Enhancing performance of multi-path communications
Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for enhancing performance of multi-path communications. Multi-path communication performance may be enhanced by determining whether multipath communications share a congested router. A multi-path real-time communication protocol may provide techniques to prevent, detect, communicate and respond to a shared congested router. A shared congested router may be prevented, and/or detected using one or more detection techniques.
1. A controller for a multi-path mobile communication flow, the controller comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive Internet Protocol (IP) flow association information, wherein the IP flow association information indicates a first sub-flow and a second sub-flow of the multi-path mobile communication flow between a sender and a receiver;
determine a first routing path for the first sub-flow and a second routing path for the second sub-flow between an ingress router and at least one egress router within a domain such that the first and second routing paths traverse a set of routers in the domain without sharing a router;
generate routing information based on the first and second routing paths in the domain; and
send the routing information to at least one router upstream from the set of routers in the domain.
2. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the IP flow association includes at least one of a source IP address, a source port number, a destination IP address, a destination port number, and a protocol number.
3. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the first sub-flow is associated with a first Radio Access Technology (RAT) of the multi-path mobile communication flow, and the second sub-flow is associated with a second RAT of the multi-path mobile communication flow.
4. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the routing information comprises a routing table.
5. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the routing information comprises a first bit string and a second bit string, and wherein the first bit string specifies the first routing path for the first sub-flow and the second bit string specifies the second routing path for the second sub-flow.
6. The controller of claim 5 , wherein the first bit string comprises a Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) bit string, and the second bit string comprises a BIER bit string.
7. The controller of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to:
encapsulate the first bit string and the second bit string in respective BIER headers; and
send the encapsulated first and second bit strings to at least one router upstream from the set of routers.
8. The controller of claim 5 , wherein each bit of each of the first bit string and the second bit string corresponds to a specific router in the domain.
9. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the at least one router upstream from the set of routers is an ingress router for the domain.
10. The controller of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the first sub-flow and the second sub-flow share a router; and
wherein the processor is configured to determine, in response to the determination that the first sub-flow and the second sub-flow share a router, the first routing path and the second routing path such that the first and second routing paths traverse the set of routers in the domain without sharing a router.
11. A method performed by a controller for a multi-path mobile communication flow, the method comprising:
receiving Internet Protocol (IP) flow association information, wherein the IP flow association information indicates a first sub-flow and a second sub-flow of the multi-path mobile communication flow between a sender and a receiver;
determining a first routing path for the first sub-flow and a second routing path for the second sub-flow between an ingress router and at least one egress router within a domain such that the first and second routing paths traverse a set of routers in the domain without sharing a router;
generating routing information based on the first and second routing paths in the domain; and
sending the routing information to at least one router upstream from the set of routers in the domain.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the IP flow association includes at least one of a source IP address, a source port number, a destination IP address, a destination port number, and a protocol number.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first sub-flow is associated with a first Radio Access Technology (RAT) of the multi-path mobile communication flow, and the second sub-flow is associated with a second RAT of the multi-path mobile communication flow.
14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the routing information comprises a routing table.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the routing information comprises a first bit string and a second bit string, and wherein the first bit string specifies the first routing path for the first sub-flow and the second bit string specifies the second routing path for the second sub-flow.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first bit string comprises a Bit Index Explicit Replication (BIER) bit string, and the second bit string comprises a BIER bit string.
17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
encapsulating the first bit string and the second bit string in respective BIER headers; and
sending the encapsulated first and second bit strings to at least one router upstream from the set of routers.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein each bit of each of the first bit string and the second bit string corresponds to a specific router in the domain.
19. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one router upstream from the set of routers is an ingress router for the domain.
20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining that the first sub-flow and the second sub-flow share a router; and
determining, in response to the determination that the first sub-flow and the second sub-flow share a router, the first routing path and the second routing path such that the first and second routing paths traverse the set of routers in the domain without sharing a router.