Patent
Peer-to-peer based feature network
| العنوان: | Peer-to-peer based feature network |
|---|---|
| Patent Number: | 8,326,929 |
| تاريخ النشر: | December 04, 2012 |
| Appl. No: | 12/649690 |
| Application Filed: | December 30, 2009 |
| مستخلص: | A device receives, from feature peers associated with a network, information associated with the feature peers, receives a customer packet, and determines, based on the feature peer information, which of the feature peers support a feature associated with the customer packet. The device also selects, from the determined feature peers, a set of feature peers for the customer packet to traverse, attaches a feature header to the customer packet to create a modified customer packet, and forwards, based on the feature header, the modified customer packet to one of the feature peers in the selected set of feature peers. |
| Inventors: | McDysan, David E. (Great Falls, VA, US); Leiden, Stevan H. (Norwood, MA, US); Pasko, Douglas M. (Bridgewater, NJ, US); Rathke, John E. (Southborough, MA, US) |
| Assignees: | Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc. (Basking Ridge, NJ, US) |
| Claim: | 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device and from a server, topology mapping information associated with feature peers that are associated with a network; communicating, by the computing device, with the feature peers to obtain feature peer information associated with the feature peers, the feature peer information including load balancing information associated with the feature peers, communicating with the feature peers including communicating with the feature peers using a table that identifies the feature peers; receiving, by the computing device, a customer packet; determining, by the computing device, particular feature peers, of the feature peers, that support a feature associated with the customer packet, the particular feature peers being determined based on the topology mapping information and the load balancing information; selecting, by the computing device and from the determined particular feature peers, information identifying a set of feature peers for the customer packet to traverse; adding, by the computing device, a feature header to the customer packet to create a modified customer packet, the feature header being based on the feature peer information, the feature header including the information identifying the set of feature peers; and forwarding, by the computing device and based on the information identifying the set of feature peers included in the feature header, the modified customer packet to a feature peer in the set of feature peers, the modified customer packet being provided to each feature peer in the set of feature peers, based on the information identifying the set of feature peers included in the feature header. |
| Claim: | 2. The method of claim 1 , where a last feature peer, in the set of feature peers, provides the customer packet to an access router associated with the network, and where the access router forwards the customer packet to a destination address provided in the network. |
| Claim: | 3. The method of claim 1 , where communicating with the feature peers further includes: receiving, from a network management system (NMS), feature software, a feature net representation, and subscriber information, where the feature net representation includes a representation of the set of feature peers that the customer packet is to traverse; where the table corresponds to a distributed hash table (DHT), and where the determined particular feature peers are determined based on the DHT. |
| Claim: | 4. The method of claim 1 , where communicating with the feature peers further includes: communicating with the feature peers based on a key that includes feature peer identification information and subscriber identification information, where one or more feature peers, of the determined particular feature peers, provide at least one of a service or a feature associated with the feature that is associated with the customer packet, and where the at least one of the service or the feature includes a content-related service or an accounting-related service. |
| Claim: | 5. The method of claim 1 , where selecting, from the determined particular feature peers, the set of feature peers includes: ranking the determined particular feature peers based on the feature peer information; and selecting the information identifying the set of feature peers, for the customer packet to traverse, based on the ranking of the determined particular feature peers. |
| Claim: | 6. The method of claim 1 , where the feature header includes a feature net identification, where the feature net identification includes the information identifying the set of feature peers. |
| Claim: | 7. The method of claim 1 , where the feature associated with the customer packet includes one or more of: content-related services provided by the computing device and the set of feature peers, security-related services provided by the computing device and the set of feature peers, quality of service (QoS)-related services provided by the computing device and the set of feature peers, accounting-related services provided by the computing device and the set of feature peers, or administrative-related services provided by the computing device and the set of feature peers. |
| Claim: | 8. The method of claim 1 , where the computing device and the set of feature peers are associated with a path for routing the customer packet. |
| Claim: | 9. The method of claim 1 , where one feature peer, in the set of feature peers, forwards the customer packet to a destination address provided in the network, where the one feature peer corresponds to a last feature peer, in the set of feature peers, based on information identifying a path associated with the set of feature peers for the customer packet to traverse. |
| Claim: | 10. The method of claim 1 , where one feature peer, in the set of feature peers, forwards the customer packet to a destination address associated with the customer packet, where the one feature peer includes a device that provides a service, and where the service includes a content-related service, a security-related service, or an accounting-related service. |
| Claim: | 11. The method of claim 1 , where the feature peer information includes one or more of: identification information associated with the feature peers, load information associated with the feature peers, path information associated with the feature peers, or subscriber information. |
| Claim: | 12. The method of claim 1 , where one feature peer, in the set of feature peers, drops the customer packet before the customer packet reaches a destination address provided in the network. |
| Claim: | 13. A device, comprising: a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and a processor to execute the plurality of instructions in the memory to: communicate with a plurality of devices, associated with a network, to obtain information associated with the plurality of devices, when communicating with the plurality of devices, the device is to communicate using a table that identifies the plurality of devices, the information, associated with the plurality of devices, including: information identifying one or more services provided by each of the plurality of devices, and load information associated with the plurality of devices, receive topology mapping information associated with the plurality of devices, receive a packet from a user device, determine, based on the information associated with the plurality of devices and the topology mapping information, devices, of the plurality of devices, that support a feature associated with the packet, select information identifying one or more devices, of the determined devices, for the packet to traverse, attach a feature header to the packet to create a modified packet, the feature header being based on the information associated with the plurality of devices, the feature header including the information identifying the one or more devices and information associated with the feature associated with the packet, and forward, based on the information identifying the one or more devices included in the feature header, the modified packet to a particular device of the one or more devices, the modified packet being provided to each device of the one or more devices, based on the information identifying the one or more devices included in the feature header. |
| Claim: | 14. The device of claim 13 , where the feature header further includes information identifying processing options associated with the one or more devices, where the modified customer packet is provided to the one or more devices, and where the one or more devices process the packet based on one or more of the processing options. |
| Claim: | 15. The device of claim 13 , where the processor is further to execute instructions to: receive, from a network management system (NMS), feature software, a feature net representation, and subscriber information, where the table corresponds to a distributed hash table (DHT). |
| Claim: | 16. The device of claim 13 , where the processor is further to execute instructions to: communicate with the one or more devices, based on a key that includes the information identifying the one or more devices and subscriber identification information, and where the subscriber identification information includes information associated with one or more users that subscribe to a plurality of services provided by the network. |
| Claim: | 17. The device of claim 13 , where the processor is further to execute instructions to: rank the determined devices based on the load information associated with the plurality of devices, and select the one or more devices, for the packet to traverse, from the determined devices, based on the ranking of the determined devices. |
| Claim: | 18. The device of claim 13 , where the feature header further includes: information identifying an access router associated with the network, information identifying the determined devices, and information associated with one or more users that subscribe to a plurality of services provided by the network, and where a device, of the one or more devices, provides the packet to the access router for transmission toward a destination address of the packet. |
| Claim: | 19. The device of claim 13 , where the device and the one or more devices define a path for routing the packet. |
| Claim: | 20. The device of claim 13 , where the particular device is to one of: forward the packet to a destination address, associated with the packet, provided in the network, or drop the packet before the packet reaches the destination address. |
| Claim: | 21. The device of claim 13 , where the information, associated with the plurality of devices, further includes one or more of: path information associated with each of the plurality of devices, or subscriber information. |
| Claim: | 22. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising: a plurality of instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to: communicate with other devices, associated with a network, to obtain information associated with the other devices, the device communicating with the other devices by using a table that identifies the other devices; the information, associated with the other devices, including: information identifying a plurality of services provided by the other devices, and load information associated with the other devices; receive, from a server, topology mapping information associated with the other devices; receive a packet; determine, based on the information associated with the other devices and the topology mapping information associated with the other devices, one or more devices, of the other devices, that support a feature associated with the packet; select information identifying a set of devices, of the determined one or more devices, for the packet to traverse; add, based on the set of devices, a header to the packet to create a modified packet, the header being based on the information associated with the other devices, the header including the information identifying the set of devices; and forward, based on the header, the modified packet to a particular device in the set of devices, the modified packet being provided to each device, in the set of devices, based on the information identifying the set of devices included in the header. |
| Claim: | 23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 , where one or more instructions, of the plurality of instructions, to select the information identifying the set of devices include one or more instructions to: rank the determined one or more devices based on the load information associated with the other devices, and select the information identifying the set of devices based on the ranking of the determined one or more devices. |
| Claim: | 24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22 , where the particular device is to one of: forward the packet to a destination address, associated with the packet, provided in the network, or drop the packet before the packet reaches the destination address. |
| Current U.S. Class: | 709/204 |
| Patent References Cited: | 2004/0030620 February 2004 Benjamin et al. 2004/0128343 July 2004 Mayer 2008/0177896 July 2008 Quinn et al. 2008/0198849 August 2008 Guichard et al. 2008/0205291 August 2008 Li et al. 2008/0320303 December 2008 Khalid et al. 2009/0037713 February 2009 Khalid et al. 2010/0274859 October 2010 Bucuk |
| Primary Examiner: | Mirza, Adnan |
| رقم الانضمام: | edspgr.08326929 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | USPTO Patent Grants |
| الوصف غير متاح. |