Dynamic bidding protocol for conducting multilink sessions through different physical termination points
First Claim
1. A method for conducting a multilink session between multiple systems connected together on a network, comprising:
- identifying establishment of a first communication link on a first one of the multiple systems;
identifying establishment of a second communication link on a second one of the multiple systems, the first and second communication link establishing a multilink bundle;
initiating a bidding session for obtaining bid values associated with each one of the multiple systems, the bid values each identifying a priority of the associated one of the multiple systems for being a bundle master that processes all links in the multilink bundle;
comparing the bid values associated with each one of the multiple systems;
establishing one of the multiple systems having a highest priority bid value as the bundle master; and
initiating the first and second one of the multiple systems to forward to the assigned bundle master any of the first communication link and second communication link not terminating on the bundle master after the first communication link is terminated on the first one of the multiple systems and the second communication link is terminated on the second one of the multiple systems, the bundle master then conducting the multilink session by combining packets from the first communication link and with the second communication link.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A stack group bidding protocol (SGBP) establishes systems as members of a stack group connected together through one or more networks. When an event, such as establishment of a point-to-point link, occurs on one of the systems, a bid request is sent to each stack group member. Each stack group member then bids for the event. The bid is based on dynamic bid weighting criteria that varies depending on the computation capacity of the member at the time the bid request is initiated. A multichassis multilink PPP (MLP) protocol utilizes the SGBP to conduct multilink PPP sessions for links that either originate or terminate on different physical systems. A L2F forwarding protocol is used in combination with multichassis MLP to forward the links from one system to another system and offers location transparency.
164 Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method for conducting a multilink session between multiple systems connected together on a network, comprising:
-
identifying establishment of a first communication link on a first one of the multiple systems; identifying establishment of a second communication link on a second one of the multiple systems, the first and second communication link establishing a multilink bundle; initiating a bidding session for obtaining bid values associated with each one of the multiple systems, the bid values each identifying a priority of the associated one of the multiple systems for being a bundle master that processes all links in the multilink bundle; comparing the bid values associated with each one of the multiple systems; establishing one of the multiple systems having a highest priority bid value as the bundle master; and initiating the first and second one of the multiple systems to forward to the assigned bundle master any of the first communication link and second communication link not terminating on the bundle master after the first communication link is terminated on the first one of the multiple systems and the second communication link is terminated on the second one of the multiple systems, the bundle master then conducting the multilink session by combining packets from the first communication link and with the second communication link. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29)
-
-
9. A method of bidding for communication link events with a system in a network, comprising:
-
identifying with the system other systems in the network that are members of a common stack group; establishing separate connections between the system and each one of the other members in the common stack group; receiving one of the events at the system, the received event terminated at the system and identified as associated with the common stack group; generating a bid for processing all of the events associated with the common stack group, the bid compared with bids generated by the other members of the common stack group; processing the received event with the system and receiving and processing any other events initially received and terminated on other members of the stack group when the generated bid is the highest bid for any of the members of the stack group; and forwarding the received event and any other events terminated at the system and associated with the stack group to another one of the members of the stack group when that other member of the stack group has the highest bid. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 26)
-
-
12. A multichassis multiple point-to-point system, comprising:
-
multiple dial-in servers providing separate physical termination points for a bundle of communication links, the dial-in servers conducting a bidding session by initiating bid values associated with each one of the multiple dial-in servers, the bid values each identifying a priority of the associated one of the multiple dial-in servers for being a bundle master that processes all the communication links in the bundle, one of the dial-in servers comparing the bid values associated with each one of the multiple dial-in servers, establishing one of multiple dial-in servers having a highest priority bid value as the bundle master, and notifying the other dial-in servers of the bundle master; the communication links in the bundle forwarded by the dial-in servers after terminating on the dial-in servers to the bundle master, the bundle master then conducting a multilink point to point session with the bundle of communication links. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A system, comprising;
-
a first interface for receiving one or more links from a remote client; a second interface for coupling to a network; and a processor coupled to the first and second interface, the processor identifying links belonging to a multilink bundle and sending a bid in a bidding process that is compared with other bids for mastership of the multilink bundle, the processor forwarding the received one or more links terminated at the system and belonging to the multilink bundle to another system over the network when that other system wins mastership of the multilink bundle by generating a winning bid during the bidding process; the processor processing the received one or more links along with processing any additional links belonging to the multilink bundle received and terminated on other systems when the processor wins mastership of the multilink bundle by generating the winning bid during the bidding process. - View Dependent Claims (17, 27, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
-
-
18. A method for conducting a multichassis multilink session, comprising:
-
establishing a stack group with multiple members of a dial-in pool; establishing multiple communication links at the stack group members that operate together as a multilink bundle; sending bid requests to the stack group members upon receiving the communication links; initiating bids from the stack group members for mastership of the multilink bundle; comparing the bids and assigning one of the stack group members making a highest bid as a bundle master; forwarding the communication links in the bundle terminated at the stack group members to the bundle master; and conducting the multilink session with the bundle master. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
-
-
35. A computer program for use in a network processing device, said computer program, comprising:
-
event occurrence detection for detecting communication links that are part of a multilink bundle; bidding initiation for initiating a bidding session that generates a bid value for the network processing device and initiates generation of bid values from other network processing devices, the bid values identifying priorities of the network processing devices for being a bundle master that processes all the communication links in the multilink bundle; bid comparison for comparing the bid values and identifying as the bundle master one of the network processing devices having a highest bid value; bundle master notification for notifying the network processing devices of the bundle master; link forwarding for forwarding any of the communication links to the bundle master when the network processing device is not the bundle master; and multilink processing for processing any communication links terminated on the network processing device and processing other communication links in the multilink bundle terminated and then forwarded from the other network processing devices when the network processing device is the bundle master.
-
-
36. A software program for operating in a network processing device, comprising:
-
program code for identifying other network processing devices that are members of a common stack group; program code for establishing separate connections between each one of the other network processing devices identified as members of the common stack group; program code for receiving one or more communications links identified as associated with the common stack group; program code for initiating a bid for processing all communications links associated the common stack group, the bid compared with bids generated by the other members in the common stack group; program code for processing all the communication links associated with the common stack group when the generated bid is the highest bid for any of the members in the common stack group; and program code for forwarding any terminated communication links associated with the common stack group when another member of the common stack group generates the highest bid.
-
Specification