Prioritizing local and network traffic

• US 9,935,871 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2015
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Bastian, Chris, Chernak, Sam, Herscovici, Daniel, Witkowski, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Yohannes, Tesfay
• Application Number:
  US14/603,047
• Publication Number:
  US 20150229561A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 709220, 709226, 709240, 370392
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/74 Address processing for routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 involving identification of individual flows

Abstract

According to some aspects as described herein, a user may purchase or otherwise be provided with an accelerated service for selected software applications, devices, and/or ports to experience a high level of communication. The accelerated service may be created, for example, by using a dedicated network data flow such that the user'"'"'s customer premise equipment (CPE) network access device may put priority traffic in a different upstream data flow than the commonly shared flow, which may involve tagging the traffic upstream to the network with a priority indicator such as a flow identifier. Based on similar factors, the user may also control local priority of data received downstream from the network for distribution to one or more local devices.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by one or more computing devices, comprising:

receiving a data packet comprising;

a device identifier; and

a software identifier;

comparing the data packet with a plurality of application signatures to determine whether the data packet was created by a software application that is associated with the software identifier;

determining, for the data packet;

a first priority indicator based on the software identifier, and

a second priority indicator based on the device identifier;

in response to determining that a conflict exists between the first priority indicator and the second priority indicator, accessing a rule to resolve the conflict;

assigning, to the data packet and based on the rule, one of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator; and

sending the data packet via a network flow associated with the assigned one of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving priority configuration information comprising:

the first priority indicator; and

the second priority indicator.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority configuration information is based on user input received via a graphical user interface,

the graphical user interface comprising:

a first table associated with the software identifier; and

a second table associated with the device identifier.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the priority configuration information further comprises a third priority indicator associated with a communication port, wherein the communication port comprises one of a transmission control protocol (TCP) port or a router port.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

resolving a conflict, based on the rule, between the first priority indicator, the second priority indicator, and the third priority indicator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator comprises a quality of service (QoS) parameter.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator comprises a priority parameter.

17. The method of claim 5, wherein the network flow comprises a first network flow associated with the first priority indicator, a second network flow associated with the second priority indicator, and a third network flow associated with the third priority indicator.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein further comprising:

obtaining the plurality of application signatures from an application signature database, from a user, and/or from a service provider network.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining the plurality of application signatures from an application signature database.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device associated with a user, an indication of a software application, and an identification of a communication port, wherein the indication of the software application comprises an application signature;

assigning, by the first computing device, a first priority level to the software application and a second priority level to the communication port;

receiving a data packet;

determining, by the first computing device, whether the data packet identifies the communication port and the software application, wherein the determining is based in part on examining packet formatting for the data packet;

applying, by the first computing device, in response to determining that the data packet identifies the communication port and the software application, a rule to resolve a conflict between the first priority level and the second priority level;

assigning, by the first computing device, one of the first priority level or the second priority level to the data packet based on the communication port, the rule, and the application signature that indicates the software application; and

sending, based on the assigning, the data packet via a network flow associated with either the first priority level or the second priority level.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data packet is received as Internet Protocol (IP) data, and wherein sending the data packet comprises sending the data packet as Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) data.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an identification of a second computing device communicatively coupled to the first computing device;

determining whether the data packet comprises an identifier of the second computing device; and

sending the data packet in an order relative to other data packets further based on whether the data packet identifies the second computing device.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an identification of a numerical range of transmission control protocol (TCP) ports;

determining whether a transmission control protocol port identified by the data packet is within the numerical range; and

sending the data packet in an order relative to other data packets further based on whether the transmission control protocol port identified by the data packet is within the numerical range.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the assigning the first priority level to the software application and the second priority level to the communication port comprises:

receiving a first user selection, from a graphical user interface, indicating an instruction to assign the first priority level to the software application; and

receiving a second user selection, from the graphical user interface, indicating an instruction to assign the second priority level to the communication port,

wherein the graphical user interface comprises a first interactive table associated with the software application and a second interactive table associated with the communication port.

12. A method, implemented by one or more computing devices, comprising:

receiving priority configuration information comprising a plurality of priority indicators, the plurality of priority indicators being associated with a software identifier, a communication port identifier, or a device identifier;

receiving a plurality of data packets, at least one of the plurality of data packets comprising the following three elements;

a communication port identifier,

a device identifier, and

an application signature that is associated with a software identifier;

determining priority indicators for each of the plurality of data packets, the determining being based on one or more of the respective application signature, the device identifier, or the communication port identifier associated with each of the plurality of data packets;

resolving, for each of the plurality of data packets and based on a rule, a conflict between the plurality of priority indicators, wherein the rule indicates an order of precedence between the plurality of priority indicators based on one or more of the software identifier, the communication port identifier, or the device identifier; and

sending each of the plurality of data packets via a respective network flow and based on the order of precedence.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving a plurality of data packets further comprises:

examining packet formatting for a plurality of layers of the plurality of data packets to determine the respective application signature.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the respective network flow comprises a first network flow associated with a first user-identified priority, and a second network flow associated with a second user-identified priority.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first network flow is either a best effort flow or a non-real-time polling service flow, and the second network flow is either an unsolicited grant service flow or a real-time polling service flow.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of priority indicators comprise one or more of a concatenated burst parameter, a maximum traffic burst parameter, a tolerated grant jitter parameter, or a tolerated poll jitter parameter.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to;

receive a data packet comprising;

a device identifier; and

a software identifier;

compare the data packet with a plurality of application signatures to determine whether the data packet was created by a software application that is associated with the software identifier;

determine, for the data packet;

a first priority indicator based on the software identifier, and

a second priority indicator based on the device identifier;

in response to determining that a conflict exists between the first priority indicator and the second priority indicator, access a rule to resolve the conflict;

assign, to the data packet and based on the rule, one of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator; and

send the data packet via a network flow associated with the assigned one of the first priority indicator or the second priority indicator.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, the memory further storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

receive priority configuration information comprising;

the first priority indicator; and

the second priority indicator.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the priority configuration information is based on user input received via a graphical user interface,

the graphical user interface comprising:

a first table associated with the software identifier; and

a second table associated with the device identifier.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the priority configuration information further comprises a third priority indicator associated with a communication port, wherein the communication port comprises one of a transmission control protocol (TCP) port or a router port.