Time-based authorization of Internet Protocol (IP) multicast subscription services

• US 20080205396A1
• Filed: 04/04/2007
• Published: 08/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dakshinamoorthy, Karthik, Mariappan, Revati
• Granted Patent: US 8,259,721 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains

Abstract

A switching device (e.g., router, bridge) provides time-based authorization of multicast services. When a message is received to request the delivery of a multicast service or a first message is sent to a multicast group, a subscription policy for the IP multicast subscription service is retrieved. This subscription policy includes one or more limitations which allow the IP multicast subscription service during some predefined time of day/week or duration but prevent the IP multicast subscription service during some predefined time of day/week or duration. The switching device is configured to enforce these time-based authorization of multicast services policies.

Claims

1. A method performed by a packet switching device, the packet switching device including an interface, the method comprising:

receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) multicast group message on the interface, the IP multicast group message specifying an IP multicast group address of an IP multicast subscription service;

determining based on said specified IP multicast group address a subscription policy, the subscription policy defining one or more time-based restrictions from a group of time-based elements which allows participation in the multicast group for a limited portion of time greater than zero and less than all time; and

in response to determining that the IP multicast subscription service currently conforms to said determined subscription policy, forwarding packets identified with the IP multicast subscription service out of the packet switching device via the interface, or in response to determining that the IP multicast subscription service does not currently conform to said determined subscription policy, not forwarding packets belonging to the IP multicast subscription service out of the packet switching device via the interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the subscription policy includes performing a lookup operation based on said specified IP multicast group address in a time authorization data structure tangibly stored in the packet switching device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription policy defines a duration of time authorized for the IP multicast subscription service;

and wherein in response to said determining that the IP multicast subscription service currently conforms to the subscription policy, a scheduling operation is performed to cause the termination of the forwarding of packets belonging to the IP multicast subscription service from the interface in response to the expiration of the time duration.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said scheduling operation includes setting a timer to indicate end of the time duration.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said determining the subscription policy includes performing a lookup operation based on said specified IP multicast group address in a time authorization data structure tangibly stored in the packet switching device;

and wherein in response to the expiration of the time duration, updating the time authorization data structure to reflect the expiration of the duration of time authorized for the IP multicast subscription service for the interface.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said determining the subscription policy includes performing a lookup operation based on said specified IP multicast group address in a time authorization data structure tangibly stored in the packet switching device;

and wherein in response to the interface disconnecting with the IP multicast subscription service, updating the time authorization data structure to reflect the time used by the interface for the IP multicast subscription service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said operation of determining the subscription policy includes communicating with a subscription server external to the packet switching device to receive a description of the subscription policy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet switching device is a router.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet switching device is a bridge.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the IP multicast group message is an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the IGMP message is an IGMP response message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the IP multicast group message is a message from a multicast source for the IP multicast subscription service.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription policy specifies a particular time-based restriction of said time-based restrictions for when a particular source can send packets to the IP multicast subscription service.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the IP multicast subscription service is a bi-directional service such that a host connected to the interface can also be a multicast source of the IP multicast subscription service, and wherein the subscription policy defines a finite time period during which the host is authorized to be a multicast source of the IP multicast subscription service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the IP multicast subscription service includes participation in a conference call.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said time-based restrictions specifies a time of day.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said time-based restrictions specifies a day of the week.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said time-based restrictions specifies a time allocation.

19. Logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to perform operations comprising:

determining for a received IP multicast group message specifying an IP multicast group address of an IP multicast subscription service a subscription policy, the subscription policy defining one or more time-based restrictions from a group of time-based elements which allows participation in the multicast group for a limited portion of time greater than zero and less than all time; and

in response to determining that the IP multicast subscription service currently conforms to the subscription policy identified by said determining operation, forwarding packets identified with the IP multicast subscription service, or in response to determining that the IP multicast subscription service does not currently conform to the subscription policy, not forwarding packets belonging to the IP multicast subscription service.

20. The logic of claim 19, wherein said determining the subscription policy includes performing a lookup operation based on said specified IP multicast group address in a tangibly stored time authorization data structure.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of interfaces configured to send and receive packets;

means for determining for a received IP multicast group message specifying an IP multicast group address of an IP multicast subscription service a subscription policy, the subscription policy defining one or more time-based restrictions from a group of time-based elements which allows participation in the multicast group for a limited portion of time greater than zero and less than all time; and

means for causing packets to be forwarded or not to be forwarded in response to determining whether or not the IP multicast subscription service currently conforms to the subscription policy.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the subscription policy defines a duration of time authorized for the IP multicast subscription service;

and wherein the apparatus includes means for causing the termination of the forwarding of packets belonging to the IP multicast subscription service from the interface in response to the expiration of the time duration.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said means for determining the subscription policy includes means for performing a lookup operation on a time authorization data structure tangibly stored in the apparatus to retrieve a definition of the subscription policy from the time authorization data structure;

and wherein the apparatus includes means for updating the time authorization data structure to reflect the time used for the IP multicast subscription service in response to a disconnection with the IP multicast subscription service.