Automatic mapping of human-meaningful parameters to network-meaningful parameters for traffic importance in home network

• US 8,782,252 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Issued: 07/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Huotari, Allen Joseph, Dattagupta, Siddhartha, Li, Chong Liang, Harrington, Kendra
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): MADAMBA, GLENFORD J
• Application Number:
  US12/165,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20090327521A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,206 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/232
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2809 indicating that an appliance service is present in a home automation network monitoring functionality H04L43/0817; discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services, H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2818 from a device located outside both the home and the home network access arrangements H04L12/2856; for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025; arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless eletrical link G08C17/00; telephonic communication systems adapted for combination with remote control systems H04M11/007
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2836 Protocol conversion between an external network and a home network controlling appliance services of a home automation network from a device located outside the home and the home network H04L12/2818; protocol conversion H04L69/08; adaptation of digital video signals for transport over a specific home network H04N7/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

A method of automatically discovering home network device capabilities, ranking devices using the capabilities in accordance with ranking heuristics, and implementing traffic policy in accordance with the ranking.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

discovering device capabilities for a device on a network by querying a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the device capabilities are included in a request for a network address and include whether a device can display video and pixel dimensions;

ranking devices on the network, wherein the ranking includes assigning a ranking tag to each of the devices and the ranking tag represents an overall profile of each of the devices;

managing traffic on the network in accordance with the ranking, wherein the ranking encompasses whether the devices are online or offline, and the ranking encompasses a class of traffic, which can be supported by the devices;

determining a resolution capability for each of the devices; and

determining if particular devices are capable of recording data such that their associated packets are prioritized over other packets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the capabilities include at least one of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the capabilities include all of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking act further comprises:

ranking devices by physical network connections.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking act further comprises:

ranking devices by data rate and/or by signal to noise ratio (SNR).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the ranking act further comprises:

ranking devices by device status.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein devices that can display high definition video are ranked higher than devices that can display only standard definition video and/or devices that can record and play back content are ranked higher than devices that can only play back content.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor device configured to;

discover device capabilities for a device on a network by querying a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the device capabilities include whether a device can display video and pixel dimensions;

rank network devices and assign a ranking tag to each of the network devices, wherein the ranking tag represents an overall profile of each of the devices, wherein a respective network address is requested from the DHCP server by each of the devices, and the device capabilities are included in the request for the network address, the apparatus managing traffic policy in accordance with the ranking, wherein the ranking encompasses whether the devices are online or offline, and the ranking encompasses a class of traffic, which can be supported by the devices;

determine a resolution capability for each of the devices; and

determine if particular devices are capable of recording data such that their associated packets are prioritized over other packets.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the capabilities include at least one of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the capabilities include all of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the ranking is further established based on physical network connections.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the ranking is further established based on physical link characteristics.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the ranking is further established based on device status.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein devices that can display high definition video are ranked higher than devices that can display only standard definition video and/or devices that can record and play back content are ranked higher than devices that can only play back content.

15. A residential gateway (RG) configured to establish communication between a wide area network and a home network, the RG comprising:

at least one processor device; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions to cause the processor to;

discover home network device capabilities by querying a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the device capabilities include whether a device can display video and pixel dimensions and were included in a request for a unique network address from the DHCP server;

rank devices using the capabilities in accordance with ranking heuristics to establish a ranking, wherein the ranking includes assigning a ranking tag to each of the devices and the ranking tag represents an overall profile of each of the devices;

implement traffic policy in accordance with the ranking, wherein the ranking encompasses whether the devices are online or offline, and the ranking encompasses a class of traffic, which can be supported by the devices;

determine a resolution capability for each of the devices; and

determine if particular devices are capable of recording data such that their associated packets are prioritized over other packets.

16. The RG of claim 15, wherein the capabilities include at least one of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

17. The RG of claim 15, wherein the capabilities include all of:

whether a device can display video, whether a device can display high definition (HD) video, whether a device can record content, pixel dimensions.

18. The RG of claim 15, wherein the ranking is further established based on physical link characteristics.

19. The RG of claim 15, wherein the ranking is further established based on data rate and/or by signal to noise ratio (SNR).

20. The RG of claim 15, wherein the ranking is further established based on device status.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a residential gateway for discovering device capabilities for a device on a network by querying a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, wherein the device capabilities include whether a device can display video and pixel dimensions and were included in a request from the device for a network address from the DHCP server;

a policy implementing entity for ranking devices on a network and assigning a ranking tag to each of the devices, wherein the ranking tag represents an overall profile of each of the devices, wherein the ranking encompasses whether the devices are online or offline, and the ranking encompasses a class of traffic, which can be supported by the devices,

the policy implementing entity being configured for establishing traffic on the network in accordance with the ranking,

determining a resolution capability for each of the devices, and

determining if particular devices are capable of recording data such that their associated packets are prioritized over other packets.