Granted Patent B2

US 8,837,287 · App. 12/423,600 · Granted Sep 16, 2014

Abstract

Claims (53)

1. A system for managing transmission of content over a telecommunications network, the system comprising:

a communication interface that receives a plurality of packets transmitted from a content server to a device of a subscriber, the plurality of packets belonging to a new flow;

a deep packet inspection (DPI) device configured to:

perform DPI to identify an application associated with the new flow,

determine an amount of bandwidth required for the application,

determine a current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, the current amount of bandwidth based on flows of the subscriber other than the new flow, and

when a total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, equal to a sum of the amount of bandwidth required for the application and the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, exceeds an amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber, perform a traffic management action on packets belonging to the new flow, such that the total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber does not exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber is determined based solely on flows of the subscriber that also correspond to the identified application, and

the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber indicates bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber for flows of the identified application.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a data storage module configured to maintain a record for the subscriber, the record indicating the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber and the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a data storage module configured to maintain information regarding a plurality of applications and, for each respective application, a value indicating an estimated amount of bandwidth required for each flow of the respective application, wherein:

to determine the amount of bandwidth required for the application, the DPI device is further configured to query the data storage module to retrieve the estimated amount of bandwidth required.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein, to determine the amount of bandwidth required for the application, the DPI device is further configured to:

extract the amount of bandwidth required for the application from at least one signaling packet used to establish or maintain the new flow between the content server and the device of the subscriber.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein, to determine the amount of bandwidth required for the application, the DPI device is further configured to:

monitor packets belonging to the new flow during a first time interval to determine a first flow throughput, and

calculate the amount of bandwidth required for the application as a function of the first flow throughput during the first time interval.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the DPI device is further configured to:

update the amount of bandwidth required for the application by:

monitoring packets belonging to the new flow during a second time interval after the first time interval to determine a second flow throughput, and

calculating an updated amount of bandwidth required for the application as a function of the second flow throughput during the second time interval, and

when a sum of the updated amount of bandwidth required for the application and the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber exceeds an amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber, perform a traffic management action on packets belonging to the new flow, such that the total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber does not exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of queues, each queue associated with a predetermined Quality of Service (QoS), wherein:

prior to identification of the amount of bandwidth required for the application, all packets associated with the new flow are placed in a queue of the plurality of queues with a lowest QoS.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the DPI device is further configured to:

prior to identification of the amount of bandwidth required for the application, temporarily increase the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the traffic management action comprises at least one of dropping all packets belonging to the new flow, terminating the new flow between the content server and the device of the subscriber, preempting another flow to guarantee bandwidth for the application, and policing an amount of bandwidth granted to the new flow.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the traffic management action comprises notifying the subscriber that establishment of the new flow would exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber and providing the subscriber an offer to purchase an additional amount of bandwidth sufficient to service the new flow.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the offer to purchase the additional amount of bandwidth sufficient to service the new flow includes an amount of required credits, the amount of required credits calculated based on a predetermined ratio between credits and bandwidth.

13. A method for managing transmission of content over a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

receiving, in a network node, a plurality of packets transmitted from a content server to a device of a subscriber, the plurality of packets belonging to a new flow;

performing deep packet inspection (DPI) to identify an application associated with the new flow;

determining an amount of bandwidth required for the application;

determining a current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, the current amount of bandwidth based on flows of the subscriber other than the new flow; and

when a total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, equal to a sum of the amount of bandwidth required for the application and the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber, exceeds an amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber, performing a traffic management action on packets belonging to the new flow, such that the total amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber does not exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:

the current amount of bandwidth used by the subscriber is determined based solely on flows of the subscriber that also correspond to the identified application, and

the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber indicates bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber for flows of the identified application.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the amount of bandwidth required for the application comprises:

querying a data storage module to retrieve an estimated amount of bandwidth required for flows of the application.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of determining the amount of bandwidth required for the application comprises:

monitoring packets belonging to the new flow during a first time interval to determine a first flow throughput, and

calculating the amount of bandwidth required for the application as a function of the first flow throughput during the first time interval.

17. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

prior to identification of the amount of bandwidth required for the application, placing all packets associated with the new flow in a queue in the network node with a lowest Quality of Service (QoS).

18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

prior to identification of the amount of bandwidth required for the application, temporarily increase the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the traffic management action comprises at least one of dropping all packets belonging to the new flow, terminating the new flow between the content server and the device of the subscriber, preempting another flow to guarantee bandwidth for the application, and policing an amount of bandwidth granted to the new flow.

20. The method of claim 13 , wherein the traffic management action comprises notifying the subscriber that establishment of the new flow would exceed the amount of bandwidth guaranteed to the subscriber and providing the subscriber an offer to purchase an additional amount of bandwidth sufficient to service the new flow.

Assignments (10)