Resource sharing among network

• US 20070140233A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smart Path Connections LLC
• Original Assignee: Corrigent Systems Ltd. (Orckit-Corrigent )
• Inventors: Agmon, Gideon, Roth, Moran
• Granted Patent: US 7,463,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/726 Reserving resources in multiple paths to be used simultaneously by balancing the load H04L47/125
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS

Abstract

A method for communication includes defining a resource-sharing group including two or more communication paths that traverse at least two different routes through a communication network, the routes traversing at least one common network element. A notification of an affiliation of the two or more communication paths with the resource-sharing group is distributed over the network. A resource associated with the at least one common network element is allocated so as to share an allocation of the resource among the communication paths in the resource-sharing group responsively to the notification.

Claims

1. A method for communication, comprising:

defining a resource-sharing group comprising two or more communication paths that traverse at least two different routes through a communication network, the routes traversing at least one common network element;

distributing a notification over the network of an affiliation of the two or more communication paths with the resource-sharing group; and

allocating a resource associated with the at least one common network element so as to share an allocation of the resource among the communication paths in the resource-sharing group responsively to the notification.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource-sharing group comprises two or more tunnels through the network.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein distributing the notification comprises sending at least one of resource reservation protocol traffic engineering (RSVP-TE) messages and constraint-based label distribution protocol (CR-LDP) messages with respect to the tunnels.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein defining the resource-sharing group comprises defining a sharing group index (SGI) value associated with the resource-sharing group, wherein distributing the notification comprises sending reservation messages comprising the SGI value so as to set up the communication paths affiliated with the resource-sharing group, and wherein allocating the resource comprises receiving the reservation messages at the common network element and sharing the allocation of the resource responsively to the SGI values in the received reservation messages.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the paths affiliated with the resource-sharing group comprises an alternative communication path traversing a first route, which is set up to protect a primary communication path affiliated with the resource-sharing group traversing a second route, different from the first route, against a failure in at least one of a network element and a network segment along the second route.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource comprises a bandwidth on a common network segment connected to the at least one common network element and traversed by the routes.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the common network segment comprises a common ring segment belonging to a ring topology, and wherein allocating the resource comprises allocating the resource of the common ring segment by applying a ring-level call admission control (CAC) function.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein allocating the resource comprises allocating at least one of a bandwidth, a memory space, a port and a switching hardware component.

9. A network element, comprising:

a network interface for communicating with other elements in a communication network; and

a processor, which is arranged to accept, via the network interface, a notification distributed over the communication network of an affiliation with a resource-sharing group of two or more communication paths that traverse at least two different routes through the network,

the processor comprising a call admission control (CAC) module, which is arranged, when the network element is traversed by at least some of the communication paths in the resource-sharing group, to allocate a resource associated with the network element so as to share an allocation of the resource among the at least some of the communication paths responsively to the notification.

10. The network element according to claim 9, wherein the two or more communication paths comprise tunnels through the communication network.

11. The network element according to claim 10, wherein the notification comprises at least one of resource reservation protocol traffic engineering (RSVP-TE) messages and constraint-based label distribution protocol (CR-LDP) messages with respect to the tunnels.

12. The network element according to claim 9, wherein the processor is arranged to receive reservation messages comprising a sharing group index (SGI) value associated with the resource-sharing group, and wherein the CAC module is arranged to share the allocation of the resource responsively to the SGI values in the received reservation messages.

13. The network element according to claim 9, wherein the resource-sharing group comprises an alternative communication path traversing a first route, which is operative to protect a primary communication path traversing a second route, different from the first route, against a failure in at least one of a network element and a network segment along the second route.

14. The network element according to claim 9, wherein the resource comprises a bandwidth on a common network segment connected to the network element and traversed by the routes.

15. The network element according to claim 14, wherein the common network segment comprises a common ring segment belonging to a ring topology, and comprising a ring-level call admission control (CAC) module, which is arranged to share the allocation of a resource of the common ring segment.

16. The network element according to claim 9, wherein the CAC module is arranged to allocate at least one of a bandwidth, a memory space, a port and a switching hardware component.

17. A computer software product used in a network element, the product comprising a computer-readable medium, in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to accept a notification, distributed over a communication network, of an affiliation with a resource-sharing group of two or more communication paths that traverse at least two different routes through the network, and to allocate a resource associated with the network element so as to share, when the network element is traversed by at least some of the communication paths in the resource-sharing group, an allocation of the resource among the at least some of the communication paths responsively to the notification.

18. The product according to claim 17, wherein the two or more communication paths comprise tunnels through the communication network.

19. The product according to claim 18, wherein the notification comprises at least one of resource reservation protocol traffic engineering (RSVP-TE) messages and constraint-based label distribution protocol (CR-LDP) messages with respect to the tunnels.

20. The product according to claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the computer to receive reservation messages comprising a sharing group index (SGI) value associated with the resource-sharing group and to share the allocation of the resource responsively to the SGI values in the received reservation messages.

21. The product according to claim 17, wherein the resource-sharing group comprises an alternative communication path traversing a first route, which is operative to protect a primary communication path traversing a second route, different from the first route, against a failure in at least one of a network element and a network segment along the second route.

22. The product according to claim 17, wherein the resource comprises a bandwidth on a common network segment connected to the at least one common network element and traversed by the routes.

23. The product according to claim 22, wherein the common network segment comprises a common ring segment belonging to a ring topology, and wherein the instructions cause the computer to apply a ring-level call admission control (CAC) function so as to share the allocation of the resource in the common ring segment.

24. The product according to claim 17, wherein the instructions cause the computer to allocate at least one of a bandwidth, a memory space, a port and a switching hardware component.

25. A communication network, comprising a plurality of interconnected network elements, which are arranged to accept a notification distributed over the communication network of an affiliation with a resource-sharing group of two or more communication paths that traverse at least two different routes through the network,

wherein each network element among the plurality is arranged so that when the network element is traversed by at least some of the communication paths in the resource-sharing group, the network element allocates a resource associated with the network element so as to share an allocation of the resource among the at least some of the communication paths responsively to the notification.