Frame relay switched data service

• US 7,257,118 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2003
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Medamana, John Babu, Saksena, Vikram R., Holmgren, Stephen L., Chase, Christopher J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rao; Seema S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HOM, SHICK C
• Application Number:
  US10/375,256
• Publication Number:
  US 20030161328A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,628 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/230.1, 370/312, 370/349, 370/360, 370/385, 370/389, 370/392, 370/395.7, 370/395.5, 370/395.51, 370/395.52, 370/397, 370/401, 370/402, 370/406, 370/463, 370/465, 370/469, 370/470, 370/471, 370/472, 370/466, 370/229, 370/395.4, 370/395.6
• US Class Current: 370/392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2854 Wide area networks, e.g. public data networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4608 LAN interconnection over ATM networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5645 Connectionless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/10 Routing in connection-oriented networks, e.g. X.25 or ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/72 Routing based on the source address
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/741 Routing in networks with a plurality of addressing schemes, e.g. with both IPv4 and IPv6
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/105 ATM switching elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 11/0478 Provisions for broadband connections

Abstract

A new type of data transport service which uses a frame relay layer 2 data link connection identifier (DLCI) to select among various service types, feature sets, and/or closed user groups (CUGs). A layer 3 address may be extracted from a layer 2 frame, and the layer 3 address information may be used to route a data packet over a packet-switched network according to the service classes, feature sets, and/or CUGs selected. At the destination, the layer 3 data packet may again be enclosed in a layer 2 frame with a DLCI indicating the service classes, features sets, and/or CUGs. Because the use of conventional permanent virtual circuits (PVCs) is not required in aspects of the invention, new methods of measuring and managing network traffic are presented.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving into a fast packet network frame relay data packets, said frame relay data packets having user data in a user data field, wherein said user data comprises service category data, wherein the service category data describes a communication type comprising at least two of;

communication via the public internet, communication via a local intranet, communication via a closed user group (CUG), communication via an extranet, communication via a live audio/video transmission, communication via multicasting, or communication via telephony over internet protocol (IP);

switching said frame relay packets within the fast packet network responsive to the user data;

discriminating between a plurality of service categories based on the user data; and

routing over a virtual private network responsive to at least one of the service categories.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of routing over the virtual private network, the virtual private network comprising trading partners responsive to at least one of the service categories.

3. The method of claim 1 further including the step of routing over a closed user group responsive to at least one of the service categories.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of discriminating includes recognizing multicast data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of discriminating includes recognizing voice data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of discriminating includes recognizing video data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user data includes an Internet protocol IP packet.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the fast packet network is an asynchronous transfer mode network and the packets are asynchronous transfer mode cells.

9. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of frame relay packets over a permanent virtual circuit at a first node in an asynchronous transfer mode network;

generating an asynchronous transfer mode address based on a data field other than a data link connection identifier within the frame relay packets; and

routing the packets through the asynchronous transfer mode network based on the asynchronous transfer mode address;

wherein the step of routing includes routing the packets responsive to one of a plurality of service categories, wherein the service category data describes a communication type comprising at least two of;

communication via the public internet, communication via a local intranet, communication via a closed user group (CUG), communication via an extranet, communication via a live audio/video transmission, communication via multicasting, or communication via telephony over internet protocol (IP).

10. A network comprising:

customer premises equipment;

an asynchronous transfer mode switch coupled to and receiving from the customer premises equipment a plurality of frame relay data packets, the asynchronous transfer mode switch including address translation circuitry for translating data in a user data field from at least one of the frame relay data packets into an asynchronous transfer mode address, the asynchronous transfer mode address representing at least one of a plurality of virtual private networks and depending on a predetermined service category associated with a particular data link connection identifier, wherein the service category describes a communication type comprising at least two of;

communication via the public internet, communication via a local intranet, communication via a closed user group (CUG), communication via an extranet, communication via a live audio/video transmission, communication via multicasting, or communication via telephony over internet protocol (IP).

11. The network of claim 10, wherein a first data link connection identifier from a first frame relay data packet is translated into a first asynchronous transfer mode address, and a second data link connection identifier from a second frame relay data packet is translated into a second asynchronous transfer mode address.

12. A method of routing a data packet, comprising the steps of:

receiving the data packet in a network, said data packet having header information and user data information, wherein said user data information comprises IP packet data;

selecting a service category responsive to said header information, wherein the service category describes a communication type comprising at least two of;

communication via the public internet, communication via a local intranet, communication via a closed user group (CUG), communication via an extranet, communication via a live audio/video transmission, communication via multicasting, or communication via telephony over internet protocol (IP);

transmitting the data packet responsive to the selected service category;

switching said data packet within the network responsive to the user data information, wherein the step of switching includes discriminating between service categories responsive to the user data information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the data packet is a frame relay data packet.

14. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving data packets into a fast packet network, said data packets comprising header data in a header data field and user data in a user data field, wherein said header data comprises a service category indicator, wherein said user data comprises a destination address, wherein the service category indicator describes a communication type comprising at least one of;

communication via the public internet, communication via a local intranet, communication via a closed user group (CUG), communication via an extranet, communication via a live audio/video transmission, communication via multicasting, or communication via telephony over internet protocol (IP); and

switching said data packets within the fast packet network responsive to the header data and the user data, each service category indicator corresponding to a plurality of destinations.

15. The method of claim 14 further including the step of routing responsive to the user data.

16. The method of claim 14 further including the step of routing within a virtual private network responsive to the user data.

17. The method of claim 14 further including the step of routing within a virtual private network, the virtual private network comprising trading partners, responsive to the user data.

18. The method of claim 14 further including the step of routing within a closed user group responsive to the user data.

19. The method of claim 14 further including the step of discriminating between a plurality of service categories based on the header data so that packets with a first service category indicator receive a first Quality of Service (QoS) and packets with a second service category indicator receive a second QoS.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the user data comprises multicast data.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the user data comprises voice data.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the user data comprises video data.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the user data comprises an IP address.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein the data packets are frame relay data packets.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein the data packets are asynchronous transfer mode data packets.