Software defined networking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11245934-B1
Application number	US-202016922547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 7, 2020
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

Systems and methods presented herein provide for a software defined network (SDN) controller in a cable television system that virtualizes network elements in the cable television system to provide content delivery and data services through the virtualized network elements. In one embodiment, the SDN controller is operable in a cloud computing environment to balance data traffic through the virtualized network elements. For example, the SDN controller may abstract Layer 2 Control Protocol (L2CP) frame processing of the network elements into the cloud computing environment to relieve the network elements from the burdens of Ethernet frame processing. In this regard, the SDN controller comprises a L2CP decision module that determines how L2CP should be processed for the network elements in the cable television system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing a traffic frame in a communication network using a software defined network (SDN) controller, comprising:
instantiating, by the SDN controller, a virtualization of a network element under control of the SDN controller;
determining, from the virtualization of the network element, that a first incoming traffic frame at the network element is carrying data traffic;
in response to determining that the first incoming traffic frame is carrying data traffic, determining a bandwidth profile of the first incoming traffic frame; and
flagging the first incoming traffic frame with a marker identifying a quality of service (QoS) level of the first incoming traffic frame, according to the bandwidth profile of the first incoming traffic frame.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the first incoming traffic frame to egress of the SDN controller, after flagging the first incoming traffic frame.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the bandwidth profile of the first incoming traffic frame comprises determining whether a bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame exceeds a first threshold value.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein flagging the first incoming traffic frame comprises flagging the first incoming traffic frame with a first marker identifying a first QoS level of the first incoming traffic frame, in response to determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame does not exceed the first threshold value.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the bandwidth profile of the first incoming traffic frame further comprises determining whether the bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame exceeds a second threshold value, in response to determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame exceeds the first threshold value.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein flagging the first incoming traffic frame comprises flagging the first incoming traffic frame with a second marker identifying a second QoS level of the first incoming traffic frame, in response to determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame does not exceed the second threshold value.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the first threshold value represents an upper end of committed information rate (CIR)/committed burst size (CBS) bandwidth settings; and
the second threshold value represents an upper end of excess information rate (EIR)/excess burst size (EBS) bandwidth settings.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first threshold value represents an upper end of committed information rate (CIR)/committed burst size (CBS) bandwidth settings.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, from the virtualization of the network element, that a second incoming traffic frame at the network element is a Layer 2 Control Protocol (L2CP) frame; and
in response to determining that the second incoming traffic frame is a L2CP frame, processing the L2CP frame in an L2CP module of the SDN controller.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising updating the L2CP module according to a L2CP frame handling specification.

11. A method for processing a traffic frame in a communication network using a software defined network (SDN) controller, comprising:
instantiating, by the SDN controller, a virtualization of a network element under control of the SDN controller;
determining, from the virtualization of the network element, that a first incoming traffic frame at the network element is carrying data traffic;
in response to determining that the first incoming traffic frame is carrying data traffic, determining that a bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame exceeds both a first threshold value and a second threshold value; and
in response to the determining that the bandwidth requirement of the first incoming traffic frame exceeds both the first threshold value and the second threshold value, dropping the incoming traffic frame by the SDN controller.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising transmitting from the SDN controller to the network element a notification that the SDN controller dropped the first incoming traffic frame.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining, from the virtualization of the network element, that a second incoming traffic frame at the network element is a Layer 2 Control Protocol (L2CP) frame;
in response to determining that the second incoming traffic frame is a L2CP frame, processing the L2CP frame in an L2CP module of the SDN controller.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising updating the L2CP module according to a L2CP frame handling specification.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein:
the first threshold value represents an upper end of committed information rate (CIR)/committed burst size (CBS) bandwidth settings; and
the second threshold value represents an upper end of excess information rate (EIR)/excess burst size (EBS) bandwidth settings.

Assignees

• Cable Television Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Kim James
• Sundaresan Karthik
• Kee Thomas

Classifications

• H04N21/241

  Operating system [OS] processes, e.g. server setup · CPC title

• H04N21/2402

  Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available (traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876) · CPC title

• H04N21/238

  Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams {(hybrid fiber coaxial [HFC] networks for downstream channel allocation for video distribution H04L12/2801; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60)} · CPC title

• H04N21/6118

  involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem · CPC title

• H04N21/23103 Primary

  using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers (storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001) · CPC title