US 10,594,513 B2Granted

Packet communications providing packet forwarding efficiencies in a network including using a segment routing and tunnel exchange

AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.

InventorsPablo Camarillo Garvia, Hendrikus G. P. Bosch, Clarence Filsfils

Life of this patent

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Abstract

In one embodiment, a segment routing and tunnel exchange provides packet forwarding efficiencies in a network, including providing an exchange between a segment routing domain and a packet tunnel domain. One application includes the segment routing and tunnel exchange interfacing segment routing packet forwarding (e.g., in a Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and/or 5-G user plane) and packet tunnel forwarding in access networks (e.g., replacing a portion of a tunnel between an access node and a user plane function for accessing a corresponding data network). In one embodiment, a network provides mobility services using a segment routing data plane that spans segment routing and tunnel exchange(s) and segment routing-enabled user plane functions. One embodiment uses the segment routing data plane without any modification to a (radio) access network (R)AN (e.g., Evolved NodeB, Next Generation NodeB) nor to user equipment (e.g., any end user device).

Claims22

Dependent claims

A network, comprising:

a particular network node, with the particular network node receiving a specific packet, encapsulating the specific packet in a specific segment routing packet that includes a specific segment routing policy comprising an encoding of specific tunnel information, and sending the specific segment routing packet from the particular network node;
and
a segment routing and tunnel exchange that receives the specific segment routing packet, obtains said specific tunnel information from said received specific segment routing packet, encapsulates the specific packet in a specific Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel packet specifying said obtained specific tunnel information in a header of the IP tunnel packet, and that sends the specific IP tunnel packet from the segment routing and tunnel exchange;
wherein a specific segment list in a segment routing header of the specific segment routing packet includes said specific tunnel information;
and
wherein said specific tunnel information includes a tunnel endpoint identifier and a specific tunnel IP address;
wherein a first specific segment identifier of the specific segment list includes the tunnel endpoint identifier;
and wherein a second specific segment identifier of the specific segment list includes the specific tunnel IP address.

5 more elements

A method, comprising:

receiving, by a segment routing and tunnel exchange in a network, a particular Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel packet including a particular packet encapsulated therein, a tunnel endpoint identifier, and a particular IP destination address of the segment routing and tunnel exchange;
encapsulating the particular packet obtained from said received particular IP tunnel packet, by the segment routing and tunnel exchange, in a particular segment routing packet including a particular segment routing policy to reach a particular router;
steering the particular segment routing packet through the network, including through one or more segment routing-enabled network nodes, including delivering the particular segment routing packet to the particular router;
according to a particular segment routing function of the particular segment routing policy, the particular router decapsulating the particular packet;
and
sending the particular packet from the particular router.

3 more elements

A method, comprising:

receiving a specific packet by a particular router of a network from a data network;
generating, by the particular router, a specific segment routing packet comprising the specific packet encapsulated therein and a segment routing header, the segment routing header including a segment list comprising a plurality of segment identifiers, with the plurality of segment identifiers including a first particular segment identifier and a second particular segment identifier, with the first particular segment identifier being an address of a segment routing and tunnel exchange and including an identification of a downlink segment routing function and a tunnel endpoint identifier, and with the second particular segment identifier including a specific address of an access node;
sending the specific segment routing packet from the particular router;
receiving the specific segment routing packet by the segment routing and tunnel exchange;
generating, by the segment routing and tunnel exchange according to the downlink segment routing function, a specific tunnel packet comprising the specific packet encapsulated therein and one or more headers including a destination address of the specific address obtained from the second particular segment identifier and the tunnel endpoint identifier obtained from the first particular segment identifier;
and
sending the specific tunnel packet from the segment routing and tunnel exchange.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/925,731Filed 19 Mar 2018
Published: US 2019/0288873 A119 Sep 2019
Granted: 17 Mar 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04L 12/4633
Interconnection of networks: interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
H04L 45/74
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: address processing for routing
H04L 45/50
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
H04L 2212/00
Encapsulation of packets