Network and switching node in which resource can be reserved

• US 6,278,712 B1
• Filed: 05/01/1998
• Issued: 08/21/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Takihiro, Masatoshi, Ohta, Masataka, Ishizaki, Takeshi, Ikeda, Naoya, Ohno, Shuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton, Dang
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sam, Phirin
• Application Number:
  US09/070,736
• Time in Patent Office: 1,208 Days
• Field of Search: 370/400, 370/285, 370/299, 370/329, 370/351, 370/353, 370/356, 370/359, 370/360, 370/367, 370/387, 370/396, 370/401, 370/402, 370/404, 370/405, 370/406, 370/408, 370/412, 370/413, 370/415, 370/417, 370/419, 370/420, 370/428, 370/429
• US Class Current: 370/400
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/245 using preemption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/746 Reaction triggered by a failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/826 Involving periods of time

Abstract

A user terminal sends a resource reservation request message in which time information indicative of time to perform a communication is designated to a switching node to which the self user terminal is linked. The switching node manages a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by the self switching node among resources of a network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using the resource is performed. When the resource reservation request message is received, an unreserved resource is obtained at a time indicated by the time information designated in the resource reservation request message, the obtained resource is reserved, and a resource reservation result notice message indicative of the reservation result is returned to the user terminal. A resource management server is also provided so as to reserve a network resource with a simple operation. The reservation can be performed in consideration of priority and cost of a communication. Reservation information can be always recognized by a client. When resource reservation is failed, an alternative plan is automatically calculated and presented.

Claims

1. A network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked,

wherein each user terminal has reservation requesting means for sending a resource reservation request in which time information indicative of a time and date to perform a communication is designated to a switching node to which said user terminal is linked,

each switching node includes:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time and date when a communication using said resources is performed, and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time and date indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which said time information is designated is received and for reserving the resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time and date shown by said time information.

2. The network according to claim 1,

wherein each switching node has reservation request transferring means for transferring the received resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node in a communication path to a destination side user terminal of a communication using the resource reserved by said reserving means,

wherein each switching node comprises:

reservation state notifying means for notifying all of other switching nodes of a reservation state when said reserving means reserves a resource, and

storing means for storing and holding the same management contents as those of the managing means of all of the other switching nodes in accordance with the reservation state notified from the other switching node, and

said reservation request transferring means for selecting another switching node having many reserved resources as a transfer destination of the received resource reservation request based on the stored contents of said storing means.

3. A network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked,

wherein each user terminal has reservation requesting means for sending a resource reservation request in which time information indicative of time to perform a communication is designated to a switching node to which said user terminal is linked,

each switching node includes:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resources is performed, and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which said time information is designated is received and for reserving the resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information,

wherein said reservation requesting means further designates priority information indicative of reservation priority of the relevant communication for said resource reservation request,

said managing means further manages the priority information indicative of the reservation priority of the communication using said resource with respect to each of the resources which can be used by said switching node among the resources of said network, and

said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used for a communication having reservation priority lower than the reservation priority shown by said priority information among the resources reserved at the time shown by said time information when the resource reservation request in which said time information and said priority information is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource at the time indicated by said time information and said reserving means reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information.

4. A network connection a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked,

wherein each user terminal has reservation requesting means for sending a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time and date to perform a communication and communication quantity information indicative of a quantity of data to be transferred by the communication is designated to a switching node to which said user terminal is linked,

each switching node includes:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of the network together with time information indicative of time and date when a communication using said resource is performed, and

reserving means for obtaining an arbitrary time and date when an activity ratio of the resource is low within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information and a resource which is not reserved at said time and date when the resource reservation request in which said permissible time range information and said communication quantity information is designated is received and for reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication for transferring data of the quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time and date.

5. A network connection a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked,

wherein each user terminal has reservation requesting means for sending a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time to perform a communication and communication quantity information indicative of a quantity of data to be transferred by the communication is designated to a switching node to which said user terminal is linked,

each switching node includes:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of the network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resource is performed, and

reserving means for obtaining an arbitrary time when an activity ratio of the resource is low within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information and a resource which is not reserved at said time when the resource reservation request in which said permissible time range information and said communication quantity information is designated is received and for reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication for transferring data of the quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time,

wherein said reservation requesting means further designates priority information indicative of reservation priority of the relevant communication in said resource reservation request,

said managing means further manages the priority information indicative of the reservation priority of the communication using said resource with respect to each of resources which can be used by said switching node among the resources of said network,

said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used in a communication having reservation priority lower than the reservation priority indicated by said priority information among the reserved resources within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information when the resource reservation request in which said permissible time range information, said communication quantity information and said priority information is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information, said reserving means reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated is reserved as a resource used for a communication for transferring data of the quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the time when said resource was reserved.

6. A network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked,

wherein each user terminal has reservation requesting means for sending a resource reservation request in which time information indicative of a time to perform a communication is designated to a switching node to which said user terminal is linked,

each switching node includes:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resources is performed, and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which said time information is designated is received an d for reserving the resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information,

wherein each switching node comprises;

failure notice sending means, when there is a resource which cannot be maintained to be reserved by a failure detected by said switching node and a transmission side user terminal and a destination side user terminal of a communication using said resource are not linked to said switching node, for sending a failure notice indicative of the communication using said resource to both of another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said transmission side user terminal and another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said destination side user terminal;

failure notice transferring means, when the failure notice is received from the other switching node and a transmission side user terminal and a destination side user terminal of a communication indicated by said failure notice are not linked to the self switching node, for transferring the received failure notice to both of another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said transmission side user terminal and another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said destination side user terminal; and

re-reserving means, when there is a resource which cannot be maintained to be reserved by a failure detected by said switching node and a transmission side user terminal of a communication using said resource is linked to said switching node, for generating a resource reservation request of the communication using said resource and transferring the generated resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of another communication path to a destination side user terminal of the communication using said resource, and when a failure notice is received from another switching node and a transmission side user terminal of a communication shown by said failure notice is connected to said switching node, for generating a resource reservation request of the communication indicated by said failure notice and transferring the generated resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of another communication path to the destination side user terminal of the communication indicated by said failure notice.

7. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time and date when a communication using said resource is performed; and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time and date indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which the time information indicative of a time and date to perform a communication is designated is received and a reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time and date shown by said time information.

8. The switching node according to claim 7, wherein when a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time and date when a communication is performed and communication quantity information indicative of quantity of data to be transferred in said communication is designated is received, said reserving means obtains an arbitrary time when an activity ratio of resources is low within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information a resource which is not reserved at said time and date and reserves the obtained resource as a resource to be used for a communication for transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time and date.

13. The switching node according to claim 8, further comprising:

reservation request transferring means for transferring the received resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to a destination side user terminal of a communication using the resource reserved by said reserving means;

reservation state notifying means for notifying a reservation state to all of the other switching nodes when said reserving means reserves a resource; and

storing means for storing and holding the same management contents as those of the managing means of all of the other switching nodes in accordance with the reservation state notified from the other switching nodes, and

wherein said reservation request transferring means selects another switching node having many unreserved resources as a transfer destination of the received resource reservation request based on the stored contents of said storing means.

9. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resource is performed; and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which the time information indicative of a time to perform a communication is designated is received and a reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information,

wherein said managing means further manages priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication using a resource with respect to each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network, and

when a resource reservation request in which said time information and priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource at a time and date indicated by said time information, said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used in a communication having reservation priority lower than the reservation priority indicated by said priority information and reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated as a resource to be used for a communication performed at a time indicated by said time information.

10. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resource is performed; and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which the time information indicative of a time to perform a communication is designated is received and a reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information,

wherein when a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time when a communication is performed and communication quantity information indicative of quantity of data to be transferred in said communication is designated is received, said reserving means obtains an arbitrary time when an activity ratio of resources is low within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information a resource which is not reserved at said time and reserves the obtained resource as a resource to be used for a communication for transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time and date,

wherein said managing means further manages priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication using a resource with respect to each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network,

when a resource reservation request in which said time information and priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource at time indicted by said time information, said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used in a communication having reservation priority lower than the reservation priority indicated by said priority information and reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated as a resource to be used for a communication at time indicated by said time information, and

when a resource reservation request in which said permissible time range information, said communication quantity information, and priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information, said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used in a communication having reservation priority lower than reservation priority indicated by said priority information among reserved resources within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information and reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated as a resource used for a communication for transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at a time said resource was reserved.

11. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminal are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time and date when a communication using the resource is performed; and

reserving means, when a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time and date when a communication is performed and communication quantity information indicative of a quantity of data to be transferred by said communication is designated is received, for obtaining an arbitrary time when an activity ratio of resources within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information is low and a resource which is not reserved at said time and for reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication for transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time and date.

12. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminal are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using the resource is performed; and

reserving means, when a resource reservation request in which permissible time range information indicative of a permissible time range of time when a communication is performed and communication quantity information indicative of a quantity of data to be transferred by said communication is designated is received, for obtaining an arbitrary time when an activity ratio of resources within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information is low and a resource which is not reserved at said time and for reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication for transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information at the obtained time,

wherein said managing means further manages priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication using a resource with respect to each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network, and

when a resource reservation request in which said permissible time range information, said communication quantity information and priority information indicative of reservation priority of a communication is designated is received and there is no unreserved resource in a permissible time range indicted by said permissible time range information, said reserving means invalidates a reservation of any resource used in a communication having reservation priority lower than the reservation priority shown by said priority information among reserved resources within the permissible time range indicated by said permissible time range information and reserves the resource whose reservation is invalidated as a resource to be used for a communication of transferring data of a quantity indicated by said communication quantity information.

14. A switching node used in a network connecting a plurality of switching nodes to which a plurality of user terminals are linked, comprising:

managing means for managing a reservation state of each of resources which can be used by said switching node among resources of said network together with time information indicative of time when a communication using said resource is performed; and

reserving means for obtaining a resource which is not reserved at a time indicated by said time information when the resource reservation request in which the time information indicative of a time to perform a communication is designated is received and a reserving the obtained resource as a resource to be used in the communication performed at the time shown by said time information,

reservation request transferring means for transferring the received resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to a destination side user terminal of a communication using the resource reserved by said receiving means, further comprising;

failure notice sending means, when there is a resource which cannot be maintained to be reserved by a failure detected by said switching node and a transmission side user terminal and a destination side user terminal of a communication using said resource are not lined to said switching node, for sending a failure notice indicative of the communication using said resource to another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said transmission side user terminal and another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said destination side user terminal;

failure notice transferring means, when the failure notice is received from the other switching node and a transmission side user terminal and a destination side user terminal of a communication indicated by said failure notice are not linked to said switching node, for transferring the received failure notice to both of another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said transmission side user terminal and another switching node which is the next switching node of a communication path to said destination side user terminal; and

re-reserving means, when there is a resource which cannot be maintained to be reserved by a failure detected by said switching node and a transmission side user terminal of a communication using said resource is linked to said switching node, for generating a resource reservation request of the communication using said resource and transferring the generated resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of another communication path to a destination side user terminal of the communication using said resource, and when a failure notice is received from another switching node and a transmission side user terminal of a communication shown by said failure notice is linked to said switching node, for generating a resource reservation request of the communication indicated by said failure notice and transferring the generated resource reservation request to another switching node which is the next switching node of another communication path to the destination side user terminal of the communication indicated by said failure notice.

15. A network resource reserving method wherein, in a network having the function of reserving a network resource with designation of communication destination information and communication quality information,

a user interface program executed by user equipment obtains communication destination information and communication quality information desired by the user, and

a network resource management program executed by either a server device or a node device which receives a network resource reservation request receives reservation request information transmitted from said user interface program, analyzes said reservation request information, and approves or refuses the reservation request on the basis of set rules,

wherein when the network resource reservation request from a client is refused, the reason of refusal of the request is notified, wherein the user interface program inquires of the network resource management program in response to a request from the user and presents information regarding conditions of the network resource reservation state to the user.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein whether the reservation request received by the network resource management program is accepted or not is determined after referring to user certification data included in the reservation request and sending an inquiry to a user certification server when it is necessary.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the network reservation state by the client can be recognized by a graphical user interface conformed to an internet standard protocol.

18. The method according to claim 15, there is provided means for automatically calculating and offering an alternative plan when a resource reservation is failed.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein a specific combination of the communication destination information and the communication quality information when the network resource is reserved is preliminarily defined as a reservation template and a network resource reservation request in which the communication destination and communication quality are defined can be issued only by designating said reservation template when a network resource is reserved.