Method and apparatus for management of bandwidth in a data communication network

• US 6,233,245 B1
• Filed: 12/24/1997
• Issued: 05/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/24/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Kung, Hsiang-Tsung, Chapman, Alan Stanley John
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, BRIAN D
• Application Number:
  US08/997,778
• Time in Patent Office: 1,238 Days
• Field of Search: 370/412, 370/413, 370/414, 370/458, 370/395, 370/397, 370/399, 370/230, 370/252, 370/229, 370/235, 370/468, 370/429, 370/231, 370/236, 370/428
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5618 Bridges, gateways [GW] or interworking units [IWU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/5667 IP over ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/52 by attributing bandwidth to queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/521 Static queue service slot or fixed bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0091 Congestion or overload control

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of data communication networks. More specifically, it pertains to devices and methods for the management of bandwidth on links between routing nodes in data networks. The system is particularly useful for reducing congestion caused by high volume traffic streams. The invention provides a novel router that separates traffic on the basis of data type into separate queues buffers. The various queue buffers are associated with virtual output ports on a common physical link. A scheduler regulates the data release from the queue buffers into the physical link to control the bandwidth portion that is made available to each type of data.

Claims

1. A router for use in a communications network, said router suitable for connection to a plurality of physical links, including at least one shared physical link, for transmitting and receiving data traffic units including source address information, said router comprising:

first and second input ports for receiving the data traffic units from respective physical links;

an output port for connection to the shared physical link;

a memory for implementing first and second queue buffers for storing the data traffic units, said first and second queue buffers being associated with the shared physical link;

a data type determination unit coupled to said first and second input ports, said data type determination unit operative to dispatch the data traffic units received at said first and second input ports to a selected one of said first and second queue buffers on a basis of the source address information of the data traffic units;

a scheduler for releasing the data traffic units to said output port from each one of said first and second queue buffers at a certain rate, for transmission over the shared physical link.

2. A router as defined in claim 1, wherein said certain rate is selected in accordance with a portion of the total bandwidth of the shared physical link allocated to each one of said first and second queue buffers.

3. A router as defined in claim 2, wherein each data traffic unit is an IP data packet having a source address.

4. A router as defined in claim 3, wherein said data type determination unit is operative to process the source address of each IP data packet to determine the queue buffer to which the IP data packet is to be dispatched.

5. A router as defined in claim 4, wherein said data type determination unit includes a data structure holding source addresses, said data type determination unit operative to search said data structure to identify the queue buffer associated with the source address of an IP data packet.

6. A system for controlling the transmission of data traffic units over a shared physical link, each data traffic unit including source address information, said system comprising:

first and second queue buffers capable of storing the data traffic units;

a data type determination unit operative to receive the data traffic units from a physical link and to dispatch the data traffic units to a selected one of said first and second queue buffers on a basis of the source address information of the data traffic units;

a scheduler for releasing the data traffic units into the shared physical link from each one of said first and second queue buffers at a certain rate.

7. A system as defined in claim 6, wherein said certain rate is selected in accordance with a portion of the total bandwidth of the shared physical link allocated to each one of said first and second queue buffers.

8. A system as defined in claim 7, wherein each data traffic unit is an IP data packet having a source address.

9. A system as defined in claim 8, wherein said data type determination unit is operative to process the source address of each IP data packet to determine the queue buffer to which the IP data packet is to be dispatched.

10. A system as defined in claim 9, wherein said data type determination unit includes a data structure storing source addresses, said data type determination unit operative to search said data structure to identify the queue buffer associated with the source address of an IP data packet.

11. A method for controlling the transmission of data traffic units over a shared physical link, each data traffic unit including source address information, said method comprising:

providing first and second queue buffers capable of storing the data traffic units;

receiving the data traffic units from a physical link;

dispatching the data traffic units to a selected one of said first and second queue buffers on a basis of the source address information of the data traffic units;

releasing the data traffic units into the shared physical link from each one of said first and second queue buffers at a certain rate.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, wherein said certain rate is selected in accordance with a portion of the total bandwidth of the shared physical link allocated to each one of said first and second queue buffers.

13. A method as defined in claim 12, wherein each data traffic unit is an IP data packet having a source address.

14. A method as defined in claim 13, comprising the step of processing the source address of each IP data packet to determine the queue buffer to which the IP data packet is to be dispatched.

15. A method as defined in claim 14, comprising the step of searching a data structure storing source addresses to identify the queue buffer associated with the source address of an IP data packet.

16. A router for use in a communications network, said router suitable for connection to a plurality of physical links, including at least one shared physical link, for transmitting and receiving data traffic units including source address information, said router comprising:

first and second inputs for receiving the data traffic units from respective physical links;

an output for connection to the shared physical link;

storage means implementing first and second queue buffers for storing the data traffic units, said first and second queue buffers being associated with the shared physical link;

data type determination means coupled to said first and second inputs, said data type determination means operative to dispatch the data traffic units received at said first and second inputs to a selected one of said first and second queue buffers on a basis of the source address information of the data traffic units;

scheduler means for releasing the data traffic units to said output from each one of said first and second queue buffers at a certain rate, for transmission over the shared physical link.