Congestion control method and system

• US 20010038609A1
• Filed: 05/08/2001
• Published: 11/08/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Yamaguchi, Kazuyuki
• Granted Patent: US 6,952,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/745 Reaction in network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0247 based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network central resource management H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Association identifiers for identifying, as the flow of a series of services, screen information are imparted to respective screen informations in a tree structure constituting a web service provided by the contents server. The association identifiers are constituted respectively by an identifier “start” representing a start screen of a series of service elements, an identifier “continue” representing a screen located along the way to contemplated information, and an identifier “end” representing a screen of the final contemplated information. When a congested state has occurred in the GW server during operation, the GW server judges the association identifier contained in screen information to be relayed. In this case, for screen information which is in the state of continuation for the series of service elements and, at the same time, the association identifier represents “continue,” the relay of the transfer of service information is continued until an association identifier representing “end” appears. On the other hand, for a request for the connection of a new service provided with an association identifier representing “start,” the connection is cut off. The above construction can prevent the cut-off of connection during utilization of service and thus can contribute to improved service to users.

Claims

1. A congestion control method for a network comprising:

a mobile user terminal located in a mobile network;

a contents server for providing a contents service in the Internet; and

a GW (gateway) server used as a repeater in the case where access is made from the mobile network to the Internet, wherein

association identifiers for identifying, as the flow of a series of services, screen informations ranging from information in a service top menu to supply information in contemplated service are imparted to respective screen informations in a tree structure constituting a web service provided by the contents server, and

upon the occurrence of congestion, priority connection control of the service being in connection is performed based on the association identifiers.

2. The congestion control method according to

claim 1

, wherein

the association identifiers are constituted respectively by identifiers representing “

start,”

“

continue,” and

“

end,”

upon the occurrence of congestion in the GW server, the GW server judges the association identifier contained in the screen information to be relayed, and

for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

continue,”

the relay of the transfer of service information is continued until an association identifier representing “

end”

appears, while for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

start,”

the connection is cut off.

3. The congestion control method according to

claim 1

or

2

, wherein

the association identifiers are constituted respectively by identifiers representing “

start,”

“

continue,” and

“

end,”

upon the occurrence of congestion in the contents server, the contents server judges the association identifier contained in the screen information to be supplied, and

for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

continue,”

the relay of the transfer of service information is continued until an association identifier representing “

end”

appears, while for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

start,”

the connection is cut off.

4. The congestion control method according to any one of

claims 1

to

3

, wherein

the Internet is connected to a public telecommunication network through a telephony service server,

association identifiers for identifying, as the flow of a series of services, screen informations ranging from information in a service top menu to supply information in contemplated service are imparted to respective screen informations in a tree structure constituting a web service provided by the telephony service server, and

upon the occurrence of congestion, priority connection control of the service on connection is performed based on the association identifiers.

5. The congestion control method according to

claim 4

, wherein

the association identifiers are constituted respectively by identifiers representing “

start,”

“

continue,” and

“

end,”

upon the occurrence of congestion in the telephony service server, the telephony service server judges the association identifier contained in the screen information to be supplied, and

for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

continue,”

the transfer of service information is continued until an association identifier representing “

end”

appears, while for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

start,”

the connection is cut off.

6. A congestion control system for a network comprising:

a mobile user terminal located in a mobile network;

a contents server for providing a contents service in the Internet; and

a GW (gateway) server used as a relay device in access from the mobile network to the Internet, wherein

association identifiers for performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection upon the occurrence of congestion are imparted respectively to screens of a tree structure constituting a web service provided by the contents server.

7. The congestion control system according to

claim 6

, wherein the GW server has the function of judging the association identifiers, contained in the screen information, as a series of service elements and the function of performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection upon the occurrence of congestion in the GW server.

8. The congestion control system according to

claim 6

, wherein the contents server has the function of judging the association identifiers, contained in the screen information, as a series of service elements and the function of performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection upon the occurrence of congestion in the contents server.

9. The congestion control system according to any one of

claims 6

to

8

, wherein

a telephony service server for connecting the Internet to a public telecommunication network is provided,

association identifiers for performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection upon the occurrence of congestion are imparted respectively to screens of a tree structure constituting a web service provided by the telephony service server, and

the telephony service server comprises:

means for judging the association identifiers, contained in the screen information, as a series of service elements, and means for performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection upon the occurrence of congestion in the telephony service server.

10. The congestion control system according to any one of

claims 7

to

9

, wherein

the association identifiers are constituted respectively by identifiers representing “

start,”

“

continue,” and

“

end,”

upon the occurrence of congestion, for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

continue,”

the means for performing the priority connection control of a service being in connection continues the transfer of service information until an association identifier representing “

end”

appears, while for a request for the connection of a service provided with an association identifier representing “

start,”

the means for performing the priority connection control of a service on connection cuts off the connection.

11. The congestion control system according to

claim 6

, wherein

the GW server has a user access management function, a congestion state management function, a service association identifier management function, and an association identifier management function, and

upon the receipt of a request from the mobile user terminal for access, the user access management function inquires of the congestion state management function about whether or not GW is in the state of congestion and, when GW has been found to be congested, refers to the association identifier management table through the service association identifier management function to judge whether or not the request from the mobile user terminal for access is related to the service being continued, and, based on the results of judgment, decides whether the request for access is to be accepted or is to be rejected.

12. The congestion control system according to

claim 11

, wherein the association identifier management table comprises an terminal ID, a service screen identifier, and an association identifier, and

upon a request from the mobile user terminal for access, the GW server catalogs ID of the mobile user terminal, the identifier for the service screen of the accessed contents server, and the association identifier through the service association identifier management function into the association identifier management table and updates the data of the association identifier management table.

13. The congestion control system according to

claim 12

, wherein, upon the receipt of a notice of the detection of the congested state from the congested state management function, the user access management function refers to the association identifier management table through the service association identifier management function, and, when the mobile user terminal ID inquired of the association identifier management table is not cataloged, or when the mobile user terminal ID inquired of the association identifier management table is present and, at the same time, the association identifier on the requested service is “

end,”

informs the user terminal that the requested service is unaccessible due to congestion, while, when the mobile user terminal ID inquired of the association identifier management table is present and, at the same time, the association identifier on the requested service is “

start”

or “

continue,”

the user access management function judges that the requested service is related to the service being continued which has priority in connection under congestion, followed by a request to the contents server for the provision of service.

14. The congestion control system according to any one of

claims 11

to

13

, wherein the congested state management function judges the congested sate based on the usage of CPU in GW system.

15. The congestion control system according to

claim 14

, wherein the user access management function accepts all requests from the mobile user terminal for access until the usage of CPU reaches a first threshold;

when the usage falls within the range of the first threshold to a second threshold, the user access management function accepts only a request for access wherein the association identifier is “

start/continue”

; and

, when the usage exceeds the second threshold, the user access management function rejects all requests.