System and method of implementing quality of service over a packet-based Network

• US 9,438,483 B2
• Filed: 10/15/2012
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• 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: Anschutz, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hanh N
• Application Number:
  US13/652,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20140105036A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: 370/218, 370331-335, 370/395.2, 709231-236
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0076 Distributed coding, e.g. network coding, involving channel coding coding in both space and time H04L1/0618; cooperative diversity H04B7/022
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/203 Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5009 Determining service level performance parameters or violations of service level contracts, e.g. violations of agreed response time or mean time between failures [MTBF]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5019 Ensuring fulfilment of SLA
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0835 One way packet loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method includes, at a first network endpoint, determining whether a second network endpoint supports receipt of a stream of packets having a quality of service indicator. The method further includes, at the first network endpoint, in response to determining that the second network endpoint supports receipt of the stream of packets having the quality of service indicator, generating and sending the stream of packets having the quality of service indicator and including forward error correction data to the second network endpoint.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first stream of packets at a second network endpoint, the first stream of packets corresponding to a subset of a second stream of packets sent from a first network endpoint to the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets is received by the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets includes a quality of service indicator and forward error correction information, wherein a packet of the second stream of packets is not received at the first network endpoint;

determining, at the second network endpoint, an error tolerance based on the quality of service indicator;

determining, at the second network endpoint, whether a packet loss rate associated with the first stream exceeds the error tolerance;

in response to the packet loss rate exceeding the error tolerance, sending a retransmission request to the first network endpoint; and

in response to the packet loss rate not exceeding the error tolerance, initiating a forward error correction decode operation to recover data of the packet by use of the forward error correction information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the retransmission request signals the first network endpoint to reduce a transmission rate of the second stream of packets.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first stream of packets is received at the second network endpoint via a transport layer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first stream of packets is associated with a transmission control protocol session.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the transport layer includes a quality of service layer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service indicator is distinct from the forward error correction information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending from the second network endpoint to the first network endpoint in response to a handshake from the first network endpoint, a reply handshake indicating that the second network endpoint is ready to receive the quality of service indicator.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service indicator is associated with an expedited forwarding service level.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service indicator is associated with an assured forwarding service level.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality of service indicator is associated with a best effort service level.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the second network endpoint, a third stream of packets that corresponds to a fourth stream of packets sent from the first network endpoint to the second network endpoint, the third stream of packets having a second quality of service indicator and including second forward error correction information, wherein at least a portion of the first stream of packets is received at the second network endpoint concurrently with at least a portion of the third stream of packets, and wherein a particular packet of the fourth stream of packets is not received at the second network endpoint; and

in response to detecting that the particular packet is not received at the second network endpoint and based on the second quality of service indicator, initiating a second forward error correction decode operation to recover data of the particular packet by use of the second forward error correction information.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory accessible to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the processor to perform operations including;

receiving a first stream of packets at a second network endpoint, the first stream of packets corresponding to a subset of a second stream of packets sent from a first network endpoint to the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets is received by the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets includes a quality of service indicator and forward error correction information, wherein a packet of the second stream of packets is not received at the first network endpoint;

determining, at the second network endpoint, an error tolerance based on the quality of service indicator;

determining, at the second network endpoint, whether a packet loss rate associated with the first stream exceeds the error tolerance;

in response to the packet loss rate exceeding the error tolerance, sending a retransmission request to the first network endpoint; and

in response to the packet loss rate not exceeding the error tolerance, initiating a forward error correction decode operation to recover data of the packet by use of the forward error correction information.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the retransmission request signals the first network endpoint to reduce a transmission rate of the second stream of packets.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first stream of packets is received at the second network endpoint via a transport layer.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first stream of packets is associated with a transmission control protocol session.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the transport layer includes a quality of service layer.

17. A computer-readable memory device that stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first stream of packets at a second network endpoint, the first stream of packets corresponding to a subset of a second stream of packets sent from a first network endpoint to the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets is received by the second network endpoint, wherein the first stream of packets includes a quality of service indicator and forward error correction information, wherein a packet of the second stream of packets is not received at the first network endpoint;

determining, at the second network endpoint, an error tolerance based on the quality of service indicator;

determining, at the second network endpoint, whether a packet loss rate associated with the first stream exceeds the error tolerance;

in response to the packet loss rate exceeding the error tolerance, sending a retransmission request to the first network endpoint; and

in response to the packet loss rate not exceeding the error tolerance, initiating a forward error correction decode operation to recover data of the packet by use of the forward error correction information.

18. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the retransmission request signals the first network endpoint to reduce a transmission rate of the second stream of packets.

19. The computer-readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the first stream of packets is received at the second network endpoint via a transport layer.

20. The computer-readable memory device of claim 19, wherein the first stream of packets is associated with a transmission control protocol session.