IP network system

An IP network system wherein packet communication is executed between respective hosts through an intermediary of a ring network comprised of at least a plurality of repeaters, the respective repeaters comprising:

• an arithmetic and control unit for transferring a packet to a host at a transmission destination via a clockwise route, and a counterclockwise route, in the ring network, respectively, on the basis of transfer direction information contained in a tunneling packet generated on the basis of a transmitted packet transmitted from a host at a transmission source, as one of the respective hosts, to the host at the transmission destination, and subjected to multicast transmission to a multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs, and
• further comprising a plurality of tunneling devices, the tunneling devices each comprising:
• a communication unit for executing packet communication between the ring network and the respective hosts, and receiving the transmitted packet transmitted from the host at the transmission source to the host at the transmission destination;
• a memory for storing a program for running the tunneling device, the multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs, routing information and network addresses of at least any of the respective hosts;
• and
• an arithmetic and control unit for applying encapsulation processing to a transmitted packet from the host at the transmission source, thereby generating and duplicating the tunneling packet while adding transfer direction information to the tunneling packet before effecting multicast transmission to the multicast address, and upon receiving the tunneling packet via the communication unit, reproducing the transmitted packet before application of the encapsulation processing, thereby transferring the transmitted packet to the host at the transmission destination.

An IP network system wherein packet communication is executed between respective hosts through an intermediary of a ring network comprised of at least a plurality of repeaters, said IP network system comprising tunneling devices each comprising:

• a communication unit for executing packet communication between the ring network and the respective hosts, and receiving a transmitted packet transmitted from a host at a transmission source to a host at a transmission destination;
• and
• an arithmetic and control unit for generating a tunneling packet on the basis of the transmitted packet, and duplicating the tunneling packet while adding transfer direction information to the tunneling packet before effecting multicast transmission to a multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs,
• wherein the repeaters each comprise an arithmetic and control unit for transferring the transmitted packet to the host at the transmission destination via a clockwise route, and a counterclockwise route, in the ring network, respectively, on the basis of transfer direction information contained in the tunneling packet, and
• wherein the respective tunneling devices each comprises:
• a memory for storing a program for running the tunneling device, the multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs, routing information and network addresses of at least any of the respective hosts;
• and
• wherein the arithmetic and control unit is for applying encapsulation processing to the transmitted packet, thereby generating and duplicating the tunneling packet while adding the transfer direction information, and the multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs to the tunneling packet duplicated before effecting multicast transmission to the multicast address, reproducing the transmitted packet before application of the encapsulation processing, upon receiving the tunneling packet via the communication unit, thereby transferring the transmitted packet to the host at the transmission destination.

An IP network system wherein packet communication is executed between respective hosts through an intermediary of a ring network comprised of at least a plurality of repeaters, the respective repeaters comprising:

• an arithmetic and control unit for transferring a packet to a host at a transmission destination via a clockwise route, and a counterclockwise route, in the ring network, respectively, on the basis of transfer direction information contained in a tunneling packet generated on the basis of a transmitted packet transmitted from a host at a transmission source, as one of the respective hosts, to the host at the transmission destination, and subjected to multicast transmission to a multicast address where the host at the transmission destination belongs,
• wherein each of the plurality of repeaters transmits a direction-setting packet for setting a transfer direction to other of the plurality of repeaters connected to the same ring network, sharing the transfer direction with other of the plurality of repeaters while the communication unit is provided with first and second communication interfaces for transferring a tunneling packet in a given direction in the ring network, and upon the first communication interface receiving the direction-setting packet from other of the plurality of repeaters, the arithmetic and control unit sets the first communication interface as an interface for transmitting a packet in the counterclockwise direction or in the clockwise direction, setting the second communication interface as an interface for transmitting the packet in the clockwise direction or in the counterclockwise direction.

An IP network system wherein hosts are connected to a ring network, comprised of a plurality of routers, via tunneling devices, and packet communication is executed between respective hosts through an intermediary of a plurality of repeaters, including the routers and the tunneling devices:

• the routers each comprising:
• a communication unit for executing communication with the tunneling devices and the hosts, and provided with a plurality of communication interfaces to which are assigned (1) an operation for transmitting a clockwise packet and receiving a counterclockwise packet, and (2) an operation for transmitting a counterclockwise packet and receiving a clockwise packet;
• a packet transmit/receive unit for executing transmit/receive of a packet, including a tunneling packet:
• a transfer determination unit for determining in which direction a tunneling packet received from the tunneling devices is to be transferred, in a clockwise direction or in a counterclockwise direction, and analyzing the tunneling packet which the packet transmit/receive unit has received from the respective routers before finding transferred packet information;
• a master-router detection unit for executing a search for and detection of a master-router;
• a master router operation unit for operating the router itself as the master-router;
• a transfer setting unit for setting operations of the respective communication interfaces in the communication unit of the router itself, transmitting a direction-deciding packet for use in setting and sharing of a transfer-direction of the packet in the ring network to other of said plurality of routers;
• a transfer-information storage for storing (1) routing-information toward hosts and other routers, (2) transfer-information including respective network addresses of the repeaters for use in transferring the clockwise packet and the counterclockwise packet, (3) setting information for setting the operations of the communication interfaces in the communication unit, (4) ring network information including an identification of the master router of the ring network to which the router itself is connected, and (5) the transfer destination;
• and
• a multicast packet information storage for storing the transferred packet information, which the transfer determination unit analyzed.

An IP network system wherein hosts are connected to a ring network, comprised of a plurality of routers via tunneling devices, and packet communication is executed between respective hosts through an intermediary of a plurality of repeaters including the routers and the tunneling devices:

• the tunneling devices each comprising:
• a communication unit for executing communication with the hosts and routers;
• a packet transmit/receive unit for executing transmit/receive of packets, including packets from the hosts and a tunneling packet;
• a tunneling-preparation information storage for storing routing-information on a route for transferring the tunneling packet from the tunneling device to a host at a transmission source, and tunneling-preparation information for generation of the tunneling packet;
• a transfer-target multicast information storage for storing multicast information providing a transfer target of a tunneling packet in order to effect multicast communication of the tunneling packet to a multicast address where a host at the transmission destination belongs;
• a tunneling packet generation unit for (1) adding transfer direction information indicating a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction in the ring network, on the basis of tunneling-preparation information stored in the tunneling-preparation information storage, to the packet from the host, (2) applying encapsulation processing for adding a header and various expansion headers thereto, thereby generating a tunneling packet for use in tunneling communication between the tunneling devices, and (3) determining a destination of the tunneling packet generated out of the packet from the host, on the basis of multicast information stored in the transfer-target multicast information storage, as a multicast address at the destination of the packet from the host;
• a tunneling-receive processor for analyzing the tunneling packet which the packet transmit/receive unit has received from the respective routers before finding tunneling packet information on transmission destinations, transmission sources, and information on a packet before application of encapsulation processing;
• a packet information storage for storing the tunneling packet information as analyzed by the tunneling-receive processor, and transferred packet information that is information on a packet that has been transferred from the tunneling device to the host at a final transmission destination;
• a packet generation unit for executing de-capsulation processing on the basis of the tunneling packet information stored in the packet information storage, thereby reproducing the packet transmitted from the host at the transmission source before application of the encapsulation processing;
• a transfer determination unit for determining whether or not the packet reproduced after de-capsulation processing has already been transferred to the host at the final transmission destination, determining whether or not the packet identical to the tunneling packet received from the host at the transmission source is stored in the packet information storage, and transferring the packet reproduced to the host at the final transmission destination if the packet reproduced has not been transferred as yet;
• a packet-abandoning unit for abandoning packets, including the tunneling packet and the reproduced packet, if the packet identical to the tunneling packet that the transfer determination unit has received from the host at the transmission source is stored in the packet information storage;
• and
• a direction-setting unit for acquiring a transfer-destination address of the clockwise packet, or the counterclockwise packet before setting a direction.