System and method for using distributed network performance information tables to manage network communications

• US 8,194,555 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Embarq Holdings Company LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Morrill, Robert J., Wiley, William L., Bugenhagen, Michael K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yuen, Kan
• Application Number:
  US11/809,537
• Publication Number:
  US 20080049777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/225, 370228-253, 370/401, 709224-229
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0847 Transmission error
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition

Abstract

A network communications device may include an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate first data packets with at least two network communications devices over respective node segments on a packet network. A processing unit may be configured to receive second data packets from the network communications devices. The second data packets may include network performance information generated by the network communications devices in response to receiving the first data packets. A memory may be in communication with the processing unit and be configured to store a table containing network performance information associated with the node segments over which the second data packets are communicated. The processing unit may be further configured to process the second data packets to store the network performance information in the table. The network performance information may be utilized to alter communications of data packets over the node segments.

Claims

1. A network communications device, comprising:

an input/output (I/O) unit configured to communicate first data packets with at least two network communications devices over respective node segments on a packet network;

a processing unit configured to receive second data packets from the at least two network communications devices, the second data packets including network performance information generated by the at least two network communications devices in response to receiving the first data packets;

a memory in communication with said processing unit and configured to store a table containing network performance information associated with the node segments over which the second data packets are communicated with the at least two network communications devices, said processing unit further configured to process the second data packets to store the network performance information in the table, the network performance information being utilized to alter communications of data packets over the node segments, wherein the network performance information includes information distinguishing between transmission performance of data packets that include real-time content and transmission performance of data packets that do not include real-time content; and

wherein said processing unit is further configured to;

determine whether the data packets communicated over a node segment include real-time content;

determining, prior to initiating a communications session, whether the network performance value of the node segment exceeds a predetermined real-time threshold value in response to a determination that the data packets communicated over the node segment include real-time content;

determine, prior to initiating a communications session, whether the network performance value of the node segment exceeds a predetermined non-real-time threshold value in response to a determination that the data packets communicated over the node segment does not include real-time content; and

in response to determining that the network performance value of the node segment exceeds at least one of the predetermined real-time threshold value and the predetermined non-real-time threshold value based on the content of the data packets communicated over the node segment, initiate the communications session over a different node segment that does not exceed the at least one of the predetermined real-time threshold value if the data packets communicated over the node segment include real-time content and the predetermined non-real-time threshold value if the data packets communicated over the node segment does not include real-time content.

2. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein the second data packets are performance information data packets.

3. The network communications device according to claim 2, wherein the performance information data packets are IEEE 802.1AG data packets.

4. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein the network performance information includes information representative of transmission performance of (i) data packets including real-time content and (ii) total data packets communicated over the respective node segments.

5. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein the network performance information represents bandwidth of data packets communicated over the respective node segments.

6. The network communications device according to claim 5, wherein the bandwidth includes bandwidth of (i) data packets including real-time content and (ii) total data packets communicated over the respective node segments during a time period.

7. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein the table further includes indicia representative of node segments.

8. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to:

determine whether at least one network performance information value of a node segment crosses a predetermined threshold value; and

communicate a notification to another network communications device in response to determining that at least one network performance information value of a node segment crossed the predetermined threshold.

9. The network communications device according to claim 1, wherein said processing unit is further configured to:

receive performance information data packets; and

determine network performance information of a node segment over which the performance information data packets were communicated.

10. A method for managing network communications, said method comprising:

communicating first data packets via at least two node segments on a packet network to at least two network communications devices;

receiving second data packets communicated from the at least two network communications devices via respective node segments, the second data packets including network performance information generated by the at least two network communications devices in response to receiving the first data packets;

storing a table containing network performance information associated with the node segments over which the second data packets are communicated;

parsing the second data packets to access the network performance information, wherein the network performance information includes information distinguishing between transmission performance of data packets that include real-time content and transmission performance of data packets that do not include real-time content;

storing the network performance information in the table; and

altering communications over the node segments based on the stored network performance information, wherein altering communications over the node segments includes;

determining whether the first data packets communicated over the at least two node segments on the packet network include real-time content,

determining whether the network performance information of the node segments exceeds at least one of a predetermined real-time threshold value and a predetermined non-real-time threshold value based on whether a content of the data packets communicated over the node segment includes real-time content, and

in response to determining that the network performance value of the node segment exceeds at least one of the predetermined real-time threshold value and the predetermined non-real-time threshold value based on the content of the data packets communicated over the at least two node segments on the packet network, initiate the communications session over a different node segment that does not exceed the at least one of the predetermined real-time threshold value if the data packets communicated over the node segment include real-time content and the predetermined non-real-time threshold value if the data packets communicated over the node segment does not include real-time content.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein receiving second data packets include receiving performance information data packets.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein receiving second data packets include receiving IEEE 802.1AG data packets.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein receiving second data packets including the network performance information includes receiving information representative of transmission performance of (i) data packets including real-time content and (ii) total data packets communicated over the respective node segments.

14. The method according to claim 10, wherein receiving second data packets including the network performance information includes receiving information representative of bandwidth of data packets communicated over the respective node segments.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein receiving information representative of bandwidth includes receiving information representative of bandwidth of (i) data packets including real-time content and (ii) total data packets communicated over the respective node segments during a time period.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein storing a table further includes storing indicia representative of node segments.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether at least one network performance information value of a node segment crosses a predetermined threshold value; and

in response to determining that at least one network performance information value of a node segment crossed the predetermined threshold, communicating a notification to another network communications device.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein further comprising:

receiving performance information data packets; and

determining network performance information of a node segment over which the performance information data packets were communicated.