Invented by Simon; Sean, Gill; Aman Deep, AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.

Cloud networks are changing how we connect to the internet and use devices. A recent patent application brings a new way to route data in these networks. In this article, we will break down the patent’s ideas, look at why it matters, and explain it in the simplest way possible.

Background and Market Context

To understand this patent, let’s think about how cell phones and computers talk to each other. When you use your phone, your messages, videos, or games go through a big network called a mobile core network. This network is like a busy highway for your data. In the past, these highways were built with lots of special boxes and wires inside buildings. Big phone companies put these boxes (called gateways and routers) in big rooms called data centers. When you sent a message or used an app, your phone’s signal went to those boxes, which decided where your data should go next.

But things are changing. More companies are moving their networks into the “cloud.” The cloud is just a group of computers owned by someone else, like Amazon or Microsoft. These computers can act like the old boxes in the data center, but they live on the internet. Now, instead of buying lots of equipment, companies can use cloud services and pay only for what they need.

The biggest reason for this move is to save money and make things faster. With the cloud, you can add more space or power with a few clicks. You don’t need to buy new boxes or wait for someone to install them. This helps companies roll out new features quicker and fix problems fast. It is also easier to connect devices in lots of places, since the cloud is everywhere.

But there is a problem when moving old systems to the cloud. The old way of connecting devices is not always flexible. The boxes in the old data centers need to be changed, and changing them is expensive and slow. Companies want to use the cloud, but they need a way to connect their old devices and new devices together. They also want to keep things safe and make sure connections never go down.

This is where this patent helps. The patent explains a method and a device that can connect old and new parts of the network, using software that acts like a router. This software router can live in the cloud or on any computer. It watches how well the network boxes are working. If it sees a problem, it connects to the cloud, sets up a new connection, and starts routing traffic (your data) through the cloud instead of the old boxes. This makes everything more flexible and reliable.

Right now, lots of companies are moving their networks to the cloud. They want to connect phones, smart devices, and computers all over the world. The market for these new cloud networks is huge, with billions of devices connecting every day. Companies need tools that make it easy to move to the cloud without losing connections or spending too much money. This patent is designed to fill exactly that need.

Scientific Rationale and Prior Art

Networks work by moving data from one place to another. In the old days, you needed special hardware, like routers and gateways, to move data. These devices were expensive and only worked in certain places. If something broke, it took time to fix. If you wanted to add new devices, it could take days or weeks.

Cloud computing changed this. The cloud lets you run software that can do the same things as the old hardware, but on any computer. You can spin up a new router in minutes. You can also run more than one router at a time, or move them around as needed. This is called virtualization.

One key idea in networking is the use of protocols. Protocols are like languages that devices use to talk to each other. For mobile networks, common protocols include LTE (4G), 5G, and GPRS. These protocols let devices connect, authenticate, and send data. When moving to the cloud, the same protocols are needed, but now they are run in software instead of hardware.

Before this patent, there were some ways to connect devices to the cloud. Some companies used “virtual routers” that could be set up in the cloud. Others used tunneling protocols to send data safely across the internet. But these solutions often had problems. For example, you might need to set up special hardware in every location, or the system might not switch over fast if there was a problem. Managing quality of service (making sure video or calls don’t get dropped) was also hard. If one part of the network failed, traffic could be lost or slowed down.

What was missing was a way to automatically watch how well the network was working, and then switch traffic to a new path in the cloud if something went wrong. There was also no easy way to connect old and new devices together, or to set quality of service for different kinds of data (like voice, video, or testing tools). Some old systems could only support one connection at a time, or needed special hardware that was hard to manage.

This patent builds on these earlier ideas, but adds some key improvements. It describes a device and method that can:

• Watch how well a network device is working, using simple numbers like speed or errors.
• If there is a problem, connect to a cloud-based router using a special protocol (like GTP).
• Set up routing tables in software, so data can be sent the right way.
• Route traffic not just for regular users, but also for testing, security checks, or analytics.
• Work without special hardware, so it can be used anywhere the cloud reaches.

By putting all these steps together, the patent gives a more flexible, automatic, and reliable way to connect devices in a cloud network. It also makes it easier to keep things running if something goes wrong.

Invention Description and Key Innovations

Let’s break down what the patent actually claims. The invention is a device (or software) that acts as a router between network parts. It includes a processor (the brain of a computer) and memory (where instructions are stored). Here’s how it works, step by step:

First, the device watches how well another device in the network is working. It looks at performance numbers, like how much data is moving through. If it sees that the device is not working well (for example, the speed is too slow), it decides to do something about it.

When a problem is found, the device connects to a virtual core network in the cloud. It does this using a protocol called GTP, which is used to send mobile data safely. The device does not need any special hardware to make this connection; it just sends a message to the cloud, saying “I’m here, please connect me.”

Once connected, the device sets up a virtual router function. This is a software tool that decides where data should go. It uses a routing table, which is a simple list of rules telling the device how to send data from one place to another.

With everything set up, the device starts routing traffic. This means it takes data from the network, and sends it to the right place, either in the cloud or to another device. It can do this for all types of data, including user traffic (like your messages) or special traffic for testing and security.

The patent also claims some special features. The device can set rules for quality of service. This means it can decide, for example, that a video call needs to be faster than downloading a big file. It can do this automatically, based on what kind of data it sees.

Another key point is that the device can connect to the cloud using mobility tunneling. This is a way to send data as if it was coming from a mobile device, even if it isn’t. This makes it easy to test networks, run security scans, or do load testing, all from the cloud.

The device can also connect to more than one cloud network at the same time. For example, it can connect to both a 4G and a 5G network, or to different cloud providers. This makes it very flexible and useful for companies with lots of different needs.

The patent covers not only devices, but also software that can run on any computer. This means you could use it in a data center, on a laptop, or in a cloud server. The software can watch network performance, switch over to the cloud if needed, and manage routing without any special boxes or hardware.

Some practical uses for this invention include:

• Making sure connections stay up, even if one part of the network fails.
• Letting companies move their old network tools to the cloud with less cost and effort.
• Helping test and secure networks by simulating real users from anywhere in the world.
• Connecting smart devices, like sensors or cameras, to cloud apps without rewiring everything.

By using this approach, companies can be more agile. They can add new features, fix problems, and scale up or down quickly, all while keeping their networks safe and reliable.

The invention is unique because it brings together monitoring, automatic switching, virtual routing, and flexible cloud connections in one package. It makes moving to the cloud easier, without losing the things that make networks work well.

Conclusion

This patent shows a new way to connect, watch, and manage data in cloud networks. By using software as a router, companies can move away from expensive hardware, respond quickly to problems, and connect devices anywhere. The invention is flexible, easy to use, and fits the needs of modern cloud networks. With more devices connecting every day, tools like this will be key to keeping our digital world running smoothly.

Click here https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/ and search 20250219941.