Data transmission using a multihoming protocol as SCTP

• US 9,787,801 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2013
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Magnolia Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Laurent, Anthony, Gouache, Stephane
• Primary Examiner(s): BURGESS, BARBARA N
• Application Number:
  US13/908,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20130325933A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,590 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/20 Hop count for routing purposes, e.g. TTL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence

Abstract

Method of transmission of data between a server and a client, said transmission using a multihoming protocol, as SCTP, over a network comprising at least one principal link and one secondary link connecting the server and the client, said method comprising the steps of:

• • a) set-up of a connection between the server and the client;
  • b) allocation of a bandwidth over the principal link to the transmission of data from the server to the client;
  • c) transmission of data from the server to the client over the principal link as long as said allocated bandwidth is not fully used; and
  • d) if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used, transmission of data from the server to the client over the secondary link.

Claims

1. A method of transmission of data to a client using a multihoming transport protocol, said method comprising:

establishing a transport layer session with the client by transmitting, to the client, characteristics of a plurality of links with the client, the plurality of links comprising a unidirectional link broadcasting at least one transport stream and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising at least one of a flag indicating a nature of each link, said nature being chosen amongst bidirectional, send-only and receive-only;

allocating bandwidth over the unidirectional link used to transmit data to the client;

transmitting data to the client over the unidirectional link as long as said allocated bandwidth is not fully used; and

if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used, transmitting remaining data to the client over the bi-directional link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multihoming transport protocol is a Stream Control Transmission Protocol, SCTP, or an extension of SCTP.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics are incorporated in a control message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said characteristics comprise, for each link, a delay for the transmission of data through the link.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the flag is encoded over 4 bits, the bandwidth is encoded over 28 bits and the delay is encoded over 16 bits.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating of the bandwidth is carried out before establishing the session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating of the bandwidth is carried out after establishing the session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises delay sensitive packets and non-delay sensitive packets, the delay sensitive packets are transmitted first and the non-delay sensitive packets are then transmitted over a remaining bandwidth in the unidirectional link and/or the bi-directional link.

9. An apparatus to transmit data to a client using a multihoming transport protocol, said apparatus comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor configured to;

transmit, to the client, characteristics of a plurality of links with the client so as to establish a transport layer session with the client, the plurality of links comprising a unidirectional link broadcasting at least one transport stream and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising, for each link, at least one of a flag indicating a nature of each link, said nature being chosen amongst bidirectional, send-only and receive-only;

allocate a bandwidth over the unidirectional link used to transmit data to the client;

transmit data to the client over the unidirectional link as long as said allocated bandwidth is not fully used; and

transmit remaining data to the client over the bi-directional link, if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the multihoming transport protocol is a Stream Control Transmission Protocol, SCTP, or an extension of SCTP.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the characteristics are incorporated in a control message.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said characteristics comprise, for each interface, a delay for transmitting data through the interface.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the flag is encoded over 4 bits, the bandwidth is encoded over 28 bits and the delay is encoded over 16 bits.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to allocate the bandwidth before establishing the session.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to allocate the bandwidth after establishing the session.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the data comprises delay sensitive packets and non-delay sensitive packets, the delay sensitive packets are transmitted first and the non-delay sensitive packets are then transmitted over a remaining bandwidth in the unidirectional link and/or the bi-directional link.

17. An apparatus to receive data from a server using a multihoming transport protocol , said apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor configured to;

transmit, to said server, characteristics of a plurality of links with the server so as to establish a transport layer session with the server, the plurality of links comprising a receive only link and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising, for each link at least a flag indicating a nature of each link with the server, the nature being chosen amongst bidirectional and receive only;

receive data from the server over the receive only link as long as a bandwidth is not fully used, said bandwidth being allocated by said server; and

receive remaining data from the server over the bi-directional link if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium with instructions stored therein which, when executed, instruct at least one processor to:

transmit, to a client, characteristics of a plurality of links with the client to establish a transport layer session with the client, the plurality of links comprising a unidirectional link broadcasting at least one transport stream and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising, for each link, at least one of a flag indicating a nature of the link, said nature being chosen amongst bidirectional, send-only and receive-only;

allocate a bandwidth over the unidirectional link used to transmit data to the client;

transmit data to the client over the unidirectional link as long as said allocated bandwidth is not fully used; and

transmit data to the client over the bi-directional link, if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used.

19. A method to receive data from a server, said method comprising:

transmitting, to said server, characteristics of a plurality of links with the server so as to establish a transport layer session with the server, the plurality of links comprising a receive only link and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising, for each link at least a flag indicating a nature of each link with the server, the nature being chosen amongst bidirectional and receive only;

receiving data from the server over the receive only link as long as a bandwidth is not fully used, said bandwidth being allocated by said server; and

receiving remaining data from the server over the bi-directional link if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium with instructions stored therein which, when executed, instruct at least one processor to:

transmit to a server characteristics of a plurality of links with the server so as to establish a transport layer session with the server, the plurality of links comprising a receive only link and a bi-directional link, said characteristics comprising, for each link at least a flag indicating a nature of each link with the server, the nature being chosen amongst bidirectional and receive only;

receive data from the server over the receive only link as long as a bandwidth is not fully used, said bandwidth being allocated by said server; and

receive remaining data from the server over the bi-directional link if the allocated bandwidth has been fully used.