Congestion control for tunneled real-time communications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016337241-A1
Application number	US-201514708732-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 11, 2015
Priority date	May 11, 2015
Publication date	Nov 17, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system performs congestion control functionality for real-time communications (“RTC”). The system establishes a tunnel by a tunneling server with a tunneling client of a user equipment (“UE”). The system receives a request from the UE to enable the congestion control functionality for an inner socket of the tunnel. The system sends a response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is enabled for the inner socket. The system then monitors congestion conditions at an outer transport layer of the tunnel and executes the congestion control functionality at an inner transport layer of the tunnel based on the congestion conditions at the outer transport layer of the tunnel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform congestion control functionality for real-time communications (RTC), the congestion control functionality comprising:
establishing a tunnel by a tunneling server with a tunneling client of a user equipment (UE); receiving a request from the UE to enable the congestion control functionality for an inner socket of the tunnel; sending a response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is enabled for the inner socket; monitoring congestion conditions at an outer transport layer of the tunnel; and executing the congestion control functionality at an inner transport layer of the tunnel based on the congestion conditions at the outer transport layer of the tunnel.

2 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the tunnel is configured according to a tunneled services control function (TSCF) standard; wherein the request is a TSCF service request message; and wherein the response is a TSCF service response message.

3 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the congestion control functionality implements circuit breakers at the tunneling client and at the tunneling server; wherein, when the congestion conditions indicate congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the congestion control functionality activates the circuit breakers to halt communications of the inner socket at the inner transport layer of the tunnel; and wherein, when the congestion conditions indicate no congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the congestion control functionality deactivates the circuit breakers to resume communications of the inner socket at the inner transport layer of the tunnel.

4 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein, upon determining congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the tunneling client provides a corresponding notification to an RTC application at the UE; and wherein the notification indicates the inner socket that is affected by congestion.

5 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the UE sends a subsequent request to the tunneling server to disable the congestion control functionality; and wherein the tunneling server sends a corresponding response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is disabled.

6 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein congestion conditions of the inner socket are based on a media discontinuity period and a media sending rate.

7 . The computer readable medium of claim 1 ,
wherein the UE sends the request when an RTC application at the UE executes an application programming interface (API) to enable the congestion control functionality for the inner socket.

8 . A method of performing congestion control functionality for real-time communications (RTC), the method comprising:
establishing a tunnel by a tunneling server with a tunneling client of a user equipment (UE); receiving a request from the UE to enable the congestion control functionality for an inner socket of the tunnel; sending a response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is enabled for the inner socket; monitoring congestion conditions at an outer transport layer of the tunnel; and executing the congestion control functionality at an inner transport layer of the tunnel based on the congestion conditions at the outer transport layer of the tunnel.

9 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the tunnel is configured according to a tunneled services control function (TSCF) standard; wherein the request is a TSCF service request message; and wherein the response is a TSCF service response message.

10 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the congestion control functionality implements circuit breakers at the tunneling client and at the tunneling server; wherein, when the congestion conditions indicate congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the congestion control functionality activates the circuit breakers to halt communications of the inner socket at the inner transport layer of the tunnel; and wherein, when the congestion conditions indicate no congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the congestion control functionality deactivates the circuit breakers to resume communications of the inner socket at the inner transport layer of the tunnel.

11 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein, upon determining congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the tunneling client provides a corresponding notification to an RTC application at the UE; and wherein the notification indicates the inner socket that is affected by congestion.

12 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the UE sends a subsequent request to the tunneling server to disable the congestion control functionality; and wherein the tunneling server sends a corresponding response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is disabled.

13 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein congestion conditions of the inner socket are based on a media discontinuity period and a media sending rate.

14 . The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the UE sends the request when an RTC application at the UE executes an application programming interface (API) to enable the congestion control functionality for the inner socket.

15 . A tunneling server comprising:
a processor; a storage device coupled to the processor that stores a congestion control module, the congestion control module, when executed by the processor, implementing modules comprising: a tunneling module that establishes a tunnel with a tunneling client of a user equipment (UE) and, in response to receiving a request from the UE to enable a congestion control functionality for an inner socket of the tunnel, sends a response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is enabled for the inner socket; and a monitoring module that monitors congestion conditions at an outer transport layer of the tunnel and executes the congestion control functionality at an inner transport layer of the tunnel based on the congestion conditions at the outer transport layer of the tunnel.

16 . The tunneling server of claim 15 ,
wherein, upon determining congestion of the inner socket at the outer transport layer of the tunnel, the tunneling client provides a corresponding notification to an RTC application at the UE; and wherein the notification indicates the inner socket that is affected by congestion.

17 . The tunneling server of claim 15 ,
wherein the UE sends a subsequent request to the tunneling module to disable the congestion control functionality; and wherein the tunneling module sends a corresponding response back to the UE to indicate that the congestion control functionality is disabled.

18 . The tunneling server of claim 15 ,
wherein congestion conditions of the inner socket are based on a media discontinuity period and a media sending rate.

19 . The tunneling server of claim 15 ,
wherein the UE sends the request when an RTC application at the UE executes an application programming interface (API) to enable the congestion control functionality for the inner socket.

20 . The tunneling server of claim 15 ,
wherein the tunnel is configured acc

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Herrero Rolando

Classifications

• H04L47/12 Primary

  Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion · CPC title

• H04L47/2416

  Real-time traffic · CPC title

• H04L47/11

  Identifying congestion · CPC title