Ordered-element naming for name-based packet forwarding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9978025-B2
Application number	US-201313847814-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2013
Priority date	Mar 20, 2013
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

A name-based content-forwarding system generates an ordered-element name for a content item, and can process an interest to identify and perform an action that satisfies the interest. To generate the ordered-element name, the system generates one or more fixed-length elements for a content item, such that each fixed-length element of the ordered-element name is mapped to the content item or to a context associated with the content item. The system then generates the ordered-element name to include the one or more fixed-length elements so that the name elements are ordered from a highest matching priority to a lowest matching priority. The system can also generate a packet that includes the ordered-element name for the content item, and sends the packet to a target location that corresponds to the ordered-element name.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
obtaining, by a computing device of a content-centric network, name-generating information associated with a content item or a context of the content item;
generating, by the computing device for the content item, two or more fixed-length elements that each is mapped to the content item or to a context associated with the content item, wherein generating a respective fixed-length element involves:
selecting at least a subset of the name-generating information; and
generating the respective fixed-length element based on the selected subset of the name-generating information;

determining an ordering for the two or more fixed-length elements from a highest-matching priority to a lowest-matching priority;
generating an ordered-element name that includes the two or more ordered fixed-length elements in the determined ordering;
generating a packet that includes the ordered-element name for the content item;
determining a target interface for the packet, which involves performing an exact-match lookup in a lookup table based on any fixed-length element of the ordered-element name, and selecting an interface associated with a matching fixed-length element with a highest-matching priority; and
sending the packet to a local application or to a network neighbor via the target interface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ordering involves:
determining a matching priority for a respective fixed-length element, wherein a matching priority for a respective fixed-length element is based on the corresponding name-generating information; and
determining the ordering, for the one or more fixed-length elements, from a highest matching priority to a lowest matching priority.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the name-generating information includes one or more of:
an ordered-element name associated with the content item;
hierarchically structured variable-length identifier (HSVLI) associated with the content item;
a filename associated with the content item;
structured information for the content item;
a universal resource identifier (URI) for the content item;
domain name system (DNS) information associated with the content item;
a timestamp associated with the content item;
a location associated with the content item;
an entity associated with the content item;
a portion of the content item;
data included in the content item;
information related to a content producer;
information related to a content creator;
information related to a content publisher;
information related to a content owner;
information related to a content requester;
information related to a content-consuming device;
information related to a user;
information related to a local physical environment;
information related to a runtime environment;
a keyword associated with content of the content item;
a keyword for a category associated with the content item;
a keyword for an organization associated with the content item;
a randomly generated number; and
information obtained from a user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the respective fixed-length element involves one or more of:
deriving a fixed-length element using a predetermined function that takes as input the name-generating information for the content item;
deriving a fixed-length element using a predetermined function that takes as input the content item;
determining a fixed-length element based on other fixed-length elements;
determining a fixed-length element from other ordered-element names;
determining a fixed-length element from previous network events;
determining a fixed-length element by querying the network using the name-generating information as input;
computing a hash using the name-generating information for the content item as input; and
computing a hash using the content item as input.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ordered-element name further includes one or more of:
a content type;
content author information;
name-generator information;
a termination flag for a corresponding fixed-length element, which indicates that an exact-match lookup for the corresponding fixed-length element satisfies an exact-match lookup for the content item;
a non-terminal flag for a corresponding fixed-length element, which indicates that an exact-match lookup for the corresponding fixed-length element identifies routing information for the content item, but does not satisfy an exact-match lookup for the content item;
an exclude flag for a corresponding fixed-length element, which indicates that the ordered-element name does not satisfy a match when an exact-match is identified for the corresponding fixed-length element;
network status information;
an error code;
an application-defined data field;
time information;
security information;
version information;
format information;
a parameter for performing an exact-match lookup operation; and
a name-generating information item, which was used to generate the ordered-element name.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the respective fixed-length element involves computing a fixed-length address from one or more elements included in an identifier, a filename, or metadata of the content item.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
generating, by a computing device of a content-centric network, an ordered-element name for a content item, wherein the ordered-element name includes two or more fixed-length elements ordered from a highest priority to a lowest priority, wherein a respective fixed-length element is mapped to the content item or to a context associated with the content item, and wherein generating the respective fixed-length element involves:
selecting at least a subset of the name-generating information; and
generating the respective fixed-length element based on the selected subset of the name-generating information;

generating a packet that includes the ordered-element name for the content item, wherein the ordered-element name facilitates forwarding the packet based on an exact-match lookup on one or more of the fixed-length elements;
determining a packet type for the packet;
determining a target location for the packet, which involves performing an exact-match lookup in a lookup table based on any fixed-length element of the ordered-element name, and selecting a location associated with a matching fixed-length element with a highest-matching priority;
sending the packet to the determined target location.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the target location includes one or more of:
a data repository within the local computing device;
an application executed by the local computing device;
a remote computing device; and
an application executed by the remote computing device.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the packet type includes at least one of:
a data packet;
an interest packet; and
a control packet.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
maintaining a first data repository, which maps a fixed-length element to an interest packet and/or to one or more remote devices, to determine when a corresponding packet needs to be sent to a remote device; and
maintaining a second repository, which maps a respective packet to one or more remote devices, to keep track of when a packet has been sent to a remote device.

11. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining network-address information for the computing device; and
generating the packet to include the network-address information.

12. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving, by a computing de

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Solis Ignacio

Classifications

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• H04L45/7457

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/327

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L45/74591

  using content-addressable memories [CAM] · CPC title

• H04L67/63

  Routing a service request depending on the request content or context · CPC title