Network traffic management
View Patent ↗One aspect of the specification is the use of a virtual entity to represent the bandwidth bottleneck point in a network. Areas of the network where bandwidth does not need to be managed can be modeled as zones. This model enables more flexibility as the virtual bottleneck point can represent a collection of components (e.g. routers), or a portion of a real component (e.g. a router could be represented by multiple virtual bottleneck points with different purposes.) This model can also allow a user to decide which points in their network should be managed, independent of the underlying data network infrastructure. These virtual entities can be placed between areas of the network, and configured with specific policies. Bandwidth usage across these virtual entities can be tracked and compared to the configured bandwidth limit available to the application at each bottleneck point. When the bandwidth available at the bottleneck point is fully utilized, additional calls can be blocked or rerouted. Policies can be applied to permit certain calls to proceed despite the fact that bandwidth is fully utilized, or to block certain calls when bandwidth usage is approaching the maximum level. Bandwidth management can be distributed or centralized with information shared throughout a distributed network.
1. A bandwidth manager comprising:
a computing environment that includes a central processing unit, volatile storage, non-volatile storage, a network interface, interconnected by a bus;
said computing environment being configured to an operating system;
said computing environment being configured to maintain data representative of a network;
said network having a plurality of zones wherein each zone includes at least one communication device, said network having at least one virtual zone transit point interconnecting each of said zones wherein each virtual zone transit point comprises a virtual entity modeling a network bottleneck point at which bandwidth usage is to be managed and that is outside of each of said zones and is independent of configuration of said network;
said data representative of said network comprising an identification of each of said zones and each of said zone transit points and a bandwidth capacity of each of said zone transit points wherein said bandwidth capacity is tracked by measuring an amount of bandwidth utilized at each of said zone transit points by counting a number of telephone calls being carried through each of said zone transit points; and
said computing environment being configured with admission control logic for determining whether to permit a communication between said devices within said network on the basis of said data,
wherein if connection details change during a call, the bandwidth usage is tracked by counting a call multiple for each change in bandwidth for the call connection.
2. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein said communication is one of a telephone call, a streaming video application, a streaming audio application, an instant messaging application, and a facsimile transmission.
3. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein said devices are within different ones of said zones and said communication is permitted if said transit points that are respective to said different ones of said zones has capacity.
4. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein at least one zone includes at least two devices and said communication between said devices is always permitted.
5. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein said admission control logic is configured to permit said communication if a predefined level of bandwidth is available at zone transit points identified for carrying said communication.
6. The bandwidth manager of claim 5 wherein said predefined level of bandwidth is configurable according to historical quality of service statistics gathered from previous communications.
7. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein said computing environment is configured to reflect that bandwidth is consumed at the time a call is completed between said devices.
8. The bandwidth manager of claim 1 wherein each of said devices of each zone are configured to maintain a zone identifier that is based on an Internet protocol address of each said device and a subnet of each said device.