Transmitting residence time information in a network
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
InventorsStefano Ruffini, Eric Ward Gray, Sriganesh Kini, Gregory Mirsky
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of operation of a Multiprotocol Label Switching network involves, in an active node of the network, receiving a first data packet from a source node and forwarding the first data packet to a destination node. At the same time, the active node measures a residence time of the first data packet in the active node. The active node then sends a further data packet containing residence time information.
Claims20
A method of operation of a Multiprotocol Label Switching network, the method comprising, in an active node of the network:
- receiving a first data packet from a source node, the first data packet comprising a flag indicating a one-step mode;
- forwarding a corresponding first data packet to a destination node;
- setting the flag in the forwarded first data packet to indicate a two-step mode instead of the one-step mode;
- measuring a residence time of the first data packet in the active node;
- and
- sending a further data packet containing residence time information of the first data packet, the further data packet being different from the first data packet and the sending the further data packet containing the residence time information comprising:
- creating a new data packet associated with the two-step mode;
- including the residence time information in the new data packet;
- and
- sending the new data packet including the residence time information to the destination node.
A method of operation of a Multiprotocol Label Switching network, the Multiprotocol Label Switching network comprising a plurality of Label Switching Router nodes including a plurality of Label switching Edge Router nodes, the method comprising:
- receiving a Sync data packet from a source node, the Sync data packet comprising a flag indicating a one-step mode;
- transmitting the Sync data packet across the Multiprotocol Label Switching network from an ingress Label switching Edge Router to an egress Label switching Edge Router;
- setting the flag in the transmitted Sync data packet to indicate a two-step mode instead of the one-step mode;
- creating a residence time measurement (RTM) data packet associated with the two-step mode;
- transmitting the RTM data packet across the Multiprotocol Label Switching network from the ingress Label switching Edge Router to the egress Label switching Edge Router;
- measuring a residence time of the Sync data packet at each Label Switching Router node transited by the Sync data packet;
- and
- including updated residence time information, derived from the measured residence times, when transmitting the RTM data packet from each Label Switching Router node transited by the Sync data packet.
A Multiprotocol Label Switching, MPLS, network node, the MPLS network node comprising processing circuitry and being an active node and the processing circuitry causing the MPLS network node to be configured for:
- receiving a first data packet from a source node, the first data packet comprising a flag indicating a one-step mode;
- forwarding the first data packet to a destination node;
- setting the flag in the forwarded first data packet to indicate a two-step mode instead of the one-step mode;
- measuring a residence time of the first data packet in the active node;
- and
- sending a further data packet containing residence time information of the first data packet, the further data packet being different from the first data packet and the sending the further data packet containing the residence time information comprising:
- creating a new data packet associated with the two-step mode;
- including the residence time information in the new data packet;
- and
- sending the new data packet including the residence time information to the destination node.
A Multiprotocol Label Switching, MPLS, network node, the MPLS network node being an active node and the MPLS network node comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor to configure the node to:
- receive a first data packet from a source node, the first data packet comprising a flag indicating a one-step mode;
- forward the first data packet to a destination node;
- set the flag in the forwarded first data packet to indicate a two-step mode instead of the one step mode;
- measure a residence time of the first data packet in the active node;
- and
- send a further data packet containing residence time information of the first data packet, the further data packet being different from the first data packet and the sending the further data packet containing the residence time information comprising:
- creating a new data packet associated with the two-step mode;
- including the residence time information in the new data packet;
- and
- send the new data packet including the residence time information to the destination node.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.