Cost-aware networking over heterogeneous data channels
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
- receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines;
receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks;
receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network;
based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; and
causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule, wherein the transmission schedule specifies an order of transmission of the data blocks as starting with a data block with an earliest deliver-by deadline and ending with a data block with a latest deadline, and wherein the transmission schedule further specifies an order of use of the one or more of the transmission interfaces available for data transmission as starting with a most aggressive transmission interface and ending with a least aggressive transmission interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed herein are scheduling techniques for transmitting time-critical data in a cost-aware manner over a network comprising a plurality of heterogeneous transmission interfaces. The scheduling problem is formulated as a linear programming problem with the deliver-by deadlines of the various data blocks as hard constraints and minimizing cost set as an objective (soft) constraint. The problem is simplified by assuming data blocks with the earliest deadlines should be scheduled first and the most aggressive interfaces should be used first. To formulate the linear programming problem, the time domain is divided into bins and various bin-level schedules are enumerated for switching the transmission of the data over various transmission interfaces. The linear programming techniques are applied to the various bin configurations and the least costly of the resulting transmission schedule is selected for submission to a switching layer.
31 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
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receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks; receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network; based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; and causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule, wherein the transmission schedule specifies an order of transmission of the data blocks as starting with a data block with an earliest deliver-by deadline and ending with a data block with a latest deadline, and wherein the transmission schedule further specifies an order of use of the one or more of the transmission interfaces available for data transmission as starting with a most aggressive transmission interface and ending with a least aggressive transmission interface.
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2. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
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receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks; receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network; based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; and causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule, wherein the one or more transmission interfaces available for transmitting data comprises a unified transmission interface derived based on some combination of actual distinct transmission interfaces to the heterogeneous network. - View Dependent Claims (3)
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4. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
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receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks; receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network; based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; and causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule, wherein applying linear programming techniques comprises applying Simplex linear programming algorithm to solve for the cost-optimized transmission schedule based on setting the deliver-by deadlines as hard constraints of the algorithm and minimizing transmission cost as an objective constraint. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
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receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks; receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network; pre-processing comprising by; dividing a time domain over which the linear programming techniques are to be applied into a plurality of time bins; deriving a plurality of bin configurations comprising bin-level schedules for switching of transmission between the one or more transmission interfaces; and formulating the deliver-by deadlines as hard constraints for applying the linear programming techniques according to the bin configurations; based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; and causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-implemented method of transmitting data over a heterogeneous network in a cost-aware manner, the method comprising:
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receiving data to be transmitted configured as data blocks correspondingly associated with data indicative of deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicating bandwidth capacity currently available over one or more heterogeneous transmission interfaces to the network for transmitting the data blocks; receiving transmission cost data correspondingly associated with the one or more heterogeneous interfaces of the network; based on the delivery-by deadlines, the available bandwidth capacity and the transmission costs, applying linear programming techniques to determine a cost-optimized transmission schedule that meets the deliver-by deadlines while minimizing transmission costs; reapplying the linear programming techniques to determine the cost-optimized transmission schedule each time one or more parameters associated with transmission environment changes; and causing the data to be transmitted according to the cost-optimized transmission schedule. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A computer system for scheduling transmission of data in a cost-aware manner over a set of one or more heterogeneous network interfaces of a network, the system comprising:
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memory for storing computer executable instructions; and at least one processor operable in conjunction with the instructions stored in the memory to determine a cost-optimized schedule for transmitting the data over the network by performing the following; receiving data blocks to be transmitted over the network, the data blocks being correspondingly associated with deliver-by deadlines; receiving data indicative of bandwidth available for use in the data transmission; receiving data indicative of transmission costs correspondingly associated with the one or more of the network interfaces; and applying linear programming techniques using the deliver-by deadlines as hard constraints and minimizing the transmission costs as objective constraints to determine the cost-optimized schedule. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification