US 9,755,950 B2Granted

Path routing for communication sessions

AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC

InventorsMichael W. Butler, Pascal F. Menezes

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Abstract

Techniques for path routing for communication sessions are described. In at least some embodiments, a communication session refers to an exchange of communication data between different nodes in a network. According to various embodiments, a routing path for a communication session includes peering points between different networks to enable communication sessions to be routed between devices connected to the different networks. In an event that performance degradation occurs in a communication session over a particular routing path, techniques discussed herein enable the communication session to be rerouted to a different routing path. The different routing path, for example, may be indicated as providing a higher quality data flow than the original routing path. Thus, rerouting the communication session can improve the quality of user experience during the communication session.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A cloud-based performance system comprising:

at least one processor;
and
one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the cloud-based performance system to perform operations including:
receiving, at the cloud-based performance system, a notification indicating performance degradation in a communication session across a current routing path, the notification received via a data flow that is different from a data flow of the communication session;
identifying an alternative routing path for routing the communication session by:
searching within a set of routing path data for available routing paths that are available for routing the communication session, the available routing paths being dynamically ranked based on quality metrics for the available routing paths;
and
selecting an alternative routing path from the available routing paths based on one or more performance metrics for the alternative routing path, said selecting the alternative routing path based on a comparison of rankings of individual routing paths of the available routing paths tracked by a routing database;
and
communicating from the cloud-based performance system an indication of the alternative routing path to enable the communication session to be rerouted via the alternative routing path.

7 more elements

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a cloud-based performance system, a notification indicating performance degradation in a communication session across a routing path and while the communication session is active, the notification received via a data flow that is different from a data flow of the communication session;
searching, via instructions executed by one or more processors, within a set of routing path data for available routing paths that are available for routing the communication session, the available routing paths being dynamically ranked based on quality metrics for the available routing paths;
selecting an alternative routing path from the available routing paths based on a performance metric for the alternative routing path, said selecting the alternative routing path based on a comparison of rankings of individual routing paths of the available routing paths tracked by a routing database;
and
communicating from the cloud-based performance system an indication of the one or more alternative routing paths to cause the communication session to be rerouted via the one or more alternative routing paths without interrupting the communication session.

2 more elements

A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a cloud-based system, an error notification indicating performance degradation in a communication session across a current routing path and while the communication session is active, the error notification received via a data flow that is different from a data flow of the communication session and identifying a client device involved in the communication session;
identifying, via instructions executed by one or more processors, an alternative routing path for routing the communication session by searching path records for routing paths that include performance metrics for the routing paths, the routing paths being dynamically ranked in the path records based on performance metrics for the routing paths;
selecting the alternative routing path based on a performance metric for the alternative routing path, said selecting the alternative routing path based on a comparison of rankings of the individual routing paths tracked by a routing database;
and
forwarding a path set notification that identifies the one or more alternative routing paths to one or more of a communication service that manages the communication session for the client device, or a communication application that resides on the client device, said forwarding causing the communication session to be rerouted to an alternative routing path of the one or more alternative routing paths.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/057,830Filed 18 Oct 2013
Published: US 2015/0113164 A123 Apr 2015
Granted: 5 Sep 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

H04L 45/22
Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks: alternate routing
H04L 41/50
Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks: network service…
H04L 47/26
Flow control; Congestion control: using explicit feedback to the source, e.g. choke packets
H04L 45/123
Shortest path evaluation: evaluation of link metrics