Flow based circuit steering in ATM networks

• US 6,249,519 B1
• Filed: 04/16/1998
• Issued: 06/19/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mantra Communications Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mantra Communications Incorporated
• Inventors: Rangachar, Suresh
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOM, SHICK C
• Application Number:
  US09/061,149
• Time in Patent Office: 1,160 Days
• Field of Search: 370/259, 370/285, 370/356, 370/395, 370/401, 370/402, 370/428, 370/465, 370/469, 370/477, 370/229, 370/230, 370/235, 370/237
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/562 Routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

An application-based circuit steering apparatus and method for redirecting cells within a cell-based network. The circuit steering apparatus includes a data input port configured to receive a packet including one or more cells containing data for an application to be communicated via the network, a monitor configured to sample one or more initial cells of the packet to determine application information relating to the application, and a redirection unit for diverting cells of the packet from a predetermined path within the network to an alternate path within the network based on the application information.

Claims

1. A circuit steering apparatus for a cell-based network, comprising:

a data input port configured to receive a packet including a plurality of cells containing data for an application to be communicated via the network;

a monitor configured to sample one or more initial cells of the packet to determine application information relating to the application; and

a redirection unit configured to divert cells of the packet from a predetermined path within the network to an alternate path within the network based on the application information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network is an ATM network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more initial cells is a first cell of the packet.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the application information represents an application type of the packet; and

the redirection unit is further configured to divert the cells of the packet to the alternate path based on the application type.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network is an ATM network and the alternate path is one of multiple virtual circuits in the ATM network.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the network includes a plurality of switches; and

further comprising;

a divergence unit configured to divert the cells to the alternate path by modifying the header of each cell to designate the alternate path.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the application information represents an application type, the packet is one of multiple packets each including a different plurality of cells containing data for a different application type to be communicated via the network, the data input port is further configured to receive the multiple packets from a source computer, the source computer having initially established the predetermined path in the network to a destination computer, and further comprising:

a divergence unit configured to communicate each of the multiple packets over the predetermined path or the alternate path from the source computer to the destination computer based on an application type.

4. A circuit steering apparatus for a cell-based network, comprising:

a data input port configured to receive a packet including a plurality of cells containing data for an application to be communicated via the network;

a monitor configured to sample one or more initial cells of the packet to determine application information relating to the application; and

a redirection unit configured to divert cells of the packet from a predetermined path within the network to an alternate path within said network based on the application information;

wherein the application information includes security information relating to the application and the redirection unit is configured to divert the cells to an alternate path leading to a security device based upon the application information.

5. A circuit steering apparatus for a cell-based network, comprising:

a data input port configured to receive a packet including a plurality of cells containing data for an application to be communicated via the network;

a monitor configured to sample one or more initial cells of the packet to determine application information relating to the application; and

a redirection unit configured to divert cells of the packet from a predetermined path within the network to an alternate path within said network based on the application information;

wherein the application information is security information relating to the application and the redirection unit is further configured to block the cells from entering the network based upon said security information.

7. A circuit steering apparatus for a cell-based network, comprising:

a data input port configured to receive a packet including a plurality of cells containing data for an application to be communicated via the network;

a monitor configured to sample one or more initial cells of the packet to determine application information relating to the application; and

a redirection unit configured to determine if the cells are nonconforming to particular data parameters based on the application information and to block the cells from entering the network if the cells are determined to be nonconforming.

11. A method for communicating cells of data over a cell-based network having switches and communication links connecting a source computer to a destination computer, comprising the steps of:

receiving cells from the source computer to be communicated over the network to the destination computer, the cells grouped into packets each of the packets containing cells for an application;

sampling one or more cells of each of the packets to determine application information for each of the packets relating to the application; and

communicating from the source computer to the destination computer, the cells of each of the packets over one of a predetermined path within the network and one or more alternate paths within the network based on the application information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the cell-based network is an ATM network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more sampled cells are initial cells of each of the packets;

and

the sampling determines the type of application of all the cells of each of the packets.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the one or more sampled cells are a first cell of each of the packets.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of communicating further includes communicating the cells of each of the packets based on a measure of congestion of the network.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

transmitting the cells from the source computer, the source computer running multiple different applications; and

wherein the packets are associated with the different applications.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein:

the cells are received in a stream of the packets; and

the communicating includes;

diverging the packets associated with the different applications so as to be communicated over different paths in the network capable of communicating the packets between the source computer and the destination computer, one path for each of the different applications; and

converging the diverged packets at an egress point connected to the destination computer.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the converging step converges the diverged packets at the egress point by mapping a header of each cell as they arrive at the egress point into a uniform header so that the uniform header is presented to the destination computer, the uniform header being the header which would have been presented to the destination computer if only a single path had been opened.

15. A method for communicating cells of data over a cell-based network having switches and communication links connecting a source computer to a destination computer, comprising the steps of:

receiving cells from the source computer to be communicated over the network to the destination computer, the cells grouped into packets each of the packets containing cells for an application;

sampling one or more cells of each of the packets to determine application information for each of the packets relating to the application; and

communicating from the source computer to the destination computer, the cells of each of the packets over one of a predetermined path within the network and one or more alternate paths within the network based on the application information;

wherein the sampling includes sampling the one or more cells of each of the packets to determine a security status of each of the packets, and the communicating further includes communicating the cells of each of the packets based also on the security status.

17. A method for communicating cells of data over a cell-based network having switches and communication links connecting a source computer to a destination computer, comprising the steps of:

receiving cells from the source computer to be communicated over the network to the destination computer, the cells grouped into packets each of the packets containing cells for an application;

sampling one or more cells of each of the packets to determine application information for each of the packets relating to the application; and

blocking the cells from entering the network if the cells are determined to be nonconforming to data parameters based on said application information.

21. A packet-switched communications system, comprising:

a plurality of user computers, one of the user computers being designated a source computer, another one of the user computers being designated a destination computer;

a plurality of cell-based switches interconnected together via communications links to form a computer network, one of the cell-based switches designated an ingress switch, and another of the cell-based switches designated an egress switch, the ingress switch connecting the source computer to the computer network and the egress switch connecting the destination computer to the computer network to provide a path where data can flow between the source computer and the destination computer via the computer network, the data being arranged into packets, each of the packets having a plurality of cells containing data for a single application; and

an application-based steering unit disposed between the source computer and the ingress switch, including;

a monitor for sampling initial cells of the packets to determine application type information; and

a redirection unit for diverting one or more of the packets from a predetermined path between the ingress switch and the egress switch to one or more alternate paths between the ingress switch and the egress switch based on the determined application type information.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the source computer includes a computer executing multiple applications generating a stream of packets of multiple application types, the source computer initially establishing the predetermined path;

the redirection unit establishes the alternative paths, based on the application type information and/or a measure of network congestion.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein:

the cell-based switches are ATM switches.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein:

only a portion of the cell-based switches are ATM switches.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the computer network is an ATM network, the cell-based switches are ATM switches, and the one or more alternative paths are virtual circuits within the ATM network.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the packets are received by the steering unit in a stream of packets and the steering unit includes a divergence unit configured to diverge packets from the stream of packets to communicate the packets between the source computer and the destination computer over the predetermined and the alternate paths, and further comprising:

a convergence unit for converging the diverged packets.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the convergence unit converges the diverged packets by mapping a header of each cell at an egress point into a uniform header so that the uniform header is presented to the destination computer, the uniform header being the header which would have been presented to the destination computer if the packets had been communicated over only the predetermined path.