TRAFFIC-ENGINEERED CONNECTION ESTABLISHMENT ACROSS RESOURCE DOMAINS FOR DATA TRANSPORT

• US 20120051221A1
• Filed: 03/15/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bui, Dinh Thai, Pouyllau, Helia
• Granted Patent: US 8,750,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/42 Centralised routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/52 Multiprotocol routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/782 Hierarchical allocation of resources, e.g. involving a hierarchy of local and centralised entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/825 Involving tunnels, e.g. MPLS

Abstract

A method for establishing a connection across resource domains comprises:

• determining source and destination end-points for the connection,
• determining, by a service agent, a chain of adjacent service elements suitable for joining the source and destination end-points based on the identified edges,
• requesting, by the service agent, a first service provider (35) associated to a service element in the chain to select a first connection segment embodying the service element,
• receiving, by the service agent, an inter-carrier communication resource identifier from the first service provider, said inter-carrier communication resource identifier indicating communication resources at an inter-carrier interface between an end point of the first connection segment and a resource domain associated to an adjacent service element in the chain,
• transferring, by the service agent, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to a second service provider (25) associated to the adjacent service element.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a traffic-engineered connection across resource domains for data transport, each of the resource domains being owned by an associated service provider, the method comprising the steps of:

determining, by a service agent, source and destination end-points for the connection,

receiving, by the service agent, a service element from each of the service providers, the service element identifying edges of a resource domain owned by the associated service provider and connectivity attributes specifying connectivity provided by the service provider between said edges,

determining, by the service agent, a chain of adjacent service elements suitable for joining the source and destination end-points based on the identified edges,

requesting, by the service agent, a first service provider associated to a service element in the chain to select a first connection segment embodying the service element,

receiving, by the service agent, an inter-carrier communication resource identifier from the first service provider, said inter-carrier communication resource identifier indicating communication resources at an inter-carrier interface between an end point of the first connection segment and a resource domain associated to an adjacent service element in the chain,

transferring, by the service agent, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to a second service provider associated to the adjacent service element.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of sending the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to the service agent within a confirmation message to indicate an availability of the first connection segment.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of transferring, by the service agent, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier within an activation request to request the second service provider to establish a second connection segment embodying the adjacent service element.

4. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein service element edges are identified as border nodes, the service agent determining the chain of adjacent service elements as a function of border node adjacencies.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of requesting, by the service agent in parallel, the first service provider associated to a service element in the chain and the second service provider associated to an adjacent service element in the chain to select respective connection segments between the border nodes identified in the respective service elements.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the step of identifying service element edges as neighbour resource domains.

7. A method in accordance with claim 6, further comprising the step of transferring, by the service agent, the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to the second service provider within a request to select a second connection segment embodying the adjacent service element in the chain, wherein the second service provider selects the second connection segment as a function of the inter-carrier communication resource identifier so that the second connection segment ends at the inter-carrier interface indicated by the inter-carrier communication resource identifier.

8. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first service provider selects the first connection segment within a set of pre-computed connection segments embodying the service element.

9. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the inter-carrier communication resource identifier comprises an MPLS label or a GMPLS label.

10. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining, by the service agent, desired performance parameters for the connection; and

determining, by the service agent, the chain of service elements as a function of the connectivity attributes of the service elements so as to match the desired performance parameters.

11. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the service agent determines a service identifier (SID) for the connection and communicates the service identifier to the service providers associated to the service elements in the chain and the service providers associate the service identifier to connection segments embodying the service elements.

12. A service agent for establishing a traffic-engineered connection across resource domains for data transport, each of the resource domains being owned by an associated service provider, the service agent comprising a processing module adapted to:

determine source and destination end-points for the connection,

receive a service element from each of the service providers, the service element identifying edges of a resource domain owned by the associated service provider and connectivity attributes specifying connectivity provided by the service provider between said edges,

determine a chain of adjacent service elements suitable for joining the source and destination end-points based on the identified edges,

request a first service provider associated to a service element in the chain to select a first connection segment embodying the service element,

receive an inter-carrier communication resource identifier from the first service provider, said inter-carrier communication resource identifier indicating communication resources at an inter-carrier interface between the first connection segment and a resource domain associated to an adjacent service element in the chain, and

transfer the inter-carrier communication resource identifier to a second service provider associated to the adjacent service element.

13. A service provider system for a service provider owning a resource domain and participating in a service provider alliance to establish inter-domain connections through the resource domain, the service provider system comprising:

an interface for communicating with a service agent, and

a control module adapted to detect an instantiation request comprising a service element identifier and a service identifier, select a connection segment embodying the service element within the resource domain, select an inter-carrier interface at an end point of the connection segment, reserve a communication resource at the inter-carrier interface, and communicate an inter-carrier communication resource identifier indicating the communication resources to the service agent in response to the instantiation request.

14. A service provider system for a service provider owning a resource domain and participating in a service provider alliance to establish inter-domain connections through the resource domain, the service provider system comprising:

an interface for communicating with a service agent, and

a control module adapted to detect an activation request comprising an inter-carrier communication resource identifier and a service identifier, determine a connection segment associated to the service identifier, said connection segment disposed within the resource domain, and concatenate the connection segment with a communication resource at an inter-carrier interface indicated by the inter-carrier communication resource identifier.