Integrated IP network

Details Integrated IP network Integrated IP network

2000-05-09

2004-03-23

Dharia, Rupal (Department: 2142)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Multiple network interconnecting

C709S238000, C709S239000, C709S245000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06711623

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated IP (Internet Protocol) network of an IP network for computer communication based on the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
The IP network designed to send and receive digitized voice data according to the TCP/IP technology (hereinafter referred to as an “IP telephone network”) uses a communication circuit speed of about 64 Kbps to keep the arrival time of voice data below, for example, 0.1. second. An IP telephone network to send and receive a compressed video image of TV according to the TCP/IP technology (hereinafter referred to as an “IP video network”) uses a communication circuit speed of, for example, 1.5 Mbps and allows a video data arrival time of a few minutes.
The IP telephone network to transfer texts of electronic vouchers according to the TCP/IP technology (hereinafter referred to as an “IP electronic text network”) has a communication circuit speed of about 128 Kbps to keep the data arrival time less than 1 second. In this case, because the reliability is given a greater importance than those of voice transmission and TV video transmission, the communication error occurrence rate is kept less than one one-hundredth those of the IP telephone network and IP video network.
Other IP telephone networks include, for example, an “IP data multicast network” that transfers IP data such as electronic books and electronic newspapers from one sending source to a plurality of destinations, and an “IP-based TV broadcast network,” an IP audio-visual network, which transfers (or broadcasts) both TV's voice data and video data to a plurality of destinations using multicast technology, one of technologies. These multicast type network differ from the preceding IP telephone networks in that they do not employ the one-to-one communication scheme.
As shown in
FIG. 1
, in the conventional IP network
20
as represented by the Internet, an IP packet
26
-
1
, including IP telephone data, IP video data and IP electronic voucher text data, is dispatched from a terminal
23
-
1
within a LAN
21
to a terminal
23
-
2
in a LAN
22
through a router
24
-
1
in the LAN
21
and routers
22
-
1
to
22
-
4
in the IP-network
20
and through a router
24
-
2
in a LAN
22
. The Internet, while it cannot guarantee the communication speed and others during the IP transfer, is generally called a “best effort network” in the sense that it makes the best effort. The IP telephone data, the IP video data and the IP electronic voucher text data flow in an intermingled manner through the communication circuits in the IP network
20
, as in this example. That is, the conventional IP networks do not contain therein a plurality of separated IP networks with various characteristics, such as the IP telephone network and IP video network, the IP electronic text network, the best effort network, the IP data multicast network and the IP-based TV broadcast network. For this reason and others, the IP telephone network, IP video network, IP electronic text network, best effort network, IP data multicast network and IP-based TV broadcast network have been constructed separately, giving rise to a problem of an increased overall cost of the entire IP network.
By referring to
FIG. 2
a multicast type IP network
27
-
1
that transfers data from one originating source to multiple destinations will be explained. Reference numbers
27
-
2
to
27
-
9
represent routers, of which
27
-
2
,
27
-
6
,
27
-
7
,
27
-
8
and
27
-
9
in particular are routers to which the users' IP terminals
28
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1
to
28
-
9
can connect via communication circuits and which are also called network nodes. The routers
27
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3
,
27
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4
,
27
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6
,
27
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7
,
27
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8
have a multicast-by-router table that tells each router to send a received IP packet to a plurality of communication circuits according to a multicast address contained in the received IP packet. In this embodiment, the multicast address specifies “MA1”. The IP terminal
28
-
1
sends an IP packet
29
-
1
which has a multicast address “MA1” through the router
27
-
2
. When it reaches the router
27
-
3
, the router
27
-
3
copies the IP packet
29
-
2
, checks the multicast-by-router table and transfers IP packet
29
-
3
and IP packet
29
-
4
onto communication circuits. The router
27
-
4
copies the received IP packet
29
-
3
and, according to the multicast-by-router table, transfers IP packet
29
-
5
and IP packet
29
-
6
onto communication circuits. The router
27
-
5
has no multicast-by-router table and so the IP packet
29
-
4
passes through the router
27
-
5
to be transferred as IP packet
29
-
7
to the router
27
-
8
. The router
27
-
6
copies the received IP packet
29
-
5
, checks the multicast-by-router table and transfers IP packet
29
-
8
to IP terminal
28
-
2
and IP packet
29
-
9
to IP terminal
28
-
3
. The router
27
-
7
copies the received IP packet
29
-
6
, references the multicast-by-router table and transfers IP packet
29
-
10
to IP terminal
28
-
4
and IP packet
29
-
11
to IP terminal
28
-
5
. The router
27
-
8
copies the received IP packet
29
-
7
, references the multicast-by-router table and sends the IP packet
29
-
12
to IP terminal
28
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6
, IP packet
29
-
13
to IP terminal
28
-
7
and IP packet
29
-
14
to IP terminal
28
-
8
. When the source terminal
28
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1
sends-electronic books and electronic newspapers in a digital data format to the IP network
27
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1
, the IP network
27
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1
functions as an IP data multicast network for distributing electronic books and electronic newspapers, with the IP terminals
28
-
2
to
28
-
8
representing IP terminals of the users purchasing the electronic books and electronic newspapers. When the source terminal
28
-
1
is replaced with a TV broadcast audio-visual transmission equipment and a TV program (i.e., voice and video) is broadcast, this IP network works as an IP-based TV broadcast network, with IP terminals
28
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2
to
28
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8
representing TV viewers' IP terminals with TV reception function.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished under the above circumstances and the object of the invention is to provide an integrated. IP network which contains separately a plurality of IP networks having various characteristics of, for example, IP telephone network, IP video network, IP electronic text network, best effort network, IP data multicast network, IP-based TV broadcast network or the like.
The present invention relates to an integrated IP network and the above object of the invention can be achieved by an integrated IP network including: a plurality of IP networks and a plurality of network node devices; wherein the network node devices are each connected to one or more of the IP networks via communication circuits and have their network node-points connected to external terminals via communication circuits; wherein, when the network node device receives an IP packet from the external terminal, the following sequence of operations is performed: in a first case where a network node-point address of the network node-point through which the received IP packet has passed is registered in an address management table as not specifying a virtual dedicated line connection, a source terminal address, a destination terminal address and a port number registered in the address management table are compared with a source terminal address, a destination terminal address, a source port number and a destination port number contained in the IP packet to find a record containing a network identifier indicating a destination IP network to which the IP packet is to be sent; in a second case where a network node-point address of the network node-point through which the received IP packet has passed is registered in the address management table as specifying a virtual leased line connection, a record containing a network identifier indicating a destination IP network to which th

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