Prioritizing network traffic

• US 8,045,458 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Greve, Paula, Krasser, Sven, Alperovitch, Dmitri, Schneck, Phyllis Adele, Judge, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Liu; Jung-Jen
• Application Number:
  US11/937,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20090122699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 370/203, 370229-240, 370241-253, 370298-309, 370/345, 370351-388, 370/395.1, 370/395.3, 370/395.4, 370/395.5, 370/395.52, 370/395.53, 370/395.54, 370400-411, 370412-421, 370428-430, 370/458, 370/468, 370/508
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames

Abstract

Methods and systems for operation upon one or more data processors for prioritizing transmission among a plurality of data streams based upon a classification associated with the data packets associated with each of the plurality of data streams, respectively. Systems and methods can operate to allocate bandwidth to priority data streams first and recursively allocate remaining bandwidth to lesser priority data streams based upon the priority associated with those respective lesser priority data streams.

Claims

1. A computer implemented network traffic prioritization method comprising:

receiving a plurality of network traffic streams, the network traffic streams comprising data communicated between sender devices and recipient devices;

parsing the network traffic streams based upon one or more transmission protocols associated with the network traffic streams, the parsing being operable to identify data packets respectively associated with the traffic streams;

applying a plurality of tests to the data packets, each of the plurality of tests being operable to test the data packets for a classification characteristic;

generating a results array comprising results from each of the classification characteristics identified by the plurality of tests;

classifying each of the data packets into one or more classifications from a plurality of classifications based upon the results array;

deriving reputations associated with a plurality of originating or destination entities associated with the network traffic streams; and

prioritizing the network traffic streams associated with the data packets based upon a prioritization scheme that is based at least in part upon a reputation of the associated originating or destination entity, the prioritization scheme being based on the one or more classifications associated with the data packet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a that specifies a traffic prioritization scheme that restricts the flow of a classification of traffic; and

wherein the prioritization of the traffic streams is based upon receiving the command.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising dropping packets associated with a specified classification based on the command.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising delaying packets associated with a specified classification based on the command.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications comprise one or more categories of content type, traffic behavior, and risk exposure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications comprises low priority traffic and high priority traffic.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein classifying comprises comparing the results array to one or more classification arrays, and wherein the one or more classification arrays are characteristic of an associated classification of traffic.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a prioritization instruction, the prioritization instruction comprising a request to prioritize a specific classification of traffic; and

prioritizing traffic based on the prioritizing instruction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of classifications comprise content type.

10. A computer implemented traffic prioritization method comprising:

receiving a plurality of data packets associated with a plurality of data streams;

identifying a source and a destination associated with a number of the data packets, the identifying comprising parsing a received data packet to identify a source address or a destination address associated with the received data packet;

determining a reputation associated with the source or the destination;

classifying the data stream associated with the number of data packets based upon similarities to a plurality of classified types of data streams; and

prioritizing transmission of the data packets based upon a classification associated with each of the data streams that is based at least in part upon the reputation associated with the source or destination.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises ensuring a connection specific classifications of data streams, while transmission of other classifications of data streams is based upon dynamic policy and network bandwidth available after transmission of the specific classification of data streams.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises:

recursively allocating network bandwidth to each of the plurality of data streams based upon a prioritization policy specifying a hierarchy associated with each of the classification types until no bandwidth remains;

identifying a prioritization policy, the prioritization policy comprising a prioritization of each of a plurality of classification types.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein prioritizing the transmission of the data packets comprises:

identifying a prioritization policy, the prioritization policy specifying a prioritization of each of a plurality of classification types; and

transmitting the data streams based upon the prioritization policy.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting the data packets based upon prioritization of the data streams.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining a reputation associated with the source or the destination comprises retrieving a reputation from a reputation server.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein classifying the data stream comprises:

applying a plurality of tests to one or more of the plurality of data packets associated with the data stream to generate a results array, wherein the plurality of tests comprise testing for characteristics associated with the one or more of the plurality of data packets;

comparing the results array associated with the data stream to a plurality of characteristic arrays, each of the plurality of characteristic arrays being associated with a characteristic type of data stream; and

classifying the data stream based upon the comparison.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein classifying the data stream based upon the comparison comprises classifying the data stream based upon determining a substantial similarity between the results array and one or more of the plurality of characteristic arrays, said one or more of the plurality of characteristic arrays defining the classification associated with the data stream.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising blocking or de-prioritizing a data stream based upon the classification.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein classifying the data stream based upon similarities to a plurality of classified types of data streams comprises comparing characteristics of the data stream to characteristics of the other data streams.