Distributed Flooding Technique for Link State Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional flooding techniques in link state routing protocols result in overflooding, leading to slower convergence times and high resource utilization in dense network topologies due to the unnecessary sending and receiving of redundant link state messages.
Innovation Solution
A distributed flooding technique where network devices determine whether to reflood link state messages based on a shortest-path spanning tree and the order of one-hop neighbor network devices, ensuring messages are forwarded to unreceived nodes while avoiding already informed nodes, thereby reducing redundant message transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional flooding techniques are used to transmit link state messages, then all network devices receive the messages, but redundant message transmission occurs leading to high resource utilization and slower convergence times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making each network device's flooding behavior context-dependent. Devices determine whether to reflood messages based on their specific position in the shortest-path spanning tree and their relationship to the origination device. This localized decision-making ensures reliable message delivery to all devices while avoiding redundant transmissions, thereby improving convergence speed without sacrificing delivery completeness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the flooding process by dividing network devices into different roles (origination device, transmission device, reception device) and applying different flooding rules to each segment. The origination device floods to all neighbors, while reception devices selectively reflood based on whether they are leaf nodes or intermediate nodes in the spanning tree. This segmentation eliminates redundant messages while ensuring complete delivery.
2Reliability
If conventional flooding techniques are used to transmit link state messages, then all network devices receive the messages, but redundant message transmission occurs leading to high computing resource utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces computing resource utilization by applying local quality to each device's message processing. Reception devices examine their specific characteristics (leaf node vs. intermediate node status in the spanning tree) and make localized decisions about whether to reflood messages. This approach ensures every device receives necessary messages for reliable topology updates while minimizing unnecessary message generation and processing, thereby conserving computing resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by having reception devices perform selective reflooding rather than universal reflooding. Intermediate nodes perform partial reflooding (only to certain neighbors), while leaf nodes perform no reflooding. This partial action is sufficient to ensure complete message delivery across the network while significantly reducing the total number of message transmissions and associated computing resource consumption.
3Reliability
If conventional flooding techniques are used to transmit link state messages, then messages are transmitted to all neighbors, but redundant messages are sent to already informed nodes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making each device's message forwarding behavior dependent on its specific position in the network topology. Reception devices determine whether to reflood based on whether they are leaf nodes or intermediate nodes in the shortest-path spanning tree. This localized decision-making ensures complete message delivery to all devices while eliminating redundant transmissions to already-informed nodes, thereby reducing the total quantity of messages transmitted.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the message forwarding process by dividing devices into different categories with different forwarding behaviors. Origination devices flood to all neighbors, intermediate nodes selectively reflood based on spanning tree position, and leaf nodes do not reflood. This segmentation eliminates redundant message transmissions while ensuring complete delivery, significantly reducing the total number of messages transmitted across the network.
Data Source
AI summary
A network device may receive, from a transmission network device, a link state message associated with an origination network device. The network device may determine an order of a set of one-hop neighbor network devices from the transmission network device. The network device may determine, based on the link state message and the order of the set of one-hop neighbor network devices, whether the network device is to send a copy of the link state message to at least one one-hop neighbor network device of the network device. The network device may send, or refraining from sending, by the network device and based on determining whether the network device is to send the copy of the link state message to the at least one one-hop neighbor network device of the network device, the link state message to the at least one one-hop neighbor network device of the network device.