Technologies for managing network traffic through heterogeneous networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11258704-B2
Application number	US-201816023795-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2018
Priority date	Jun 29, 2018
Publication date	Feb 22, 2022
Grant date	Feb 22, 2022

Abstract

Technologies for managing network traffic through heterogeneous fog network segments of a fog network include a fog node deployed in a fog network segment. The fog node is configured to receive a fog frame that includes control instructions. The fog node is further configured to perform a route selection action to identify a preferred target fog node based on the control instructions, perform action(s) based on the control instructions and network characteristic(s) of the fog network segment relative to corresponding network characteristic(s) of the different fog network segment, and generate updated control instructions based on at least one network characteristic of the different fog network segment. Additionally, the fog node is configured to replace the original control instructions of the received fog frame with the updated control instructions and transmit the received fog frame with the updated control instructions to the preferred target fog node. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
at least one memory;
instructions in the apparatus; and
processor circuitry to execute the instructions to:
(i) receive a frame that includes a control resource block, wherein the control resource block includes packaged control instructions and (ii) extract the packaged control instructions from the received frame;
perform a route selection action to identify a preferred target node from one or more target nodes based on the packaged control instructions, wherein to perform the route selection action includes to determine the preferred target node based on feedback information from previous route selections;
perform, in response to a determination that the preferred target node is deployed in a different network segment of the network, one or more actions based on the packaged control instructions and one or more network characteristics of the network segment relative to a corresponding one or more network characteristics of the different network segment; and
(i) generate updated control instructions based on at least one network characteristic of the different network segment and a de-ranking of ones of the control instructions based on an amount of nodes classified as decider nodes, (ii) replace the packaged control instructions of the received frame with the updated control instructions, and (iii) encrypt at least a portion of the frame based on a network policy associated with the received frame,
wherein the processor circuitry is further to execute the instructions to transmit the received frame with the updated control instructions to the preferred target node.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuitry is further to execute the instructions to determine whether to allow or block the received frame based on the packaged control instructions.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuitry is further to execute the instructions to validate the packaged control instructions using a checksum included in the control resource block before performance of the route selection action.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuitry is to execute the instructions to:
monitor whether the received frame has been determined to be successfully transmitted to the preferred target node;
increment, in response to a determination that the transmission to the preferred target node was successful, a counter associated with the preferred target node; and
update a historical transmission success rate based on a value of the counter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to perform the route selection action includes to:
identify a plurality of target nodes along potential routes for forwarding the frame to an egress point of the network; and
identify network characteristics of an associated network segment of the network in which each of the plurality of target nodes is deployed.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more actions to be performed based on the packaged control instructions include to perform a communication protocol transformation from an internet protocol (IP) formatted packet to a non-IP formatted packet or from a non-IP formatted packet to an IP formatted packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network characteristics include at least one of a supported security protocol and a supported communication protocol.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuitry is further to execute the instructions to:
receive a network packet from a computing device communicatively coupled to an edge network external to the network segment in which the node is deployed;
encrypt at least a portion of a payload of the received network packet using an outer encryption scheme;
identify one or more control instructions based on at least a portion of the received network packet,
(i) generate the control resource block to include the one or more control instructions and (ii) generate a frame that includes the control resource block and the encrypted portion of the payload of the received network packet; and
transmit the generated frame to a target node.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor circuitry is further to execute the instructions to encrypt the encrypted portion of the payload of the received network packet using an inner encryption scheme.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein to identify the one or more control instructions further include to identify the one or more control instructions based on a plurality of network characteristics of a target network segment in which the target node is deployed.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of network characteristics of the target network segment include a supported security protocol and a supported communication protocol.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes a fog node deployed in a fog network segment of a fog network for managing network traffic through heterogeneous fog network segments of the fog network.

13. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media comprising a plurality of instructions stored thereon that, in response to being executed, cause a node deployed in a network segment of a network to:
(i) receive a frame that includes a control resource block, wherein the control resource block includes packaged control instructions, and (ii) extract the packaged control instructions from the received frame;
perform a route selection action to identify a preferred target node from one or more target nodes based on the packaged control instructions, wherein to perform the route selection action includes to determine the preferred target node based on feedback information from previous route selections;
perform, in response to a determination that the preferred target node is deployed in a different network segment of the network, one or more actions based on the packaged control instructions and one or more network characteristics of the network segment relative to a corresponding one or more network characteristics of the different network segment;
generate updated control instructions based on at least one network characteristic of the different network segment and a de-ranking of ones of the control instructions based on an amount of nodes classified as decider nodes;
encrypt at least a portion of the frame based on a network policy associated with the received frame;
replace the packaged control instructions of the received frame with the updated control instructions; and
transmit the received frame with the updated control instructions to the preferred target node.

14. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the node to determine whether to allow or block the received frame based on the packaged control instructions.

15. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the node to validate the packaged control instructions using a checksum included in the control resource block before performance of the route selection action.

16. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of instructions further cause the node to:
monitor whether the received frame has been determined to be successfully transmitted to the preferred target node;
increment, in response to a determination that the transmission to the preferred target node was successful, a counter associated with the preferred target node; and

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Nolan Keith
• Kelly Mark
• Mcgrath Michael
• King Heather
• Sheridan Charlie

Classifications

• H04L45/22

  Alternate routing · CPC title

• H04L45/42 Primary

  Centralised routing · CPC title

• H04L67/12 Primary

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04L63/045

  wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply hybrid encryption, i.e. combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements using a plurality of keys or algorithms H04L9/14) · CPC title