US 7,689,485 B2Granted

Generating accounting data based on access control list entries

AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.

InventorsBhushan Mangesh Kanekar, Venkateshwar Rao Pullela, Dileep Kumar Devireddy, Suresh Gurajapu, Gyaneshwar S. Saharia, Atul Rawat

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and other mechanisms are disclosed for generating accounting or other data based on that indicated in access control lists or other specifications, and typically using associative memory entries in one or more associative memory banks and/or memory devices. One implementation identifies an access control list including multiple access control list entries, with a subset of these access control list entries identifying accounting requests. Accounting mechanisms are associated with each of said access control list entries in the subset of access control list entries identifying accounting requests. An item is identified, and a corresponding accounting mechanism is updated. In one implementation, the item includes at least one autonomous system number. In one implementation, at least one of the accounting mechanisms is associated with at least two different access control list entries in the subset of access control list entries identifying accounting requests.

Claims9

Dependent claims

A method, comprising:

configuring a mechanism for accumulating information based on an access control list including a plurality of access control list entries, with one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
said configuring the mechanism including:
associating network accounting data collection mechanisms with each of said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
and wherein the access control list identifies to a bridge or a router information for allowing and denying flows of packet traffic, with at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a deny operation and at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a permit operation;
and
employing the bridge or the router to perform the following operations:
for each particular item of a plurality of items:
identifying a particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item based on matching the particular item with said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries;
and in response, updating the particular network accounting data collection mechanism corresponding to the particular item;
wherein each item of the plurality of items includes one or more fields of a corresponding received packet;
and wherein said operation of identifying the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item includes:
performing a lookup operation in an associative memory based on the lookup value including the particular item to identify an associative memory result;
and performing a lookup operation on an adjunct memory based on the associative memory result to identify the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms.

10 more elements

An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors and memory, wherein the memory stores one or more instructions that, when executed by said one or more processors, perform operations comprising:
configuring a mechanism for accumulating information based on an access control list including a plurality of access control list entries, with one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
said configuring the mechanism including:
associating network accounting data collection mechanisms with each of said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
and wherein the access control list identifies to a bridge or router information for allowing and denying flows of packet traffic, with at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a deny operation and at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a permit operation;
and
means for:
for each particular item of a plurality of items:
identifying a particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item based on matching the particular item with said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries;
and in response, updating the particular network accounting data collection mechanism corresponding to the particular item;
wherein the apparatus is the bridge or the router;
and wherein each item of the plurality of items includes one or more fields of a corresponding received packet;
and wherein said means for identifying the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item includes:
means for performing a lookup operation in an associative memory based on the lookup value including the particular item to identify an associative memory result;
and means for performing a lookup operation on an adjunct memory based on the associative memory result to identify the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms.

12 more elements

An apparatus, comprising:

means for configuring a mechanism for accumulating information based on an access control list including a plurality of access control list entries, with one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
said means for configuring the mechanism including:
means for associating network accounting data collection mechanisms with each of said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries identifying network accounting data collection requests;
and wherein the access control list identifies to a bridge or router information for allowing and denying flows of packet traffic, with at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a deny operation and at least one of the plurality of access control list entries identifies a permit operation;
and
means for:
for each particular item of a plurality of items:
identifying and a particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item based on matching the particular item with said one or more of the plurality of access control list entries;
and in response, updating the particular network accounting data collection mechanism corresponding to the particular item;
wherein the apparatus is the bridge or the router;
and wherein each item of the plurality of items includes one or more fields of a corresponding received packet;
and wherein said means for identifying the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms corresponding to the particular item includes:
means for performing a lookup operation in an associative memory based on the lookup value including the particular item to identify an associative memory result;
and means for performing a lookup operation on an adjunct memory based on the associative memory result to identify the particular network accounting data collection mechanism of said network accounting data collection mechanisms.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/630,178Filed 29 Jul 2003 · continuation in part
Priority: 10 Aug 2002
Published: US 2004/0030803 A12 Sep 2004
Granted: 30 Mar 2010
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

G06Q 40/12
Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes: accounting
G06F 16/90339
Query processing: by using parallel associative memories or content-addressable memories
G06Q 40/00
Finance
G06Q
Information and communication technology [ict] specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial

Family

Application10/215,719Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 10 Aug 2002
US 2004/0172346 A1Pre-grant publication · published 2 Sep 2004
US 7,103,708 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2004/0030803 A1Published application
US 7,689,485 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.