System and method for packet classification

• US 20030063348A1
• Filed: 05/03/2002
• Published: 04/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommWorks Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lighthouse Capital Partners IV L.P.
• Inventors: Posey, Nolan J. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,184,444 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 398/49
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5662 Macrocells or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/62 Wavelength based optical switching H04Q11/0062
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/33 using forward notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/101 using crossbar or matrix
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/1523 Parallel switch fabric planes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/205 Quality of Service based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/254 Centralised controller, i.e. arbitration or scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3081 ATM peripheral units, e.g. policing, insertion or extraction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/357 Fibre channel switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/503 Policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0005 Switch and router aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0062 Network aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0066 Provisions for optical burst or packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0071 Provisions for the electrical-optical layer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0024 : using space switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0033 : using time division switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0039 : Electrical control
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/005 : Arbitration and scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0073 : Provisions for forwarding or routing, e.g. lookup tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0079 : Operation or maintenance aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2011/0084 : Quality of service aspects

Abstract

The present invention provides method for data packet processing in a telecommunications system. The method of the present invention can include the steps of (i) determining a set of classification parameters for a data packet at an ingress edge unit, wherein the classification parameters include a packet destination, (ii) communicating the data packet to an egress edge unit and (iii) routing the data packet to a destination egress port at the egress edge unit according the classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit. In one embodiment of the present invention, the classification parameters can include a destination egress edge unit, a destination egress port at the destination egress edge unit, and quality of service parameter for proper processing of the data packet.

Claims

1. A method of routing a plurality of data packets through a network, comprising:

determining a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets at an ingress edge unit;

transporting the plurality of data packets to the destination egress edge unit;

routing each of the plurality of data packets to an associated egress port based on the classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a classification index, wherein the classification index includes the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets further comprises:

determining a destination egress edge unit for each of the plurality data packets; and

determining a destination egress port at the destination egress edge unit for each of the plurality data packets.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising accessing a look-up table to correlate a destination IP address to the destination egress edge unit and the destination egress port for each of the plurality of data packets.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

constructing a classification index including a destination egress edge unit for the plurality of data packets and a destination egress port for each of the plurality of data packets; and

placing the classification index in an overhead for a super packet, wherein the super packet includes the plurality of data packets.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets includes determining a quality of service parameter associated with each of the plurality of data packets.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

constructing a classification index including the QoS parameter for each of the plurality of data packets; and

forwarding the classification index to the egress edge unit.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a set of classification parameters, wherein the set of classification parameters are common to each data packet in a port bundle, and wherein the plurality of data packets is subdivided into at least one port bundle; and

transporting the set of classification parameters to the egress edge unit.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a set of common classification parameters, wherein the set of common classification parameters are common to each port bundle; and

transporting the set of common classification parameters to the egress edge unit.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters further comprises determining a destination egress port for each of the plurality of data packets.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters further comprises determining a QoS parameter for each of the plurality of data packets.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters further comprises determining a QoS parameter for each of the plurality of data packets.

13. A method for data packet processing in a telecommunications system, comprising:

determining a set of classification parameters for a data packet at an ingress edge unit, wherein the classification parameters include a destination egress port; and

routing the data packet to the destination egress port according the classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising configuring an optical core to route the data packet from the ingress edge unit to the destination egress edge port.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining a destination egress edge unit associated with the destination egress port for the data packet; and

transporting the data packet to the destination egress edge unit.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising accessing a look-up table to correlate a destination IP address to the destination egress edge unit and the destination egress port.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

constructing a classification index including the destination egress edge and the destination egress port; and

transporting the classification index for the data packet to the egress edge unit.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters further comprises determining a QoS parameter.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

constructing a classification index including the QoS parameter and the destination egress port; and

transporting the classification index with the data packet.

20. A system for the classification of data packets in a telecommunications system, comprising:

an ingress edge unit operable to;

receive a plurality of incoming data packets on a plurality of ingress edge ports;

determine a set of classification parameters for each data packet; and

communicate each data packet to an associated egress edge port;

an egress edge unit having a plurality of egress edge ports linked to the plurality of ingress edge ports; and

a controller operable to route each of the data packets to an associated egress edge port from the ingress edge unit according to the classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the ingress edge unit further comprises a plurality of wave slot buffers for each ingress edge port, wherein the number of wave slot buffers for each ingress edge port corresponds to the number of associated egress edge ports, and wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to buffer data packets arriving at the same ingress edge port with the same associated egress edge port at the same wave slot buffer.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to;

construct a classification index for each data packet including the classification parameters associated with that data packet; and

forward the classification index to the egress edge unit.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the classification index for each data packet is included in an overhead for each data packet.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the set of classification parameters for each data packet includes;

a destination egress edge unit; and

a destination egress edge port at the destination egress edge unit for which the data packet is destined.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the controller is further operable to:

determine a schedule for transmitting data packets from the ingress edge unit to an optical core linking the ingress edge unit to the plurality of egress edge ports; and

configure the optical core to route each data packet to the associated egress edge port according to the classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit; and

wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to communicate each data packet to the optical core based on the schedule determined by the controller.

26. A method of routing a plurality of data packets through a network, comprising:

determining a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets at in ingress edge unit, wherein each set of classification parameters comprises a destination egress edge unit and a destination egress edge port within the destination egress edge unit;

transporting the plurality of data packets to an optical core;

configuring the optical core to route each data packet to the egress edge unit associated with each data packet based on the set of classification parameters; and

transporting each data packet to the egress edge port associated with each data packet.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

constructing a classification index for each of the plurality of data packets containing the set of classification parameters for the associated data packet.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising reading the classification index for each of the plurality of data packets at the egress edge unit.

routing each data packet to the egress edge port associated with each data packet based on the classification index for each data packet.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the set of classification parameters further comprises a QoS parameter.

30. A system of classification of data packets in a telecommunications system, comprising:

an ingress edge unit comprising a classification index module operable to;

receive a plurality of data packets, wherein each data packet includes a packet header;

determine a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality data packets from the packet headers;

construct a classification index for each of the plurality of data packets; and

forward each classification index and each of the plurality of data packets to an associated egress edge unit; and

the egress edge unit comprising a classification index processing module operable to;

receive the classification indexes and data packets from the ingress edge unit;

read the classification indexes to determine a destination egress port associated with each of the plurality of data packets; and

forward each of the plurality of data packets to the associated egress edge port.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to place the classification index for each data packet within an overhead for each data packet.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets includes:

a destination egress edge unit; and

a destination egress port.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets further includes a quality of service parameter.

34. The system of claim 30, wherein the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets further includes a quality of service parameter and a destination egress port.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to:

aggregate the plurality of data packets into a super packet;

construct a super packet classification index to include the set of packet classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets; and

transport the super packet classification index and super packet to the destination egress edge unit; and

wherein the egress edge unit is further operable to;

receive the super packet and super packet classification index from the ingress edge unit;

read the super packet classification index;

disassemble the super packet into the constituent plurality of data packets; and

forward each of the plurality of data packets to an appropriate egress destination port based on the super packet classification index.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the super packet classification index includes a destination egress edge unit and destination egress port for each of the plurality of data packets included in the super packet.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the classification index further includes a quality of service parameter for each of the plurality of data packets in the super packet.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to define a set of common super packet classification parameters that is common to each of the data packets in the super packet and construct the classification index to include the set of common super packet classification parameters.

39. The system of claim 35, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to:

aggregate the plurality of data packets into a port bundle;

derive a set of port bundle classification parameters that is common to each data packet in the port bundle; and

include the set of port bundle classification parameters in the classification index.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to aggregate a plurality of port bundles into the super packet.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the ingress edge unit is further operable to define a common super packet classification parameter that is common to each of the port bundles in the super packet and construct the classification index to include the common super packet classification parameter.

42. The system of claim 39, wherein the port bundle can include a fragmented packet and the classification index can include an indication of the fragmented packet.

43. A method of routing data packets comprising:

receiving a plurality of data packets on a plurality of ingress edge ports at an ingress edge unit;

determining a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets at the ingress edge unit; and

routing each of the plurality of data packets to an associated egress edge port based on the set of classification parameters determined at the ingress edge unit.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising creating a classification index, wherein the classification index includes the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the step of determining a set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets further comprises:

determining a destination egress edge unit for each of the data packets; and

determining a destination egress port at the destination egress edge unit for each of the data packet.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising:

constructing a classification index including a destination egress edge unit for each of the plurality of data packets and a destination egress port for each of the plurality of data packets; and

routing this classification index to the destination egress edge unit.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising placing the classification index in an overhead for a super packet, wherein the super packet includes the plurality of data packets.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein the step of determining the set of classification parameters for each of the plurality of data packets includes deriving a QoS parameter for each of the plurality of data packets.