Monitor for the control of multimedia services in networks

• US 6,529,475 B1
• Filed: 12/16/1998
• Issued: 03/04/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Clearinghouse LLC (RPX Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Weston-Dawkes, Jonathan, Wan, Guang
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Phan, Tri H.
• Application Number:
  US09/212,650
• Time in Patent Office: 1,539 Days
• Field of Search: 370/231,229,230,230.1,234,232,235,252,253,241,242,243,244,245,248,401 709/223,235
• US Class Current: 370/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1106 Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/164 Adaptation or special uses of UDP protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for reducing congestion of real time data traffic on a multimedia communications network having a traffic control mechanism. The method comprises of first extracting from data traffic in the multimedia communications network information regarding congestion of the multimedia communications network. This extraction is performed by a network of monitors. Secondly, congestion is regulated by a central server which receives network information from the monitors and utilizes the network information to analyze congestion status and communicate instructions to the multimedia communications network to reduce congestion.

Claims

1. A method of reducing congestion of real time data traffic on a multimedia communications network having a plurality of gatekeepers, said method comprising:

extracting, from specialized packets within data traffic in said multimedia communications network, information regarding congestion of said multimedia communications network, wherein said extracting step is completed by a plurality of monitors coupled to said multimedia communications network that are designed to recognize and intercept said specialized packets;

analyzing said information extracted from each of said plurality of monitors with a centralized processing component coupled to said plurality of monitors; and

regulating congestion on said multimedia communications network utilizing the analyzed information whereby said centralized processing component is utilized to control data traffic by messaging said plurality of gatekeepers, wherein said step of regulating congestion on said multimedia communications network includes transmitting a control message to one or more of said plurality of gatekeepers, which responds to a receipt of said message in at least one of a plurality of ways from among rerouting data traffic flow from congested paths to less congested paths and throttling back the flow of data traffic to reduce congestion, wherein said plurality of gatekeepers operate in concert with each other based on received control messages from said centralized processing component.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said centralized processing component receives said congestion information from said plurality of monitors, wherein said analyzing step analyzes an aggregate of all received congestion information against known QoS and transmission parameters of said network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said extracting step is completed by said plurality of congestion monitors and said extracting step further comprise the steps of:

retrieving from within network traffic a subset of said specialized packets, whereby said specialized packets retrieved are members of a specified transmission protocol;

summarizing performance information extracted from said specialized packets; and

forwarding said summarized performance information to said centralized processing component for analysis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said specialized data packets retrieved are members of a scalable protocol that provides specific network traffic information including sufficient network delay, packet loss and throughput information, wherein additional functional characteristics of said scalable protocol include dynamically tracking the number of participants in a session, providing feedback on quality of data distribution, carrying a persistent transport level identifier, and controlling the real-time packet rate to scale up to a large number of participants.

5. The method of claim 1, whereby said communications network is created utilizing the H.323 standard.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein said scalable protocol is the RTCP protocol and said specialized packets are RTCP packets.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein said congestion monitors are stand-alone monitors that differentiate RTCP packets from standard data packets within network traffic and said congestion monitors are designed to retrieve only said specialized packets from said network traffic.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting which ones of said plurality of gatekeepers to send a control message too, whereby only relevant gatekeepers among said plurality of gatekeepers are noticed about said congestion.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

dynamically adjusting call admission policies of said gatekeepers to which said control message is sent wherein said call admissions policies are adjusted based on pre-determined rules upon receipt of said control message.

18. The method of claim 3, wherein said controlling step includes:

when a reduction in data rate is desired from a transmitting application, altering, via said plurality of monitors, a content of said RTCP packets to force congestion detection and subsequent bandwidth reduction for said transmitting application.

6. A system for reducing congestion of real time data traffic on a multimedia communications network having a traffic control mechanism, said system comprising:

means for extracting, from specialized packets within data traffic in said multimedia communications network, information regarding congestion of said multimedia communications network, wherein said extracting step is completed by a plurality of monitors coupled to said multimedia communications network that are designed to recognize and intercept said specialized packets;

means for analyzing said information extracted from each of said plurality of monitors with a centralized processing component coupled to said plurality of monitors; and

means for regulating congestion on said multimedia communications network utilizing the analyzed information whereby said centralized processing component is utilized to control data traffic by messaging said plurality of gatekeepers, wherein said means for regulating congestion includes means for transmitting a control message to one or more of said plurality of gatekeepers, which responds to a receipt of said message in at least one of a plurality of ways from among rerouting data traffic flow from congested paths to less congested paths and throttling back the flow of data traffic to reduce congestion, wherein said plurality of gatekeepers operate in concert with each other based on received control messages from said centralized processing component.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said plurality of monitors are stand-alone monitors that differentiate said specialized packets from standard data packets within network traffic and said congestion monitors are designed to retrieve only said specialized packets from said network traffic.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said analyzing means analyzes an aggregate of all received congestion information against known QoS and transmission parameters of said network.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein said extracting means includes said plurality of congestion monitors, which further comprise means for:

retrieving from within network traffic a subset of said specialized packets, whereby said specialized packets retrieved are members of a specified transmission protocol;

summarizing performance information extracted from said specialized packets; and

forwarding said summarized performance information to said centralized processing component for analysis.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said specialized data packets retrieved are members of a scalable protocol that provides specific network traffic information including sufficient network delay, packet loss and throughput information, wherein additional functional characteristics of said scalable protocol include dynamically tracking the number of participants in a session, providing feedback on quality of data distribution, carrying a persistent transport level identifier, and controlling the real-time packet rate to scale up to a large number of participants.

11. The system of claim 6, whereby said communications network is created utilizing the H.323 standard.

19. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

means for dynamically adjusting call admission policies of said gatekeepers-to which said control message is sent wherein said call admissions policies are adjusted based on predetermined rules upon receipt of said control message.

20. The system of claim 9, wherein said controlling means includes:

when a reduction in data rate is desired from a transmitting application, means for altering, via said plurality of monitors, a content of said RTCP packets to force congestion detection and subsequent bandwidth reduction for said transmitting application.

24. The system of claim 6, wherein said means for extracting information regarding congestion, analyzing said information, and regulating congestion are logic components within a single, central apparatus.

12. A computer program product for reducing congestion of real time data traffic on a multimedia communications network having a traffic control mechanism comprising program instructions in a computer usable medium for:

analyzing congestion information extracted from specialized packets within data traffic in said network, wherein said specialized packets are intercepted and retrieved by each of a plurality of monitors that are coupled to a centralized processing component and are designed to recognize and intercept said specialized packets; and

regulating congestion on said multimedia communications network utilizing the analyzed information whereby said centralized processing component is utilized to control data traffic by messaging said plurality of gatekeepers, wherein said regulating program instructions include instructions for wherein said regulating program instructions include instructions for transmitting a control message to one or more of said plurality of gatekeepers, which responds to a receipt of said message in at least one of a plurality of ways from among rerouting data traffic flow from congested paths to less congested paths and throttling back the flow of data traffic to reduce congestion, wherein said plurality of gatekeepers operate in concert with each other based on received control messages from said centralized processing component.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein said program instructions further include instructions for:

retrieving from within network traffic a subset of said specialized packets, whereby said specialized packets retrieved are members of a specified transmission protocol that is H.323 standard compliant, wherein said specialized data packets retrieved are members of a scalable protocol that provides specific network traffic information including sufficient network delay, packet loss and throughput information, wherein additional functional characteristics of said scalable protocol include dynamically tracking the number of participants in a session, providing feedback on quality of data distribution, carrying a persistent transport level identifier, and controlling the real-time packet rate to scale up to a large number of participants;

summarizing performance information extracted from said specialized packets; and

forwarding said summarized performance information to said centralized processing component for analysis.

21. An apparatus for reducing congestion of real time data traffic on a multimedia communications network having a traffic control mechanism, said apparatus comprising:

means for extracting, from specialized packets within data traffic in said multimedia communications network, information regarding congestion of said multimedia communications network

means for analyzing said information extracted from the specialized packets; and

means for regulating congestion on said multimedia communications network utilizing the analyzed information to control data traffic by messaging a plurality of gatekeepers, wherein said means for regulating congestion includes;

means for transmitting a control message to one or more of said plurality of gatekeepers, which responds to a receipt of said message in at least one of a plurality of ways from among rerouting data traffic flow from congested paths to less congested paths and throttling back the flow of data traffic to reduce congestion, wherein said plurality of gatekeepers operate in concert with each other based on received control messages from said centralized processing component.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein:

said analyzing means analyzes an-aggregate of all received congestion information against known QoS and transmission parameters of said network.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said specialized data packets retrieved are members of a scalable protocol that provides specific network traffic information including sufficient network delay, packet loss and throughput information, wherein additional functional characteristics of said scalable protocol include dynamically tracking the number of participants in a session, providing feedback on quality of data distribution, carrying a persistent transport level identifier, and controlling the real-time packet rate to scale up to a large number of participants.