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US 9,961,001 B2Granted
System and method for categorizing packet flows in a network
AssigneeTelefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson (publ)
InventorsSrinivas Kadaba, Chris Phillips
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A scheme for of categorizing packet flows through a network node, e.g., a proxy or router. In one embodiment, packets of a particular flow arriving at the node are monitored for determining whether there is a specific packet traffic pattern associated with the particular flow. Responsive to the determining, appropriate techniques may be utilized for recognizing the specific packet traffic pattern as belonging to a category of packet flow, e.g., ABR video flow.
Claims18
A method of categorizing packet flows through a node disposed in a data communications network, the method comprising:
- monitoring for arrival of packets of a particular flow arriving at the node over a period of time via a communication link to form an arrival sequence associated with the packets as they arrive at the node, the arrival sequence formed as a binary sequence of 1's and 0's indicating presence and absence respectively of the packets over the communication link for the particular flow during the period of time;
- determining that there is a specific packet traffic pattern associated with the particular flow based on comparing the arrival sequence of the monitored packets of the particular flow against a reference sequence of bits associated with a reference flow selected from a plurality of known flows, the comparison performed over a predetermined time window corresponding to the reference flow;
- responsive to the determining, classifying the specific packet traffic pattern as belonging to a category of packet flow;
- associating an indication of the category with the particular flow;
- and
- transmitting the indication of the category of the particular flow to one or more downstream intermediary router nodes disposed in the data communications network,
- wherein the category of the particular flow is recognized as an adaptive bitrate (ABR) video flow having a duty cycle, and further wherein a group of values indicative of presence of the arrival of packets corresponds to an active phase of the duty cycle and a group of values indicative of absence of the packets corresponds to a sleep phase of the duty cycle.
4 more elements
An apparatus for categorizing packet flows through a node disposed in a data communications network, the apparatus comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- a persistent memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the persistent memory includes instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to:
- monitor for arrival of packets of a particular flow arriving at the node over a period of time via a communication link to form an arrival sequence associated with the packets as they arrive at the node, the arrival sequence formed as a binary sequence of 1's and 0's indicating presence and absence respectively of the packets over the communication link for the particular flow during the period of time;
- determine that there is a specific packet traffic pattern associated with the particular flow based on comparing the arrival sequence of the monitored packets of the particular flow against a reference sequence of bits associated with a reference flow selected from a plurality of known flows, the comparison performed over a predetermined time window corresponding to the reference flow;
- responsive to the determining, classify the specific packet traffic pattern as belonging to a category of packet flow;
- and
- associate an indication of the category with the particular flow;
- wherein the persistent memory further includes instructions for transmitting the indication of the category of the particular flow to one or more downstream intermediary router nodes disposed in the data communications network, and
- wherein the category of the particular flow is recognized as an adaptive bitrate (ABR) video flow having a duty cycle, and further wherein a group of values indicative of presence of the arrival of packets corresponds to an active phase of the duty cycle and a group of values indicative of absence of the packets corresponds to a sleep phase of the duty cycle.
7 more elements
A node, comprising:
- one or more processors;
- one or more ingress ports and one or more egress ports, each ingress port operating to receive incoming packets and each egress port operating to emit outgoing packets based on a routing process executed by the one or more processors;
- and
- a packet tracker and pattern recognition module configured to interoperate with the one or more processors for performing the following acts:
- monitor for arrival of packets of a particular flow arriving at the node over a period of time via a communication link to form an arrival sequence associated with the packets as they arrive at the node, the arrival sequence formed as a binary sequence of 1's and 0's indicating presence and absence respectively of the packets over the communication link for the particular flow during the period of time;
- determine that there is a specific packet traffic pattern associated with the particular flow based on comparing the arrival sequence of the monitored packets of the particular flow against a reference sequence of bits associated with a reference flow selected from a plurality of known flows, the comparison performed over a predetermined time window corresponding to the reference flow;
- responsive to the determining, classify the specific packet traffic pattern as belonging to a category of packet flow;
- and
- associate an indication of the category with the particular flow;
- wherein the packet tracker and pattern recognition module is further configured to transmit the indication of the category of the particular flow to one or more downstream intermediary router nodes disposed in a data communications network, and
- wherein the packet tracker and pattern recognition module is further configured to categorize the packet flow as an adaptive bitrate (ABR) video flow having a duty cycle, responsive to observing a repetitive pattern of a group of packet arrival indicators followed by a group of packet absence indicators over the predetermined time window.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.