Patent · US Active

Systems and methods for determining network forwarding paths with a controller

US9356838B1 · kind B1 · utility

3Cited by
1References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 15, 2013
Grant dateMay 31, 2016
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 18, 2034

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L41/122
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A controller may control switches in a network that forwards network packets between end hosts. The controller may generate a directed acyclic graph based on maintained network topology information. The directed acyclic graph may include multiple network paths between any given pair of switches. For a given network packet received from an end host, the controller may generate an identifier or otherwise classify the network packet based on network attributes of the network packet. The network attributes may include packet header information retrieved from the network packet, information maintained by the controller such as which virtual switch is associated with the network packet, and/or other network attributes. The controller may use the network packet identifier to select a network forwarding path for the network packet from the directed acyclic graph.

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