Methods and systems for transmitting packets through aggregated end-to-end connection

• US 9,585,175 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2013
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pismo Labs Technology Limited
• Original Assignee: Pismo Labs Technology Limited
• Inventors: Sung, Patrick Ho Wai, Ng, Kam Chiu, Leung, Wan Chun
• Primary Examiner(s): Morlan, Robert M
• Assistant Examiner(s): RANDHAWA, MANDISH K
• Application Number:
  US13/935,577
• Publication Number:
  US 20150009990A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4637 Interconnected ring systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0829 Packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/026 Details of "hello" or keep-alive messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/41 by acting on aggregated flows or links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A method carried out by a first communications router for transmitting data packets to a second communications router by establishing an aggregated end-to-end connection with the second communications router. The aggregated end-to-end connection comprises a plurality of established end-to-end connections which are classified into a first group and at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s). The first group of established end-to-end connection(s) satisfy all of one or more conditions and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) do not satisfy all of the one or more conditions. Data packets are transmitted through the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), although, it is preferred to transmit data packets through the first group of established end-to-end connection(s). The present invention further comprises a method and system for determining whether each of the established end-to-end connections of an aggregated end-to-end connection belongs to a first group of established end-to-end connection(s) or at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and determining whether data packets are first type data packets. The first type data packets are transmitted through the first group of established end-to-end connection(s).

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data packets by a first communications router to a second communications router, wherein the first communications router and second communication router are multi wide area network (WAN) routers and support aggregating the bandwidth of multiple Internet connections, comprising:

establishing an aggregated end-to-end connection with the second communications router through Internet, wherein the aggregated end-to-end connection is a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel;

wherein the aggregated end-to-end connection comprising a plurality of established end-to-end connections;

classifying, the plurality of established end-to-end connections into a first group and at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) satisfy all of one or more conditions and wherein the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) do not satisfy all of the one or more conditions;

wherein when there is more than one condition, weights are assigned to the more than one condition, wherein conditions with higher weights have higher priority than conditions with lower weights when classifying the plurality of established end-to-end connections;

wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) comprises a first established end-to-end connection and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) comprises a second established end-to-end connection;

wherein the one or more conditions are selected from a group consisting of service provider, geographical location, time, usage price, security, user identity, Internet protocol address range, communication technology, and device;

transmitting data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the data packets through the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) are preferred for transmitting the data packets;

determining a probability of the first established end-to-end connection not being able to remain in the first group of established end-to-end connections;

transmitting warm-up packets through the second established end-to-end connection when the probability reaches a predefined probability threshold;

removing the first established end-to-end connection from the first group of established end-to-end connections when the first established end-to-end connection stops satisfying the one or more conditions;

stopping to transmit data packets through the first established end-to-end connection;

transmitting maintenance packets, health check packets or management packets through the first established end-to-end connection when the first established end-to-end connection is not being used for transmitting data packets;

reclassifying the plurality of end-to-end connections periodically by determining periodically whether the plurality of network interfaces satisfy conditions of the first group of conditions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

when an established end-to-end connection belonging to one of the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) has satisfied all of the one or more conditions, the established end-to-end connection does not further belong to the one of the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and becomes belonging to the first group of established end-to-end connection(s).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least one alert message when an established end-to-end connection belonging to the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) leaves the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and/or no longer satisfies all of the one or more conditions.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting management data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the management data packets through either the first group or the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s).

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting error correction data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the error correction data packets through either the first group or the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the error correction packets are created by the first communications router based, at least in part, on the data packets.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

when the one or more conditions are based on location;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only when the first communications router is used in a first location;

when the one or more conditions are based on time;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only during a specific time;

when the one or more conditions are based on user identity;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only when the first communication router is being used by a specific user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions are based on a performance metric, wherein the performance metric is selected from the group consisting of throughput, error rates, packet latency, packet jitter, symbol jitter, quality of service, security, coverage area, bandwidth, bit error rate, packet error rate, frame error rate, dropped packet rate, queuing delay, round trip time, capacity, signal level, interference level, bandwidth delay product, handoff delay time, signal-to-interface ratio, and signal-to-noise ratio.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more conditions are retrieved remotely from a remote server or retrieved locally from a local storage medium, and is received through a web interface, an application programming interface (API), a command line interface or a console.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein when there are more than one non-first group of established end-to-end connections, the transmitting data packets is performed by distributing data packets among the non-first groups of established end-to-end connections according to a ranking.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the classifying or reclassifying is performed periodically by transmitting testing data, data packets, error correction packets, management packets or health-check packets through the plurality of established end-to-end connections, wherein contents of the testing data is based on data packets.

11. A first communications router for transmitting data packets to a second communications router, wherein the first communications router and second communication router are multi wide area network (WAN) routers and support aggregating the bandwidth of multiple Internet connections, wherein the first communication router comprising:

a plurality of network interfaces,

at least one processing unit;

at least one non-transitory storage medium storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for;

establishing an aggregated end-to-end connection with the second communications router through Internet, wherein the aggregated end-to-end connection is a virtual private network (VPN) tunnel;

wherein the aggregated end-to-end connection comprising a plurality of established end-to-end connections;

classifying the plurality of established end-to-end connections into a first group and at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) satisfy all of one or more conditions and wherein the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) do not satisfy all of the one or more conditions;

wherein when there is more than one condition, weights are assigned to the more than one condition, wherein conditions with higher weights have higher priority than conditions with lower weights when classifying the plurality of established end-to-end connections;

wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) comprises a first established end-to-end connection and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) comprises a second established end-to-end connection;

wherein the one or more conditions are selected from a group consisting of service provider, geographical location, time, usage price, security, user identity, Internet protocol address range, communication technology, and device;

transmitting data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the data packets through the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) is preferred for transmitting the data packets;

determining a probability of the first established end-to-end connection not being able to remain in the first group of established end-to-end connections;

transmitting warm-up packets through the second established end-to-end connection when the probability reaches a predefined probability threshold;

removing the first established end-to-end connection from the first group of established end-to-end connections when the first established end-to-end connection stops satisfying the one or more conditions;

stopping to transmit data packets through the first established end-to-end connection;

transmitting maintenance packets, health check packets or management packets through the first established end-to-end connection when the first established end-to-end connection is not being used for transmitting data packets;

reclassifying the plurality of end-to-end connections periodically by determining periodically whether the plurality of network interfaces satisfy conditions of the first group of conditions.

12. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein:

when an established end-to-end connection belonging to one of the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) has satisfied all of the one or more conditions, the established end-to-end connection does not further belong to the one of the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and becomes belonging to the first group of established end-to-end connection(s).

13. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the at least one non-transitory storage medium further storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for transmitting at least one alert message when an established end-to-end connection belonging to the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) leaves the first group of established end-to-end connection(s) and/or no longer satisfies all of the one or more conditions.

14. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the at least one non-transitory storage medium further storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for:

transmitting management data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the management data packets through either the first group or the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s).

15. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the at least one non-transitory storage medium further storing program instructions executable by the at least one processing unit for:

transmitting error correction data packets through the aggregated end-to-end connection by transmitting the error correction data packets through either the first group or the at least one non-first group of established end-to-end connection(s), wherein the error correction packets are created by the first communications router based, at least in part, on the data packets.

16. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein:

when the one or more conditions are based on location;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only when the first communications router is used in a first location;

when the one or more conditions are based on time;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only during a specific time;

when the one or more conditions are based on user identity;

classifying the first established end-to-end connection only when the first communication router is being used by a specific user.

17. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the one or more conditions are based on a performance metric, wherein the performance metric is selected from the group consisting of throughput, error rates, packet latency, packet jitter, symbol jitter, quality of service, security, coverage area, bandwidth, bit error rate, packet error rate, frame error rate, dropped packet rate, queuing delay, round trip time, capacity, signal level, interference level, bandwidth delay product, handoff delay time, signal-to-interface ratio, and signal-to-noise ratio.

18. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the one or more conditions are retrieved remotely from a remote server or retrieved locally from the secondary storage, and is received through a web interface, an application programming interface (API), a command line interface or a console.

19. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein when there are more than one non-first group of established end-to-end connections, the transmitting data packets is performed by distributing data packets among the non-first groups of established end-to-end connections according to a ranking.

20. The first communications router of claim 11, wherein the classifying or reclassifying is performed periodically by transmitting testing data, data packets, error correction packets, management packets or health-check packets through the plurality of established end-to-end connections, wherein contents of the testing data is based on data packets.