Content centric networking systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11277280-B2
Application number	US-201916358663-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2019
Priority date	Mar 19, 2018
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for Content-Centric Networking (CCN) are described. In some cases, a node may receive a CCN packet from an upstream node and communicate the CCN packet to one or more downstream nodes (e.g., that previously requested the CCN packet). In a first case, the node may establish a persistent internet protocol (IP) tunnel with the downstream node and communicate the CCN packet to the downstream node by the persistent IP tunnel. Here, a cable modem between the node and the downstream node may not decode the CCN packet. In a second case, the node may append an identifier to the CCN packet prior to communicating the CCN packet to the one or more downstream nodes. Here, the identifier may indicate to the downstream nodes which CCN packets are relevant to the downstream node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of establishing and using a persistent Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel between a first node of a network and a second node of the network, the method comprising:
requesting, from a third node of the network, a configuration file by trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) and through a first type of networking, the configuration file indicating an address of the first node corresponding to a tunnel endpoint for the persistent IP tunnel;
receiving, at the third node of the network, the configuration file through the first type of networking;
transmitting, by the third node, the configuration file to the second node using type-length-value (TLV) encoding and through the first type of networking;
using the configuration file, identifying, at the second node, the address of the first node;
transmitting, from the second node and using the address of the first node, a request to the first node to establish the persistent IP tunnel between the second node and the first node, the request transmitted through the first type of networking;
establishing the persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the second node upon receiving the request to establish the persistent IP tunnel, the persistent IP tunnel established in accordance with the first type of networking; and
communicating a Content-Centric Networking (CCN) packet via the persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the second node, wherein communicating the CCN packet comprises using the persistent IP tunnel to communicate the CCN packet between the first node and the second node using a second type of networking, the second type of networking different from the first type of networking.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the persistent IP tunnel further comprises:
transmitting, from the first node to the second node, a message indicating that the persistent IP tunnel has been established based at least in part on receiving the request to establish the persistent IP tunnel; and
receiving, at the first node and from the second node, an acknowledgement indicating successful receipt of the message indicating that the persistent IP tunnel has been established.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, at the first node, from the second node, through the second type of networking, and by the persistent IP tunnel, an interest message indicating content.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising forwarding, by the first node, the interest message to an upstream node based at least in part on the indicated content.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving, at the first node and from the upstream node, the indicated content; and
forwarding the indicated content to the second node by the persistent IP tunnel through the second type of networking.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein forwarding the indicated content to the second node is based at least in part on an entry in a pending interest table (PIT) at the first node associating the indicated content and the second node.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the persistent IP tunnel is a first persistent IP tunnel; and
the method further comprises:
receiving, from a fourth node, a second request to establish a second persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the fourth node;
establishing the second persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the fourth node based at least in part on the second request, wherein establishing the second persistent IP tunnel occurs at a time when the first persistent IP tunnel is established; and
communicating, through the second type of networking, one or more CCN packets via the second persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the fourth node.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving, at the first node, from the second node, and by the first persistent IP tunnel, a first interest message indicating content;
forwarding by the first node, the first interest message to an upstream node based at least in part on the content;
receiving, from the fourth node and by the second persistent IP tunnel, a second interest message indicating the content, wherein receiving the second interest message occurs after forwarding the first interest message to the second node;
receiving, at the first node and from the upstream node, the content based at least in part on forwarding the first interest message;
forwarding, from the first node, the content to the second node by the first persistent IP tunnel based at least in part on receiving the first interest message from the second node; and
forwarding, from the first node, the content to the fourth node by the second persistent IP tunnel based at least in part on receiving the second interest message from the fourth node.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the request to establish the persistent IP tunnel comprises receiving the request via a link layer of a protocol stack.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second node is one of a router, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, an optical network terminal (ONT), or a small cell.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first node is a modem termination system (MTS) comprising at least one of a cable MTS (CMTS), an optical line terminator (OLT), or a mobile core.

12. A method at a router of a network utilizing a first type of networking, the method comprising:
receiving, from a modem distinct from the router, a configuration file indicating an address of a node of the network, the node corresponding to an endpoint for a persistent Internet Protocol (IP) tunnel between the router and the node of the network and the configuration file encoded with type-length-value (TLV) encoding and received at the router through a first type of networking;
using the address indicated in the configuration file, communicating, to the node, a request to establish the persistent IP tunnel in accordance with the first type of networking;
receiving an indication from the node that indicates that the persistent IP tunnel has been established; and
receiving a Content-Centric Networking (CCN) packet via the persistent IP tunnel from the node, wherein the CCN packet is communicated between the node and the router using a second type of networking, the second type of networking different from the first type of networking.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating the CCN packet via the persistent IP tunnel between the first node and the second node includes transmitting the CCN packet through the third node between the first node and the second node without the third node decoding or detecting content within the CCN packet.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the third node is a cable modem.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first type of networking is IP networking; and
the second type of networking is CCN networking.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein receiving the CCN packet via the persistent IP tunnel from the node includes receiving the CCN packet through the modem between the node and the router without the modem decoding or detecting content within the CCN packet.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, from the first node, a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) message to a server, the DHCP message requesting an IP address of the server.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving, at the first node, a DHCP response from the server, the DHCP response including the IP address of the server.

19. The method of claim 12 , wherein the CCN pac

Assignees

• Cable Television Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• White Gregory C
• Sundaresan Karthik

Classifications

• H04L67/63

  Routing a service request depending on the request content or context · CPC title

• H04L67/563

  Data redirection of data network streams · CPC title

• H04L45/50

  using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS] · CPC title

• H04L12/4633 Primary

  Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling · CPC title

• H04L67/1097 Primary

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title