Methods and Apparatus for Prevention of Excessive Control Message Traffic in a Digital Networking System

• US 20080037441A1
• Filed: 07/21/2006
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Agere Systems Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vedantham, Sundar, Kataria, Deepak, Kim, Seong-Hwan
• Granted Patent: US 7,971,247 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• 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 12/2896 Distributed processing, e.g. on line cards
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for use with an integrated circuit device of a processing device of a network node of a digital networking system, configured to monitor one or more control messages received at the processing device from each of a plurality of CPE devices, and limiting the one or more control messages to one or more specified rates for a specified duration. The integrated circuit device is further configured to provide one or more data channels to the plurality of CPE devices from the processing device in response to the one or more control messages processed at the processing device.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit device for use in a processing device of a network node of a digital networking system, wherein the integrated circuit device is configured to monitor one or more control messages received at the processing device from each of a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, limit the one or more control messages to one or more specified rates for a corresponding specified duration, and provide one or more data channels to the plurality of CPE devices from the processing device in response to the one or more control messages processed at the processing device.

2. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit device is further configured to intercept the one or more control messages from each of the plurality of CPE devices corresponding to one or more requested data channels, receive a plurality of data channels comprising at least the one or more requested data channels from a data server of the digital networking system, and provide the one or more requested data channels to each of the plurality of CPE devices.

3. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, wherein the one or more specified rates comprise at least a first specified rate and a second specified rate, and wherein a corresponding specified duration for the first specified rate is shorter than a corresponding specified duration for the second specified rate.

4. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, comprising a field programmable gate array device.

5. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, comprising an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) device

6. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more control messages comprises an Internet group multicast protocol signal.

7. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, wherein the processing device comprises a line card.

8. The integrated circuit device of claim 7, wherein the integrated circuit device is adapted to be in communication with a backplane device of the line card that is adapted to be in communication with a backplane device of an uplink card and configured to provide the plurality of data channels to the integrated circuit device.

9. The integrated circuit device of claim 8, wherein the integrated circuit device is adapted to be in communication with a processor that is adapted to be in communication with the backplane device of the line card.

10. The integrated circuit device of claim 7, wherein the integrated circuit device is adapted to be in communication with a universal bridge of the line card that is adapted to be in communication with a switching fabric of an uplink card and configured to provide the plurality of data channels to the integrated circuit device.

11. The integrated circuit device of claim 10, wherein the integrated circuit device is adapted to be in communication with a processor that is adapted to be in communication with the universal bridge of the line card.

12. The integrated circuit device of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit device is adapted to be in communication with one or more modem stations for communication with one or more modems in association with each of the plurality of CPE devices.

13. An apparatus for use in a network node of a digital networking system comprising at least one processing device comprising an integrated circuit device configured to monitor one or more control messages received at the at least one processing device from each of a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPE) devices, limit the one or more control messages to one or more specified rates for a corresponding specified duration, and provide one or more data channels to the plurality of CPE devices from the at least one processing device in response to the one or more control messages processed at the at least one processing device.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more specified rates comprise at least a first specified rate and a second specified rate, and wherein a corresponding specified duration for the first specified rate is shorter than a corresponding specified duration for the second specified rate.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processing device comprises at least one line card.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising an uplink card adapted to be in communication with the at least one line card, and configured to receive the plurality of data channels from the data server of the digital networking system and transmit the plurality of data channels to the at least one line card.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the uplink card comprises a multi-protocol network processor and a backplane device in communication with the network processor.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the uplink card comprises a multi-protocol network processor and a switching fabric in communication with the network processor.

19. A method of preventing excessive control message traffic in a digital networking system comprising the steps of:

monitoring one or more control messages received at a processing device of a network node of the digital networking system from each of a plurality of customer premises equipment (CPE) devices;

limiting the one or more control messages to one or more specified rates for a corresponding specified duration;

providing one or more data channels to the plurality of CPE devices from the processing device in response to the one or more control messages processed at the processing device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, in the step of limiting the one or more control messages, the one or more specified rates comprise at least a first specified rate and a second specified rate, and wherein a corresponding specified duration for the first specified rate is shorter than a corresponding specified duration for the second specified rate.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein, in the step of limiting the one or more control messages, the one or more control messages received are aggregated and the one or more specified rates correspond to a number of CPE devices corresponding to the one or more aggregated control messages.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of limiting the one or more control messages comprises the step of intercepting the one or more control messages, each corresponding to a requested data channel and from a CPE device, at the processing device.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein, in the steps of intercepting the one or more control messages and providing the one or more requested data channels, the one or more CPE devices are in communication with the processing device through a modem.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of limiting the one or more control messages comprises the step of measuring a fine grained flow of the one or more control messages.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of providing one or more data channels comprises the steps of:

receiving a plurality of data channels at the processing device of the network node from a data server of the digital networking system; and

providing the one or more requested data channels to the plurality of CPE devices from the processing device through an integrated circuit device of the processing device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the processing device comprises a line card.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of receiving a plurality of data channels further comprises the step of receiving a plurality of data channels from a data server through an uplink card of the network node in communication with the line card.

28. A digital networking system comprising:

a data server configured to transmit a plurality of data channels;

one or more customer premises equipment (CPE) devices configured to transmit one or more control messages each corresponding to a requested data channel; and

at least one network node comprising at least one processing device having an integrated circuit device configured to monitor one or more control messages received from each of the one or more CPE devices, limit the one or more control messages to one or more specified rates for a corresponding specified duration, and provide one or more data channels to one or more CPE devices in response to the one or more control messages processed at the at least one processing device.