Abstract:
Described is a system and method for providing differentiated service levels to wireless devices in a wireless network. The method comprises receiving, on a first network arrangement connected to a network, an authentication request from a wireless device. The network uses a first access protocol having a plurality of access categories and the wireless device uses a second access protocol. The authentication request including one of the plurality of access categories. The wireless device is verified to ensure that it is authorized to communicate at the one of the plurality of access categories. When the wireless device is verified as authorized, a response is communicated to a second network arrangement that indicates the one of the plurality of access categories is used for communications with the wireless device.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
   The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for providing differentiated service levels to wireless device in wireless networks. 
   BACKGROUND 
   Quality-of-Service (“QoS”) is an important issue for the delivery of data in communications networks. Users expect to receive transmissions with an expected level of performance. The QoS maintains the level of performance when contingent conditions arise (e.g., network congestion). 
   Another important issue in the communications networks is backward compatibility of devices using legacy protocols. As the communications networks are improved, backward compatibility for legacy devices (which do not import the improvements in the communications networks) is highly desired. For example, an IEEE 802.11e protocol is an emerging wireless standard aimed at providing the QoS and thus, intends to replace older standards (e.g., 802.11a, 802.11b). Devices utilizing the older standards may be unable to take advantage of the improvements provided by the 802.11e protocol. Accordingly, a need exists for a system allowing the legacy devices to be more compatible with the 802.11e protocol by accessing the prioritized QoS. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a system and method for providing differentiated service levels to wireless devices in a wireless network. The method comprises receiving, on a first network arrangement connected to a network, an authentication request from a wireless device. The network uses a first access protocol having a plurality of access categories and the wireless device uses a second access protocol. The authentication request including one of the plurality of access categories. The wireless device is verified to ensure that it is authorized to communicate at the one of the plurality of access categories. When the wireless device is verified as authorized, a response is communicated to a second network arrangement that indicates the one of the plurality of access categories is used for communications with the wireless device. a system and method for providing differentiated service levels to wireless devices in a wireless network. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  shows an exemplary embodiment of a system according to the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  shows an exemplary embodiment of a method according to the present invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   The present invention may be further understood with reference to the following description and the appended drawings, wherein like elements are referred to with the same reference numerals. The present invention describes a system and a method for providing differentiated service levels to wireless devices in a wireless network. Although the present invention will be described with respect to a wireless network utilizing the IEEE 802.11x protocol(s) (e.g., 802.11e), those of skill in the art will understand that the present invention may be implemented in any wireless network, subnetwork and/or protocol which provides a Quality-of-Service (“QoS”) capability. As known to those skilled in the art, the 802.11e protocol generally supports four priority levels (Voice, Video, Best Effort, and Background). An 802.11e application requesting the QoS is delivered the QoS in accordance with a corresponding priority level based on the data being sent/received by the device. 
   A legacy device (e.g., a device using an 802.11 protocol older than 802.11e) may be unable to take advantage of the QoS. That is, the legacy device is typically assigned a default priority level (e.g., best effort) regardless of the application. This may result in undesirable performance when, for example, the legacy device is executing an application which requires a higher level of service than the “best effort” (e.g., voice, video). Thus, the default priority level may be inadequate for these applications. Without a proper level of service, performance of the legacy devices may be adversely affected. The present invention enables the prioritized QoS from the 802.11e protocol (or any enhanced protocol) to be accessed by legacy devices, enabling more appropriate priority levels to be set for the legacy devices. 
     FIG. 1  shows an exemplary embodiment of a system  1  according to the present invention. The system  1  may include a network management arrangement (e.g., switch  30 ) coupled to a communications network  50  and to one or more access points/ports (“APs”)  20 . The network  50  may be any wired and/or wireless local/wide area network, Intranet, Internet, etc. The AP  20  may communicate wirelessly with one or more mobile units (“MUs”)  10  and  15  according to a wireless communications protocol (e.g., 802.11x). The AP  20  may communicate with the switch  30  via a wired connection (e.g., an Ethernet cable). It should be noted that any device connected to the network may be referred to as a “network arrangement.” 
   In the exemplary embodiment, the MUs  10 ,  15  include Voice over IP (“VoIP”) phone capability. However, in other embodiments, the MUs  10 ,  15  may be any wireless computing device (e.g., a cell phone, a laptop, a PDA, a laser-/image-based scanner, an RFID reader, a network interface card, a cash register, etc.) which includes a transceiver for communicating wirelessly with the AP  20 . The MU  10  may be a legacy device communicating using a first wireless protocol (e.g., an 802.11a protocol). The MU  15  may communicate using a second wireless protocol (e.g., the 802.11e protocol). 
   The switch  30  may be coupled to the communications network  50  and to a server  40  via wired connections. The switch may include hardware and/or software enabling communication between devices connected thereto. For example, the switch  30  may allow the MUs  10 ,  15  to access the communications network  50  and/or the server  40 . In one embodiment, the switch  30  may be responsible for facilitating an authentication process. When the MUs  10 ,  15  submit an authentication request, the switch  30  receives the request and processes it accordingly. The authentication process will be described in detail below. 
   The server  40  may be an authentication server (e.g., a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service, (“RADIUS”) server) responsible for authenticating the MUs  10 ,  15 . The server  40  may include one or more hardware components such as a processor, a memory, a network interface, etc. The server  40  may also be responsible for enforcing network policies by, for example, determining access categories assigned to the MUs  10 ,  15 , as described below. 
     FIG. 2  shows an exemplary embodiment of a method  200  according to the present invention. The method  200  will be described with reference to the system  1  of  FIG. 1 . In step  210 , the switch  30  receives an authentication request from the MU  10 . The authentication request may include user identification data (e.g., a username/password) and have been transmitted in order to gain access to network resources. For example, the authentication request may have been transmitted by the MU  10  because a user of the MU  10  desires access to the communications network  50 . 
   In step  220 , the switch  30  transmits the authentication request to the server  40  along with a category request for assignment of the access category to the MU  10 , which may include information related to an expected access category. For example, the category request may include a hardware identifier which identifies a hardware type. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, the hardware identifiers for the MUs  10 ,  15  may be “legacy VoIP device” and “non-legacy VoIP device”, respectively. Those of skill in the art will understand that the category request may be generated as a function of an application to be executed by the MU  10  after being authenticated. For example, the category request may request a voice QoS for a VoIP application and a video QoS for a streaming video application. The category request may also be username-based. For example, the user may have been assigned an access category by a system administrator or the server  40  may have previously assigned an access category to the user. 
   In step  230 , the switch  30  receives a response from the server  40  and transmits the response to the AP  20 . The response may address the authentication request and/or the category request. If the response addresses the authentication request, a first message may be included indicating whether the MU  10  was authenticated successfully. The response may include one or more attributes which the server  40  assigns to the MU  10 . For example, the attributes may include a virtual local-area network (“VLAN”) tag, an IP address, etc. If the response addresses the category request (e.g., the authentication was successful), a second message indicates the access category assigned to the MU  10 . The access category may also be included in the attributes. In the exemplary embodiment, the MU  10  is assigned the access category of at least “Voice” because it is a VoIP device. If the MU  10  were a barcode scanner, it may be assigned the access category “Best Effort” because it is not transmitting data which is latency-critical (e.g., voice, video, etc.). This ensures that the QoS provided to the MU  10  is delivered on a higher priority than if the access category was the default access category (e.g., “Best Effort”). 
   In step  240 , the AP  20  determines whether the authentication was successful by analyzing the first message. If the authentication was successful, the AP  20  examines the second message to determine the access category assigned to the MU  10 . If the authentication was unsuccessful, the AP  20  may assume that the second message will indicate that the access category was not assigned. Alternatively, the AP  20  may check the second message and save any attribute information for later use (e.g., during a reattempted authentication request). 
   In step  250 , the authentication was unsuccessful and the AP  20  performs an error procedure. The error procedure may include transmitting an alert to the MU  10  indicating that the authentication failed and optionally includes a reason for the failure (e.g., invalid username/password, insufficient access privileges, etc.). 
   In step  260 , the authentication was successful, and the AP  20  identifies the access category from the response. The access category may be stored in a memory (e.g., a random access memory, a hard drive, etc.) and accessed whenever the MU  10  initiates wireless communications. In other embodiments, the access category may not be stored on the AP  20 . For example, the access category may be stored on a database located at the server  40 , on another server, at the switch  30 , etc. 
   As understood from the above description, the present invention provides the QoS for devices using a protocol which does not provide the QoS. The present invention may also be successfully implemented with devices operating under any wired or wireless protocol which supports prioritized QoS. Using the access category, the legacy devices may be able to access the QoS at a priority level which is higher than the legacy devices would normally receive under the legacy protocols. Furthermore, the present invention allows for differentiation between the legacy devices. By assigning different access categories to the legacy devices, a network administrator can assign QoS in proportion to the needs of each legacy device, and is able to do so without modifying the legacy devices. Thus, the legacy devices can co-exist without competing for the same priority level (e.g., the default access category). 
   It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.