Apparatus and method for scalable and dynamic traffic engineering in a data communication network
US7123620B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 25, 2000 |
| Grant date | Oct 17, 2006 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 25, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L47/31
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A global path identifier is assigned to each explicit route through a data communication network. The global path identifier is inserted into each packet as the packet enters a network and is used in selecting the next hop. When encountering a new selected path, an ingress router sends an explicit object to downstream nodes of the path to set up explicit routes by caching the next hop in an Explicit Forwarding Information Base (“EFIB”) table. Ingress routers maintain an Explicit Route Table (“ERT”) that tracks the global path identifier associated with each flow through the network. Multiple flows using the same path can be implemented by sharing the same global path identifier. In case of sudden network load changes, rerouting can be performed by changing the global path identifier associated with those flows that need to be rerouted and by then transmitting a new path object to downstream nodes.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.