Packet routing via payload inspection for quality of service management

• US 20040073701A1
• Filed: 07/08/2003
• Published: 04/15/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Precache Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Precache Incorporated
• Inventors: Fung, Alex W.P., Yajnik, Shalini, Huang, Yennun, Yang, Ping-Fai, Chen, Tsu-Wei, Lin, Chih-Mei
• Granted Patent: US 7,587,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/240
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Packet routing via payload inspection at routers in a core of a distributed network for use in distributing content according to quality of service guarantees. Packets contain subjects and attributes in addition to routing information. The subjects correspond with particular types of content for subscriptions, and the attributes encapsulate the data or content. The subscriptions are associated with particular quality of service guarantees or levels of service. The routers store filters corresponding with subscriptions to content. Upon receiving a packet, a router inspects the payload section of the packet containing the attributes in order to retrieve the attributes and match them to the filters for the subscriptions. If the attributes satisfies a filter, the packet is routed to the next link in accordance with the quality of service guarantee associated with that filter. If the attributes do not satisfy any of the filters injected to and stored at the router, the router discards the packet. These routing decisions are distributed among routers in the network core.

Claims

1. A method for routing packets in a network in conjunction with a quality of service guarantee, comprising:

receiving a packet having a header section and a payload section;

inspecting the payload section of the packet in a network core for use in determining how to route the packet;

determining a quality of service guarantee for the packet; and

selectively routing the packet based upon the inspecting and the quality of service guarantee.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the inspecting step includes determining whether information in the payload section matches content predicate information in a structure associating the content predicate information with corresponding network destinations.

3. The method of claim 1, further including performing the inspecting step at a router in the network core.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the inspecting step includes matching a filter to information in the payload section.

5. The method of claim 4, further including propagating the filter to a router in the network for use in performing the inspecting.

6. The method of claim 1, further including programming a router in the network for performing the receiving, inspecting, and routing steps.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the inspecting step includes inspecting attributes for use in determining how to route the packet or whether to drop the packet altogether.

8. A method for routing messages in a network, comprising:

receiving a message having a header section, at least one subject, and at least one attribute;

retrieving the subject and the attribute from the message;

retrieving a subscription based upon the subject;

determining a quality of service guarantee for the message;

applying the attribute to the subscription in a network core in order to determine how to route the message; and

selectively routing the message based upon the applying and the quality of service guarantee.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the retrieving the subscription step includes retrieving a filter corresponding with the subscription.

10. The method of claim 8, further including routing the message if the attribute satisfies the subscription.

11. The method of claim 8, further including discarding the message if the attribute does not satisfy the subscription.

12. The method of claim 8, further including:

retrieving a plurality of filters corresponding with a plurality of subscriptions;

retrieving a plurality of attributes from the message;

matching each of the attributes to each of the filters to determine if any of the corresponding subscriptions are satisfied; and

selectively routing the message based upon whether any of the subscriptions are satisfied.

13. The method of claim 8, further including performing the inspecting step at a router in the network core.

14. An apparatus for routing packets in a network in conjunction with a quality of service guarantee, comprising:

a module for receiving a packet having a header section and a payload section;

at least one module for inspecting the payload section of the packet in a network core for use in determining how to route the packet;

a module for determining a quality of service guarantee for the packet; and

a module for selectively routing the packet based upon the inspection results obtained from and the quality-of-service guarantees determined by the steps above.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the inspecting module includes a module for determining whether information in the payload section matches content predicate information in a structure associating the content predicate information with corresponding network destinations or corresponding rules governing in-router processing.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, further including a module for performing the inspecting step at a router in the network core.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the inspecting module includes a module for matching a filter to information in the payload section.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further including a module for propagating the filter to a router in the network for use in performing the inspecting.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, further including a module for programming a router in the network for performing the receiving, inspecting, and processing.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is a router.

21. An apparatus for routing messages in a network, comprising:

a module for receiving a message having a header section, at least one subject, and at least one attribute;

a module for retrieving the subject and the attribute from the message;

a module for retrieving a subscription based upon the subject;

a module for matching the attribute to the subscription in a network core in order to determine how to route the message; and

a module for determining a quality of service guarantee for the packet.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the module for retrieving the subscription includes a module for retrieving a filter corresponding with the subscription.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, further including a module for selective routing the message if the attribute satisfies the subscription and based on the quality of service guarantee.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, further including a module for discarding the message if the attribute does not satisfy any of the subscriptions stored at the router.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, further including:

a module for retrieving a plurality of filters corresponding with a plurality of subscriptions;

a module for retrieving a plurality of attributes from the message;

a filtering module for matching each of the attributes to each of the filters to determine if any of the corresponding subscriptions are satisfied; and

a module for selectively routing the message based upon whether any of the subscriptions are satisfied.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, further including one or more modules for performing the filtering step at a router in the network core.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the apparatus is a router.