# US 11,310,152 B2 · Communications network management > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,310,152 B2 - Document ID: US11310152B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/997,485 - Filed: 2011-12-23 - Published: 2013-11-21 - Granted: 2022-04-19 - Earliest claimed: 2010-12-24 - Assignees: British Telecommunications public limited company - Applicants: Vidhyalakshmi Karthikeyan; Detlef Daniel Nauck - Inventors: Vidhyalakshmi Karthikeyan; Detlef Daniel Nauck - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11310152B2 ## CPC - H04L 45/22: {Alternate routing} - H04L 41/044: comprising hierarchical management structures - H04L 41/147: for predicting network behaviour - H04L 41/5025: by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade - H04L 45/30: Routing of multiclass traffic - H04L 45/42: Centralised routing - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract The present invention provides a communications network which is divided into a plurality of segments, with, each segment comprising one or more routers and one or more communications links that connect the routers. Each of the segments also comprises a segment management module. Each of the segment management modules reports to a supervisory management module and the communications network may comprise one or more supervisory management modules. If a segment management module predicts that a QoS threshold will be breached then it may re-route a data flow within that segment. If such a re-route is not possible then it will send a request to its supervisory management module to initiate a re-routing to a further segment. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A communications network comprising: a plurality of network segments, each of the plurality of network segments comprising a segment management module, one or more routers, and a plurality of communications links, the communications links connecting each router to one or more other routers; the communications network further comprising a supervisory management module; wherein a flow of data between a first endpoint and a second endpoint will pass through a set of the plurality of network segments to provide an end-to-end route to meet an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) threshold, wherein, in use, the network is configured such that each segment management module predicts the performance of the or each router in the respective segment that carries a data flow based on operational data reported by the or each router and in response to the predicted performance exceeding a threshold value, that segment management module is configured to: (a) identify an alternative routing for the data flow within that network segment; and (b) in response to an alternative routing for the data flow being not found within that network segment, send a report to the supervisory management module, the supervisory management module being configured to, in use, (i) apportion the end-to-end QoS threshold between the segments providing the end-to-end route; (ii) increase the segment QoS threshold for the network segment that generated the report; (iii) decrease the segment QoS threshold for one or more other network segments that carry the flow of data, so that the end-to-end QoS threshold remains unchanged; (iv) permit the segment management module that sent the report to continue to provide a portion of the end-to-end-route; wherein the communications network is a segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged; and wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to permit the segment management module that generated the report to re-route the data flow to a further network segment. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A communications network according to claim 1, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to identify a router within a further network segment for the data flow to be re-routed to. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) A communications network according to claim 2, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is further configured to identify additional re-routings such that the data flow is routable to an original destination thereof. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) A communications network according to claim 1, further comprising a network management database provided external to the plurality of network segments, the network management database being configured to store QoS parameters, the network management database being updatable over time and also being queryable by the segment management modules to provide, for each of the segment management modules, an array that states, for a given service flowing through the network, maximum allowable QoS parameters for the respective segments in order to ensure that the end-to-end QoS satisfies an associated service level agreement. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) A communications network according to claim 1, wherein the communications network is a multi-level hierarchical segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged. ### Claim 6 A communications network comprising: a plurality of network segments, each of the plurality of network segments comprising a segment management module, one or more routers, and a plurality of communications links, the communications links connecting each router to one or more other routers; the communications network further comprising a supervisory management module; wherein a flow of data between a first endpoint and a second endpoint will pass through a set of the plurality of network segments to provide an end-to-end route to meet an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) threshold, wherein, in use, the network is configured such that each segment management module predicts the performance of the or each router in the respective segment that carries a data flow based on operational data reported by the or each router and in response to the predicted performance exceeding a threshold value, that segment management module is configured to: (a) identify an alternative routing for the data flow within that network segment; and (b) in response to an alternative routing for the data flow being not found within that network segment, send a report to the supervisory management module, the supervisory management module being configured to, in use, (i) apportion the end-to-end QoS threshold between the segments providing the end-to-end route; (ii) increase the segment QoS threshold for the network segment that generated the report; (iii) decrease the segment QoS threshold for one or more other network segments that carry the flow of data, so that the end-to-end QoS threshold remains unchanged; and (iv) permit the segment management module that sent the report to continue to provide a portion of the end-to-end-route; wherein the communications network is a segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged; and wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send an instruction to the segment management module that generated the report to ignore that the predicted performance will exceed the threshold value. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) A communications network according to claim 6, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send the instruction to the segment management module if the predicted performance will exceed the threshold value for a limited period of time. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) A communications network according to claim 6, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send the instruction to the segment management module if the predicted performance will only exceed the threshold value by a limited amount. ### Claim 9 A method of managing a communications network, the communications network comprising: a plurality of network segments, each of the plurality of network segments comprising a segment management module, one or more routers, and a plurality of communications links, the communications links connecting each router to one or more other routers; the communications network further comprising a supervisory management module; wherein a flow of data between a first endpoint and a second endpoint will pass through a set of the plurality of network segments to provide an end-to-end route to meet an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) threshold, the method comprising: causing each segment management module to predict the performance of the or each router in the respective segment that carries a data flow based on operational data reported by the or each router and in response to the predicted performance exceeding a threshold value, causing that segment management module to further: (a) identify an alternative routing for the data flow within that network segment; and (b) in response to an alternative routing for the data flow being not found within that network segment, send a report to the supervisory management module, the supervisory management module being configured to, in use, (i) apportion the end-to-end QoS threshold between the segments providing the end-to-end route; (ii) increase the segment QoS threshold for the network segment that generated the report; (iii) decrease the segment QoS threshold for one or more other network segments that carry the flow of data, so that the end-to-end QoS threshold remains unchanged; and (iv) permit the segment management module that sent the report to continue to provide a portion of the end-to-end-route; and (c) enabling the segment management module that generated the report to re-route the data flow to a further network segment, based on permission from the supervisory management module; wherein the communications network is a segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) A method according to claim 9, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to identify a router within a further network segment for the data flow to be re-routed to. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) A method according to claim 10, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is further configured to identify additional re-routings such that the data flow is routable to an original destination thereof. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) A method according to claim 9, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send an instruction to the segment management module that generated the report to ignore that the predicted performance will exceed the threshold value. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) A method according to claim 9, wherein the communications network is a multi-level hierarchical segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged. ### Claim 14 A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable code for managing a communications network, the communications network comprising: a plurality of network segments, each of the plurality of network segments comprising a segment management module, one or more routers, and a plurality of communications links, the communications links connecting each router to one or more other routers; the communications network further comprising a supervisory management module; wherein a flow of data between a first endpoint and a second endpoint will pass through a set of the plurality of network segments to provide an end-to-end route to meet an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) threshold, the computer executable code comprising instructions that, when executed, cause each segment management module to perform functionality comprising: predicting the performance of the or each router in the respective segment that carries a data flow based on operational data reported by the or each router and in response to the predicted performance exceeding a threshold value, that segment management module further: (a) identifying an alternative routing for the data flow within that network segment; and (b) in response to an alternative routing for the data flow being not found within that network segment, sending a report to the supervisory management module, the supervisory management module being configured to, in use, (i) apportion the end-to-end QoS threshold between the segments providing the end-to-end route; (ii) increase the segment QoS threshold for the network segment that generated the report; (iii) decrease the segment QoS threshold for one or more other network segments that carry the flow of data, so that the end-to-end QoS threshold remains unchanged; and (iv) permit the segment management module that sent the report to continue to provide a portion of the end-to-end-route; wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to permit the segment management module that generated the report to re-route the data flow to a further network segment; and wherein the communications network is a segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 14, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to identify a router within a further network segment for the data flow to be re-routed to. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is further configured to identify additional re-routings such that the data flow is routable to an original destination thereof. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 14, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send an instruction to the segment management module that generated the report to ignore that the predicted performance will exceed the threshold value. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send the instruction to the segment management module if the predicted performance will exceed the threshold value for a limited period of time. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein, in use, the supervisory management module is configured to send the instruction to the segment management module if the predicted performance will only exceed the threshold value by a limited amount. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) A non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 14, wherein the communications network is a multi-level hierarchical segmented network in which the plurality of network segments are arranged.