Greening the network with the power consumption statuses of network components

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9231852-B2
Application number	US-201213372625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2012
Priority date	Jul 25, 2011
Publication date	Jan 5, 2016
Grant date	Jan 5, 2016

Abstract

In an embodiment, the disclosure includes an apparatus comprising a data store which comprises cost data associated with use of a path in a communications network. The data store also comprises power consumption data associated with the use of the path. The apparatus further comprises at least one processor configured to determine a score for the path based on the cost data and the power consumption data. The disclosure also includes an apparatus comprising a path computation element (PCE) configured to receive data from a plurality of network elements (NEs). The data comprises cost and power consumption data for establishing a path between a plurality of the NEs. The PCE is configured to determine a score for the path based on the cost and power consumption data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a hardware memory device comprising cost data associated with use of a plurality of paths for a new flow in a communications network, and power consumption data associated with use of network elements positioned along the paths to communicate the new flow; and
at least one hardware processor coupled to the hardware memory device and configured to:
determine a network state score for each path based on the cost data and the power consumption data, wherein each network state score is based on power consumption increases associated with communicating the new flow and power consumption changes associated with background flows across the network elements positioned along an associated path; and
select a path with a lowest network state score from the plurality of paths to communicate the new flow.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus determines the network state scores by multiplying cost data associated with communicating the new flow across a candidate path by a first constant, multiplying power consumption data associated with communicating the new flow across a candidate path by a second constant, and adding products of the multiplication operations.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first constant, the second constant, or both are selected by a user.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a receiver configured to receive a path selection request.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to remove all data paths from consideration associated with a network state score exceeding a given threshold.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a transmitter configured to determine the cost data by transmitting messages employing an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), and wherein the IGP is Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) or Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS).

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each network state score is determined according to:

S
=

α
*
Cost

+

β
*
Consumption

⁢

;

and

Cost_total
=

∑

i
∈
All

⁢

(

f
i

·

∑

l
∈

P
i

⁢

W
l

)

,

where S is a score for the new flow along a single path, cost is a routing cost for the single path, consumption is power consumption of all nodes along the single path attributable to the new flow, path α and β are user supplied coefficients, f i is the new flow, P i is a candidate path for the new flow, W l is a routing cost of a network element, and cost_total is the network state score based on the routing cost and power consumption data for all background flows and the new flow traversing the candidate path.

8. A path computation element (PCE) comprising:
a receiver configured to receive data from a plurality of network elements (NEs), wherein the data comprises:
costs for establishing paths via a plurality of the NEs in a communication network; and
power consumption data for establishing a candidate path between the NEs, wherein power consumption data for establishing the candidate path between the NEs comprises non-constant power consumption of each NE over discrete percentage ranges of a data traffic load capacity of the NEs; and

a hardware processor coupled to the receiver and configured to determine a score for the candidate path based on the cost and power consumption data.

9. The PCE of claim 8 , wherein the power consumption data received from the NEs comprises non-constant power consumption data of each NE in an idle state and hibernation mode, wherein the idle state consumes more power than the hibernation mode and less power than an active state.

10. The PCE of claim 8 , wherein the data traffic load capacity of each NE is represented as a capacity state (C-State) and the non-constant power consumption over the discrete percentage ranges of the data traffic load capacity of each NE is represented as a power state (P-State).

11. The PCE of claim 10 , wherein the P-state is about zero when the C-State indicates hibernation mode, wherein the P-State is over a half of maximum when the C-State indicates idle, and wherein the P-State is about maximum over a C-State range extending from about half of maximum C-State to about maximum C-State.

12. The PCE of claim 8 , wherein the score for the candidate path is determined according to:

S
=

α
*
Cost

+

β
*
Consumption

⁢

;

and

Cost_total
=

∑

i
∈
All

⁢

(

f
i

·

∑

l
∈

P
i

⁢

W
l

)

Assignees

• Zhang Mingui
• Dong Jie
• Aldrin Sam K
• Lee Young
• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Mingui
• Dong Jie
• Aldrin Sam K
• Lee Young

Classifications

• H04L45/124 Primary

  using a combination of metrics · CPC title

• H04L45/302

  Route determination based on requested QoS · CPC title

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04L45/12

  Shortest path evaluation · CPC title

• H04L45/42

  Centralised routing · CPC title