Network routing and congestion control
First Claim
1. Routing control apparatus for use in a communications network comprising nodes connected to each other directly and indirectly by links, the nodes being provided with routing tables for routing traffic towards respectively corresponding destination nodes via intermediate nodes, the routing control apparatus comprising in respect of a network node:
- (i) a routing table for use in routing traffic transmitted by the node;
(ii) routing table updating means;
(iii) routing message receiving and processing means for receiving routing-related messages transmitted by other nodes that may be destination nodes for future traffic and for identifying one or more intermediate nodes by which the routing messages have been transmitted; and
(iv) routing means to output traffic to one or more other network nodes,wherein the routing table updating means is adapted to update entries for intermediate nodes in the table in accordance with receipt of routing messages from the destination nodes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a communications network of nodes connected by links, routing of traffic is done according to routing tables available to the nodes. The routing table for each node shows fields for destination nodes and for next hop nodes towards those destination nodes, and traffic is routed at each node according to values entered in those fields. The nodes modify the values in the fields according to messages received from neighboring nodes. This controls traffic flow in that values are raised on receipt of messages from neighboring nodes. If messages are received less frequently from a node, for instance because of congestion in the network or failure of a node, the values for that node will be relatively depressed and the network will tend to route traffic away from the node.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. Routing control apparatus for use in a communications network comprising nodes connected to each other directly and indirectly by links, the nodes being provided with routing tables for routing traffic towards respectively corresponding destination nodes via intermediate nodes, the routing control apparatus comprising in respect of a network node:
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(i) a routing table for use in routing traffic transmitted by the node; (ii) routing table updating means; (iii) routing message receiving and processing means for receiving routing-related messages transmitted by other nodes that may be destination nodes for future traffic and for identifying one or more intermediate nodes by which the routing messages have been transmitted; and (iv) routing means to output traffic to one or more other network nodes, wherein the routing table updating means is adapted to update entries for intermediate nodes in the table in accordance with receipt of routing messages from the destination nodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of routing traffic between nods in a network, which method comprises:
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a. receiving a routing-related message at a network node; b. identifying by means of the received routing-related message a node at which it originated and a neighboring node from which it was received; and c. making or modifying an entry in a routing table, for use in routing traffic towards said originating node via said neighboring node. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification