# US 8,787,382 B2 · Per-peer request delivery timeouts

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- Number: US 8,787,382 B2
- Document ID: US8787382B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/536,354
- Filed: 2012-06-28
- Published: 2014-01-02
- Granted: 2014-07-22
- Earliest claimed: 2012-06-28
- Assignees: Alcatel Lucent
- Applicants: Robert Alexander Mann; Eric Colaviti
- Inventors: Robert Alexander Mann; Eric Colaviti
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787382B2

## CPC

- H04L 69/28: Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
- H04L 67/1036: Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
- H04L 67/56: Provisioning of proxy services (store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54)
- H04L 12/1407: {Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture}
- H04L 63/0892: {by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols}
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A method for per-peer request delivery timeouts includes receiving a DIAMETER message at a DIAMETER Routing Agent, testing if the DIAMETER message is a request message destined for an associated peer, and if said test is affirmative, then retrieving a preset timeout associated with that peer; initiating a timeout timer with said preset timeout; and forwarding the DIAMETER request message to said peer. The disclosure provides additional steps with respect to stopping the timer in the event that a response message is received prior to the timer expiring; or alternatively, either resending the request or providing an unable_to_deliver response in the event the timer does expire. The method for per-peer request delivery timeouts provides for fine tuning timeout periods according to the networks to which the DIAMETER peers are connected. The method is particularly useful for reducing the amount of time waiting for response messages which will not be forthcoming.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method performed by a DIAMETER Routing Agent (DRA) for processing a DIAMETER message associated with a peer of said DRA, the method comprising:
receiving said DIAMETER message at the DRA;
testing if said DIAMETER message is a request message destined for an associated peer, and if said test is affirmative, then
retrieving a preset timeout associated with that peer;
initiating a timeout timer with said preset timeout; and
forwarding said DIAMETER request message to said peer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, after said timeout timer times out, taking a preselected timeout action.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said preselected timeout action comprises:
resending said DIAMETER request message to said peer;
restarting a timeout counter with said preset timeout; and
flagging that the timeout timer has expired once.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said preselected timeout action comprises:
sending an unable_to_deliver response message.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, after a negative result of the test step,
testing if said DIAMETER message is a response message from a peer with a running timeout timer, and if an answer is affirmative then,
stopping said running timeout timer; and
processing said response message.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein, after a negative result of the test step of whether said DIAMETER message is a response message, then
processing said response message.

### Claim 7

A non-transitory machine readable storage medium encoded with instructions for execution by a DIAMETER Routing Agent (DRA) for processing a DIAMETER message associated with a peer of said DRA, the non-transitory machine readable storage medium comprising:
instructions for receiving a DIAMETER message at the DRA;
instructions for testing if said DIAMETER message is a request message destined for an associated peer, and if said test is affirmative, then
instructions for retrieving a preset timeout associated with that peer;
instructions for initiating a timeout timer with said preset timeout; and
instructions for forwarding said DIAMETER request message to said peer.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the DRA supports use of inverse message contexts.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
associating a timeout value with each peer.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the timeout value is associated according to an expected response time of each peer.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9, wherein the timeout value is associated with egress IP addresses of each peer.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
associating timeout values on a per-host basis.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
associating timeout values on a per-realm basis.