Cached Routing Service Edge Router Packet Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current routers lack a mechanism to guarantee packet delivery to destinations, particularly in applications requiring high reliability like syslog messages and brokerage transactions, leading to potential packet losses and costly service-level-agreement violations due to network failures.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a cached routing service where packets are encapsulated and stored in a replay buffer or storage unit, ensuring delivery even in case of network failures, with mechanisms for retransmission and bandwidth bursting to compensate for lost time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If packets are forwarded directly through the network without caching, then network resource usage is minimized, but packet delivery reliability deteriorates due to potential network failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent stores copies of packets in advance in a replay buffer at the edge router before actual transmission through the network. This preliminary action ensures that if the original packet is lost during transmission, a copy is already available for retransmission, thereby improving packet delivery reliability without requiring continuous network resource allocation for redundancy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of each packet and stores it in the replay buffer at the edge router. This copying mechanism allows the original packet to be transmitted through the network while a backup copy remains stored, enabling retransmission if needed. This resolves the contradiction by providing reliability through copying rather than through continuous network resource allocation
2Reliability
If packets are resent from remote routers upon loss, then packet delivery reliability improves, but network bandwidth consumption increases due to redundant transmissions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the retransmission function from the network path and concentrates it at the edge router where the replay buffer is located. Instead of allowing any router along the path to retransmit lost packets (which would cause redundant transmissions), only the edge router performs retransmission using the stored copy, thereby eliminating bandwidth waste while maintaining delivery reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The replay buffer acts as an intermediary between the edge router and the network. It stores packet copies and enables the edge router to retransmit packets without involving other network routers. This intermediary mechanism ensures that retransmissions occur through a single point rather than multiple points in the network, preventing redundant bandwidth consumption
3Reliability
If cached routing service is implemented with replay buffers, then packet delivery reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the edge router multi-functional by combining its standard routing function with an additional caching function through the replay buffer. The same edge router that performs packet forwarding also stores packet copies and handles retransmissions. This universality reduces the need for separate dedicated retransmission devices, thereby managing device complexity while improving reliability
Data Source
AI summary
A device may receive a packet, determine whether the received packet is encapsulated with a first header associated with a cached routing service, and determine whether the received packet is to be provided with the cached routing service when the received packet is not encapsulated with the first header associated with the cached routing service. In response to determining that the received packet is to be provided with the cached routing service, the device may encapsulate the received packet with a second header associated with the cached routing service, send the encapsulated packet toward a destination of the packet, and store the encapsulated packet in a buffer in a memory.