Packet transfer method and apparatus

• US 20030112802A1
• Filed: 11/15/2002
• Published: 06/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Ono, Masahiro, Matsunaga, Yasuhiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,385,986 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/621 Individual queue per connection or flow, e.g. per VC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• 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 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A packet transfer apparatus includes a packet classifying section and scheduler. The packet classifying section identifies a connection used for transfer of data between a transmission terminal and a reception terminal from not less than one field contained in a header of a reception packet received from the transmission terminal and detects establishment and release of the connection. The scheduler performs transfer control on a reception packet for each connection on the basis of the connection information of each connection identified by the packet classifying section. A packet transfer method and a program are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A packet transfer apparatus which is connected to a packet communication network and transfers a packet from a transmission terminal to a reception terminal, comprising:

packet classifying means for identifying a connection used for transfer of data between the transmission terminal and the reception terminal from not less than one field contained in a header of a reception packet received from the transmission terminal and detecting establishment and release of the connection; and

a scheduler which performs transfer control on a reception packet for each connection on the basis of connection information of each connection identified by said packet classifying means.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a queue manager which sequentially stores reception packets in a queue corresponding to each connection identified by said packet classifying means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, said scheduler selects a connection, of the respective connections, which exhibits the smallest data amount of reception packets transferred after connection establishment, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, said scheduler selects a connection, of the respective connections, which exhibits the shortest elapsed time after connection establishment, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

5. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, said scheduler selects a connection, of the respective connections, in which a change in transfer rate over time increases and the amount of change is the largest, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

6. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said scheduler classifies connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of the data amounts of reception packets transferred after establishment of the respective connections, selects, as a connection for transfer of a reception packet, a connection exhibiting the smallest data amount from a group exhibiting a small data amount, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

7. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said scheduler classifies connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of elapsed times after establishment of the respective connections, selects, as a connection for transfer of a reception packet, a connection exhibiting the shortest elapsed time from a group exhibiting a short elapsed time, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

8. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said scheduler classifies connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of the amounts of change in transfer rate over time in the respective connections, selects, as a connection for transfer of a reception packet, a connection exhibiting the largest amount of change over time from a group in which the amount of change over time increases and the amount of change is large, and preferentially transfers a reception packet from a queue corresponding to the selected connection.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in each connection, TCP is used as a transport layer protocol.

10. A packet transfer method of transferring a packet from a transmission terminal to a reception terminal, comprising the steps of:

identifying a connection to be used for transfer of data between the transmission terminal and the reception terminal from not less than one field contained in a header of a reception packet received from the transmission terminal, and detecting establishment and release of the connection; and

performing transfer control on a reception packet in each connection on the basis of connection information of each identified connection.

11. A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of sequentially storing reception packets in a queue corresponding to each identified connection.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the step of preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, of the respective connections, which exhibits the smallest data amount of reception packets transferred after connection establishment.

13. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the step of preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, of the respective connections, which exhibits the shortest elapsed time after connection establishment.

14. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the step of preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, of the respective connections, in which the amount of change in transfer rate increases and the amount of change is the largest.

15. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the steps of:

classifying connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of the data amounts of reception packets transferred after establishment of the respective connections; and

when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, in a group exhibiting a small data amount, which exhibits the smallest data amount.

16. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the steps of:

classifying connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of elapsed times after establishment of the respective connections; and

when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, in a group exhibiting a short elapsed time, which exhibits the shortest elapsed time.

17. A method according to claim 11, wherein the step of performing transfer control comprises the steps of:

classifying connections into a plurality of groups on the basis of the amounts of change in transfer rate over time in the respective connections; and

when selecting a connection for transfer of a reception packet, preferentially transferring a reception packet from a queue corresponding to a connection, in a group in which the amount of change over time increases and the amount of change is large, which exhibits the largest amount of change over time.

18. A method according to claim 11, wherein in each connection, TCP is used as a transport layer protocol.

19. A recording medium on which a program for transferring a packet from a transmission terminal to a reception terminal is recorded, the program comprising a program for executing the steps of

identifying a connection to be used for transfer of data between the transmission terminal and the reception terminal from not less than one field contained in a header of a reception packet received from the transmission terminal, and detecting establishment and release of the connection;

and

performing transfer control on a reception packet in each connection on the basis of connection information of each identified connection.

20. A program according to claim 19, wherein the connection information is one selected from the data amount of a reception packet transferred after connection establishment, an elapsed time after connection establishment, and the amount of change in transfer rate over time.