Data flow distribution method and controller

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10103977-B2
Application number	US-201415036877-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2014
Priority date	Nov 14, 2013
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

Provided are a data flow distribution method and a controller. The method includes: a software defined network (SDN) controller acquiring data flow description information of a data flow; and the SDN controller deciding, according to the data flow description information, whether the data flow needs distribution, and when the data flow needs the distribution, delivering a distribution rule flow table to a distribution gateway. By using the technical solutions, application/service data flow based distribution is implemented. Compared with the related art that distribution is implemented based on a PDN connection and based on a bearer, the technical solutions implement finer-granularity distribution, and improve experience of users and competition of operators.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A data flow distribution method, comprising:
acquiring, by a software defined network (SDN) controller, data flow description information of a data flow; and
deciding, by the SDN controller according to the data flow description information, whether the data flow needs a distribution, and when the data flow needs the distribution, delivering a distribution rule flow table to a distribution gateway,
wherein before the SDN controller acquires the data flow description information of the data flow, the method further comprises: sending, by the SDN controller, a data flow table to a mobile network gateway and/or a distribution gateway, wherein the data flow table is used for indicating the mobile network gateway or the distribution gateway to send a data flow of a corresponding terminal to a Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) function for detection;
wherein
acquiring, by the SDN controller, the data flow description information of the data flow comprises: acquiring, by the SDN controller, the data flow description information of the data flow from the DPI; or,
the mobile network gateway comprises one of: a user plane function of a Serving Gateway (SGW), a user plane function of a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), a user plane function of a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), a user plane function of a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) or a user plane function of a non-3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) gateway; or,
the DPI is located at a data centre or located at a Traffic Detection Function (TDF).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the data flow description information comprises at least one of: an application type of the data flow and quintuple information of the data flow.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein deciding, by the SDN controller according to the data flow description information, whether the data flow needs the distribution, and when the data flow needs the distribution, delivering the distribution rule flow table to the distribution gateway comprise:
acquiring, by the SDN controller, a distribution strategy locally or from a strategy server, deciding, according to the data flow description information and the distribution strategy, whether the data flow corresponding to the data flow description information needs the distribution, and when it is decided that the data flow needs the distribution, generating the distribution rule flow table and delivering the distribution rule flow table to the distribution gateway.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in a case where a terminal initiates an application of a first type:
receiving, by the SDN controller, an application type and quintuple information, wherein the application type and the quintuple information are sent by the DPI after the DPI receives and detects the first packet of negotiation; and
deciding, by the SDN controller, whether the data flow needs the distribution according to the application type, the quintuple information and a distribution strategy, and when it is decided that the data flow needs the distribution, generating the distribution rule flow table and delivering the distribution rule flow table to the distribution gateway, wherein the data flow comprises: the first packet, one or more data packets used by subsequent negotiation signalling and one or more pure data packets after application layer negotiation is completed;
wherein the application of the first type is an application of which the application type and the quintuple information are able to be acquired by detecting the first packet.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the method comprises:
sending, by the SDN controller, a data flow table to the mobile network gateway and/or the distribution gateway, wherein the data flow table sent to the distribution gateway enables the distribution gateway to intercept the first packet when a terminal application is initiated, and send, after performing backup cache or not performing backup cache on the first packet, the first packet to the DPI through one of the following paths:
a first path: from the distribution gateway to the SDN controller and further to the DPI;
a second path: from the distribution gateway to the SGW/SGSN/non-3GPP gateway to the PGW/GGSN and further to the DPI; and
a third path: from the distribution gateway to the DPI.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the method comprises:
when the distribution gateway does not perform backup cache on the first packet, sending, by the SDN controller, indication information to the DPI to indicate the DPI to redirect the first packet to the distribution gateway or indicate the DPI to return the first packet to the distribution gateway through the SDN controller.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in a case where the terminal initiates an application of a second type:
sending, by the SDN controller, an acquired distribution rule and processing rule to the DPI;
detecting, by the DPI, an acquired negotiation signalling to acquire the data flow description information, deciding whether the application needs the distribution according to the distribution rule, when it is decided that the application needs the distribution, performing, by the DPI or other functional nodes, NAT processing on a data packet used by the negotiation signalling according to the processing rule; and
receiving, by the SDN controller, the data flow description information sent by the DPI, and delivering the distribution rule flow table to the distribution gateway according to the data flow description information;
wherein the application of the second type is an application of which the application type is able to be detected by detecting the first packet but the quintuple information is not able to be acquired by detecting the first packet.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in a case where the terminal initiates an application of a second type:
receiving, by the SDN controller, an application type sent by the DPI after the DPI detects a negotiation signalling and acquires the application type;
deciding, by the SDN controller, whether distribution is needed according to the application type and the distribution strategy, and when it is decided that the distribution is needed, sending a processing rule for a data packet used by negotiation signalling to the DPI and/or a specific functional node;
performing, by the DPI or the specific functional node, NAT processing on the data packet used by the negotiation signalling according to the processing rule;
receiving, by the SDN controller, the data flow description information sent by the DPI after the DPI performs further detection on the data packet used by the negotiation signalling; and
delivering, by the SDN controller, the distribution rule flow table to the distribution gateway according to the data flow description information;
wherein the application of the second type is an application of which the application type is able to be detected by detecting the first packet but the quintuple information is not able to be acquired by detecting the first packet.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in a case where the terminal initiates an application of a second type:
sending, by the SDN controller, the data flow table to the mobile network gateway or the distribution gateway;
after performing backup caching or not performing backup caching on the first packet according to the data flow table, sending, by the distribution gateway or the mobile network gateway, the first packet to the SDN controller and then to the DPI; or performing backup caching or not performing backup caching on the first packet and then directly sending the first packet to the DPI;

Assignees

• Zte Corp

Inventors

• Bi Yifeng
• Wang Jing
• Tian Tian
• Wang Jun

Classifications

• H04L41/083

  for increasing network speed · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L41/5054

  Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components · CPC title

• H04W88/16

  Gateway arrangements · CPC title

• H04L43/028

  by filtering · CPC title