NON-BLOCKING ADMISSION CONTROL

• US 20110158095A1
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nytell Software LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Vaidyanathan, Ravichander, Dasarathy, Balakrishnan, Garrett, Mark W., Alexander, D. Scott, Gadgil, Shrirang
• Granted Patent: US 8,514,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/823 Prediction of resource usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction

Abstract

A method for controlling network access comprises receiving a request to allow a communication flow over a network and temporarily allowing the communication flow over the network before a response to the request is transmitted. Further, the availability of one or more network resources may be determined and compared with resources required for the requested communication flow. Priority of the communication flow may also be determined, and the temporarily allowed communication flow may be responded to based on the available resources, the requested resources, and the priority.

Claims

1. A method for controlling network access, comprising:

receiving a request to allow a communication flow over a network;

temporarily allowing the communication flow over the network;

determining availability of a network resource;

comparing the available resource to a resource required for the requested communication flow;

determining a priority of the communication flow; and

responding to the temporarily allowed communication flow based on the available resource, the requested resource, and the priority.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising reserving the resource for temporarily allowed communication flows.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource is selected from the group consisting of bandwidth, latency, jitter and processing time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein responding to the temporarily allowed communication flow includes at least one of allowing the communication flow, terminating the communication flow, or modifying the resource allocated to the communication flow.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising marking packets transmitted in the communication flow to designate priority.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising setting a policy for responding to the temporarily allowed communication flows based on their packet markings, content of the communication flow or an application defining the type of communication flow.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource allocated to a temporarily allowed communication flow varies based on at least one of communication type or a priority of the communication.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising asynchronously modifying one or more resources allocated to communication flows allowed over the network or terminating the communication flow.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein modifying the resource allocated to communication flows allowed over the network is performed in response to receipt of a request for communication flow with a higher priority than the allowed flow.

10. A system for managing network access, comprising:

an input for receiving a request to communicate over the network;

a resource determination unit for determining one or more available resources on the network at a time of receiving the request;

a memory storing information associated with a network admission policy, wherein the network admission policy permits temporary communication over the network before a response to the request is transmitted, and wherein the network admission policy defines which requests to communicate over the network will be granted based on at least one of the available resources, resource required for communication, and priority; and

a network admission policy enforcement unit for executing the network admission policy and transmitting a response to the request.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a policy creation unit enabling a user to set or modify the network admission policy.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising an update mechanism to update the network admission policy.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the update mechanism updates the policy based on communications allowed to the network at the time the request is received.

14. A computer readable medium storing a program

executable by a computer, the program comprising:

receiving a request to admit a communication flow to a network;

temporarily admitting the communication flow to the network;

determining available resources on the network;

comparing the available resources to resources required for the requested communication flow;

determining a priority of the communication flow;

handling the temporarily admitted communication flow based on the available resources, the requested resources, and the priority.

15. A method for accessing a network, comprising:

sending, by a client device, a request for access to one or more network resources; and

accessing the one or more network resources before a response to the request is received.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the request comprises a request for communication flow over the network and the one or more network resource comprises bandwidth.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a response to the request comprises allowing the communication flow, terminating the communication flow, or modifying the resources allocated to the communication flow.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising marking one or more packets transmitted in the communication flow to designate priority.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising marking the one or more packets at an application layer, operating system, or on an edge router.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining whether access to resources should be made available using a policy engine associated with the client device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein determining comprises setting a policy for providing access based on markings in a packet, content of a communication flow or an application defining a type of communication flow.

22. A method for controlling network access, comprising:

receiving a request to allow a communication flow over a network from an application;

determining a priority of the requested communication flow;

transmitting a response to the application, the response indicating access rights for the application;

determining availability of a network resource; and

allocating network resources to the communication flow based on availability of the resource and priority.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising modifying Or enforcing network resources-allocated to other communication flows on the network based on the availability of the resource and priority.