Communication network method and apparatus

Details Communication network method and apparatus Communication network method and apparatus

1999-05-20

2003-04-01

Marcelo, Melvin (Department: 2733)

Multiplex communications

Data flow congestion prevention or control

Flow control of data transmission through a network

C370S236000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06542466

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to communication system networks, particularly, to method and apparatus for controlling quality of communication services in a communication network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In network communication systems, a source user may communicate to a terminal user via a network that includes a number of network elements. Such network elements are normally network traffic router elements and network edge elements. The communication between the users takes place by creating a communication flow among the network elements. The communication flow is then used to transmit data packets. The creation of the communication flow and transmission of the data packets may occur at the same time in some system. Such systems may include Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Switched Virtual Circuit, and Internet Protocol based network technologies.
A communication network may provide communication traffic flow control based on state information collected and analyzed by each network element in a communication flow. Each network element independently may control the communication traffic based on a pre-defined communication flow profile. Each network element processes the traffic flow that passes through it to control the traffic flow. A commonly known method called Differentiated Services Architecture (DiffServ) is used to control communication traffic flow. A copy of the standard outlining such architecture may be obtained by contacting IETF Secretariat, c/o Corporation for National Initiatives, 1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100, Reston, Va. 20191-5434, USA; or a copy may be obtained by accessing an internet wed site located at WWW.ietf.Com.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a conceptual block diagram of a communication network
100
is shown. The quality of service in such a network is managed by encoding a value in a DS field of data packets originated at an edge network element
110
. The internal network elements
120
and
130
, when the packet is passing through, assign different Per-Hop behavior to each traffic flow. Such behavior is according to a predefined traffic flow arrangement in the network element. A specific traffic flow profile is selected for each packet depending on the value in the DS filed of the data packet. The value of DS field normally is assigned by an edge network element through, possibly, a negotiation with a source user.
The source users
150
connect to edge network elements
110
for receiving communication services. Such source users may require different services such as voice, data and video services. The terminal users
160
may be the end users of a number of communication traffic flows created for providing the communication services. At the terminal users, there may be other edge network elements such as edge network elements
140
. A “U” interface
170
may be a flexible wire-less or wire-line connection interface between the end users and the network elements. A “DS” interface
180
between other network elements is based on a predefined standard such as DiffServ standard. Each network element, such as network elements
120
and
130
, passes each data packets in the communication flow according to a communication traffic profile selected based on a DiffServ value assigned in the DS field of the data packet.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, a block diagram of a network element
210
is shown. A packet classifier
220
selects data packets in the data stream based on the content of some portion of the data packet header such as the DS field. Classifier
220
is used to steer packets of data based on a communication traffic flow profile. Each data packet with a specific marked DS field may pass according to predefined communication traffic flow latency set by the profile. Conditioning communication traffic flow may occur at classifier
220
. A traffic meter
230
measures the temporal property of the traffic flow passing through the classifier
220
. The meter
230
passes state information to other traffic conditioning functions to trigger a particular action for each packet depending on whether the packet is in or out of a predefined profile. A marker
240
marks a packet of data to a particular DS value such that the packet passes through according to a specific profile. The shaper and dropper
250
delay or discard the data packet to condition the traffic flow according to a predefined traffic profile. Such traffic flow is simple and does not take into account the activities and communication traffic flows at other network elements in the system.
Therefore, there is a need for an effective traffic flow management control that takes into consideration an aggregate traffic flow across the network.


REFERENCES:
patent: 6452915 (2002-09-01), Jorgensen
patent: 2002/0041600 (2002-04-01), Barri
patent: 2002/0120767 (2002-08-01), Oottamakorn et al.
IEEE Internet Computing, “IP QOS: Traveling in First Class on the Internet”, Mar.-Apr. 1999, pp. 84-88 by Chris Metz of Cisco Systems.*
Network Working Group Notes “An Architecture for Differentiated Services” dated Dec., 1998, pp. 1-32 by Blake, et al.*
Network Working Group Notes “Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field) in the Ipv4 and Ipv6 Headers”, dated Dec., 1998, pp. 1-18 by Nichols, et al.

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