Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation for Network Fairness
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Solution Overview
Problem
In network environments, a small number of users often consume disproportionately large amounts of bandwidth, degrading performance for other users, and existing systems lack effective mechanisms to manage and allocate bandwidth fairly among users.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that dynamically moves user devices or data connections from a normal bandwidth group to a restricted bandwidth group when usage thresholds are exceeded, allowing for reallocation of bandwidth resources to prevent excessive consumption and ensure fair sharing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If bandwidth is shared among all users without restrictions, then network accessibility and ease of operation are improved, but individual users can consume disproportionate amounts of bandwidth degrading performance for others
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network user base into different groups (normal users and bandwidth-abuse offenders) with different bandwidth allocations. Users who exceed bandwidth thresholds are automatically moved from the normal user group to an offender group with restricted bandwidth, while compliant users retain full access. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by maintaining open access for legitimate users while restricting problematic ones.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts bandwidth allocation based on real-time user behavior. Users can transition between normal and offender groups depending on their bandwidth consumption patterns. The bandwidth assignment is not static but changes automatically in response to usage conditions, allowing the system to adapt to varying network demands and user behaviors.
2Productivity
If bandwidth is restricted for users who exceed thresholds, then network performance for other users is improved, but the system complexity increases due to monitoring and enforcement mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs self-service mechanisms where users effectively police themselves through the automated monitoring system. The network automatically detects bandwidth threshold violations and enforces restrictions without requiring manual intervention from administrators. The system monitors its own performance metrics and automatically adjusts bandwidth allocations, reducing the need for complex external control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements continuous feedback loops where user bandwidth consumption is monitored, compared against thresholds, and used to automatically adjust bandwidth assignments. The system provides real-time feedback to users about their consumption patterns and automatically enforces restrictions when thresholds are exceeded. This automated feedback mechanism simplifies the overall system by replacing complex manual monitoring and enforcement procedures.
3Productivity
If automatic bandwidth reallocation is implemented, then bandwidth utilization efficiency is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring usage patterns increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes predetermined bandwidth thresholds and allocation rules in advance, before actual usage occurs. These pre-defined parameters simplify the detection process by providing clear criteria for evaluating user behavior. The system doesn't need to analyze complex usage patterns from scratch but simply compares actual consumption against pre-set thresholds, making detection and measurement more straightforward.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for allocating a pool of shared Internet bandwidth. One of the methods includes providing a first communications channel having a first bandwidth, the first bandwidth being shared by a first group of first users, providing a second communications channel having a second bandwidth different than the first bandwidth, the second bandwidth being shared by a second group of second users, detecting that at least one first data connection for a particular first user in the first group has satisfied a first predetermined condition, and moving, based on the detecting, the at least one first data connection for the particular first user from the first communications channel to the second communications channel.