Communication apparatus and relay apparatus for performing packet priority control

• US 20030128708A1
• Filed: 06/05/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takeda, Koichi, Tsuchiya, Satoshi, Inoue, Rumiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,319,696 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In a communication system, a first communication apparatus includes: an application data generating unit for generating application data including data at an application level and a priority at the application level; and a lower-level packet generating unit disposed therein for generating a packet by adding to the application data a header including a destination address and a source address at a level lower than the application level. A first relay apparatus includes: a priority identifying unit disposed therein for determining whether or not a priority is set in the application data of the packet received by the first relay apparatus, and thereby identifying a first priority at the application level; and a priority control unit disposed therein for renewing a TOS field value in the header of the packet, the header being at the level lower than the application level, on the basis of the first priority.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus for transmitting and receiving a packet, said communication apparatus comprising:

a packet receiving unit for receiving a packet;

an application data generating unit for generating application data including data at an application level and a priority at said application level based on importance of the data;

a lower-level packet generating unit for generating a packet by adding to said application data a header including a destination address and a source address at a level lower than said application level; and

a packet transmitting unit for transmitting said packet.

2. A communication apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said priority is described in an XML format.

3. A relay apparatus for relaying a packet, said relay apparatus comprising:

a packet receiving unit for receiving a packet;

a priority identifying unit for determining whether or not a priority is set in application data at an application level from said packet received by said packet receiving unit, and thereby identifying a first priority at said application level;

a priority control unit for renewing a field value for packet priority control in a header of said packet, the header being at a level lower than said application level, on the basis of said first priority; and

a packet transmitting unit for transmitting said packet.

4. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 3,

wherein when said priority is not set in said application data, said priority identifying unit identifies said first priority on the basis of information of said header of said packet.

5. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 3,

wherein said priority control unit renews a TOS field value on the basis of said first priority.

6. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 5,

wherein said priority control unit has a policy table in which a second priority is set for each source address or each destination address, searches said policy table for a source address or a destination address of said packet to determine a corresponding second priority, calculates a third priority from the second priority and the first priority of said packet, and sets a TOS field value corresponding to the third priority in a TOS field.

7. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 4,

wherein said priority control unit puts a packet in a packet transmission queue corresponding to a third priority, and said packet transmitting unit transmits the packet put in said packet transmission queue on the basis of said third priority corresponding to said packet transmission queue.

8. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 5, further including a plurality of transmission buffers corresponding to a third priority,

wherein said priority control unit-writes packets to the transmission buffers corresponding-to said third priority, and said packet transmitting unit performs priority control on the packets written to said transmission buffers.

9. A relay apparatus as set forth in claim 5,

wherein said priority control unit determines a second priority on the basis of a type of-protocol of a packet, calculates a third priority from the second priority and a first priority at the application level of the packet, and sets a TOS value corresponding to the third priority in a TOS field.

10. A communication system including a communication apparatus and a relay apparatus, said communication system comprising:

a first packet receiving unit disposed in said communication apparatus for receiving a packet;

an application data generating unit disposed in said communication apparatus for generating application data including data at an application level and a priority at said application level corresponding to importance of the data;

a lower-level packet generating unit disposed in said communication apparatus for generating a packet by adding to said application data a header including a destination address and a source address at a level lower than said application level;

a first packet transmitting unit disposed in said communication apparatus for transmitting said packet;

a second packet receiving unit disposed in said relay apparatus for receiving said packet transmitted from said communication apparatus;

a priority identifying unit disposed in said relay apparatus for determining whether a priority is set in said application data of said packet received by said second packet receiving unit, and thereby identifying a first priority at said application level;

a priority control unit disposed in said relay apparatus for renewing a TOS field value in the header of said packet, the header being at the level lower than said application level, on the basis of said first priority; and

a second packet transmitting unit disposed in said relay apparatus for transmitting said packet.