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US 6,775,280 B1Granted
Methods and apparatus for routing packets using policy and network efficiency information
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsQingming Ma, John G. Waclawsky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A technique routes packets in a data communications device having multiple output ports. The technique involves obtaining, from a network, data having an associated quality of service (QoS). The technique additionally involves choosing one of the multiple output ports of the data communications device based on the associated QoS of the data, a pre-established policy, and network efficiency information for the multiple output ports. The technique further involves transmitting the data to the network through the chosen one of the multiple output ports.
Claims41
In a data communications device having multiple output ports, a method to support routing of data in a connectionless network system, the method comprising the steps of:
- obtaining as the data, data packets from a network, each data packet having an associated quality of service;
- classifying the data packets obtained from the network;
- for each classified data packet, choosing one of the multiple output ports of the data communications device based on the associated quality of service of that classified data packet, a pre-established policy, and network traffic congestion information associated with network traffic through the multiple output ports;
- and
- transmitting each of the data packets to the network through a corresponding chosen one of the multiple output ports along a compliant network path, at least one of the data packets passing through the data communications device in a manner that circumvents a routing circuit configured to operate based on (i) a forwarding information base for forwarding best effort packets and (ii) a forwarding table for forwarding packets of a pre-established packet stream.
2 more elements
A data communications device supporting routing of data in a connectionless network system, the data communications device comprising:
- an input port that obtains the data as data packets from a network, each data packet having an associated quality of service;
- multiple output ports;
- and
- a control circuit, coupled to the input port and the multiple output ports, that for each data packet, (i) chooses one of the multiple output ports based on the associated quality of service of the data, a pre-established policy, and network traffic congestion information associated with network traffic through the multiple output ports, and (ii) transmits each data packet to the network through a corresponding chosen one of the multiple output ports, the control circuit supporting transmission of at least one of the data packets to the connectionless network system through a corresponding chosen one of the multiple output ports, the at least one of the data packets passing through the data communications device in a manner that circumvents a routing circuit configured to operate based on (i) a forwarding information base for forwarding best effort packets and (ii) a forwarding table for forwarding packets of a pre-established packet stream.
1 more element
A data communications device for routing data in a connectionless network system, comprising:
- an input port configured to couple to a data packet source, each data packet from the data packet source having an associated quality of service;
- multiple output ports configured to couple to potential data packet targets;
- means for classifying each data packet from the data packet source;
- means for choosing, for each data packet from the data packet source, one of the multiple output ports based on the associated quality of service of the data, a pre-established policy, and network traffic congestion information associated with network traffic through the multiple output ports, after that data packet has been classified;
- and
- means for transmitting each data packet to the network through a corresponding chosen one of the multiple output ports along a compliant path, at least one data packet passing through the data communications device in a manner that circumvents a routing circuit configured to operate based on (i) a forwarding information base for forwarding best effort packets and (ii) a forwarding table for forwarding packets of a Pre-established packet stream.
3 more elements
In a data communications device supporting packet-switched routing of data packets based on a multi-stage routing decision, a method for routing data comprising:
- receiving a particular data packet having an associated quality of service, the particular data packet including destination information identifying a destination network node to which the particular data packet is destined;
- at a first stage in the multi-stage routing decision:
- classifying the particular data packet based on a quality of service and destination information associated with the particular data packet;
- and
- identifying a compliant set of available paths able to carry the particular data packet to the destination network node associated with the particular data packet in accordance with the associated quality of service;
- at a second stage following the first stage of the multi-stage routing decision:
- selecting a particular path from the compliant set of available paths on which to forward the particular data packet based on network traffic congestion information associated with the compliant set of available paths;
- and
- transmitting the particular data packet to the network node through a corresponding chosen one of the multiple output ports on the particular path, the particular data packet passing through the data communications device in a manner that circumvents a routing circuit configured to operate based on (i) a forwarding information base for forwarding best effort packets and (ii) a forwarding table for forwarding packets of a pre-established packet stream.
6 more elements
In a data communications device having multiple output ports, a method for routing data through the data communications device, the method comprising:
- in a classification module of the data communications device, extracting source and destination information and a quality of service delay from a connectionless packet;
- in a policy stage of the data communications device and based on the extracted source and destination information and the quality of service delay, generating a list of compliant paths from multiple paths which are capable of carrying the connectionless packet to a targeted destination, the list of compliant paths being generated by concurrently applying a policy from a policy table and network topology information from a network topology table, the network topology table providing hop data and propagation delay data to eliminate paths which are unable to carry the connectionless packet to the targeted destination within a quality of service policy constraint specified by the policy;
- in an efficiency stage of the data communications device, selecting one of the compliant paths from the list of compliant paths based on network load information obtained from external traffic monitors disposed at the output ports to measure network load congestion at the output ports;
- and
- transmitting the connectionless packet out an output port associated with the selected one of the compliant paths, the connectionless packet passing through the data communications device in a manner that circumvents a routing circuit configured to operate based on (i) a forwarding information base for forwarding best effort packets and (ii) a forwarding table for forwarding packets of a pre-established packet stream.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.