CONFIGURATION OF ENERGY SAVINGS

• US 20150067815A1
• Filed: 08/28/2013
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Overcash, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,958,924 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

According to one example embodiment, a modem or other network device include an energy module configured to enter a low-power, low-bandwidth state when not in active use by a user. The low-power state may be maintained under certain conditions where network activity is not present, and or when only non-bandwidth-critical traffic is present. The network device may include a user interface for configuring firewall rules, and the user may be able to concurrently designate particular types of traffic as important or unimportant. The energy module may also be integrated with a firewall, and power saving rules may be inferred from firewall rules.

Claims

1. A firewall, comprising:

logic for providing firewall rules;

a user interface for configuring the firewall rules, the interface configured to permit a user to designate a first species of traffic as blocked, a second species of traffic as allowed, and for allowed traffic, to designate a first subspecies and a second subspecies;

wherein the first subspecies designates traffic as important for a network device energy module, and the second subspecies designates traffic as unimportant for the network device energy module, wherein important traffic comprises traffic that the user identifies as requiring a high-power state for the network device energy module, and unimportant traffic comprises traffic that the user identifies as suitable for a low-power state of the network device energy module.

2. The firewall of claim 1, further comprising:

logic for inferring an access control list (ACL) for the network device energy module from the firewall rules; and

a communication interface for communicating the ACL to the network device energy module.

3. The firewall of claim 1, further comprising:

logic for querying whether a particular rule of the firewall rules is for outgoing traffic;

logic for evaluating whether an exception is provided for blocking the outgoing traffic;

logic for evaluating whether a low-power flag has been set for the outgoing traffic; and

logic for deleting the particular rule.

4. The firewall of claim 1, wherein the user interface is configured to provide for designating traffic as high-power or low-power based on a factor selected from a group of factors, the group consisting of:

a) source IP address;

b) destination IP address;

c) source port;

d) destination port;

e) protocol;

f) ingress interface;

g) egress interface;

h) source MAC address;

i) destination MAC address;

j) EtherType field;

k) 802.1P tag;

l) 802.1Q tag;

m) Differentiated Services Field;

n) Explicit Congestion Notification;

o) originating device;

p) originating application;

q) time of day; and

r) direction of traffic.

5. The firewall of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured to permit the user to designate an additional subspecies comprising an intermediate importance.

6. A network device energy module, comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive firewall rules from a firewall; and

logic for inferring an access control list (ACL) from the firewall rules.

7. The network device energy module of claim 6, wherein the communication interface is configured to infer an ACL rule from a factor selected from a group of factors, the group consisting of:

a) source IP address;

b) destination IP address;

c) source port;

d) destination port;

e) protocol;

f) ingress interface;

g) egress interface;

h) source MAC address;

i) destination MAC address;

j) EtherType field;

k) 802.1P tag;

l) 802.1Q tag;

m) Differentiated Services Field;

n) Explicit Congestion Notification;

o) originating device;

p) originating application;

q) time of day; and

r) direction of traffic.

8. The network device energy module of claim 6, further configured to provide at least a portion of its ACL for outgoing connection requests to a downstream access router.

9. A method, comprising:

classifying network traffic into a first species and second species according to firewall rules; and

inferring an access control list (ACL) for a network device energy module based on the classifying.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first species of network traffic comprises traffic that a user subjectively designates as bandwidth-critical.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the firewall rules comprise a designation of the second species of network traffic as being suitable for the network device energy module placing a network device in a low-power state.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the second species of network traffic comprises traffic that a user subjectively designates as non-bandwidth-critical.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second species includes traffic that is non-bandwidth-critical, and wherein inferring the ACL comprises inferring that packets to be dropped by the firewall are of the second species.

14. A network device energy module, comprising:

a communication interface configured to receive firewall rules from a firewall; and

logic for inferring an access control list (ACL) from the firewall rules, wherein the ACL classifies a first class of traffic as important and a second class of traffic as unimportant, wherein important traffic comprises traffic that the user identifies as requiring a high-power state for the network device energy module, and unimportant traffic comprises traffic that the user identifies as suitable for a low-power state of the network device energy module.

15. The network device energy module of claim 14 further comprising circuitry for waking a network from a low-power state after detecting traffic classified as important.

16. The network device energy module of claim 14 further configured to provide at least a portion of its ACL for outgoing connection requests to a downstream access router.

17. The network device energy module of claim 14, wherein the logic for inferring an ACL includes designating incoming connections as unimportant by default.

18. The network device energy module of claim 14, wherein the logic for inferring an ACL includes designating outgoing connections as important by default.

19. The network device energy module of claim 14, wherein inferring an ACL includes designating traffic as important or unimportant based on a factor selected from the group consisting of source IP address;

destination IP address;

source port;

destination port;

protocol;

ingress interface;

egress interface;

source MAC address;

destination MAC address;

EtherType field;

802.1P tag;

802.1Q tag;

Differentiated Services Field;

Explicit Congestion Notification;

originating device;

originating application;

time of day; and

direction of traffic.

20. The network device energy module of claim 14, wherein inferring an ACL includes designating traffic as important and unimportant based on a combination of two or more factors selected from the group consisting of source IP address;

destination IP address;

source port;

destination port;

protocol;

ingress interface;

egress interface;

source MAC address;

destination MAC address;

EtherType field;

802.1P tag;

802.1Q tag;

Differentiated Services Field;

Explicit Congestion Notification;

originating device;

originating application;

time of day; and

direction of traffic.