System and Method for Bandwidth Control

• US 20090059791A1
• Filed: 09/04/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Saxena, Sanjay
• Granted Patent: US 8,559,310 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications

Abstract

A method for bandwidth control includes maintaining priority rules for IP traffic. The method further includes determining current traffic characteristics associated with at least a portion of the IP traffic. The method also includes modifying a priority level based in part on the current traffic characteristics. In one embodiment, the method includes modifying a priority level based on a priority level associated with another user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier. In accordance with another embodiment, priority levels are modified in a plurality of networks or network elements.

Claims

1. A method for managing Internet Protocol traffic, comprising:

maintaining priority rules associated with Internet Protocol traffic for a plurality of users, applications, protocol types, or interface identifiers, wherein each priority rule comprises a priority level associated with a user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic;

determining current traffic characteristics associated with at least a portion of the Internet Protocol traffic;

automatically modifying a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises automatically modifying a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on a priority level associated with another user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of network elements, and automatically modifying a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics occurs in at least two of the plurality of network elements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of networks, and automatically modifying a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics occurs in at least two of the plurality of networks.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying a priority level comprises allocating a minimum amount of bandwidth to the Internet Protocol traffic of the given user, application, or protocol ID.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically modifying a priority level comprises allocating a maximum amount of bandwidth to the Internet Protocol traffic of the given user, application, or protocol ID.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority level for Internet Protocol traffic is based on a source Internet Protocol address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority level for Internet Protocol traffic is based on a destination Internet Protocol address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority level for Internet Protocol traffic is based on a port number.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein each network element is governed by different priority rules.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the current traffic characteristics are determined using Network Based Application Recognition.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the current traffic characteristics are determined using Simple Network Management Protocol.

13. A communication system, comprising:

a priority mapping database operable to maintain priority rules associated with Internet Protocol traffic for a plurality of users, applications, protocol types, or interface identifiers, wherein each priority rule comprises a priority level associated with a user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic;

a traffic analyzer operable to determine current traffic characteristics associated with at least a portion of the Internet Protocol traffic;

a priority enforcer operable to modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the priority enforcer is further operable to modify a priority level associated with another user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of network elements, and wherein the priority enforcer is further operable to modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics in at least two of the plurality of network elements.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of networks, and wherein the priority enforcer is further operable to modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics in at least two of the plurality of networks.

17. Logic embodied on at least one computer readable medium and operable when executed to:

maintain priority rules associated with Internet Protocol traffic for a plurality of users, applications, protocol types, or interface identifiers, wherein each priority rule comprises a priority level associated with a user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic;

determine current traffic characteristics associated with at least a portion of the Internet Protocol traffic;

automatically modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics.

18. The logic of claim 17, wherein the logic is further operable when executed to automatically modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on a priority level associated with another user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier related to the Internet Protocol traffic.

19. The logic of claim 17, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of network elements, and wherein the logic is further operable when executed to automatically modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics occurring in at least two of the plurality of network elements.

20. The logic of claim 17, wherein the Internet Protocol traffic traverses a plurality of networks, and wherein the logic is further operable when executed to automatically modify a priority level associated with a given user, application, protocol type, or interface identifier based at least in part on an analysis of the current traffic characteristics occurring in at least two of the plurality of networks.