Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Switching a message which includes an address header
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-27
2004-09-21
Cangialosi, Salvatore (Department: 2661)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Switching a message which includes an address header
C370S469000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06795445
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to multiservice networks, and more particularly to a method and system to provide bandwidth management within multiservice networks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1A
illustrates key components of a multiservice network
10
having a core network
12
that includes a plurality of core nodes
14
(i.e. service provider backbone or provider core nodes) interconnected with core links
16
. An access network
18
that includes a plurality of edge nodes
20
(i.e. service provider edge or provider edge nodes) provide access to the core network
12
through the links
16
for a plurality of access nodes
23
and/or for a plurality of customer premise edge (CPE) nodes
24
.
The CPE nodes
24
originate user connections, such as ATM, FR, voice or MPLS service requests. The access nodes
23
optionally lie between the CPEs
24
and the edge nodes
20
. The access nodes
23
do not perform aggregation (i.e. individual user connections are all visible). The access nodes
23
run the service protocols (e.g. ATM P-NNI, FR routing) and generally use single-level bandwidth management.
The edge nodes
20
(also called edge switch/routers) perform the interworking function/adaptation between the access
18
and the core
12
. The edge nodes
20
fully participate in the access network
18
similar to the access nodes
23
discussed above and fully participate in the core transport
12
. The edge nodes
20
also perform the aggregation of access/user connections into transport tunnels across the core
12
.
The core nodes
14
(also called core routers or MPLS core routers) have no visibility of individual user connections or applications (i.e. pure IP/MPLS routers). The core nodes
14
are connected to the edge nodes
20
and among themselves with the core links
16
and perform single-level bandwidth management (namely, Transport Bandwidth Management), which manages the bandwidth of the underlying physical links between the various transport tunnels. The core and edge nodes
14
,
20
participate in the core routing and maintain the same core topology database.
Prior art models use a flat network architecture, which makes no distinction between the access
18
and core
12
networks. Each CPE node
24
connection is mapped to a corresponding Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Switched Path (LSP) connection at the access/edge
23
,
20
node. Compared to traditional pure IP connectionless networks, the use of MPLS has been proposed to provide the capabilities of traffic engineering with constraint-based routing, alternate paths for redundancy, and load distribution. Another motivation for using MPLS is to provide connections with different characteristics to support a range of services and quality of service (QoS) levels.
Although these solutions improve scalability somewhat, a large number of LSP connections in the network
10
are required. This is not scalable because the core nodes
14
are required to maintain context and signaling support for a very large number of individual user connections/flows (i.e. between the CPEs
24
) sharing the network
10
. The increased number of LSP network connections introduces further disadvantages such as operations complexity, slow failure recovery, and increased network control overhead
Consequently, there is a need for a method and system for managing bandwidth in multiservice network, (supporting for example ATM, FR, IP, MPLS, circuit emulation) that minimizes operations complexity, speeds up failure recovery, and minimized network control overhead.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a hierarchical bandwidth management model for multiservice networks that creates one or more aggregate tunnels for carrying user traffic between edge nodes in a multiservice network. In an exemplary embodiment the invention also provides a hierarchical admission structure: one at a transport level for the label switched paths and one at a service level for user/application connections.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of hierarchical bandwidth management in a multiservice network supporting a plurality of quality of service levels and a plurality of applications, the multiservice network includes a core, a plurality of access nodes and a plurality of edge nodes having connectivity with each other through the core, the method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a plurality of transport connection tunnels between pairs of the edge nodes in the network; and (b) managing bandwidth of the transport connection tunnels among the plurality of quality of service levels and the plurality of applications.
In an exemplary embodiment step (a) above includes the steps of: (a1) establishing at least one transport pool; (a2) assigning the plurality of quality of service levels to the least one transport pool; and (a3) assigning at least one transport pool to the plurality of transport connections.
In an exemplary embodiment step (b) above includes the steps of, (b1) establishing at least one application pool; and (b2) assigning the plurality of applications to the least one application pool.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of hierarchical bandwidth management in a multiservice network supporting a plurality of quality of service levels and a plurality of applications, said multiservice network having a core, a plurality of access nodes and a plurality of edge nodes having connectivity with each other through the core, said method comprising the steps of: (a) establishing a transport connection tunnel between pairs of the edge nodes in the network; and (b) managing bandwidth of the transport connection tunnel among die plurality of quality of service levels and the plurality of applications.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for hierarchical bandwidth management in a multiservice network supporting a plurality of quality of service levels and a plurality of applications, said multiservice network having a core, a plurality of access nodes and a plurality of edge nodes having connectivity with each other through the core, said apparatus comprising: (a) a transport bandwidth management (TBM) module for establishing a transport connection tunnel between pairs of the edge nodes in the network; and (b) a service bandwidth management (SBM) module communicatively coupled to the TBM module for managing bandwidth of the transport connection tunnel among the plurality of quality of service levels and the plurality of applications.
In an exemplary embodiment, the TBM module includes: a module for establishing and managing a transport pool; a module for assigning the plurality of quality of service levels to the transport pool; and a module for assigning the transport connection tunnel to the transport pool.
In an exemplary embodiment, the SBM module includes: a module for establishing and managing a plurality of application pools; a module for assigning the plurality of applications at the plurality of quality of service levels to each of the plurality of application pools; and a module for assigning the application connection to the plurality of application pools.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program product for hierarchical bandwidth management in a multiservice network supporting a plurality of service categories and a plurality of applications, said multiservice network having a core, a plurality of access nodes and a plurality of edge nodes having connectivity with each other through the core, said computer program product comprising: (a) a computer readable medium; (b) a transport bandwidth management (TBM) module for establishing a transport connection tunnel between pairs of the edge nodes in the network; and (c) a service bandwidth management (SBM) module communicatively coupled to the TBM module for managing bandwidth of the transport connection tunnel among the plurality of
Guirguis Ramy M.
Kabie Sameh A.
Cangialosi Salvatore
Nortel Networks Limited
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