Method and apparatus for dynamically forming multimedia emulated local area networks

• US 5,812,552 A
• Filed: 03/19/1996
• Issued: 09/22/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Civanlar, Seyhan, Saksena, Vikram R., Tow, Agnes C., Chang, Larry H., Arora, Vivek
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): HYUN, SOON D
• Application Number:
  US08/618,483
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• Field of Search: 370/390, 370/391, 370/395, 370/396, 370/397, 370/398, 370/401, 370/402, 370/406, 370/410, 370/411, 370/465, 370/474, 370/399, 370/467
• US Class Current: 370/395.53
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4608 LAN interconnection over ATM networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5615 Network termination, e.g. NT1, NT2, PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5619 Network Node Interface, e.g. tandem connections, transit switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5641 Unicast/point-to-point
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5642 Multicast/broadcast/point-multipoint, e.g. VOD
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

A temporary multimedia ELAN is formed on top of one or more existing ELANs between those end-stations (121-1, 121-2, 111-1) participating in a multimedia session, such as a video conference, at the time of initiating the session. At the end of the session the temporary ELAN is torn down. When the temporary ELAN is created an available LAN Emulation Server (LES) (241) and an available Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS) (243) are allocated to serve those end-stations participating in the multimedia session. The BUS also serves as a multicast server to multicast a multimedia stream from one end-station to each other end-station on the temporary ELAN. The initiator of a session accesses a Multimedia Session Manager (401), which oversees and manages the session and coordinates the necessary resources. An ELAN Configuration (402) serves to dynamically assign IP addresses to end-stations to ensure that each end-station on the temporary ELAN is on a single subnet, to receive the configuration attributes of each end-station that is to be connected on the temporary ELAN, to find an available LES and BUS to serve the temporary multimedia ELAN, and to coordinate establishment of the temporary ELAN between the end-stations. Once the temporary ELAN has been formed, a Conference Configurator (403) starts executing a multimedia application already existing on each end-station or sends the executables of the selected multimedia application in real time to each end-station. During the session the Multimedia Session Manager is used to add a new end-station, drop an end-station, and terminate the session.

Claims

1. Apparatus for forming a multimedia session among selected end-stations connected to one or more existing Emulated Local Area Networks (ELANs), said apparatus comprising:

means for setting up a separate temporary multimedia ELAN connected to said selected end-stations on top of said one or more existing ELANs; and

means for temporarily allocating a LAN Emulation Server (LES) and a Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS) to said temporary multimedia ELAN.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further comprising means for storing ELAN attributes of each of said selected end-stations.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further comprising means for storing multimedia session attributes of each of said selected end-stations.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 further comprising means for sending the ELAN attributes of each of said selected end-stations to said means for setting up a separate temporary multimedia ELAN.

5. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its layer-3 address.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its ATM address.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its ELAN name.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means for temporarily allocating comprises means for storing the availability of one or more LESes and one or more BUSes on said one or more ELANs and for selecting an available one of said one or more LESes and an available one of said one or more BUSes to allocate to said temporary multimedia ELAN.

9. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 further comprising means for acquiring ELAN attributes from each of said selected end-stations.

10. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 further comprising means for assigning a layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations.

11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein said means for assigning assigns a permanent layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 wherein said means for assigning assigns a temporary layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

13. Apparatus in accordance with claim 8 further comprising means for temporarily activating a LAN Emulation Client (LEC) at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

14. Apparatus in accordance with claim 13 further comprising means for adding or dropping a LEC after the temporary multimedia ELAN is set up.

15. Apparatus in accordance with claim 14 further comprising means for terminating the temporary multimedia ELAN by dropping all LECs in the temporary multimedia ELAN.

16. Apparatus in accordance with claim 15 further comprising means for changing to available the LES and BUS allocated to the temporary multimedia ELAN in said means for storing upon terminating said multimedia ELAN.

17. Apparatus in accordance with claim 3 wherein the multimedia session attributes comprise the audio and video compression techniques used by each of said selected end-stations.

18. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 further comprising means for acquiring multimedia attributes from each of said selected end-stations.

19. Apparatus in accordance with claim 18 further comprising means for activating an existing multimedia application on each of said selected end-stations.

20. Apparatus in accordance with claim 18 further comprising means for sending a multimedia application to each of said selected end-stations at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

21. Apparatus in accordance with claim 20 further comprising means for withdrawing said multimedia application from each of said selected end-stations after the end of said multimedia application.

22. Apparatus in accordance with claim 20 wherein said means for sending a multimedia application comprises means to configure the multimedia application in accordance with the multimedia attributes of said selected end-stations.

23. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said BUS allocated to said temporary multimedia ELAN receives a multimedia data stream from at least one of said selected end-stations and broadcasts it to the other of said selected end-stations.

24. A method for forming a multimedia session among selected end-stations connected to one or more existing Emulated Local Area Networks (ELANs), comprising the steps of:

setting up a separate temporary multimedia ELAN connected to said selected end-stations on top of said one or more existing ELANs; and

temporarily allocating a LAN Emulation Server (LES) and a Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS) to said temporary multimedia ELAN.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of storing ELAN attributes of each of said selected end-stations.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of storing multimedia session attributes of each of said selected end-stations.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its layer-3 address.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its ATM address.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein a stored ELAN attribute of an end-station is its ELAN name.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein said step of temporarily allocating a LES and a BUS comprises the steps of determining the availability of one or more LESes and one or more BUSes on said one or more ELANs, and selecting an available one of said one or more LESes and an available one of said one or more BUSes to allocate to said temporary multimedia ELAN.

31. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of acquiring ELAN attributes from each of said selected end-stations.

32. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of assigning a layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein said step of assigning comprises the step of assigning a permanent layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations.

34. The method of claim 32 wherein said step of assigning comprises the step of assigning a temporary layer-3 address to each of said selected end-stations at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

35. The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of temporarily activating a LAN Emulation Client (LEC) at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

39. The method of claim 26 wherein the multimedia session attributes comprise the audio and video compression techniques used by each of said selected end-stations.

40. The method of claim 24 further comprising the step of acquiring multimedia attributes from each of said selected end-stations.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of activating an existing multimedia application on each of said selected end-stations.

42. The method of claim 40 further comprising the step of sending a multimedia application to each of said selected end-stations at the time of setting up the temporary multimedia ELAN.

43. The method of claim 42 further comprising the step of withdrawing said multimedia application from each of said selected end-stations after the end of said multimedia session.

44. The method of claim 42 wherein said step of sending a multimedia application comprises the step of configuring the multimedia application in accordance with the multimedia attributes of said selected end-stations.

45. The method of claim 24 wherein said BUS allocated to said temporary multimedia ELAN receives a multimedia data stream from at least one of said selected end-stations and broadcasts it to the other of said selected end-stations.

36. The method of 35 further comprising the step of adding or dropping a LEC after the temporary multimedia ELAN is set up.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising the step of terminating the temporary multimedia ELAN by dropping all LECs in the temporary multimedia ELAN.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of changing to available the LES and BUS allocated to the temporary multimedia ELAN upon terminating said multimedia ELAN.