Method and protocol for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network
First Claim
1. A system for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network comprising:
- at least one intermediate system receiving traffic from outside and forwarding to at least one end system and also forwarding the response traffic from the at least one end system to the outside, wherein the at least one intermediate system forwards service request packet to one of the at least one available end system that the intermediate system learns from the service advertisements by the at least one end system;
at least one end system advertising and providing service information on the layer two network, wherein if one of the at least one end system determines to instruct the at least one intermediate system to forward certain traffic from certain source to another end system, the at least one end system can advertise the flow information to the other intermediate system, and wherein service information is advertised by each of the at least one end system on the layer two network, and the at least one intermediate system always forwards the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the at least one end system, and each of the at least one end system can be added on the fly to share the load and gracefully shut down on the fly without interrupting other systems on the network and affecting the service; and
at least one supervisor system handling the registration from all the systems on the layer two network, responding the request of any new system that looks for the server list for a particular service on this network, running as an Assigned Numbers Authority server for this layer two network, and running as a management agent that manages all the systems registered to the at least one supervisor system.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and protocol for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network. The service information will be advertised by each end system (server) on the layer two broadcast network. There will have multiple end systems that provide the same service. The intermediate system will forward service request packet to one of the available end system that the intermediate system learned from the service advertisements by the end systems. If the end system determines to instruct intermediate system to forward certain traffic from certain source to it, it can advertise the flow information to intermediate systems. This flow could be a TCP connection or any packets that are specified by the flow pattern matching rules. The intermediate system will always forward the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the end system. For the packets that do not match any advertised flow, the service table will be looked up and one of the servers will be picked up based on the response metric and other policies. Both service and flow classification are specified in pattern matching rules to allow faster execution by the pattern-matching network processors. The service information contains the operations of registration of service sent by server; the service attributes, the service congestion status and server list for a particular service. The flow advertisement contains the flow attributes that could contain the quality of service requirements to support real time application. And the flow advertisement contains also the flow attribute that could insert or delete label or tag or modify the type of service and priority within the packet header to support multiple protocol label switching (MPLS), DiffServ and 802.1p priority. The Assigned Numbers Authority protocol will also manages all the numbers that are shared by these servers that work together as one logical IP entity on this network. The service information, flow advertisement and Assigned Numbers Authority protocol together allows multiple physical end systems (servers) load-balanced serve a service like one logical end system (server). Each physical end system (server) can be added on the fly to share the load and gracefully shut down (de-register) on the fly without interrupting other systems on the network and affecting the service.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network comprising:
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at least one intermediate system receiving traffic from outside and forwarding to at least one end system and also forwarding the response traffic from the at least one end system to the outside, wherein the at least one intermediate system forwards service request packet to one of the at least one available end system that the intermediate system learns from the service advertisements by the at least one end system;
at least one end system advertising and providing service information on the layer two network, wherein if one of the at least one end system determines to instruct the at least one intermediate system to forward certain traffic from certain source to another end system, the at least one end system can advertise the flow information to the other intermediate system, and wherein service information is advertised by each of the at least one end system on the layer two network, and the at least one intermediate system always forwards the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the at least one end system, and each of the at least one end system can be added on the fly to share the load and gracefully shut down on the fly without interrupting other systems on the network and affecting the service; and
at least one supervisor system handling the registration from all the systems on the layer two network, responding the request of any new system that looks for the server list for a particular service on this network, running as an Assigned Numbers Authority server for this layer two network, and running as a management agent that manages all the systems registered to the at least one supervisor system. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16)
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2. A system for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network comprising:
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at least one intermediate system listening to service information advertised by at least one end system and relayed by at least one supervisor system, storing the at least one end system and the at least one supervisor system into server table of the at least one intermediate system, storing the advertisement in the flow table in addition to the server table, forwarding the newly request traffic to one of the at least one end system looked up from this server table, forwarding the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the at least one end system, and receiving traffic from outside and forwarding to at least one end system and also forwarding the response traffic from the at least one end system to the outside, wherein the at least one intermediate system forwards service request packet to one of the at least one available end system that the intermediate system learns from the service advertisements by the at least one end system, and if the at least one end system determines to instruct the at least one intermediate system to forward certain traffic from certain source to the at least one end system, the at least one end system can advertise the flow information to the at least one intermediate system;
at least one end system advertising and providing service information, which contains the operations of registration of services by the at least one end system. the service congestion status and server list for a particular service, on the layer two network, wherein if one of the at least one end system determines to instruct another one of the at least one intermediate system to forward certain traffic from certain source to another one of the at least one end system, the at least one end system can advertise the flow information to another one of the at least one intermediate system, and wherein the service information is advertised by each of the at least one end system on the layer two network, and the at least one intermediate system always forwards the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the at least one end system, and each of the at least one end system can be added on the fly to share the load and gracefully shut down on the fly without interrupting other systems on the network and affecting the service; and
at least one supervisor system handling the registration from all the systems on this layer two network, responding the request of any new system that looks for the server list for a particular service on this network, running as an Assigned Numbers Authority server for this layer two network, and running as a management agent that manages all the systems registered to the at least one supervisor system.
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13. A method for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network including at least one end system, at least one intermediate system, and at least one supervisor system, comprising the step of:
directing a packet by the at least one intermediate system to the at least one end system based on service registration and server congestion advertisement message sent by the at least one end system;
directing a flow to the at least one end system which advertises the flow routing information to the at least one intermediate system;
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14. A method for managing broadband IP services in a layer two broadcast network including at least one end system, at least one intermediate system, and at least one supervisor system, comprising the steps of:
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advertising service information by the at least one end system;
relaying the service information by the at least one supervisor system;
listening to the service information by the at least one intermediate system;
storing the at least one end system and the at least one supervisor system into server table of the at least one intermediate system by the at least one intermediate system;
storing the advertisement in the flow table in addition to the server table by the at least one intermediate system;
forwarding the newly request traffic to one of the at least one end system looked up from this server table by the at least one intermediate system;
forwarding the packet based on the flow that is advertised by the at least one end system by the at least one intermediate system; and
receiving traffic from outside and forwarding to at least one end system and also forwarding the response traffic from the at least one end system to the outside by the at least one intermediate system.
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Specification