Dynamic middlebox redirection based on client characteristics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10177980-B2
Application number	US-201615216262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2016
Priority date	Aug 21, 2012
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

A middlebox includes a network monitor module configured to determine a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network. A processor is configured to compare the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function. A network control module is configured to configure a router to exclude the middlebox from the connection if the connection would not benefit from the network processing function and if the middlebox is already present in the connection to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection. Router configuration is delayed until the connection is idle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A middlebox, comprising:
a network monitor module configured to determine a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network;
a processor configured to compare the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and
a network control module configured to configure a router to exclude the middlebox from the connection if the connection would not benefit from the network processing function and if the middlebox is already present in the connection to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection, wherein said router configuration is delayed until the connection is idle.

2. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a throughput.

3. The middlebox of claim 2 , wherein the throughput is calculated as

2
/
p

t

,

where p is a packet loss rate and t is a measured round trip time.

4. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a client location.

5. The middlebox of claim 4 , wherein said network monitor module is configured to compare the client location to a coverage map to determine a signal quality to determine the quality-affective factor.

6. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein the quality-affective factor includes a media access control (MAC) address for the client.

7. The middlebox of claim 6 , wherein said network monitor module is configured to compare the MAC address to a table of known low-quality chipsets to determine the quality-affective factor.

8. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein said network monitor module is configured to determine the quality-affective factor periodically.

9. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein network monitor module is configured to determine the quality-affective factor when a second client arrives or departs in the network.

10. The middlebox of claim 1 , wherein network monitor module is configured to determine the quality-affective factor upon a change in network congestion.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computer readable program for traffic redirection, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of:
determining a quality-affective factor in a connection between a client and a server in a network;
comparing the quality-affective factor to a threshold to determine whether the connection would benefit from a network processing function; and
reconfiguring a router to exclude the middle box from the connection if the connection would not benefit from the network processing function and if the middlebox is already present in the connection to cease operation of the middlebox on the connection, wherein said router reconfiguration is delayed until the connection is idle.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Calo Seraphin B
• Cornejo William
• Le Thai F
• Nahum Erich M
• Touma Maroun
• Verma Dinesh C

Classifications

• H04L43/0841

  Round trip packet loss · CPC title

• H04L47/127

  by using congestion prediction · CPC title

• H04L43/04

  Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation · CPC title

• H04L41/0816 Primary

  the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events · CPC title

• H04L61/2015

  Electricity · mapped topic