Method and system for network management in a hybrid wired/wireless network

• US 20040049570A1
• Filed: 09/09/2003
• Published: 03/11/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, Richard, Frank, Ed H.
• Application Number:
  US10/658,514
• Publication Number:
  US 20040049570A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1607 Details of the supervisory signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2876 Handling of subscriber policies group policies management H04L41/0893
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/767 after changing the attachment point, e.g. after hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/785 among multiple network domains, e.g. multilateral agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/205 Quality of Service based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/351 for local area network [LAN], e.g. Ethernet switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 : for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 : specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 : Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 : Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 : Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 : Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 : Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/323 : in the physical layer [OSI layer 1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 : in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 : in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/16 : for PBS [Private Base Station] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 : Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0861 : between base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 : Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices

Abstract

Aspects of the invention may provide a system and method for network management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network. A method for network management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network may include receiving from a first access point and/or a first switch, a first messaging protocol message containing quality of service (QoS) information. Responsive to the first messaging protocol message, at least a minimum QoS level for operation of the first switch, the first access point, a second access point and/or a second switch, may be determined. QoS information corresponding to at least the minimum QoS level may be distributed to the first switch, the first access point, the second access point and the second switch, using a second messaging protocol message. QoS information may be distributed to at least a portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network.

Claims

1. A method for providing network management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network, the method comprising:

receiving from at least one of a first access point and a first switch, a first messaging protocol message containing quality of service (QoS) information;

responsive to said first messaging protocol message, determining at least a minimum QoS level for operation of at least one of said first switch, said first access point, a second access point, and a second switch; and

distributing QoS information corresponding to said determined at least a minimum QoS level to at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch, using a second messaging protocol message.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing access to at least one of a plurality access devices based on said distributed QoS information.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising queuing traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising prioritizing said traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising scheduling access by at least one of said plurality of access devices to at least one of said first and said second access points.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said distributing further comprises distributing said QoS information to at least a portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising allocating bandwidth to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising balancing a load on at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein each of said first and second messaging protocol messages comprises at least one message selected from the group consisting of an access point status message, access point configuration message, a switch status message, a switch configuration message, a client status message and a device discovery message.

10. A machine-readable storage, having stored thereon a computer program having at least one code section for providing network management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network, the at least one code section executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the steps comprising:

receiving from at least one of a first access point and a first switch, a first messaging protocol message containing quality of service (QoS) information;

responsive to said first messaging protocol message, determining at least a minimum QoS level for operation of at least one of said first switch, said first access point, a second access point, and a second switch; and

distributing QoS information corresponding to said determined at least a minimum QoS level to at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch, using a second messaging protocol message.

11. The machine-readable storage according to claim 10, further comprising code for providing access to at least one of a plurality access devices based on said distributed QoS information.

12. The machine-readable storage according to claim 11, further comprising code for queuing traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

13. The machine-readable storage according to claim 12, further comprising code for prioritizing said traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

14. The machine-readable storage according to claim 10, further comprising code for scheduling access by at least one of said plurality of access devices to at least one of said first and said second access points.

15. The machine-readable storage according to claim 10, wherein said distributing further comprises code for distributing said QoS information to at least a portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network.

16. The machine-readable storage according to claim 10, further comprising code for allocating bandwidth to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

17. The machine-readable storage according to claim 10, further comprising code for balancing a load on at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

18. The machine-readable storage according to claim 18, wherein each of said first and second messaging protocol messages comprises at least one message selected from the group consisting of an access point status message, access point configuration message, a switch status message, a switch configuration message, a client status message and a device discovery message.

19. A system for providing network management in a hybrid wired/wireless local area network, the system comprising:

at least one receiver adapted to receive from at least one of a first access point and a first switch, a first messaging protocol message containing quality of service (QoS) information;

at least one controller adapted to determine at least a minimum QoS level for operation of at least one of said first switch, said first access point, a second access point, and a second switch in response to said first messaging protocol message; and

said at least one controller adapted to distribute QoS information corresponding to said determined at least a minimum QoS level to at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch, using a second messaging protocol message.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to provide access to at least one of a plurality access devices based on said distributed QoS information.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to queue traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to prioritize said traffic associated with at least one of said plurality of access devices to maintain said determined at least a minimum QoS level.

23. The system according to claim 19, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to schedule access by at least one of said plurality of access devices to at least one of said first and said second access points.

24. The system according to claim 19, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to distribute said QoS information to at least a portion of the hybrid wired/wireless local area network.

25. The system according to claim 19, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to allocate bandwidth to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

26. The system according to claim 19, wherein said at least one controller is further adapted to balance a load on at least one of said first switch, said first access point, said second access point and said second switch to maintain said at least a minimum QoS level.

27. The system according to claim 26, wherein each of said first and second messaging protocol messages comprises at least one message selected from the group consisting of an access point status message, access point configuration message, a switch status message, a switch configuration message, a client status message and a device discovery message.