ROUTE AWARE NETWORK LINK ACCELERATION

• US 20110296051A1
• Filed: 08/10/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sons of Innovation LLC
• Original Assignee: Circadence Corporation
• Inventors: Guerin, Roch, Rajan, Rajendran, Plumb, Marc, Wilson, Glenn Sydney, Kouts, Michael, Vange, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/064 involving time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• 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 45/14 Routing performance; Theoretical aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• 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 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for route aware network link acceleration provides a managed communication channel for accelerated and reliable network communication between a client and other network devices as needed. The communication channel may comprise one or more segments having increased speed, reliability, security, or other improved characteristics as compared to traditional communication links. Network traffic may be routed through one or more of the segments based on various criteria to improve communication of the traffic. In one embodiment, the segments may be arranged in a daisy chain configuration and be provided by one or more chaining nodes.

Claims

1. A method for implementing functionality within a network on behalf of first and second devices communicating with each other through the network comprising:

specifying an ordered list of routing events, wherein the ordered list comprises a list of all routing events received after a routing information context was constructed, wherein the routing information context represents a starting topology and a routing state of a routing domain;

providing the routing information context;

constructing path information between a starting address and a destination address within the network using the routing information context;

updating the routing information context in accordance with a next routing event in the ordered list of routing events;

repeating the constructing and updating steps above until reaching a last routing event in the ordered list of routing events; and

based on the path information between the starting address and the destination address, implementing functionality within the network on behalf of the first and second devices to reduce a number of hops between the first and second devices relative to a number of hops in the path information between the starting address and the destination address by;

providing a front-end device within the network having an interface for communicating data traffic with the first device;

providing a back-end device within the network having an interface for communicating data traffic with the second device;

providing a communication channel coupling the front-end device and the back-end device;

encoding data traffic over the communication channel in a first process in the front-end device;

encoding data traffic over the communication channel in a second process in the back-end device, decoding the encoded data traffic from the front-end device in a third process in the back-end device; and

decoding the encoded data traffic from the back-end device in a fourth process in the front-end device, wherein the first, second, third, and fourth processes implement preselected compatible semantics to perform the encoding and the decoding on the data traffic wherein the preselected compatible semantics comprise processes for sharing operational information for the front-end and back-end computers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of encoding comprises communicating quality of service information about the communication channel between the front-end and back-end devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of encoding comprises communicating time-based synchronization information defined by the compatible semantics between the front-end and back-end devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of encoding comprises compression/decompression processes defined by the compatible semantics.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of encoding comprises forward error correction processes defined by the compatible semantics.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of encoding comprises communicating time-based synchronization information defined by the preselected compatible semantics between the front-end device and the back-end device.

7. A method for transporting data through a communication network between a first device and a second device comprising:

identifying a path of travel from an origin to a destination for a packet in a multi-area domain operated according to a link state routing protocol by;

receiving first topology information pertaining to at least one non-local area;

identifying a source for the current area, wherein if the current area includes the origin, the source for the current area is the origin, wherein if the current area does not include the origin, the source for the current area corresponds to an exit point for a previous area along the path of travel;

identifying one or more exit points from the current area through which the destination is reachable;

determining second topology information based on the source and the one or more exit points;

selecting an exit point from the one or more exit points, wherein the selected exit point represents a least cost path to the destination based on the first topology information pertaining to a most recently updated topology between the exit point and the destination and the second topology information;

constructing a least cost path segment for the area from the source to the exit point; and

concatenating each least cost path segment to form an end-to-end path;

providing a front-end device within the network having an interface for communicating data traffic with the first device;

providing a back-end device within the network having an interface for communicating data traffic with the second device; and

providing a communication channel coupling the front-end device and the back-end device to transport data between the first and second devices with a reduced number of hops relative to the end-to-end path.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each least cost path segment comprises a series of routers and links or networks between routers.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifying step further comprises identifying all exit points from the current area through which the destination is reachable.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the origin is the first device and the destination is the second device or vice versa.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the front-end device and the back-end device implement preselected compatible semantics to establish the communication channel.

12. The method of claim 7 further comprising sharing operational information between the front-end device and the back-end device through the communication channel.

13. The method of claim 7 further comprising communicating time-based synchronization information between the front-end device and the back-end device.

14. The method of claim 7 further comprising compressing traffic transported across the communication channel.

15. The method of claim 7 further comprising transporting data through the communication channel based on an attribute of the data selected from the group consisting of:

the data'"'"'s size and the application which generated the data.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end share operational information between the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end through the at least one enhanced communication channel.

16. A system for transporting data through a communication network comprising:

at least one front-end comprising an interface to communicate data traffic in accordance with a first protocol with one or more clients;

at least one back-end comprising an interface to communicate the data traffic in accordance with the first protocol with one or more servers;

at least one route monitoring system configured to provide end-to-end path information for one or more network paths through the network from the one or more clients to the one or more servers; and

at least one enhanced communication channel between the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end, the at least one enhanced communication channel configured to transport the data traffic of the first protocol in an enhanced second protocol, wherein the at least one enhanced communication channel is implemented to reduce a number of hops between the one or more clients and the one or more servers relative to a number of hops in the one or more network paths.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one route monitoring system comprises:

at least one route acquisition module configured to collect one or more routing events advertised by one or more routers in the network; and

at least one route aggregation module configured to receive the one or more routing events and determine the end-to-end path information for the one or more network paths.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end implement preselected compatible semantics to establish the at least one enhanced communication channel.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end communicate time-based synchronization information between the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one front-end and the at least one back-end compress traffic transported across the at least one enhanced communication channel.