System and method for controlling network demand via congestion pricing
First Claim
1. In a computer network having a node and an observer, the node acting as a source of data transmissions and consuming network data transmission services, and the observer monitoring network load, a method of the node adjusting its service request, based on network load, to avoid data packets being dropped by the network so as to require retransmission of dropped data packets, the method comprising:
- at the node that requests data transmission services, obtaining price information for the data transmission services, the price being variable based on current network traffic relative to network capacity; and
at the node that requests the data transmission services, and while transmitting the data, controlling a rate of transmitting data by the node over the network, the node generating the data as original data free of containing any retransmitted content, the controlling being based on the price information and on a weight value set by an administrator of the node, wherein the weight value corresponds to an assigned predetermined number associated with an operator of the node.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for avoiding network congestion by measuring network load to adjust a rate at each source. The load (e.g., as a price value) is provided to network traffic sources, which adjust their flows based on a per-flow weight (willingness to pay). The load may be determined in-band by routers or out-of-band by an observer node. A load value (e.g., as a price) is increased or decreased based on the actual load or an estimate based on the actual load. The sources obtain the load value and control the output rates per flow based on each flow'"'"'s associated weight (willingness to pay), e.g., as set by an administrator. Further, two classes of applications are enabled by allowing certain applications to ignore price.
84 Citations
43 Claims
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1. In a computer network having a node and an observer, the node acting as a source of data transmissions and consuming network data transmission services, and the observer monitoring network load, a method of the node adjusting its service request, based on network load, to avoid data packets being dropped by the network so as to require retransmission of dropped data packets, the method comprising:
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at the node that requests data transmission services, obtaining price information for the data transmission services, the price being variable based on current network traffic relative to network capacity; and at the node that requests the data transmission services, and while transmitting the data, controlling a rate of transmitting data by the node over the network, the node generating the data as original data free of containing any retransmitted content, the controlling being based on the price information and on a weight value set by an administrator of the node, wherein the weight value corresponds to an assigned predetermined number associated with an operator of the node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. In a computer network, a system for controlling a rate of data transmission by a node to a destination such that data packets are not dropped and required to be retransmitted, system comprising,
an observer mechanism that determines network demand; -
a pricing mechanism configured to determine a price which is variable based on the network demand and network capacity data, the pricing mechanism further being configured to provide price information corresponding to the price to at least a node on the network, the node requesting data transmission services and acting as a source of originally generated data packets free of retransmitted content; and a rate control mechanism at the node, the rate control mechanism being configured to receive the price information and to control a transmit rate of the data packets based on the received price information and based on a weight value set by an administrator of the node. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A computer-implemented method for avoiding data packets being dropped over a network connection in which a node requests data transmission services in transmitting data packets to a destination computer, the computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of packets transmitted on a network during a period of time; determining a network demand value based on an accumulated size of the packets received during the period of time and a network capacity value; determining a price value based on the network demand value relative to a threshold, wherein the price value is variable based on the network demand; providing the price value to a node computer operable to generate original packets free of retransmitted content on the network; and at the node computer that requests data transmission services, and while the node computer transmits data packets, controlling a rate of transmitting data packets on the network based on the price value and based on a weight value set by an administrator of the node computer. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A computer-implemented method for adjusting a service request of a node computer, based on current network load, to avoid data packets being dropped over a network, the computer-implemented method comprising:
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receiving load information corresponding to network load at a destination of network packets, wherein the network load information is variable as determined by network traffic; and at a node computer that requests data transmission services by generating network packets free of retransmitted content, and while the node computer transmits the network packets, controlling a rate of a flow of packets from the source to the destination based on the load information and a weight value associated with the flow, wherein the weight value is set by an administrator of the node computer. - View Dependent Claims (43)
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Specification