Service specific route selection in communication networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9806997-B2
Application number	US-201514741216-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2015
Priority date	Jun 16, 2015
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture (e.g., physical storage media) to perform service specific route selection in communication networks are disclosed. Example route selection methods disclosed herein include determining respective component performance parameters for network components of a communication network based on a weighting profile associated with a first service from a plurality of different services for which traffic is to be routed in the communication network. Disclosed example route selection methods also include determining, based on the component performance parameters, respective path performance parameters for a plurality of candidate paths between two endpoints in the communication network. Disclosed example route selection methods further include selecting, based on the path performance parameters, a first one of the candidate paths to route traffic for the first service between the two endpoints.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A route selection method comprising:
determining, by executing an instruction with a processor, respective component performance parameters for network components of a communication network based on a weighting profile for a first service of a plurality of different services for which traffic is to be routed in the communication network, the respective component performance parameters characterizing the performance of the network components for routing traffic for the first service relative to the performance of the network components for routing traffic for others of the plurality of different services;
determining, by executing an instruction with the processor, and based on the component performance parameters, respective path performance parameters for a plurality of candidate paths between two endpoints in the communication network; and
selecting, by executing an instruction with the processor, and based on the path performance parameters, a first one of the candidate paths to route traffic for the first service between the two endpoints, the processor being in communication with memory storing the instructions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the component performance parameters includes:
determining a set of mapped performance parameters from a set of performance measurements associated with a first one of the network components;
weighting the set of mapped performance parameters based on the weighting profile to determine a weighted set of mapped performance parameters associated with the first service; and
combining the weighted set of mapped performance parameters to determine a first one of the component performance parameters for the first one of the network components.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the set of mapped performance parameters includes:
performing a first mapping to map a first one of the set of performance measurements to a first one of the set of mapped performance parameters; and
performing a second mapping, different from the first mapping, to map a second one of the set of performance measurements to a second one of the set of mapped performance parameters.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the path performance parameters includes:
combining a first plurality of component performance parameters for a first plurality of network components included in a first one of the candidate paths to determine a first one of the path performance parameters for the first one of the candidate paths; and
combining a second plurality of component performance parameters for a second plurality of network components included in a second one of the candidate paths to determine a second one of the path performance parameters for the second one of the candidate paths.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including querying a graphical database storing topology information for the communication network to obtain performance measurements for the network components and to identify the plurality of candidate paths, and wherein determining the component performance parameters includes determining a first one of the component performance parameters for a first one of the network components by combining the performance measurements for the first one of the network components based on the weighting profile associated with the first service.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the weighting profile is a first weighting profile, the component performance parameters are first component performance parameters, the path performance parameters are first path performance parameters, and further including:
determining respective second component performance parameters for the network components based on a second weighting profile, different from the first weighting profile, associated with a second service from the plurality of different services;
determining, based on the second component performance parameters, respective second path performance parameters for the plurality of candidate paths between the two endpoints in the communication network; and
selecting, based on the second path performance parameters, a second one of the candidate paths, different from the first one of the candidate paths, to route traffic for the second service between the two endpoints.

7. The method of claim 1 , further including transmitting routing information descriptive of the first one of the candidate paths to at least a first plurality of network components implementing the first one of the candidate paths to cause the traffic for the first service to be routed between the two endpoints according to the first one of the candidate paths.

8. A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
determining respective component performance parameters for network components of a communication network based on a weighting profile for a first service of a plurality of different services for which traffic is to be routed in the communication network, the respective component performance parameters characterizing the performance of the network components for routing traffic for the first service relative to the performance of the network components for routing traffic for others of the plurality of different services;
determining, based on the component performance parameters, respective path performance parameters for a plurality of candidate paths between two endpoints in the communication network; and
selecting, based on the path performance parameters, a first one of the candidate paths to route traffic for the first service between the two endpoints.

9. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the component performance parameters includes:
determining a set of mapped performance parameters from a set of performance measurements associated with a first one of the network components;
weighting the set of mapped performance parameters based on the weighting profile to determine a weighted set of mapped performance parameters associated with the first service; and
combining the weighted set of mapped performance parameters to determine a first one of the component performance parameters for the first one of the network components.

10. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein determining the set of mapped performance parameters includes:
performing a first mapping to map a first one of the set of performance measurements to a first one of the set of mapped performance parameters; and
performing a second mapping, different from the first mapping, to map a second one of the set of performance measurements to a second one of the set of mapped performance parameters.

11. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein determining the path performance parameters includes:
combining a first plurality of component performance parameters for a first plurality of network components included in a first one of the candidate paths to determine a first one of the path performance parameters for the first one of the candidate paths; and
combining a second plurality of component performance parameters for a second plurality of network components included in a second one of the candidate paths to determine a second one of the path performance parameters for the second one of the candidate paths.

12. The tangible machine readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the operations further include querying a graphical database storing topology information for the communication network to obtain performance measurements for the network components and to identify

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Wohlert Randolph

Classifications

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04L45/302 Primary

  Route determination based on requested QoS · CPC title