Distribution of communications between paths

• US 20050152390A1
• Filed: 01/12/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Gostin, Gary Belgrave, Warner, Craig W., Schroeder, Michael A., Shaw, Mark Edward
• Granted Patent: US 7,406,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/432
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/243 using M+N parallel active paths

Abstract

Distributing communications between paths, comprises providing a plurality of destinations, providing a plurality of communications paths such that each of the plurality of destinations can be accessed over each of the plurality of communications paths, defining destination addresses interleaved over the plurality of destinations, sending communications from a source to a plurality of the interleaved addresses, and selecting different ones of the plurality of paths for successive communications that are sent to addresses on different destinations, wherein the path for a communication is selected using at least a part of the address of the communication.

Claims

1. A method of distributing communications between paths, comprising:

providing a plurality of destinations;

providing a plurality of communications paths such that the plurality of destinations can be accessed over the plurality of communications paths;

defining destination addresses;

sending messages from a source to a plurality of the destination addresses; and

selecting different ones of the plurality of paths for successive messages in a series of messages having sequential addresses;

wherein the path for a message is selected using part of the address of the message.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising providing a plurality of destinations, and wherein the destination addresses are interleaved over the plurality of destinations.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of destinations are a plurality of devices.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the destination addresses are defined in rows, each row is interleaved over a plurality of columns, each column is assigned to a destination device, and the number of columns is greater than or equal to the number of devices, comprising interleaving the columns over the destination devices, and selecting different ones of the plurality of paths for successive messages to the same destination device in a series of messages having sequential addresses within the same row of addresses.

5. A method according to claim 1, comprising sending messages from a plurality of sources, wherein the path for a message is selected in dependence on the source of the message.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein different pluralities of destinations are accessible over different numbers of paths, comprising generating a sequence having more distinct values than the greatest number of paths, and mapping the distinct values to the available paths for each destination.

7. A method according to claim 1, comprising generating the distinct values with unequal frequencies, and mapping the distinct values to the available paths with equal frequency for each path.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of destinations is accessible over up to three paths, comprising generating first and second distinct values one-third of the time each, and third and fourth values one-sixth of the time each, and mapping the first distinct value to one of three paths, the second distinct value to another of the three paths, and the third and fourth distinct values to the third of the three paths, mapping the first and third distinct values to one of two paths and mapping the second and fourth distinct values to the other of the two paths, and mapping all four distinct values to a single path.

9. A method of distributing communications between paths, comprising:

assigning a selection number to each of a plurality of destinations, wherein each destination is accessible over a plurality of data paths;

sending sequential messages to addresses interleaved over the destinations;

combining the selection number with a part of the address more significant than the part used for interleaving; and

selecting one of said plurality of common data paths for each message on the basis of the combination.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the step of combining comprises adding the selection number to the said part of the address.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein the adding is adding modulo the number of available paths.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein the step of selecting comprises mapping the result of the adding step to a path.

13. A method of distributing communications between paths, comprising:

defining destination addresses in rows, each row interleaved over a plurality of columns;

sending successive messages to a plurality of the destination addresses, wherein each of the plurality of destination addresses is accessible over a plurality of common data paths;

within a row of addresses, selecting successive paths for messages to successive columns; and

for the first column of each row of addresses, selecting a path different from the path selected for the first column of the previous row.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the path for each message is selected using the column number of the destination address for the message.

15. A method according to claim 13, wherein the path for each message is selected using the row number of the destination address for the message.

16. A method according to claim 13 wherein the plurality of destination columns are interleaved over a smaller plurality of destination devices, comprising:

calculating the path for each message using a rotation number in combination with the column number of the destination address for the message;

for the first device visited;

comparing the calculated path with the path used for the first device in the previous visit;

if the calculated path is the same as the path used in the previous visit, changing the rotation number and recalculating the path for the first device; and

for the remainder of the devices calculating the path using the most recent rotation number.

17. A communications system, comprising:

a source for messages;

a plurality of destinations having defined destination addresses;

a plurality of communications paths such that messages can be sent to the plurality of destinations from the source over the plurality of communications paths;

wherein the system is arranged to select different ones of the plurality of paths for successive messages in a series of messages from the source having sequential addresses;

wherein the path for a message is selected using part of the destination address of the message.

18. A system according to claim 17, comprising a plurality of destinations, and wherein the destination addresses are interleaved over the plurality of destinations.

19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the plurality of destinations are a plurality of devices.

20. A system according to claim 19, wherein the destination addresses are defined in rows, each row is interleaved over a plurality of columns, each column is assigned to a destination device, the number of columns is greater than or equal to the number of devices, and the columns are interleaved over the destination devices, and the system is arranged to select different ones of the plurality of paths for successive messages to the same destination device in a series of messages having sequential addresses within the same row of addresses.

21. A system according to claim 17, comprising plurality of sources for messages, wherein the path for a message is selected in dependence on the source of the message.

22. A system according to claim 21, wherein the sources for messages are devices that are also destinations for messages.

23. A system according to claim 17, wherein different pluralities of destinations are accessible over different numbers of paths, comprising a destination map associating selection numbers having more distinct values than the greatest number of paths with sequential addresses, and a path selector arranged to map the distinct values to the available paths for each destination.

24. A system according to claim 23, wherein the selection numbers are present in the destination map with unequal frequencies, and the path selector is arranged to map the distinct values to the available paths with equal frequency for each path.

25. A communications system, comprising:

a selection number assigned to each of a plurality of destinations, wherein each destination is accessible over a plurality of data paths;

first means for sending sequential messages to addresses interleaved over the destinations;

second means for combining the selection number with a part of the address more significant than the part used for interleaving; and

third means for selecting one of said plurality of common data paths for each message on the basis of the combination.

26. A system according to claim 25, wherein the second means is for adding the selection number to the said part of the address.

27. A system according to claim 26, wherein the adding comprises adding modulo the number of available paths.

28. A system according to claim 25, wherein the third means is for mapping the result of the adding step to a path.

31. A system according to claim 28, wherein the source is arranged to select the path for each message using the row number of the destination address for the message.

29. A system of distributing communications between paths, comprising:

a source arranged to send successive messages to a plurality of destination addresses defined in rows, each row interleaved over a plurality of columns, wherein each of the plurality of destination addresses is accessible over a plurality of common data paths;

wherein the source is arranged to select successive paths for messages to successive columns within a row of addresses; and

wherein for the first column of each row of addresses, the source is arranged to select a path different from the path selected for the first column of the previous row.

30. A system according to claim 29, wherein the source is arranged to select the path for each message using the column number of the destination address for the message.