Assigning priority to network traffic at customer premises

• US 8,099,517 B2
• Filed: 04/15/2010
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Jia, Lujun R., Patka, Andrew F.
• Primary Examiner(s): BARQADLE, YASIN M
• Application Number:
  US12/760,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198989A1
• Time in Patent Office: 642 Days
• Field of Search: 709238-245
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses

Abstract

A device may receive a message from a client device and determine whether the message includes particular data. The device may identify an address within a particular address group when the message includes the particular data. The traffic associated with addresses within the particular address group are assigned priority over traffic associated with addresses outside the particular address group. The device may provide the identified address to the client device so that traffic associated with the client device receives priority over other traffic.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a network device and from a user device of a particular type, a discover message that is based on a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP);

determining, by the network device, that the discover message includes a vendor class identifier associated with a hardware configuration of the user device;

determining, by the network device, whether data, associated with the vendor class identifier and included in the discovery message, matches at least one data item of a list of predetermined data, where the at least one data item is associated with the particular type of user device;

assigning, by the network device and to the user device, a first network address from an address group when the data associated with the vendor class identifier matches the at least one data item of the list of predetermined data, where network traffic associated with the first network address is to be processed based on a particular quality of service (QoS) policy associated with the particular type of user device;

assigning, by the network device and to the user device, a second, different network address from another address group when the data associated with the vendor class identifier does not match the at least one data item of the list of predetermined data, where network traffic associated with the second network address is not to be processed based on the particular QoS policy; and

prioritizing, based on the particular QoS policy, the network traffic associated with the first network address over the network traffic associated with the second network address.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving network traffic associated with the user device;

determining whether a network address, from the received network traffic, is within the address group by comparing the network address, from the received network traffic, to one or more network addresses, associated with the address group; and

processing the received network traffic, based on the particular QoS policy, when the network address, obtained from the received network traffic, matches one of the one or more network addresses.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

processing the received network traffic as background traffic or using a policy associated with a best effort when the network address, obtained from the received network traffic, does not match one of the one or more network addresses.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a duration of a lease that permits the first network address to be used by the user device for a particular period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, where the network device provides firewall functionality that includes packet filtering and protection against network attacks.

6. The method of claim 1, where the list of predetermined data, including the at least one data item, corresponds to a group of user devices, of the particular type, that transmit or receive video data.

7. The method of claim 1, where, when the data associated with the vendor class identifier matches the at least one data item of the list of predetermined data, assigning the network address from the address group includes:

generating a first offer message that includes the first network address, and

sending the first offer message to the user device; and

where, when the data associated with the vendor class identifier does not match the at least one data item of the list of predetermined data, assigning the network address from the other address group includes;

generating a second offer message that includes the second network address, and

sending the second offer message to the user device.

8. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a pool of available addresses and data associated with a list of vendor class identifiers associated with a hardware configuration of client devices, where a first group of the pool of available addresses is associated with a particular type of data traffic associated with a particular type of client device and has a first priority that is higher than a second priority associated with a second group of the pool of available addresses, and

where the first priority is associated with a Quality of Service (QoS) policy that indicates that data associated with the first group of the pool of available addresses is processed with priority over data associated with the second group of the pool of available addresses; and

a processor to;

determine that a first discovery message received from a first client device, of the client devices, includes a first vendor class identifier,

determine that data, associated with the first vendor class identifier, matches one or more of a group of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers,

determine that a second discovery message received from a second client device, of the client devices, includes a second vendor class identifier that is different from the first vendor class identifier,

determine that data, associated with the second vendor class identifier, does not match one or more of the group of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers,

assign, to the first client device, a first address, from the first group of the pool of available addresses based on determining that the data associated with the first vendor class identifier matches one or more of the group of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers,

assign, to the second client device, a second, different address, from the second group of the pool of available addresses based on determining that the data associated with the second vendor class identifier does not match one or more of the group of the data associated with the list of identifiers,

determine whether received network traffic is associated with the first client device or the second client device based on an address associated with the received network traffic,

process, based on the QoS policy, the received network traffic with the first priority when the received network traffic is associated with the first client device, and

process the received network traffic with the second priority when the received network traffic is associated with the second client device.

9. The device of claim 8, where the particular group of data of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers is associated with client devices that transmit or receive video data or audio data.

10. The device of claim 8, where, when assigning the first address, the processor is further to:

generate a first offer message that includes the first address, and

transmit, to the first client device, the first offer message; and

where, when assigning the second address, the processor is further to;

generate a second offer message that includes the second address, and

transmit, to the second client device, the second offer message.

11. The device of claim 8, where, when assigning the first address, the processor is further to:

compare the first vendor class identifier to the group of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers, and

determine, based on comparing the first vendor class identifier to the group of the data associated with the list of vendor class identifiers, that the first client device comprises the particular type of client device, where the first address is assigned based further on the client device comprising the particular type of client device.

12. The device of claim 8, where, when determining whether the received network traffic is associated with the first client device or the second client device, the processor is further to:

compare the address associated with the received network traffic with the first address and the second address,

determine that the network traffic is associated with the first client device when the address matches the first address, and

determine that the network traffic is associated with the second client device when the address matches the second address.

13. The device of claim 8, where, when assigning the first address, the processor is to:

assign a duration of a first lease that permits the first address to be used by the first client device for a period of time; and

where, when assigning the second address, the processor is to;

assign a duration of a second lease that permits the second address to be used by the second client device for another period of time.

14. The device of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

receive, from another client device, a message that does not include a vendor class identifier, and

assign, to the other client device, an address that is not from within the first group of the pool of available addresses or the second group of the pool of available addresses based on the message not including the vendor class identifier.

17. The device of claim 8, where the processor is further to:

process the received network traffic as background traffic or using a policy associated with a best effort when the received traffic is not associated with the first client device or the second client device.

15. A device, comprising:

a memory to store a pool of available addresses and a list of data items associated with a plurality of vendor class identifiers, the plurality of vendor class identifiers are associated with client devices that each comprise an audio device or a video device; and

a processor to;

receive, from a client device, a discover message that is based on a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP),

assign, to the client device, a particular network address from an address group, within the pool of available addresses, when the discovery message includes a vendor class identifier that corresponds to one of the data items of the list of data items, where network traffic with a network address within the address group is to be given a first priority and network traffic with a network address outside of the address group is to be given second, different priority, where the first priority comprises a higher priority relative to the second priority, where the first priority given to the network traffic with network addresses within the address group is associated with a quality of service (QoS) policy that indicates that the network traffic with the network address within the address group is to be processed with priority over the network traffic with the network address outside the address group;

send, to the client device, an offer message that includes the particular network address,

receive, from the client device, a request message that includes the particular network address, and

generate an acknowledgement message that includes the particular address and a lease, the lease indicating a period of time for which the particular network address is to remain valid.

16. The device of claim 15, where the processor is further to:

receive network traffic associated with the client device;

determine that a network address, obtained from the received network traffic, is not within the address group; and

process the received network traffic after giving priority to network traffic with the network address within the address group.

18. The device of claim 15, where the processor is further to:

determine whether received network traffic is associated with the client device based on an address associated with the received network traffic,

process, based on the QoS policy, the received network traffic with the first priority when the received network traffic is associated with the client device, and

process the received network traffic with the second priority when the received network traffic is not associated with the client device.