Propagating routing awareness for autonomous networks

• US 9,787,576 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2014
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Leeb, Gunter, Hassan, Amer A., Menezes, Pascal F., Haugen, Todd
• Primary Examiner(s): Barry, Lance Leonard
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIAN, MOHAMMAD YOU A
• Application Number:
  US14/460,985
• Publication Number:
  US 20160036692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/04 Interdomain routing, e.g. hierarchical routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/245 Link aggregation, e.g. trunking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60

Abstract

Techniques for propagating routing awareness for autonomous networks are described. In at least some embodiments, routing awareness refers to attributes of autonomous networks that route communication sessions between different endpoints. According to various embodiments, routing awareness indicates whether a particular autonomous network supports a protocol for propagating routing awareness among different autonomous networks. Routing awareness may also include performance attributes of autonomous networks. Such routing awareness enables entities involved in routing communication sessions to make informed decisions regarding routing and handling of communication sessions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

aggregating routing awareness for multiple autonomous networks, the routing awareness specifying whether individual networks of the multiple autonomous networks support a routing awareness protocol for propagating routing awareness for routing of a communication session, the routing awareness protocol identified via a custom protocol identifier (ID) and indicating one or more procedures for propagating attributes of the individual network and the communication session; and

propagating the routing awareness to one or more of the multiple autonomous networks independently of a data stream of the communication session.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said aggregating occurs in response to initiation of the communication session.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein said aggregating occurs in response to ascertaining that the communication session is scheduled to occur at a future time.

4. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising, prior to said aggregating:

receiving routing path attributes from one or more of the autonomous networks; and

aggregating the routing awareness to include the routing path attributes.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the routing awareness indicates that a particular autonomous network that supports the routing awareness protocol for propagating routing awareness is preferred for routing the communication session over a different autonomous network that is not supportive of the routing awareness protocol.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the routing awareness comprises performance attributes of at least one of the autonomous networks.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the routing awareness indicates that at least one of the autonomous networks is listed on one of a whitelist, a blacklist, or a greylist of networks for routing communication sessions.

8. A method as described in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a change in routing attributes for a particular autonomous network of the multiple autonomous networks; and

propagating further routing awareness of the change in routing attributes of the particular autonomous network.

9. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the system perform operations including;

receiving an indication of a routing path for a communication session;

ascertaining that a particular autonomous network along the routing path for the communication session is not supportive of a routing awareness protocol for propagating routing awareness for the communication session, the routing awareness protocol identified via a custom protocol identifier (ID) and indicating one or more procedures for propagating attributes of the individual networks and the communication session;

identifying a different autonomous network that is available for routing the communication session and that is supportive of the routing awareness protocol; and

updating routing awareness for the communication session to indicate that the different autonomous network is preferred over the particular autonomous network for routing the communication session.

10. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the system comprises a network system that is implemented separately from the particular autonomous network and the different autonomous network.

11. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the system is implemented by another autonomous network separate from the particular autonomous network and the different autonomous network.

12. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the indication of the routing path comprises an indication that the communication session is scheduled to occur.

13. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the indication of the routing path comprises an indication that the communication session is in progress.

14. A system as recited in claim 9, wherein the routing awareness includes routing path attributes for multiple autonomous networks along the routing path for the communication session.

15. A system as recited in claim 9, further comprising communicating the updated routing awareness to an entity involved in routing the communication session.

16. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

aggregating, in response to initiation of a communication session, routing awareness for one or more autonomous networks along a routing path of the communication session, the routing awareness specifying whether the one or more autonomous networks support a routing awareness protocol for propagating routing awareness for routing of the communication session, the routing awareness protocol identified via a custom protocol identifier (ID) and indicating one or more procedures for propagating attributes of the individual networks and the communication session; and

propagating the routing awareness to at least one other autonomous network along the routing path of the communication session independently from a data stream of the communication session.

17. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the routing awareness indicates that at least one of the one or more autonomous networks is a preferred network for routing the communication session.

18. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the routing awareness includes performance attributes for the one or more of the autonomous networks.

19. A method as described in claim 16, wherein the routing awareness includes an instruction or a suggestion to modify the routing path to replace a particular autonomous network with a different autonomous network.

20. A method as described in claim 16, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a change in routing attributes for a particular autonomous network of the one or more autonomous networks; and

propagating further routing awareness of the change in routing attributes of the particular autonomous network.