Location aware service instance discovery

• US 9,516,097 B1
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kesapragada, Ramamurthy Pani, Jain, Sudhir K, Ramasamy, Suganthi, Ishvarchandra, Fajalia Bhavik
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US14/088,712
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Network elements provide associated client devices querying for network services with one or more lists of services in accordance with a physical location of the associated client devices relative to the network elements irrespective of membership of the client devices in any one or more VLANs of the network. Network service instances on a first VLAN are reported to the querying client device on a second VLAN in accordance with a physical location of the client device relative to the network elements. The one or more lists of services provided to the querying client device include intuitive location tag information for identifying the services and the locations of the services. The location and service data of the location tag may be presented in a concatenated format.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first interface configured to communicate with an associated first access point on an associated first virtual local area network (VLAN), the first access point supporting a first service instance set local to the first access point;

a second interface configured to communicate with an associated second access point on an associated second VLAN, the second access point supporting a second service instance set local to the second access point; and

gateway logic coupled with the first and second interfaces and configured to;

send and receive data via the first and second interfaces;

receive, from the first access point, via the first interface, a first service query originating from an associated client of the first access point on the first VLAN; and

receive from the first access point first proximity data representative of a proximity of the second access point to the first access point;

receive from the second access point second proximity data representative of a proximity of the first access point to the second access point;

determine an association of the second access point with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data, the second proximity data, or a combination of the first proximity data and the second proximity data; and

in response to the first service query, transmit, to the first access point, via the first interface, data representative of the second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN based on the association.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first interface is further configured to communicate with an associated third access point on the associated first virtual local area network (VLAN), the third access point supporting a third service instance set local to the third access point;

and

wherein the gateway logic is further configured to;

in accordance with the association,

selectively transmit, to the first access point via the first interface, the data representative of the second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN without transmitting to the first access point data representative of the third service instance set supported by the third access point on the first VLAN.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gateway logic is further configured to:

receive from the second access point data representative of the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN; and

associate the second service instance set with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gateway logic is further configured to:

receive from the first access point data representative of the first service instance set local to the first access point on the first VLAN;

associate the first service instance set with the second access point in accordance with the second proximity data;

receive from the second access point via the second interface a second service query originating from an associated second client of the second access point on the second VLAN; and

in response to the second service query, transmit, to the second access point via the second interface, data representative of the first service instance set supported by the first access point on the first VLAN.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gateway logic is further configured to:

receive location data representative of a location of the second access point;

receive service instance name data representative of a name of one or more service instances comprising the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN;

associate the location data with the service instance name data and store data representative of the association in a non-transient memory of the apparatus; and

,

transmit the data representative of the association of the location data with the service instance name data to the first access point for visual rendering on an associated display of the client associated with the first access point on the first VLAN.

6. A method comprising:

receiving, by gateway logic, from a first access point, on a first VLAN, via a first interface, data representative of a first service instance set supported by the first access point;

receiving, by the gateway logic, from a second access point, on a second VLAN, different than the first VLAN, via a second interface, data representative of a second service instance set supported by the second access point;

receiving, by gateway logic, from the first access point, on the first VLAN, via the first interface, a first service query originating from an associated client of the first access point; and

receiving, by the gateway logic, from the first access point, first proximity data representative of a proximity of the second access point to the first access point;

receiving, by the gateway logic, from the second access point, second proximity data representative of a proximity of the first access point to the second access point; and

determining, by the gateway logic, an association of the second access point with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data, the second proximity data, or a combination of the first proximity data and the second proximity data; and

responsive to the query, transmitting to the first access point, via the first interface, data representative of the second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN based on the association.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the gateway logic, from a third access point, on the first VLAN, via the first interface, data representative of a third service instance set supported by the third access point; and

selectively transmitting, by the gateway logic, to the first access point, via the first interface, in accordance with the association, the data representative of the second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN without transmitting the data representative of the third service instance set supported by the third access point on the first VLAN.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the gateway logic, from the second access point, data representative of the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN; and

associating, by the gateway logic, the second service instance set with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the gateway logic, from the first access point, data representative of the first service instance set local to the first access point on the first VLAN;

associating, by the gateway logic, the first service instance set with the second access point in accordance with the second proximity data;

receiving, by the gateway logic, from the second access point, via the second interface, a second service query originating from an associated second client of the second access point on the second VLAN; and

transmitting, by the gateway logic, to the second access point, via the second interface, in response to the second service query, data representative of the first service instance set supported by the first access point on the first VLAN.

10. The method according to claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, by the gateway logic, location data representative of a location of the second access point;

receiving, by the gateway logic, service instance name data representative of a name of one or more service instances comprising the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN;

associating the location data with the service instance name data; and

transmitting, by the gateway logic, to the first access point, data representative of the association of the location data with the service instance name data for selected visual rendering on an associated display of the client associated with the first access point on the first VLAN.

11. Logic encoded in one or more tangible non-transient computer-readable media for execution by a processor and when executed by the processor the logic being configured to:

receive, by gateway logic, from a first access point, on a first VLAN, via a first interface, data representative of a first service instance set supported by the first access point;

receive, by the gateway logic, from a second access point, on a second VLAN, different than the first VLAN, via a second interface, data representative of a second service instance set supported by the second access point;

receive, by the gateway logic, from the first access point, on the first VLAN, via the first interface, a first service query originating from an associated client of the first access point; and

receive, from the first access point, first proximity data representative of a proximity of the second access point to the first access point;

receive, from the second access point, second proximity data representative of a proximity of the first access point to the second access point; and

determine an association of the second access point with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data, the second proximity data, or a combination of the first proximity data and the second proximity data; and

responsive to the query, transmit, to the first access point, via the first interface, data representative of a second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN based on the association.

12. The logic according to claim 11, further configured to:

receive, by the gateway logic, from a third access point, on the first VLAN, via the first interface, data representative of a third service instance set supported by the third access point; and

selectively transmit, to the first access point, via the first interface, in accordance with the association, the data representative of the second service instance set supported by the second access point on the second VLAN without transmitting the data representative of the third service instance set supported by the third access point on the first VLAN.

13. The logic according to claim 11, further configured to:

receive from the second access point data representative of the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN; and

associate the second service instance set with the first access point in accordance with the first proximity data.

14. The logic according to claim 11, further configured to:

receive from the first access point data representative of the first service instance set local to the first access point on the first VLAN;

associate the first service instance set with the second access point in accordance with the second proximity data;

receive from the second access point via the second interface, a second service query originating from an associated second client of the second access point on the second VLAN; and

transmit to the second access point via the second interface, in response to the second service query, data representative of the first service instance set supported by the first access point on the first VLAN.

15. The logic according to claim 11, further configured to:

receive location data representative of a location of the second access point;

receive service instance name data representative of a name of one or more service instances comprising the second service instance set local to the second access point on the second VLAN; and

transmit to the first access point the location data and the service name data for selected visual rendering on an associated display of the client associated with the first access point on the first VLAN.

16. An access point comprising:

a first interface coupling the access point with an associated enterprise network controller by an associated first virtual local area network;

a second interface selectively coupling the access point with an associated client device; and

control logic coupled with the first and second interfaces and configured to;

receive service request data representative of a service request from the associated client device;

communicate the service request data to the associated enterprise network controller via the first virtual local area network;

receive service instance data from the associated enterprise network controller via the first virtual local area network, the service instance data being representative of a service instance available to the associated client device and supported by a second access point on a second virtual local area network different than the first virtual local area network; and

communicate the service instance data to the associated client device by the first virtual local area network via the second interface;

transmitting proximity data representative of a proximity of the second access point to the access point to the associated enterprise network controller to determine an association of the second access point with the access point in accordance with the proximity data.

17. The access point according to claim 16, wherein the control logic is further configured to receive service instance data representative of the service instance available to the associated client device on the second access point associated with the second virtual local area network, and communicate the service instance data to the associated client device by the first virtual local area network via the second interface.

18. The access point according to claim 16, wherein the control logic is further configured to:

receive location tag data from the associated enterprise network controller via the first virtual local area network, the location tag data comprising service name data representative of a name of the service instance available to the associated client device on the second access point, and location data representative of a location of the second access point associated with the second virtual local area network; and

communicate the service name data and the location data the associated client device for visual rendering on an associated display of the associated client device.

19. The access point according to claim 16, wherein the control logic is further configured to:

communicate identification data representative of an identification of the access point to the associated enterprise network controller via the first virtual local area network; and

communicate service instance identification data representative of one or more service instances associated with the access point to the associated enterprise network controller.

20. The access point according to claim 16, wherein the control logic is further configured to receive service instance data representative of a service instance local to the enterprise network controller and available to the associated client device, and communicate the service instance data representative of the service instance local to the enterprise network controller to the associated client device by the first virtual local area network via the second interface.