Control method, controller and packet processing method for software-defined network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016183163-A1
Application number	US-201414580233-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 23, 2014
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	Jun 23, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A controlling method, a controller and a packet processing method for a software-defined network (SDN) are provided. The controlling method includes the following steps: receiving a registration message from a user equipment (UE), wherein the registration message includes a network access status of the UE; selecting a switch of the SDN as an aggregation entity (AE) for the UE according to the network access status; calculating a plurality of routing paths between the UE and the AE, wherein each routing path is coupled to one of a plurality of network interfaces of the UE; and setting flow entries in the AE and each switch in the routing paths for routing packets between the UE and a remote network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A control method, adapted to a software-defined network, comprising:
receiving a registration message from a user equipment, wherein the registration message comprises a network access status of the user equipment; selecting one of a plurality of switches of the software-defined network as an aggregation entity for the user equipment according to the network access status; calculating a plurality of routing paths between the user equipment and the aggregation entity, wherein each of the routing paths is coupled to one of a plurality of network interfaces of the user equipment; and setting flow entries in the aggregation entity and each said switch in the routing paths for routing packets between the user equipment and a remote network.

2 . The control method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting one of the switches as the aggregation entity according to the network access status and a load of each said switch of the software-defined network.

3 . The control method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning a network address of the user equipment and a network address of the aggregation entity; and transmitting the network address of the user equipment and the network address of the aggregation entity to the user equipment.

4 . The control method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a transmission proportion between the routing paths according to a status of each of the routing paths; and transmitting the transmission proportion to the aggregation entity, wherein the aggregation entity selects one of the routing paths for each downstream packet transmitted to the user equipment according to the transmission proportion, so as to transmit the downstream packet to the user equipment.

5 . The control method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an interface switching message from the user equipment, wherein the interface switching message corresponds to one of the routing paths; modifying the flow entries of the aggregation entity, so as to stop using the routing path corresponding to the interface switching message, and using the other routing paths to transmit downstream packets to the user equipment; and notifying the user equipment that the modification of the flow entries is completed.

6 . The control method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving an interface updating message from the user equipment; selecting one of the switches of the software-defined network as a new aggregation entity for the user equipment according to the interface updating message; calculating a plurality of new routing paths between the user equipment and the new aggregation entity; updating flow entries in the new aggregation entity, the original aggregation entity and the switches in the new routing paths and the original routing paths, and transmitting packets between the user equipment and the remote network by using the new aggregation entity and the new routing paths; and notifying the user equipment that the updating of the flow entries is completed.

7 . A packet processing method, adapted to a software-defined network, comprising:
receiving an upstream packet transmitted to a remote network from a user equipment; removing a tunnel header of the upstream packet, and transmitting the upstream packet to the remote network; receiving a downstream packet transmitted to the user equipment from the remote network; selecting one of a plurality of routing paths coupled to the user equipment to transmit the downstream packet; and adding a tunnel header corresponding to the selected routing path to the downstream packet, and transmitting the downstream packet to the user equipment through the selected routing path.

8 . The packet processing method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising:
selecting one of the routing paths to transmit the downstream packet according to a transmission proportion between the routing paths.

9 . The packet processing method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein for each service flow between the user equipment and the remote network, the packet processing method further comprises:
receiving a plurality of upstream packets of the service flow; and sorting the upstream packets according to sequence numbers of the upstream packets, and sequentially transmitting the sorted upstream packages to the remote network.

10 . The packet processing method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the sequence numbers are located in tunnel headers of the upstream packets.

11 . A controller, adapted to a software-defined network, comprising:
a network interface, coupled to the software-defined network, and transmitting and receiving packets for the controller; and a processor, coupled to the network interface, receiving a registration message from a user equipment, wherein the registration message comprises a network access status of the user equipment, the processor selecting one of a plurality of switches of the software-defined network as an aggregation entity for the user equipment according to the network access status and calculating a plurality of routing paths between the user equipment and the aggregation entity, wherein each of the routing paths is coupled to one of a plurality of network interfaces of the user equipment, and the processor setting flow entries in the aggregation entity and each said switch in the routing paths for routing packets between the user equipment and a remote network.

12 . The controller as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processor selects one of the switches as the aggregation entity according to the network access status and a load of each said switch of the software-defined network.

13 . The controller as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processor assigns a network address of the user equipment and a network address of the aggregation entity, and the processor transmits the network address of the user equipment and the network address of the aggregation entity to the user equipment.

14 . The controller as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processor determines a transmission proportion between the routing paths according to a status of each of the routing paths, and transmits the transmission proportion to the aggregation entity, wherein the aggregation entity selects one of the routing paths for each downstream packet transmitted to the user equipment according to the transmission proportion, so as to transmit the downstream packet to the user equipment.

15 . The controller as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processor receives an interface switching message from the user equipment, the interface switching message corresponds to one of the routing paths, and the processor modifies the flow entries of the aggregation entity, so as to stop using the routing path corresponding to the interface switching message and use the other routing paths to transmit downstream packets to the user equipment, and the processor notifies the user equipment that the modification of the flow entries is completed.

16 . The controller as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the processor receives an interface updating message from the user equipment, selects one of the switches of the software-defined network as a new aggregation entity for the user equipment according to the interface updating message, calculates a plurality of new routing paths between the user equipment and the new aggregation entity, updates flow entries in the new aggregation entity, the original aggregation entity and the switches in the new routing paths and the original rout

Assignees

• Ind Tech Res Inst

Inventors

• Yang Shun-Neng
• Gan Chai-Hien

Classifications

• H04W28/0289

  Congestion control (load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W40/248 Primary

  Connectivity information update · CPC title

• H04L45/745

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04W40/02 Primary

  Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing · CPC title

• H04L45/021

  Ensuring consistency of routing table updates, e.g. by using epoch numbers · CPC title