IP Library Granted Patent US 12,212,400
Granted Patent B2
US 12,212,400 · App. 17/823,231 · Granted Jan 28, 2025

Method and system for hybrid software defined networking in a terrestrial plus mobile network node network

Inventor: Rob Torres (New Market, MD)
Assignee: Hughes Network Systems, LLC
H04B7/18513H04W40/02H04W80/045
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,212,400
App. No.
17/823,231
Granted
Jan 28, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method and system for simplifying interactions of a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller including: receiving a network program to traverse a mobile node network including mobile nodes and ground nodes, wherein the ground nodes include an ingress node and an egress node; forecasting links, based on a temporal line-of-sight topology, of the mobile node network between the mobile nodes and the ground nodes; determining network program subfunctions that reflect an availability of the links for a time period; selecting, for the time period, a viable path including one or more of the network program subfunctions to traverse from the ingress node to the egress node; and communicating network traffic from the ingress node to the egress node using the viable path during the time period, wherein a portion of the viable path traverses one or more of the mobile nodes and the mobile nodes move along deterministic paths.

Claims (33)

1. A method for simplifying interactions of a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller, the method comprising:

receiving a network program to traverse a mobile node network comprising mobile nodes and ground nodes, wherein the ground nodes comprise an ingress node and an egress node;

forecasting links, based on a temporal line-of-sight topology, of the mobile node network between one or more of the mobile nodes and one or more of the ground nodes;

determining network program subfunctions that reflect an availability of the links for a time period;

selecting, for the time period, a viable path comprising one or more of the network program subfunctions to traverse from the ingress node to the egress node; and

communicating network traffic from the ingress node to the egress node using the viable path during the time period,

wherein a portion of the viable path traverses one or more of the mobile nodes and the mobile nodes move along deterministic paths.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile nodes move along orbital paths.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising translating, at the ingress node, a standard network protocol header of the network traffic to a mobile node network header, and translating, at the egress node, the mobile node network header of the network traffic to the standard network protocol header.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temporal line-of-sight topology is based on ephemeris data of the mobile nodes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temporal line-of-sight topology is based on a ground beam coverage of one or more of the mobile nodes and availability of the links between the mobile nodes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the network program subfunctions comprises a Segment ID (SID).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting replaces a portion of the network program with the viable path when a timestamp is outside the time period.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting inserts the viable path into the network program.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting selects the one or more of the network program subfunctions based on criteria selected from one or more of Priority, Traffic Engineering, Topology and State of the mobile node network.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising anchoring, at one of the ground nodes, flows traversing through the mobile node network.

11. A boundary node to simplify interactions of a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller, the boundary node comprising:

a navigator

to receive a network program to traverse a mobile node network comprising mobile nodes and ground nodes, wherein the ground nodes comprise an ingress node and an egress node,

to forecast links, based on a temporal line-of-sight topology, of the mobile node network between one or more of the mobile nodes and one or more of the ground nodes,

to determine network program subfunctions that reflect an availability of the links for a time period, and

to select, for the time period, a viable path comprising one or more of the network program subfunctions to traverse from the ingress node to the egress node; and

a network interface to communicate network traffic from the ingress node to the egress node using the viable path during the time period,

wherein a portion of the viable path traverses one or more of the mobile nodes and the mobile nodes move along deterministic paths.

12. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the mobile nodes move along orbital paths.

13. The boundary node of claim 11 , further comprising a translator to translate, at the ingress node, a standard network protocol header of the network traffic to a mobile node network header, and to translate, at the egress node, the mobile node network header of the network traffic to the standard network protocol header.

14. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the temporal line-of-sight topology is based on ephemeris data of the mobile nodes.

15. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the temporal line-of-sight topology is based on a ground beam coverage of one or more of the mobile nodes and availability of the links between the mobile nodes.

16. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein one or more of the network program subfunctions comprises a Segment ID (SID).

17. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the navigator replaces a portion of the network program with the viable path when a timestamp is outside the time period.

18. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the navigator inserts the viable path into the network program.

19. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the navigator selects the one or more of the network program subfunctions based on criteria selected from one or more of Priority, Traffic Engineering, Topology and State of the mobile node network.

20. The boundary node of claim 11 , wherein the navigator anchors, at one of the ground nodes, flows traversing through the mobile node network.

Assignments (2)
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 20, 2025
From: HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS, LLC,
To: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 071166/0167 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 30, 2022
From: TORRES, ROB
To: HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS, LLC
Reel/Frame 060943/0963 →