System and methods for identifying and remedying traffic imbalances and inequities between networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9515936-B1
Application number	US-201615242108-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 19, 2016
Priority date	Feb 3, 2012
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Implementations described and claimed herein provide a system and methods for balancing network loads across distinct provider networks. In one implementation, a virtual network representative of at least a first provider network is established having at least one interconnection point where network traffic is exchanged between the first provider network and a second provider network and having at least one provider edge port and at least one potential interconnection point. A measurement of a bandwidth between the at least one provider edge port and the at least one interconnection point is obtained. A measurement of a distance between the at least one provider edge port and a geographically closest of the at least one potential interconnection point or the at least one interconnection point is obtained. A network load indication for the first provider network as a function of the bandwidth measurement and the distance measurement is obtained.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to identify a network load imbalance between interconnected provider networks, the method comprising:
establishing a virtual network representative of at least a first provider network, the virtual network with at least one interconnection point where network traffic is exchanged between the first provider network and a second provider network, the virtual network with at least one provider edge port where the first provider network connects to a third party network, the virtual network with at least one potential interconnection point where the first provider network is configurable to exchange traffic with the second provider network;
obtaining a measurement of a bandwidth of network traffic between the at least one provider edge port and the at least one interconnection point;
assigning either the at least one potential interconnection point or an interconnection point of the first provider network to the at least one provider edge port;
obtaining a measurement of a distance between the at least one interconnection point and the assigned interconnection point, the assigned interconnection point being the closest in geographical distance to the at least one provider edge port of either the at least one potential interconnection point or the interconnection point;
obtaining a network load indication for the first provider network as a function of the bandwidth measurement and the distance measurement; and
detecting a network load balance between the network load indication and a network load indication of the second provider network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one potential interconnection point is restricted to a location at which the third party network can interconnect at a threshold scale and exchange traffic at a threshold bandwidth.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one potential interconnection point is restricted to a location not closer than a specified distance to another potential interconnection point or interconnection point in the first provider network.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the specified distance is 50 miles.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one potential interconnection point is served on net by at least three provider networks.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first provider network allows the second provider network to elect to access the at least one potential interconnection point.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detected network load balance indicates an imbalance between the first provider network and the second provider network, the imbalance being indicated by the network load indication of the second provider network being less than a threshold percentage of the network load indication of the first provider network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distance is measured based on the geographical latitude and longitude of two locations and the radius of the Earth.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth is measured based on a percentage of sampled bandwidth usage.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detected network load balance indicates a network load imbalance between the first provider network and the second provider network.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
remedying the network load imbalance by providing an indication of a remuneration from the second provider network to the first provider network, the remuneration being a function of the network load indication of the first provider network.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
remedying the network load imbalance by advertising multi-exit discriminators to the second provider network and interconnecting the first provider network with the second provider network according to the advertised multi-exit discriminators until a threshold is met.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
remedying the network load imbalance by advertising multi-exit discriminators to the second provider network and interconnecting the first provider network with the second provider network according to the advertised multi-exit discriminators until all multi-exit discriminators are used as interconnections.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:
remedying the network load imbalance by establishing an interconnection between the first provider network with the second provider network at a potential interconnection.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
if the first network provider does not allow an interconnection at the potential interconnection point, excluding the potential interconnection point from the operation of obtaining a measurement of a distance between the at least one interconnection point and the assigned interconnection point.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions for performing a computer process on a computing system, the computer process comprising:
establishing a virtual network representative of at least a first provider network, the virtual network with at least one interconnection point where network traffic is exchanged between the first provider network and a second provider network, the virtual network with at least one provider edge port where the first provider network connects to a third party network, the virtual network with at least one potential interconnection point where the first provider network is configurable to exchange traffic with the second provider network;
obtaining a measurement of a bandwidth of network traffic between the at least one provider edge port and the at least one interconnection point;
assigning either the at least one potential interconnection point or an interconnection point of the first provider network to the at least one provider edge port;
obtaining a measurement of a distance between the at least one interconnection point and the assigned interconnection point, the assigned interconnection point being the closest in geographical distance to the at least one provider edge port of either the at least one potential interconnection point or the interconnection point;
obtaining a network load indication for the first provider network as a function of the bandwidth measurement and the distance measurement; and
detecting a network load balance between the network load indication and a network load indication of the second provider network.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the at least one potential interconnection point is restricted to a location at which the third party network can interconnect at a threshold scale and exchange traffic at a threshold bandwidth.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the at least one potential interconnection point is restricted to a location not closer than a specified distance to another potential interconnection point or interconnection point in the first provider network.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the detected network load balance indicates a network load imbalance between the first provider network and the second provider network, the computer process further comprising:
remedying the network load imbalance by providing an indication of a remuneration from the second provider network to the first provider network, the remuneration being a function of the network load indication of the first provider network.

20. The one or more non-transit

Assignees

• Level 3 Communications Llc

Inventors

• Taylor Mark
• Royer Kevin John
• Pujet Nicolas
• Mooney Michael
• Ryan John
• Elliott Isaac K
• Greenawalt Rebecca

Classifications

• H04L45/02 Primary

  Topology update or discovery · CPC title

• H04L12/46

  Interconnection of networks · CPC title

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L47/125 Primary

  by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering · CPC title

• H04L12/5692

  Selection among different networks · CPC title