DYNAMICALLY ADJUSTING BANDWIDTH USAGE AMONG SUBSCRIBER STREAMS

• US 20080144660A1
• Filed: 12/19/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Scientific-Atlanta LLC (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Godlewski, Marcin
• Granted Patent: US 8,654,638 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/187 Details of sliding window management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for adjusting bandwidth of streams carried on a subscriber loop. One exemplary method comprises the steps of: determining bandwidth in use on a subscriber loop; selecting, for adjustment, at least one of a plurality of TCP streams carried on the subscriber loop; and adjusting at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the bandwidth in use. An exemplary multimedia terminal adapter (MTA) comprises memory and a processor. The memory stores program code, and the code programs the processor to enable the MTA to: determine bandwidth in use on a subscriber loop; select, for adjustment, at least one of a plurality of TCP streams carried on the subscriber loop; and adjust at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the bandwidth in use.

Claims

1. A method, performed in a multimedia terminal adapter (MTA), of adjusting bandwidth of streams carried on a subscriber loop, the method comprising the steps of:

determining bandwidth in use on the subscriber loop;

selecting, for adjustment, at least one of a plurality of TCP streams carried on the subscriber loop; and

adjusting at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the bandwidth in use.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, for each of the plurality of TCP streams received by a protocol stack, subscriber loop bandwidth used by each of the TCP streams; and

adjusting the at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the subscriber loop bandwidth used by the selected TCP stream.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a measure of total bandwidth in use on the subscriber loop.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the flow control parameter comprises a sliding window size or an acknowledgement delay.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting step is responsive to the bandwidth in use reaching a predefined threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the bandwidth passing a predefined threshold, decreasing a sliding window size of the selected TCP stream.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the bandwidth passing a predefined threshold, increasing an acknowledgement delay of the selected TCP stream.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the bandwidth passing a predefined threshold, increasing an acknowledgement delay of the selected TCP stream.

8. A multimedia terminal adapter (MTA) comprising:

memory having stored thereon program code; and

a processor that is programmed by at least the program code to enable the MTA to;

determine bandwidth in use on the subscriber loop;

select, for adjustment, at least one of a plurality of TCP streams carried on the subscriber loop; and

adjust at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the bandwidth in use.

9. The MTA of claim 8, wherein the processor is further programmed to enable the MTA to:

determine, for each of a plurality of TCP streams received by a protocol stack, subscriber loop bandwidth used by each of the TCP streams; and

adjust at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the subscriber loop bandwidth used by the selected TCP stream.

10. The MTA of claim 8, wherein the processor is further programmed to enable the MTA to:

determine a measure of total bandwidth in use on a subscriber loop.

11. The MTA of claim 8, wherein the flow control parameter comprises a sliding window size or an acknowledgement delay.

12. The MTA of claim 8, wherein the adjusting step is responsive to the bandwidth in use reaching a predefined threshold.

13. The MTA of claim 8, wherein the processor is further programmed to enable the MTA to:

responsive to the bandwidth passing a predefined threshold, decrease a sliding window size of the selected TCP stream.

15. A computer-readable medium having a computer program for processing data comprising:

logic configured to determine bandwidth in use on a subscriber loop;

logic configured to select, for adjustment, at least one of a plurality of TCP streams carried on the subscriber loop; and

logic configured to adjust at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the bandwidth in use.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

logic configured to determine for each of a plurality of TCP streams received by a protocol stack, subscriber loop bandwidth used by each of the TCP streams; and

logic configured to adjust at least one flow control parameter of the selected TCP stream based on the subscriber loop bandwidth used by the selected TCP stream.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

logic configured to determine a measure of total bandwidth in use on a subscriber loop.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the flow control parameter comprises a sliding window size or an acknowledgement delay.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the logic configured to adjust is responsive to the bandwidth in use reaching a predefined threshold.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15, further comprising:

logic configured to, responsive to the bandwidth passing a predefined threshold, decrease a sliding window size of the selected TCP stream.