System and method for traffic localization

• US 20070253371A1
• Filed: 04/17/2007
• Published: 11/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramankutty, Rajesh, Chowdhury, Kuntal, Harper, Matthew, Radhakrishnan, Shaji, Puthiyandyil, Sanil
• Granted Patent: US 7,885,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/34 Modification of an existing route
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/082 for traffic bypassing of mobility servers, e.g. location registers, home PLMNs or home agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

Systems and methods for bridging packet flows to bypass call legs and/or tunnels are provided. A tunnel initiator, which can be an access gateway, a foreign agent, and a mobility anchor point, for example, provides a bypass for certain packets that have a destination serviced by the same tunnel initiator. The bridge allows the packets to bypass a backhaul loop and reduces latency and frees bandwidth for other purposes in the network. The bridging can be implemented in a tunnel initiator for mobile to mobile packet flows, mobile to land line packet flows, and land line to mobile packet flows. Route optimization can also be provided in certain embodiments.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a tunnel initiator including a first session and a second session;

a tunnel terminator in communication with the tunnel terminator and including at least one session;

the tunnel initiator including a processor that obtains information regarding the first session and the second session, compares session information in the tunnel initiator, and determines if a bridge can be established;

the bridge which couples a matching first session and second session for packet data to flow from the matching first session to the matching second session on the tunnel initiator; and

the tunnel initiator sending updates to the tunnel terminator regarding packet data flowing through the bridge.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the tunnel initiator is an access gateway.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the tunnel terminator is a home agent.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising the tunnel initiator receiving a Voice over IP (VoIP) application request from a mobile node.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a second tunnel initiator in operative communication with the tunnel initiator and receiving a communication from a mobile node; and

the tunnel initiator providing the second tunnel initiator with information to handoff the call session and the tunnel initiator ending bridging.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a table residing in the tunnel initiator and including the tunnel terminator address.

7. A method comprising:

receiving a packet at a tunnel initiator;

checking the packet to determine if the packet can be bridged;

sending the packet from a first session to a second session on the tunnel initiator;

sending the packet to the packet'"'"'s destination; and

updating a tunnel terminator regarding a packet flow from the first session to the second session.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising initiating a Voice over IP (VoIP) application type for voice conversation using the tunnel initiator.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising monitoring bridged call sessions to enforce security policies.

10. A method comprising:

creating a first session instance on a tunnel initiator;

inspecting packets associated with the first session instance and retrieving information from the packets;

associating the information obtained from the packet with the first session;

checking if a second session exists on the tunnel initiator that includes information matching the first session;

creating a bridge between the first session and the second session after a match is found; and

sending a packet from the first session to the second session over the bridge.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising initiating a Voice over IP (VoIP) application type for voice conversation using the tunnel initiator.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending periodic statistics updates to a tunnel terminator to inform the tunnel terminator about bridged packets.