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US 8,300,526 B2Granted
Network relay apparatus and packet distribution method
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsShinichiro Saito, Xiping Lin, Haruo Yamashita
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AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsShinichiro Saito, Xiping Lin, Haruo Yamashita
Estimating the term…
The present invention provides a network relay apparatus capable of assuring the prevention of occurrence of order reversion of packets within flows and shifting a packet distribution destination according to load information. The network relay apparatus includes: a packet distribution processor for distributing input packets to thereby achieve load dispersion of packet processing; a statistical information collector for regularly collecting load conditions of respective packet processors; and a distribution information holder for retaining information for specifying the packet distribution destinations upon distribution of the packets. Information about the load conditions of the respective packet processors are compiled and distributed to the packet processor smallest in load. Timing provided to change the packet distribution destination is assumed to be given when a processing waiting queue does not include a packet corresponding to its flow.
A network relay apparatus comprising a receive queue, a packet distribution processor for taking out packets from the receive queue, a plurality of processing waiting queues, a plurality of packet processors corresponding to the processing waiting queues, and a transmit queue, the network relay apparatus further comprising:
A network relay apparatus comprising:
A packet distribution method comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Flow control; Congestion control: ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
For service slots or service orders: queue load conditions, e.g. longest queue first
Digital communication
About 4 years 1 month of term left · ends 4 Dec 2030 (estimated)
The present application claims priority from Japanese patent application serial no. 2009-001576, filed on Jan. 7, 2009, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
The present invention relates to a network relay apparatus and a packet distribution method, and particularly to a network relay apparatus and a packet distribution method that distribute input packets to a plurality of packet processors to thereby process the same in parallel and transfer the packets at high speed.
With greater sophistication of communication services using the Internet, such as video distribution, the sharing of data using P2P (Peer to Peer), etc., an increase in the amount of traffic has been abruptly advanced in recent years. An increase in communication speed has been required more than before. The processing load of a network relay apparatus such as a router, a gateway or the like in a network is becoming larger. An improvement in the throughput of the network relay apparatus is therefore urgently necessary.
FIG. 1A is a block diagram for describing a packet distribution method using a hash method (part 1);
FIG. 1B is a block diagram for describing a packet distribution method using a hash method (part 2);
FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of a network system;
Modes for carrying out the present invention will hereinafter be described in detail, using an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings. Incidentally, like reference numerals are respectively attached to substantially the same components. Therefore, the detailed description of these components is not repeated.
A network system to which a network relay apparatus is applied will first be explained with reference to FIG. 2. Here, FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram of the network system.
In FIG. 2, the network system 500 comprises a home gateway (HGW) 520 installed in a home, a regional IP network 530 connected to the HGW 520, the Internet 550, and a gateway 540 which connects the regional IP network 530 and the Internet 550. A terminal 10 is connected to the HGW 520. A server 60 is connected to the Internet 550. The regional IP network 530 and the Internet 550 are respectively comprised of routers connected in mesh form. Any of the HGW 520, GW 540 and routers 50 is a network relay apparatus.