BRIDGE FOR HETEROGENEOUS QoS NETWORKS

• US 20080080534A1
• Filed: 09/19/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: JEONG, Yong Seok, LEE, Young Wook, AHN, Duck Ki, LEE, Kwang II, PARK, Dong Hwan, PARK, Jun Hee, MOON, Kyeong Deok, KIM, Chae Kyu
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,414 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2832 Interconnection of the control functionalities between home networks single bridge functionality H04L12/4625
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/786 Mapping reservation between domains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware

Abstract

A bridge for heterogeneous QoS networks is provided. The bridge comprises an UPnP QoS processing unit, a bridge function unit and at least two of network drive drivers. The UPnP QoS processing unit collects connection information connected through the networks and QoS requirement information thereof through an UPnP QoS structure. The bridge function unit establishes and releases connection by allocating resources based on the collected connection information and QoS requirement information, and performs a bridging operation according to connection information of a received frame. At least two of network device drivers are physically connected to the networks.

Claims

1. A bridge for heterogeneous QoS networks comprising:

an UPnP QoS processing unit for collecting connection information connected through the networks and QoS requirement information thereof through an UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) QoS (Quality of service) structure;

a bridge function unit for establishing and releasing connection by allocating resources based on the collected connection information and QoS requirement information, and performing a bridging operation according to connection information of a received frame; and

at least two of network device drivers physically connected to the networks for receiving data from a corresponding network and transferring the received data to the bridge function unit, or transmitting data from the bridge function unit to a corresponding network.

2. The bridge according to the claim 1, wherein the bridge function unit comprises:

an adaptive QoS managing unit for transforming the collected connection information of application service and the QoS requirement information thereof to global information to be processed in the bridge, and controlling the bridge function unit to perform a bridging operation for a requested application service and a QoS thereof;

a flow managing unit for storing connection information of each flow of application service established in each network and QoS information of a corresponding connection;

a bridge QoS processing unit for managing resources of the bridge in response to the control of the adaptive QoS manager, allocating resources required for establishing a connection, obtaining QoS information corresponding to connection information of a received frame, and providing a QoS based on the QoS information; and

at least two of network QoS processing unit for establishing a QoS of each network and monitoring a link state.

3. The bridge according to claim 2, wherein adaptive QoS managing unit comprises:

a global QoS transformer for transforming the collected QoS information of each service from the UPnP QoS processing unit to global QoS information; and

an adaptive QoS manager for providing the global QoS information and the connection information of each service to the flow managing unit, the bridge QoS processing unit, and the network QoS processing units, and requesting the flow managing unit, the bridge QoS processing unit, and the network QoS processing units to establish a connection and process a QoS thereof.

4. The bridge according to claim 2, wherein the flow managing unit comprises:

a flow manager for correlating connection information of each service transferred at the adaptive QoS managing unit and established connection information and MAC addresses of devices connected to each network; and

a connection table storing the correlated connection information and the established connection information and a MAC address of devices connected to each network from the flow manager.

5. The bridge according to claim 2, wherein the bridge QoS processing unit comprises:

an identifying unit for selecting connection registered corresponding to a received frame and an output interface with reference to information stored in the flow managing unit by extracting connection information from the receiving frame;

a scheduler for controlling a transmission schedule of a received frame according to a QoS of the selected connection from the identifying unit;

a buffer manager for reading the received frame in response to the control of the scheduler and transmitting the read frame through the network device driver;

a local QoS mapper for transforming the global QoS information from the adaptive QoS manager to local QoS information;

an admission controller for approving whether the request QoS is provided or not;

a local QoS monitor for monitoring a local QoS state; and

a local resource manager for obtaining QoS information locally required corresponding to the global QoS information through the local QoS mapper and the admission controller, determining whether it is possible to provide the QoS based on the obtained QoS information, and requesting the identifying unit, the scheduler and the buffer manager to allocate resources corresponding to the request QoS and to process the QoS if the request QoS is provided.

6. The bridge according to claim 2, wherein each of at least two of network QoS processing units comprises:

a device QoS mapper for transforming a global QoS of the adaptive QoS managing unit to a device QoS to be suitable to a corresponding network;

a link monitor for monitoring link states of all connections established in a corresponding network; and

a device connection manager for requesting a corresponding network device to establish or to release a QoS connection for each service flow using connection information of each service provided from the adaptive QoS managing unit and the transformed QoS information, and providing the monitored state value of the link monitor to the adaptive QoS managing unit.