Node device and network resource reservation method for data packet transfer using ATM networks

• US 6,094,431 A
• Filed: 11/29/1996
• Issued: 07/25/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamato, Katsumi, Katsube, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HO, DUC CHI
• Application Number:
  US08/758,480
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 370/395, 370/400, 370/389, 370/466, 370/468, 370/401, 370/465, 370/397, 370/409, 370/410, 370/467, 370/229, 370/231
• US Class Current: 370/395.21
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5602 Bandwidth control in ATM Networks, e.g. leaky bucket
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5634 In-call negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5667 IP over ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

A network resource reservation scheme capable of making a resource reservation at the IP level according to the resource reservation protocol at a time of data packet transfer at the IP level using ATM networks. A node device requests a change of a virtual connection for transferring data packets to a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections, when a prescribed message of a resource reservation protocol for that virtual connection is received, and transmits the data packets to the prescribed virtual connection established in response to the request. A node device determines a necessary amount of resource according to a requested quality of service described in a received reservation message of a resource reservation protocol. A node device then requests a change of an amount of resource reserved in a virtual connection for transferring data packets in order to reserve the necessary amount of resource in that virtual connection, and transmits the data packets to that virtual connection in which the amount of resource reserved therein is changed in response to the request.

Claims

1. A node device, comprising:

a transfer unit configured to receive cells defining data packets and messages, convert each data packet defined in received cells into ATM cells, and transmit converted ATM cells to virtual connections; and

a request unit configured to request a change of a virtual connection for transferring data packets from one virtual connection to a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections, when a prescribed message of a resource reservation protocol for said one virtual connection is received by the transfer unit.

2. The node device of claim 1, wherein the prescribed virtual connection is either an ABT (ATM Block Transfer) connection or a virtual connection having a function to change a connection characteristic according to a signaling message.

3. The node device of claim 1, wherein the prescribed message is either an Resv (reservation request) message or a Path message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

4. The node device of claim 1, wherein the amount of resource that can be changed in the service provided by the prescribed virtual connection is either an amount of bandwidth in the prescribed virtual connection or a cell transmission rate of a cell transfer through the prescribed virtual connection.

5. The node device of claim 1, wherein said one virtual connection is a virtual connection which does not guarantee any quality for a cell transfer which is already established before the prescribed message is received by the transfer unit.

6. The node device of claim 1, further comprising:

a changing unit configured to change a maximum cell transmission rate of the prescribed virtual connection when a particular message of the resource reservation protocol sent from a data packet source user terminal to a data packet destination user terminal is received by the transfer unit.

7. The node device of claim 6, wherein the particular message is a Path message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

8. The node device of claim 1, further comprising:

a judgement unit configured to judge whether a necessary amount of resource determined according to a requested quality of service described in a reservation message can be reserved in the prescribed virtual connection or not when the reservation message of the resource reservation protocol is received by the transfer unit;

wherein the transfer unit starts a transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service without waiting for a receiving or a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is reserved in the prescribed virtual connection when the judgement unit judges that the necessary amount of resource can be reserved.

9. The node device of claim 8, wherein the reservation message is an Resv (reservation request) message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

10. The node device of claim 8, wherein the resource management cell indicates whether the necessary amount of resource is reserved in the prescribed virtual connection or not by a CI (Congestion Indication) bit value.

11. The node device of claim 8, wherein the prescribed virtual connection is a virtual connection for providing an ABT/IT (ATM Block Transfer/Immediate Transmission) service.

12. The node device of claim 8, wherein the necessary amount of resource is determined as an amount of resource necessary in providing a quality of service satisfying the requested quality of service for the data packets to be transferred from a data packet source user terminal to a data packet destination user terminal.

13. The node device of claim 8, wherein the transfer unit starts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service after transmitting a resource management cell describing a desired amount of resource to be reserved in order to reserve the necessary amount of resource in the prescribed virtual connection.

14. The node device of claim 13, wherein the transfer unit interrupts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service and resumes the transmission of the data packets according to an original quality of service, when a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is not reserved in the prescribed virtual connection is received after the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service is started.

15. The node device of claim 13, wherein the transfer unit interrupts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service and resumes the transmission of the data packets without guaranteeing any quality, when a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is not reserved in the prescribed virtual connection is received after the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service is started.

16. A node device, comprising:

a transfer unit configured to receive cells defining data packets and messages, convert each data packet defined in received cells into ATM cells, and transmit converted ATM cells;

a determining unit configured to determine a necessary amount of resource according to a requested quality of service described in a reservation message, when the reservation message of a resource reservation protocol sent from a data packet destination user terminal to a data packet source user terminal is received by the transfer unit; and

a request unit configured to request a change of an amount of resource reserved in a virtual connection for transferring data packets in order to reserve the necessary amount of resource determined by the determining unit in said virtual connection.

17. The node device of claim 16, wherein the reservation message is an Resv (reservation request) message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

18. The node device of claim 16, wherein the necessary amount of resource determined by the determining unit is an amount of resource necessary in providing a quality of service satisfying the requested quality of service for the data packets to be transferred from the data packet source user terminal to the data packet destination user terminal.

19. The node device of claim 16, wherein the transfer unit transmits the reservation message to the data packet source user terminal when the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection.

20. The node device of claim 16, wherein the request unit requests the change of the amount of resource by transmitting a resource management cell describing a desired amount of resource to be reserved.

21. The node device of claim 16, wherein the request unit judges whether the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection or not according to a resource management cell received by the transfer unit.

22. The node device of claim 21, wherein the resource management cell indicates whether the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection or not by a CI (Congestion Indication) bit value.

23. The node device of claim 16, wherein said virtual connection is a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections, which is established in advance.

24. The node device of claim 16, further comprising:

a connection change request unit configured to request a change of said virtual connection from one virtual connection to a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections, when a prescribed message of the resource reservation protocol for said virtual connection is received by the transfer unit.

25. The node device of claim 24, wherein the prescribed virtual connection is either an ABT (ATM Block Transfer) connection or a virtual connection having a function to change a connection characteristic according to a signaling message.

26. The node device of claim 24, wherein the prescribed message is either an Resv (reservation request) message or a Path message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

27. The node device of claim 24, wherein the amount of resource that can be changed in the service provided by the prescribed virtual connection is either an amount of bandwidth in the prescribed virtual connection or a cell transmission rate of a cell transfer through the prescribed virtual connection.

28. The node device of claim 24, wherein said one virtual connection is a virtual connection which does not guarantee any quality for a cell transfer which is already established before the prescribed message is received by the transfer unit.

29. The node device of claim 24, further comprising:

a changing unit configured to change a maximum cell transmission rate of the prescribed virtual connection when a particular message of the resource reservation protocol sent from a data packet source user terminal to a data packet destination user terminal is received by the transfer unit.

30. The node device of claim 29, wherein the particular message is a Path message of an RSVP (Resource ReSerVation Protocol).

31. The node device of claim 16, further comprising:

a judgement unit configured to judge whether a necessary amount of resource determined according to a requested quality of service described in a reservation message can be reserved in said virtual connection or not when the reservation message is received by the transfer unit;

wherein the transfer unit starts a transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service without waiting for a receiving of a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection when the judgement unit judges that the necessary amount of resource can be reserved.

32. The node device of claim 31, wherein the resource management cell indicates whether the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection or not by a CI (Congestion Indication) bit value.

33. The node device of claim 31, wherein said virtual connection is a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections.

34. The node device of claim 33, wherein the prescribed virtual connection is a virtual connection for providing an ABT/IT (ATM Block Transfer/Immediate Transmission) service.

35. The node device of claim 31, wherein the transfer unit starts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service after transmitting a resource management cell describing a desired amount of resource to be reserved in order to reserve the necessary amount of resource in said virtual connection.

36. The node device of claim 35, wherein the transfer unit interrupts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service and resumes the transmission of the data packets according to an original quality of service, when a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is not reserved in said virtual connection is received after the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service is started.

37. The node device of claim 35, wherein the transfer unit interrupts the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service and resumes the transmission of the data packets without guaranteeing any quality, when a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is not reserved in said virtual connection is received after the transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service is started.

38. A network resource reservation method in a node device for receiving cells defining data packets and messages, converting each data packet defined in received cells into ATM cells, and transmitting converted ATM cells to virtual connections, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting a change of a virtual connection for transferring data packets from one virtual connection to a prescribed virtual connection for providing a service which is capable of changing an amount of resource without reestablishing connections, when a prescribed message of a resource reservation protocol for said one virtual connection is received by the node device; and

transmitting the data packets to the prescribed virtual connection established in response to the requesting step.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising the steps of:

judging whether a necessary amount of resource determined according to a requested quality of service described in a reservation message can be reserved in the prescribed virtual connection or not when the reservation message of a resource reservation protocol is received by the node device;

wherein the transmitting step starts a transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service without waiting for a receiving of a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is reserved in the prescribed virtual connection when the judging step judges that the necessary amount of resource can be reserved.

40. A network resource reservation method in a node device for receiving cells defining data packets and messages, converting each data packet defined in received cells into ATM cells, and transmitting converted ATM cells to virtual connections, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a necessary amount of resource according to a requested quality of service described in a reservation message, when the reservation message of a resource reservation protocol sent from a data packet destination user terminal to a data packet source user terminal is received by the node device;

requesting a change of an amount of resource reserved in a virtual connection for transferring data packets in order to reserve the necessary amount of resource determined by the determining step in said virtual connection; and

transmitting the data packets to said virtual connection in which the amount of resource reserved therein is changed in response to the requesting step.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising the steps of:

judging whether the necessary amount of resource can be reserved in said virtual connection or not when the reservation message is received by the node device;

wherein the transmitting step starts a transmission of the data packets according to the requested quality of service without waiting for a receiving of a resource management cell indicating that the necessary amount of resource is reserved in said virtual connection when the judging step judges that the necessary amount of resource can be reserved.