Prioritizing Local and Network Traffic

• US 20130046863A1
• Filed: 08/16/2011
• Published: 02/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bastian, Chris, Chernak, Sam, Herscovici, Daniel, Witkowski, Bryan
• Granted Patent: US 8,972,537 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 involving identification of individual flows

Abstract

According to some aspects as described herein, a user may purchase or otherwise be provided with an accelerated service for selected software applications, devices, and/or ports to experience a high level of communication. The accelerated service may be created, for example, by using a dedicated network data flow such that the user'"'"'s customer premise equipment (CPE) network access device may put priority traffic in a different upstream data flow than the commonly shared flow, which may involve tagging the traffic upstream to the network with a priority indicator such as a flow identifier. Based on similar factors, the user may also control local priority of data received downstream from the network for distribution to one or more local devices.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a customer premises equipment (CPE) computing device, user input identifying a software application;

determining, by the CPE computing device, whether a data packet received by the CPE computing device is associated with said software application;

associating, by the CPE computing device, a priority indicator with the data packet, the priority indicator depending upon whether the data packet is associated with said software application; and

sending, by the CPE computing device, the data packet having the priority indicator to a network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining comprises comparing the data packet with a software application signature.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending, by the CPE computing device through the network, a request for the software application signature based on said software application identified by the user input.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the CPE computing device, a user interface on a display device for receiving the user input.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user interface includes an identification of a plurality of software applications, and wherein said software application identified by the user input is one of the plurality of software applications.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet is received by the CPE computing device as an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet and the data packet is sent by the CPE computing device as a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) packet.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority indicator comprises a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) quality of service (QoS) parameter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority indicator comprises a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) priority parameter.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a local device coupled to the CPE computing device; and

determining whether the data packet identifies said local device,

wherein said the priority indicator further depends upon whether the data packet identifies said local device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the user input identifies the local device by a media access control (MAC) address.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a port of the CPE computing device; and

determining whether the data packet is received at said port,

wherein the priority indicator further depends upon whether the data packet is received at said port.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a numerical range of TCP ports; and

determining whether a TCP port identified by the data packet is within said numerical range,

wherein the priority indicator further depends upon whether the TCP port identified by the data packet is within said numerical range.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a customer premises equipment (CPE) computing device, user input identifying a software application;

determining, by the CPE computing device, whether a data packet received by the CPE computing device is associated with said software application; and

sending, by the CPE computing device, the data packet in an order relative to other data packets depending upon whether the data packet is associated with said software application.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data packet is received by the CPE computing device as an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet and the data packet is sent by the CPE computing device as a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) packet.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the data packet is received by the CPE computing device as a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) packet and the data packet is sent by the CPE computing device as an Internet Protocol (IP) data packet.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a local device coupled to the CPE computing device; and

determining whether the data packet identifies said local device,

wherein the order further depends upon whether the data packet identifies said local device.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a port of the CPE computing device; and

determining whether the data packet is received at said port,

wherein the order further depends upon whether the data packet is received at said port.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a numerical range of TCP ports; and

determining whether a TCP port identified by the data packet is within said numerical range,

wherein the order further depends upon whether the TCP port identified by the data packet is within said numerical range.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a customer premises equipment (CPE) computing device, user input identifying a first software application and a first priority of the first software application;

receiving, by the CPE computing device, user input identifying a second software application and a second priority of the second software application different from the first priority;

for each of a plurality of data packets received by the CPE computing device, determining a software application associated with the respective data packet;

sending those of the plurality of data packets associated with the first software application as a first network flow having the first priority; and

sending those of the plurality of data packets associated with the second software application as a second network flow having the second priority.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the first network flow is either a best effort flow or a non-real-time polling service flow, and the second network flow is either an unsolicited grant service flow or a real-time polling service flow.