Sharing bandwidth between plurality of guaranteed bandwidth zones and a remaining non-guaranteed bandwidth zone

• US 9,531,640 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2015
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Guest-tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd.
• Inventors: Ong, David T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ganguly, Sumitra
• Application Number:
  US14/867,237
• Publication Number:
  US 20160021027A1
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/522 Dynamic queue service slot or variable bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/527 Quantum based scheduling, e.g. credit or deficit based scheduling or token bank
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6235 Variable service order
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6255 queue load conditions, e.g. longest queue first
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/808 User-type aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/828 Allocation of resources per group of connections, e.g. per group of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32

Abstract

A bandwidth management system includes a plurality of queues respectively corresponding to a plurality of zones. An enqueuing module receives network traffic from one or more incoming network interfaces, determines a belonging zone to which the network traffic belongs, and enqueues the network traffic on a queue corresponding to the belonging zone. A dequeuing module selectively dequeues data from the queues and passes the data to one or more outgoing network interfaces. When dequeuing data from the queues the dequeuing module dequeues an amount of data from a selected queue, and the amount of data dequeued from the selected queue is determined according to user load of a zone to which the selected queue corresponds.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more first network interfaces coupled to a first network with which a fixed total amount of bandwidth is available to transfer data;

one or more second network interfaces coupled to a second network;

a plurality of queues, each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of bandwidth zones, the plurality of the bandwidth zones including a plurality of first level guaranteed bandwidth zones and only one first level remaining bandwidth zone not entitled to any guaranteed bandwidth; and

one or more processors operable to;

determine a belonging bandwidth zone to which network traffic received from either of the first or the second network interfaces belongs;

enqueue the network traffic received from either of the first or the second network interfaces on a queue corresponding to the belonging bandwidth zone; and

cycle though the plurality of the queues, dequeue the network traffic from the plurality of the queues, and thereafter pass the network traffic dequeued from the plurality of the queues to one of the first or the second network interfaces for transmission to a destination network address;

wherein, when dequeing the network traffic from a particular queue, the one or more processors are operable to automatically determine an amount of the network traffic to dequeue from the particular queue according to a bandwidth limit for the particular queue;

the bandwidth limit for each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones includes a guaranteed bandwidth rate; and

the bandwidth limit for the first level remaining bandwidth zone has no guaranteed bandwidth rate but includes a bandwidth cap equal to the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces minus the guaranteed bandwidth rate for each of the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the bandwidth limit for each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones further includes a bandwidth cap; and

the bandwidth cap for the particular queue is equal to the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces minus the guaranteed bandwidth rate for each of the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones other than any guaranteed bandwidth zone corresponding to the particular queue.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a sum of the guaranteed bandwidth rates of each of the plurality of the queues is less than the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of the bandwidth zones corresponds to one or more physically separate areas.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein, when all of the plurality of the bandwidth zones have queued data to send, all guaranteed bandwidth rates have been met, and none of the plurality of the bandwidth zones has exceeded its bandwidth cap, the one or more processors cycle through the plurality of the queues in a round robin dequeuing strategy.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more users in a particular one of the plurality of the bandwidth zones share bandwidth made available under the particular one of the plurality of the bandwidth zones.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each user corresponds to a different user device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the plurality of the bandwidth zones are organized in a tree structure of at least two levels; and

the plurality of the queues further include a plurality of second level queues corresponding to best effort bandwidth zones that share bandwidth available under the first level remaining bandwidth zone.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the best effort bandwidth zones corresponds to a guest room of a hospitality establishment.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are operable to upgrade one of the best effort bandwidth zones to become a new guaranteed bandwidth zone in response to receiving an upgrade message.

11. A method of bandwidth control in a system having one or more first network interfaces coupled to a first network with which a fixed total amount of bandwidth is available to transfer data, and one or more second network interfaces coupled to a second network, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of queues, each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to a respective one of a plurality of bandwidth zones, the plurality of the bandwidth zones including a plurality of first level guaranteed bandwidth zones and only one first level remaining bandwidth zone not entitled to any guaranteed bandwidth;

determining a belonging bandwidth zone to which network traffic received from either of the first or the second network interfaces belongs;

enqueuing the network traffic received from either of the first or the second network interfaces on a queue corresponding to the belonging bandwidth zone;

cycling though the plurality of the queues, dequeuing the network traffic from the plurality of the queues, and thereafter passing the network traffic dequeued from the plurality of the queues to one of the first or the second network interfaces for transmission to a destination network address; and

when dequeuing the network traffic from a particular queue, automatically determining an amount of the network traffic to dequeue from the particular queue according to a bandwidth limit for the particular queue;

wherein the bandwidth limit for each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones includes a guaranteed bandwidth rate; and

the bandwidth limit for the first level remaining bandwidth zone has no guaranteed bandwidth rate but includes a bandwidth cap equal to the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces minus the guaranteed bandwidth rate for each of the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the bandwidth limit for each of the plurality of the queues corresponding to the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones further includes a bandwidth cap; and

the bandwidth cap for the particular queue is equal to the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces minus the guaranteed bandwidth rate for each of the plurality of the first level guaranteed bandwidth zones other than any guaranteed bandwidth zone corresponding to the particular queue.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a sum of the guaranteed bandwidth rates of each of the plurality of the queues is less than the fixed total amount of bandwidth of the one or more first network interfaces.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of the bandwidth zones corresponds to one or more physically separate areas.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising cycling through the plurality of the queues in a round robin dequeuing strategy when all of the plurality of the bandwidth zones have queued data to send, all guaranteed bandwidth rates have been met, and no zone has exceeded its bandwidth cap.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein one or more users in a particular one of the plurality of the bandwidth zones share bandwidth made available under the particular one of the plurality of the bandwidth zones.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the plurality of the bandwidth zones are organized in a tree structure of a least two levels; and

the plurality of the queues further include a plurality of second level queues corresponding to best effort bandwidth zones that share bandwidth available under the first level remaining bandwidth zone.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein each of the best effort bandwidth zones corresponds to a guest room of a hospitality establishment.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising upgrading one of the best effort bandwidth zones to become a new guaranteed bandwidth zone in response to receiving an upgrade message.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the method of claim 11.