Packet processing method and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11134009-B2
Application number	US-201816211718-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2018
Priority date	Dec 11, 2013
Publication date	Sep 28, 2021
Grant date	Sep 28, 2021

Abstract

The present invention provides a packet processing method and an apparatus. The method includes: determining a to-be-installed flow entry and packet sending information; and sending, to a switch, a flow entry installation message carrying the to-be-installed flow entry and the packet sending information, so that the switch obtains the to-be-installed flow entry and the packet sending information from the flow entry installation message, installs the flow entry, and sends a packet according to the packet sending information. In the present invention, a controller sends a flow entry installation message carrying a to-be-installed flow entry and a packet sending message, where the to-be-installed flow entry and a to-be-sent packet are simultaneously sent, so that a switch simultaneously receives the to-be-installed flow entry and the to-be-sent packet, and performs flow entry installation and packet sending, thereby reducing unnecessary signaling exchange, and improving efficiency of flow entry installation and packet sending.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for packet processing, comprising:
receiving, by a control plane apparatus of a core network, from a mobility management network element, a request for switching a flow from a source base station to a target base station in a handover procedure;
determining, by the control plane apparatus in accordance with the receiving, packet sending information excluding an end marker message, wherein the packet sending information instructs a forwarding plane apparatus of the core network to perform the operations of:
constructing the end marker message, and
sending the end marker message to the source base station; and

sending, by the control plane apparatus, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the packet sending information comprises at least one of: a destination IP address, a GTP (GPRS Tunneling Protocol) TEID (Tunnel Endpoint IDentifier), a source port number, or a destination port number.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the control plane apparatus, a matching information, wherein the matching information is used to match a user packet; and
sending, by the control plane apparatus, the matching information with the packet sending information to the forwarding plane apparatus.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising:
determining, by the control plane apparatus, an action, wherein the action is to be executed on a user data packet mapping the matching information; and
sending, by the control plane apparatus, an information indicating the action with the packet sending information and the matching information to the forwarding plane apparatus.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
in accordance with receiving the packet sending information:
constructing, by the forwarding plane apparatus, the end marker message; and
sending, by the forwarding plane apparatus, the end marker message to the source base station.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein
the determining, by the control plane apparatus, the packet sending information comprises: determining, by the control plane apparatus, the packet sending information and matching information, wherein the matching information is used to match a user packet; and
the sending, by the control plane apparatus, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information comprises: sending, by the control plane apparatus, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information and the matching information.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein
the determining, by the control plane apparatus, the packet sending information and matching information comprises: determining, by the control plane apparatus, the packet sending information, the matching information, and an action, wherein the action is to be executed on a user data packet mapping the matching information;
the sending, by the control plane apparatus, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information and the matching information comprises: sending, by the control plane apparatus, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information, the matching information, and information indicating the action.

8. A control plane apparatus of a core network, comprising:
a computer readable memory having instructions stored thereon; and
a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the processor executes the instructions to perform the operations of:
receiving, from a mobility management network element, a request for switching a flow from a source base station to a target base station in a handover procedure;
determining, in response to the receiving, packet sending information excluding an end marker message, wherein the packet sending information instructs a forwarding plane apparatus of the core network to perform the operations of:
constructing the end marker message, and
sending the end marker message to the source base station; and

sending, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information.

9. The control plane apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the packet sending information comprises at least one of: a destination IP address, a GTP (GPRS Tunneling Protocol) TEID (Tunnel Endpoint IDentifier), a source port number, or a destination port number.

10. The control plane apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the processor executes the instructions to perform the operations of:
determining a matching information, wherein the matching information is used to match a user packet; and
sending, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information and the matching information.

11. The control plane apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the processor executes the instructions to perform the operations of:
determining an action, wherein the action is to be executed on a user data packet mapping the matching information; and
sending, to the forwarding plane apparatus, the packet sending information, the matching information, and information indicating the action.

12. A communication system comprising:
a control plane apparatus of a core network; and
a forwarding plane apparatus of the core network;
wherein the control plane apparatus is configured to perform a method comprising:
receiving, from a mobility management network element, a request for switching a flow from a source base station to a target base station in a handover procedure, and
sending, in accordance with the receiving, packet sending information excluding an end marker message to the forwarding plane apparatus, wherein the packet sending information instructs the forwarding plane apparatus to perform the operations of:
constructing the end marker message, and
sending the end marker message to the source base station; and

wherein the forwarding plane apparatus is configured to perform a method comprising:
constructing, in accordance with the packet sending information, the end marker message, and
sending the end marker message to the source base station.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the packet sending information comprises at least one of: a destination IP address, a GTP (GPRS Tunneling Protocol) TEID (Tunnel Endpoint IDentifier), a source port number, or a destination port number.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein:
the control plane apparatus is configured to send the packet sending information and matching information to the forwarding plane apparatus; and
the forwarding plane apparatus is configured to perform matching on a user packet according to the matching information.

15. The system according to claim 14 , wherein:
the control plane apparatus is configured to send the packet sending information, the matching information, and information indicating an action to the forwarding plane apparatus; and
the forwarding plane apparatus is configured to execute the action on a user packet matching the matching information.

16. The system according to claim 12 , further comprising:
the source base station, configured to carry out a method comprising receiving the end marker message from the forwarding plane apparatus in the handover procedure.

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hu Weihua
• Ni Hui
• Tan Shiyong

Classifications

• H04L12/6418 Primary

  Hybrid transport · CPC title

• H04L45/566 Primary

  Routing instructions carried by the data packet, e.g. active networks · CPC title

• H04L45/38

  Flow based routing · CPC title

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title