Routing in a communications network using contextual information

• US 20090319685A1
• Filed: 06/19/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Radius Networks, inc.
• Original Assignee: 4DK Technologies, Inc. (Radius Networks, inc.)
• Inventors: Martin, David P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/302 Route determination based on requested QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/3065 for real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A generic address resolution system facilitates communications among multiple network applications with heterogeneous addressing mechanisms, thereby allowing the network applications to interoperate with each other and/or with modules for providing enhanced functionalities. The address resolution system includes a resource mapping module that modularizes the components needed for address resolution and abstracts content from the underlying address types and content used by the network applications. The address resolution system includes a context engine that analyzes the addressing data to be resolved, selects one or more appropriate destination network applications based on contextual rules, and creates the application mapping template for the end-end routing of the communications among the network applications.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for mapping a source network application with a plurality of destination network applications in a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a transmission from the source network application, the transmission comprising content and metadata;

identifying one or more candidate destination network applications, each candidate destination network application having an initial priority weight;

for each of at least one of the candidate destination network applications, dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with the candidate destination network application based on the metadata of the transmission and a set of contextual rules;

selecting at least one candidate destination network application from the candidate destination network applications using the adjusted priority weights; and

routing the transmission to the selected destination network application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata of the transmission comprises a destination address for the transmission, and wherein the candidate destination network applications are identified based on the destination address of the transmission.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each candidate destination network application has a destination address that is compatible with the destination address of the transmission.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the initial priority weight of each identified candidate destination network application indicates a degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying one or more candidate destination network applications further comprises using a weighted function to generate the initial priority weight for each candidate destination network application, the weighted function assigning a weight to a candidate destination network application responsive to the degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the weighted function is a decision matrix using the contextual information about the communications network to generate an initial priority weight associated with the candidate destination network application.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the initial priority weight by the weighted function comprises assigning a weight to the candidate destination network application according to a predetermined ranking criterion.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application comprises setting the initial priority weight to a weight smaller than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application further comprises setting the initial priority weight to a weight larger than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application comprises maintaining the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

11. The method of 1, wherein selecting one or more candidate destination network applications using the adjusted priority weights comprises selecting the one or more candidate destination network applications having the largest priority weight.

12. A computer system for mapping a source network application with a plurality of destination network applications in a communications network, the system comprising:

a resource mapping module configured to receive a transmission from the source network application, the transmission comprising content and metadata;

a context engine configured to identify one or more candidate destination network applications, each candidate destination network application having an initial priority weight;

a content destination selection module configured to, for each of at least one of the candidate destination network applications, dynamically adjust the initial priority weight associated with the candidate destination network application based on the metadata of the transmission and a set of contextual rules, and to select at least one candidate destination network application from the candidate destination network applications using the adjusted priority weights; and

an application switching engine configured to route the transmission to the selected destination network application.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the metadata of the transmission comprises a destination address for the transmission, and wherein the context engine is configured to identify the candidate destination network applications based on the destination address of the transmission.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the context engine is configured to identify the candidate destination network applications that have a destination address that is compatible with the destination address of the transmission.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the initial priority weight of each identified candidate destination network application indicates a degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the context engine is further configured to use a weighted function to generate the initial priority weight for each candidate destination network application, the weighted function assigning a weight to a candidate destination network application responsive to the degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the weighted function is a decision matrix using the contextual information about the communications network to generate the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the context engine is configured to assign a weight to the candidate destination network application according to a predetermined ranking criterion.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the content destination selection module is configured to set the initial priority weight to a weight smaller than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the content destination selection module is further configured to set the initial priority weight to a weight larger than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the content destination selection module is configured to maintain the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of the contextual rules applied to context information of the communications network.

22. The system of 12, wherein the content destination selection module is configured to select the one or more candidate destination network applications having the largest priority weight.

23. A computer program product for mapping a source network application with a plurality of destination network applications in a communications network, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code for:

receiving a transmission from the source network application, the transmission comprising content and metadata;

identifying one or more candidate destination network applications, each candidate destination network application having an initial priority weight;

for each of at least one of the candidate destination network applications, dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with the candidate destination network application based on the metadata of the transmission and a set of contextual rules;

selecting at least one candidate destination network application from the candidate destination network applications using the adjusted priority weights; and

routing the transmission to the selected destination network application.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the metadata of the transmission comprises a destination address for the transmission, and wherein the candidate destination network applications are identified based on the destination address of the transmission.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein each candidate destination network application has a destination address that is compatible with the destination address of the transmission.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the initial priority weight of each identified candidate destination network application indicates a degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein identifying one or more candidate destination network applications further comprises computer program code for using a weighted function to generate the initial priority weight for each candidate destination network application, the weighted function assigning a weight to a candidate destination network application responsive to the degree of compatibility between the destination address of the candidate destination network application and the destination address of the transmission.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the weighted function is a decision matrix using the contextual information about the communications network to generate an initial priority weight associated with the candidate destination network application.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein generating the initial priority weight by the weighted function comprises computer program code for assigning a weight to the candidate destination network application according to a predetermined ranking criterion.

30. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application comprises computer program code for setting the initial priority weight to a weight smaller than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

31. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application further comprises computer program code for setting the initial priority weight to a weight larger than the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

32. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein dynamically adjusting the initial priority weight associated with a candidate destination network application comprises computer program code for maintaining the initial priority weight based at least in part on the set of contextual rules applied to the context information of the communications network.

33. The computer program product of 23, wherein selecting one or more candidate destination network applications using the adjusted priority weights comprises computer program code for selecting the one or more candidate destination network applications having the largest priority weight.