Method and apparatus for adaptive bandwidth control with user settings

• US 7,953,113 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Issued: 05/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hulu LLC (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lazzaro, Christopher Victor, Elliot, Steven, Tran, Thanh K., Kudamik, Gregory James
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Tung Q
• Application Number:
  US12/138,982
• Publication Number:
  US 20080247419A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,082 Days
• Field of Search: 370229-240, 370/468
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/25 with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]

Abstract

A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code to receive a user input defining settings at an application layer to form a set of received settings. An adaptive bandwidth control process is executed using the received settings to identify a transmission rate for transmitting data packets across a network. The data packets are transmitted across the network using the identified transmission rate.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for controlling bandwidth in transmitting data, the computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a user input defining settings at an application layer to form a set of received settings, wherein the set of received settings comprises a first value used to restrict an amount of change in a current round trip time relative to a previous measured round trip time, a second value specifying a threshold level that is used to determine if the block is considered congested, a third value indicating a maximum number of packets in a backlog router per connection before reducing a window, a fourth value indicating smoothing for round trip time measurements, a fifth value indicating a multiple of maximum round trip time a connection waits for an acknowledgment before resetting the adaptive bandwidth control process;

executing an adaptive bandwidth control process using the received settings to identify transmission rates for transmitting data packets across a network in response to changes in network condition; and

transmitting the data packets across the network using the transmission rate.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the executing step is performed by a congestion control thread.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting step is performed by a send thread.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

collecting round trip time data for the data packets, wherein the round trip time data is used by the adaptive bandwidth control process.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting step comprises:

transmitting the data packets such that a number of data packets on a router is greater than alpha and less than beta, wherein alpha is an integer indicating the minimum number of packets in router per connection before the window is increased by one packet and beta is an integer that indicates the maximum number of packets in the backlog router per connection before the window is decreased by one packet.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user input is received using a user interface.

7. A computer program product comprising:

a computer hardware having computer usable program code for controlling bandwidth in transmitting data, the computer program product including;

computer usable program code for receiving a user input defining settings at an application layer to form a set of received settings, wherein the set of received settings comprises a first value used to restrict an amount of change in a current round trip time relative to a previous measured round trip time, a second value specifying a threshold level that is used to determine if the block is considered congested, a third value indicating a maximum number of packets in a backlog router per connection before reducing a window, a fourth value indicating smoothing for round trip time measurements, a fifth value indicating a multiple of maximum round trip time a connection waits for an acknowledgment before resetting the adaptive bandwidth control process;

computer usable program code for executing an adaptive bandwidth control process using the received settings to identify transmission rates for transmitting data packets across a network in response to changes in network condition; and

computer usable program code for transmitting the data packets across the network using the transmission rate.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable program code for executing an adaptive bandwidth control process using the received settings to identify transmission rates for transmitting data packets across a network in response to changes in network condition is performed by a congestion control thread.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer usable program code for transmitting the data packets across the network using the transmission rate is performed by a send thread.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising:

computer usable program code for collecting round trip time data for the data packets, wherein the round trip time data is used by the adaptive bandwidth control process.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein computer usable program code for transmitting the data packets across the network using the transmission rate comprises:

computer usable program code for transmitting the data packets such that a number of data packets on a router is greater than alpha and less than beta, wherein alpha is an integer indicating the minimum number of packets in router per connection before the window is increased by one packet and beta is an integer that indicates the maximum number of packets in the backlog router per connection before the window is decreased by one packet.

12. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the user input is received using a user interface.

13. A data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a communications unit connected to the bus;

a memory connected to the bus, wherein the memory includes a set of computer usable program code; and

a processor unit connected to the bus, wherein the processor unit executes the set of computer usable program code to receive a user input defining settings at an application layer to form a set of received settings, wherein the set of received settings comprises an first value used to restrict an amount of change in a current round trip time relative to a previous measured round trip time, a second value specifying a threshold level that is used to determine if the block is considered congested, a third value indicating a maximum number of packets in a backlog router per connection before reducing a window, a fourth value indicating smoothing for round trip time measurements, a fifth value indicating a multiple of maximum round trip time a connection waits for an acknowledgment before resetting the adaptive bandwidth control process;

execute an adaptive bandwidth control process using the received settings to identify transmission rates for transmitting data packets across a network in response to changes in network condition; and

transmit the data packets across the network using the transmission rate.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to transmit the data packets across the network using the transmission rate is performed by a send thread.

15. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to collect round trip time data for the data packets, wherein the round trip time data is used by the adaptive bandwidth control process.

16. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the processor unit further executes the computer usable program code to transmit the data packets such that a number of data packets on a router is greater than alpha and less than beta, wherein alpha is an integer indicating the minimum number of packets in router per connection before the window is increased by one packet and beta is an integer that indicates the maximum number of packets in the backlog router per connection before the window is decreased by one packet.

17. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the user input is received using a user interface.