Data path mode and data flow priority configuration method

Abstract

A data path mode and data flow priority configuration method is applied to a communication system, and the data path mode and data flow priority configuration method comprises the following steps: obtaining identification information of terminal equipment; configuration information corresponding to the terminal equipment is obtained according to a data path mode configuration rule and the identification information, and the configuration information indicates one of a plurality of data path modes; configuring a data path mode applied to a data stream of the terminal equipment according to the configuration information; and when a data packet from the terminal equipment is obtained, obtaining the priority of the data stream of the terminal equipment according to a data stream priority configuration rule and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a data path mode and a data stream priority configuration method. Background Technology

[0002] Existing routers support various data path modes, such as bridging, Network Address Translation (NAT), and tunneling. When a terminal device connects to the router via an Ethernet interface or Service Set Identifier (SSID), the router's data path mode often needs to be manually adjusted to accommodate the connected device. When the router disconnects from the current terminal device and then reconnects, or when another terminal device connects, the router's data path mode needs to be adjusted again. These frequent adjustments are time-consuming and laborious. Furthermore, since overall network resources are limited, the allocation of network resources is crucial in scenarios with multiple terminal devices.

[0003] Therefore, how to automatically switch the router's data path mode according to different connected terminal devices and automatically allocate the priority of each terminal device's data stream has become one of the problems that related fields want to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a data path mode and a data flow priority configuration method, which can overcome at least one defect of the prior art.

[0005] The present invention provides a data path mode and data stream priority configuration method, applied to a communication system. The method includes: obtaining identification information of a terminal device; obtaining configuration information corresponding to the terminal device according to data path mode configuration rules and the identification information, wherein the configuration information indicates one of a plurality of data path modes; configuring a data path mode for the data stream applied to the terminal device according to the configuration information; and when a data packet is received from the terminal device, obtaining the priority of the data stream of the terminal device according to data stream priority configuration rules and the content of specified information contained in the data packet.

[0006] In some embodiments, the data path mode pairing rule indicates a default mode for a non-specified device and a specified mode for each of a plurality of different specified devices, wherein the default mode and each of the specified modes are one of the data path modes.

[0007] In some embodiments, obtaining configuration information corresponding to the terminal device based on data path mode configuration rules and the identification information includes: determining whether the terminal device is one of the designated devices based on the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information; when it is determined that the terminal device is not one of the designated devices, the terminal device is the non-designated device, and the default mode is used as the configuration information; and when it is determined that the terminal device is one of the designated devices, the designated mode of the designated device that is the same as the terminal device is used as the configuration information.

[0008] In some embodiments, the data stream priority configuration rule is related to multiple different specified priorities and indicates the matching conditions corresponding to each specified priority.

[0009] In some embodiments, the priority of the data stream of the terminal device is obtained according to the data stream priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet. For each specified priority, the method includes: determining whether the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority; and when it is determined that the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority, the priority of the data stream is the specified priority.

[0010] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: By obtaining the identification information of the terminal device and automatically configuring the data path mode of the router applied to the data stream of the terminal device according to the data path mode configuration rules, users do not need to manually adjust the data path mode each time they connect different terminal devices to the router, thus providing a convenient user experience. Simultaneously, based on the content of the specified information in the data packet and the data stream priority configuration rules, priorities are automatically matched for the data streams of different terminal devices, enabling access network devices to allocate network resources according to the priorities, making network resource utilization more efficient. Attached Figure Description

[0011] Figure 1 This is a block diagram illustrating, exemplarily, the communication system used in an embodiment of the data path mode and data flow priority configuration method of the present invention;

[0012] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating, by way of example, the data path mode configuration procedure of the embodiment described.

[0013] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a first implementation of the data flow priority configuration procedure of the described embodiment;

[0014] Figure 4This is a flowchart that exemplarily illustrates a second implementation of the data flow priority configuration procedure of the described embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0015] Before the present invention is described in detail, it should be noted that similar elements are represented by the same reference numerals in the following description. The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0016] An embodiment of the data path mode and data stream priority configuration method of the present invention utilizes... Figure 1 The communication system shown is used to perform this operation. The communication system includes a router 1 and network access equipment 2. The router 1 and the network access equipment 2 can be connected via, but are not limited to, Ethernet, fiber optic, wireless networks, etc.

[0017] Router 1 supports multiple data path modes for connecting to terminal devices. These data path modes include, but are not limited to, bridging mode, network address translation mode, and tunneling mode. The terminal devices include, but are not limited to, internet-connected devices such as smartphones, laptops, and set-top boxes. Router 1 stores data path mode pairing rules, which indicate the default mode for non-designated devices and the designated mode for each of several different designated devices. The default mode and each of the designated modes are one of the data path modes.

[0018] For example, the data path mode pairing rule includes, for instance, the model name of each of the specified devices and the specified mode corresponding to each model name. More specifically, the data path mode pairing rule indicates, for instance, that the specified mode of the specified device with the model name "IPTV" is "bridging mode", the specified mode of the specified device with the model name "PHONE" is "tunneling mode", and the default mode of the non-specified devices is "network address translation mode".

[0019] The operation of the access network device 2 will be described below.

[0020] The following will be referred to Figure 1 and Figure 2 The data path mode configuration procedure of the embodiment described herein is explained in detail. The data path mode configuration procedure includes steps S11 to S13.

[0021] In step S11, the router 1 obtains the identification information of the terminal device. The identification information includes, but is not limited to, the terminal device's IP address, MAC address, hostname, or Vendor Class Identifier (VCI).

[0022] More specifically, the router 1 obtains the identification information of the terminal device, for example, based on requests from public or private protocols such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), DHCPv6, Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Multicast Domain Name System (mDNS), or NetBIOS Name Service (NBNS) sent by the terminal device, but is not limited thereto.

[0023] In step S12, the router 1 obtains the configuration information corresponding to the terminal device according to the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information of the terminal device. The configuration information indicates one of the data path modes. In this embodiment, step S12 includes the following sub-steps S121 to S123.

[0024] In sub-step S121, the router 1 determines whether the terminal device is one of the designated devices based on the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information. When the terminal device is determined to be one of the designated devices, the process proceeds to sub-step S122; when the terminal device is determined not to be any of the designated devices, the terminal device is the non-designated device, and the process proceeds to sub-step S123.

[0025] Continuing the previous example, when the terminal device first connects to the router 1, the terminal device sends a DHCP request to the router 1. The router 1 obtains the terminal device's VCI based on the Option 60 field of the received DHCP request and determines whether the terminal device's VCI matches any of the model names stored in the data path mode pairing rules. When it is determined that the terminal device's VCI matches one of the model names, the terminal device is the designated device; when it is determined that the terminal device's VCI does not match any of the model names, the terminal device is the non-designated device.

[0026] In sub-step S122, the router 1 uses the same specified mode of the specified device as the terminal device as the configuration information.

[0027] Continuing with the previous example, when the VCI of the terminal device is "IPTV", since the specified mode of the designated device with the model name "IPTV" is "bridge mode", the router 1 uses "bridge mode" as the configuration information of the terminal device and stores the MAC address of the terminal device.

[0028] In sub-step S123, the router 1 uses the default mode as the configuration information.

[0029] Continuing with the previous example, when the terminal device's VCI is "LAPTOP", the terminal device is the non-designated device, therefore the router 1 uses "Network Address Translation mode" as the configuration information of the terminal device.

[0030] In step S13, the router 1 configures the data path mode applied to the data flow of the terminal device according to the configuration information, that is, the data path mode indicated by the configuration information is used by the router 1 when the data flow of the terminal device passes through the router 1.

[0031] The following will be referred to Figure 1 and Figure 3 The first implementation of the data flow priority configuration procedure of the embodiment described in the present invention is described in detail. The first implementation includes steps S21 to S22.

[0032] In step S21, the access network device 2 receives the data packet from the terminal device forwarded by the router 1.

[0033] In step S22, the access network device 2 obtains the priority of the data flow of the terminal device according to the data flow priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet. The data flow priority configuration rules can be pre-stored in the access network device 2, or can be transmitted to the access network device 2 by other devices (e.g., but not limited to the router 1 or a cloud server (not shown)). The data flow priority configuration rules are related to multiple different specified priorities and indicate the matching conditions corresponding to each specified priority.

[0034] For example, the matching conditions may relate to, but are not limited to, the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) of the data packet, the protocol type of the data packet, the size of the data packet, whether the data packet is encapsulated, the IP address of the data packet, the Media Access Control Address (MAC address) of the data packet, the transmission speed of the data packet, or the propagation type of the data packet (e.g., broadcast, multicast, or unicast).

[0035] More specifically, for each specified priority, the access network device 2 determines whether the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority. When it is determined that the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority, the priority of the data stream of the terminal device is the specified priority.

[0036] Subsequently, the access network device 2 allocates network resources to each terminal device according to the priority of the data streams of the different terminal devices.

[0037] See Figure 1 and Figure 4 The second implementation of the data flow priority configuration procedure in the above embodiment is executed by the router 1, wherein the router 1 stores the data flow priority configuration rules. The second implementation includes steps S21' to S22'.

[0038] In step S21', the router 1 receives the data packet sent by the terminal device.

[0039] In step S22', the router 1 obtains the priority of the data stream of the terminal device according to the data stream priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet.

[0040] Subsequently, the router 1 sends the priority of the data stream of the terminal device to the access network device 2, so that the access network device 2 can allocate network resources for each terminal device according to the priority of the data stream of different terminal devices.

[0041] It is worth mentioning that, in some other embodiments, the data flow priority configuration procedure can also be executed by a computing device other than the router 1 and the access network device 2 (e.g., but not limited to the cloud server). After receiving the data packet from the terminal device forwarded by the router 1, the computing device obtains the priority of the terminal device's data flow according to the data flow priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet, and sends the priority of the terminal device's data flow to the access network device 2.

[0042] In summary, the access network device 2 can obtain the priority of the data stream of the terminal device through its own calculations, and can also receive the priority of the data stream of the terminal device transmitted by the router 1 or the computing device.

[0043] In summary, by obtaining the identification information of the terminal device and automatically configuring the data path mode of the data stream applied to the terminal device by the router 1 according to the data path mode configuration rules, users do not need to manually adjust the data path mode each time they connect different terminal devices to the router 1, thus providing a convenient user experience. Simultaneously, based on the content of the specified information in the data packet and the data stream priority configuration rules, priorities are automatically matched for the data streams of different terminal devices, allowing the access network device 2 to allocate network resources according to the priorities, making network resource utilization more efficient. Therefore, the objectives of this invention are indeed achieved.

[0044] The above description is merely an embodiment of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. Any simple equivalent changes and modifications made in accordance with the claims and description of the present invention shall still fall within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A data path mode and data flow priority configuration method, applied to a communication system, characterized in that, The data path mode and data stream priority configuration method includes: Obtain the identification information of the terminal device; The configuration information corresponding to the terminal device is obtained according to the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information, wherein the configuration information indicates one of multiple data path modes; Configure the data path mode for the data stream applied to the terminal device according to the configuration information; and When a data packet is received from the terminal device, the priority of the data stream of the terminal device is obtained according to the data stream priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet.

2. The data path mode and data flow priority configuration method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The data path mode pairing rule indicates the default mode for non-specified devices and the specified mode for each of a plurality of different specified devices, wherein the default mode and each specified mode are one of the data path modes.

3. The data path mode and data flow priority configuration method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The configuration information corresponding to the terminal device is obtained according to the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information, including: Based on the data path mode configuration rules and the identification information, it is determined whether the terminal device is one of the specified devices; When it is determined that the terminal device is not any of the specified devices, the terminal device is the non-specified device, and the default mode is used as the configuration information; and When it is determined that the terminal device is one of the designated devices, the designated mode of the designated device that is the same as the terminal device is used as the configuration information.

4. The data path mode and data flow priority configuration method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The data stream priority configuration rule is related to multiple different specified priorities and indicates the matching conditions corresponding to each specified priority.

5. The data path mode and data flow priority configuration method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The priority of the data stream of the terminal device is obtained according to the data stream priority configuration rules and the content of the specified information contained in the data packet. For each specified priority, the following is included: Determine whether the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority; and When it is determined that the content of the specified information meets the matching condition corresponding to the specified priority, the priority of the data stream is the specified priority.

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