METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IDENTIFYING UDP COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20100142397A1
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Celtro Ltd. Company # 513441212
• Original Assignee: Celtro Ltd. Company # 513441212
• Inventors: Arye, Ram
• Granted Patent: US 8,284,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers
• 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 69/164 Adaptation or special uses of UDP protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/06 Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16

Abstract

The allocation of network resources, such as bandwidth, etc., can be dynamically adjusted based on the knowledge of the traffic volume, the transport protocol used by the payload and entitled level of services. The type of transport protocol can be determined by monitoring and analyzing characteristics of the data traffic. The frames or packets over a particular channel are monitored to identify the time between frames for a particular period of time. This time then can be used to calculate a recent average time. The timing of subsequently received frames can then be compared to this average to determine if the transport protocol is UDP, TCP or some other protocol. In other embodiments a recent average throughput can be calculated and be compared to a current throughput. This information, along with the load and entitled level of service is used to control the network resources.

Claims

1. A method for identifying the type of transport protocol of IP communication session carried as a payload over a bearer between two intermediate nodes and providing control of network data transmission resources based on such identification, wherein the data traffic in the bearer is carried over a plurality of channels, the method comprising the steps of:

intercepting the data traffic in a communication channel between the two intermediate nodes;

monitoring one or more characteristics of the traffic for the communication channel;

identifying the transport protocol used by an IP communication session, which is carried as payload over the communication channel, based on the traffic characteristics of the communication channel over time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

identifying a level of service entitled to the current user of the communication channel; and

employing a policy to control utilization of the network data transmission resources based on the IP transport protocol used by the communication session and the entitled level of service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the transport protocol used by an IP communication session, which is carried as payload further comprises making such identification when the payload of the channel is encrypted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the one or more characteristics of the traffic further comprises the steps of:

monitoring the time between receptions of consecutive packets of the IP communication session;

calculating a recent-average-time between consecutive IP packets for a group of recently received IP packets; and

identifying a current time between a current received IP packet and a previously received IP packet; and

comparing the recent-average-time with the current time.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the steps of:

if the difference between the recent-average-time and the current time falls within a first range of values, concluding that the transport protocol that is used by the IP session is of a first type and;

if the difference between the recent-average-time and the current time falls within a second range of values, concluding that the transport protocol is of a second type.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first range of values is approximately between two times the recent-average-time and one fourth of the recent-average-time or approximately 1 to 2 percent of the recent-average-time and, the step of concluding that the transport protocol is of a first type further comprises concluding that the transport protocol is UDP.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the second range of values is approximately between 3 percent of the recent-average-time and 12.5 percent of the recent-average-time and, the step of concluding that the transport protocol is of a second type further comprises concluding that the transport protocol is TCP.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of characterizing the transport protocol further comprises the steps of:

if the difference between the recent-average-time and the current time changes in a significant step, then concluding that the transport protocol is UDP; and

if the difference between the recent-average-time and the current time changes progressively over time, then concluding that the transport protocol is TCP.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of employing a policy to control allocation of the network data transmission resources based on the transport protocol and the entitled level of service, further comprises aggregating, dropping or transferring the received transport based on the identified transport protocol and entitled level of service.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising dropping a received transport if the entitled level of service is on the low end thereby freeing up resources for transport entitled to a higher level of service.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the one or more characteristics of the traffic further comprises the steps of:

calculating a current throughput value by counting the number of bytes that are carried as payload over the channel for a first period of time;

calculating a recent-average-throughput value for a group of recent first periods of time; and

comparing the recent-average-throughput with the current throughput value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of identifying the transport protocol further comprises the steps of:

if the difference between the recent-average-throughput and the current throughput changes in a significant step, then concluding that the IP transport is UDP; and

if the difference between the recent-average-throughput and the current throughput changes progressively over time, then concluding that the transport is TCP.

13. An apparatus that resides between two intermediates nodes in a telecommunications network and operates to identify types of transport protocol of IP communication sessions carried as payload over a bearer between the two intermediate nodes and provides control of network resources, wherein the data traffic in the bearer is carried over a plurality of communication channels, the system comprising:

a bearer interface module;

a first intermediate node interface module that intercepts the data traffic received from the first intermediate node; and

a throughput analyzer that receives, from the first intermediate node interface module, data of an IP communication session carried over a communication channel, monitors the traffic characteristics for the communication channel and identifies the transport protocol used by the IP communication session based on the traffic characteristics of the communication channel over time.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a bandwidth control module; and

a channel manager that is operative to;

receive a transport protocol identification from the throughput analyzer;

identify a level of service entitled to the current user of the communication channel; and

employ a policy to control allocation of the network data transmission resources by dropping the frames, transferring the frames without delay toward the bearer interface or aggregating the frames by storing the frames in the bandwidth control module.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a communication module, the communication module being operative to provide information related to a subscriber associated with the communication channel to the channel manager.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information related to the subscriber comprises a contracted level of service.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the channel manager is further operative to receive load information for the communication channel and the policy to control allocation of the network data transmission resources includes the transport protocol, the entitled level of service and the load information.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the throughput analyzer is operative to characterize the transport protocol by establishing a recent average value for the throughput over the communication channel and detecting if a current throughput value relative to the recent average value falls into one of the two following categories:

significantly reduces in a step, or progressively reduces over time with small fluctuations.