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AssigneeTranSwitch Corporation
InventorsAlex Conta, Srihari Varada
Estimating the term…
A uniform method for implementing multiple tunneling protocols in a switch or router is disclosed. The method is based on the realization that although the tunneling protocols are very different, they do share a similar overall structure which can be exploited to create a unified method of dealing with multiple protocols. By using similar data structures to implement multiple protocols, the invention makes data management and programming simple and, therefore, cost effective. According to the invention, all tunneling protocols are abstracted as the mapping of input L2 or L3 streams with output L2 or L3 streams. Mapping is provided by a finite set of tunnel interfaces. The tunnel interfaces map the input streams to output interfaces. As traffic streams flow through these interfaces, they are processed according to defined attributes of these interfaces.
A uniform method for implementing multiple tunneling protocols in a switch or router having a plurality of input interfaces and a plurality of output interfaces, comprising:
A uniform method for implementing multiple tunneling protocols in a switch or router, comprising:
A uniform method for implementing multiple tunneling protocols in a switch or router having a plurality of input streams and a plurality of output streams, comprising:
A uniform method for implementing multiple tunneling protocols in a switch or router, comprising:
An application programming interface (API) for implementing a plurality of different tunneling protocols in a switch or router, said API comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Peripheral units, e.g. input or output ports: pipelined operation
Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS: mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass:…
Digital communication
About 1 year 11 months of term left · ends 27 Sep 2028 (estimated)
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to datacommunications. More particularly, the invention relates to methods and apparatus for tunneling different types of data packets over different types of networks.
2. State of the Art
FIG. 1 is a high level schematic diagram illustrating the mapping of input, output and tunnel interfaces according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a high level schematic diagram illustrating tunnel origination processing according to the invention;
FIG. 3 is a high level schematic diagram illustrating tunnel termination processing according to the invention;
The attached CDROM appendix includes a source code description of an API useful for implementing the methods of the invention.
Referring now to FIG. 1, input and output streams are mapped to tunnel interfaces as relational sets. More particularly, input L2 streams iL21-iL2n are treated separately from input L3 streams iL31-iL3n. Separate sets of tunnel interfaces T1-Tm are provided for the L2 and L3 traffic. Output L2 streams eL21-eL2n are treated separately from output L3 streams eL31-eL3n. However, as seen in FIG. 1, streams that enter the router as L2 may exit as L3 streams and vice versa. As shown in FIG. 1, input L2 streams are mapped to tunnel interfaces T by forwarding function f2i and input L3 streams are mapped to tunnel interfaces T by forwarding function f3i. L2 tunnel interfaces are mapped to L2 output interfaces eL21-eL2n by forwarding function f2e and L3 tunnel interfaces are mapped to L3 output streams by forwarding function f3e. Forwarding function f23e maps input L2 streams from their tunnel interface to an output L3 stream and forwarding function f32e maps input L3 streams from their tunnel interface to an output L2 interface.
The relationship of the streams and interfaces shown in FIG. 1 can be described as a relationship between sets as defined by the forwarding functions. For example: F2i: iL2 maps to T, given iL2 and T don't belong to null sets; F2e: T maps to eL2, given T and eL2 don't belong to null sets; F23e: T maps to eL3, given T and eL3 don't belong to null sets; F3i: iL3 maps to T, given iL3 and T don't belong to null sets; F3e: T maps to eL3, given T and eL3 don't belong to null sets; and F32e: T maps to eL2; given T and eL2 don't belong to null sets.