Method and apparatus for congestion control

• US 8,867,347 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Hong, Dohy, Baccelli, Francois, Laevens, Koenraad, De Vleeschauwer, Danny
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zaidi, Iqbal
• Application Number:
  US13/378,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20120155258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,594 Days
• Field of Search: 370370-390, 370400-468
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/127 by using congestion prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/38 by adapting coding or compression rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/724 at intermediate nodes, e.g. resource reservation protocol [RSVP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/823 Prediction of resource usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction

Abstract

A method for control of congestion of traffic, being categorized according to a number of layers (L), in a network node, comprises a step of monitoring the amount (n(t)) of incoming flows to this node such that, based upon this amount (n(t)) of incoming flows and on a current number of accepted layers (l(t)), a next number of accepted layers (l(t+1)) for entry into said node is determined by consultation of an action table (T). In an enhanced embodiment the action table is adjusted based on the observed traffic during an observation period.

Claims

1. A method for congestion control at a network node in a network, said method comprising:

monitoring incoming flows to a network node at a congestion control device to identify a flow quantity, each incoming flow including multiple layers representative of a basic quality layer and one or more quality enhancement layer, the multiple layers including layer identifiers indicating an order of importance of the corresponding layer for the corresponding incoming flow;

consulting an action table to identify a control action based on the flow quantity;

determining a next accepted layers quantity at the congestion control device based on the identified control action and a current accepted layers quantity;

identifying specific layers in each incoming flow that relate to the next accepted layers quantity based on the layer identifiers; and

allowing packets from the specific layers related to the next accepted layers quantity of the incoming flows to enter said network node during a next time period.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein said action table is dynamically adjusted based on observed traffic towards said network node.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein said action table is dynamically adjusted at regular intervals based upon traffic observed during an observation period.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein a Markov Decision Process is used to determine an optimum action table based on the traffic observed during the observation period.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the action table is locally stored within said network node.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein said action table is calculated by a central network congestion controller with access to the network node via the network and communicated from the central network congestion controller to said network node.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

communicating, between different network nodes implementing said method, the control action as identified by consultation of said action table, whereby, in case conflicting control actions arise, a further heuristic control for adapting the next accepted layers quantity, per network node, is executed within said network nodes.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein said action table is updated by a central network congestion controller.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the identified control action includes an increase action, a decrease action, or a “

no change”

action.

10. An apparatus for congestion control at a network node in a network, the apparatus comprising:

a congestion control device configured to control congestion of traffic entering a network node;

wherein the traffic includes multiple incoming flows to the network node, each incoming flow including multiple layers representative of a basic quality layer and one or more quality enhancement layer, the multiple layers including layer identifiers indicating an order of importance of the layers for the corresponding incoming flow;

wherein said congestion control device is configured to monitor the incoming flows to the network node to determine a flow quantity, configured to consult an action table to identify a control action based on the flow quantity, and configured to determine a next accepted layers quantity based on the identified control action and a current accepted layers quantity;

wherein the congestion control device is configured to identify specific layers in each incoming flow that relate to the next accepted layers quantity based on the layer identifiers and configured to allow packets from the specific layers of the incoming flows related to said next accepted layers quantity to enter said network node during a next time period.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the congestion control device is configured to dynamically adjust said action table based on observed traffic towards said network node.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the congestion control device is configured to dynamically adjust said action table at regular intervals based upon traffic observed during an observation period.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 wherein the congestion control device is configured to use a Markov Decision to determine an optimum action table based on the traffic observed during the observation period.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the congestion control device is configured to communicate with another congestion control device associated with another network node, the control action as identified by consultation of said action table, and further configured to, in case conflicting control actions arise, implement a further heuristic control for adapting the next accepted layers quantity.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said network node comprises the congestion control device.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the network includes a network congestion controller configured to communicate with the congestion control device, configured to determine said action table, and configured to communicate said action table to said congestion control device.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the network congestion controller is configured to update said action table based on observed traffic and configured to provide said updated action table to said congestion control device.

18. The apparatus according to claim 10 wherein the identified control action includes an increase action, a decrease action, or a “

no change”

action.

19. An apparatus for congestion control at a network node in a network, the apparatus comprising:

a congestion control device configured to monitor incoming flows to a network node to identify a flow quantity, each incoming flow including multiple layers representative of a basic quality layer and one or more quality enhancement layer, the multiple layers including layer identifiers indicating an order of importance of the layers for the corresponding incoming flow;

wherein the congestion control device is configured to consult an action table to identify a control action based on the flow quantity;

wherein the congestion control device is configured to determine a next accepted layers quantity based on the identified control action and a current accepted layers quantity;

wherein the congestion control device is configured to identify specific layers in each incoming flow that relate to the next accepted layers quantity based on the layer identifiers;

wherein the congestion control device is configured to allow packets from the specific layers of the incoming flows related to the next accepted layers quantity to pass through the network node during a next time period.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19 wherein the identified control action includes an increase action, a decrease action, or a “

no change”

action.

21. The apparatus according to claim 19 wherein the congestion control device is configured to identify specific layers in each incoming flow that relate to the next accepted layers quantity based on the layer identifiers.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the congestion control device is configured to allow packets from the specific layers of the incoming flows related to the next accepted layers quantity to pass through the network node during a next time period.