Efficient host management protocol on multicast capable router

Efficient host management protocol in multicast routers

EFFICIENT HOST MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL ON MULTICAST CAPABLE ROUTER

The embodiments of the present invention relate to a system for managing multicast communication. Specifically, the embodiments of the present invention relate to host requests for efficiently managing source data on a multicast network.

The use of multicast protocols and the administration of networks implementing multicast protocols are being expanded to support new technologies such as Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and video on demand. These networks utilize video converters (STBs), also known as host computers, and the STBs request data from a source list designated by the STBs. The sources are data sources that can be used on a multicast network, such as IPTV channels. You can use multicast to stream these sources to any number of hosts.

The STBs send the source list of the STBs they are requesting to receive via a host management protocol (HMP) through the multicast network. HMP incorporates or utilizes Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD). These protocols then communicate the requested source list to a multicast routing protocol (MRP) to establish a route for each request source to the respective hosts. These MRPs include Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM). In some examples, the requested source watch lists are sent through an L2 snooping device to a multicast router that executes the MRP.

Each time a source watch list is received from a host, the HMP communicates the entire list of requested sources to the MRP. This causes the MRP to reprocess the sources it previously received from the HMP. There are two source lists that can be provided by the HMP to the MRP. One source list is a group of sources included (that is, the host requests these sources to be sent to) and the other source list is a group of sources excluded (that is, the host requests not to send these sources to) . Multiple hosts on each subnet send these source watch lists and the HMP constructs and aggregates a source state of each subnet, and the source state includes the watch sources of all the hosts on the subnet. When any one of these hosts sends a new source watch list, the overall aggregation status in the HMP is sent to the MRP.

In a network where there is an L2 monitoring network element between the hosts and the multicast router, the HMP on the L2 network element processes the source concern list received from the hosts to update and maintain it In the monitoring state, the entire source list is forwarded to the router, so that the MRP can update the route. On the router, a local HMP assists the MRP in processing the received source concern lists and conveys the received source concerns to the MRP.

Embodiments of the present invention include a method for reducing the calculation and/or bandwidth requirements of multicast routing by efficiently communicating required source state information. The method includes the following steps: receiving a source watch list from a host at a first network element that executes a modified host management protocol on a network, and the source watch list identifies at least one multicast source, which is from a host The route to the host is excluded or included in one of the routes to the host. The modified host management protocol identifies a difference between the source concern list and a source state maintained by the first network element, wherein the source state includes identifying at least one multicast source to exclude from a host The status or identification of at least one multicast source to provide to a host includes at least one of the statuses. The modified host management protocol communicates the difference between the source watch list and the source state (if one exists) (rather than the entire source watch list) to a multicast routing protocol to change the route to be routed to The group of multicast sources of the host.

The embodiments of the present invention include a host device that generates a source watch list based on user input and transmits the source watch list to a first network element on a network, and the source watch list identifies at least one Multicast source, which is one of the routing exclusions or inclusions from the host. The first network element communicates with the host device on the network. The first network element executes a modified host management protocol that identifies any difference between the source watch list and a source state maintained by the first network element, where the source state includes At least one of identifying at least one multicast source to exclude an exclusion state from a host device and identifying at least one multicast source to provide an inclusion state to the host device. The modified host management protocol only provides the difference between the source watch list and the source state (rather than the overall source watch list) to a multicast routing protocol to change the set of numbers to be provided to the host device. Broadcast source.

The embodiments of the present invention include a network element that reduces the calculation and/or bandwidth requirements of multicast routing by efficiently communicating the required source status information. The network element includes receiving from a host on a network A modified host management protocol component of a source watch list, wherein the source watch list identifies at least one multicast source, which is one of the route to the host excluded or included in the route to the host. The modified host management protocol component identifies any difference between the source watch list and a source state maintained by the modified host management protocol component, wherein the source state includes identifying at least one multicast source to exclude from a host An exclusion state and at least one of identifying at least one multicast source to provide to the host and an inclusion state. The modified host management protocol component communicates the difference between the source watch list and the source status to a multicast routing protocol to change the set of multicast sources to be routed to the host.

In the accompanying drawings with similar references indicating similar elements, the present invention is illustrated by way of example rather than limitation. It should be noted that different references to "a" or "an" embodiment in the present invention do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, and these references mean at least one. In addition, when describing a particular feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with an embodiment, whether it is explicitly described or not, it is considered that implementing the feature, structure, or characteristic in combination with other embodiments is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

In the following description, many specific details are presented. However, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other examples, well-known circuits, structures and technologies are not shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of this description. However, those skilled in the art should understand that the present invention can be practiced without such specific details. Under the included description, those familiar with the technology will be able to implement appropriate functions under reasonable experimentation.

The operation of the flowchart will be described with reference to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 1. However, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present invention other than the embodiment discussed with reference to FIG. 1 may perform the operations of the flowchart, and the embodiments discussed with reference to FIG. 1 may perform differently from those with reference to the flowcharts. The operations of these operations discussed.

The techniques shown in the drawings can be implemented using codes and data stored and executed on one or more electronic devices (for example, a terminal station, a network element, etc.). These electronic devices use machine-readable media (such as machine-readable storage media (for example, magnetic disks, optical discs, random access memory, read-only memory, flash memory devices, or phase change memory)) (in Store and communicate codes and data internally and/or via a network together with other electronic devices.

In addition, these electronic devices usually include components coupled to one or more other components (such as one or more storage devices, user input/output devices (eg, a keyboard, a touch screen, and/or a display)). A group of one or more processors, and network connection. The coupling between the set of processors and other components is usually through one or more buses and bridges (also called bus controllers). The storage device and the signal carrying network traffic respectively represent one or more machine-readable storage media and machine-readable communication media. Therefore, the storage device of a given electronic device usually stores code and/or data that are executed on one or more processors of the set of the electronic device. Of course, different combinations of software, firmware, and/or hardware can be used to implement one or more parts of an embodiment of the present invention.

As used herein, a network component (for example, a router, switch, bridge, etc.) is a piece of network connection equipment that includes hardware and software, and the network connection equipment communicatively interconnects other on the network Equipment (for example, other network components, end stations, etc.). Some network components are "multi-service network components", which provide multiple network connection functions (for example, routing, bridging, switching, layer 2 aggregation, session boundary control and/or user management, multicast routing, IPTV) and/or provide support for multiple application services (for example, data, voice, and video). User terminal stations (for example, servers, workstations, laptop computers, palmtop computers, mobile phones, smart phones, multimedia phones, voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) phones, portable media players, GPS units, Game systems, video converters (STB), etc.) access content/services provided on the Internet and/or content/services provided on a virtual private network (VPN) overlaying the Internet. Such content and/or services are usually provided by one or more terminal sites belonging to a service or content provider (for example, server terminal sites) or terminal sites participating in peer-to-peer services, and may include public web pages (free content , Storefronts, search services, etc.), private web pages (for example, user name/password access web pages that provide email services, etc.), corporate networks on VPN, IPTV channels or sources, etc. User terminal stations are usually (for example, through (wired or wirelessly) coupled to a client device of an access network) coupled to the edge network components, which are (for example, through coupling to other edge One or more core network elements of the network element are coupled to other end stations (for example, server end stations).

The embodiments of the present invention provide systems, networks, and methods that avoid one of the shortcomings of the prior art. The shortcomings include: copying information processing every time a host sends a message containing one of the previously received sources; when the sending source When information, two lists are generated (that is, the inclusion list and the exclusion list); due to the improper scaling of the size of the large source list; easy to be blocked by service attacks that repeatedly send larger source lists; slow processing time causes the system to fail Delays and longer "correction" times (that is, the time required to make changes between sources).

The embodiments of the present invention overcome these shortcomings by identifying the difference between the source watch list received from the host and a source state at the network element. Only the differences between the source watch list and the source state are provided to the multicast routing protocol. This provides the following advantages: more efficient processing due to avoiding the processing and transmission or sharing of copied information; by only providing the multicast routing protocol with a single smaller source of interest list for processing, the multicast routing protocol Simplified processing; scalability is achieved by only dealing with the difference between the source status and source watch list information; by ignoring redundant source watch lists, enhanced security can be achieved; due to overall network and system efficiency , And the correction time to be improved.

Figure 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a modified host management and multicast routing network. The network includes a set of sources 101, a multicast network (which includes multicast subnets 113A to 113C, a multicast router 103, an L2 network component 109 and a video converter (STB) 117 and similar components. A "group" used in a location refers to any positive integer number of items that include one item. The multicast subnets 113A to 113C connecting the components of the system can be separate networks or different aspects of the same network Or a combination thereof. The multicast subnets 113A to 113C may be a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (such as the Internet) or the like. The multicast subnets 113A to 113C It may include any combination of wired or wireless network components and terminal stations and the lines of communication between these network components and terminal stations.

The STBs 117 can be any type of host device that manages the delivery of source data to a user. An example of an STB is a console device that delivers Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) to a user. STB 117 may include console devices, game devices, desktop computers, workstations, digital video recorders (DVR), optical disc playback devices (for example, digital audio-visual disc (DVD) players), handheld devices, cellular phones, and the like Computing device. These devices execute software or include hardware components that manage user experience and generate requests for any number of data sources 101.

These STBs 117 or "hosts" generate a source list that the user is concerned about or send to a "source watch list" that is sent to a network component 109 that executes a modified host management protocol (HMP). In one embodiment, these source concern lists contain a complete set of all sources that the STB 117 requests in the form of an inclusion list or an exclusion list. In another embodiment, the source watch lists received from an STB 117 can only reflect the changes in its source watch. An inclusion list is a set of sources that the STB 117 requests to send to the STB 117. An exclusion list is a group source of the STB 117 request not to be sent to the STB 117. Each time a list is sent by the STB 117, it may be a new source list or a complete list reflecting all user input or settings received at that time. The format of the message can be in the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) or Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) format or any similar protocol used to transport host information to the multicast network components. These messages can be sent to an L2 network element 109 or a multicast router 103 on the multicast subnet 113C.

The present invention covers alternative embodiments including an embodiment where the STBs 117 communicate directly with a modified HMP 107 on a multicast router 103 or similar network element. In another embodiment, the present invention includes at least one L2 network element 109, in which a modified HMP 115 processes the source watch lists received from the STBs 117.

In this embodiment of a multicast network where there is an L2 network element 109, a modified HMP 115 on the L2 network element 109 processes each received message from each of the hosts and is based on each STB 117 The source watch list maintains a source status. The processing of the messages received from the STB 117 is discussed in more detail below with reference to FIG. 2. The modified HMP 115 identifies the difference between the received source concern list and the maintained source state. The modified HMP 115 then provides this information to a multicast routing protocol (MRP) or calls a local MRP or a local MRP by generating a message sent to the remote MRP 105 through a remote modified HMP 107 A function or method of the L2 listener 111 (for example, of an application programming interface (API)).

The message or call only conveys the difference of status or source (rather than conveying the overall source watch list) to minimize the computing resources and bandwidth required to update the multicast route. The MRP updates multicast routes from various sources 101 according to the received source watch list changes. The MRP can be any multicast routing protocol that already includes Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), sparse mode PIM, and similar MRP.

The modified HMP 115 and MRP or L2 listener 111 existing on the L2 network element 109 and the modified HMP 107 and MRP 105 existing on the multicast router 103 can be implemented in the form of instructions A software component, these instructions are executed by the line cards, control cards, network processors or similar processing components of the respective network components 109 and 103. In other embodiments, these components are implemented as firmware or hardware components.

The source status information can be tracked as an aggregation of all STBs 117 connected to a network element on a multicast subnet 113C, as separate information for each STB or similar track. Similarly, the source status information can be tracked as a set of source identifiers, source addresses, or similar information sufficient to identify a specific source in the multicast network. The source state can be implemented by individually tracking the sources excluded from each host, the sources included by each host, or by tracking any one of them completely. It is also possible to track the source status for both an individual STB 117 and multiple STBs that are aggregated. In one embodiment, the source state is tracked aggregated for a specific subnet 113C and any number of subnets can be supported in this way.

In a multicast network where there is an L2 network element 109 but the MRP 105 only exists on a single multicast router 103, the messages with the identified source differences are transferred on the multicast subnet 113B Send to a modified HMP 107 that exists on the multicast router 103. The message may be in a standard message format or a modified message format according to a standard message format of IGMP or MID handled by a modified HMP at the local end of the multicast router 103. The modified HMP 107 processes the received messages and calls (for example, through a function or method of an API). The MRP 105 provides the received source concern list changes to the MRP 105. After receiving the updated source concern list, the MRP updates its routing table to provide the requested data from the source 101 to the STBs 117 on the multicast subnet 113A.

The L2 network component 109 can be any type of network component that can execute a modified HMP and monitor or provide a modified HMP or monitor implementation in firmware or hardware or any combination thereof. The L2 network component 109 can support any number of STB 117 or hosts using any type of network connection protocol. The multicast network can include any number of L2 network elements 109, which can operate in parallel to serve the STBs 117.

The multicast router 103 is a network element that implements multicast routing through the MRP. The multicast router 103 can be any type of network connection element that can implement MRP 105 and a modified HMP 107. The multicast router 103 can support any number of STBs 117 or hosts, sources 101 or L2 network elements 109 that use any type of network connection protocol. The multicast system can include any number of multicast routers 103, which can operate in parallel to serve the STBs 117 and sources 101.

The sources 101 can be any type of data source provided by any number of terminal station servers. The data sources 101 can be streaming or static data sources. The data provided can be IPTV data or similar sources suitable for multicast. The servers that provide these services can use any multicast routing protocol to transmit the source data to the hosts on the multicast network including the multicast subnets 113A to 113C. The servers that provide the sources 101 can be any types of computing devices, and they include dedicated server machines, desktop computers, workstations, or similar computing devices.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a procedure of source watch list processing. This procedure is mainly implemented at the network component that executes the modified HMP and/or the device that implements the MRP. The program interacts with each of the components of the multicast network that has been initialized separately, and the components of the multicast network include the hosts (for example, the STBs), and straddle related networks in the multicast network. Modified HMP and MRP of circuit components. The multicast network includes L2 network components, multicast routers and related machines. The process is continuously executed and triggered by generating a source watch list at a host and receiving the source watch list at the network component running the modified HMP (block 201). The host may periodically generate the source watch list or generate the source watch list in response to an interaction between a user and the host (such as the user designating a new source to be requested).

Send the source concern list to the modified HMP implemented at an L2 network element or a multicast router. The modified HMP analyzes the source watch list to determine whether it is an inclusion list (that is, instructs the host to request one of the source watch lists sent to the host) (block 203). In other embodiments, the source concern list and source status can only be implemented as a valid inclusion list or an exclusion list. Those familiar with the technology will understand that these are a subset of the program described in this article.

If the source concern list is not an inclusion list, it is known that the list is an exclusion list (that is, a source concern list indicating each of the sources that the host does not want to receive). The modified HMP then compares the received source concern list with the excluded source status maintained by the modified HMP to determine whether there are any discrepancies (block 207). If there is no difference between the received exclusion list and the maintained exclusion status, no action is required and the program waits for the next received source concern list (block 201).

However, if the comparison of the received exclusion list and the exclusion status maintained by the modified HMP reveals a difference, the modified HMP determines whether the MRP exists on the same device as the modified HMP that performed the comparison (Block 211). If the MRP exists on the same device, the modified HMP sends the difference between the received exclusion list and the current exclusion state to the MRP via a function or method call or similar procedure (block 213) . The function or method call can be made through an application programming interface (API) or similar interface. In the procedure, the changes are provided to the MRP to complete the processing of the source watchlist (block 219) and the process waits for the next source watchlist to be received (block 201).

If the MRP does not exist on the same device as the modified HMP, the modified HMP prepares a message, which will be sent to the MRP at the multicast router or similar location (block 215). The message provides the differences between the received exclusion list and the exclusion status maintained by the modified HMP. In all cases, the modified HMP updates the maintained status to reflect the received exclusion list. The HMP message can be a standard HMP or a modified HMP message. After sending the message, the processing of the received source watch list is completed (block 219) and the program waits to receive the next source watch list (block 201).

If the received source watch list is an inclusion list (ie, identify one of the source watch lists that a host wants to receive), then the modified HMP compares the received source watch list with the maintained It contains the source state (block 205). If there is no difference between the received source concern list and the containing source state maintained by the modified HMP, then no action is taken and the program waits for the next source concern list to be received (block 201).

If the comparison reveals a difference between the received source concern list and the maintained source status, the modified HMP determines whether the MRP exists on the current network element (block 217). If the MRP exists on the current network component, the modified HMP uses a function or method call (for example, a method or function of an API) to compare the received source concern list with the maintained The difference between the state containing the source is sent to the MRP or similar organization (block 209). If the MRP does not exist on the same network component as the modified HMP, the modified HMP generates a message in a standard or modified HMP format. The HMP message is then sent to the multicast router (block 215). After the differences are provided to the MRP, the processing of the received source watch list ends (block 219). The program then waits to receive another source watch list (block 201). During the comparison of the two, the containing source status is updated to reflect the changes in the received source watch list.

Therefore, a method, system and device for host protocol management have been described. It should be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. After reading and understanding the above description, many other embodiments will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be determined with reference to the scope of the appended patent application together with the full scope of equivalents granted by the scope of the patent application.

<p>101. . . source</p><p>103. . . Multicast router</p><p>105. . . Multicast routing protocol</p><p>107, 115. . . Modified host management agreement</p><p>109. . . L2 network components</p><p>111. . . Listener</p><p>113A. . . Multicast subnet</p><p>113B. . . Multicast subnet</p><p>113C. . . Multicast subnet</p><p>117. . . Video converter</p>

Figure 1 is a diagram of an embodiment of a modified host management and multicast routing network; and

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a program used for source watch list processing.