Transparent, look-up-free packet forwarding method for optimizing global network throughput based on real-time route status
First Claim
1. A packet forwarding method for delivering data packets across a communications network, wherein the network comprises a set of ingress and egress ports, and provides routes for delivering packets among a set of nodes that interface with the network through the ingress and egress ports, with a set of nodes reachable to each other via the routes across the network referred to as a set of next-hop destinations to each other, and wherein the network determines whether to deliver a packet arrived on an ingress port to a particular egress port based at least in part on a forwarding identifier included in the packet and on network status, wherein the network status includes:
- i) current reachability of one or more of the set of next-hop destinations; and
ii) current traffic load level on a route or routes across the network to one or more of the set of next-hop destinations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A packet forwarding method for optimizing packet traffic flow across communications networks and simplifying network management. The invention provides look-up-free and packet-layer-protocol transparent forwarding of multi-protocol packet traffic among Layer-N (N=2 or upper in the ISO OSI model) nodes. The invention enables flexible and efficient packet multicast and anycast capabilities along with real-time dynamic load balancing and fast packet-level traffic protection rerouting. Applications include fast and efficient packet traffic forwarding across administrative domains of Internet, such as an ISP'"'"'s backbone or an enterprise virtual private network, as well as passing packet traffic over a neutral Internet exchange facility between different administrative domains.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. A packet forwarding method for delivering data packets across a communications network,
wherein the network comprises a set of ingress and egress ports, and provides routes for delivering packets among a set of nodes that interface with the network through the ingress and egress ports, with a set of nodes reachable to each other via the routes across the network referred to as a set of next-hop destinations to each other, and wherein the network determines whether to deliver a packet arrived on an ingress port to a particular egress port based at least in part on a forwarding identifier included in the packet and on network status, wherein the network status includes: - i) current reachability of one or more of the set of next-hop destinations; and
ii) current traffic load level on a route or routes across the network to one or more of the set of next-hop destinations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- i) current reachability of one or more of the set of next-hop destinations; and
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12. A process for maximizing throughput of packet traffic across a network, the network comprising a set of interfaces for exchanging data packets between a set of upper-layer nodes interconnected by the network, and a capability to provide a set of alternative routes to deliver a packet arrived into the network to a proper upper-layer next-hop destination node indicated by a forwarding identifier of the packet, the process comprising a set of process steps including:
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receiving, by the network, sequences of data packets from the upper-layer nodes it interconnects via their associated interfaces;
monitoring, by a network interface on which a packet arrived, a status of the set of individual alternative routes to deliver the packet, wherein the monitored status of a route includes a traffic load level on the route and reachability of the next-hop destination of the route;
selecting, by the network interface on which the packet arrived, depending on the monitored status of the individual alternative routes, a suitable route of the set of alternative routes to deliver the packet; and
delivering the packet along the selected route across the network to its next-hop destination node. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A network system for delivering data packets among a set of upper-layer nodes, the network system providing:
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a set of external interfaces for passing packets between the upper-layer nodes and the network system;
a set of routes for delivering packets across the network system between the external interfaces; and
a capability to deliver a packet arrived on an external interface to the other external interfaces for transmitting the packet to their associated upper-layer nodes, with such set of upper-layer nodes referred to as a set of next-hop destinations to the upper-layer node where the packet arrived from, wherein the network system determines to which individual one or ones of the set of next-hop destinations it delivers a packet based at least in part on a set of one or more forwarding instructions carried within the packet, and on a route status information of the routes leading to the set of next-hop destinations, and wherein the route status information includes i) reachability of its next-hop destination, and ii) traffic load level on the route. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification