System for triggering the control plane in an asynchronous connection-oriented transmission network

• US 7,106,698 B1
• Filed: 06/16/1999
• Issued: 09/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Damon, Philippe, Basso, Claude, Menanteau, Guy
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jagannathan, Melanie
• Application Number:
  US09/334,415
• Time in Patent Office: 2,645 Days
• Field of Search: 370/395.1, 370/395.2, 370/395.21, 370/395.6, 370/400, 370/410
• US Class Current: 370/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/10 Routing in connection-oriented networks, e.g. X.25 or ATM

Abstract

Asynchronous connection-oriented transmission network of the (ATM) network type comprising a plurality of switching nodes (12, 14, 16, 18) interconnected by connection lines, each of these switching nodes being associated with a control point in charge of determining the best route between any source node (12) and any destination node (18) when a connection has to be established therebetween by identifying which ones of the connection lines are eligible based upon the requirement of a quality of service. Such an ATM network is characterized in that each switching node comprises Control ATM Test Application (CATMTA)(22) and a Deamon ATM Test Application (DATMTA)(32) so that, at any time, a user interfacing a source node can test the connectivity of a network connection from the source node to a destination node by initiating a connection procedure wherein a call setup message is sent by the CATMTA of the source node to the destination node and the DATMTA of the destination node sends back an acknowledgment message to the source node.

Claims

1. Method for triggering the control plane in an asynchronous connection-oriented transmission network, comprising the following steps initiated at any time on request by a source node:

sending from the Control ATM Test Application (CATMTA) of said source node a call setup message for testing the connectivity of a network connection to the Deamon ATM Test Application (DATMTA) of a destination node, and

sending back an acknowledgement message from said DATMTA of said destination node to said CATMTA of said source node when the connection has been successfully established between said source node and said destination node; and

sending a verification data stream from said CATMTA in said source node to said destination node after receiving said acknowledgement message, and sending back a response data stream from said DATMTA in said destination node to said source node, said response data stream including a count by the destination node of an amount of data in the verification data stream received at the destination node, said response data stream further including a measured time span over which the destination node received the verification data stream, whereby said verification and response data streams are used to check the characteristics of the connection previously established between said source node and said destination node, including determining, by the source node, a bandwidth of the connection using the amount of data and the time span from the response data stream.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said verification and response data streams are used to check the end-to-end transit delay of the connection previously established between said source node and said destination node.

3. Method according to claim 1, wherein said verification and response data streams are used to check whether a desired bandwidth requested by said source node has been actually allocated for a constant bit rate over the connection previously established between said source node and said destination node.

4. A method for operating a computer, comprising:

sending a call setup message over a computer network to a destination computer;

receiving an acknowledgement message from the destination computer indicating that the call setup message was received, the acknowledgement message indicating that a connection through the computer network is established between the computer and the destination computer;

sending a verification data stream to the destination computer in response to receiving the acknowledgement message, the verification data stream sent over the connection;

receiving a response data stream from the destination computer, the response data stream sent over the connection, the response data stream including a count by the destination computer of an amount of data in the verification data stream received at the destination computer, the response data stream further including a measured time span over which the destination computer received the verification data stream; and

checking a one or more characteristics of the connection in response to the verification data stream and the received response data stream, the checking including determining a bandwidth of the connection using the amount of data and the time span from the response data stream.

5. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

establishing the connection in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) computer network.

6. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

establishing the connection in a Frame Relay computer network.

7. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

checking an end-to-end transit delay of the connection using said verification and response data streams.

8. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

checking whether a desired bandwidth requested by a user interfacing with said computer has been actually allocated for a constant bit rate over the connection by comparing the desired bandwidth and the bandwidth determined from the amount of data and the time span.

9. A computer, comprising:

means for sending a call setup message over a computer network to a destination computer;

means for receiving an acknowledgement message from the destination computer indicating that the call setup message was received, the acknowledgement message indicating that a connection through the computer network is established between the computer and the destination computer;

means for sending, at any time, a verification data stream to the destination computer in response to receiving the acknowledgement message, the verification data stream sent over the connection;

means for receiving a response data stream from the destination computer, the response data stream sent over the connection, the response data stream including a count by the destination computer of an amount of data in the verification data stream received at the destination computer, the response data stream further including a measured time span over which the destination computer received the verification data stream; and

means for checking one or more characteristics of the connection in response to the verification data stream and the received response data stream, the means for checking including means for determining a bandwidth of the connection using the amount of data and the time span from the response stream.

10. The computer as in claim 9, further comprising:

means for establishing the connection in an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) computer network.

11. The computer as in claim 9, further comprising:

means for establishing the connection in a Frame Relay computer network.

12. The computer as in claim 9, further comprising:

means for checking an end-to-end transit delay of the connection using said verification and response data streams.

13. The computer as in claim 9, further comprising:

means for checking whether a desired bandwidth requested by a user interfacing with said computer has been actually allocated for a constant bit rate over the connection by comparison of the desired bandwidth and the bandwidth determined from the amount of data and the time span.

14. A computer, comprising:

a transmitter to send a call setup message over a computer network to a destination computer;

a receiver to receive an acknowledgement message from the destination computer indicating that the call setup message was received, the acknowledgement message indicating that a connection through the computer network is established between the computer and the destination computer;

a transmitter to send a verification data stream to the destination computer in response to receiving the acknowledgement message, the verification data stream sent over the connection;

a receiver to receive a response data stream from the destination computer, the response data stream sent over the connection, the response data stream including a count by the destination computer of an amount of data in the verification data stream received at the destination computer, the response data stream further including a measured time span over which the destination computer received the verification data stream; and

a processor to check one or more characteristics of the connection in response to the verification data stream and the received response data stream, the processor further adapted to determine a bandwidth of the connection using the amount of data and the time span from the response data stream.

15. The computer as in claim 14, further comprising:

the computer network is an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) computer network.

16. The computer as in claim 14, further comprising:

the computer network is a Frame Relay computer network.

17. The computer as in claim 14, further comprising:

means for checking an end-to-end transit delay of the connection using said verification and response data streams.

18. The computer as in claim 14, further comprising:

means for checking whether a bandwidth requested by a user interfacing with said computer has been actually allocated for a constant bit rate over the connection by comparison of the desired bandwidth and the bandwidth determined from the amount of data and the time span.

19. A computer readable media containing executable program, the executable program instructions comprising program instructions adapted for:

sending a call setup message over a computer network to a destination computer;

receiving an acknowledgement message from the destination computer indicating that the call setup message was received, the acknowledgement message indicating that a connection through the computer network is established between a computer and the destination computer;

sending, at any time, a verification data stream to the destination computer in response to receiving the acknowledgement message, the verification data stream sent over the connection;

receiving a response data stream from the destination computer, the response data stream sent over the connection, the response data stream including a count by the destination computer of an amount of data in the verification data stream received at the destination computer, the response data stream further including a measured time span over which the destination computer received the verification data stream; and

checking one or more characteristics of the connection in response to the verification data stream and the received response data stream, the checking including determining a bandwidth of the connection using the amount of data and the time span from the response data stream.

20. A method for operating a computer, comprising:

sending a call setup message over a computer network to a destination computer, the call setup message to initiate a roundtrip connection through the computer network;

receiving an acknowledgement message from the destination computer indicating that the call setup message was received, the acknowledgement message indicating that the roundtrip connection through the computer network is established between the computer and the destination computer;

sending, at any time, a verification data stream to the destination computer in response to receiving the acknowledgement message, the verification data stream sent over the connection;

counting data in the verification data stream and measuring the time during which the data are received, where counted data and measured time are part of a response data stream;

receiving the response data stream from the destination computer, the response data stream sent over the connection; and

checking the counted data and the measured time to determine a bandwidth of the connection.