Traffic management in packet communications networks
First Claim
1. A packet communications network comprisinga plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a larger plurality of transmission links,at least one source of traffic connected to one of said nodes and producing data packets having differing quality of service requirements,a data buffer in said one of said nodes,means for accepting data packets into said network with a first quality of service requirement only if the occupancy of said data buffer is less than a pre-defined threshold defined for said first quality of service requirement;
- means for characterizing said traffic from said source by an effective bandwidth which simultaneously satisfies said quality of service requirements for all of said packets having different quality of service requirements,means for reserving a connection through said network for said traffic having a bandwidth equal to said effective bandwidth;
means for transmitting the combined data stream from said data buffer on said connection through said network; and
means for selecting said pre-defined threshold such that the bandwidth required to meet all of said quality of service requirements is minimized.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A packet communications network is adapted for efficiently handling of multi-priority traffic (such as multi-media traffic) by defining an access algorithm that not only ensures the requested loss probabilities for both priorities of traffic, but also optimizes the bandwidth required to carry both priority classes. A buffer having a properly sized occupancy threshold admits high priority traffic if there is room in the buffer, but admits lower priority traffic only if the buffer occupancy is below the occupancy threshold. The resulting consolidated multi-priority traffic can then be characterized by an effective bandwidth which increases the packet network capacity substantially. The multi-priority access mechanisms require little or no changes in the prior art access mechanisms and utilize pre-existing leaky bucket, route selection and link metric mechanisms of the prior art.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A packet communications network comprising
a plurality of switching nodes interconnected by a larger plurality of transmission links, at least one source of traffic connected to one of said nodes and producing data packets having differing quality of service requirements, a data buffer in said one of said nodes, means for accepting data packets into said network with a first quality of service requirement only if the occupancy of said data buffer is less than a pre-defined threshold defined for said first quality of service requirement; -
means for characterizing said traffic from said source by an effective bandwidth which simultaneously satisfies said quality of service requirements for all of said packets having different quality of service requirements, means for reserving a connection through said network for said traffic having a bandwidth equal to said effective bandwidth; means for transmitting the combined data stream from said data buffer on said connection through said network; and means for selecting said pre-defined threshold such that the bandwidth required to meet all of said quality of service requirements is minimized. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for operating a packet communications network comprising the steps of
interconnecting a plurality of switching nodes by a larger plurality of transmission links, connecting at least one source of traffic to one of said nodes, said source producing data packets having differing quality of service requirements, admitting data packets with a first quality of service requirement to a data buffer only if the occupancy of said data buffer is less than a pre-defined threshold defined for said given quality of service requirement; -
characterizing said traffic from said source by an effective bandwidth which simultaneously satisfies said quality of service requirements for said packets having different quality of service requirements, reserving a connection through said network for said traffic having a bandwidth equal to said effective bandwidth; transmitting the data stream from said data buffer on said connection through said network; and selecting said pre-defined threshold such that the bandwidths required to meet all of said quality of service requirements individually are equal to each other. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An access node in a packet communications network comprising
means for connecting at least one source of traffic to said access nodes, said source producing data packets having differing quality of service requirements, a data buffer, means for combining said data packets into a single data stream by selectively introducing packets from each of said source of traffic into said data buffer, said means for combining data packets including means for admitting data packets with a first quality of service requirement only if the occupancy of said data buffer is less than a pre-defined threshold defined for said first quality of service requirement; -
means for characterizing said traffic from said source by an effective bandwidth which simultaneously satisfies said quality of service requirements for said packets having different quality of service requirements, means for transmitting a request for reserving a connection through said network for said traffic having a bandwidth equal to said effective bandwidth; means for transmitting the combined data stream from said data buffer into said network; and means for selecting said pre-defined threshold such that the bandwidth required to meet all of said quality of service requirements is minimized. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification