System and method for a context layer switch

• US 8,504,718 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2010
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Guo Qiang, Tong, Wen
• Primary Examiner(s): Walsh, John B.
• Application Number:
  US12/769,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20110271007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,196 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/7453 using hashing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/355 Application aware switches, e.g. for HTTP
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1076 Resource dissemination mechanisms or network resource keeping policies for optimal resource availability in the overlay network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

In accordance with an embodiment, a network device has an input port for receiving input packets, and an output port for sending output packets, where the input packets and output packets have context layer information. The network device also includes a processor configured to process the input packets and output packets using a network protocol having a context layer.

Claims

1. A network device comprising:

an input port for receiving input packets, the input packets comprising context layer information;

an output port for sending output packets, the output packets comprising context layer information; and

a processor configured to process the input packets and output packets using a network protocol having a context layer, wherein the processor is configured to receive an information request from a client via the input port, the information request comprising at least one input packet comprising a client identification context label and a content identification label;

transmit a first output packet to a client, the output packet having a client identification context label identifying the client, wherein if transmission to the client is not successful, or if the client does not ask for more content, or if no acknowledgement is received from the client, the processor stops sending out packets to the client.

10. The network device of claim 1, further comprising a switch fabric configured to switch packets between the input port and the output port.

11. The network device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process context layer information, where the context layer information comprises user specific information, application specific information, network specific information and security specific information.

2. A network device comprising:

an input port for receiving input packets, the input packets comprising context layer information;

an output port for sending output packets, the output packets comprising context layer information; and

a processor configured to process the input packets and output packets using a network protocol having a context layer, wherein the processor is configured to receive an information request from a client via the input port, the information request comprising at least one input packet comprising a client identification context label and a content identification label;

wherein the network device comprises a cache, and the processor is further configured to;

determine if content data corresponding to the content identification context label is in the cache; and

if the content data is in the cache, sending the content data to the client in at least one first output packet via the output port, wherein the content data is addressed to the client with the client identification label.

3. The network device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to send at least one second output packet to a second network device requesting the content data if the content data is not in the cache, the at least one second output packet identifying the content data by the content identification label.

4. The network device of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to modify the content identification label of the at least one second packet before sending the at least one second output packet.

5. The network device of claim 3, wherein the processor is further configured to send at least one third output packet to a third network device requesting the content data if the content data is not available from the second network device, the at least one third output packet identifying a destination of the content data by an internet protocol (IP) address, or some other link layer address.

6. The network device of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to reformat the content data according to the client identification context label.

7. The network device of claim 6, wherein the content data comprises video data in a first format, and the processor is further configured to reformat the video data in the first format into a second format.

8. The network device of claim 6, wherein:

the content data comprises Web page data in a first format; and

the processor is further configured to reformat the Web page data by adding other data from the first format into a second format.

9. The network device of claim 8, wherein the other data comprises an advertisement.

12. A method of operating a network device, the method comprising:

transmitting and receiving packets on at least one port, the packets comprising context layer information;

receiving a first packet from a client on at least one port, the first packet comprising a content name and a context label header;

determining if requested content associated with the content name is in a local memory;

if the requested content is not in the local memory, transmitting at least one second packet to a second network device on the at least one port, the at least one second packet comprising the content name; and

if the requested content is in the local memory, transmitting at least one third packet to the client on the at least one port, the at least one third packet comprising the requested content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one second packet is encapsulated in an internet protocol (IP) address or L2 protocol address.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the content name comprises an HTTP URI and the context label header comprises a user device identifier, GPS location, TTL, or a key locator.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting the at least one third packet to the client comprises the network device sending retrieved content and a context label header to an output port paired with the at least one port, wherein the at least one port comprises an input port.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising locating a client based on the context label header, locating the client comprising determining proximity between client GPS data in the context label and a predetermined network device GPS location.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein transmitting at least one second packet to a second network device on the at least one port comprises accessing a copy of the requested content from an upstream content provider.

18. A method of operating a context level switch, the method comprising:

receiving a first packet from a client on at least one port, the packet comprising a content name and a context label header;

retrieving requested content from memory; and

transmitting at least one second packet to the client on the at least one port, the at least one second packet comprising the requested content.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the context label header comprises a client device type context identifier.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising reformatting the requested content according to the client device type context identifier before transmitting the at least one second packet.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the context label header comprises a time-to-live (TTL) identifier, the TTL identifier denoting a lifetime for the requested content.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising deleting the requested content from the memory at an expiration of the TTL.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the context label header comprises a security key for the requested content.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the context label header comprises location information.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the location information comprises global positioning system (GPS) based location information.