Migration of network connection under mobility

• US 9,614,918 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Calo, Seraphin B., Dilmaghani, Raheleh B., Ko, Bong Jun, Lee, Kang-Won, Pappas, Vasileios, Raghavendra, Ramya, Song, Yang, Verma, Dinesh C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hitesh
• Application Number:
  US13/826,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20140280470A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,482 Days
• Field of Search: 709203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of migration (e.g., seamless migration) of a network connection under mobility (e.g., host mobility). In various examples, migration (e.g., seamless migration) of a network connection under mobility (e.g., host mobility) may be implemented in the form of systems and/or algorithms.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage device, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer for migrating communication between a client device and a first server to communication between the client device and a second server, the program of instructions, when executing, performing the following steps:

communicating, between the client device and the first server via a first communication session, wherein the first communication session has associated therewith at least one communication state;

determining, by the client device, the at least one communication state;

sending;

by the client device, a request message to the second server, wherein the request message includes an identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device, wherein the identification of the at least one

communication state that was determined by the client device is sent in at least one packet that has a reserved 1-bit flag in a TCP header set so as to identify the packet as distinguishable with respect to the information contained therein, and wherein the packet includes both a TCP state associated with a TCP protocol and an application state associated with an application layer, wherein said application state includes;

information regarding data segments in the application layer that client device is currently expecting to receive but has not yet received; and

an identification of an application data object and an offset position of the application data object expected to be received in the number of bytes from a beginning of a downloaded object, said application data object offset position being included in a TCP payload of the packet; and

communicating between the client device and the second server via a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is based at least in part upon the identification of the at least one communication state that was sent by the client device to the second server;

wherein the program of instructions, when executing, further performs the following steps;

determining, by the client device, when the communication between the client device and the first server via the first communication session migrates to the communication between the client device and the second server via the second communication session; and

sending, by the client device, to the second server, the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device after the client device determines that the communication between the client device and the first server via the first communication session has migrated to the communication between the client device and the second server via the second communication session,

wherein the communication is migrated from between the client device and the first server to between the client device and the second server as a result of at least one of;

(a) load-balancing; and

(b) a virtual machine process.

3. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the communicating between the client device and the first server via the first communication session is initiated by the client device.

4. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the communicating between the client device and the second server via the second communication session is initiated by the client device.

5. The computer readable storage device of claim 4, wherein the communicating between the client device and the second server via the second communication session comprises, prior to the second server responding to the client device initiating the second communication session, the second server establishing a second communication state associated with the second communication session to be substantially identical to the first communication state associated with the first communication session.

6. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the first communication session has associated therewith at least a first protocol, wherein the second communication session has associated therewith at least a second protocol, and wherein the first protocol and the second protocol are the same.

7. The computer readable storage device of claim 6, wherein each of the first protocol and the second protocol is a network layer protocol.

8. The computer readable storage device of claim 7, wherein the network layer protocol is a TCP protocol.

9. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein each of the first communication session and the second communication session is an application level session.

10. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the sending by the client device, to the second server, the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device further comprises asynchronously repeatedly sending by the client device to the second server, in a series of packets, the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device.

11. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein:

the determining by the client device the at least one communication state further comprises determining, at each of a plurality of points in time, the at least one communication state; and

the sending by the client device the identification of the at least one communication state further comprises sending, to the second server, the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device at a most recent one of the points in time.

12. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

13. The computer readable storage device of claim 12, wherein:

the mobile device communicates with the first server via a first mobile phone cell site; and

the mobile device communicates with the second server via a second mobile phone cell site.

18. The computer readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the program of instructions, when executing, further performs:

maintaining, by the second server, a table of TCP and application states of connections for one or more client devices which the second server currently serves; and

discarding, by the second server, the request message when the TCP and application states in the request message are found in the table.

2. A computer-implemented system for migrating communication from a first server to a second server, the computer-implemented system comprising:

a memory device; and

a client device including at least one processor coupled to the memory device, wherein the at least one processor is configured for;

(a) communicating with the first server via a first communication session, wherein the first communication session has associated therewith at least one communication state;

(b) determining the at least one communication state; and

(c) sending to the second server a request message including an identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device, wherein the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device is sent in at least one packet that has a reserved 1-bit flag in a TCP header set so as to identify the packet as distinguishable with respect to the information contained therein, and wherein the packet includes both a TCP state associated with a TCP protocol and an application state associated with an application layer, wherein said application state includes;

information regarding data segments in the application layer that client device is currently expecting to receive but has not yet received; and

an identification of an application data object and an offset position of the application data object expected to be received in the number of bytes from a beginning of a downloaded object, said application data object offset position being included in a TCP payload of the packet, wherein the at least one processor is further configured for communicating with the second server via a second communication session, wherein the second communication session is based at least in part upon the identification of the at least one communication state that was sent by the client device to the second server;

wherein the at least one processor is further configured for;

determining when the communication between the client device and the first server via the first communication session migrates to the communication between the client device and the second server via the second communication session; and

sending to the second server, the identification of the at least one communication state that was determined by the client device after the client device determines that the communication between the client device and the first server via the first communication session has migrated to the communication between the client device and the second server via the second communication session,

wherein the communication is migrated from between the client device and the first server to between the client device and the second server as a result of at least one of;

(a) load-balancing; and

(b) a virtual machine process.

14. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the communicating between the client device and the first server via the first communication session is initiated by the client device.

15. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the communicating between the client device and the second server via the second communication session is initiated by the client device.

16. The computer-implemented system of claim 15, wherein the communicating between the client device and the second server via the second communication session comprises, prior to the second server responding to the client device initiating the second communication session, the second server establishing a second communication state associated with the second communication session to be substantially identical to the first communication state associated with the first communication session.

17. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the first communication session has associated therewith at least a first protocol, wherein the second communication.

19. The computer-implemented system of claim 2, wherein the second server maintains a table of TCP and application states of connections for one or more client devices which the second server currently serves and discards the request message when the TCP and application states in the request message are found in the table.