Patent · US Active

Identifying flows based on behavior characteristics and applying user-defined actions

US8085775B1 · kind B1 · utility

18Cited by
6References
3Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 31, 2006
Grant dateDec 27, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 10, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L47/2483
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A mechanism is disclosed for identifying, classifying, and controlling flows in a network. In one implementation, a separate set of behavioral statistics is maintained for each flow. These behavioral statistics are updated as packets belonging to a flow are processed. Whenever a packet belonging to a flow is processed, a set of policies that the flow's behavioral statistics satisfy is determined. For each policy that the flow's behavioral statistics satisfy, actions that are associated with that policy are applied relative to the packet. The actions may be designed to cause a router to handle, in a user-specified manner, packets that are likely to represent a particular kind of traffic. Thus, different flows, such as VOIP, gaming, streaming, and P2P flows, which are associated with different behavioral statistics, may be handled in ways applicable for the specific application traffic type.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.