Learning machine-based mechanism to improve QoS dynamically using selective tracking of packet retransmissions

• US 9,374,281 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2014
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dasgupta, Sukrit, Vasseur, Jean-Philippe, Mermoud, Grgory, Hui, Jonathan W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US14/164,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20150195185A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/01 Dynamic search techniques; Heuristics; Dynamic trees; Branch-and-bound
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/70 Routing based on monitoring results
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/365 Dynamic adaptation of the packet size
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

In one embodiment, a packet to be transmitted along a communication path in a network from a source to a destination is determined, the communication path having one or more hops between the source and the destination. An instruction is sent to one or more tracking nodes along the communication path to track a number of local retransmissions required to successfully transmit the packet from each tracking node to a respective next-hop destination. Then, reports indicating the number of local retransmissions are received from the one or more tracking nodes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a packet to be transmitted along a communication path in a network from a source to a destination, the communication path having one or more hops between the source and the destination;

sending an instruction to one or more tracking nodes along the communication path to track a number of local retransmissions required to successfully transmit the packet from each tracking node to a respective next-hop destination; and

receiving, from the one or more tracking nodes, reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically adjusting a routing topology of the network so as to optimize transmission performance based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

3. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

calculating an approximate total number of retransmissions required for the packet to be successfully transmitted from the source to the destination based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

detecting relatively weak performance levels in the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

5. The method as in claim 4, further comprising:

identifying a region in the network responsible for the relatively weak performance levels.

6. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to report the number of local retransmissions according to a predetermined schedule.

7. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to report the number of local retransmissions upon satisfying a predetermined threshold retransmission amount.

8. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to track the number of local retransmissions by maintaining a retransmission counter.

9. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting a topology of the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions in order to improve a network performance metric.

10. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

modifying a routing decision in the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions in order to improve a network performance metric.

11. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

adjusting a size of the packet in order to reduce the number of local retransmissions.

12. The method as in claim 1, wherein the number of local retransmissions pertains to a particular node in the network or to a particular communication link in the network.

13. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more network interfaces that communicate with a network;

a processor coupled to the one or more network interfaces and configured to execute a process; and

a memory configured to store program instructions which contain the process executable by the processor, the process comprising;

determining a packet to be transmitted along a communication path in the network from a source to a destination, the communication path having one or more hops between the source and the destination;

sending an instruction to one or more tracking nodes along the communication path to track a number of local retransmissions required to successfully transmit the packet from each tracking node to a respective next-hop destination; and

receiving, from each tracking node, reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

14. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

dynamically adjusting a routing topology of the network so as to optimize transmission performance based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

15. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

calculating an approximate total number of retransmissions required for the packet to be successfully transmitted from the source to the destination based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

16. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

detecting relatively weak performance levels in the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the process further comprises:

identifying a region in the network responsible for the relatively weak performance levels.

18. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to report the number of local retransmissions according to a predetermined schedule.

19. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to report the number of local retransmissions upon satisfying a predetermined threshold retransmission amount.

20. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

sending an instruction to the one or more tracking nodes to track the number of local retransmissions by maintaining a retransmission counter.

21. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

adjusting a topology of the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions in order to improve a network performance metric.

22. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

modifying a routing decision in the network based on the reports indicating the number of local retransmissions in order to improve a network performance metric.

23. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the process further comprises:

adjusting a size of the packet in order to reduce the number of local retransmissions.

24. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the number of local retransmissions pertains to a particular node in the network or to a particular communication link in the network.

25. A tangible non-transitory computer readable medium storing program instructions that cause a computer to execute a process, the process comprising:

determining a packet to be transmitted along a communication path in a network from a source to a destination, the communication path having one or more hops between the source and the destination;

sending an instruction to one or more tracking nodes along the communication path to track a number of local retransmissions required to successfully transmit the packet from each tracking node to a respective next-hop destination; and

receiving, from the one or more tracking nodes, reports indicating the number of local retransmissions.