IMPROVED CLIENT-SERVER ARCHITECTURE USING INTERNET AND GUARANTEED QUALITY OF SERVICE NETWORKS FOR ACCESSING DISTRIBUTED MEDIA SOURCES

摘要

An improved client-server architecture of the present invention utilizesthe advantages of known QOS networks to provide guaranteed quality of service,security, and a charge mechanism for handling requests initiated over a packetnetwork, such as the Internet, for access to distributed media sources. Suchmedia sources may be independent of the QOS network provider and may belocated by browsing the Internet. A method of operating a client-server networkenables the system level merger of the Internet and a guaranteed QOS network,such as the public switched telephone network, in order to provide the users witha complete information superhighway today. It will appear to the average userthat the Internet and QOS network are fused together. Thus, when a user,connected to the Internet, selects an application that requires functionalitiesoffered by the telephone network, such as guaranteed QOS delivery of mediainformation or customized billing, the Internet-resident application willcommunicate information to a server, which will in turn initiate a session overthe QOS network for delivery of the required information to the client usingclient information transmitted from the client (or from the application) to theserver over the established Internet session. The client information may includea client account number, login and password, and/or phone number to enable theserver to establish the switched network connection to the client. Accordingly,media sources which are separate and independent from the QOS networkprovider may be accessed using a secure, guaranteed QOS network in a mannerproviding for ease of identification and billing.