METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMIC TRAFFIC PRIORITIZATION

• US 20120147753A1
• Filed: 12/08/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: JAYAWARDENA, Thusitha, de los REYES, Gustavo, PAN, Xiao, XU, Gang
• Granted Patent: US 9,148,376 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5022 by giving priorities, e.g. assigning classes of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0882 Utilisation of link capacity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method provides for the dynamic traffic prioritization in a communication network. The method electronically monitors traffic in a communication network and determines when traffic exceeds configured thresholds on the links of the communication network. Thus, the method determines a link which is potentially about to be congested in the communication network. The method categorizes the traffic on this link by an end system attached to one end of the potentially congested link into a plurality of priority categories using application layer parameters. Using a re-direct capability of the end system, the method re-directs at least one of the pluralities of priority categories of traffic to an alternate Internet Protocol address. The method uses preconfigured Quality of Service mechanisms on the provider edge router attached to the other end of the potentially congested link to guarantee a predetermined amount of bandwidth capacity of the link to traffic destined to the alternate Internet Protocol address.

Claims

1. A method for providing dynamic traffic prioritization in a communication network, the method comprising:

electronically monitoring traffic in the communication network;

determining when traffic utilization on a link exceeds a predetermined threshold;

determining a potential traffic congestion link in the communication network;

signaling a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) proxy server connected to the potential traffic congestion link to initiate dynamic traffic prioritization;

selecting traffic on the link into a plurality of priority categories;

re-directing at least one of the plurality of priority categories of traffic to an alternate Internet Protocol address; and

providing Quality of Service (QoS) priority to traffic destined to the alternate IP address on the provider edge router.

2. The method as described in claim 1,

wherein the dynamic traffic prioritization is implemented on a plurality of links.

3. The method as described in claim 1,

wherein the potential traffic congestion link is located between a carrier edge router and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) proxy server.

4. The method as described in claim 3,

wherein the traffic includes Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls.

5. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein the selecting traffic for prioritization includes analyzing application layer parameters of the VoIP calls.

6. The method as described in claim 5,

wherein the selecting traffic for prioritization includes analyzing and selecting a control portion and a media portion of a Session Initiated Protocol (SIP)-based Voice over Internet Protocol call.

7. The method as described in claim 1,

wherein traffic congestion is caused by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

8. The method as described in claim 7,

wherein a selected priority category of traffic is guaranteed a predetermined amount of capacity on a communication link that has been determined to be congested.

9. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein the re-directing at least one of the plurality of priority categories of traffic includes redirecting a priority category of critical calls to an alternate Internet Protocol (IP) address via a SIP proxy redirection signaling to a SIP client in a VoIP network.

10. The method as described in claim 9,

wherein the re-directing is performed only after the traffic in the priority category is authenticated.

11. The method as described in claim 10,

wherein a plurality of alternate IP addresses are used to redirect the priority category of critical calls, the plurality of alternate IP addresses being used at different times to conceal the alternate IP addresses of the priority category of critical calls from attackers.

12. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein a low priority category of communication traffic is re-directed to an alternate IP address, which is mapped to a different Quality of Service (QoS) class on the provider edge router, which limits the bandwidth available to the low priority category of communication traffic during congestion.

13. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein the re-directing of a priority category of communication traffic includes re-directing the priority category of communication traffic to other proxy servers.

14. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein the re-directing of a priority category of traffic includes re-directing the priority category of traffic to an alternate IP address of same proxy server, the same proxy server having multiple IP addresses.

15. The method as described in claim 4,

wherein the re-directing of a priority category of traffic includes a plurality of re-directing stages.

16. The method as described in claim 15,

wherein the plurality of re-directing stages includes a first stage wherein all high priority traffic in a high priority category is re-directed to a first IP address, and a second stage wherein only authenticated high priority traffic in the first stage is re-directed to a second IP address.

17. The method as described in claim 2,

wherein the communication traffic uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol (http) on a distributed hypermedia information system.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, encoded with a computer-executable program for providing a dynamic traffic prioritization in a communication network of a distributed system, the medium comprising:

a monitoring segment for electronically monitoring traffic in a communication network;

a first determining segment for determining when utilization of the link exceeds a predetermined threshold;

a second determining segment for determining a potential congestion link in the communication network;

a prioritizing segment for prioritizing traffic on the congestion link into a plurality of priority categories; and

a re-directing segment for re-directing at least one of the plurality of priority categories of traffic to an alternate IP address; and

a priority treatment segment for providing QoS priority to traffic destined to the alternate IP address.

19. The medium as described in claim 18,

wherein the dynamic traffic prioritization is implemented so that a plurality of potential congestion links are considered.

20. A system for providing dynamic traffic prioritization in a communication network, comprising:

a plurality of communication links comprising the communication network;

a monitor that electronically monitors traffic in the communication network, and that determines when utilization of a link exceeds a predetermined threshold causing a congested link;

a controller that signals an end system to initiate dynamic traffic prioritization in the communication network;

a selector that categorizes traffic on the congested link into a plurality of priority categories of traffic; and

a re-director that re-directs at least one of the pluralities of priority categories of traffic to an alternate IP address; and

a prioritizer that prioritizes traffic to the alternate IP address on the congested link.