TCP Proxy Using A Communication Distance Indicator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019190836-A1
Application number	US-201616327935-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 2, 2016
Priority date	Sep 2, 2016
Publication date	Jun 20, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

It is provided a method for controlling traffic between a mobile communication terminal (2) and a plurality of hosts (15a-15c), the method being performed in a TCP, Transport Control Protocol, proxy (10) of a cellular network, the TCP proxy comprising a radio side (11) towards the mobile communication terminal, and a network side (12) towards the plurality of hosts. The method comprises the steps of: obtaining a communication distance indicator for each TCP connection between the TCP proxy (10) and each one of the hosts (15a-15c); detecting a constrained traffic situation on the radio side (11) for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and reducing incoming traffic on the network side (12) based on the respective communication distance indicators, such that traffic is reduced relatively more for a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator.

First claim

1 .- 21 . (canceled)

22 . A method for controlling traffic between a mobile communication terminal and a plurality of hosts, the method being performed in a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) proxy of a cellular network, the TCP proxy comprising a radio side towards the mobile communication terminal, and a network side towards the plurality of hosts, the method comprising:
obtaining a communication distance indicator for each TCP connection between the TCP proxy and each one of the hosts; detecting a constrained traffic situation on the radio side for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and reducing incoming traffic on the network side based on the respective communication distance indicators, such that traffic is reduced relatively more for a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the communication distance indicator is a round trip time.

24 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the reducing incoming traffic comprises reducing incoming traffic for a TCP connection by reducing its receive window.

25 . The method of claim 24 , wherein the reducing incoming traffic comprises reducing incoming traffic for a TCP connection by setting its receive window to zero.

26 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the detecting a constrained traffic situation comprises detecting that durations between acknowledgements increase.

27 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the detecting a constrained traffic situation comprises detecting an increase in packet loss.

28 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
detecting a traffic situation with increased capacity on the radio side for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and increasing incoming traffic on the network side based on the respective communication distance indicators, such that traffic is increased relatively more for a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator.

29 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the detecting a traffic situation with increased capacity comprises detecting that durations between acknowledgements decrease.

30 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the method is performed in parallel for each one of a plurality of mobile communication terminals.

31 . A Transport Control Protocol (TCP) proxy for controlling traffic between a mobile communication terminal and a plurality of hosts, the TCP proxy being configured to form part of a cellular network, the TCP proxy comprising:
a radio side intended to be logically directed towards the mobile communication terminal, a network side intended to be logically directed towards the plurality of hosts; processing circuitry; memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the TCP proxy is operative to:
obtain a communication distance indicator for each TCP connection between the TCP proxy and each one of the hosts;
detect a constrained traffic situation on the radio side for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and
reduce incoming traffic on the network side based on the respective communication distance indicators, such that traffic is reduced relatively more for a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator.

32 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the communication distance indicator is a round trip time.

33 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to reduce incoming traffic by reducing the incoming traffic's receive window.

34 . The TCP proxy of claim 33 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to reduce incoming traffic for a TCP connection by setting its TCP proxy window to zero.

35 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to detect the constrained traffic situation comprise instructions by detecting that durations between acknowledgements increase.

36 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to detect the constrained traffic situation by detecting an increase in packet loss.

37 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to:
detect a traffic situation with increased capacity on the radio side for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and increase incoming traffic on the network side based on the respective communication distance indicators, such that traffic is increased relatively more for a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator.

38 . The TCP proxy of claim 37 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to detect the traffic situation with increased capacity by detecting that durations between acknowledgements decrease.

39 . The TCP proxy of claim 31 , wherein the instructions are such that the TCP proxy is operative to execute the obtaining, detecting, and reducing in parallel for each one of a plurality of mobile communication terminals.

40 . A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a computer program product for controlling a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) proxy for controlling traffic between a mobile communication terminal and a plurality of hosts, the TCP proxy being configured to form part of a cellular network, the TCP proxy comprising a radio side intended to be logically directed towards the mobile communication terminal, and a network side intended to be logically directed towards the plurality of hosts, the computer program product comprising software instructions which, when run on processing circuitry of the TCP proxy, causes the TCP proxy to:
obtain a communication distance indicator for each TCP connection between the TCP proxy and each one of the hosts; detect a constrained traffic situation on the radio side for traffic towards the mobile communication terminal; and reduce incoming traffic on the network side based on the respective distance indicators, such that traffic is reduced relatively more for a TCP connection with a large communication distance indicator compared to a TCP connection with a small communication distance indicator.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Skog Robert
• Ihlar Marcus
• Magnusson Magnus
• Orre John

Classifications

• H04W80/06

  Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless {(transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16)} · CPC title

• H04L47/25

  with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions · CPC title

• H04L69/16

  Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] · CPC title

• H04L47/27

  Evaluation or update of window size, e.g. using information derived from acknowledged [ACK] packets · CPC title

• H04L47/283

  in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT] · CPC title