Proving quality of service in layer two tunneling protocol networks

• US 6,654,808 B1
• Filed: 04/02/1999
• Issued: 11/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Chuah, Mooi Choo
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Marc D.
• Application Number:
  US09/285,817
• Time in Patent Office: 1,698 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230, 709/240, 709/246, 709/220, 709/228, 370/411, 370/412, 370/395
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2859 Point-to-point connection between the data network and the subscribers encapsulation H04L12/4633; virtual LANs H04L12/4641; routing of packets H04L45/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• 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 69/168 specially adapted for link layer protocols, e.g. asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], synchronous optical network [SONET] or point-to-point protocol [PPP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

New Attribute Value Pairs (AVP)s are defined for use in the L2TP control messages for setting up a call. In particular, an L2TP Incoming-Call-Request (ICRQ) or Outgoing-Call-Request (OCRQ) message includes a QoS_Request AVP, which includes a field for defining the number of classes of service within the call. In another embodiment, a new QoS_Request extension and a new QoS_Reply extension are defined for use in Mobile IP networks.

Claims

1. A method for use in a virtual private network (VPN) for establishing multiple quality of service (QoS) classes using a Layer Two Tunnel Protocol (L2TP) for a call between a first packet server and a second packet server, the method comprising the steps of:

determining that the call needs to be established directly between the first packet server and the second packet server using a packet tunnel; and

establishing the call through the packet tunnel by first negotiating multiple QoS classes for the call by sending, to the second packet server, a QoS request message comprising a number of classes field whose value represents the number of classes of service requested in the QoS request message and receiving, from the second packet server, a QoS grant message that includes granted classes of service information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each different class of quality-of-service (QoS) corresponds to an associated point-to-point protocol multi-class extension for the call.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message further comprises parameters that include a promotable bit that enables the second packet server to recommend a higher class of service for a class than the requested class of service.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message further comprises parameters that include a demotable bit that enables the second packet server to recommend a lower class of service for a class than the requested class of service.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message further comprises parameters including a requested rate field, a tolerable burst size field, an excess burst field, and a peak rate field.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message is a part of a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) Incoming Call Request (ICRQ) message.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message is a part of a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) Outgoing Call Request (OCRQ) message.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS request message is a part of a Registration Request message used in a Mobile Internet Protocol.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS grant message include a granted rate field, a tolerable burst size field, an excess burst size field, and a peak rate field.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS grant message is a part of a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) Incoming Call Reply (ICRP) message.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the QoS grant message is a part of a Registration Reply message used in a Mobile Internet Protocol.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first packet server communicates Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and the method further comprises the step of first establishing a multilink point-to-point protocol connection with a user associated with the call, wherein the multilink point-to-point protocol has multi-class extensions.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the establishing step includes the step of sending, to the second packet server, a quality-of-service (QoS) request message comprising a number of classes field whose value is equal to the number of different classes of the multilink point-to-point protocol connection.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the establishing step includes the step of sending, to the second packet server, a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) Attribute Value Pair message comprising a number of classes field whose value is equal to the number of different classes of the multilink point-to-point protocol connection.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of communicating data to the second packet server using sequence numbers taken from a set of sequence numbers such that data associated with different classes of service use the same set of sequence numbers.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of communicating data to the second packet server in packets using one data session for conveying data having associated multiple classes of service.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

allocating a queue to each different class of QoS;

receiving packets which convey data that is associated with one of the classes of QoS; and

storing the data in the queue allocated to that class of QoS.

18. A method for use in a Layer Two Transport Protocol (L2TP) access server (LAC) within a virtual private network for establishing multiple quality of service (QoS) classes for a call, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a packet formatted in accordance with a point-to-point protocol with multi-class extensions, wherein the received packet includes a first number-of-classes field that comprises a value equal to the multiple QoS classes for the call from a user; and

negotiating a call using a Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) type message directly with a L2TP network server (LNS) by attaching a L2TP Attribute Value Pair message comprising a second number-of-classes field whose value is equal to the value of the first number-of-classes field to an L2TP control message and transmitting the L2TP control message to the LNS.

19. A method for use in a packet server for negotiating multiple quality of service (QoS) classes for a particular call within a same session, the method comprising the steps of:

attaching a quality-of-service request to a mobile internet protocol (IP) registration request; and

transmitting the mobile IP registration request and the attached quality-of-service request to another packet server;

wherein the quality of service request comprises a number of classes field whose value is equal to the number of represented classes of service associated with the particular call in the same session in the mobile IP registration request.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the quality-of-service request further comprises a number of quality-of-service fields equal to a value of the number of classes field.

21. A method for use in a packet server for negotiating multiple quality of service (QoS) classes for a particular call within a same session, the method comprising the steps of:

attaching a quality of service request to a mobile internet protocol (IP) registration request; and

transmitting the mobile IP registration request and the attached quality-of-service request to another packet server;

wherein the quality of service request comprises a value specifying a number of QoS classes for the call and associated QoS service fields relating to each QoS class associated with the particular call during the same session.