Coherent Internet Network Bonding System

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system for coherent Internet network bonding, comprising at least one source of data packets and at least one destination of data packets, wherein the data packets are simultaneously routed from the at least one source to the at least one destination via one or more channels / paths, and the state of the channels / paths is monitored and utilized according to their latency, speed, and / or quality.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for coherent Internet network bonding.

Background Art

[0002] The wireless gigabit speed of a backhaul network can only be achieved when the wireless channel bandwidth from a physical wireless communication device during transmission exceeds 100 MHz. The unlicensed and licensed backhaul spectrum below 10 GHz for long distances within or beyond a 100 km range is regulated so as not to exceed a 50 MHz wireless channel bandwidth, and is between 30 MHz and 50 MHz depending on the country. Wireless backhaul at gigabit speed is always a difficult task when the regulated bandwidth is narrow.

[0003] One method for overcoming a narrow regulated wireless channel bandwidth of less than 50 MHz is to use virtual domains to combine multiple physical communication channels on a single host device using a combined channel virtualization method so that the total becomes larger than 100 MHz channel bandwidth. In this method, the data packets of a user using a host device that enables coherent Internet network bonding are split, analyzed, and coherently re-routed to a plurality of wireless or network channels and Internet paths between the Internet source endpoint and the Internet destination endpoint. However, network bonding control is required between the source endpoint on the user side and the Internet destination endpoint in order to ensure no packet loss throughout the entire complete data packet transmission.

[0004] When data packets from a user move through multiple channels or paths, each with its own latency, performance, and interference, the likelihood of lost and delayed data packets reaching the destination endpoint increases. For this reason, Internet data packets typically use a single network channel or path to the destination endpoint in order, to ensure no packet loss across the entire data packet transmission.

[0005] All conventional network bonding methods are typically limited to a controlled intranet domain that uses two identical devices to implement some encapsulation and non-encapsulation methods for tracking split data packets to increase throughput between two endpoints. When entering the Internet domain, network bonding stops.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a system that overcomes the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] In one aspect of the present invention, routing means for simultaneously routing data packets from at least one source to at least one destination via two or more electronic communication channels and / or paths In a routing device for coherent Internet network bonding, comprising monitoring means for monitoring the state of the channels and / or paths and utilizing the channels and / or paths according to their latency, speed, and / or quality, a routing device for coherent Internet network bonding is provided.

[0008] Thus, according to the present invention, the routing device controls the selection of multiple Internet channels or paths during network bonding between an Internet source endpoint and an Internet destination endpoint. Advantageously, in the present invention, it is also not necessary to place the routing device at the Internet destination endpoint, because the routing device is only required on the user side to achieve both increased throughput and low latency using a method independent of the standard Internet network hardware implementation. Even more advantageously, the present invention solves the problem of increasing throughput on existing network communication technologies and infrastructure, especially for long-distance terrestrial and maritime communications, to achieve gigabit speed connectivity. Nevertheless, it will be understood that the routing device can be placed at both the source endpoint and the destination endpoint if necessary.

[0009] In one embodiment, the routing device is a bonding router. Alternatively, the routing device can also be a host device or module.

[0010] In one embodiment, the routing means is capable of routing data packets from at least one source to at least one destination via one or more electronic communication channels and / or paths. Thus, the routing device can utilize multiple channels and paths, but more conventionally, it is also possible to operate using a single channel or path and / or route data packets from a single source to a single destination.

[0011] In one embodiment, an asynchronous bonding method is initiated in both the downstream link direction and the upstream link direction.

[0012] In one embodiment, a channel or path is utilized when the monitoring means determines that its state is good, and is not utilized when the monitoring means determines that its state is bad. Typically, a user can set latency, speed, and / or quality thresholds for the monitoring means to determine whether the state of a channel or path is good or bad and / or to dynamically adjust the selection of a channel or path.

[0013] Accordingly, when one or more channels / paths become slow or unavailable, the monitoring means marks them as bad, and the routing means re-routes the packets to good channels / paths to ensure continuous seamless bonding while the application is still running, avoiding the need for the application to stop, pause, and resume. Similarly, when the functionality of such channels / paths is restored, the packets can be re-routed to such channels / paths.

[0014] In one embodiment, the monitoring means automatically detects active network channels or paths and uses their available network channels or paths simultaneously, rather than waiting for a network channel or path to reach its maximum capacity and then using another randomly selected network channel or path that is not full. This further differentiates the present invention from conventional aggregation bonding systems.

[0015] In one embodiment, the routing means selects the best network configuration for splitting data packets and routing them across multiple Internet channels and paths without packet loss, using data packet header information from at least one source and / or destination. The initial channel / path selection can be determined by the channel classifier using a fast mathematical algorithm based on the data packet header information of the source or / and destination endpoint.

[0016] In one embodiment, the monitoring means calculates a routing cost based on the latency, speed, and / or quality associated with each channel / path to determine an optimal route for the data packet. Typically, the routing cost for each channel / path is specific to or generated for each channel / path.

[0017] In one embodiment, the monitoring means randomly selects additional channels / paths and determines whether their routing costs are lower than the currently selected routing cost for routing.

[0018] In one embodiment, channels / paths are bonded between a source and a destination, typically using a wired medium and / or a wireless medium for electronic communication within an intranet and / or an Internet domain.

[0019] In one embodiment, when there are more available channels than the number of physical routing interfaces, with at least one physical routing interface for each routing device, a cascade connection with other routing devices can be formed to increase the number of channels to be bonded. Thus, advantageously, the asynchronous bonding method enables the bonding speed to be increased to the maximum.

[0020] In one embodiment, the channel / path includes a virtual tunnel via a virtual private network domain. Coherent Internet bonding can be implemented for a virtual private network (VPN) that extends to a VPN server beyond the Internet domain, whereupon the routing algorithm, in response thereto, differentiates between a public Internet endpoint and a VPN destination endpoint after the VPN information becomes accessible. Coherent Internet bonding can be implemented simultaneously for both public Internet and VPN access without disabling either one. The VPN server can also be used as an intermediary to complete end-to-end virtual tunnel connectivity between one endpoint and another.

[0021] In one embodiment, a coherent Internet network bonding algorithm is executed on a single routing device to typically continuously determine the state of a network channel or path from its source endpoint to an Internet destination endpoint.

[0022] The bonded channel / path maintains low latency, high reliability, and high speed performance when subject to channel / path interference over a very long channel / path distance exceeding 100 km per single Internet routing hop, because the Internet routing hops can enjoy the interference mitigation performance of the devices providing those channels / paths.

[0023] In one embodiment, a routing device includes storage means for storing an Internet network configuration. Typically, the routing device performs a diagnosis of the status and condition of the Internet network configuration to ensure that any undesirable network configurations that would affect the implementation of coherent bonding are removed before bonding is performed. This removal is important because the coherent bonding processing domain of the routing device starts from the physical interfaces used for bonding. Bonding requires a unique and distinct channel or path configuration from the user's physical interface to a multi-channel physical interface or a multi-path physical interface. A network configuration suitable for ensuring that successful coherent bonding captures, marks, tracks, classifies, and correctly routes data packets is required. This process requires intensive computing resources. For example, if the hardware has a theoretical maximum routing speed of 10 Gb / s for normal routing operations, the maximum routing speed for coherent bonding may be 2.5 Gb / s, which is one-fourth of that speed. This is caused by the sequential processing delay of the capture operation, mark operation, tracking operation, classification operation, and re-routing operation of data packets from the physical interface, which constantly arrive at and leave the device. However, in practice, the data transfer speed is unlikely to reach the theoretical routing speed, and thus the impact of the processing is minimal and far outweighed by the increase in speed due to bonding.

[0024] In one embodiment, the routing device makes an intelligent decision regarding the best network configuration from classifying data packets, splitting the data packets, randomly selecting a channel or path based on the latency, speed, and quality of the channel, and correctly re-routing the data packets in order across the randomly selected multiple Internet channels and paths. For this reason, the split data packets from the multiple channels or paths can successfully arrive at the destination endpoint in a timely order without packet loss.

[0025] In one embodiment, when re-routing to a channel / path that must have unique source endpoint gateway address information for each channel / path, or when using network address translation for the first forward routing point, the original header information of the data packet is maintained by the routing device, i.e., not changed.

[0026] In one embodiment, a routing device determines the optimal channel or path for minimizing latency across multiple network hopping points along an Internet transmission path based on the quality of the channel or path. In coherent bonding, a rerouting mechanism is used to achieve distributed data packet splitting, and thus a routing cost value reflecting the quality of the channel or path is used. Before rerouting to a different channel or path, every data packet is marked to distinguish whether it is an incoming data packet or an outgoing data packet. All marked outgoing data packets are processed in the channel or path classifier of the routing means to be assigned to a specific physical interface preselected and thus associated with the channel or path, which is attached to the routing means. The rerouting of data packets from one channel or path to another is based on the routing cost assigned to the next channel or path having the next lowest routing cost when it is determined that the current channel or path has a greater latency than the previous routing operation. The selection of the channel or path also depends on the endpoint information in the data packet header that can be uniquely distinguished in the processing of the channel or path classifier. In the channel or path classifier, the same initial channel or path is always selected for packet header information having the same configuration. Coherent rerouting to other channels or paths is randomly selected based on a uniquely weighted routing cost for each, such as the next channel or path from the preclassified initial channel or path. The rerouting function receives the resulting Internet response from the destination endpoint using the standard Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) of the Internet Protocol (IP) method. The selection of the next channel or path by the channel or path classifier changes according to the processed response.If the response for the selected initial channel or path is poor, the channel or path classifier can select another path or channel, etc.

[0027] In one embodiment, the weights of the routing costs such as the next channel or path are dynamically adjusted using the latency and performance of the previous channel or path from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint implemented by the routing device. The weights are obtained using a machine learning algorithm that analyzes the historical network performance based on factors such as dedicated or shared state, optical fiber or radio frequency or Ethernet copper mode, or wired or wireless medium.

[0028] In one embodiment, channels or paths are monitored more frequently when their states are poor or degraded. Thus, when the latency is high, or the error frequency is high, or the speed is slow, the system can check the state more frequently. However, when the state is good, the system only needs to check the state less frequently, which helps to reduce the re-routing overhead factor. The overhead factor is determined according to the capture, marking, classification, re-routing of data packets, destination endpoint latency response, combination and splitting and combination of data packets, coherent re-routing process, and implementation of routing cost readjustment.

[0029] It is convenient to further explain the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings showing possible configurations of the present invention. Other configurations of the present invention are also possible, and thus, the particularity of the accompanying drawings should not be understood as replacing the generality of the foregoing description of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0030]

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[0031] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a router device according to the present invention, comprising monitoring means for monitoring a physical interface (user interface and Internet gateway interface), bonding traffic, and a router configuration stored within storage means, and routing means for bonding Internet channels together and simultaneously routing data packets from a user device to the Internet via two or more electronic communication channels and / or paths shown as channels 1, 2, 3, and N connected to the Internet according to the latency, speed, and / or quality of those electronic communication channels and / or paths. This block diagram shows the interface functions of the channel bonding process in a router device, comprising a user interface, monitor router configuration, monitor physical interface, monitor bonding traffic, and Internet gateway interface. The user interface is a physical interface that connects to a user device. Monitor router configuration constantly monitors whether there are any configuration differences in the router device configuration that could disable bonding and affect bonding. Monitor physical interface constantly monitors the status and connectivity status of the physical interface to the user device and Internet gateway channels. Monitor bonding traffic constantly monitors the traffic status and status of network channels within the router device and Internet connection function and between the router device and Internet connection function.

[0032] With respect to FIG. 2a, a typical channel bonding system is shown for times (t1, t2, t3), where other channels C2 and C3 are used after the master channel C1 has been fully utilized.

[0033] In contrast to this aggregation system, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2b, after all channels C1, C2, and C3 are used simultaneously, it is possible for the capacity of any of them to become full.

[0034] A comparison between a conventional long-distance wireless system using fallback and the long-distance wireless system used with the present invention is shown in FIGS. 3a - 3b. As a result of using coherent channel bonding, it can be seen that the user experience approaches the combined 3-channel throughput (300 Mbps) without considering overhead, as compared to a normal 3-channel wireless system (100 Mbps) using only fallback.

[0035] A typical 100 km long-distance wireless system has a limited data rate (300 Mbps) on a regulated transmission bandwidth (30 MHz), high latency (> 10 ms), and low reliability (< 95%). The high latency in the wireless channel is caused as a result of retransmission of data packets. Packet loss from previous transmissions is due to the influence of wireless channel interference. However, in tests, the present invention has already achieved high reliability (> 99.999%) of a 4-channel parallel system with gigabit data rate, low latency (< 5 ms), and (95%) channel reliability using only 4 channels in the same setup. The low latency is achieved when multiple channels are used simultaneously to avoid or minimize packet loss. Although any long-distance wireless transmission is likely to be severely affected by significant wireless channel interference, when using multi-channel transmission in a parallel system, not all channels will have the same severity of wireless channel interference at the same time.

[0036] Regarding FIG. 4, this result is achieved by monitoring the channels and / or paths that are in an active state and available respectively, and utilizing them according to their latency, speed, and quality. This router device can be connected to a user interface (wired and / or wireless), and also has an algorithm for determining the channels (wired and / or wireless) that are available for continuously re-routing data packets to the destination.

[0037] This algorithm monitors the state of the channels / paths according to latency, speed, and quality. If the state of a path or channel is good, i.e., low latency, high speed, and low error rate, that path or channel can be utilized. If the state of a path or channel is bad, that path or channel is not used. If the state of a good path or channel deteriorates, the frequency of its monitoring probably increases from a check of 1 / 1000 or 1 / 100 packets to a check of 1 / 10 packets. If the state continues to deteriorate, the data packets are continuously re-routed to different paths / channels to avoid packet loss.

[0038] The coherent bonding overhead in the present invention is extremely small, typically 5 - 10%, which is superior to the intensive overhead. In the case of intensive overhead, it is usually approximately 20 - 30% when the most intensive bonding uses synchronization and encapsulation / decapsulation bonding mechanisms.

[0039] In the coherent bonding of wired channels, the overhead coefficient, i.e., the available capacity, exceeds 95%, while in the case of wireless channels, the overhead exceeds 90%.

[0040] The expected average coherent bonding speed can be calculated as follows. Channel Convergence (A chn 、Bchn , C chn ) = Overhead coefficient × (A speed + B speed + C speed ) For example, (Wireless - 100Mbps, Wireless - 100Mbps, Wireless - 100Mbps) = 0.90 × (300Mbps) = 270Mbps

[0041] Therefore, when data packets are configured and re - routed to use multiple Internet channels (wired and / or wireless) and paths between the Internet source endpoint and the Internet destination endpoint of an access, it is possible to increase the Internet speed and reduce latency by using any available communication network technology and infrastructure. Data packets uploaded from the user are intelligently split, analyzed, classified, and re - routed to multiple network channels when uploading data to the Internet destination endpoint. Data packets can also be downloaded to the user when downloading from the Internet destination endpoint. Data packets downloaded from multiple network channels are analyzed, classified, combined, and routed to the user network application.

[0042] In the present invention, a coherent Internet network bonding algorithm is implemented from a single routing device. This algorithm exhibits a unique feature using network bonding coherence, where instead of waiting for one network channel to reach its maximum capacity and then using another network channel that is not, it actively uses available network channels simultaneously. This algorithm analyzes the state of network channels and paths to an Internet destination endpoint. This algorithm makes intelligent decisions regarding the best network configuration to split data packets and properly re-route the data packets across multiple Internet channels and paths. Each channel is assigned a routing cost, for example, to represent the effective quality value of the channel / path, and the routing cost is dynamically adjusted based on the previous latency performance to the destination endpoint. The lower the routing cost value, the higher the quality of the channel / path.

[0043] The system selects a network channel or Internet path for proper uploading and downloading of data from an Internet destination endpoint for the purpose of no transmitted packet loss. The system also uses the previous transmission latency performance from multiple paths to the destination endpoint to achieve low latency across multiple network hopping points along the Internet transmission path.

[0044] In contrast, conventional network bonding performs bonding synchronization that requires the same bonding device installed at both the Internet source endpoint and the destination endpoint. Bonding synchronization is suitable for private endpoints managed by a bonding server located within the Internet cloud. Without the same device, it is not possible to achieve channel bonding for public destination endpoints. Therefore, in bonding synchronization, typically, the implementation of network bonding is restricted within an intranet or virtual private network domain.

[0045] Today's applications often require connectivity to the Internet cloud, and thus the implementation of network bonding must extend beyond the intranet and virtual private network domains. In the present invention, a coherent and asynchronous bonding method is used that is ideal for the low network latency of long-distance multi-hopping points and multi-path network points. By asynchronous operation, the present invention enables independent channel bonding from any network endpoint between routing points and hopping points. In the present invention, user data packets are not modified. In the present invention, the user data packet path is indirectly modified by re-routing multiple single routing paths of the data packet into multiple routing paths. Briefly, the present invention provides a high-performance data packet transmission platform that does not modify the content of data packets and packet headers. This platform merely provides multiple transmission means for reaching the destination using data packet allocation. This platform analyzes all data packets and re-routes them to an Internet path with minimal network latency in order to steadily achieve a large throughput from a single routing device. This platform sends the fragmented data packets to their destination in a complete packet configuration, minimizing lost or late-arriving packets from the various paths that cause the long-distance packet transmission journey from the source endpoint through intermediate Internet routing hopping points to the final destination endpoint, and continuously tests and checks multiple Internet paths to see if it is safe to do so. Resending lost or late-arriving data packets to an Internet destination endpoint reduces throughput and increases latency. For this reason, most conventional network bonding solutions use a bonding synchronization method to limit their bonding boundaries within an intranet or virtual private network domain.

[0046] Regarding FIG. 5, whenever there are two or more network paths leading to the destination endpoint, the multi-channel Internet bonding boundary starts from a single routing device and extends into the Internet domain. Channel bonding stops at that network point whenever there is only one network path to the destination endpoint without any additional similar routing devices.

[0047] In contrast, in FIG. 6, in conventional aggregated Internet bonding, two equal end-to-end bonding devices are required between the source endpoint and the destination endpoint managed by the bonding server. The bonding server controls and establishes the physical channel bonding between the source endpoint and the destination endpoint, as well as the network paths through which it passes. Multi-channel Internet bonding is only available when both the source endpoint and the destination endpoint are using equal bonding devices.

[0048] With respect to FIG. 7, the asynchronous bonding domain introduces time independence between network hopping points from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint. Bonding domain A covers network points in the directions of routing devices A, B, C, and D. Bonding domain B covers network points in the directions of routing devices B, C, and D. Bonding domain C covers network points in the directions of routing devices C and D. Bonding domain D covers network points in the directions of routing devices D, C, B, and A. Bonding domain A is independent of bonding devices B, C, and D when data packet A is transmitted from network point A to D. Bonding domain B is independent of bonding devices C and D when data packet B is transmitted from network point B to D. In time-independent bonding, when both data packets A and B need to reach network point D using bonding, data packet B is non-interfering and has no impact on data packet A. The asynchronous method avoids synchronous network control at each network point when multiple paths are used, without degrading the performance of data packet transmission along the network path to the destination endpoint.

[0049] In contrast, in the conventional system shown in FIG. 8, synchronous bonding has time dependence between the master bonding device and the slave bonding devices within the network subnet. When both data packets A and B are transmitted to network point C, the transmission of data packet B prevents data packet A from passing through network subnet B until data packet B is successfully transmitted to network point C, thus introducing network latency that reduces the average data packet transmission speed from point A to C. Therefore, in the synchronous method, latency increases for each cascaded network bonding added along the network path.

[0050] In Figure 9a, time series t1, t2, t3, and t4 show the response time required to complete the bonding process in relation to the data packet transmission speed without bonding. When bonding is present, the data packet transmission speed due to the routing device hardware capabilities is four times slower. For example, if the routing device performance without bonding shown in Figure 9b has a performance of 10,000 Mbps, when bonding is used, the routing device may result in a bonding speed of 2500 Mbps shown in Figure 9a. The capture, marking, classification, and re-routing of data packets introduce time latency during the bonding process.

[0051] Referring to Figure 10a, the overhead bonding coefficient is affected by the channel medium. The wireless channel is greatly affected by interference in contrast to the wired channel. Therefore, wireless channel bonding has a larger overhead coefficient that reduces the total bonding output. In Figure 10b, for wired channel bonding, due to the processing time required for data packet header information that occupies 3.6% of the total maximum data packet size, the overhead coefficient is between 3.6% and 5%. The 3.6% time loss is in turn due to the capture process, marking process, classification process, and re-routing process. The additional 1.4% is caused by the data packet time gap when a large data packet is split into multiple smaller data packets.

[0052] Referring to Figure 11, the bonding of four parallel channels achieves a reliability of 99.999% from a channel reliability of 99.5% alone, showing the mathematical basis for how the bonding of parallel channels improves network performance in terms of speed and reliability.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 12, when the physical channels to be functioned by the host / routing device are limited, the solution can be cascaded to a plurality of host / routing devices by an asynchronous method to increase the number of bonding channels.

[0054] Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention may also include further additional modifications added to the system that do not affect the overall function of the system.

Claims

1. A routing device for coherent Internet network bonding, comprising routing means for simultaneously routing data packets from at least one source to at least one destination via two or more electronic communication channels and / or paths, characterized by monitoring means for monitoring the state of said channels and / or said paths and for utilizing said channels and / or said paths according to their latency, speed, and / or quality, wherein said routing device determines the channel or path that is optimal for minimizing latency across a plurality of network hopping points along an Internet transmission path using a routing cost value through the quality of the channel or path, and said routing cost value is such that the weight of the routing cost of the next channel or path is dynamically adjusted using the latency and performance of the previous channel or path from the source endpoint to the destination endpoint implemented by said routing device, reflecting the quality of the channel or path, A routing device for coherent Internet network bonding.

2. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein an asynchronous bonding method is initiated in both the downstream link direction and the upstream link direction.

3. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein a channel or path is utilized when the monitoring means determines that its state is good, and not utilized when the monitoring means determines that its state is bad.

4. The routing device according to claim 3, wherein a user can set thresholds for latency, speed, and / or quality so that the monitoring means can determine whether the state of a channel or path is good or bad and / or can dynamically adjust the selection of said channel or said path.

5. The routing device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said channels / the said paths are monitored more frequently when their state is bad or degraded.

6. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring means automatically detects active network channels and / or paths, and instead of waiting for a network channel or path to reach its maximum capacity and then using another randomly selected network channel or path that is not full, the available network channels and / or paths are used simultaneously.

7. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein the routing means divides the data packets and selects, using data packet header information from at least one source and / or destination, an optimal network configuration for routing them across a plurality of Internet channels and / or paths without packet loss.

8. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein the monitoring means calculates a routing cost based on the latency, speed, and / or quality associated with each channel / path to determine an optimal route for the data packet.

9. The routing device according to claim 8, wherein the monitoring means randomly selects additional channels / paths and determines whether their routing cost is lower than the currently selected routing cost for routing.

10. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein the channel / the path is bonded between the source and the destination.

11. When there are more available channels than the number of physical routing interfaces, a cascade connection with another routing device can be formed with at least one physical routing interface in each routing device to increase the number of bonded channels. The routing device according to claim 10.

12. The routing device according to claim 1, wherein the channel / the path includes a virtual tunnel via a virtual private network domain.

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