods described and claimed herein may be performed by any suitable computing device, such as computing device 1301. The methods may be performed on such suitable computing devices in response to executing software instructions or other executable code read from a non-transitory tangible computer readable medium or computer storage device. The computer readable medium is a data storage device that is capable of storing data readable by a computer system. Examples of a computer readable medium include read-only memory, random-access memory, other volatile or non-volatile storage devices, CD-ROMs, magnetic tape, flash memory, and optical data storage devices.

Exemplary computing device 1301 may include one or more input/output (I/O) devices and interfaces 1308, such as, for example, a keyboard, trackball, mouse, drawing board, joystick, game controller, touch screen (e.g., capacitive or resistive touch screen), touchpad, accelerator, and/or printer. The computing device 1301 may also include one or more multimedia devices 1309, such as a display device (also referred to herein as a display screen), which in the case of a touch screen, for example, may also be one of the I/O devices 1308. The display device may include an LCD, OLED or other thin screen display screen, monitor, television, projector, or any other device that visually displays a user interface and data to an audience. Computing device 1301 may also include one or more multimedia devices such as, for example, a speaker, a video card, a graphics accelerator, and a microphone.

In the FIG. 13 embodiment, I/O devices and interfaces 1308 provide a communication interface to a plurality of external devices via network 1304. For example, computing device 1301 may be electrically coupled to network 1304 via one or more communication links that are wired, wireless, or a combination of wired and wireless. The network 1304 may allow communication with various other computing devices and/or other electrical devices via wired or wireless communication links.

In the fig. 13 embodiment, computing device 1301 may include various modules described further below. Each of these modules will be discussed in more detail below. Generally, the term "module" as used herein refers to logic implemented in hardware or firmware, or to a set of software instructions written in any programming language, such as Java, Python, Perl, Lua, C + +, C #, Objective C, etc., that may have an in-point and an out-point. The software modules may be compiled and linked into an executable program, installed in a dynamic link library, or written in any interpretable programming language, such as BASIC, Perl, or Python. Software modules may be called from other modules or themselves, and/or may be called in response to detected events or interrupts. Software modules configured for execution on a computing device may be provided on a computer readable medium such as a compact disc, digital video disc, flash memory, or any other tangible medium. Such software code may be stored, in part or in whole, on a storage device running a computing device (e.g., computing device 1301) for execution by the computing device. A hardware module may comprise connected logic units such as gates and flip-flops, and/or programmable units such as programmable gate arrays or processors. The modules described herein are typically implemented as software modules, but may be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software. Generally, the modules described herein represent logical modules that may be combined with other modules or may be divided into sub-modules, regardless of their physical construction or storage.

Exemplary Module

In the embodiment of fig. 13, computing device 1301 includes three modules, namely: a bandwidth management module 1310 that controls upstream and/or downstream bandwidth for connected subscriber devices; a group bandwidth policy module 1311 that manages a group bandwidth policy for connected subscriber devices; and an authentication module 1312 that provides authentication of the subscriber device. In some embodiments, a module may be distributed over multiple devices and may be controlled and/or operated by multiple different entities. For example, the modules may be distributed among gateway device 101, AAA server 102, and web portal page server 103 of FIG. 1, or combined together in one or more devices. As another example, the modules may all be part of the network system 1101, or a subset of the modules may be part of the network system 1101. The modules are configured to perform the methods described in this specification. In various embodiments, fewer or more modules may be included in a computing system.

Computing device 1301 may be configured to obtain user data and other external data, such as third party data. The various modules and/or other modules may include software only, hardware only, or a combination of software and hardware. The devices may be particularly suited for communicating using various networks or communication protocols to communicate with external data sources, such as databases, network servers, online services, telecommunication services, distributed computing systems, and so forth. Some of these protocols may include standard network protocols such as HTTP, FTP, SNMP, and the like. The device may also include a hardware driver, such as a USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt (LightPeak), or a serial communication driver, such as to communicate with devices that communicate directly with the system.

Computing device 1301 may be configured to send or initiate a data transfer to request entities of interest (e.g., external user 1302) that have registered with the system, such as user interfaces, data reports, application programming interface data, and the like. In one embodiment, the device provides data in an unformatted data structure, such as an XML, CSV, TXT, or other spreadsheet, text, or web accessible data structure. In other embodiments, the device provides information in a user interface for display to a user, such as a user interface configured for presentation by a web browser, mobile device, tablet device, or other device or application. A variety of different presentations may be provided. In some embodiments, the requesting entity may indicate a presentation preference or configuration (e.g., data format and/or information type), and the device may send data based on the indicated preference or configuration. The presentation format may also be determined based on the type of device used by the user.

In one embodiment, any or all of the modules described above and/or other modules are configured to run in real-time. Thus, when data is received by a module, the module processes the data as feasible or necessary as possible to provide timely information to the user. To achieve this, dedicated hardware may be used to improve efficiency, and the executable code may be designed to minimize latency or computation time. In one embodiment, the modules, possibly together with other modules of the system, operate in a real-time operating system to enhance the responsiveness of the system.

Summary of the invention

According to embodiments, the systems and methods described with reference to flow and block diagrams, as well as any other methods discussed herein, may include fewer or more blocks, and/or the blocks may be performed or arranged in a different order than that shown. Software code configured to run on a computing device to perform the method may be provided on a computer readable medium, such as a compact disc, digital video disc, flash drive, hard drive, storage device, or any other tangible medium. Such software code may be stored, in part or in whole, on a memory of a computing device to perform various methods, such as computing system 101 of FIG. 1 and 103, network system 1101 of FIG. 11, and/or other computing devices shown in the figures. For ease of explanation, various methods have been described herein as being performed by various modules, such as may be performed on computing systems 101 and/or 1101, which should be construed to include any one or more of the computing devices described above and/or any other suitable computing device.

Conditional language, such as "can," "may," or "may," and others, unless specifically stated to the contrary, are to be understood as used in the context and context, and are generally intended to convey a particular embodiment that includes (although other embodiments do not include) particular features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for determining whether such features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment, with or without user input or prompting.

Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in flow charts described herein and/or shown in the accompanying drawings should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments or portions of executable instructions including one or more specific logical functions or steps for performing the process. Alternative implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments described herein, in which elements or functions may be deleted, performed in an order different than that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those reasonably skilled in the art.

All of the methods and processes described above can be implemented in part or in whole automatically by one or more general-purpose computer-executed software code modules. For example, the methods described herein may be performed by the computing devices described herein and/or any other suitable computing device. The methods may be performed on a computing device in response to execution of software instructions or other executable code read from a tangible computer-readable medium. The tangible computer readable medium is a data storage device that is capable of storing data that is readable by a computing system. Examples of a computer-readable medium include read-only memory, random-access memory, other volatile or non-volatile storage devices, CD-ROMs, magnetic disks, flash drives, and optical data storage.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments, and elements thereof should be understood to exist in other acceptable examples. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure. The foregoing description details certain embodiments of the invention. However, it should be understood that the invention can be practiced in a variety of ways, regardless of the details presented in the above text. As noted above, it should be noted that the use of particular terminology when describing certain features or aspects of the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology is being re-defined herein to be restricted to including any specific characteristics of the features or methods of the invention with which that terminology is associated. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be construed in accordance with the following claims and any equivalents thereof.

Claims (20)

1. A method of managing bandwidth, comprising:

receiving a user-selected connection parameter associated with a first subscriber device;

associating, using a computer processor, network identifiers of a plurality of subscriber devices, including the first subscriber device, with a group bandwidth policy for the plurality of subscriber devices based on user-selected connection parameters;

storing parameters associated with the set of bandwidth policies in association with the network identifier of the first subscriber device in a computer-readable storage medium;

receiving, at a gateway device, network communication data from the first subscriber device;

obtaining, at the gateway device and in response to receiving the network communication data, parameters of a group bandwidth policy associated with the first subscriber device; and

configuring, at a gateway device, at least one of packet queuing, packet delaying, or packet dropping for group network communication data, the group network communication data being data sent from or to any of the plurality of subscriber devices, prior to sending the network communication data to a network external to a local network, wherein the configuring is based on the obtained parameters associated with the group bandwidth policy and an amount of bandwidth available to the plurality of subscriber devices associated with the group bandwidth policy.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network identifier comprises a MAC address of the first subscriber device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters associated with the group bandwidth policy include a group bandwidth policy identifier, an upstream bandwidth, and a downstream bandwidth.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating a second network identifier of a second subscriber device with the group bandwidth policy; and

limiting bandwidth available to the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device based on stored parameters associated with the set of bandwidth policies.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user-selected connection parameters are received at a web portal page server.

6. A network system configured to manage bandwidth for a subscriber having a plurality of subscriber devices connected to the network system, the network system comprising:

a gateway device configured to connect a plurality of subscriber devices to an external network, the gateway device comprising a computer processor and one or more network ports; and

an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server storing data relating to a group bandwidth policy associated with a subset of the plurality of subscriber devices, the group bandwidth policy identifying an amount of network bandwidth available to the subset of the plurality of subscriber devices;

wherein the gateway device is configured to send an authentication information request to the authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server upon receiving a communication request from a first subscriber device included in a subset of the plurality of subscriber devices, the request including a network identifier associated with the first subscriber device;

wherein the authentication, authorization, and accounting AAA server is configured to determine that the first subscriber device is associated with the group bandwidth policy based at least in part on the network identifier associated with the first subscriber device in response to an authentication information request, the authentication, authorization, and accounting AAA server further configured to send an authentication response to the gateway device comprising data related to the group bandwidth policy; and

wherein the gateway device is further configured to queue, delay or discard packets associated with any of the subset of the plurality of subscriber devices associated with the set of bandwidth policies prior to sending communications to or from an external network, the queuing, delaying or discarding packets being based on:

data relating to said set of bandwidth policies, an

A comparison of an amount of network bandwidth available to a subset of the plurality of subscriber devices with bandwidth being used by all subscriber devices associated with the set of bandwidth policies.

7. The network system of claim 6, wherein the gateway device and the AAA server are housed within a single device.

8. The network system of claim 6, wherein the gateway device and the AAA server are separate devices.

9. The network system of claim 6, further comprising a web portal page server configured to complete a registration process with the subscriber device, wherein the AAA server is configured to determine that the subscriber device is associated with the group bandwidth policy based at least in part on data stored by the web portal page server in response to the registration process.

10. The network system of claim 6, wherein the authentication information request comprises a RADIUS or Diameter protocol request, and wherein the authentication response comprises a RADIUS or Diameter protocol response.

11. The network system of claim 6, wherein the gateway device is further configured to limit the bandwidth available to the subscriber device by queuing and/or dropping one or more packets received from the subscriber device.

12. A method of associating a set of network-enabled computing devices with a network access subscription, the method comprising:

associating, by the network management system, each of a plurality of device network identifiers of a network device of the plurality of network devices with a single network access subscription;

configuring the network management system to at least one of packet queue, packet delay, or packet drop group network communication data after receiving a communication at a gateway device to or from one of the plurality of network devices and before sending the communication to one or other of the plurality of network devices, the group network communication data being data sent from or to any of the plurality of network devices, the configuration being based on a comparison of a subset of available bandwidth allocated to the single network access subscription to bandwidth currently provided to the plurality of network devices, wherein a total bandwidth provided to the plurality of network devices does not exceed the subset of available bandwidth; and

providing network access to one of the plurality of network devices via the configured network management system.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the device network identifier comprises a MAC address.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the subset of available bandwidth comprises a subset of available upstream bandwidth and a subset of available downstream bandwidth.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the method is performed at a network system comprising a gateway device, wherein the plurality of devices are connected to the network system, and wherein the plurality of network devices share an allocated subset of available bandwidth by the gateway device delaying and/or dropping transmission of data packets received from the plurality of network devices.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein associating the network device identifier of each of the plurality of network devices with a single network access subscription comprises: storing the network device identifier for each of the plurality of network devices in association with an identifier of the single network access subscription in a computer-readable memory.

17. A network system that associates multiple devices with a single network subscription, the network system comprising:

one or more device-side interfaces for communicating with a plurality of user devices;

one or more network-side interfaces for communicating with a wide area network; and

one or more processors configured to:

associating at least two of the plurality of user devices with a single network subscription that identifies a subset of bandwidth available via one or more network-side interfaces;

in response to receiving group network communication data, the group network communication data being data transmitted from at least one user equipment via a device-side interface or transmitted via a network-side interface, obtaining at least one of a packet queuing configuration, a packet delay configuration, or a packet dropping configuration for the group network communication data; and

applying at least one of a packet queuing configuration, a packet delay configuration, or a packet dropping configuration to the set of network communication data to limit the set of network communication data communicated from at least one user device via a device-side interface or communicated via a network-side interface prior to sending the set of network communication data to or from a network external to the wide area network,

wherein applying at least one of a packet queuing configuration, a packet delay configuration, or a packet drop configuration comprises comparing a subset of available bandwidth with bandwidth currently provided to the plurality of user devices, an

Wherein a total bandwidth provided to the plurality of user devices does not exceed a subset of the available bandwidth.

18. The network system of claim 17, further comprising a web portal page server configured to receive data from at least one of the plurality of user devices, wherein the web portal page server is configured to cause the one or more processors to associate the at least one of the plurality of user devices with the single network subscription based on the received data.

19. The network system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to limit bandwidth of data sent to or received from the at least two of the plurality of user devices at the one or more device-side interfaces based at least in part on an indication of a user-selected bandwidth level associated with the single network subscription.

20. The network system of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to disassociate a user device from the single network subscription in response to a determination that the user device has been disconnected.