Performance optimization with integrated mobility and MPLS

• US 8,472,415 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yegani, Parviz, Oswal, Anand K., Stammers, Timothy P., Iyer, Jayaraman
• Primary Examiner(s): WASHINGTON, ERIKA ALISE
• Application Number:
  US11/714,566
• Publication Number:
  US 20070206556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,303 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/389
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/15 in relation to multipoint traffic arrangements for broadcast or multicast in data networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5014 using dynamic host configuration protocol [DHCP] or bootstrap protocol [BOOTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0892 by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 : Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• 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 69/14 : Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 : Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 : Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0033 : with transfer of context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/12 : Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 : Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 : using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 : Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 : Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 : Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 : adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 : Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

In one embodiment, a first node receives data associated with a mobile node. The mobile node includes a plurality of sessions associated with it. For example, the plurality of sessions may be associated with flows for different services, such as voice over IP. A session for the data is determined out of a plurality of sessions. Labels may be provided that correspond to sessions in the plurality of sessions and a label is then determined for the session. The data is sent to the second node in a packet that includes the label. The packet is sent using a label switched path (LSP) in a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network. When the second node receives the data, it uses the label to determine a performance treatment to apply to the data. For example, different labels may correspond to the different sessions and different sessions may be associated with different quality of service (QoS) levels.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first node, first data and second data, wherein the first data and the second data are associated with a mobile node, wherein the mobile node includes a plurality of sessions for sending data through a layer 2 connection to the first node;

determining a flow for each session in the plurality of sessions received at the first node using a flow determiner;

assigning a label to each session in the plurality of sessions, wherein the assigned label is based on the type of flow for each session;

determining a first data session in the plurality of sessions for the first data and a second data session in the plurality of sessions for the second data, wherein the first data session is different than the second data session;

determining a first label for the first data session and a second label for the second data session, wherein the first label is different than the second label;

sending a first packet including the first data and the first label to a second node, wherein the first packet is routed from the first node to the second node using the first label, wherein the second node uses the first label to determine a first performance treatment to apply to the first data; and

sending a second packet including the second data and the second label to the second node, wherein the second packet is routed from the first node to the second node using the second label, wherein the second node uses the second label to determine a second performance treatment to apply to the second data, wherein the first performance treatment and the second performance treatment are different.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein data associated with a mobile node is mapped to appropriate label switched paths based on a quality of service associated with the label.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data is sent in the second packet including a same source and destination as the packet used to send the first data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the labels comprises:

assigning the labels from a label table;

determining a type of service associated with the first data and the second data; and

determining the labels based on the type of service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a respective label switched path of a plurality of label switched paths is used to send data from the first node to the second node and the label switched path is shared by a plurality of mobile nodes, wherein data for a same type of service received from the plurality of mobile nodes is sent in the label switched path shared by the plurality of mobile nodes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second node applies the first or second performance treatment and sends the first or second data to a destination different from the first node and the mobile node.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first node from a second node, a packet including data associated with a mobile node through a label switched path, wherein the mobile node includes a plurality of sessions for sending data through a layer 2 connection to the second node;

determining a flow for each session in the plurality of sessions received at the first node using a flow determiner;

assigning a label to a respective label switched path of a plurality of label switched paths that are used to send data from the first node to the second node, wherein each label is associated with a different quality of service level for each of the respective sessions that include a streaming video session, a voice over IP session, an e-mail session, and a web browsing session, wherein streaming video session is associated with an assured forwarding quality of service level and the web browsing session is associated with an expedited forwarding quality of service level;

receiving, at the first node, a second packet including second data associated with the mobile node;

determining a second label from the second packet, wherein labels in one or more labels correspond to one or more sessions;

determining a second performance treatment for the second label; and

applying the second performance treatment to the second data.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second data is sent in the second packet including a same source and destination as the packet used to send the data, wherein the second label is used to determine the second performance treatment to apply to the second data and the determined label is used to determine the performance treatment to apply to the data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the label switched path is shared by a plurality of mobile nodes, wherein data for a same type of service received from the plurality of mobile nodes is sent in the label switched path shared by the plurality of mobile nodes.

10. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution by the one or more computer processors and when executed operable to;

determine a flow for each session in a plurality of sessions received at a first node using a flow determiner;

assign a label to each session in the plurality of sessions, wherein the assigned label is based on the type of flow for each session, wherein each assigned label is associated with a different quality of service level for each of the respective sessions that include a streaming video session, a voice over IP session, an e-mail session, and a web browsing session, wherein streaming video session is associated with an assured forwarding quality of service level and the web browsing session is associated with an expedited forwarding quality of service level;

receive, at the apparatus, first data and second data, wherein the first data and the second data are associated with a mobile node that includes a plurality of sessions;

determine a first data session for the first data and a second data session for the second data in the plurality of sessions, wherein the first data session is different than the second data session;

determine a first label for the first data session and a second label for the second data session, wherein the first label is different than the second label;

send a first packet including the first data and the first label to a second node, wherein the first packet is routed from the first node to the second node using the first label, wherein the second node uses the first label to determine a first performance treatment to apply to the first data; and

send a second packet including the second data and the second label to the second node, wherein the second packet is routed from the first node to the second node using the second label, wherein the second node uses the second label to determine a second performance treatment to apply to the second data, wherein the first performance treatment and the second performance treatment are different.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second data is sent in the second packet including a same source and destination as the packet used to send the first data.

12. An apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

logic encoded in one or more tangible media for execution by the one or more computer processors and when executed operable to;

determine a flow for each session in a plurality of sessions received at a first node using a flow determiner;

assign a label to a respective label switched path of a plurality of label switched paths that are used to send data from the first node to a second node, wherein each label is associated with a different quality of service level for each of the respective sessions that include a streaming video session, a voice over IP session, an e-mail session, and a web browsing session, wherein streaming video session is associated with an assured forwarding quality of service level and the web browsing session is associated with an expedited forwarding quality of service level;

receive, at the apparatus, a first data packet including first data and a second data packet including second data, wherein the first data and the second data are associated with a mobile node that includes multiple sessions;

determine a first label from the first data packet and a second label from the second data packet, wherein the first label is different than the second;

determine a first performance treatment for the first label;

determine a second performance treatment for the second label, wherein the first performance treatment is different than the second performance treatment; and

apply the first performance treatment to the first data and the second performance treatment to the second data.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second data is sent in the second packet including a same source and destination as the packet used to send the first data.