Bandwidth management of virtual networks on a shared network
First Claim
1. An apparatus for managing bandwidth allocated to a plurality of virtual networks on the same shared network, comprising:
- a server device configured for connection to a virtual network on a shared network and configured to communicate with at least one other said server device; and
means associated with said server device for dynamically allocating bandwidth to each virtual network on said shared network to which said server devices are connected, and for reallocating said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein at any given time a said one of said server devices functions as an active master server;
wherein said active master server functions to reallocate said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein said server device is configured to detect the presence of an active master server when newly connected to a virtual network on said shared network and, if no active master server is detected, to become said active master server; and
wherein, upon disconnection of said active master server, another said server device becomes said active master server.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for equitably allocating bandwidth to virtual networks operating on a common physical network, such as a power-line network for homeowners sharing a single power-line distribution transformer. An ad-hoc master is selected from the virtual power-line network controllers. The master allocates bandwidth to streams based on their priority group categorization. By way of example, four priority groups (A-D) are described into which stream priority is classified, with the highest priority group for communicating isochronous streams, the lowest priority for transferring asynchronous streams and the other priority groups for communicating streams having an intermediate level of transmission priority. Within a given priority group all bandwidth requests are fulfilled for virtual networks requesting up to their fair share of the bandwidth within the priority group, and bandwidth available from virtual networks not utilizing their full share is allocated equally amongst those requesting more bandwidth.
100 Citations
39 Claims
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1. An apparatus for managing bandwidth allocated to a plurality of virtual networks on the same shared network, comprising:
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a server device configured for connection to a virtual network on a shared network and configured to communicate with at least one other said server device; and
means associated with said server device for dynamically allocating bandwidth to each virtual network on said shared network to which said server devices are connected, and for reallocating said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein at any given time a said one of said server devices functions as an active master server;
wherein said active master server functions to reallocate said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein said server device is configured to detect the presence of an active master server when newly connected to a virtual network on said shared network and, if no active master server is detected, to become said active master server; and
wherein, upon disconnection of said active master server, another said server device becomes said active master server. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for managing bandwidth allocated to virtual networks sharing the bandwidth of a shared network, comprising:
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a computer processor within a server device configured for communicating over said shared network with other said server devices; and
programming executable on said computer processor for carrying out the operations of dividing the available bandwidth of the shared network into assignable units, categorizing streams for transmission over said shared network into priority groups, assigning sections of bandwidth to said priority groups in response to the bandwidth requirements of said streams and the transmission priority of said priority group, and assigning units of bandwidth to specific streams within each of said priority groups;
wherein at any given time a said one of said devices functions as an active master server;
wherein said active master server functions to reallocate said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein said server device is configured to detect the presence of an active master server when newly connected to a corresponding virtual network on said shared network and, if no active master server is detected, to become said active master server; and
wherein, upon disconnection of said active master server, another said server device becomes said active master server. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for managing bandwidth allocated to a plurality of virtual networks on the same shared network, comprising:
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a first server device connected to a virtual network on a shared network;
a second server device connected to another virtual network on said shared network;
said first and second server devices configured for communication with each other; and
means associated with each said server device for dynamically allocating bandwidth to each virtual network on said shared network to which said server devices are connected, and for reallocating said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein at any given time a said one of said server devices functions as an active master server;
wherein said active master server functions to reallocate said bandwidth if sufficient bandwidth on said shared network is not available to simultaneously support bandwidth requirements of said virtual networks;
wherein said server devices are configured to detect the presence of an active master server when newly connected to a corresponding virtual network on said shared network and, if no active master server is found, to become said active master server; and
wherein, upon disconnection of said active master server, another said server device becomes said active master server. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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Specification