Systems and methods of multicast reconfiguration using cross-layer information

• US 9,215,166 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2013
• Issued: 12/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, Kadangode, Doverspike, Robert, Yuksel, Murat
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): NG, CHRISTINE Y
• Application Number:
  US13/873,989
• Publication Number:
  US 20130235717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 959 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370/217, 370/218, 370/219, 370/220, 370/221, 370/225, 370/228, 370/255
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/18 Loop-free operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A method includes receiving, at a first node of a data network, a message indicating a failure of a communication link of the data network. The message is received at the first node from a second node of the data network. The method includes determining an alternate route from the first node to a data source of the data network. The alternate route includes a third node as an upstream node of the first node. The method includes determining whether the third node is a downstream node of the first node prior to sending a first join message from the first node to the third node, and sending the first join message from the first node to the third node conditioned on determining that the third node is not a downstream node of the first node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first node of a data network, a message indicating a failure of a communication link of the data network, wherein the message is received at the first node from a second node of the data network, and wherein the second node is an upstream node of the first node;

determining an alternate route from the first node to a source node of the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a third node;

prior to sending a first join message from the first node to the third node, determining whether the third node is a downstream node of the first node;

sending the first join message from the first node to the third node based on a determination that the third node is not a downstream node of the first node;

sending a prune message to the second node; and

receiving a second join message from the second node in response to the prune message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing a communication link to the second node, wherein the second node becomes a downstream node of the first node in response to establishing the communication link.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a data packet at the first node via the data network;

determining a transmission priority of the data packet; and

sending the data packet to a downstream node of the first node based on the transmission priority of the data packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node determines whether the third node is a downstream node of the first node based on information stored in a memory accessible to the first node, wherein the information includes at least a portion of a network topology of the data network, wherein the information includes state information associated with one or more nodes of the data network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the first join message from the first node to the third node prevents creation of a loop within the data network.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, at a first node of a data network, a message indicating a failure of a communication link of the data network, wherein the message is received at the first node from a second node of the data network, and wherein the second node is an upstream node of the first node;

determining an alternate route from the first node to a source node of the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a third node;

prior to sending a first join message from the first node to the third node, determining whether the third node is a downstream node of the first node;

sending the first join message from the first node to the third node based on a determination that the third node is not a downstream node of the first node;

sending a prune message to the second node; and

receiving a second join message from the second node in response to the prune message.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise establishing a communication link to the second node, wherein the second node becomes a downstream node of the first node in response to establishing the communication link.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a data packet at the first node via the data network;

determining a transmission priority of the data packet; and

sending the data packet to a downstream node of the first node based on the transmission priority of the data packet.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data packet is received at the first node prior to sending the prune message to the second node, wherein the data packet is received at the first node via a first fast reroute link of the data network, wherein the data packet is sent to the second node via a second fast reroute link of the data network, and wherein the transmission priority of the data packet is different than a second transmission priority of a second data packet received at the first node via a non-fast reroute link of the data network.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second transmission priority of the second data packet is higher than the priority of the data packet.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, at the first node, a fast reroute prune message via the second fast reroute link from the second node; and

forwarding the fast reroute prune message to a particular node of the data network via the first fast reroute link, wherein the data packet is received at the first node from the particular node, and wherein the fast reroute prune message instructs the particular node to discontinue transmission of data packets to the second node via the first fast reroute link and the second fast reroute link.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first node does not modify a header of the data packet when the first node routes the data packet to the second node via the second fast reroute link, and wherein the first node modifies header information of other data packets when the first node routes the other data packets via the non-fast reroute link.

13. A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a first node of a data network, a message indicating a failure of a communication link of the data network, wherein the message is received at the first node from a second node of the data network, wherein the second node is an upstream node of the first node;

determining an alternate route from the first node to a source node of the data network, wherein the alternate route includes a third node;

prior to sending a first join message from the first node to the third node, determining whether the third node is a downstream node of the first node;

sending the first join message from the first node to the third node based on a determination that the third node is not a downstream node of the first node;

sending a prune message to the second node; and

receiving a second join message from the second node in response to the prune message.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise establishing a communication link to the second node, wherein the second node becomes a downstream node of the first node in response to establishing the communication link.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a data packet at the first node via the data network;

determining a transmission priority of the data packet; and

sending the data packet to a downstream node of the first node based on the transmission priority of the data packet.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the data network comprises an internet protocol television network.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the source node of the data network transmits data to downstream nodes of the data network, and wherein the first node is a downstream node of the source node.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein a downstream node of the source node transmits the data received from the source node to a media device.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein the source node comprises a video head end of the data network.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein determining the alternate route includes comparing link weighting factors associated with the first node and potential downstream nodes.