IP Library Granted Patent US 7,773,519
Granted Patent B2
US 7,773,519 · App. 11/972,055 · Granted Aug 10, 2010

Method and system to manage network traffic congestion

Assignee: Nuova Systems, Inc.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,773,519
App. No.
11/972,055
Granted
Aug 10, 2010
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method and system to manage network congestion are provided. In one example embodiment, the system comprises a congestion point queue, a monitor to sample a state of the congestion point queue, a consolidated parameter generator to generate a consolidated feedback parameter, and a feedback message generator to generate a feedback message, utilizing the consolidated feedback parameter. The congestion point queue may be configured to queue messages from a reaction point to a congestion point. The state of the congestion point queue may be reflected by an equilibrium queue level, a queue offset, and a rate of change of a size of the congestion point queue. The equilibrium queue level may represent a particular predetermined size of the congestion point queue. The queue offset may represent a deviation from the equilibrium queue level. The consolidated feedback parameter may be generated to reflect the queue offset and the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue.

Claims (55)

1. A system to manage network traffic congestion, the system comprising:

a congestion point queue, the congestion point queue being to queue messages from a reaction point to a congestion point;

a monitor to sample a state of the congestion point queue, the state of the congestion point queue reflected by:

an equilibrium queue level, the equilibrium queue level to represent a particular size of the congestion point queue,

a queue offset, the queue offset to represent a deviation from the equilibrium queue level, and

a rate of change of a size of the congestion point queue;

a consolidated parameter generator to generate a consolidated feedback parameter, the consolidated feedback parameter to reflect the queue offset and the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue; and

a feedback message generator to generate a feedback message, utilizing the consolidated feedback parameter.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the consolidated feedback parameter is a quantized consolidated feedback parameter.

3. The system of claim 2 , comprising a quantizer to generate a set of discrete feedback parameter values, wherein:

the feedback message generator is configured to determine a value from the set of discrete feedback parameter values that is nearest to the consolidated feedback parameter; and

the feedback message generator is configured to include in the feedback message the value from the set of discrete feedback parameter values that is nearest to the consolidated feedback parameter.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the set of discrete feedback parameter values are non-uniformly distributed.

5. The system of claim 2 , comprising a quantizer to generate a set of feedback parameter ranges, wherein:

the feedback message generator is configured to determine a feedback parameter range from the set of feedback parameter ranges for the consolidated feedback parameter; and

the feedback message generator is configured to include in the feedback message a value indicative of the determined feedback parameter range.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein consolidated parameter generator is configured to generate the consolidated feedback parameter utilizing the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue, the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue being weighted in accordance with a selected weight parameter.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback message generator is configured to:

determine that the consolidated feedback parameter is indicative of a rate increase; and

suppress generating of the feedback message.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the feedback message generator is configured to:

determine that the consolidated feedback parameter is indicative of a rate increase; and

suppress communicating of the feedback message.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the congestion point is associated with a network switch.

10. The system of claim 1 , comprising a communications module to communicate the feedback message to the reaction point.

11. A method to manage network traffic congestion, the method comprising:

queuing messages from a reaction point to a congestion point in a congestion point queue;

sampling a state of the congestion point queue, the state of the congestion point queue reflected by:

an equilibrium queue level, the equilibrium queue level to represent a particular size of the congestion point queue,

a queue offset, the queue offset to represent a deviation from the equilibrium queue level, and

a rate of change of a size of the congestion point queue;

generating a consolidated feedback parameter, the consolidated feedback parameter to reflect the queue offset and the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue;

generating a feedback message, utilizing the consolidated feedback parameter; and

communicating the feedback message to the reaction point.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising quantizing the consolidated feedback parameter to provide a quantized consolidated feedback parameter.

13. The method of claim 12 , comprising:

generating a set of discrete feedback parameter values;

determining a value from the set of discrete feedback parameter values that is nearest to the consolidated feedback parameter; and

including in the feedback message the value from the set of discrete feedback parameter values that is nearest to the consolidated feedback parameter.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein generating of the set of discrete feedback parameter values comprises generating the set of discrete feedback parameter values that are non-uniformly distributed.

15. The method of claim 12 , comprising:

generating a set of feedback parameter ranges;

determining a feedback parameter range from the set of feedback parameter ranges for the consolidated feedback parameter; and

including in the feedback message a value indicative of the determined feedback parameter range.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating of the consolidated feedback parameter comprises applying a weight function to the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue.

17. The method of claim 11 , comprising:

determining that the consolidated feedback parameter is indicative of a rate increase; and

suppressing communicating of the feedback message.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the congestion point is associated with a network switch.

19. The method of claim 11 , comprising communicating the feedback message to the reaction point.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sets of instructions which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

queue messages from a reaction point to a congestion point in a congestion point queue;

sample a state of the congestion point queue, the state of the congestion point queue reflected by an equilibrium queue level, the equilibrium queue level to represent a particular size of the congestion point queue, a queue offset, the queue offset to represent a deviation from the equilibrium queue level, and a rate of change of a size of the congestion point queue;

generate a consolidated feedback parameter, the consolidated feedback parameter to reflect the queue offset and the rate of change of the size of the congestion point queue; and

generate a feedback message, utilizing the consolidated feedback parameter.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Nov 15, 2011
From: NUOVA SYSTEMS, INC.
To: CISCO TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Reel/Frame 027230/0020 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 31, 2008
From: PRABHAKAR, BALAJI; NEWMAN, PETER
To: NUOVA SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 020731/0524 →
Continuity (1)
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