IP level multipath protocol

• US 10,601,710 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2018
• Issued: 03/24/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Gholmieh, Ralph Akram, Yadagiri, Susheel Kumar Yadav, Kumar, Vaibhav, Vishin, Sanjay, Chitnis, Siddharth
• Primary Examiner(s): Cattungal, Ajay
• Application Number:
  US15/907,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20180270150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2592 using tunnelling or encapsulation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/025 for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments provide for multipath transport of Internet Protocol (IP) packets by an in-vehicle computing device, such as a vehicle'"'"'s autonomous driving system, vehicle'"'"'s telematics unit, vehicle'"'"'s control system, etc. In various embodiments, IP packets may be extended to include tracking information. In various embodiments, the tracking information may include sequence numbers, sender reports, receiver reports, version indications, and/or length indications. In various embodiments, IP packets may be extended to include tracking information by a centralized scheduler for an in-vehicle computing device including a plurality of modems and/or a destination computing device.

Claims

1. A method for Internet Protocol (IP) transmission from a vehicle, comprising:

receiving an IP packet of an overall flow of IP packets at an IP level scheduler running on a processor of an in-vehicle computing device;

adding tracking information to the IP packet at the IP level scheduler, wherein the tracking information comprises an overall sequence number for the IP packet, a path sequence number for the IP packet, and an IP packet sender report, the IP packet sender report comprising a starting overall sequence number and an ending overall sequence number in the overall flow of IP packets; and

sending the IP packet with the tracking information to a destination computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adding the tracking information to the IP packet at the IP level scheduler comprises adding a trailer including the tracking information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising updating a checksum of the IP packet in response to adding the trailer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein adding the tracking information to the IP packet at the IP level scheduler comprises adding a header including the tracking information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the header is added within an IP/User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet such that the IP/UDP packet encapsulates both the header and the IP packet.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the header is added as part of an extended Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) header within an encapsulating IP packet such that the encapsulating IP packet encapsulates both the extended GRE header and the IP packet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking information further comprises one or more of a class indicator, length indication, payload type indication, and a path identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a control packet including control information;

encapsulating the control packet using a same encapsulation mechanism as used for the IP packet; and

sending the encapsulated control packet to the destination computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the control information comprises one or more of a ping report, a sender report, and a receiver report for a path.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another IP packet including additional tracking information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional tracking information comprises a sender report including one or more of a number of sent packets on a path and sequence numbers sent on the path.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the additional tracking information comprises a receiver report including one or more of a number of lost packets, a number of out of order packets, a Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timestamp of a receiving time of a last received sender report, and a delay from reception of the last received sender report to generation of a current sender report at a device generating the current sender report.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, in the IP level scheduler, delivery delays associated with a plurality of modems.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the delivery delays are determined based at least in part on delivery rate estimate and queue size reporting from each of the plurality of modems.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the delivery delays are further determined based on end-to-end delay estimates for each end-to-end delivery path originating at each modem.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising adjusting, by the IP level scheduler, delivery rate estimates of one or more of the plurality of modems based on an end-to-end error detection mechanism.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the end-to-end error detection mechanism is implemented at least in part using the IP packet sender report and a receiver report.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of modems comprises three or more modems.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination computing device is remote from the vehicle.

20. An in-vehicle computing device, comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet of an overall flow of IP packets;

adding tracking information to the IP packet, wherein the tracking information comprises an overall sequence number for the IP packet, a path sequence number for the IP packet, and an IP packet sender report, the IP packet sender report comprising a starting overall sequence number and an ending overall sequence number in the overall flow of IP packets; and

sending the IP packet with the tracking information to a destination computing device.

21. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 20, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that adding the tracking information to the IP packet comprises adding a trailer including the tracking information.

22. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising updating a checksum of the IP packet in response to adding the trailer.

23. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 20, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that adding the tracking information to the IP packet comprises adding a header including the tracking information.

24. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 20, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

receiving another IP packet including additional tracking information.

25. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of modems, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising determining delivery delays associated with the plurality of modems.

26. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 25, wherein the plurality of modems comprises three or more modems.

27. The in-vehicle computing device of claim 20, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that the destination computing device is remote from a vehicle in which the in-vehicle computing device is installed.

28. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable instructions configured to cause a processor of an in-vehicle computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet of an overall flow of IP packets;

adding tracking information to the IP packet, wherein the tracking information comprises an overall sequence number for the IP packet, a path sequence number for the IP packet, and an IP packet sender report, the IP packet sender report comprising a starting overall sequence number and an ending overall sequence number in the overall flow of IP packets; and

sending the IP packet with the tracking information to a destination computing device.

29. An in-vehicle computing device, comprising:

means for receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) packet of an overall flow of IP packets;

means for adding tracking information to the IP packet, wherein the tracking information comprises an overall sequence number for the IP packet, a path sequence number for the IP packet, and an IP packet sender report, the IP packet sender report comprising a starting overall sequence number and an ending overall sequence number in the overall flow of IP packets; and

means for sending the IP packet with the tracking information to a destination computing device.